Kaeya could hear the activity just outside of his cell as his new guards paced back and forth impatiently. He would bet all of his future paychecks that they probably wanted to rip the door right open and beat him again just for them being forced to watch him. 

Not that he can blame them. Guard duty could be so boring, especially when the prisoner is nearly unconscious. 

Time seemed to blur together until he finally heard the door grate against the concrete as the boss came strolling in. They were frustrated that Diluc hadn’t shown up with the money yet and demanded to know why. Kaeya merely smirked and said that he had told them so, that Diluc wouldn’t waste his money on him. The boss was furious as they grabbed his face again, looking closely at his face as if looking for something. They make an off comment about still being able to make some money off him. 

Kaeya tenses as the words went over in his head. Make money off of him how? Were they going to sell him to somebody else? 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to think too much about it when the sound of fighting could be heard from outside. The boss looked irritated, but went towards the door to see what the commotion was all about. They barely made it to the doorway before they were stopped by flames. They barely jerked back in time to keep from being burned.

Diluc was standing in the entryway. 

And he looked p****d. 

----

Diluc was fuming as flames flowed around his sword. While there had been plenty of fighting when it came to the lackeys, the one thing the tavern owner wanted the most was to find the person behind this whole operation and teach them a lesson. 

The person who took Kaeya. 

When they finally found the cell they were looking for, he had barely broken a sweat. The other two were also keeping up with him pretty well, though they hadn't needed to do much fighting and mostly just watched Diluc let out all of his anger on the kidnappers. The fighting had seemed to help him calm down and they both breathed sighs of relief. 

Then they finally found Kaeya and the anger came right back. 

Kaeya looked like he had been dragged through the Abyss and barely made it back out with his life. His face had a huge bruise and he was bleeding out of his mouth (most likely internal bleeding or he bit his tongue, but the amount of blood hinted at the former). He probably had worse injuries that he couldn't see.

The sight seemed to strike something within Diluc and the flames surrounding his blade seemed to swell with his rage. He rushed forward and didn’t give the boss a chance to react before he plunged his claymore into their chest and set them ablaze. 

He barely noticed when the Traveler and Jean had moved to get Kaeya loose from his bindings. By the time he turned to them, they had removed the ropes and had helped Kaeya sit up against the wall as Jean checked his ribs. The sight of his brother alive (if a little banged up) made something in him finally break. 

Kaeya tensed when he saw Diluc coming over, his expression unreadable. He couldn’t tell what the older was thinking when he made that face. He could hear Jean telling Diluc to wait, sounding very alarmed, but her voice was lost when he felt Diluc grab his jacket and jerk him forward. He winced, but didn’t make any noise beyond a light hiss before he found his face buried in his brother’s shoulder while the man clung to him like a child who found their missing teddy bear. 

Kaeya could hear the older calling him an idiot and almost every derogatory insult he could think of, but it was ignored when he felt the shoulder of his torn and dirtied shirt begin to turn wet. 

Diluc was crying. 

Kaeya’s own face was wet with more than just blood and sweat. 

He winds up clinging to his brother just as tightly as they both silently cried. The past fourty-eight hours seemed to finally catch up to both of them, the stress hitting them all at once. Kaeya whispers how he thought Diluc wouldn’t come for him, but Diluc is quick to reassure him. 

I will always come for you. 

Kaeya winds up staying the night at the cathedral for an overnight observation, but is moved to Dawn Winery when Barbara deems him safe to move. He spends the rest of his leave being “mother hen-ed” by Diluc (more like bullied into recovery because Kaeya is a terrible patient).