Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There’s a strange man lurking around Mondstadt. 

Now, normally, this wouldn’t be all that unusual. Kaeya can list about three men who like to lurk just off the top of his head, and none of them have any ulterior motives or suspicious inclinations. The difference, though, is that none of these other strange folks seem to be stalking someone. 

He hasn’t figured out who it is yet, although he has more than a few theories. For the moment, all Kaeya knows is that a Sumerian man had arrived in Mondstadt about a week or so ago, and had spent his entire time thus far lurking around corners, showing up in shops and bars only to stare at the customers and leave without buying anything, and ducking into shady alleyways to avoid being seen by any passing citizens. 

All in all, it’s pretty much the textbook definition of a suspicious individual. The trouble is that Kaeya can’t seem to figure out exactly who it is he’s targeting – though, not for lack of trying. 

He’s gotten it narrowed down to a handful of people, all of whom are folks he knows rather well. The man seems to frequent areas that Kaeya and his own friends go to often, but he definitely isn’t stalking Kaeya, or else he’d have simply shown up at his house. No, it’s more likely that he’s either after Rosaria, Venti, or Albedo – possibly Klee as well, but it’s unlikely, given that Angel’s Share is one of the places he’s seen the man most often, and Klee certainly doesn’t make a habit of visiting Mondstadt’s most popular bar. Neither does Albedo, honestly, but he’s dropped in more than once in the past week, and every time, the man has been there to watch. 

Frankly, it’s creepy. If Kaeya were any other citizen, he would have reported this to the Knights by now, but as it stands, he is the knight it would get reported to, and there’s little use in writing up a complaint just to have it delivered to his own desk. 

As per the usual, Kaeya’s taking matters into his own hands. At this rate, he’ll be a match for the Darknight Hero, what with how much under-the-table work he ends up doing. He’s fairly certain that Jean is aware of this, but if she’s not, Kaeya won’t be the one to tell her. The Acting Grandmaster has enough to deal with as it stands, and she doesn’t need her Cavalry Captain dumping a bunch more work onto her desk. 

Besides, he’s done just fine with figuring out the details about this suspicious traveller himself. According to Kaeya’s intel, his given name is Chike, and he hails from the southernmost regions of Sumeru. Unfortunately, Vile wasn’t able to pinpoint the exact group or town the man had travelled from, but that’s alright – Kaeya only needs the vague picture to start putting the pieces together. Chike has no family to speak of, and apparently makes his living as a ‘travelling merchant’, but hasn’t even attempted to sell a single good in Mondstadt yet. That, more than anything, is the reddest flag of them all. Why come all this way for your livelihood, only to avoid every chance to make some mora once you finally arrive? 

It’s downright suspicious, and that’s coming from Kaeya.  

The man is already waiting at the bar when Kaeya arrives, obviously watching Rosaria and Venti as they gather their drinks from the counter (including, Kaeya notes, a third glass that obviously holds his Death After Noon – his friends really can be quite thoughtful, when they want to be) and head to their usual table in the corner. 

Diluc is too busy tonight to shoot dirty looks at their table, which suits Kaeya just fine. He usually tries to keep an eye on his customers otherwise, especially the ones that drink the most… which is, undoubtedly, Kaeya and his friends. Albedo, when he joins them, doesn’t really drink all that much, but Rosaria and Venti absolutely do. 

Venti’s alcohol tolerance is… frankly, a little bit alarming. He looks like such a lightweight, and yet, he can drink Kaeya under the table (is the only one who can do that, in fact) and still be perfectly sober by the end of the night. Kaeya swears he’s seen the kid practically consume his own body weight in alcohol, not that that’s very hard for someone like Venti, and keep going for another two hours until Diluc had kicked them all out at closing time. 

As he makes his way over to the table, Kaeya keeps a close eye on the three glasses as well as the few people sitting nearby, just to make sure that nobody tries to slip anything into the drinks. It’s unlikely, what with Diluc’s watchful eye on them, but one can never be too careful. 

“Already drinking without me?” Kaeya chirps, draping himself over his usual seat as Rosaria slides his drink over without so much as a glance. “I’d be wounded, if you hadn’t gotten one for me as well! A nice, cold Death After Noon – ah, you both know me so well.” 

Venti snickers. His own drink, something bright and strong with a small slice of apple on the rim, is already over half-empty. “Says the man who orders the same thing every time. You ought to mix it up a bit!” 

“What, and order cider like you always do?” 

“Ask for grape juice,” Rosaria suggests. “That’ll really throw Diluc off his game.” 

“I am not ordering such an unrefined drink, thank you very much. That’s nothing but wine that hasn’t gotten good yet.” 

“And this is why you’re an alcoholic.” 

“Neither of you are any better!” 

“Don’t bring me into this,” Venti complains, “Rosaria’s the one who started calling names!” 

It would be easy to let his guard down like this, laughing amongst his friends with a drink in hand, but Kaeya knows better. He can still feel the subtle crawl of eyes on his skin, telling him that even now, Chike is observing them from across the bar. Maybe he ought to tell Diluc, and see if he won’t throw the guy out. 

…Ah, who is he kidding? Diluc would never listen to him. It’s more likely that Kaeya would be the one getting thrown out, and then that would leave Rosaria and Venti alone, unawares, with no one to watch their backs. 

Kaeya stays and drinks with his friends for a good few hours after that, but unfortunately, all things must come to an end, and soon enough it’s time for Rosaria to head home. Apparently, she has an early shift at the church tomorrow, which Kaeya can only assume is the fault of their dear Deaconess. Barbara, for all her many good qualities, has never quite seemed to understand the concept of a ‘hangover’, much less a ‘night owl’. 

Interestingly, Venti decides to leave around the same time as Rosaria, as well. 

“I plan on giving quite the performance in the square tomorrow morning!” He says cheerfully, holding up his lyre. “Can I count on you to be there, Sir Kaeya?” 

Kaeya grins. “Sure, sure. I bet I can pop by on my way to work.” 

Venti exits the bar with a wink and a smile, followed shortly by a far less excited Rosaria. She simply gives Kaeya a loose wave in lieu of a proper farewell, not that Kaeya minds – Rosaria has never been big on formalities, and it’s half the reason he likes her so much. 

Left alone in the bar at last (save for the last few drunkards, and of course, Diluc), Kaeya takes a moment to glance surreptitiously at the suspicious man again, who’s now eyeing the door. He has a drink in front of him, some colourful concoction that probably has more fruit juice in it than alcohol, but he doesn’t seem to have touched a drop. That, on its own, would be enough for Kaeya to get suspicious, even excluding all of the other evidence. 

After a few more minutes, it becomes clear that Chike isn’t going to move until Kaeya does. He’s clearly waiting for something, and if Kaeya had to guess, he’s waiting for the only knight in the tavern to move along so he can get up to whatever shady business he has planned. Venti and Rosaria have long since left by now, and there are no other people here that he could be targeting. He’s only stuck around for lack of a suitable escape route. Of course, Chike also doesn’t know that Diluc on his own would be just as much of a threat as any knight (or probably more, actually, depending on the knight), but Kaeya would rather not dump his stalker case on the poor, unsuspecting bartender. That would be rude. 

“Well, I suppose I’ll be heading out now,” Kaeya sighs, draining the last of his drink and returning the empty glass to the counter. “Have a nice night, Master Diluc! Don’t stay up too late, or else you might wake up even grumpier than you already are!” 

Diluc rolls his eyes with a quiet huff, but doesn’t otherwise respond to Kaeya’s teasing, which is perfectly fine. Kaeya has more important things to worry about tonight than whether or not Diluc is ignoring him. 

He strolls out of the bar with a pleasant smile on his face, carefully betraying none of the thoughts running through his head. As long as Chike doesn’t see him as he slips around the corner of a building and quietly scales the side of it, he should be able to watch from the balcony and see what the man’s next move is. Will he attempt to follow Venti, or will he head for the church? 

Kaeya positions himself just below the railing of the balcony, watching through the gaps in the posts as Chike exits Angel’s Share and ducks into the alley, leaning up against the wall of the building as he fumbles for something in his jacket. It takes a bit of straining to see what it is in the low light, but when he brings the glinting object up to his eyes, it becomes obvious that what he’s pulled out is an oddly ornate pair of glasses. The closer Kaeya looks, the more little bits and bobs he can see attached to them, but that becomes secondary information when he sees Chike fiddle with something on the side and the lenses begin to glow. 

He’s looking at something, Kaeya realises, something that can’t be seen without the odd artefact he had just pulled out. Whatever invisible thing he sees on the stone tiles of the street, it’s enough to move him from his hiding place in the alley, and he quickly vanishes into the depths of the city as Kaeya watches from above. 

What was he looking at? Kaeya thinks, narrowing his eyes at the empty patch of street. Some sort of invisible trail?  

Perhaps his Elemental Sight would be able to shed a bit more light on this. Kaeya activates it and looks down at the street again, only for his eyes to widen as he realises that the path out of the bar is marred by a trail of glowing footprints, all formed of misty Anemo energy and leading off in the exact direction that Chike had just gone. 

That’s got to be Venti. Kaeya has no idea why he leaves such a significant elemental trail everywhere he goes, but at this point, it’s far from the strangest thing about the bard. But… it does mean that he’s significantly easier to track, not only for Kaeya, but for Chike as well. 

A young, pretty, talented bard with an Anemo Vision and an alarmingly distinct elemental trail? Venti would be the ideal target for a kidnapper or trafficker hoping to make a quick buck. 

Maybe he is a merchant, after all – just not the kind dealing in goods that Mondstadt would ever approve of. 

Kaeya’s going to have to deal with this, and fast. The longer he waits, the more time Chike has to get ahold of Venti – and while Chike doesn’t seem to have all that much physical strength, given his slight, wiry build, Venti doesn’t either. He’s alarmingly light, which would only make him easier to subdue and carry off – and if Chike has been watching him all this time, there’s a good chance that he knows that, too. There’s no chance that he hasn’t seen Diluc pick Venti up by the back of his shirt and scruff him single-handed when he’s being too rowdy in the tavern. 

Kaeya scales the rest of the way up the building and runs across the roof, vaulting onto the top of the next house as he follows the trail of glowing prints that he only hopes will lead him to Venti before it’s too late. At this point, he’s past caring if Chike notices him, as long as he gets to Venti first. The rooftops will be his best bet, giving him a better vantage point and fewer obstacles as he races to his friend… wherever he may be. 

oOoOo

Never before has Kaeya cursed Venti’s lack of self-preservation so many times in the span of a minute. 

He can see Chike from his hiding place up on the rooftop, but he’s still too far away to hear what they’re saying. He’ll have to be careful as he gets closer, or else Chike might notice him and try to take Venti hostage, and Kaeya is not equipped to handle a situation like that tonight. 

Kaeya inches closer, staying crouched on the rooftop as he peers over the edge of it, straining his ears to listen. Another few shuffling steps, and he can just make out the quiet conversation happening down below. 

“You really think that’s going to work?” Venti says. He sounds displeased, but not afraid, which is both good and bad. “There are people who are going to notice, you know. They’ll know if I’m missing, and they’ll certainly know if you try and pull some silly charade.” 

Chike moves closer, and Venti inches back. There isn’t much space left in the alleyway – any further, and Venti will be cornered. There’s not enough room for him to be able to use his bow effectively, and it’s also too cramped for him to use Anemo to lift himself up. Why did he even come down this way? It’s only good for getting someone trapped and not being overheard, which is exactly what Kaeya wouldn’t want when dealing with a possible human trafficker. 

From within his coat, Chike draws out a crystalline item that glints dully in the moonlight, too small for Kaeya to make out any details, other than the greenish colour. “Well, if that’s the case… I’m sure I can find other uses for you.” 

Oh, fuck no. There’s no way in hell Kaeya is letting that happen. 

He vaults over the edge of the rooftop to land right between them, sword already materializing in his hands as his Vision begins to glow. Before he can do anything, though, the little object in the man’s hands lights up, surrounding itself by an oddly vacuumous aura. It’s as though the breeze is being pulled inwards, towards the misshapen artefact, and a quick glance at Venti shows that he’s now surrounded by a glowing ring of Anemo. Whatever Chike is doing, it’s happening fast, and Kaeya knows Venti won’t be able to react quickly enough to escape it, much less stop it. 

He makes a split-second decision and grabs onto Venti, holding fast as the air around them becomes crushing in pressure, and then–  

Nothing. 

Just for a moment, nothing, and then, Kaeya is somewhere else. 

It’s all glowing and he can still feel Venti’s wrist wrapped tightly in his hand, his one point of normalcy in this strange new void he’s fallen into. The air is saturated with Anemo energy, thick enough that he can practically taste it, but it’s rapidly thinning just as he looks around. The entire… room, area, chamber, whatever, is entirely empty of everything but Kaeya… and, of course, Venti. 

Venti, who has just yanked his wrist out of Kaeya’s grip to bring his hands together, calling up a borderline storm of Anemo into a palm-sized vortex caught between his fingers. Kaeya braces for impact, but it never comes. 

In an instant, the charged attack of concentrated Anemo dissipates, the air instantly going dead as the walls seem to glow brighter in the exact shade that the energy had just been – and at the same time, Venti collapses to the ground, gasping for breath as he clutches his chest. 

Kaeya’s eyes widen as he too drops to the ground, hands hovering helplessly around Venti as he shudders and gasps. He can’t tell what’s wrong with him, can’t tell how to fix it – it’s like he can’t draw breath, but there’s nothing wrong with the air that Kaeya can tell. Is it his throat? His lungs? His heart? Venti could be dying right in front of him, and Kaeya can’t do anything about it, because he can’t even tell what the problem is. 

It takes a few long moments of wheezing before Venti is able to choke out, “Don't do that again, got it.”

Kaeya sighs in relief at the sound of Venti’s voice, even as strained and raw as it is. He can at least breathe enough to speak, and for the moment, that will have to be enough. 

“What was that?” Kaeya asks after a beat of silence, broken only by Venti’s strangled attempts to fill his lungs again. Whatever had happened, it’s getting slightly better, but he still sounds as though there’s a noose around his neck, and Kaeya does not like it. 

Venti doesn’t answer for a long moment, staring at the ground with a blank, almost hollow look in his eyes. “There… wasn’t enough Anemo.” 

“Enough Anemo?” Kaeya’s brow furrows. “What do you mean by that?” 

“...I don’t breathe like you do. It’s not the air, it’s… it’s the Anemo energy in it. This place, wherever we are, it’s drawing out the ambient energy and swallowing it up. There’s nothing in here except for what’s coming from me.” 

What does he mean, ‘I don’t breathe like you do’? What the hell is that supposed to mean? He doesn’t breathe?! Kaeya really wishes they were in any other situation right now so he could properly grab Venti and shake him until the answers fell out, but unfortunately, that would probably make their current predicament worse. 

He only realises he’s been silent for too long when Venti continues, voice quieter and tone far more somber than he’s ever heard before. “I can’t get us out of here. I tried, but you saw what happened there. We’re trapped in here, either until that man decides to release us, or…” 

Venti trails off, and Kaeya frowns. “You couldn’t break the… prison, or whatever this is, but maybe I could. With my sword, I could–” 

His sword. Where did his sword go? Is it back in his Vision’s subspace? 

Kaeya calls for his blade, only to come up empty-handed. Nothing appears in front of him. There isn’t even that slight pulse of cold at his hip from the spike in Cryo ener– 

Oh. 

There’s nothing at his hip. 

“My Vision’s gone,” Kaeya murmurs, staring down at the empty space with a shell-shocked gaze. For the first time since he’d gotten it on that fateful, horrible night, his Mondstadt Cryo Vision is missing from its permanent place at his hip. “It’s gone.”  

Venti glances over at him, eyes catching on the missing ornament as his expression grows even more grim than before. “This place is attuned to Anemo – your Vision must have been left behind because it’s Cryo. Although… even if you did come in here with an Anemo Vision, all that would have happened is that the prison would have begun to draw from you, as well.” 

“As well?” Kaeya repeats, and Venti looks away again. “ As well, Venti?” 

Venti doesn’t answer, refusing to meet Kaeya’s eyes. 

“Give me your Vision, if it’s drawing from you then we don’t want it to have any more power than–” 

“That won’t help.” 

Kaeya pauses. “Why not?” 

Venti waits for a few minutes, clearly thinking something over, before he finally responds in a low, almost hopeless tone. “It’s not the Vision that it’s drawing from. The Vision– the Vision is fake. It’s just a piece of metal and glass.” 

“...What?” 

“It’s fake,” Venti repeats. “I don’t have a Vision. I don’t need one. An elemental god already has that energy within them.” 

An elemental god. A fake Vision. Two braids and eyes that glow Anemo-teal in the dark– 

Fuck. Fuck. Kaeya should have seen this sooner, how did he not see this sooner? Venti, he’s– Kaeya should have noticed, and it’s nobody’s fault but his own that he didn’t. 

“You’re Barbatos,” Kaeya murmurs, “aren’t you?” 

Venti refuses to meet his eyes. 

Chapter Text

Kaeya is late to work. 

This strikes Jean as quite odd, given that in all the time he’s been the Cavalry Captain (in all the time he’s worked for the Knights, honestly), he has never once been late – not even when he probably should have stayed home entirely. The only way Jean could ever get Kaeya to not come into work was by outright banning him from coming into the building on those specific days, and even then, he would still find a way to weasel into her office and steal some of her paperwork if she didn’t keep a close enough eye on it. 

Hopefully, this is simply a chance event. Not even Kaeya can go five years without ever being late a single day – even if he’s never been late before, there’s a first time for everything. There’s no need to jump to conclusions without investigating and making sure that there’s a legitimate reason to do so first. 

She checks his office first and foremost, but it’s empty, just as it had been all morning so far. There are still a few papers stacked on the one corner, and some kind of corkboard covered in notes and pins, but nothing new that wasn’t here last night. Kaeya clearly hasn’t been through here, and neither has anyone else. He isn’t in the library either, nor the alchemic lab, and neither Lisa nor Albedo has any idea of where he could have gone. 

“He was going out drinking with Rosaria and Venti last night,” Albedo offers. “He invited me to join, but I declined – I was working on a rather extensive project. I know that he’s usually quite good with pacing himself when it comes to alcohol, but could he have overslept due to a hangover? Angel’s Share did just come out with a new drink, and I’m unsure if the alcohol content would be more than Kaeya is used to. He may have overdone it by accident.” 

Jean nods slowly, considering Albedo’s theory. “It’s possible. I’ll go to his apartment and see if he’s there – honestly, even if he did oversleep, he could probably use the extra rest. I may just give him the day off if that’s the case and let him sleep in a bit longer.” 

She bids Albedo farewell and heads out of the Knights’ Headquarters, making her way down the sunny streets of Mondstadt in the direction of Kaeya’s apartment. It’s fairly close to the Headquarters, sitting somewhere between Kaeya’s workplace and Angel’s Share, with an easy path to the market as well. Really, quite a good location, especially for someone who frequents that tavern as often as Kaeya likes to. 

When Jean reaches Kaeya’s home, the lights inside are still off and the door is locked. Jean frowns, feeling a slight sense of foreboding, but there’s surely a reasonable explanation for that. Of course his lights are off – if he’s still asleep, why would they be on? 

Jean knocks on the front door a couple times, waiting for a response, but there’s nothing but silence. If Kaeya is inside, he clearly didn’t hear her. 

Technically speaking, she does have a key to his apartment in case of emergencies. It feels a bit odd to use it now, when the only ‘emergency’ to speak of is Kaeya potentially having overslept, but… Jean would much rather apologise for invading his privacy than walk away if something really is wrong. Even if he’s only sleeping, what if he had gotten sick or injured? He could be hungover, or concussed and unconscious, or bleeding out, or he might not even be there at all. There’s only one way to find out. 

Jean enters Kaeya’s apartment with some apprehension, but when she opens the door, it looks about the same as it always does. Nothing is askew or bloodstained, but it also doesn’t seem like Kaeya has been in the living room at all this morning – and on closer inspection, she’s not sure if he’s even home. His shoes and cloak are gone from their places by the front door, and the kitchen, when she looks, shows no signs of having been used recently. The sink, despite having a handful of food-encrusted dishes still in it, is bone dry, and the stove is dark and cold. 

A peek down the hallways shows that none of the lights are on in the other rooms, either. It’s looking more and more like Kaeya is totally absent, but she’ll still check his bedroom, just in case. Perhaps he stumbled to bed after a night of drinks, and just couldn’t be bothered to change out of his outside clothes or remove his shoes before falling asleep. It’s unlike him, but still possible, isn’t it? 

And yet, his room is completely empty. The bed is made, obviously untouched, and the most prominent thing in the room is the absolute mess of papers plastering his desk and the wall behind it. Clearly, Kaeya was up to some extracurricular activities without Jean’s knowledge. 

Even more clearly, Kaeya isn’t here.  

But if he’s not here… then where is he? He didn’t show up for work, but it doesn’t seem like he came home last night at all, if the dishes are anything to go by. Who was the last person to see him the night before? 

It would have to be Venti, Rosaria, Albedo, or… Diluc. The first two are his closest friends outside of work, the ones he usually goes drinking with, but Venti is notoriously hard to find on a good day – Rosaria will be a better bet if Jean wants information, but she’ll be too busy with her duties at the Cathedral to talk to until later this evening. Albedo often goes out drinking with the trio as well, or sometimes has dinner with Kaeya and Klee if their evenings are free, but he’d already said earlier that he hadn’t seen Kaeya after work last night. Which only leaves the fourth, and most problematic candidate: Diluc Ragnvindr. 

Despite their shared upbringing, Diluc now seems to want nothing to do with Kaeya – outwardly, at least. Inwardly, Jean knows for a fact that he must still care for his estranged brother, but he does a shit job of showing it, so she wouldn’t be surprised if Kaeya still thinks that Diluc hates him. 

She leaves Kaeya’s apartment with a pit of worry growing in the bottom of her stomach, making her way towards the Winery as quickly as possible. This isn’t the time to send a messenger or worry about being ‘official’ – if her Cavalry Captain is in danger, Jean needs to do something about it now.  

oOoOo

Diluc was having a perfectly normal morning until that knock at the door. 

He stays seated at the table as Adelinde goes to answer it, only to pause when he hears her greet the visitor still standing on their front step. 

“Miss Gunnhildr!” Adelinde gasps, stepping aside to let Jean in. “What a surprise! What brings you here at this hour?” 

Jean’s face, normally so calm from her ever-present mask as the Acting Grandmaster, is twisted with concern. “Something unpleasant, I’m afraid. I was hoping to speak to Master Diluc. It’s… it’s about Kaeya.” 

Adelinde ushers her to the table before bustling off to fix her a cup of tea, leaving Jean sitting across from a rather surprised Diluc. What could possibly be wrong with Kaeya that would require Jean to come to him for assistance? Kaeya is… no longer his problem. There’s no reason for Jean to be here, not when they no longer have any sort of familial connection tying them together. 

(And whose fault is it, that those bonds have been severed?) 

“What brings you to me, Jean?” Diluc asks flatly, giving her a pointed look. She knows exactly what he means – Jean, of all people, is well aware of the situation when it comes to her two closest childhood friends. 

Jean frowns, looking grim. “Kaeya’s missing as of this morning. He didn’t come into work, and from the looks of his house, he didn’t make it home last night, either. Other than Venti and Rosaria, you were the last person to see him as far as I’m aware.” 

“And why are you speaking to me, rather than one of them?” 

“Rosaria has a job,” Jean points out, looking exasperated, “and Venti is already impossible to find on a good day. I won’t be tracking him down any time soon unless he wants to be found – he shows up on his own terms, and on his own terms only, as you very well know.” 

Well. She’s not wrong about that, at least. “Fine. What do you expect me to do about it, then?” 

If Kaeya is ‘missing’, as Jean says, he’s likely just run off to chase some lead or another on one of his various personal cases. He tends to get into things that have nothing to do with the knights, especially when it’s a case that Diluc is already working on. Of course, Diluc hadn’t gone out last night as the ‘Darknight Hero’, as Kaeya likes to call it, given just how late his shift at the tavern had run – whatever Kaeya was up to after closing time, Diluc had had nothing to do with it. 

“I am hoping to figure out exactly what happened to my Cavalry Captain, Master Diluc,” Jean informs him. “Did anything suspicious happen last night at the bar? Anything involving Kaeya in particular?” 

Diluc sighs, leaning back in his seat. “I really don’t know. Angel’s Share was even more crowded than usual last night due to that new drink on the menu, and Charles wasn’t on shift. If anything happened, it didn’t happen where I would have noticed it.” 

Jean stands, letting on a sharp huff. “I hope you know just how unhelpful that is, Master Diluc. Kaeya could have been kidnapped or worse, and until Rosaria gets off work, you are technically my only lead.” 

The strain in her voice gives him pause, and Diluc thinks for a moment, mulling over the situation. Jean’s concerns could have some merit, but… well, it’s Kaeya. He’s slippery. He always tends to find a way to get out of sticky situations, no matter how tight things get. 

For all Diluc knows, he could have gone off to chase some Treasure Hoarders or something of that ilk last night after leaving the bar, and simply decided to set up a camp or stay in Springvale rather than trekking all the way home after midnight. Of course, that would mean that Kaeya had gone out after he’d had a few drinks, which is… unlike him. For all his faults, Kaeya at least knows better than to work while inebriated, especially if he’s going to be getting into fights. 

Had Kaeya actually gotten drunk last night – drunk enough to impede his mind, at least? Diluc tries to think back, but there had been so much going on that night, and Venti and Rosaria had been at his table as well. Venti, who drinks enough for three men of Varka’s size on an average night, and Rosaria, whose tolerance would make a doctor cry – especially after she’d made it her life’s mission to one day be able to outdrink Venti. It’s difficult to tell which of them had ordered what, and therefore, hard to know if Kaeya had actually had any more or less alcohol than usual. 

“Alright,” Diluc says at last, making Jean pause as she heads for the door. “I’m not saying anything did happen to him, because for all we know he’s gallivanting off to play the hero somewhere, but I’ll come and help you investigate. You’ll need an extra set of hands without your Cavalry Captain there regardless.” 

Thankfully, Jean doesn’t complain or argue, simply waits for him to get his coat and inform Adelinde that he’s heading into town. “You certainly turned your attitude around quickly.” 

Diluc doesn’t answer. 

oOoOo

Rosaria is already waiting in Jean’s office when the Acting Grandmaster returns from her errand – and with Diluc Ragnvindr in tow, no less. She hasn’t seen him in here since he quit the knights and skipped town. 

“Took you long enough,” Rosaria notes as Jean enters, casting a glance at her unusual companion. “Kaeya seems to be suspiciously absent, so I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Venti’s missing.” 

Jean blinks, taking a moment to process that before she responds. “Venti is what?” 

“Missing. He didn’t show up to his performance this morning, the one he’d planned to do in the square.” 

“It’s not all that strange for Venti to be late to his own performances,” Diluc points out. He seems remarkably unbothered, though if Rosaria looks closer, she can see a bit of tension in his shoulders. Clearly, he’s attempting to hold back his own problems right now. “He’s probably just napping on someone’s roof again.” 

“I didn’t say he was late, ” Rosaria reiterates, “I said he didn’t show up at all . He has never once done that, ever. That doesn’t strike you as odd?”  

Diluc and Jean both still. They exchange a look, one that speaks of untold secrets, and Rosaria is instantly curious. If they know something about Venti’s absence, they had better tell her, or she’s going to pick that stupid Ragnvindr up and shake him until the answers fall out. She wouldn’t do that to Jean, though, or else the Deaconess will give her more work out of spite. 

“Did anything odd happen at the tavern last night?” Jean asks suddenly. “Anything with Venti or Kaeya in particular?” 

Rosaria starts to shake her head, but then thinks better of it. “Kaeya seemed preoccupied. Barely touched his drinks, didn’t even order as much as usual. I figured he had something work-related on his mind. Venti was completely normal, though, or as normal as that little weirdo can be.” 

“Kaeya was worried?” Diluc’s face twists with concern, an unfamiliar expression for him, especially when it comes to Kaeya. Rosaria hasn’t forgotten all the dirty looks thrown across the tavern whenever Kaeya did something ‘unseemly’ – although, pretty much every look from Diluc looks like that, so perhaps he’s simply bad at expressing himself. “About what? I haven’t heard anything new lately.” 

“We should check his office, and if that fails, the desk in his apartment,” Jean suggests. “He had quite the array of papers laid out there, but I didn’t get the chance to look at them before I came to retrieve you.” 

Jean nods at Diluc, and Rosaria frowns. “You were in Kaeya’s apartment?” 

“He… didn’t show up to work today. I thought he might’ve been ill, or overslept or something like that.” 

“So you thought he was hungover, then.” 

Jean, notably, does not reply. 

“Anyways,” Rosaria continues, “if you’re going to raid his office, I’m coming too. I’ve nothing better to do and I’d like to know where the hell these two are.” 

Diluc and Jean exchange another look, and Rosaria feels the irritation grow at the thought of information being withheld from her. Really, in such a situation, do they really think this is the right time to be keeping secrets? It’s not like Rosaria won’t find out everything eventually anyways. She always does. It’s why she’s Kaeya’s best friend, and also why he’s occasionally terrified of her. 

“Alright, we’ll all go,” Jean eventually acquiesces, and Rosaria politely doesn’t point out how long it took for her to decide that. “Follow me.” 

She leads the way down the hall as if Rosaria and Diluc don’t know exactly where they’re going, but they all choose to ignore that little tidbit. No need to bring up the fact that this office used to be Diluc’s, or that Rosaria frequently breaks into their headquarters to drag Kaeya out of his work and to the bar when he’s been in the paperwork for too long. Jean is surely aware of both of these things, but saying it aloud would be remarkably rude, not to mention awkward. 

Jean holds open the door to allow the other two to enter, and Rosaria makes a beeline for Kaeya’s desk the second she’s past the threshold. She pulls open a few drawers until she spots the newer papers on the top, stacked neatly and with the paper still fresh and unscuffed. The ink is brighter here, unfaded, even if the handwriting is… well, atrocious would be putting it nicely. He clearly didn’t intend for anyone else to read these – Kaeya tends to save his good calligraphy for the actual paperwork, and then resorts to chicken scratch when it comes to his personal notes. 

“This is probably important,” Rosaria announces, pulling out the sheaf of papers and dropping them onto the desk’s empty surface. “Personal notes, by the looks of it. New ones.” 

Jean and Diluc both draw closer, inspecting the shoddy writing. Rosaria leans over them and scans the page, picking out a few important bits (‘stalker’ and ‘Sumerian’ seem to stick out, but she can’t really make out the words around them), until a name at the bottom catches her eye. No, a few names – Venti, Rosaria, and Albedo, with the last one scratched out. 

“The hell is this about?” She asks, pointing to where her own name is written. 

Diluc frowns, looking closer. “Looks like he was tracking a potential stalker – he seems to think kidnapping was a possibility. Not much description is given aside from it being a vaguely Sumerian man with… ‘a shady face’. The names at the bottom are a list of potential targets – Albedo was apparently ruled out, and the other two were…” 

He trails off, a line appearing on his forehead as he furrows his brow at the sight. He glances to Jean, and yet another significant look passes between them. 

It’s really starting to piss Rosaria off. 

“Well, we know who the target was, since it obviously wasn’t me,” Rosaria states. “So, why is Kaeya missing as well?” 

“He could have been collateral,” Jean murmurs, almost to herself. “Or a hostage to ensure that Venti behaved. Otherwise, there’s no way that he would have been caught.” 

Rosaria nods slowly. “Kaeya’s rather good at getting out of things, from what I’ve seen.” 

“Not Kaeya, Venti. Though, Kaeya was likely only caught because he was intending to protect Venti. If they were going after him…” 

Venti is the one they think would have been more likely to escape? Sure, he’s small and squirmy, but he’s also a homeless teenager(?) who’s way too easy to scruff. Compared to a formidable Cavalry Captain, who’s ostensibly one of the strongest people in Mondstadt at the moment, Venti is Jean’s main concern? 

“Venti would have escaped by now if not for that,” Diluc agrees. “They’re likely in the same place. If we find this stalker, we’ll find both of them.” 

“Why the hell are you two focusing so much on Venti?” Rosaria asks incredulously. “They’re both missing, and Kaeya would be the bigger threat, between a knight and a bard. I thought Kaeya was one of the knights you trusted most, Acting Grandmaster, so what’s your problem now?” 

Jean frowns, looking a bit surprised, as though she’d forgotten Rosaria was there. “I don’t mean to discount Kaeya, it’s just– well. It’s complicated. I can’t explain right now.” 

Right. That’s what people say when they don’t intend to explain at all, which is not an answer Rosaria will be accepting. “Uncomplicate it, then.” 

“Venti was… instrumental in resolving the Stormterror Incident,” Jean says slowly. Her face looks a bit pinched, like there’s more she wants to say, but she’s holding herself back. More hidden secrets, then. “Anything further is… not my story to tell. All I can say is that Venti should not be underestimated, despite his…” 

“Everything,” Diluc finishes. 

Rosaria raises one eyebrow, as judgmentally as possible. She wants them to feel judged right now. “I hope you know how much that sounds like absolute bullshit.” 

“Rosaria, if I could explain, I would,” Jean sighs, sounding exhausted. “You can ask Venti himself when we find him. It’s his decision what to share and what to keep to himself, not mine. I don’t tell other people’s secrets.” 

Hm. She can accept that, for now. “Fine. But if this becomes significant to the case, you had better tell me, or I’m going to have to go and figure it out on my own.” 

Jean and Diluc exchange another– yes, another look. 

Rosaria just about screams. 

Chapter Text

There has to be some way out of here. 

Kaeya’s been examining the bounds of this prison for what feels like hours, but there isn’t a single gap to be found. Still, he can’t stop, because there must be something he’s missing. If there isn’t, if he’s well and truly trapped in here, if he really can’t do a single thing about this… 

No. He refuses to entertain that line of thought. If he stops thinking of potential escape plans, he’s going to start thinking about the only other topic on his mind, and right now, Kaeya doesn’t think he can handle any more wonderings about how much of his friendship with Venti was real, and how much was a farce put up by the god pretending to be a mortal. 

How many of the stories Venti told were true, and how many were lies to sell a certain image? Did Venti really believe all the things he said to and about Kaeya, or was it simply a deceit meant to get Kaeya’s guard down? 

Even now, Venti is still watching him, keeping an eye on him like there’s something to be suspicious of. Shouldn’t Kaeya be the one watching Venti, wondering if he’s safe or if this god plans to exterminate him like the rest of his people? Or… does Venti know about what Kaeya’s initial reason for being placed in Mondstadt was? Does he still suspect that Kaeya could be a turncoat for a dead nation, even now? 

That calm expression on his face isn’t helping anything, either. Kaeya feels like a madman, pacing back and forth as Venti just sits on the floor and watches him, perfectly placid like nothing is wrong and this is simply another Tuesday. 

“There’s no way out,” Venti says suddenly, not moving from his spot against the smooth wall. He still hasn’t taken his eyes off Kaeya, not once. 

Kaeya huffs. “And how would you know? I don’t see you searching for cracks.” 

“I’m the God of Freedom, Kaeya,” Venti reminds him. “I know when I’m cut off from my domains. Besides, if this prison was anything less than airtight, I would have been able to get us out by now. I could have at least contacted my siblings, which would have been close enough.” 

“How are you so calm about this?” 

Venti pauses, giving him a look. “I’m not.” 

At that, Kaeya stops his pacing. Venti’s been acting so aloof about this whole ordeal, so unbothered, and now he claims that he isn’t calm? 

Apparently sensing his disbelief, Venti continues. “Panicking isn’t going to get us anywhere. I’m hoping that if I can at least act calm, I won’t use up too much energy and this place won’t be able to take as much from me. I’m terrified, Kaeya, but I really don’t want to make this worse by freaking out.” 

That… makes an upsetting amount of sense. Venti is right – panicking isn’t going to help, especially not if it only weakens Venti further. “You’re right. I didn’t think about that.” 

A beat of silence passes, then Venti speaks again. “I could… try and break us out. Overload the prison with more Anemo than it can handle, and see if that’ll break it enough for us to get out. I don’t know if it’ll work or not, and there’s a good chance it won’t since it was made to hold an Archon, but it’s still a possibility.” 

“And if it fails? What will that do to you?” 

“Ah… well, I doubt it’ll take me out entirely, but I won’t last nearly as long if it doesn’t work. I’ll have expended all that energy for nothing, and the prison will just absorb it all.” 

A prison made to hold an Archon, Venti had said. “Why does this place absorb Anemo, anyways? Why was he going after you in particular?” 

“He wanted a battery, and that’s what he got,” Venti shrugs. “Though… I can’t help but wonder what his full plan is. This isn’t sustainable.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Venti frowns, looking away. “A god of freedom doesn’t do well in a cage, Kaeya. I’m not going to last forever.” 

Kaeya’s blood runs cold. This place… if it could truly draw enough out of Venti to– to kill him, then what the hell is this man’s plan? What does he possibly gain from draining the Anemo Archon ‘til death? If he’s attempting to take that power for himself, or even to use it for some other nefarious purpose– 

Without warning, the walls of the prison begin to glow, and Venti lets out a hiss of distress as his body seems to give out, like he can’t hold himself up anymore. He had already been seated, but now he’s collapsed on his side, head against the floor as his face twists in pain. The glow subsides after a few moments and Kaeya rushes to Venti’s side, pulling him up and supporting him as he struggles to stay upright. 

“What was that?” Kaeya asks worriedly, examining his face. He’s breathing hard again, struggling to get enough air even though Kaeya really isn’t sure anymore if he actually needs to breathe. “You didn’t do anything this time, so why…” 

“Told you,” Venti gasps, “a battery. That was… was him using it.” 

He manages to catch his breath after a minute or so, but he still looks nervous, and Kaeya hates to see that expression on his face. Venti had never looked anything less than cheerful when they had seen each other before this, and now, to see him like this… Kaeya doesn’t like it. Whether Venti truly considers him a friend or not, Kaeya can’t help but care about one of the people that he had considered to be amongst his closest companions. 

Kaeya can’t stand this feeling of helplessness, of just waiting around for something to happen while Venti grows weaker and weaker, and yet, no matter how much he thinks, there’s simply nothing he can do. 

oOoOo

Sir Kaeya is missing. 

It’s all anyone can talk about. Kaeya and Venti had apparently gone missing about a week ago after leaving the tavern, and no one had seen any trace of them since. The Acting Grandmaster has been practically running herself ragged trying to find any sort of clue about her second-in-command’s whereabouts, but so far, it’s to no avail. 

The rest of the knights, in the meantime, have been doing their best to pick up the slack. Kaeya’s workload is already bad enough, but given how hard Jean is working to find him, they’ve all collectively agreed to try and lighten the stack of papers on her desk as much as possible, too. Any cases or reports that don’t officially need the Acting Grandmaster’s signature are passed off to anyone else who can handle them, and small-time complaints are delegated to Albedo and Lisa, who have both offered to stand in for Jean regarding social matters. 

Amber herself has been given a specific case to work on, and although it isn’t her usual type of job, she’s determined to handle it well. She’s far more accustomed to patrolling outside of the city than chasing down petty criminals, but this man has been getting away by using a glider, and it’s a widely-known fact that no one in all of Mondstadt can outfly Amber. If anyone can catch this guy, it’s her, especially now that Sir Kaeya is out of commission. This would usually fall under his purview, not Amber’s. 

Lisa had given her a rundown, compiled and handed off by Jean, of what the man had been up to and what they know of them so far. He’s of small stature and average features, wearing dark clothes and using a plain glider to escape after each incident. No one has gotten a good enough look at him to say any more than that – they’re not even sure what colour his hair is, beyond ‘dark’. Really, the only notable thing about him seems to be that he’s an exceptional flyer, but Amber is sort of offended that he decided to use his gliding prowess for evil when he could have been such an asset to the knights. 

The first thing Amber should do is check out the most recent crime scene. The previous ones have all been documented and placed in the case file, but the last known theft had taken place at Marjorie’s shop, With Wind Comes Glory, and it had only been discovered this morning. 

It’s also one of the first break-ins that had taken place in someone’s business, rather than in a personal home. Over the past few days, there have been more home invasions than Amber thinks they’ve had in the past decade, and nearly all of them have one thing in common: the thief had entered and exited through a second-story window. Amber is sure that, when she speaks to Marjorie, she’ll be hearing the exact same thing from her, as well. 

Marjorie, predictably, is already waiting outside the building when Amber arrives. A glance up shows that one of the upstairs windows is, in fact, broken, though there’s no glass on the street – this was definitely his point of entry, then, and Amber already feels apologetic about the fact that she’ll have no time to help Marjorie clean up the mess that undoubtedly waits for her upstairs. 

“Outrider Amber, you must be here about the break-in,” Marjorie greets her, tipping her head toward the building behind her. “He got ahold of some of my rarer wares, I’m afraid. I didn’t get a good look at him, he had already made his escape by the time I’d gotten downstairs. I stopped to grab a kitchen knife, you see, just in case.” 

Amber nods in understanding. “Yes, I’m going to be handling the case of this criminal, so rest assured that Outrider Amber will bring this man to justice! Now, would you mind telling me exactly what was taken, and any other details you may have noticed?” 

“Ah, I actually wrote down a list. Here, I can give you the second copy, I thought you might need it. As for details… well, he came in through the window, of course, which was odd since it was the second-floor window. He crashed right into my guest room. Aside from that… actually, now that I think about it, there was one other thing that struck me as odd.” 

“Oh? What was it?” 

Marjorie hesitates, looking a bit unsure. “Well… I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye when I went to check the broken window. Something small and white, like a little bird, only it was gone the second I blinked. I’m sure it was nothing, of course, but… I don’t know, it was just a bit strange, that’s all.” 

Small and white… Amber can’t think of anything that would be. A bit of cloth in the breeze, maybe? Marjorie’s likely correct about it being insignificant, but it’s still worth keeping in mind. 

“Did any of your neighbours see or hear anything?” Amber asks, but Marjorie shakes her head. 

“No, I don’t think so. The only person I saw was the knight I flagged down to report the break-in to – if anyone else had woken up, you know they would have been sticking their heads out of the windows to see what was going on.” 

She’s right about that, as well. Mondstadt is full of notoriously curious people – it’s incredibly difficult to keep a secret around here. 

After a few more cursory questions, Amber bids Marjorie farewell and heads back to the Knights’ Headquarters to compile the new information with the old. If she can find a pattern and figure out where this criminal is going to strike next, she might be able to head him off before he manages to rob anyone else. Otherwise, an airborne patrol in the evenings may be a good idea – that way, Amber can keep an eye on the skies and spot anyone who’s being suspicious with their glider. 

***

There doesn’t seem to be a consistent pattern to this man’s strikes, but Amber is out on the town with her glider tonight, and if anyone tries anything shady, she’ll be the first on the scene. 

She’s been out for a few hours already, and she won’t hesitate to admit that she’s a little exhausted by now. Amber isn’t used to having this heavy of a workload on the regular, and that’s on top of the extra paperwork she’s taking on due to Kaeya being missing and Jean busying herself with searching for him. The Knights of Favonius are already stretched thin on a good day, but now with their two top officers out of commission, they’re even more overworked than ever. Amber is generally a friendly, pleasant person, but right now she swears she could curse Grandmaster Varka for taking so many of the knights out of Mondstadt on that stupid expedition. 

But that would be rude, so she won’t. Not out loud, anyways. 

Amber’s just about ready to call it a night (given that she can barely keep her eyes open at this point) when she spots a small figure dashing across the rooftops. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but it looks like something on their belt is glowing as they make an impossible leap from one house to the next. 

Rising from her perch atop the wall and deploying her glider, Amber jumps off and catches the wind as she flies after the figure, trying to catch up at least enough to get a good look at them. She wants to see their face, but they’re too fast, and it’s just too dark. The light from their belt must be a Vision of some sort, either Cryo or Anemo judging by the glimpses of colour (although she’s leaning toward Anemo, what with the fancy jumps they’re doing), but it’s nowhere near bright enough to illuminate their features. 

They notice Amber tailing them far too quickly and dart down into an alleyway, pulling out a dark-coloured glider of their own as the winds appear out of nowhere to lift them up. A stray gust blows Amber’s hair into her face and she brushes it away, but not quickly enough to see where they went. When she’s gotten her eyes clear again, they’re gone – vanished somewhere into the night, leaving no trace behind save for a few white flickers that vanish moments later. They almost remind her of… butterflies, maybe, if butterflies were larger and wispier. 

“Well, that’s not good,” Amber sighs, letting her glider disappear into her Vision’s subspace as she sits down heavily on the roof. Maybe she should have called for backup, but something tells her that having more knights wouldn’t have actually stopped that guy from getting away. 

Still though, now she knows for next time that chasing him down isn’t a viable option. If she wants to catch this criminal, Amber’s going to need to be clever about it. 

oOoOo

Albedo really wishes he had run off to Dragonspine when he still had the chance. 

As it stands, he’s trapped in the Knights’ Headquarters, unable to make any progress on his experiments because he’s stuck doing one of the things he hates the most: talking to people. 

He’s not going to complain out loud, because Jean undoubtedly has it far worse that he does, given that she’s taken on the entirety of the search for Kaeya and Venti – well, along with Sister Rosaria and Diluc Ragnvindr, who for some reason have decided to involve themselves. Albedo’s not really sure why Jean is letting them do that, but she could use the extra help, so he’ll keep his questions to himself for now. 

So no, Albedo is not going to say a word about his troubles where Jean can hear him. In the comfort of his own mind, though, he is so very close to shattering the nearest beaker and bolting to Dragonspine before anyone can catch him, because even the subzero disasters up there would be better than this.  

“Sir Albedo, Outrider Amber is here to see you!” 

Albedo grimaces, dragging both hands down his face before schooling his expression and turning towards the door. “Let her in, please.” 

He’s stuck in an office now – Kaeya’s office, to be specific, because that’s where all of the paperwork is – with a Knight outside, waiting to come in and report to him. Nobody should be reporting to Albedo. This is not his job, and yet here he is, because someone had the goddamn audacity to kidnap a bard and a Cavalry Captain. Kaeya is in danger and it is ruining Albedo’s life in so many ways. 

Amber enters Kaeya’s office, now temporarily Albedo’s, and the first thing he notices are the terrible eyebags she’s now sporting. She must have been up quite late on patrol last night. 

“How is your case going?” Albedo asks, because that seems like a logical way to start this conversation. 

Amber, thankfully, chooses to sit down in the chair on the other side of Kaeya’s desk. “Well, good and bad. I got a glimpse of the guy, but he’s fast. I did find out something new, though.” 

“Oh?” 

“He’s got a Mondstadt Vision, I think. It was hard to get a good look at it because he was moving so fast, but I definitely saw some wings on the side. I couldn’t tell if it was Cryo or Anemo at first, but it’s got to be Anemo, since he’s making his own wind currents to glide away on.” 

“So that’s how he’s gotten to the second-story windows, then,” Albedo connects, and Amber nods. 

“Yep. I still don’t know who he could be, since he’s obviously not anyone with an Anemo Vision that we know, but it’s possible that he’s from another town, or that he recently moved back to Mondstadt after some time away. I’m looking into it more.” 

Amber is correct about this man obviously not being one of the Anemo Allogenes from their own circles. Jean is obviously out of the question, as is Sucrose, and Venti is currently missing. Honestly, Venti is the closest to the description out of the three of them – a short, dark-haired male with an Anemo Vision – but aside from the fact that he’s presumably been kidnapped alongside Kaeya, breaking and entering also isn’t something Venti would be doing. He has no reason to rob people. Anything he wants, he can usually find a way to get, either by convincing someone else to get it for him or by earning mora to buy it himself from his performances if he can’t simply go out and find it. 

“I’ll see if anyone knows of another Anemo wielder aside from our own friends,” Albedo offers, leaning back in his seat. “In the meantime, continue working on the case as usual. Good luck to you, Outrider.” 

“Thanks, Captain.” Amber exits Kaeya’s office swiftly, hopefully to go have a nap somewhere before returning to her duties, although he knows his hope is likely unfounded. She’ll probably continue to work until she falls over, because they simply have nobody else to take her place. 

Ugh. Albedo really, really wishes he were back on Dragonspine. 

Chapter Text

The worst part is the boredom. 

The seemingly endless stretches of time where the two of them sit in this featureless crystal room, nothing to look at, nothing to do but stew silently in their own anxieties or talk, irregularly interrupted by the walls glowing and Venti collapsing bonelessly to the floor as he struggles for breath. 

He recovers quickly each time, but Kaeya can see the exhaustion creeping in, bruises forming under his eyes, slowly becoming quieter and more still as the time passes. Occasionally, he seems to get a little energy back, seems brighter, but it’s difficult to tell if that is due to the time from the last time the prison was used, or from some external cause, and it’s clear that, whatever is happening, it isn’t keeping up with the rate Venti is losing strength. 

It’s impossible to know how long it has been since they’ve been trapped here. Strangely, despite the way it must have been at the very least days by now, Kaeya has felt neither hungry, thirsty, nor tired. 

( Stasis , Venti had said when Kaeya had brought it up, it must be a function of the prison .) 

Venti’s taken to staring blankly at the walls like some kind of porcelain doll, soundless and unmoving. It’s weirding Kaeya out. He’s already faced with so many new revelations right now, and he does not need Venti to start acting even stranger on top of all that. Venti is supposed to be loud and chaotic and unrestrained, either as a bard or a god, and to see him acting so far from that is… unsettling, to say the least. 

“You… said you had siblings, at one point,” Kaeya says eventually, wondering if talking to him would get Venti out of this odd half-conscious mindset. “How did that happen? Are they also…?” 

“Gods?” Venti murmurs, then shakes his head. “No, nothing like that. The Thousand Winds, the sprites, they’re all my siblings. I was one of them too, ‘til I broke off from the group and ended up hanging around Old Mondstadt. They’re… they’re probably getting pretty worried now, wondering where I am. They don’t like not being able to find all of their siblings.” 

Kaeya nods, though he doesn’t really understand as well as he’d like to. Wind sprites are a thing of legend, never seen and never spoken of. Now, Venti’s just confirmed that not only are the Thousand Winds a real group of beings, but he himself is among that number. To have over nine hundred siblings… 

“Do you miss them, too?” Kaeya asks, barely audible. Venti hears him anyway. 

“I do.” 

They fall into silence for a few moments, and Kaeya watches Venti’s expression, finding only concern in the way his gaze slowly turns blank and glassy again after Kaeya stops speaking to him. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that there was no soul behind those eyes – that whatever being once rested within the confines of that body had long since fallen dormant. It looks like the blank, fishlike gaze found under the eyelids of someone in deep slumber. 

“Why was he targeting you?” Kaeya asks slowly, looking up at the featureless walls just so he doesn’t have to keep seeing that hopeless expression on Venti’s face. “Did he know you as… well, you? Or was it all a coincidence? Given all this, I’d be surprised if he hadn’t known something.”  

He gestures at their surroundings, and Venti lets out a quiet huff. “He definitely figured it out. He was planning to pose as me, apparently – not for long, but for just enough time to get his hands on something valuable. Probably an artifact from the church’s archive, if I had to guess. I get the impression that he isn’t after power, only wealth.” 

“ Was planning? He isn’t anymore?” 

“Ah… he wasn’t too pleased to find out that there are people in Mondstadt who know my identity, and would recognise him as an imposter.” 

That’s… not surprising, actually, now that Kaeya thinks a bit. Of course he wouldn’t be the first to know Venti’s secret. “Let me guess, the Traveller is among those who know? Who else does?” 

“Jean and Diluc. I think some others might suspect, but those are the only ones who know for certain. And Dahlia, of course.” 

“The Stormterror Incident?” Kaeya asks. That was the only situation where all four of the people mentioned (other than Barbatos’ own herald, who would obviously know anyways) were involved, and thinking on it, it makes perfect sense for Venti to have involved himself in such a large-scale disaster. “That wasn’t too long after you first started showing up around Mondstadt – in living memory, at least.” 

“Well. I couldn’t just let Dvalin suffer, now could I?” 

Dvalin – that would be Stormterror, the dragon that had attacked Mondstadt. “What happened with that, exactly? Jean was a bit evasive on the details. For good reason, apparently, but I'm still curious.” 

Perhaps if he can keep Venti talking, he’ll stay a little more alert. It’s worrying when he just stares off into space like his mind has already gone dormant, but Kaeya can’t think of any way to get him to stop doing it other than making conversation. 

“He was poisoned,” Venti says shortly. “Abyssal corruption. Thankfully, we were able to purify him.” 

The fact that his answer was barely a few phrases is also worrying. Usually, Venti will take any and every opportunity to wax poetic and draw out a conversation for as long as possible. The fact that he’s now doing the opposite… 

Maybe it would be better if Venti didn’t keep trying to force himself to stay conscious and present. He doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job of it, anyways, and he looks like he could use the rest. 

“Would it help if you took a nap, or something like that?” Kaeya suggests. “You already seem exhausted, so–” 

He cuts himself off as he sees a look of bone-deep fear flash across Venti’s face. “ No. I can’t leave you alone.” 

Kaeya frowns. “It wouldn’t be forever. I’d wake you up in a bit.” 

“You wouldn’t be able to.” 

“...What?” 

“You couldn’t wake me up,” Venti repeats. “If I fall asleep, that’s that. This place will keep me trapped here forever and absorb everything I have to give until there’s nothing left at all. If I go to sleep, I’ll only speed things up.” 

“Are you telling me that you’ll die if you fall asleep?” For a moment, Kaeya almost feels like he has his Vision back, what with the cold shiver that runs up his spine at the thought. 

Venti contemplates this. “I don’t think I’ll… die, really, I’ll just be a more efficient battery.” 

“That’s not better!” 

“I wouldn’t want to fall asleep even if I was alone, but because you’re here, it’s easier for me to stay awake,” Venti explains. “You’re the chink in the prison, Kaeya. He can't risk messing with the seal to get you out, because I'm in here with you. At the same time, you are the one keeping me awake – I won’t fall asleep while one of my people is in front of me, in need of help. Air will find the finest gap to pass through. One gap in the seal, on crack in the prison. That's all it would take to escape.” 

oOoOo

It’s been almost two weeks, and Jean still doesn’t have a single new lead on where Kaeya and Venti could have gone. 

Two weeks that two of Jean’s closest friends have been missing, and she still has no idea where they are or how to help them. What kind of Acting Grandmaster – no, what kind of friend is she, that she can’t even find two people? She’s even sent word to Dahlia in Dornman Port, just to make sure there was no news of Kaeya or Venti there, but the Deacon hadn’t known a thing. He had already been in the area, and now, Dahlia’s taken it upon himself to keep an eye on the port and the ships in and out, using his authority as the Deacon and the Herald of Barbatos to ensure that any information in Dornman Port would make it back to Jean. It would be helpful, if there were any information to send back. 

Diluc has been trying his best to help her out as well, but with how stressed this situation has made him, she doubts he’s going to make it much further if he doesn’t rest soon. Already he’s collapsed more than once in her office, and she wouldn’t be surprised if it happens again when he reports back to her tonight. 

As for Rosaria, her presence certainly isn’t helping either, not when Jean can’t give her enough of the full story for her to be of any use. She’s been hounding Jean day and night, not to mention going out and harassing anyone and everyone that she thinks could have any sort of information, but thus far, not one of her ‘investigations’ has turned up a single useful fact. 

Worst of all, Jean is pretty sure that Rosaria is quickly catching onto the fact that there’s something she’s not being entirely truthful about. 

“If you would just let me help, then we could find the kidnapper way faster than the knights on their own could,” Rosaria insists. Once again, she’s let herself into Jean’s office, bypassing every lock and guard as though they aren’t even there. “I have access to plenty of contacts that your knights don’t–” 

“And I know for a fact that none of them could help us, or else you would have already asked them,” Jean counters. “This is not a matter for the Church to be involved in, Sister Rosaria. Please see yourself out now.” 

Rosaria scoffs. “I’m not here as a Sister, I’m here because my two closest friends are missing, and you know something that you’re not sharing. I know it can’t be a matter of confidentiality, or else you wouldn’t have involved Diluc Ragnvindr in the case. What is it that you two are trying to keep quiet?” 

“There’s nothing that we’re trying to ‘keep quiet–’” 

“There absolutely is. What secret could possibly be so important that you would still try and keep it, even in the midst of a double missing persons case?” 

“Nothing I am keeping to myself would have any bearing on this case,” Jean insists. “I am trying to figure out who could have had any sort of motive to go after one of our citizens, and you’re–” 

“And then there’s the fact that you seem to be more worried about a Cavalry Captain of your own Knights than you are about a civilian bard. ” Rosaria crosses her arms, leaning back in the chair she’d pulled up as she regards Jean with a cold gaze. “I know it isn’t because he’s one of your knights that you would value him more – you simply aren’t that kind of person. But in that case, why are you so convinced that it’s only Kaeya who’s in danger here?” 

Jean narrows her eyes. “I don’t value one of them more than the other. This case is not your business, Sister Rosaria.” 

“Then why are you acting like Venti is in no danger? Why are you concealing information and–” 

“It’s not my secret to tell,” Jean states, cutting her off as she stands from her desk. “You may see yourself out, Sister. I have no more time to entertain visitors today.” 

Rosaria watches her for a long, tense moment before she rises, stalking out of Jean’s office without another word. Jean collapses back into her seat, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sighs. 

She… hadn’t meant to say quite that much. Hopefully, though, it will keep Rosaria distracted for long enough that Jean can continue to work on this case without her constant interruptions. As much as she had been trying to help, her presence had only been a hindrance, given that Jean and Diluc don’t have the liberty to bring her into the fold. 

oOoOo

Amber’s been making very little progress regarding her thief – and by ‘very little progress’, she means absolutely none at all. 

She’s still no closer to finding out their identity. After the initial meeting where she’d spotted their Vision and promptly scared them off, they seem to have disappeared into thin air, leaving nary a trace behind. Luckily, that does mean that the people of Mondstadt haven’t experienced any more break-ins, but it also means that the Knights (more specifically, Amber herself) have no idea if or when this person will strike again. 

Amber has still been keeping an eye out in and around Mondstadt, and despite the disappearance of this particular thief, her Outrider patrols have turned up some rather interesting things. Somebody seems to be clearing out the Treasure Hoarder encampments before the knights can get to them – or rather, they aren’t getting rid of the hoarders themselves, but they’re snatching up the spoils and running off before the hoarders can catch them. 

Needless to say, both the hoarders and Amber are rather annoyed with this new development. 

She’s on one of her patrols again, in fact, when she spots a sheisty figure making their way out of a known Treasure Hoarder hotspot. Whoever they are, they’re alone, which is odd for a hoarder, and they seem to be trying to get away as inconspicuously as possible. 

It’s bad luck for them that Outrider Amber is here, then. She opens her glider and flies down from the cliff ledge where she had been perched, landing right behind them and giving chase as they break into a run. 

“Hey, stop!” Amber shouts. She’s not really expecting them to listen, but it feels better than just saying nothing, doesn’t it? “Get back here!” 

The suspicious figure obviously ignores her, bolting towards a nearby thicket of trees as they weave around stones and bushes. Amber leaps up and jumps right over a rock in her path, landing hard on her heels even as she refuses to slow her roll for so much as a moment. She refuses to lose her prey. 

Slowly, Amber starts to catch up with her quarry as they both run through the wilds of Mondstadt. They’re obviously tiring, and Amber is an expert at chasing things down by now. It’s only when they run themself into a corner that they start to move frantically, looking around wildly for any escape route – but Amber, being the clever Outrider that she is, had herded them in this direction for a reason. There’s no way past the high stone walls of this clearing, meaning that her target is effectively trapped. 

“There’s nowhere to run,” Amber announces, positioning herself in the middle of the circle’s entrance and blocking any hope of escape. 

But it seems that her opponent isn’t out of tricks just yet. 

They thrust out their hand and a wind current begins to bubble up, lifting them into the air. Around their waist, Amber can see two glowing objects now – two Visions? But that can’t be right, everyone knows that it isn’t possible to have more than one, unless this person stole somebody else’s. Looking closer, though, the two objects aren’t quite the same – one is glowing with Anemo energy, but it looks more like an oversized chess piece than anything else. The other is definitely a Mondstadtan Vision, wings and all, but… it isn’t an Anemo Vision, like Amber initially thought. Seeing it so close to the true Anemo glow, it’s obvious now that the Vision’s colour is the pale blue of Cryo, rather than the bright teal of Anemo, and what’s more… 

There’s something different about that Vision, about the frame in particular. It… only seems to have two wings. 

A Cryo Vision with two wings. Perhaps that wouldn’t stand out to anyone else, but Amber knows that Vision, and knows exactly who it belongs to, too. That’s Kaeya’s Vision, and if this mysterious figure has Kaeya’s Vision, then– 

She watches as the currents lift them up and out of her reach, knowing that she’ll never catch up to them now that they’ve once again brought the wind currents into play. Even if they’ve gotten away today, though, Amber knows they won’t succeed another time. Jean needs to hear about this, and once she does, Amber’s quite certain that this suspicious fellow is going to regret their entire existence. 

(And she doesn’t even want to think about what Diluc Ragnvindr is going to do once he finds out.) 

Amber runs back to Mondstadt as fast as she possibly can. She’s probably confusing all the poor folks she runs past (granted, they’re mostly knights that are used to her rushing around all the time, but still) as she bolts up the stairs, skidding to a stop in front of the Knights’ Headquarters. The two guards on shift see her coming and move to open the doors, and she nods her thanks before darting through, heading straight for the Acting Grandmaster’s office. 

Technically speaking, no one is to disturb Jean right now. Amber should be submitting a formal request on paper for anything that has to do with her current case, although she knows that Lisa has taken over most of Jean’s paperwork right now and is signing off on the requests on her behalf, but… this isn’t just about Amber’s case. It’s about Jean’s case too, about Kaeya’s disappearance, and Amber has a feeling that Jean will forgive her for her trespass if she comes bearing news about their missing Cavalry Captain. It’s already been so long without any fresh leads, and the longer the case sits, the less chance they have of solving it and finding Kaeya and Venti. 

There’s a guard outside of Jean’s door, and he steps into Amber’s path as she approaches, giving her an almost pitying look. “Apologies, Outrider Amber, but the Grandmaster is busy with her case right now. I can direct you to Lisa or Albedo if you–” 

“I know she’s busy with her case,” Amber cuts him off. “That’s why I’m here – it’s important, please, I need to talk to Grandmaster Jean immediately!” 

For a moment, the knight regards her before he steps aside, pulling the door open with a quiet sigh. Amber steps inside and Jean looks up at the sound of her entry, visibly exhausted even though she’s been doing little but sitting at her desk and looking over reports and maps. 

“Amber? What brings you in?” Jean asks, rising from her desk to greet her. “Is something wrong?” 

“The thief from my case has Kaeya’s Vision,” Amber blurts out. Jean’s eyes go wide.

“He what.”  

The low voice from behind makes Amber jump, and she whips around to see Diluc Ragnvindr standing beside the door, hidden in shadow – she hadn’t even seen him when she’d entered. Now, though, he’s stepping into the light with a more furious expression than she’s ever seen in her life. 

 “I thought at first– I put it in my report that he had a Mondstadt Anemo Vision, because I saw him using Anemo and I saw the Mondstadt frame,” Amber explains, “but I just got a better look at it and the colour is all wrong – and, Jean, it only has two wings. It’s a two-winged Cryo Vision, Captain Kaeya is the only person in all of Teyvat with a Vision like that! I lost the guy when I was chasing him, he made a wind current to go up a cliff and I couldn’t follow him after that, but if he knows where Captain Kaeya and Venti are–” 

“I’m going to hunt him down,” Diluc announces with a growl. “And if he doesn’t spit out everything he knows, I’m going to drag it out of him. ” 

He sweeps out of the room and Jean watches him leave with tired, worried eyes. Amber looks from the door to Jean and back again, unsure of what she’s supposed to do here now that she’s said her piece, but luckily, Jean is already plotting her next move. 

“We’ll get a search party out. Amber, I need you to make a profile, any detail you can remember about his appearance, mannerisms, anything, get it all written down and distributed. Lisa will help you.” 

“You got it, Grandmaster! But, um… what about–” 

“Diluc will be fine.” Jean shakes her head dismissively, though her eyes wander once again to the open door. Amber can just barely see the guard outside trying not to be caught as he listens in. “Amber, I can’t thank you enough, this is the first break we’ve had in far too long. If we can find this thief of yours…” 

“Then we might find Kaeya and Venti, too.” 

oOoOo

Diluc is furious.  

Somewhere in Mondstadt is a man who might know where his brother is, and Diluc is going to get that information out of him if he has to rip it from his dying body. 

Two days. Two days he’s spent looking for this bastard, and still, there hasn’t been a single sign of him anywhere. Diluc won’t stop until he finds him, but the tremors in his hands have only grown worse in the past few hours, and try as he might, he can’t seem to get them to stop. It’s horribly frustrating, especially given the fact that he’s going to need to have a steady grip on his sword if he wants to sever this man’s head from his shoulders after he coughs up Kaeya’s location. 

Jean and Rosaria have been no help either, getting in his way at every opportunity and trying to drag him back to the Winery to do inane things like sleep and eat. He’s been eating – he’s been dropping by Angel’s Share and Good Hunter to grab small things he can take with him while he searches. Diluc knows he won’t be any help if he passes out from hunger. 

…Although, after the goddamn ambush they’d set up for him last time he tried to grab something from his food stash at the bar, Diluc might have to find another way to get a quick bite to eat. He is not letting Rosaria stop him now. 

(The Winery is, obviously, not an option – not until he can bring Kaeya back there with him, at least. Adelinde would never let him out of his room until he slept a solid eight hours, and that wouldn’t help his efficiency at all. It would just be a massive waste of time to trek all the way out there without even being able to leave immediately.) 

A clattering up on the roof above catches his attention, and Diluc vaults up the wall without another thought, swinging himself over the roof’s edge and onto the terracotta tiles. There’s a dark figure up ahead, cloaked in black with their back to them as they run away across the tops of Mondstadt’s buildings. Diluc notes their height and build as he begins to run after them, and sure enough, they perfectly match the description Amber had given to Lisa and Albedo. There’s no way this isn’t the man who’s carrying Kaeya’s Vision. 

He draws his claymore as he runs, letting the flames ripple along its edge as he draws closer to his prey. This thief may be fast, but Diluc is faster, and Diluc is also absolutely furious.  

Diluc jumps into the air and brings it down right where the man is standing – only for him to leap to the side, dodging by mere inches. The flames singe the edge of his cape, but the thief himself is unharmed as he whips around to face Diluc with a look of utter shock. 

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” The man yells, looking him up and down. “You’re not a knight!” 

Diluc brandishes his blade and levels a deadly glare at the thief as he slowly stalks forward. “Where is Kaeya?” 

“...Who?” 

“You have his Vision,” Diluc growls. “I know you know where he is.” 

The man’s eyes widen as a wind current bursts from the ground beneath his feet, but he barely gets into the air before Diluc sends a bird of flame straight into his chest, knocking him backwards and causing him to fly through the air until the phoenix dissipates and he drops down to the wall at the edge of the city. 

He coughs, brushing at the scorch mark on his chest. “Are you insane? What is your problem?!”  

“Tell me where Kaeya is,” Diluc demands. “That’s his Vision.” 

“I-it’s just a Mondstadt Cryo Vision! They all look the same, what makes you think–” 

“Wrong. That one is Kaeya’s.” Diluc holds up his Pyro Vision, brandishing it with one hand as he holds his claymore with the other. “See the difference?” 

“Uh… that one is Pyro?” 

Diluc glares even harder, letting his Vision drop to hang from his belt again as he advances on his enemy. “Tell me where you’ve hidden him. Where is Kaeya?” 

The man lifts the Cryo Vision, Kaeya’s Vision, from his own belt, holding it up like he’s admiring it. He stares at it for one long moment before an ugly grin begins to spread across his face. “You want this Vision that badly?” 

Diluc knows his eyes are fixed on it, but he can’t help it. He can’t look away, or else it might disappear just like Kaeya had. 

The man’s smile widens. “Then go and get it.”  

And in one swift movement, he throws it over the wall, straight into the lake. 

Diluc doesn’t even stop for a second to think before he jumps after it, hand outstretched in a desperate, futile attempt to catch the little glowing charm before it hits the water and sinks to the bottom. 

oOoOo

When Rosaria finds Diluc, the first thing she’s going to do is knock him the fuck out. Maybe if he spends a couple hours unconscious, he’ll stop being such a headache for her and Jean. 

Of course, that would require Rosaria actually being able to find him first. He’s been running all over Mondstadt for the past couple days, both in and out of the city as he tries to hunt down the thief who’s apparently carrying Kaeya’s Vision. Jean hadn’t told her about that little tidbit until after getting her to agree to keep an eye on Diluc, and Rosaria is now regretting ever entering Jean’s office that evening. Who knew trying to keep a handle on a single man would be so damn difficult? 

So now, Rosaria is stuck on babysitting duty for a grown man that she can’t even find. She knows he’s somewhere in the city, saw him run up the bridge after spending most of the day hitting Treasure Hoarder encampments, but then he had just… vanished into the ether. Rosaria has absolutely no clue where he could be now. 

She lets out a heavy sigh as she scans the rooftops again, but pauses when a flash of fiery light shines at the edge of her vision. It looks like an enormous bird made of flame, flying across the rooftops and soaring up into the sky right before it goes past the wall of the city. 

Well. Found him, then. 

Rosaria heads toward the disturbance, already mentally preparing herself for how difficult Diluc is going to be when she arrives. He must be fighting someone, if she’d seen the effects of his Vision from so far away, but she’s not entirely sure if it’s their real target or if he’s just being overdramatic with some petty criminal. At this point, she wouldn’t put it past him to fire off Dawn at a purse thief if they startled him badly enough. 

She gets up on top of the wall just in time to see a cloaked figure gliding away on a wind current, and… Diluc, going right over the edge of the city wall. What the hell is he doing? 

For a moment, she thinks he must have been knocked off the wall, but the angle’s all wrong. It looks like he jumped, and he’s not even trying to reach for his glider. When he hits the surface of Cider Lake, he dives down deep, and even after a few moments pass, Rosaria sees no signs of him resurfacing. 

“Fucking hell, you always have to make things dramatic,” she mutters, already taking off her veil and kicking off her shoes as she dives in after him. 

It’s nearly pitch-black underwater, but Rosaria can just barely see the faint glow of Diluc’s Pyro Vision on his belt, and she dives down towards it, grabbing onto the first piece of fabric she can get ahold of (which she’s pretty sure is his sleeve) and yanking him up towards the surface. He’s heavy as hell and he certainly isn’t doing anything to help her, but luckily, they’re close enough to shore that Rosaria can hopefully get them onto land before she loses her grip. 

It only becomes harder to move him once they reach the surface, although now Rosaria doesn’t have to hold her breath. She tries to keep his head above water as much as she can, but the slackness of his muscles isn’t making things easy – at this point, she’s pretty sure he’s passed out, and she’s not surprised in the slightest. He had definitely been conscious when he went into the lake, but hitting the water and then not coming right back up for air afterwards, combined with the general stress and exhaustion… Rosaria can see how that could knock a guy out. 

Rosaria knows she’s not making much progress in her attempts to get them both to shore, but Diluc is a claymore wielder and he’s heavy as fuck. It’s not exactly easy to haul that wall of muscle through the water when he’s barely more than dead weight at this point. 

“Rosaria! Diluc!” 

The familiar voice of the Acting Grandmaster rings out over the lake, and Rosaria looks to shore to see her standing with a handful of knights… and also Deaconess Barbara, who looks utterly incensed. The Deaconess is already using her Hydro Vision, the glassy surface glowing with elemental energy as she calls the waters of the lake to life. Rosaria can feel shifting waves around her as they’re ferried towards the shore, Barbara’s Hydro keeping them aloft and ensuring they don’t slip back under the water’s surface. 

As soon as they’re within reach, Jean grabs both of them by the shirts and hauls them out, dropping them on the ground to cross her arms. “ What the hell were you two doing?” 

“Diluc threw himself into the lake,” Rosaria says immediately, pointing an accusatory finger at the man in question – who is still not very conscious, unfortunately. “Blame him. I only went in to fish his dumbass out.” 

Jean lets out a heavy sigh. “And why did he throw himself into the lake?” 

Rosaria shrugs. 

“He’s got something in his hand,” Barbara notes, crouching down and lifting his hand up as she tries to pry his fingers open. Sure enough, there’s a slight pale blue glow coming from his palm, but Barbara can’t seem to get him to let go of whatever it is that he’s holding. 

Jean’s brow furrows as she crouches down as well, and Rosaria sits up to get a better look. “Can you tell what it is?” 

“Not… really? I would almost say it’s a Vision, based on the glow, but he’s holding on too tightly for me to get a good look at it.” 

Jean reaches over and tries to tug his fingers open, but Diluc only holds on tighter, instinctively pulling his hand away and tucking it closer to his chest to prevent anyone from getting whatever it is he’s got clutched in his fist. Rosaria frowns as she looks closer, noting the little bit of metal sticking out from the bottom of his hand. 

Those are the wings of a Mondstadt Vision, and judging by the glow, it’s Cryo. It isn’t Rosaria’s, not when she can still feel the cool weight of her own against her back (though she does reach a hand back to check, just in case), and if that’s what he was diving down into the lake to grab… 

“Oh, shit,” Rosaria realises, “that’s Kaeya’s Vision.” 

Chapter Text

Chike is not a stupid man. 

He was always considered bright, back in the Akademiya. He did well in his classes, he grasped concepts easily enough, and in the beginning, he coasted by with enough spare time to not only take classes in his chosen Darshan of Spantamad, but to take a few Kshahrewar classes as well – machines had always interested him, though not quite as much as alchemy and the elements. 

But then, he’d had the brilliant idea to use that spare time for something a little more lucrative. Why do all that extra work if he wasn’t going to get paid for it? 

So, he’d started a business, so to speak. Chike would complete other people’s essays (it wasn’t like he lacked the knowledge to do so, after all), and in return, they would pay him quite the handsome fee for his troubles. It had been quite a grand idea, lining his pockets with plenty of cash, until it had all blown up in his face. 

The problem was, Chike’s little side-scheme had gotten a bit too popular. Too many people had been demanding his time and attention, and he simply couldn’t keep up with all of them, so… he didn’t. He took the mora, of course, but he stopped pouring so much effort into these works that he wouldn’t even be seeing the grades for – he started cutting corners, stealing quotes straight from the study materials, and doubling essays that were for the same prompt. Why rewrite the same premise over and over again when he could just swap out a few choice words and paste a new name at the top? 

But once he’d started doing that, well, the scholars had taken notice of it. They’d caught onto his tricks, even if they never caught onto him. Too many students went down in that academic bust, and while Chike wasn’t one of them (thanks to his own good reputation and quick thinking), his credit for writing essays on the side was effectively ruined. He no longer had that route to a bit of quick cash, and given that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life begging the Sages for funding for projects he had no real interest in, there just wasn’t any more point to him staying in the Akademiya. Chike had left them behind not long after that, disappearing into the desert with his earnings and deciding to take this opportunity to learn from his past mistakes. 

Ever since that first time, Chike’s never once had a side hustle fail that badly – or fail at all, in fact. He’s been clever, stayed on top of his game, and his efforts have really paid off. Sure, he’s no bandit king, but he’s at least scraped together enough riches to fund a comfortable life for himself. 

Chike doesn’t want a comfortable life, though. He wants something lavish, extravagant, and he wants to be wealthy enough that he can stop doing all this bullshit and settle down with all his mora by the time he’s thirty. If there’s one thing he doesn’t like, it’s wasting his time on things that don’t interest him, and petty theft is probably one of the most boring things there is (aside from the Rtawahist classes). 

Mostly, Chike would really like to get out of the desert. It’s miserable out there – he’s a rainforest kid, through and through, and all this dry heat can’t be good for his health. In fact, if he never saw a grain of sand again in his entire life, Chike’s pretty sure he could die happy. 

So, he’s done some research, travelled around a bit, and found that out of all the nations, Mondstadt will probably be the easiest target. Liyue and Fontaine’s governments are a little too proactive when it comes to criminals, Inazuma is closed to outsiders entirely, and don’t even get him started on Natlan and Snezhnaya. Meanwhile, the Knights of Favonius are severely understaffed thanks to their grandmaster’s ill-advised expedition, and they don’t seem to do all that much anyways – even the Treasure Hoarders are easy pickings in the Nation of Freedom. That nation’s an obvious target, and Chike would be a fool not to take it. 

On top of that, Mondstadt is the home of the Church of Favonius as well, a lovely little building dedicated to a god that hasn’t been seen in five centuries, and that’s absolutely stuffed with holy artifacts just waiting to be snatched up. Chike could make a killing selling those off, and who’s going to stop him? The incompetent, understaffed knights? The absent Archon who might as well be dead by now? 

As if. There’s nothing and no one in Mondstadt that could possibly stand in Chike’s way, and he intends to take full advantage of that. 

***

It’s only been two days since Chike has arrived in Mondstadt. Thus far, he’s mostly been using his time to scope out potential targets – wealthy folks’ houses, well-off businesses, Treasure Hoarder encampments with a little too much mora on their hands. 

All of his carefully thought-out plans begin to crumble, though, the second he sees that bard. 

It’s a wonder that no one has put the pieces together before. The bard looks exactly like the statues of Barbatos, even if he goes by the name ‘Venti’ – but then, even Chike himself wouldn’t have figured it out if not for the small details. At first glance, he comes off as nothing more than a typical alcoholic bard, broke and lazy just like all the others. It’s only when Chike started to look closer that he began to notice the… discrepancies.  

Venti, despite looking like a teenager himself, has an odd habit of referring to the people of Mondstadt as though they’re all much younger than he is. It could be brushed off as nothing more than a strange mannerism, but it was enough to catch Chike’s attention. Once he’d started paying more attention, he had noticed the way that Venti’s eyes seem to glow when no one is looking, and how he plays songs and sings ballads from centuries ago. He seems to appear and disappear at random, never letting anyone see him unless he wants to be seen, and Chike’s had one hell of a time trying to follow him back to wherever he sleeps at night. The second Venti turns a corner, it’s like he vanishes into thin air. 

He had even noticed Chike in the crowd one day during one of his over-dramatic performances, picking him out and making a comment about how ‘visitors to Mondstadt ought to pay the performers their dues’. Chike had obviously ignored him, not wanting to draw any more attention than he already had just by virtue of Venti’s remark, but then he had heard what Venti said next. 

“Kids these days,” the bard had sighed, shaking his head, “always so impolite!” 

Chike has to be at least a decade his senior – or at least, he’d thought so at the time, judging only by Venti’s youthful outward appearance. Who did that disrespectful little kid think he was, treating Chike like a child? 

And the more and more he had observed Venti, the more and more he had started to put the pieces together. Venti is obviously so much older than he looks, and a whole lot more powerful, too. No normal teenager could decimate an entire hilichurl camp and pretend nothing happened only a moment later. 

It hadn’t taken Chike long before he’d realised the truth – that Venti is the Anemo Archon, Barbatos, and that (judging by the way they all treat him, at least) no one else in Mondstadt seems to know. 

Even if their Archon hadn’t publically returned, though, that was just too much of a risk for Chike to take. He’d left Mondstadt in the dead of night with the intent of returning to Sumeru not even a few hours after his revelation – better to get some distance between himself and the god of Anemo, just in case Barbatos had somehow figured out what he was up to and decided to mete out some justice of his own. Even Chike knows better than to get on the wrong side of an elemental god. 

So, he begins the trek back to his homeland. He’s travelling through Liyue for the most part, and thankfully, they at least don’t have a god anymore that could suddenly appear and cause him problems. Chike should be relatively safe in Liyue until he can get back to Sumeru and hide out in the desert for a while until he gets over the shock of having almost gotten himself smited by the God of Anemo. 

But as Chike travels, he thinks. Those statues had honestly been rather vague, in terms of detail – anyone with the right build and a similar hairstyle could have passed for Barbatos. Hell, even Chike could pass for Barbatos if he braided his hair and put on some Mondstadtan clothes. 

…Well. There’s an idea. 

But no, that would be far too risky. What if the actual Barbatos showed up and interrupted his scheme? Pretending to be the Anemo Archon could certainly get him access to the church’s artifacts, but it would also undoubtedly piss off the real Anemo Archon. Chike would get blown to smithereens in seconds, just like one of those hilichurls, and there would be nothing he could do about it. 

Unless, of course, Barbatos wasn’t there to protest. If Chike could just get him out of the way, just for a short while, and give himself enough time to swoop in and steal the artifacts before vanishing back into Sumeru… 

He’s actually considering it now, even if it did sound reckless and foolhardy at first. Chike’s been at this game for quite a while, and he knows how it’s played by now. If he can stay one step ahead, anticipate any complications and prevent them before they ever come into play, then he just might have a shot at pulling this off. 

Firstly, he needs to get Barbatos out of the way. Some way to imprison him would be best, and it would have to be airtight, lest he find a gap to escape through. That’s the trouble with trying to contain the god of Anemo and freedom – he’s not exactly going to be cooperative when it comes to being trapped. 

If he can figure that out, then he can get to the church, claim that he’s Barbatos, and ease his way into gaining access to the basement chambers where the most valuable pieces are kept. He’ll need to make it plausible, so he’ll probably need some way to prove it – trying to give himself wings would be too difficult and time-consuming, so perhaps some way to make a show of using Anemo without a Vision? He’ll need to think more about that. 

It just might work. Chike has tons of little gadgets and experiments stolen from various researchers and ruins that he could probably cobble together into something useful. If he can make some sort of prison akin to a Vision’s subspace, he could trap the Anemo Archon in there, and he would have no way to escape until Chike lets him go. 

Trapping the God of Freedom. It sounds impossible, but Chike just might be able to pull it off. 

***

After days upon days of sleepless, grueling work, Chike has finally perfected the device. 

With this little trinket, he can trap the Anemo Archon, and siphon off enough of his power to keep him too weak to even think about trying to escape. Chike will even be able to use that stolen power for himself, giving him the perfect way to impersonate Barbatos and retrieve the valuables from the Church of Favonius. He’d even based the little thing off of an old illustration of a Gnosis, making it resemble a stylized chess piece – partly for the dramatic irony, and partly for the plausible deniability. It is going to be the source of his power while he masquerades as a god, after all. 

It’s practically foolproof. Now, all he has to do is find a way to get Barbatos alone so Chike can get him into the prison, and his plan will finally be set into motion. 

Tracking the little god isn’t hard, not when he leaves a trail of glowing footprints everywhere he goes (that handy little artefact to help those without elemental sight see elemental energies is truly worth its weight in gold), but trying to catch him without that knight and nun that are always hanging around is nowhere near as simple. It’s as if he disappears the second he doesn’t have his usual escort – not to mention, that knight is keeping an oddly close eye on Chike. He almost seems suspicious, but Chike hasn’t done anything to warrant that, not yet at least. 

Chike can’t get closer, but he can’t give up, either. It’s horribly annoying, to have to wait so long for his target to finally break off from the group, but Chike knows that if he’s impulsive or tries to rush this, it will only end in misery for him. Whatever he’s done to incur that knight captain’s ire, he has no intentions of worsening, and it certainly will get worse if the knight in question catches Chike trying to kidnap his friend. 

It’s by a stroke of sheer luck, one night in the tavern, that Chike is able to follow his target out of the building and down the street without the typical escort of at least one other person. He’s almost positive that Venti is letting Chike get him alone – he’s definitely noticed the man’s presence by now, even if he hasn’t done anything about it just yet. 

Though, when he turns the corner into that blind alley, Chike’s fairly certain that’s about to change. 

“So,” Venti says, turning to face Chike the second he steps into view, “I heard you wanted to talk to me?” 

“Now, where would you hear a thing like that?” Chike crosses his arms, positioning himself in the center of the alley’s entrance. He’s under no illusions that it will actually prevent escape, if it comes down to it, but the idea behind the gesture is still there. 

Venti shrugs, a playful look on his face. “Oh, haven’t you heard? The winds tell all.” 

It’s like he’s not even trying to hide it. How foolhardy can he be? “Do they, now? Did they tell you exactly why I wanted to speak with you in private?” 

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to tell me?”  

Chike scoffs. He shifts his stance, one hand slipping down to where he’s stored the prison on his belt. He needs to be subtle about this. If he can keep Venti talking, he’s less likely to notice what Chike is about to do. “Well… I was hoping you’d help me out with a little something I’ve been working on.” 

“Oh? And what might that be?” 

Chike steps forward, and Venti steps back. “See, I’ve got this… project, I guess you could call it. There’s a certain object or two that I need to retrieve from that church of yours, and you are in a position uniquely suited to lending me a hand.” 

“Unique position, you say?” Venti raises an eyebrow, but he doesn’t ready his bow, nor does he try to flee. Chike’s tactic is working. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean by that.” 

“Oh, come now, we both know your little secret here. If anyone could get the church to cooperate, it would be the one they all worship, and… well. You don’t seem all that eager to take up the position yourself, right? I’m sure we could come to some form of agreement – you cooperate and help me get what I want, and this doesn’t have to go any further.” 

“And what exactly are you expecting me to cooperate with?” 

Chike grins. “Like I said – you don’t want to be known as Barbatos. Why not help me fill the gap for a little while?” 

Venti steps back, shaking his head with a sigh. “Tempting offer, but no thanks. I don’t really feel like helping you scam my children.” 

“Oh, I assure you, this has nothing to do with whether or not you ‘feel like’ helping me. I intend to put my plan into motion whether you like it or not, and if you try to get in my way… let’s just say you won’t be able to get in anyone’s way anytime soon.” 

“You really think that’s going to work?” Venti scoffs, inching back again. “There are people who are going to notice, you know. They’ll know if I’m missing, and they’ll certainly know if you try and pull some silly charade.” 

People who will notice… oh, he had better not be implying that somebody actually does know who he is. That throws a wrench in Chike’s entire plan! Although, at the very least, he needs to carry through the first step of trapping Venti in the prison before this situation gets any more out of hand. 

“Well, if that’s the case,” Chike drawls, pulling the trinket from its hiding place, “I’m sure I can find other uses for you.” 

He brandishes the prison and activates it, and in that moment, a dark shape drops down from above, and Chike finds himself staring down the end of a shining blade. He doesn’t even have a moment to react before the prison swallows them both, leaving nothing behind but a glowing Mondstadt Cryo Vision with two wings on either side. 

…Fuck. That was not supposed to happen. 

***

Chike’s plan has gone somewhat sideways. 

Judging by what Venti had said before Chike had trapped him ( and that captain, not that he intended to), somebody in Mondstadt does know his identity as Barbatos, and it’s got to be more than one person. Chike has no idea who it could be, and it would be far too much of a hassle to try and pick them off when he doesn’t even know where to start, and when he can never truly be sure that he’s gotten everyone who knows the secret. 

Needless to say, masquerading as Barbatos is no longer a feasible option. Using the Anemo powers that the prison gives him, though… that’s still a perfectly viable option, even if he can no longer apply it for its initial purpose. 

The knights have been searching the city for any signs of their missing Cavalry Captain (and the missing bard as well, though the captain seems to be a much higher priority), but so far, they haven’t found a single trace. Chike had pocketed the Cryo Vision and gotten the hell out of dodge the second the prison had closed around those two, and it seems that, as of now, not a soul has connected him to the crime. After all, why would they? He’s just a Sumerian traveller here to see the sights, as far as they all know. He’s given them all no reason to be suspicious of him, not yet. 

He could go back to Sumeru. If he wanted to, he could just head home and abandon this whole operation, but he doesn’t want to. He’s already here, he’s already got Barbatos himself trapped as a living battery, and he’s got a whole list of wealthy houses and businesses he intends to hit before he even thinks about leaving Mondstadt. Chike can’t leave just yet, not when he’s still got so much left to do here. 

Besides, the desert is hot and miserable, and Chike has no desire to go back to it just yet. He was born a forest kid, dammit, and he is not built for the desert heat. Mondstadt’s temperate climate has been, quite literally, a breath of fresh air from the dry hell he had been forced to endure back home. 

So, perhaps he’ll stay in Mondstadt for a while and make use of this grand opportunity. Now, the only thing left to decide is which location he’s going to hit first. 

***

Chike’s starting to get annoyed with that Outrider girl. So far, he’s been able to evade her feeble attempts at capturing him, but it’s still rather obnoxious to have some knight dogging his heels after every heist. 

Besides that, these last few calls have been too close for comfort. He had tried laying low for a while, targeting Treasure Hoarder encampments instead of houses and businesses in town, but that hadn’t deterred her in the slightest. He had almost left for Sumeru after the first time she’d almost caught him, but, well, she hadn’t actually caught him. With the Anemo power that the prison affords him, the Outrider doesn’t stand a chance in a chase. 

He can stick around for a little while longer – even if the Outrider is bothersome, she’s no real threat to him, not when he’s got the power of an Archon at his back. Chike might as well finish off his list, at the very least. What’s the point in hanging around Mondstadt for so long if he doesn’t even get a good haul out of it? 

Although, he does have a fairly sizable stash of goods ready to transport back to his hideaway already. He could probably be quite a rich man indeed if he left now, but one can never have too much treasure. 

If he can acquire more wealth, then why shouldn’t he? It’s not like anyone can stop him. They still have no idea who he is, much less where he is, and not a soul has come anywhere close to catching him. He’s practically untouchable with the strength of Barbatos in his hands. 

***

Nevermind. 

Chike is never coming back to Mondstadt again after this. He’s more than a little singed, he nearly got flame-roasted by that stupid noble and his Pyro Vision, and he’d had to chuck the Cryo Vision into Cider Lake just to get the idiot to leave him alone. 

He has no idea why that redhead is so obsessed with that Cryo-wielding knight, much less why he felt the need to hunt Chike down over it. Were they dating or something? How had he even figured out that that specific Cryo Vision belonged to that knight? There are so many other Cryo allogenes in Mondstadt, and yet, he’d been so utterly convinced of who that Cryo Vision had belonged to that he’d thrown himself off the fucking city wall and into the lake to retrieve it. 

No, there’s no way Chike is staying here a moment longer than he needs to. That man is crazy, and Chike has absolutely no desire to be flambéed just for a bit more treasure. He chooses life, thank you very much. 

Fuck that man, fuck this city, and fuck this entire nation, actually. Chike’s going home as soon as he’s finished packing up his new treasures, and he is not coming back. 

Chapter Text

In the past however fucking long its been, Venti has gone from listless to limp and Kaeya has no fucking idea what to do . 

As their time in the prison has stretched on, Venti’s gotten closer and closer to full catatonia, his responses coming slow and his movements even slower. Kaeya had eventually caved and just laid him down, pulling Venti’s head into his lap as he does nothing but stare down at the slowly deteriorating face of his friend. 

There isn’t much else he can do. Even if Venti does have occasional bouts of lucidity, short moments where he seems to regain his energy and movement, they’re few and far between. For the most part, Venti can do nothing but lay there and wait for the next bout of misery, and Kaeya is helpless to do anything but watch. Even when he’s sitting right here, there’s nothing Kaeya can do to help Venti, and they both know it. 

If Kaeya knew why Venti was sometimes able to regain a bit of his lucidity, then perhaps he could do something to help, but Venti has been oddly avoidant when it comes to answering that particular question. No matter how many times Kaeya asks, or how he phrases it, Venti just clams up and refuses to answer. 

Kaeya had stopped asking, eventually. Venti going even more silent than he already is… that’s the last thing Kaeya wants right now, when those brief periods of coherent conversation are not only the only sign that Venti is still awake, but also the only thing keeping Kaeya sane. He’s been clinging to those short exchanges like a lifeline, the only one he has in the midst of long stretches of nothing, just blank, faintly-glowing walls and his friend's head in his lap, looking for all the world like he is dead or dying. 

The worst part, he thinks, is that Venti barely has the strength to react anymore when the prison activates, his breath hitching and muscles seizing as the energy he needs to breathe is sucked out of the room. 

It’s all Kaeya can do to gather Venti up and hold him close, trying to keep him calm and comfort him as much as he can. His reactions are miniscule, almost unnoticeable, but he’s still relaxing and leaning into the touch just enough for Kaeya to know that, if nothing else, this is one small thing he can do to help Venti’s misery. 

The only other thing that Kaeya has thought of to help Venti is to distract him. Even if Venti doesn’t seem able to answer most of the time, Kaeya will talk to him, asking questions and sharing stories knowing all the while that he’ll receive no reply. 

“I still don’t know how long it’s been,” Kaeya sighs, staring off at the wall across from them both. “It’s impossible to keep track of the days here when we have no clocks and when we can’t see the sun rising and setting to count.” 

Venti, predictably, doesn’t answer. His eyes are open, but his gaze is hazy, almost glassy, like someone suffering from a high fever. 

“How long would you say? Two weeks, maybe?” Kaeya glances down at him. “Feels like it’s been months, but I know that can’t be right… though I still can’t help but wonder what’s going on outside. I wish I knew what the others were up to right now. Diluc, Rosaria, Jean, Barbara…” 

“Bar’bra’s prob’ly leading the morning mass right now,” Venti mumbles. His face is still half-pressed into the folds of Kaeya’s shirt (and he’s probably going to have a whole bunch of creases on his cheek when Kaeya moves him, but at this point that barely matters), but even still, Kaeya can see how his eyes are still struggling to focus. 

“How can you tell?” Kaeya asks, and Venti tenses slightly, as much as he still has the strength left to. 

“...’M just guessing,” he murmurs eventually. 

The way he’s averting his eyes right now… it’s exactly what he’s been doing every time Kaeya asks him why he’s sometimes more lucid, even as his condition gets worse and worse. Does the morning mass have something to do with it? 

“It’s the prayers, isn’t it?” Kaeya asks quietly. “That’s why you’re more awake right now. People are praying to you.” 

Venti sighs, barely audible. “It’s… the faith. Not just the prayers, but the belief of the people. Faith is what strengthens a god, so…” 

“Then if I prayed to you, would that help you?” 

His eyes widen, and he almost goes to shake his head before falling still again, face twisting into a grimace. “No. It has to be real faith, by someone who really believes in the Archons, and you don’t like us at all. You’ve got every reason to lack faith. It’s not like… it’s not like the gods have ever helped you before.” 

“You’re right,” Kaeya replies. “The gods haven’t helped, but you have. I’d have faith in you regardless of what the others were doing, because you’re my friend, Venti.” 

Venti opens his mouth to argue, but Kaeya isn’t going to let himself be stopped. He brings his hands up, careful not to shift Venti from his lap where he’s still leaning against Kaeya’s chest, and folds them in front of himself just like Crepus had once taught him to. 

Before he can get a word out, though, Venti somehow manages to summon the strength to slap his hands down, looking up at him with a pained frown. “Don’t do that. Please don’t, Kaeya.” 

“Will it help you?” 

Venti doesn’t answer. 

“If it will help you, then I’m going to do it,” Kaeya states. But if Venti doesn’t want him to fold his hands and pray like he’s at the Cathedral, then… well, perhaps there’s some other way to show his faith. Venti did say that it didn’t have to be a proper prayer. 

He still remembers at least a handful of the hymns from when he had attended church with Crepus and Diluc, doesn’t he? If he can just remember how the tune began… 

“You’re only going to give him more power,” Venti whispers, looking away. 

“If it’ll keep you alive for longer, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.” 

oOoOo

When Diluc opens his eyes, the icy blue glow of Kaeya’s Vision is the first thing he sees. 

For a moment, he can’t recall why it’s clutched so tightly in his palm and not hanging from Kaeya’s belt, but it all comes back to him a moment later, and he jolts upright, pulling the Vision close to his chest. 

An exasperated sigh rings throughout the room, and Diluc turns to see Jean sitting in one of those little visitor’s chairs by the door, giving him a thoroughly disappointed look. “So, care to share why the fuck you thought it was a good idea to fling yourself off the walls of Mondstadt into Cider Lake?” 

“He threw Kaeya’s Vision into the lake,” Diluc mumbles, looking away. He grips the Vision tighter, holding back a wince at the way the sharp edges dig further into the meat of his palm. He’s definitely going to have marks from that later. “What was I supposed to do, just let it sink to the bottom?” 

“We have multiple people in the Church with Hydro Visions!” Barbara bursts out. Diluc blinks as he registers her, standing next to Jean with her hands on her hips. How long has she been there? 

“Come on, that would require critical thinking,” Rosaria mutters. “And this dumbass had been running around for two days straight, so obviously he was having somewhat of a shortage in that department.” 

Diluc refuses to acknowledge that he didn’t notice Rosaria leaning against the wall behind him, so instead he turns back to Jean. “Where did he go? Do we have a location–” 

“Do you know how long you’ve been asleep, Diluc?” Jean interrupts, raising an eyebrow. 

He pauses. “...It hasn’t been more than two days this time, has it?” 

“You’re lucky it hasn’t, you idiot!” Barbara scolds. She’s giving him a severe look that reminds him a little too much of her big sister, and when he glances back towards Jean, she’s making an identical face. That’s… a little upsetting, to be honest. “You’ve been asleep for almost eighteen hours, so I hope you’re happy with yourself. Was it worth it, driving yourself into the ground until your body crashed and forced you to rest–” 

Jean sighs, cutting her off. “In his defence, Kaeya is missing, as is Venti, but still, Diluc, you should know better! Why did you think you could be of any help to Kaeya in a state like this?” 

“And you expect me to believe that you wouldn’t be just as bad if it were Barbara who had gone missing?” Diluc shoots back. 

“That’s not–” 

“I’m going to find that bastard who had his Vision, and I’m going to knock his fucking teeth in.” Diluc hauls himself up out of the bed, forcing his legs to cooperate when they threaten to buckle beneath him. “And if he won’t tell me where Kaeya is, I’ll make him.” 

A cold hand grabs his shoulder and yanks him back, knocking him back into the bed again. “Where the hell do you think you’re going now? I can see your legs shaking, dumbass, lay back down before you wipe out.” 

Diluc shoots Rosaria an absolutely murderous glare, which she counters with an icy look. “My brother is missing, goddamnit! Who are you to stop me from finding him?!” 

“You called him your brother,” Jean notes quietly. She’s watching him with an unreadable look. 

Diluc… doesn’t answer. 

For a long moment, they simply stare at each other, until Jean finally lets out a heavy sigh. “You can go back out–” 

Diluc nods, moving to get up again, only to be restrained by Rosaria once more. “Let go, she just said–” 

“ After you have something to eat, and only if you stick with someone else,” Jean finished, narrowing her eyes. “You’re not going anywhere alone, I know you too well. You’ll do something stupid like throw yourself into the lake , and then there won’t be anyone to fish you back out again and you’ll just drown.” 

“...Fine,” Diluc mutters after a long, tense pause. Jean relaxes at his agreement, and Barbara disappears out of the room to return a moment later with a tray of food. Diluc barely even registers what it is as he wolfs it down, but Barbara must not have made it herself, since he can still feel his mouth afterwards. He’ll never understand that girl’s obsession with spice. 

Once the tray is empty, Diluc gives Rosaria a pointed look and she scowls, though she does remove her hand from his shoulder. 

Diluc stands immediately, heading out the door without a second thought. He doesn’t bother to wait for anyone – if they want to come along, that’s their own problem, not his. 

oOoOo

The problem, Jean thinks, is that they’re going to have to wait at least two more days before the kidnapper shows himself again. Following the pattern of his previous appearances, he only comes out every couple of days, and he may wait even longer since Diluc had spooked him. 

The other problem is that she’s going to have to find some way to prevent Diluc from running himself into the ground while they wait for this man to reappear. 

She’s already managed to strongarm him into staying at the Gunnhildr Manor in town, citing that it’s closer to where the criminal has been attacking than Dawn Winery is, but she knows that won’t be enough to stop him. Diluc is too stubborn, and not even the threat of Barbara will sway him if he decides that finding Kaeya and Venti takes priority over his own health. 

And the worst part is… well, Jean can’t really blame him. She would do the same if it were Barbara instead of Kaeya that had gone missing. The only reason she’s not running herself into the ground now is that she does have Barbara here, dragging her home and demanding she take care of herself. 

Diluc… doesn’t have that. Kaeya is missing, and even if he weren’t, that falling-out had lost Diluc any chance of having his brother look after him like that. It would be hard for Kaeya to drag Diluc home to a home he doesn’t think he’s allowed into, after all. 

But Jean doesn’t have time to try and parse out their weird emotional issues right now, not when they have so much more pressing problems to deal with first. 

She’ll need to increase the patrols, and maybe get Diluc and Amber to describe the criminal to Albedo so they can try and get a sketch done. Jean’s not sure how good of a look either of them really got, but something is still better than nothing. And until the kidnapper shows himself again, she also needs to find a suitable distraction for Diluc. If he were one of her knights, she would put him in the library and let Lisa handle him, but somehow, Jean doubts that would be as effective for him. 

Right now, she’s fairly certain that Diluc is stalking around the city somewhere with Rosaria dogging his heels, so she has until nightfall (when Rosaria has said she’ll be bringing him back to the manor, willing or not) to sort out what to tell him regarding the plan. 

Could she divert his attention to the Treasure Hoarder encampments outside of the city and give him something more productive to do? He might go for it, but it’s just as likely that he would see right through her attempt to get him out of the way, and would simply ignore her orders and continue roaming the city like some kind of gothic vigilante. If he keeps doing that, he’ll only scare their target off, but he’s not going to listen to Jean if she just tells him that. She needs to think of some way to make him agree to a different course of action, or else they might lose their only chance to get ahold of, and hopefully arrest, Kaeya and Venti’s kidnapper. 

Diluc wants to track the man down, and Jean wants to wait for him to come out on his own. Where can she place a middle ground for them to compromise on? 

The thought of Diluc trying to track their target sparks a memory in Jean’s mind, one of the Traveller talking about Venti. She had referred to him as easy to find, describing glowing footprints left behind wherever he went due to the ambient Anemo energy around him. It’s an obvious sign that he’s more than just a normal Vision-wielding bard.. could that have been how the kidnapper was able to trail him? How he found out that Venti is Barbatos? 

It’s obvious that he knew of Venti’s true identity, since he had targeted Venti in the first place, and now, he seems to be using Anemo without a Vision. Amber hadn’t realised at first, mistaking Kaeya’s Vision for the kidnapper’s own, but after Diluc had confronted him and reclaimed the Cryo Vision, it became clear that the man doesn’t possess a Vision at all. 

He must be using Venti’s power as his own somehow, likely using Kaeya as leverage to blackmail Venti into doing his bidding, but how? Where is he hiding Venti and Kaeya, if that’s the case? Venti must be using his powers from a distance, since no one has been able to find him yet, but how does he know what the man is expecting him to do – and for that matter, how is the kidnapper able to hold Kaeya’s safety over Venti if he’s presumably leaving them both on their own when he goes out to commit these burglaries? Or… is it possible that he has an accomplice, one that could be threatening Kaeya and giving Venti orders while the thief strikes? 

Maybe they do need to investigate further, rather than just waiting for the criminal to show himself again. That would be the perfect task for Diluc – sending him to find wherever the man has stashed Venti and Kaeya, rather than sending him after the kidnapper himself (or themselves, if he really does turn out to have an accomplice). It would certainly be more productive than trying to restrain him from doing whatever he thinks would help him find Kaeya the fastest. 

Now, Jean just has to wait for Diluc and Rosaria to return so that she can update them on the new plan. 

oOoOo

Rosaria’s really getting sick of Diluc’s drama. 

She’ll stick around and keep an eye on him because Jean asked her to (and because the threat of Deaconess Barbara is ever-present), but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be happy about it. He just keeps stalking around like a threatened alleycat, and nothing anyone says or does will convince him that this is the opposite of helpful. 

Jean had at least managed to get him out of Mondstadt, citing that it would be easier to try and track down Venti than to lie in wait for their target within the city’s walls, but unfortunately, all this means for Rosaria is that she’s now trekking through the wilderness instead of the darkened streets. Wonderful. 

Diluc has taken to finding random bits of the landscape and staring very hard at them, as if he’s trying to unlock their secrets with nothing but his gaze alone. Obviously, it hasn’t been working very well. 

“Would you quit that?” Rosaria eventually sighs, whacking him in the back of the head. “The tree’s not going to combust or spit out Venti’s location if you stare at it for long enough. It’s just a tree, dumbass, move onto something a little more interesting, at least.” 

Diluc shoots her a murderous glare. “I am looking for clues.”  

“What clues? Does the tree bark have a hidden message carved into it?” 

“I’m looking for Anemo energy. If there’s enough of it, then–” 

“So that’s why we keep running into flocks of Anemo slimes?” Rosaria scowls. “Because you think Venti… what, left you an elemental breadcrumb trail?!” 

“It’s a herd of slimes, not a flock.” 

“Don’t change the subject!” 

Diluc huffs, turning away from her and walking further into the wood. He doesn’t bother gracing her with an answer, so Rosaria rolls her eyes and follows, keeping an eye out for any more of those slimes as she does. 

“By that logic, shouldn’t you be looking for Cryo energy, as well?” She asks, glancing up towards the treetops. If another slime drops down onto her head, she’s going to fucking lose it. “Since you’re so convinced that any shred of Anemo will lead us to Venti.” 

After a long pause, Diluc shakes his head. “No. I’ve… I've got Kaeya’s Vision, so… there wouldn’t be any Cryo.” 

“And you think the kidnappers let Venti keep his Vision? You’re even dafter than I thought.” 

Diluc scowls, but once again ignores her, doing his best to disappear into the trees in response before Rosaria manages to catch up with him. This is exactly why she hates bringing along partners for missions like this – all they do is get on her nerves and get in her way. 

Or maybe that’s just Diluc. 

She leans back against a nearby tree trunk, sighing in exasperation as Diluc stares down a bush like it murdered his brother. By his logic, it might as well have. Rosaria’s pretty much resigned herself to a miserable evening, following around this dumb fuck while he tramples through the undergrowth and tries to glare the plants into submission. 

All of those expectations go out the window a moment later when a flash of white catches her eye, and Diluc whips around just in time to see the little beings appear. He squints and covers his eyes almost immediately, like they’re too bright to look at, but Rosaria can’t look away. 

“Wind sprites,” she murmurs, reaching out a hand on instinct. Her eyes widen as one of the sprites floats down to nudge her outstretched finger, its touch barely as tangible as the brush of a feather. 

“What?” Diluc blinks hard, more than a few times, before he finally manages to get his eyes to focus and his gaze falls upon one of the ethereal creatures. “What are these? They look…” 

Rosaria doesn’t even spare him a glance, too focused on the sprite at her fingertips. “They’re the siblings of Lord Barbatos. They haven’t been seen in… centuries. At least five or six, but probably longer.” 

“The siblings of…” Diluc trails off as his eyes widen in horror. “We have to follow them. Something is wrong.”  

“Excuse me?” 

“There’s no time to explain. Listen, I’ll go with them, and you need to get back to Mondstadt, tell Jean what’s going on so she can–” 

Rosaria cuts him off with an incredulous look. “Are you fucking stupid? I’m not doing that, Jean would have my head and Barbara would have my heart on a silver platter. You think I’m leaving you alone after the amount of work those two put into keeping your dumbass self alive?” 

“Well, what do you suggest, then? If they’re already here, there’s no time to waste–” 

“We send a letter, idiot.” 

Diluc falls silent as Rosaria produces a small notepad from her pocket, complete with a pencil. She pens out a quick note to Jean, stressing the urgency of the situation (and Diluc’s reactions especially) before holding it out for one of the little wisps to take. 

“Can you take this to Jean Gunnhildr?” She asks. “It’s for the safety of Barbatos’ people. Can you help us?” 

The sprite nods, a big gesture that takes up its whole body, before grabbing the note with a swirl of wind and vanishing into thin air. The note disappears with it, and Rosaria will just have to trust that the little creature understood her. 

As soon as their fellow vanishes, the rest of the sprites begin to nudge Rosaria and Diluc deeper into the forest, chiming and chirping with an urgency that Rosaria’s pretty sure wind sprites don’t usually possess. Come to think of it, it’s downright odd that they would show up now, when they’re usually only said to appear in the company of their divine sibling – or when he’s sent them on a personal errand. Could… could Lord Barbatos have sent these sprites to lead Rosaria and Diluc to the place that Venti and Kaeya are being kept? 

She voices this theory to Diluc, but he just gives her a long, complicated look before turning back to the path ahead without a word. 

Rosaria can’t help but wonder if this bout of caginess has anything to do with those secrets that both Diluc and Jean have been refusing to tell her, but even so, what does that have to do with the sprites – and for that matter, what does any of this have to do with Barbatos? Kaeya has no connection to Barbatos, not personally, and nor does Venti… unless she counts being best friends with his Herald, but she’s pretty sure Dahlia likes Venti because of his propensity for drama, not because of some divine ordainment. 

…Although, the connection could be the other way around. Dahlia could have done something to invoke Barbatos or his siblings’ power in order to help his best friend. Rosaria certainly wouldn’t put it past him, though she’d be surprised that he’s capable of such a feat. Managing to summon up sprites that haven’t shown themselves in over six centuries is no easy task. 

Soon enough, the sprites lead them to a crack in the face of the cliff up above, one small enough that Rosaria wouldn’t have noticed it if it hadn’t been pointed out. Up close, though, she can see that the crevasse goes much further back than it seems on the surface, likely far enough to conceal an entire hideout within. 

This must be the kidnapper’s den – and the sprites have led them right to it.