# something something sibling trauma
They were fighting, not like they did over dinner while Elzer and Adelinde watched amused and fond or like they did while training together to practice each other's movements. No, this was different.

She came home hurt, again, a skirmish gone wrong when two fatui mages had arrived and "One *tried* to retreat, but they cornered me." wasn't enough.

The arguing started as soon as Elzer began tending to her wounds and Diluc refused to leave the room. The worst of it was two deep scratches along her back. If he weren't so inistent on lecturing her, she thinks, he would have gone out to finish the job himself.

He insisted that they weren't careful enough, it was too dangerous, it wasn't her responibility.

She insisted back that she was, she knew it was dangerous, and she was shouldering the responsibility by choice.

Elzer stays out of it as soon as it starts, shaking his head when Diluc threatens Septima that he'll give Elzer orders to not patch the costume and she says she'll do it herself. "Leave me out of this." He warns them both. "Otherwise you can clean yourself up." He pokes a tender spot on their back, "And you," He points at Diluc, "Can do everything else around here."

They're empty threats, they all know, but Diluc and Septima glare at one another anyway. "One isn't quitting."

Diluc shakes his head, "You don't have a choice."

"And what will you do to stop me?" They shoot back. "Go with me and expose that there's two of us? Be reasonable, Diluc."

His eyes widen, "*I'm* the one that needs to be reasonable? Are you sure you didn't hit your head- are you quite serious right now?"

"Deadly so." She tells him plainly.

"*Septima*." He growls, "This isn't a joke to me."

"It's not to me either!"

Diluc paces, "Then act like it! Right now you're acting like a child. You can't keep getting hurt like this."

"One is significantly older than you." She points out, though it only serves to make her sound childish. "You're asking me to promise something that can't be promised. It's a ridiculous standard that even you can't meet!"

He shakes his head, "I don't have to. _You_ do."

"You're a hypocrite." She snaps.

"And you have a death wish."

Septima glares at him, face hot with frustation, "_You're a hypocrite._" She says again, firmer.

Diluc curls his hands at his sides as he keeps pacing. Why do they always need to be so difficult? Always so intent on getting into trouble they don't need to be in, always so stubborn when he needs them to step back and stop getting hurt. Doesn't she understand how it feels to see her come home barely able to walk or talk? To wait up all night praying to gods he barely believes in that she's just gone to Jean again and will return in the morning, that a note is on its way to assure him... She insists that she understands, so how can she be so blind?

"There's no point in having this argument over again." Septima says when he doesn't respond, "Whatever it is you're expecting of me isn't-"

"I'm trying to make sure you don't get yourself killed, Kaeya!" He freezes, eyes wide.

Elzer's hands pause against her back and Septima covers her mouth, forcibly swallowing down every cruel thing that aches to get passed her teeth.

_One isn't a replacement for your brother_
_Don't use me to feel better about what you did to him_
_You aren't my brother_
_You'll never be my brother_
_One hates you_

"Leave." They get out, barely, muffled against her hand. She worries if she says anything else she won't be able to hold the rest of it back.

Diluc nods once, tense and robotic, and quickly leaves the room in an ashamed daze.

Elzer watches him leave with a sad frown. He doesn't say anything for some time, quietly finishing taking care of her wounds. Eventually, he speaks up. "The young master often has a confused heart." They don't respond, mouth still covered, "There were better ways to say what he did. Perhaps it's too much to ask that you don't take it personally?"

"Thank you for caring for my injuries." She says quietly.

He nods, understanding. "Rest well, Lady Septima." He squeezes her shoulder lightly and goes to seek out Diluc. Barbatos only knows how deep he's spiraled in the time it took him to finish her stitches...

---
They avoid each other for two days. Diluc, not wanting to force her to speak to him and Septima, waiting for the bitter cruel taste to leave her mouth, tip toe around the other.

She'd hesitated to leave to stay in the city with Jean or Aleks. They'd ask too many questions and she... didn't want the Captain to hear. It would be cruel, to both brothers, to bring it to his attention. They spend the days in the city but return home in time to eat an early dinner and skip around his usual schedule to avoid catching him.

Elzer doesn't question any of it, accepting the requests for early plates and keeps her company while fixing her costume instead of leaving her to eat alone.

They don't speak much, but she's grateful for his precense.

The evening of the second day rolls around and she stares down at the fixed costume laying across her bed. The blankets are new as are the sheets, custom ordered from Liyue Harbor after she'd made an off the cuff remark about missing the comfortably weighted fabrics she'd purchased years before.

A chest lays at the foot of the bed filled with clothes he'd taken her personally to get after learning she only had a few spare sets to her name.

Across from it on the desk sat ink and pale blue parchment he insisted he had found being sold but that she knew was _also_ a custom request, next to that a shelf for her recent belongings, a lantern with his family's crest, and so on...

He'd made this her home.

"Lady Septima?" She spins quickly to see Diluc in her doorway, unsure and hesitant. His eyes widen a bit, "You're... crying."

She reaches up a hand and only then notices that her face is wet. "Oh. That's true." They wipe their face, a bit dazed. "Is there something you needed?"

He hesitates, "I just... I wanted to wish you good luck, tonight."

Septima swallows and nods ready to accept that as enough, "Yes, thank you Master Diluc." They hesitate now, "Will that be all?" It's not dismissive, in intent or tone.

Diluc shakes his head, "No." He opens his mouth to say something and stops and then again. She gives him a small but encouraging smile. "I wish to apologize and to explain- I deeply hope that you know I don't confuse you with my brother."

They nod, "One knows."

He looks relieved and more readily continues, "I won't lie, I'm concerned and worried and I always will be. I'll be upset when- _if_ you get hurt. I'll ask you not to go out again. I'll tell you it's what's best even if- even if I know that's not always correct. It's just what... It's what you do..."

"It's what you do for family." She fills in softly. The corners of his eyes soften and he nods. "One understands."

Diluc chances a step further into her room. "You also understand that means I consider you family?"

She lets out a breathy laugh, "Yes."

"And you consider me family?"

The hope there is enough to have them on the verge of tears all over again. "Yes, Master Diluc, one-"

He cuts her off, "Just Diluc. I don't like when family calls me Master."

She straightens her shoulders, "If you insist. Diluc, then, yes one does consider you family." He grins almost goofily and she can't help but match it. "Now, if that's all one needs to-"

They're cut off again but a hug, careful to avoid her stitches. She sighs and hugs him back. "Please be careful tonight, Septima."

"One will... Diluc."