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Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category: Gen

Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)

Relationships: Diluc & Kaeya (Genshin Impact), Albedo & Kaeya (Genshin Impact),
Albedo & Diluc (Genshin Impact), Rubedo & Albedo (Genshin
Impact)

Characters: Kaeya (Genshin Impact), Diluc (Genshin Impact), Albedo (Genshin

Impact), Impostor Albedo | Subject Two

Additional Tags: Diluc and Kaeya Reconciliation (Genshin Impact), Kaeya Angst
(Genshin Impact), Suicide Attempt, Morbid, Character Study,
Blood and Injury, Suicidal Thoughts, Past Child Abuse, Flashbacks,
Disassociation, Traumatized Kaeya (Genshin Impact), Angst with a
Happy Ending, Imposter Albedo (Genshin Impact), Susbedo
(Genshin Impact)

Language: English
Stats: Published: 2021-12-12 Completed: 2021-12-12 Words: 19953
Chapters: 3/3 Kudos: 33 Bookmarks: 2 Hits: 351

Let The Sun Set

StarryWisps

Chapter 2

A roar bellows out from some beast a short distance away. Kaeya feels the ground shake
as it begins to move.

Kaeya’s sword is in hand instantly. He swipes at his eye, hard, getting enough of the snow
off to look up.

A frostarm lawachurl.

It bellows again, and beats it’s chest. The whole damn creature is covered in ice, and
unlike the frost which has made it all the way to Kaeya’s chest, it’ll protect the being.

And he can’t easily do a damn thing about it.

Kaeya frowns, hoping Amber hears the roaring, and comes running. With her power, she
could surely break it’s shield. She wasn’t that far behind, either.

Or maybe...she was.

The beast races for him.

Kaeya nimbly steps out of the way, using the thin trees as a sort of barrier between his
body and the brute force of the enemy. It races past even where he had been standing,
roaring in frustration.

He races down to the open clearing, mind already working out solutions.

In his inventory, he has multiple Dodocos.

He could also lead the beast off the cliff.

Or, he could evade him again, and run for help, and get Amber and Eula. The three of
them should be able to take it down together. If they haven’t come for the roars, then
they might be just barely too far out of reach. Perhaps at Albedo’s camp.

Or maybe they had been walking away. If that’s the case, then Kaeya can’t hope to find
them soon.

I...I’m alone.

The frost creeps over Kaeya’s chest, covering his heart. As his body grows cold, Vision
trying to protect him from his own mind, a sick thought seems to offer Kaeya every
solution to the pain he’s in.

Kaeya stares at the rising back of the beast, a smile breaking out. Pride swells his chest,
at the very thought of having figured out so many solutions so quickly.

An end to everything.

The perfect end.

And then the wind lifts a bit more, bringing with it the bite of cold.

Maybe it’s the cold. Or maybe it’s the next bellow which the beast lets out, which goes
unanswered. No flaming arrow. No claymore. No shout of Retribution.

Kaeya frowns, thoughts drifting from Amber, to Eula, to his favorite Pyro, claymore user.

The man who he left, down by the Winery.

No, the man who left him.

The man who doesn’t want him anymore.

Not being wanted by Diluc is nothing new, of course. Kaeya lets out a laugh, the stinging
wind freezing his tears. They fall to the ice beneath his feet, blending in. His hand
tightens on the hilt of his sword.

The frostarm hilichurl turns, eye meeting his. Kaeya stares back. He flinches a bit,
shoulders rising.I can’t take this. He wills himself to turn, to run, to leap from the cliff and
spread his glider.

He wills himself, begs himself, to get the fuck out of the way.

But the ice is creeping along his collarbone. His Vision is betraying what his mind won’t
admit.

Kaeya looks down, then. Ice is covering his chest. He could just shatter it.

He could stop it’s spread, easily. After all, he is the one controlling the Vision. He’s the
one with the power to hurt himself, and the power to save himself.

He just doesn’t want to.

“I wish I never came back to Mondstadt.” Diluc’s words.

Back when they fought, the words which ripped Kaeya apart were things like, “You’re not
my family!” and “How dare you!” and “You killed my father!”

The last one wasn’t true, of course, but at the time Kaeya had only laughed and said,
“You killed him! I watched you!”

It wasn’t the best bonding moment.

And for many nights, Kaeya had stared out the window of one of the upstairs back rooms
of the Knights Guild where he was living, and wondered if those were the words that
made Diluc leave.

If Diluc left because of his guilt. Because Kaeya had thrown it into his face.

Or if...maybe...Diluc left, because he hated Kaeya.

Diluc, who loved Mondstadt. Who was born and raised there. Who was their youngest
Captain. Who was their prodigal son. Their heir. Their uncrowned King.

Diluc, who belonged there.

Staring up at the enemy, Kaeya begins to laugh.

Of course he was right.

“The reason Diluc didn’t come back, for all those years.”

The frostarm bares it’s teeth. Kaeya’s grip tightens on his sword. His breaths come in
short gasps.

“It isn’t due to chasing an enemy.”

The beast bellows again, and begins running. One more tear-shaped bit of ice hits the
ground beside Kaeya’s boot.

“It’s not just for revenge.”

Kaeya lowers his sword, slowly, the tip grazing into the ice.

“It’s because of me.”

Kaeya stares at the beast approaching him. He had expected everything to be over in an
instant, but that’s the thing about staring down Death.

When you’re waiting for it to bring you home, it moves terribly slowly.

There’s a million different ways to survive this. Kaeya’s talented mind leaps forward,
trying to keep him alive. Showing him countless ways to survive. Pressure points to hit.
Ways to crack the shield. Spots to jump to.

Kaeya smiles. That haunting feeling wells up inside him, rooting him in place as
thoroughly as if he were chained.

The beast is halfway to him.

Wind screams in his ears. Almost sounding like Albedo.

He’s not here.

No one is here.

Kaeya begins to laugh. Everything in the world seems to align, as if it is all correct.

As if this is the right way to go about saving Mondstadt from a monster like him.

Last time, he tried to die to Diluc. He couldn’t do it to himself, so he tried to trick the
strongest man he knew into getting rid of him.

Kaeya thought Diluc would be stronger for it. Would gain his smile back. Would feel better,
having rid himself of the filthy shadow which followed him for years.

Instead, Diluc hadn’t killed him. Had...cried.

Had left.

“I get it now, Diluc.”

The frostarm slams the ground before him, to intimidate him, but Kaeya doesn’t flinch.

“I should have just...well, it doesn’t matter.”

Kaeya watches the frostarm lift up before him, raising a paw.

“This way, no one will blame you, dear friend.”

The paw opens, claws extending. Kaeya smiles wide, eye alight.

“Sorry I didn’t do it sooner.”

The frostarm’s paw slams against Kaeya. At first, it doesn’t hurt as bad as he thought it
would.

But the hit doesn’t stop. It presses, and his body is lifted, and it’s terrifying.

He’s thrown, only the pressure at his side doesn’t stop.

He lands on the ground, rolling, coughing, and the paw still feels like it’s lodged against
his side. The beast’s claws must be in him.

Kaeya grabs his side, crying out. The sound is pathetic, and embarrassing.

If this is what Death is, I’m glad no one is here to see it.

He can’t imagine acting like this in front of Diluc. Kaeya’s teeth grit. “At least a sword to
the throat would have been easier.”

But he knows Diluc would have roasted him first.

He looks down, trying to lift his other arm from under him. Trying to situate his battered
body.

His right arm won’t move. It’s under him, and turning some interesting shades of blue.

At first, Kaeya thinks he sees an ice shard sticking out.

When he realizes it’s his bone, he cries out again.

And then the frostarm is bearing down on him. Fists rising high above his head, ready to
crush him.

And Kaeya’s fear is that the damn thing will kill him wrong.

“Should have pissed off a hili camp and gotten shot,” he says.

The ice beneath him breaks, throwing him into the sky once more. He rolls onto his
shoulder, years of training taking over so that he doesn’t have to think about it.

Kaeya ends up on his back, panting.

The ice cracks once more, beside him but not under him, as the frostarm hits the ground.

Kaeya frowns, wondering what the fuck moved him the first time.

He’s having trouble breathing, and he’s sure his ribs are broken.

Panic and relief are warring within him. Fear makes his body tremble, the instinct to live
so strong it hurts.

But the rest of him just holds on to the idea he’s formed.

The idea which was put into him a long, long, long time ago.

That dying is the best thing a boy like him could do.

The frostarm slams against Kaeya, throwing his small body.

Albedo lets out another scream, his throat raw from it. He’s still gliding down, and he’s
not close enough yet.

Not nearly close enough to plummet. He would land too far away, and running on the ice
has never been his forte.

All he can do is watch Kaeya land on the ground, limp. That sick smile leaves his face
really quickly. His beautiful, brilliant eye opens wide, not seeing Albedo.

Doubtless, his ribs are broken. And probably his arm.

“What do we do?!” A panicked voice, the voice of Albedo’s brother. The one tossed into
Durin.

A story for another time.

“You have Cryo, you can’t fight him! Just get Kaeya out of there.”

His brother scoffs. “You’ll fight him alone?”

“Shut up! Just do what I tell you to.”

Albedo lets out a choked sound, bending almost double in fear. He nearly topples his own
glider.

The frostarm is, of course, walking towards Kaeya. It lifts a fist, and the injured Captain
merely turns onto his back, facing the sky.

Albedo’s brother lands on the ice, shooting as far forward as he can.

His spikes break the snow around Kaeya and the beast, barely moving the Captain’s body.

A streak of blood is left on the ice behind him.

Albedo, finally close enough, plummets to the ground. His sword slams into the broken
ice, a shard slicing his ankle open.

He looks up at the Frostarm, whose frosty body is covered in cracks.

Albedo shoves a Dodoco in it’s mouth, and leaps away towards his Captain.

Lying on his back with a frostarm nearby is not the best time to disassociate, but Kaeya’s
never been known for having good timing.

That blue haired bastard of his youth is standing before him once again, staring down at
him.

Kaeya is staring up, with both eyes. Smiling.

And then he’s slapped, so hard he sees stars.

And then he’s on the ground, before he even knows why. Before his ears have stopped
ringing enough for him to comprehend the words being shouted.

He doesn’t remember what the fight was over. He doesn’t care.

He just watches as the man he loved, the man he adored, his hero, turned into a monster.

He watches as he slowly began to understand why any god would want Khaenri’ah to fall,
if this is what being Khaenri’ahen meant.

A knife was pressed into his hands. His collar was grabbed, and he was dragged forward.

The man was pointing at someone, tied up on the ground. Kneeling.

Kaeya no longer understands the words shouted to him. Something about killing.
Something about doing a horrible deed.

And Kaeya couldn’t do it. He shook, and trembled, and refused, and stumbled back.

And the man hit him again, slamming his head against the ground.

And Kaeya cried, cried out. Screamed for someone to help the person kneeling. Screamed
for someone to save them.

The blue haired man stared at him, and took the knife. Kaeya tried to hold on, but the
man squeezed his wrist until he couldn’t hold on. Kaeya’s nails scraped along the blade,
harming nothing.

But he had tried.

The man turned away, slaughtering the person on the ground. “That’s how you kill. You’ll
do that, someday.”

“They’ll kill me!”

Kaeya can still hear his own voice. Can still feel the strain in the words.

His head pounds.

“Then you should die,” the man said, turning back, staring down at him.

Kaeya grew silent.

“Kill whoever I tell you to.”

Over the years, the man broke him down. Until he had only to kneel before Kaeya,
pressing a dirty knife into clean hands. “Come on, son. This is the best thing you can do,
for all of us. Kill those scum at the top. They have everything, and they took everything
from you.”

Kaeya didn’t think that sounded right. But protesting never saved anyone.

The blood didn’t stop flowing whether he screamed or remained silent.

And no matter how hard he fought, he was never stronger than the man before him.

“And once you’re done, if you do it right, I’ll be able to come back for you.”

Kaeya didn’t ask what would happen if he did it wrong.

He already knew that the man was never coming back for him.

That this wasn’t a mission he was expected to survive.

After all, that’s why he was being sent to do it.

And not any of the useful adults.

Kaeya opens his eyes. Both of them, blinking, feeling the sensation and finding it odd.

He can only see out of one, but the cold air whipping both sides of his face is at once
unpleasant, as if he’s naked on the ice.

“Since when did lawachurls know how to remove eyepatches?”

“Since when did grown men take hits not meant for them?”

Kaeya tilts his chin up, squinting against the wind. He can’t move his broken arm, and he
can’t lift his shoulders from the ice.

There’s this horrible sense of shame pouring down over him at the very thought of
someone seeing him like this.

At the very thought of dying, too.

He smiles, vaguely seeing Albedo’s outline. “Sorry,” Kaeya says. “It seemed a good idea at
the time.”

“You son of a bitch!! What were you thinking?!”

A scream assaults Kaeya’s ears, and he frowns, slowly turning his head. The scream is
clearly Albedo, but Albedo is near his head. Are there...two Albedos?

Kaeya blinks, slowly, struggling to force his eyes open against the freezing cold and the
glaring sun.

Someone wipes his cheek with smooth, eery skin. It’s not as cold as a human should be,
being on Dragonspine. But not nearly as warm as one should be, either, if they’re warm
enough to not be cold.

He frowns, forcing his gaze to focus, but it seems intent on disobeying him. Two heads
stare down at him. Two Albedos.

Only one looks concerned, but Kaeya just grins.

He thinks to make some joke. They look so worried, and it’s killing him. He just wants to
laugh. To make them laugh.

He hates to see people in pain.

“Hey guys.” He bursts out laughing, unable to stop even when searing pain runs up his
side. “Since when did you double? Is the mountain doing that? We could really make good
use of this ability, have some glasses of wine.”

“Yeah if you live!!” Albedo, and he must be the real Albedo because he’s freaking out,
presses a hand onto Kaeya’s shoulder, painfully.

Kaeya tries to smile at him. “No, it’s fine. I wasn’t trying to die. I was going to be alright.
I just missed it all.”

“I heard you!” Albedo rocks him again, hyperventilating. He looks over his shoulder, braids
coming undone, flicking in the wind.

Kaeya wishes he could reach up and tuck them back into place. He tries to move his
broken arm but he can’t even lift it. The break must extend all the way to his elbow.
That’ll be a fuck of a wound to fix.

He lets out an angry sigh. “What a stupid mistake. I’m sorry.”

Kaeya shudders. He looks up again, blinking tears away rapidly, seeing two Albedos, and
he knows he’s a goner.

For one brief moment, he tries to tell himself that he feels ecstatic. That he’s happy, about
dying.

About...finally...dying.

But he begins to shake, uncontrollably. Bile rises, and he barely turns his head in time to
throw up on the ice.

Fear wells within him, overtaking his mind in sheer panic. Animal instinct, clawing it’s way
up his spine, gripping him in an iron fist.

One thought, which pierces through the fog. He hadn’t even realized there was a fog,
until this thought opened it, like the sun shining through the clouds in the distance, as if
Celestia were reaching down to enact holy vengeance.

I don’t want to die.

All he can remember, for one blissful moment as he stares at the sky, is Crepus finding
him in the storm. Picking him up. Rescuing him.

He feels something bundled around his shoulders, tight.

“We have to move him.”

“We can’t! It’s not dead!”

“Then let me deal with it.”

Kaeya frowns, though he’s seeing only vague colors, his eyesight blurring as he’s jostled.
No, as the ground moves once again.

There shouldn’t be two Albedos, yet he can clearly hear them speaking.

“Move!” There’s that scream again, choked. And then a hacking cough.

Kaeya feels freezing wind on his ear, and he blinks, sucking in a sharp breath.

The muscles in his body jolt as he tries to rise out of his stupor, looking around him.

Albedo, sword out. On one knee before the frostaam. His arm extended, braids flapping,
hair whipping around him. A Dodoco is exploding on the beast’s face.

And there’s arms around Kaeya, holding him upright. Around his chest, careful to avoid
his broken ribs farther down. Careful to avoid his broken arm.

Kaeya tilts his head back, groaning, desperate to know who’s holding him. And why
they’re so warm.

And why they smell like blood.

He spots blonde hair, light like Albedo’s. And a jaw like Albedo’s. And eye’s that are just a
bit darker than Albedo’s.

Kaeya pouts. “Who are you?”

The man who isn’t Albedo just raises his eyebrows, unimpressed. “You can’t talk. Shut
up.”

He’s definitely related somehow, Kaeya thinks.

The ground rocks again, and Albedo’s brother can’t quite move them away in time. The
ice shatters under the man’s broken arm, jostling his broken bones.

All at once, Kaeya lets out a scream. High-pitched, not held back. He begins to sob, his
mask dropping even from himself. “I don’t want to die!”

“Shh, you’re not going to,” Albedo’s brother says, picking him up.

“Get him out of here!” Albedo reaches back, looking to them before dodging. He leads the
lawachurl away, closer to the path Kaeya entered on.

“I don’t want to die,” Kaeya says, choking on his spit. Albedo’s brother sets him down,
wiping the man’s nose and mouth. “I just want to stop hurting people.”

He can’t catch his breath, watching this horrible scene. Watching this Captain, one of the
first men Albedo mentioned during their conversation about survival, break down.

Captain Kaeya Alberich. One of the best in Mondstadt. The man everyone looks up to.

“Hurt him and die,” Albedo had said. “Klee needs him, and I respect him.”

And now, he’s a mess.

Kaeya is hysterical, laughing while crying. “Just let me go.” He reaches out his good arm,
trying to break free. “Just let me die!”

“Weren’t you just begging not to?” Albedo’s brother grits his teeth, holding him fast, away
from the danger. “Listen to me!”

Kaeya looks to the man, frowning. He stops struggling, staring up as a small child would
at an angel. Tears slip over his cupid’s bow. Then, in a quiet, soft voice, he speaks. “Why
are you crying?”

Albedo’s brother blinks, staring down at him.

“Hey, even if you are a dream.” Kaeya coughs, blood spattering his lips. “Don’t cry.”

The chalk man’s lips part, horror flooding him. Never in his life has he been met with
such...tenderness. He’s only been taught what mercy is recently. And now? Kindness?
From the lips of a man who stared into death’s grip with a smile?

It’s all he can do to speak, though he’s not the one injured. “What?”

“Don’t cry,” Kaeya says, smiling. He has precious, soft cheeks. And dark, pretty hair. He’s
comforting to be around.

It’s aggravating, and terrifying. “You could die,” the chalk man whispers.

Kaeya laughs, a small, choking sound. “Everything will be okay.”

“You’re dying.” His breaths come out faster. Odd. He didn’t even know he had to breathe.
His fingers are pressed to Kaeya’s wrist, feeling the man’s pulse. It’s speeding up, which
according to his brother’s notes is not a good sign from a bleeding man. “Are you foolish?”
His voice shakes, and he wonders why.

The manuals about how to save a person on the mountain said nothing about shaking
voices, or tears in your eyes.

They said nothing about freezing cold limbs, or about how to comfort a man who’s smiling
at the thought of death.

They said nothing about this.

He looks up, hyperventilating, to see Albedo.

The alchemist is flung backwards by the frostarm. He flips midair, catching himself. Racing
back in.

“Everyone’s trying to save you,” the chalk man says, begging Kaeya to listen. To
understand.

To be the upbeat Captain that Albedo said he was.

“No.” Kaeya laughs, his eye closing. The chalk man presses a hand to his cheek.

“Open your eye!”

“Everything will finally be alright.” Kaeya obeys, staring up with love. “Don’t cry for me.
Just be happy that everyone will be okay.”

Anger floods through the chalk man. How dare this man, who finally has a life, give it up.
How dare he even care about everyone else. “You’re delirious. You stupid. You don’t know
what you’re saying! Why would you throw your life away?!”

“Throw it away?” Kaeya smiles, a hand on the man’s cheek. “Albedo, you’re sweet when
you’re mad.” He sighs, blood congealing on his teeth. “I’m not. You have no idea,” he
says, tears leaking from his eyes, though his smile holds, “how hard I fought. How long I
tried to be a good person.” His voice drops to a whisper. “How many people I loved like I
was breaking. But now, I get it. Everyone I love, I only manage to hurt a little bit more.”

Frost slips over the Captain’s fingers.

Albedo looks over his shoulder, shouting back. “How is he?!” Blood is slipping down his
forehead, and along his arm.

“He’s dying!” Albedo’s brother’s voice breaks. This isn’t what he wanted. This isn’t what he
thought being human meant.

He thought being human was to finally experience life.

No one told him death was a part of it too.

Diluc heads to the tavern, even though it’s far too early to be open. He figures he’ll clean
everything, not that it isn’t clean already, and open the doors early. That way, Kaeya has
somewhere to go. Maybe he’ll wander in, and Diluc can make him a drink, and that can
count as an apology.

But no one shows up for a short while.

A knock sounds on the door, and he lets out a heavy sigh.

Kaeya never bothers to knock, and Venti or Rosie would have just walked in right afters.

“Come in,” Diluc says, already guessing that it’s a Knight he’ll have to deal with.

Albedo walks in. Frowning. In a new uniform.

Glad to know I was right. Diluc scowls. “What do you want?” He tosses the towel onto the
counter, then freezes.

The man who isn’t Albedo is still frowning. “Did you speak to Sir Kaeya this morning?”

Diluc narrows his eyes. He’s the one who figured out Venti was Barbatos. He’s the one
who figured out Rosaria is an assassin.

He knows damn well when there’s an imposter. His hand itches for his weapon.

Did Kaeya flinch earlier because of this suspicious person? I’ll fucking kill him. “Who are
you?” There’s no kindness in his voice when he says it.