𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 (𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐱𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫)

Chapter 3: When You Apologised to Me

Barbara seems like such a lovely person, you thought to yourself. But do I trust her? Perhaps not yet. You were recovering in Jean's office, sipping on some aromatic dandelion tea. You overall felt extremely light, having finally released most of the emotions that were bottled up inside you. 

KNOCK KNOCK!

Jumping at the abrupt sound, you prepared to fight when you reminded yourself - I am safe here now, and I am free here now. I should learn to relax...eventually. You crept to the door and slowly opened it, cautiously peering around. Ah.

"I believe you are Kaeya!" you greeted, feeling grateful to meet the one who had brought you here, but also slightly curious - you wanted to understand why he had pointed his sword at you.

"You are correct," Kaeya responded, with a hint of tiredness in his voice. Although, you didn't notice that; you were already lulled in by his silky voice. "And your name is?"

"Y/N," you revealed immediately, much to your surprise. You were quite used to hiding your identity, yet here you were, like an open book for this attractive Captain. 

"May I come in? I wish to speak with you for a brief moment." Kaeya asked, briefly making eye-contact with you before looking past into space. You found it strange but thought nothing of it, stepping aside to let him in. He stumbled slightly as he entered, occasionally grasping the wall before taking a seat.

"Is everything okay?" you asked curiously. 

"Never mind that, the question is about how you are feeling," Kaeya responded smoothly in a low voice. Hearing his low voice felt good, you couldn't deny. He had good genetics.

"I'm okay now, thank you! Barbara looked after me, and well, I am in Mondstadt. So everything is good." you nodded, giving Kaeya a small smile with your e/c eyes. He sighed and returned a polite smile, relieved that all was well with you. Kaeya then stood up and walked over to you, before bending over to bow towards you.

"Y/N. I sincerely apologise for how I pointed my sword at you. I was suspicious of you being a potential ally of the Abyss Mages, but I should not have taken immediate action based on my assumptions. I'm sorry for scaring you and causing you distress." Kaeya apologised quietly whilst bowing to you. This surprised you; you did not expect an apology immediately, as this was extremely different from the confident, snarky Kaeya you had witnessed outside Mondstadt. You thought back to earlier how imagining Kaeya apologising and begging for forgiveness had made you chuckle in slight glee. Seeing him in that state of apology however, only made you feel bad. Even if he was only apologising to retain his position as Cavalry Captain, you didn't know his life - perhaps he truly needed the job. In the moment too, Kaeya was only performing his duty and protecting citizens from any harm. It was not his fault entirely that you fainted - you acknowledged that your thoughts and worries had led you to that. If anything, Kaeya had saved you from any potential dangers whilst you were unconscious.

You truly felt bad for him, yet your lips could not express the abundant thoughts that ran through your mind.

"It-it's okay!" you stuttered, unsure of how to approach him. You lightly placed your hand on his shoulder, and leaned forward whilst tilting your head to make eye-contact with him. You gave Kaeya a small, sincere smile. "You can stop bowing now, it makes me feel awkward," you whispered kindly. Kaeya stood up straight and nodded at you, smiling a small smile.

"I'm not an ally. I didn't even know up until now who the Abyss Mages were. I've just moved to Mondstadt, that's all." you stated. Upon hearing this, Kaeya raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, have you not? May I ask from where you have come from?" 

You turned your head away, gazing out of the window. 

"A place that is far, far away from here. So far that I don't remember myself!" you lied sweetly. Kaeya laughed and did not press you on the matter.

"Well, as the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, I welcome you to Mondstadt! Perhaps to express my deep apologies, I could extend the offer to you of a tour?" he smiled with a hint of cheekiness. You felt that Kaeya was no longer out to throw you into a boat back to Inazuma, so you happily accepted his offer.

A few hours later, you felt fully recovered. The window that had invited the dazzling, golden, warm sunlight into the office now had the silver, ethereal moon as its' guest. You knew it was time to leave, it was improper to live in Jean's office forever. On top of that, you also did not want Barbara or Kaeya to catch on that you had no home - you would feel like an absolute burden, and you didn't want them to be busy looking after you.

As nobody could be heard or seen in the vicinity, you borrowed a pen and some parchment from Jean's desk to write a note: "Thank you all for the care and protection! It is quite late and I am fully recovered, so have gone back home. I do hope to meet you all soon again! Best Wishes, Y/N." You pinned this on the door of Jean's office after you had shut the door, before then slipping out silently into the streets.

At night, the moonlight truly did the streets justice. The grey tiled street glowed supportively in the dark, whilst not a sound was heard. All was silent. You strolled past a series of stores and restaurants, all shut for the night. It was all rather gorgeous, but the wind in the crisp air meant that you were freezing! The shadows in the streets stared on as you wrapped your arms around yourself; you didn't know where to go here. Liyue was quite warm so you had never had this issue whilst travelling. Your curious, albeit slightly sleepy eyes rested upon a golden light flickering in the distance. So of course you shuffled towards it silently, until you had reached a restaurant. "The Good Hunter". Despite being shut, the atmosphere remained pleasant and the surroundings clean. It seemed however, that the chef had left the fireplace on - a blessing in disguise. 

"I'm so glad this is here!" you thought happily to yourself. Mondstadt was truly a wonderful place to live. Sitting close to the heat source, you rested your head against the wall and closed your eyes, contented. Whilst drifting off to sleep, you picked up on a subtle, bitter-sweet scent. It grew slightly stronger before your ears had woken you up - they could hear the shuffling, and it was very close at that! You opened your eyes, suddenly alert - and also fearful of anymore creatures to fight.

Sitting beside you gazing intensely was the silky-voiced, genetically blessed Cavalry Captain himself. He smiled at you, before staring into the fireplace. 

"Mondstadt's nights are lovely, although at times it can even become frosty enough for me to feel it too." he quietly said. You also turned to stare into the fireplace too.

"What do you mean by 'for you to feel it too?'" you curiously asked. There was a pause, before Kaeya gently and slowly reached for your hand, turning it palm-upwards. Feeling the contact, your cheeks burned and you felt something skip in your chest. Kaeya placed his hand upon yours, before shortly removing it again. There in your hand was a tiny snowflake. 

"Ah, Cryo vision. I see." 

Kaeya laughed, a deep laugh at that response, before continuing. "When the nights feel long and cold, I usually come here too for slight warmth and peace." You smiled happily upon hearing the word peace. Hearing that peace had finally arrived in your life truly lifted a lot off of your shoulders. You felt your body relax and heard yourself yawn. Leaning away from Kaeya onto the grey, brick wall, you slowly drifted off, half-asleep.

----- Kaeya's POV -----

I noticed that Y/N had fallen asleep, and I felt grateful that she had done so peacefully too. My vision was blurry as the dandelion wine's impact buzzed in my mind. Yet I could still make out Y/N's outline and how she lay against the wall. In my eyes, it looked rather uncomfortable. Silently moving over, I slowly moved her away from the wall, supporting her head as I did so, eventually resting Y/N's head on my shoulder. I felt that she accepted my apology without much consideration, yet I was grateful for her kindness that she had bestowed upon me. When I expressed my apologies, I vowed to myself to protect Y/N, and to watch over her until she settled into Mondstadt well. I could at least do that much to atone for the distress that I had caused Y/N. And eventually, hopefully, Y/N will know that she could always come to me. 

------ And Chapter 3 done, and that's a wrap for 2022! Happy New Year's Eve everyone! ------