Oh, Brother Of Mine

Chapter 14

"I do not know anyone of that name." Lying to the First of the Twelve was probably a horrible idea, but Diluc had already done too much harm to Kaeya. He would not let him be in harm's way again.

Pierro only sneered in response, his eye growing more and more narrow, his arms crossed over his chest. "Alberich is not a common name, even among the descendants of Khaen'riah. There is a select few who even know of that name to this day, and a runaway from the City of Freedom is not part of that. Do not lie to me, boy, and do not make me repeat myself again. What is your connection to Kaeya Alberich?"

"And I said, I do not know anyone of that name."

The air between them grew tense, Pierro's eye locked on Diluc, tracking his every move. "Do not test me, boy. I have sources, connections you cannot even dream of right now. You can tell me now, and no one would get hurt. Or, if you choose to remain stubborn, you may wait until my men receive their orders to further investigate you, and then... well, I must admit, there are very few people with hair as red as yours that come from the City of Freedom. I'm afraid tracking you down will be no problem at all."

Welp. Shit. That wasn't good. Maybe he should've been a little more careful with his disguise. Still, something about Pierro's obsession with Kaeya felt off. How'd he even know about Kaeya in the first place? And besides, Kaeya lived as a member of the Ragnvindr family now - he had for years, ever since he and Father had taken him in. And now, not only did Pierro know Kaeya, but he knew Kaeya was an Alberich, too? And that he was from Khaen'riah? No, something wasn't right, something wasn't right at all.

"Fine," Diluc said at last, "I'll talk. But only under one condition. Tell me what you know about Kaeya. Why you care so much about my connection with Kaeya."

"Why I care? Why I care?" Pierro's hands tightened into fists, his narrowed eye cold and seething. "Kaeya is my daughter. Of course I need to know how she is doing, and if I have to force the truth out of you, if I have to wrench it from your maimed body, I will do just that."

Oh.

Oh.

He called Kaeya his daughter. It wasn't the same Kaeya, then. Here they were, arguing like idiots about two completely different people. How dumb of him.

His mind flashed back to Kaeya, back to when he had first arrived. His voice, too high-pitched for him. His chest, a little too large for a boy his age. Of course. Kaeya had been his brother for so long that he'd forgotten there was a time when Kaeya had been his sister.

And the few things he knew about Kaeya, the way he'd been abandoned by his father, the way he'd come all the way from Khaen'riah, his star-shaped pupil, it all made sense now.

He looked at Pierro, his face a mask of calm. "Your daughter is dead. She had died the second you abandoned her in Mondstat."

Pierro's eye shot open, his expression unreadable. Diluc almost pitied him. Almost. "Dead? How can- how can she be dead? I had made sure that she found her way to the Dawn winery, and had been found by that- had been found by Master Crepus and that- I had ensured she would be cared for by him-"

"Master Crepus is dead." The words left a sour taste in Diluc's mouth, the memory of his father's limp body in his hands still fresh in his mind. He pushed it away. Dwelling on the past wouldn't do him any good.

"Impossible," Pierro replied, not even missing a beat. "He was among our finest men. Her Imperial Majesty Herself had given him his delusion. He would not have gone down so easily."

....among our finest men? The Tsaritsa had given him his delusion? No. No, no, no. Diluc refused. The world spun around him, too fast for him to keep up and too slow for him to ignore. His father had served the Fatui. Kaeya's father still did. Their fathers had known each other, had worked together. His father was among the finest of the Fatui. What? How had that even- When had he-