Chapter Text
It was early dawn as far as Kaeya could tell, the sun barely hinting itself and the streetlamps still glowing dimly from his windowsill.
he had intended on sleeping but the captain was writing in field reports and other important documents for Jean who had been bugging him lately on the lack of updates and promised to turn in more information, this was normal for him and with a glass or two of death after noon he was well prepared to pull a few all nighters.
He was tasked with providing updates on the fatui, which his informants had recently updated on, especially with word from Liyue and the mess one of the harbingers had caused, nearly drowning the entire city. He shivered at the prospect of the fatui attacking Mondstadt and what they would do.
They weren’t weak against the Fatui. In fact, many times Kaeya had abruptly stopped their actions in the behind scenes before anything serious happened and many were thankful for his quick thinking. Besides himself, he knew the Dark Knight hero would step up in a more violent manner if he so wished.
But he'd much rather preferred if the redhead stayed out of the affairs of the knights and served drinks in the tavern where at least Huffman could keep an eye on him. Notoriously known for sneaking out and ravaging his intel was not something he wanted, many close calls were made with Diluc's meddling and he wanted him where his eye could at least watch from afar.
He was nearly done finishing the last of the papers when a small voice echoed behind him.
"Kaeya-gege?" Klee called tiredly, her hand rubbing her eyes and yawning while standing by the doorframe. The little girl had just woken up and wandered into the study room to greet him.
"Ah good morning klee bug, had a good sleep?" He casually got off his desk, abandoning the papers and scooping up the girl in his arms, she was still dressed in pyjamas.
"Mhm, Can we have pancakes for breakfast?" She asks, gazing happily at Kaeya who was more than happy to oblige.
"Of course, why don't you get changed and I'll get started," he said, dropping her in front of the guest bedroom, which was in actuality Klees makeshift room with the addition of doodles and trinkets lying around to make it fit her more, which he didn't mind, in fact, he thought it was cute and even framed a few of the sketches.
He had Klee sleepover the night before and was making his and her's favorite breakfast, pancakes and chicken skewers. He took special care to shape the pancakes into little dodocos, as requested by the spark knight, and flipped the pancake with another pan sizzling and smelling of fried chicken. Adding his own specialty to the skewers with some fruit and it was a perfect breakfast.
The sun was finally starting to show as the light casually brightened the room and he shuttered open the blinds.
With a little clatter, Klee was already setting up the table and Kaeya hummed to himself, placing a pancake each for both of them, drizzling sweet flower syrup for her as she waited with eager eyes to dig in.
"Thanks Kaeya, you're the best!" She exclaims, digging out a bite sized piece with a knife and fork. He chuckles and ruffles her hair playfully, sitting down opposite her to dig in himself.
Klee excitedly rambled about her adventures and fun memories of the day before, while Kaeya listened, he enjoyed her company and it was no secret they bonded quite a lot.
She suddenly pauses, her expression wide with excitement. "Kaeya, kaeya we can go fish blasting today? .. Oh wait Jean said no more fish blasting or else more solitary confinement, Oh Klee doesn't want that " She grumbled, trying to find a solution.
"We could go fishing and throw bombs at hilichurls; Klee promises not to blow up the bay this time!" She proposed with a squeal.
Kaeya gave a light smile "Good girl but as much as I would love to join, Captain Kaeya has important work to do today that can not be missed." He disappoints, denying her request.
This was correct; there had been an increase in reports of fatui near Dapauga gorge and Dragonspine, which was unusual because few people ventured there, and he planned to investigate himself, not trusting anyone else but himself to get the proper details.
Klee pouted but took a mouthful of berries instead of complaining, making her cheeks puff out more. Kaeya gave a chuckle at how cute she looked, he props a hand under his chin in amusement.
"How about this, if you're a good girl today I’ll bring back a treasure chest I find alright?" Compromising, Klee's eyes immediately gleamed with excitement.
"Okay! You have fun then!" Hopping from her seat and picking up her backpack, she excitedly opened the door and turned back momentarily, "Klee will be a good girl and not cause trouble! Thanks Mister Kaeya!" She then ran out the door to who knows where before Kaeya could call her back.
Did he just get played? by a 10 year old?
he shook his head grinning to himself, maybe he taught that child too well perhaps one day she might catchup to his antics as well.
now that he was alone, he quickly put the dishes away, storing the rest of the food in a cryo-made freezer from his vision and a few mist flowers growing inside. He decided he'd finish the reports later in the day when he returned to give a full report to his colleagues another time and decided to check the sightings right away so he wouldn't keep Klee waiting.
He always made sure to have someone keep an eye on the small pyro girl, one, because of his own attachments to her and she reminded him of his younger days as a lad with her charming naivety. He supposed they had bonded quicker than most, both being foreign to Mondstadt and not born in the city.
And he couldn't help but remember a certain redhead as a young lad, before his cold personality dulled over much to his amusement.
He quickly shrugged the thought away; the past was in the past, he shouldn't be reminiscing in a memory long gone.
Kaeya quickly put on his usual uniform, complete with exposed chest and a lavish thick neck floof, and began his walk out the city gates. It would have been faster on horse or teleportation, now with the help of the traveller who recently showed how they could utilize the ancient waypoints. But Master Varka had taken his whole cavalry-which included horses, and Kaeya wasn't exactly trustworthy in using the waypoints. Who knows where their power comes from and the effects?
Their honorary knight will probably be safe as they have a special immunity to these kinds of things, but him? It's a total mystery. Perhaps he might inquire about it to Albedo when he next sees him.
Within 30 minutes, he had reached the big windrise tree, picking up random materials along the way, knowing his companions would be grateful for the ascension materials and took a quick stop below the tree, reaching for a small water pouch and taking a sip of water.
Normally he would call himself a ‘slacker’, being frozen in place after all was not his motto, but he was waiting for an informant, Nimrod.
They were close enough, they were drinking buddies and Nimrod even willingly joined the treasure hoarders, ofcourse the captain wasn't so naive to know he did more than spying but the information he gathered from the man was satisfactory to leave him be. and he was good companionship in the tavern on their drinking days.
"I didn't keep you for long did I?" Nimrod appeared below him
"Not at all" Kaeya jumping up from his place, settling into a laidback shift.
"Ah well, I do have news," Nimrod continued,
"The treasure hoarders got a anonymous tip 2 days ago to stay away from Dapauga gorge, thought I would let you know since, y'know, it seemed a little strange for our- I mean their kind of business." looking off to the side shrugging a nervous grin.
He perked up, this was news to him, an anonymous tip?
"I see, this is useful information," he murmured, folding his arms against his chest as he absorbed the new information.
"I did try to find out more, but treasure hoarder business doesn't really get into the 'whos' and 'where's'" frowning at his own short investigation.
Interesting Kaeya pondered, his eyes downcast, "Now the treasure hoarders are involved?" It won't be long before the traveler catches wind and joins the mess. He would make a trip there immediately.
Nodding to Nimrod, he tossed a pouch of mora at him and smirked. He quickly scrambled to catch it and carefully held the pouch with a delighted gleam in his eyes.
"Thanks for the information, use the mora on something nice for your wife, drinks are on me tonight!", waving at him before setting off on a jog towards the gorge.
Kaeya slowed his pace when he arrived at the valley, keeping one hand on his sword kept at the hilt of his belt. For the abandoned land it was more deserted than normal, not a bird in sight. Even the camps where adventurers often rested were abandoned and it seemed like it was not habited in awhile judging by the ash campfire.
It's too quiet
He decided he would climb to a higher location to scout more effectively, following the path up as the air noticeably got more colder. Dragonspine was closeby after all and he could see the snowy outline from here.
Suddenly, he sensed a strong elemental reaction, which caused him to activate his elemental sight and scan around. He immediately reached for his sword, unsheathing it, and rushed up the hill to identify the source. While running, he assessed the knowledge he knew already of who was behind this.
Fatui? No no, They wouldn’t plan anything after last time and recent events in liyue, the treasure hoarders were a possibility with their varying alchemists but unlikely gathered from Nimrod.
The abyss order, he realized. He stopped in his tracks at the realization.
It didn't make sense but was the only plausible explaination, now he had to figure out what they were planning and-
He didn't have a chance to think more when a torrent of hydro quickly aimed his way. He stepped back but was not quick enough to dodge in time ending up being drenched in the water.
He flashed a look in that way, but before he could react, icy shards shattered into him; he managed to avoid one, but another was soon fired behind him. trapping his legs first, then spreading upwards swiftly. As he watched the hydro and cryo abyss mages rapidly surrounding him, he writhed in the icy prison to no avail.
Shit.
He fell right into their trap. Was it planned? Who was it?
He scrambled through a list of enemies he had made over the years, but he doesn't recall needing to be hunted by the abyss order. Still he couldn’t die here; his companions needed him, Jean, albedo, amber, lisa, klee and he daresay Diluc. Hell, he even promised Nimrod a few drinks tonight, oh how he’d love to drown in death after noon right now. It was naive of him to scout this far without backup and he was ashamed how he'd been caught this way.
Silence.
What? He was still frozen in place. The downside of being a cryo user is your body temperature being colder than normal, making escaping an ice prison extremely difficult to break out of.
He glanced around with his one eye, his vision was heavily blurred by the ice and a low buzzing ringing in his ears gave him a headache How long has it been? An ice abyss mage steadily circled around him while the others watched. He glared coldly at it in his frozen state as the creature neared his face closer to his.
He did his best to translate when it spoke in khaenri'ahn to him "..a fool.. you khaenri'ah traitor.." It croaked in a highpitched tone.
"You would've been better staying out of this.. Ashame.." The cryo mage made a tsk noise, or atleast it sounded like one. Then again he could only understand half of what these blimely creatures yelled.
It motioned for the other mages to come closer and his panic began to set in, with a sharp kick he managed to break free from the ice state and quickly lodged his sword into its body killing it instantly with a last shriek from it.
To hell with this spy mission, he was going to end this right now. pulling the sword out he switched to a awkward attack stance and prepared for the incoming attacks, he would not fall for the same trick twice now that he wasn't off guard.
If he was lucky someone might've already noticed the commotion and backup was on the way. He let out an burst of heavy cryo crystals, making a border between him and the abyss mages.
3 mages in total. two cryo and hydro, the odds were not in his favor today.
How he would've been thankful if a pyro user were around. His bones were freezing. He suspected he’d been in the frozen state for less than 2 minutes, but he could already feel his fingertips frostbite over. He could still manage before hypothermia set in, would he be able to defeat them before then he questioned, deciding not to answer.
"Spill his blood!" he heard one cry in their language.
"Don't think I'll fall for that again!" He grinned dodging the firing attacks and rushed ahead of his shield.
"Cool it!" he exclaimed, quickly impaling the nearest mage before it could raise its shield, a cryo one, and leaping forward to slash its chest with his sword. It let out a screech and Kaeya quickly jumped back, avoiding the other abyss mage torrents of cryo inches away from slamming into his chest. One of them sharply pierced his leg and he hunched over in pain, seeing the blood quickly drench the wound. With great strength he forced himself to narrowly dodge another attack from the hydro mage and limp backwards.
He turned around and fled stumbling blindly along the rocky pathway deciding it was more valuble saving his life than going against the odds, he was closer to Dragonspine now he could feel the chill even in the rocky field the abyss mages were still on his trail the cryo shards aimed at him as he dodged afew. He mentally cursed himself for not suspecting the danger of the gorge and going alone.
He managed to slip away in a crevice by a hillside and used the shelter of a bush to hide behind, his breathing was ragged and he leaned forward to catch his breath. His head was pounding and his body had various wounds which were thankfully mostly numb from the sheer cold.
He took a moment to assess himself noticing his clothes were torn and somewhere along the way he managed to misplace the earring hanging on the side of his face. It was a attractive piece of jewelry and one of the very few gifts he treasured. Kaeya would have to return another time to find it, for now he scorned at how easily mages were able to overpower him, in different conditions they wouldn't be very lucky.
Speaking of luck, he was running out of that.
The pain from the recent fight was returning to him, but Kaeya was probably farther away from Mondstadt now then before and wouldn't be able to get medical care for a while. It would be dangerous if he was discovered now and he considered the time it would take with his wounds in account to find shelter. The odds were against him, he knew, but there would be more abyss creatures out by nightfall and he didn't want to take his chances staying any longer.
He used his sword as a support, pushing himself up with difficulty, and scanned his surrounds; seeing no creatures, he made his way towards the adventurers camp by dragonspine. If he made it there, he believed he could at least gather backup and medical care. He was now aware of the magnitude of his leg wound; he did not dare to take the shards from it since he was wise enough to know that doing so would cause him to bleed out. but the pain experienced him to lean heavily on his sword, which was acting as a cane.
He was by a cliff facing dragonspine below a sea of frozen wasteland. He took a moment to gaze at the daunting mountain. The threatening aura made him uneasy, just what were the abyss doing here?
He couldn't tell what time it was because clouds had formed over the once-clear skies, he realized as he limped steadily that the area was also depleted of fatui which he was aware some of them were stationed here. Something wasn't adding up, infact everything that occurred today was a mix of bad luck and confusion. He was about to step forward and heard a noise from behind making him stiffen as he turned to greet the intruder.
"Found it.. You thought you got away.. How insolent.." A shrill voice hissed behind him interrupting his thoughts. He motioned to his sword to swing at it but was blocked by a shield, he cursed stumbling back.
It was almost slow motion.
He was about to release his own cryo burst when the mitachurl appeared, easily outmatching his strength. It crashed into him with its shield, and he felt the force as his bones fractured. Kaeya was too weak to stop it, blocking his sword with his final effort and shouting disdainfully in pain, hoping that someone would hear, perhaps Amber or an adventurer, someone.
His vision was dark, he could hear a hoarse scream in the distance, or was that him screaming? He couldn't tell, he felt his body being dragged by the collar, the dirt and blood smearing into him as he failed to move his limbs. His head was filling with red and he could barely process a thing now.
He still had things to do; was this how his life ended?
His life flashed before his eyes, playing in the fields as a child with Diluc to joining the knights and learning to be protect himself, the kindness in their eyes, in his eyes. his happier moments in life. He also saw his guilt, the guilt that night when he was too late. Too late to prevent Master Crepus death, the look of despair in Dilucs eyes as he revealed every secret he sworn to secrecy all out in the open. If only he had gotten there earlier, if only his first thought wasn't how fascinating as his second family crumbled into the ashes of the night. Archons he had so many regrets and not enough time, I'm sorry everyone. he choked and felt blood dripping down his face.
"Useless... one we captured.. wrong... " he could hear the abyss mage in the background but barely acknowledged it, suddenly his body was lifted his head hung loosely and blood dripped to the grass under him. the mitachurl had lifted him with one arm by the collar shaking his limp body as the abyss mage gave a shrill dance in gloat.
"If only you were useful.. such a shame.. " it said in commontongue and he realized he was being pulled towards the cliff his panic begun to rise at the realization. He glanced at the dark debts of the ocean below, the harsh waves ripping at the rocks and he gulped.
"The abyss has no use for traitors.. Your death will be swift..".It told him, Kaeya screamed in horror as the mitachurl threw him over the cliff and he was falling, his vision blurred and his throat stung wretchedly.
Klee, Jean, Amber, Rosaria, Lisa, Albedo.. all his companions.. Aether, paimon,.. Diluc. He couldn't leave them behind. Please, archons he needed to see them one last time let the gods know he atleast tried to protect them. He begged to celestia, to his archon, Barbatos. Did he even protect anyone in the end?
I can't leave them behind
Don't let this be the end!
...
Please..
His mind quickly slipped into darkness as he plunged into the icy sea.