circuitice | CALL ME OUT

[It might take months, might take years, but even this is a sin Diluc could forgive in time. That's why he's turned to leave and instructed Kaeya to do the same.

Wouldn't that have been simple? Wouldn't that have preserved what remains of their relationship? Kaeya must feel the same, and yet he refuses to let this go without a fight. Of course, of course. Nothing can come as a surprise to Diluc now.

Stopping on the stairs, he swivels around with fire in his eyes interlaced between all that hurt.]

You'd accuse me of not acknowledging it? Of running away? What's your problem, Kaeya?

[What's most infuriating at all is the fact that Kaeya isn't wrong. There is no one who understands him better, after all.]

Why do you think I'm telling you to leave? Don't you think you've done enough? Lied enough?

[ he knew that look was coming, and yet it takes everything to not crumple.

he's not going to let himself. ]

What else would you describe this as?

[ he gestures around at the empty mansion. stand. fight. don't leave him like this, Diluc.

he can't bear it anymore, not when their voices echo around the manor, hollow in its emptiness. when it would be warm and inviting, but now, it feels cold. alien. unlivable. this wasn't a place he belonged. So, let him do one good deed, for his sworn brother, his love.

already, he knows he's so twisted, the least he could do is unwrap himself from around Diluc's heart.

And so, he would try, once more, to push past "forgiveness." ]

I see your plan. Dismiss me, dismiss all of this as though it's a nightmare to be woken from.

As though tomorrow, or the day after, or years later, when it's too late, you'll ask me if I was misspeaking tonight.

[The broad sweep of Kaeya's arms does nothing but remind Diluc of everything he's lost: his home, his family, his father, all that he's come to love over so many years... and now the man he'd long thought irreplaceable in his heart. What other choice does Kaeya leave him but to replace him?

This callousness isn't like Kaeya, and were Diluc in his right mind, he would acknowledge that. He would call Kaeya out for sabotaging what remains of their relationship, forcibly twisting it apart not to hurt his sworn brother, but to hurt himself.

Instead, Diluc is too consumed with rage and grief to avoid giving into Kaeya's ploy to rend the ties between them irrevocably. Instead, Diluc is the one to deliver the final blow that will burn to ashes what remains of their longstanding bond.]

That's where you're wrong, Kaeya. Dead wrong.

[Silent for a long, long moment, Diluc's eyes burn into Kaeya's, after which he arrests him by the collar and hauls him outside into the wind and rain. Tossing him down onto the mud and grit, Diluc doesn't blink, doesn't dare look away from Kaeya has he calls forth his claymore and levels it at him.]

There won't be anyone to ask, not after this. Draw your blade and fight or accept your fate. I won't make that decision for you.

[ he pushed him to it. he did it. part of him had been holding his breath, hoping that it wasn't possible, while knowing that it absolutely was. But, if he refused to draw his sword, Diluc would quickly lose his nerve.

and so, Kaeya's blood runs so, so cold. His hand goes to his sword, and he can't even really feel the motions. He just knows-- they're happening. This is it.

it's terrifying. He didn't think he would be so frightened to be at this point. ]

... Very well.

[ his heart isn't in it, but he's praying Diluc doesn't notice. ]

[It's nothing but momentum and raw emotion on Diluc's end, his sword lit up in scorching hot flames, the rain hissing and vaporizing against hot metal. Even at the very end, Kaeya can't put his heart into it, curling in on himself in fear like he had so often as a child.

No... Rather than find it vexing, Diluc is somewhat relieved. At the very end, Kaeya can't help but be honest with him, can he? That fear is potent enough to taste, and though it rends and tears at his heart, it's motivation enough to swing his blade and unleash a blast of molten hot flames directly at Kaeya.

If nothing else, Kaeya's final words will grant him the peace of knowing that, at the very end, Kaeya could only be honest with him.]

[ parries that he should be able to make, he does. ones that are marginal, he allows to pass, practically begging diluc to finish him. And then-- the slash at his face.

his eyepatch falls, and with it, blood surrounds the eye, glowing red with abyssal power. unnatural. inhuman. he grunts in pain, and shifts a hand up to cover his eye. he had hoped that Diluc would kill him before he could see that.

but no, let it be the last thing he sees, so he knows that he was right to end him. no one this cruel, and this sinful, could be allowed to go on. and so, he forces himself to lower his hand, back to a more defensive position.

please.

end him. ]

CALL ME OUT

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