Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in a country called Mondstadt, there lived a boy with hair the colour of ripe apples, and eyes the colour of rubies. Before his mother died, she gifted him with a bright red cape that he would wear everywhere he went. People affectionately called him Little Red Riding Hood, but his real name was Diluc. Diluc lived with his father in a cottage by the edge of the woods. His father grew grapes in their little orchard and they made their living selling them, occasionally turning them into wine which the townspeople loved. Those often sold very well.
When Diluc got a little older, his father allowed him to travel to the neighbouring town to deliver grapes, wine, and purchase some groceries for their meals. Diluc enjoyed these errands as they made him feel like a grown-up. His father worked hard to look after them, so Diluc wanted to do the same for him.
One day, on one of his routine trips, Diluc didn’t realize that his life was about to change forever. There was a festival going on in the town, and he had gotten a little distracted by the dancing and festivities. By the time he left for home, the sky had transformed into hues of oranges and pinks, the sun beginning its descent down the horizon. His basket was heavy, filled to the brim with groceries and gifts from the friendly townsfolk.
Diluc looked at the sky and noted that it would be dark soon. His father is a worrywart, and would be beyond himself if Diluc is late. Diluc decides to save time and takes a shortcut through the woods instead of walking the usual way home. His father had always advised against it, but they have lived on the fringes for so many years and nothing had ever happened, so it just felt like Crepus was too overprotective sometimes.
It seemed like a good idea, autumn has just arrived, coating all the leaves in hues of bronze and gold. The wind blows, cold and bracing, but Diluc is kept warm by his trusty red riding hood. He felt confident that he was well equipped to make the trek.
Diluc did not realize how wrong he was.
He should have known better.
He should have known that they were not alone in the woods.
Diluc stood frozen, staring at the wolf baring its teeth at him. It is easily taller than Diluc, standing on all 4 legs, dark blue fur bristling. It snarls at him, teeth razor sharp, slobber dripping onto the ground, reminding Diluc that this is a creature that could easily tear him apart, limb from limb.
Crepus’ words echo in his head.
If you ever meet a monster, run.
Don’t try to fight, just run.
He drops the wicker basket with all the food, and watches as the slobbering wolf’s eye—they were heterochromatic, one of them icy blue, the other gold—zooms in on the falling food. Turning on his heels, Diluc runs like the devil is after him.
To his relief, the wolf didn’t follow, distracted by the food. He supposes that is a blessing. Diluc runs towards the direction of his house and doesn’t stop even though his whole body aches, even though his legs are killing him. He gets home, and Crepus immediately stands up, alarmed at the sight of his beloved son so disheveled with tears in his eyes. Diluc has no choice but to explain what happened, he got ambushed by a monster, and lost the basket. He doesn’t tell Crepus about his shortcut through the woods, as he didn’t want his father to know that he had disobeyed orders.
There was little a child fears more than being scolded by their parents.
Crepus doesn’t yell at him, far from it. Instead, he hugs Diluc tightly and tells him that it is alright, and that nothing else mattered as long as he was safe and unharmed.
Later on, Diluc realizes that he has also lost his beloved red riding hood in the scuffle, and it kind of makes his day worse.
For the next week, Crepus keeps Diluc at home. Diluc’s afraid to question it at first, thinking that he’s lost his father’s trust after what had happened. One night he overhears Crepus mutter something about it being not safe if his son had been attacked, and that he had been too relaxed in his duties. Diluc didn’t understand what it meant, but it sounded pretty ominous. His father would come home looking tired and haggard, and he smelled weird, like iron or rust. Diluc would later find out that the smell was blood.
His father could not locate Diluc’s red riding hood. He knows why, it’s because he lied about the location where he got ambushed. Still, he can’t bear to lose the hood for good. It was personally sewn by his mother and meant the world to him, it was the only reminder of her he had left.
So when Crepus leaves the house that morning, Diluc decides to head off into the woods where he had run into the wolf. This time, he would be armed with a knife he grabbed from the kitchen.
In the light of day, it didn’t take him long to retrace his steps. Diluc found the basket easily enough, it laid on the ground, battered and filthy, picked clean of anything edible. There were paw prints leading away from it, and Diluc follows them to find a small cave not far away, hidden well underneath some foliage.
This must be the wolf’s lair. It wasn’t very smart, to be so obvious with its hiding spot.
He quietly approaches the cave, making sure to keep his breathing and footsteps as silent as possible. His grip on the knife handle feels clammy and slippery. If the wolf was aggressive, Diluc would have to fight it. It was scary, but if there was any chance of getting his red riding hood back, Diluc had to try.
Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he carefully parted the foliage covering the entrance of the cave and stepped inside.
It’s very dark, as expected for a cave, and immediately he realizes there is someone or… something inside, breathing lightly, asleep. That made sense, wolves were usually nocturnal. When his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, the first thing Diluc sees is his red cape, and the second is who’s underneath it.
The boy using Diluc’s precious red riding hood as a blanket does not look older than him. Through the small trickle of sunlight Diluc could make out the inky blue hues of his hair and a pair of fluffy wolf ears on the top of his head.
For a moment, Diluc is mesmerized. His hand reaches out, almost on its own accord, and strokes the ears on top of the boy’s head. The fur is soft, and so is his hair. This wakes the wolf, or rather, the boy, and he jolts up with a snarl, pupils constricted to slits and sharp canines glinting. It all happens so quickly. Diluc thrusts his knife forward without thinking and the boy gives a sharp whimper of pain before falling back, clutching his now bleeding arm.
Diluc cries out in surprise as well, even though he wasn’t the one hurt. The blood that flows from the wound is as vivid as the red of his hood and Diluc drops his knife in panic. He had meant to stab a wolf, not a boy. He had not thought this through, had not considered what it meant to hurt someone.
The boy doesn’t say anything, just pushes himself into the back of the cave and bares his teeth at Diluc. The clothes he wears are tattered and dirty, ripped in several places. His matching blue fluffy tail wraps around his body protectively. One of his eyes is matted shut with dried blood, the other is wet with tears.
“I’m… I’m so sorry!” says Diluc. He doesn’t even know if the wolf boy speaks human language.
“W-what do you want?” The boy’s voice is hoarse, like it hasn’t been used in a while, but he speaks their language well enough.
“I…” Diluc looks at the red riding hood, discarded on the ground. “That’s mine.”
The wolf boy follows his gaze. “Take it… please, just don’t kill me,” He says.
Diluc steps forward, grabbing the hood and cradling it protectively in his arms as the wolf looks at him with fear in his single eye.
Mission accomplished! At this point Diluc should return home in triumph, he had gotten what he came to get, didn’t he?
But Diluc couldn’t shake off the fact that he had done something horrible when he saw the blood dripping down from the boy’s arm. And the way the boy is looking at him, like Diluc is the monster here.
“I’m sorry,” Diluc apologizes. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, it was an accident! I’ll come back with some medicine for your wounds.”
“No need,” the boy says, looking away. “Just… go, please.”
Right as he said that, the boy’s stomach growled loudly.
“I’ll bring some food too,” says Diluc on impulse.
That seems to give the wolf boy pause, he licks his lips almost ravenously and Diluc realizes how thin he is, all skin and bones.
“...Okay…” He finally says.
“Wait here!” Diluc orders, scrambling out of the cave. “I’ll be right back!”
For the second time in as many weeks he sprints back home. He gathers up some of their first aid materials, they had plenty since his father often came home with minor injuries. He also grabs some food and stuffs them into his bag. He runs back into the woods, into the cave, and sighs in relief when he sees that the wolf boy hasn’t moved from his position.
“Stop that, you’ll make it worse,” Diluc chastises on seeing him lick the wound.
“What are you doing?” The boy’s gaze was wary, but not fearful as Diluc requested for his arm.
“I’m helping you with your wound, it’s the least I could do, since I hurt you,” Diluc explains, bandaging up the wound. He had seen his father deal with minor injuries often, and had learnt a little bit from watching him. “I’m Diluc. What’s your name?”
The boy hesitated, but decided to answer. “I’m Kaeya.”
Diluc finishes bandaging up his arm, and gestures to do the same for Kaeya’s eye. The wound on his eye looked old and painful. But Kaeya shies away instead.
He still doesn’t trust Diluc, but no matter, wolves were basically like oversized dogs, right? And Diluc was good with animals. He knew you had to bribe them with food first.
He opens his bag, allowing the aroma of food to waft out. Kaeya perks his head up, wolf ears twitching. His tail starts to swish back and forth like it has a mind of its own.
Diluc feels quite charmed by that as he sets the food out, one by one on the ground. Some apples, bread, grapes. Kaeya looks as he lays them out, deflating as he goes along.
“Do you have any meat?” He asks.
Diluc started, well, wolves did love their meat, but meat was expensive and hard to come by, even Diluc and his father didn’t have it often. “No, don’t be picky,” He says.
Kaeya’s ears flatten on the top of his head but even though he looks displeased, he still snarfs down the food like… well… like a starving wolf.
While he eats, Diluc couldn’t stop staring at that pair of fluffy ears. They looked so soft. Taking his chances, he reaches out his hand and gently brushes the top of Kaeya’s head, sinking his fingers into Kaeya’s hair as the wolf doesn’t pull away. At some point, it even looked like Kaeya was enjoying being petted, as he tilted his head slightly, nuzzling into Diluc’s palm.
Diluc felt fascinated about the whole thing. Maybe his father was wrong, monsters weren’t dangerous, they were people, just like them.
“Can I look at your eye now?” He asks, once Kaeya finishes the food, licking the crumbs off his thumb so as not to waste any.
Kaeya shies away slightly, but doesn’t resist as Diluc gently wipes away the caked blood along his forehead, eye socket and cheek. The beautiful golden eye underneath was injured worse than he thought, and Diluc didn’t know what to do with it.
But maybe his father did.
“It looks badly hurt,” He tells Kaeya. “I don’t think I can help you here, I’ll take you to my home and ask my father, he’ll know what to do.”
“Your home?” Kaeya repeats. “Where is that?”
Diluc points in the direction of the cottage. “I live at the edge of the woods with my dad. It’s a really nice house with a big chimney and lots of space.”
“With… with the grapes?” Kaeya asks, voice quivering all of a sudden.
But Diluc doesn’t catch that, enthusiastically listing the features of his home. “Yes! We grow lots of grapes at my home.”
Kaeya had turned clammy and pale, and Diluc started to worry about his well-being. Could it be the grapes? Were they poisonous to wolves… boys… people, by any chance?
“Kaeya, are you okay?”
“Your father’s the red-haired hunter,” Kaeya says. “The one that’s been killing monsters in the forest.”
“What? No!” Diluc exclaims. His father was a wonderful person who would never harm anyone. “My father’s a farmer.”
But it is clear that Kaeya has made up his mind when the wolf snarls at him again. “I… I won’t go with you! Go away!”
Diluc feels a wave of annoyance. Why couldn’t Kaeya see that Diluc was trying to help him?
“I just want to help you!” He says irritably.
“GO!” Kaeya yells, teeth bared, a low growl tearing through his throat.
Diluc wasn’t scared, he didn’t think Kaeya would hurt him, but he also didn’t want to break the fragile trust they had. If Kaeya ran away, there was a chance he would never see the blue-haired boy again, and like it or not, Diluc was worried about him. Living all alone out in the woods, didn’t he have any parents?
“Okay, okay… I’ll go,” Diluc says, backing away slowly. “I’ll come back another time with more food?” He offers with hope in his voice.
Kaeya curls up and faces the wall, ignoring him, but even he couldn’t control the excited swish of his tail at the thought of Diluc coming again.
Diluc can’t help but find it unbearably cute.
His father was NOT happy that Diluc had disobeyed and went out to search for his cloak. It took weeks for him to trust Diluc to go out on his own again. But Diluc has never been happier for freedom.
At the earliest opportunity, he shoves some food into his bag again and cuts through the woods, looking for Kaeya’s cave. When he finds it empty, he starts calling out Kaeya’s name into the forest until he hears the patter of footsteps.
“Can you stop ?” Kaeya says crossly, skidding to a halt. “You’re too noisy!”
“I told you I would come back,” Diluc says cheerfully, holding out his bag of food as a peace offering. He is glad to see that Kaeya looks a lot better, healthier. His wounded eye was now covered with some bandages.
Kaeya’s tails flicks with pleasure and this time, he takes Diluc to a small hill overlooking the woods to eat.
Diluc couldn’t help looking around curiously. He’s never really explored the forest despite living so close for his whole life, and couldn’t help but find these new places fascinating. He could see his house on one end, and the town center of Mondstadt on the other, peeking over the top of the balding trees preparing for winter. The wind blows, crisp and cold, and Diluc tucks himself comfortably into his trusty red riding hood.
“You still don’t have any meat,” Kaeya complains. Wrinkling his nose, he picks through the offerings Diluc had brought.
“Meat is expensive,” Diluc explains, chewing on an apple. “Lots of people are scared to go into the forest to hunt, so we don’t get much of it.”
Kaeya chewed quietly on his bread, looking thoughtful.
“So..” Diluc started, wondering how best to broach the topic. “Are you a boy, or a wolf?”
Kaeya looks at him in confusion. “I’m both,” He says.
“But the first time we met you appeared as a wolf, and the second time you were.” Diluc gestures at Kaeya, his distinctively human appearance, save for the fluffy ears and wolf tail.
“According to my father, our people have always been able to choose between living as humans or as beasts. But I haven’t learned to control it just yet… I can’t choose when I turn into a wolf, or what I do when I’m a beast. That’s why I attacked you the other day. I was starving, and you were there. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Diluc says. It was scary at first, but Diluc was glad he had gained a new friend from it.
“What about you?” Kaeya asks.
“I’m human,” Diluc says automatically. Though he thinks it would be pretty cool if he had shapeshifting powers like Kaeya. Diluc would like to be a bird, flying through the air.
“I know,” Kaeya says, looking unimpressed. “I mean, why do you always wear the red hood? It makes you stick out like a sore thumb, you know.”
“Oh,” Diluc picks at a stray thread on his cape. “My mom made this for me before she died. It was based on one of her favourite stories called ‘little red riding hood’. I’m not sure if you know?”
Kaeya shook his head. Diluc jumped at the opportunity to share with his new friend a tale that was so important to both him and his mother. A tale of a sly wolf who wanted to eat a girl with a red hood, and dressed itself up as her grandmother in order to do so.
Kaeya just wrinkles his nose when Diluc is done. “I don’t like this story,” He says.
“Why not?” Diluc bristles, offended.
“Well, why is the wolf evil? I only eat because I need to live, and I don’t eat people. And why couldn't little red riding hood tell that the wolf was dressed up as her grandmother? That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Diluc huffs, not expecting such a lackluster response. “It’s just a story, Kaeya. Don’t think too deeply into it.”
This continues for a while. Diluc would sneak out of the house to meet Kaeya in the forest. They would share a meal, or play in the woods. Kaeya showed him all the cool hiding spots, like the flowing river with its icy cold and clear water, or the meadow that looked like it came from a fairytale, lush grass dotted with calla lilies and glowing lamp grass. He gets to know Kaeya a little better, knows that Kaeya lives alone in these woods since his parents are both gone. Despite all his begging, Kaeya never wanted to come home with him, he always vehemently refused.
Diluc and his father had always lived on their own, away from the town center, so he never had any opportunities to make new friends. Kaeya seemed just as lonely and was just as eager for friendship. It didn’t matter then, that Kaeya was a wolf and Diluc was the son of a hunter. They were best friends, and nothing would change that.
One day, a few months since he had befriended Kaeya, Crepus noticed the offerings, or gifts, that would lay outside their door from time to time. Sometimes something small, like a dead rabbit, sometimes a couple of fish, once a baby boar.
Diluc had a bit of an idea as to who the culprit could be when he saw the teeth marks on the rabbit’s neck. Maybe Kaeya was trying to repay the favor in his own way by hunting some meat for them, since Diluc once told him that meat was hard to come by. Diluc didn’t understand why he had to be so sneaky about it though. Kaeya would have been welcomed at his home at any time. He could introduce Kaeya to his father, who was a kind man.
Crepus Ragnvindr was a kind man.
Diluc believed this wholeheartedly.
On an otherwise uneventful night, the sound of something outside whimpering and yelping in great pain lurched Diluc awake from sleep. Since they didn’t have a dog, he has a sinking feeling that it could be Kaeya.
He bolts down the stairs, bursts out into the yard and finds a familiar looking blue wolf with its hind leg caught in a bear trap. A dead rabbit lies on the ground, the intended gift for the Ragnvindr family.
“Diluc, get away from it!” Crepus shouts, storming out of the house. In his burly arms he held an axe. The wolf notices and tries to flee, but is caught in place by the bear trap.
Not knowing what else to do, Diluc throws himself in front of Kaeya, arms outspread.
“Diluc! Step away. That is a dangerous monster.” His father yells again. The look in his eyes is like nothing he had ever seen before, full of murderous intent. All this time, he thought his father was the sort who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Could he have been wrong?
“No, he’s not!” Diluc hugs the wolf in his arms, feeling Kaeya shiver beneath him. “That’s my friend. He won’t hurt us.” He hugs Kaeya even closer to himself and squeezes his eyes shut. If he could protect Kaeya with his own body, his father wouldn’t dare hurt him.
Crepus hesitates, axe hovering in the air. Why was the creature not attacking? Why was his son protecting it?
“I noticed that food has been missing from our home, Diluc, did you…?”
“I stole it,” Diluc admitted. “I’ve been sharing with Kaeya. He’s my friend.”
The wolf whimpered again, and Diluc glares at Crepus with tearful eyes; he doesn’t think he’s ever seen his son look more angry or upset in his life.
“We need to help him. Kaeya’s hurt. You hurt him!”
Crepus was still in doubt, but Diluc was insistent. He pried open the bear trap and allowed his son to wrap the injured wolf in a blanket and take him into the house. When he picks up the wolf, because Diluc is not yet strong enough to do so on his own, the creature in his arms transforms into that of a little boy, eyes shut in pain. Almost indistinguishable from a normal human, were it not for the two fluffy ears on the top of his head.
“Archons above,” Crepus whispers in horror. From here, it looked like he had attacked a child no older than his own son.
Looking at the jagged bear trap wounds, which are on the calf of the boy’s leg, they would not cause permanent damage, but are bleeding a lot and are quite deep. Even though Crepus treated them to the best of his ability, Kaeya would not be able to walk for a little while.
All this time, Diluc does not leave the boy’s side. He holds his hand, murmurs comforting words to him, and wipes away the tears from Kaeya’s cheek when he has to endure the stitches. Crepus had not seen his son care for anyone so deeply, and wondered just what had been going on in his absence.
It wasn’t until everything was done, when the wolf, Kaeya, had fallen asleep leaning against Diluc’s shoulder, that his son turned to him with a hateful expression.
“What was that, father? Why were there traps around the house?” Diluc whispers, despite his anger still showing great care and consideration for the sleeping boy.
Crepus looks at his son helplessly. “The traps were there to protect us,” He says. “The dead animals… they seemed like a threat.”
“They weren’t,” Diluc pointed out. “Kaeya was just bringing us some meat to repay us for the food I brought him.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Crepus. “You went behind my back and lied, Diluc.”
The younger Ragnvindr shivers at being called out. He pulls Kaeya closer to him and doesn’t look at his father when he says. “Kaeya wouldn’t let me tell you… he said that you were a hunter. That if you knew, you would kill him.”
Crepus inhaled sharply. That was not his intention, but yet the deep wounds on Kaeya’s leg, which were still oozing blood, told a different tale.
Diluc takes his silence as agreement, his face turning pale.
“So Kaeya was right… You are a hunter. You hurt people.”
“I don’t hurt people. I hurt monsters that hurt people.”
“Kaeya doesn’t hurt people, and you hurt him.”
Crepus finds himself speechless and powerless against the airtight logic of a child.
It wasn’t long until Diluc falls asleep himself, exhaustion taking its toll on him. He curls up beside Kaeya, using his tail as a pillow. Looking at the two boys sleeping side by side in front of the fireplace leaves Crepus feeling conflicted. He never thought about monsters who had human forms, who might have their own thoughts, emotions, and ability to feel things like love and friendship. How many creatures… no… people like Kaeya had he slaughtered over the years without mercy?
Crepus felt horrible.
He would have struck Kaeya down without a second thought because he had the appearance of a wolf, of a dangerous animal.
It was all because Diluc is nothing like him, and can see the good in everybody, that he was stopped from making a terrible mistake.
He decided at that point that he would take Kaeya in and raise him like his own. It would not absolve the sins of his past, but it was a start.
When Kaeya wakes up the next morning, the first person he sees is Diluc. He is smiling so brightly that it was like the sun, blinding and hard to look at.
“Good morning, Kaeya!” He says cheerfully.
It took a little while for the memories to come back. Things were always a little hazy after he transformed back from his wolf form. He had snuck to Diluc’s home in the middle of the night, as he did sometimes, bearing gifts of small animals he hunted in the woods. Only this time, he was careless and got caught in a trap. Diluc and his father had saved his life.
Kaeya’s eye widens in fear. He is in the home of the hunter right now, the one responsible for killing so many like him. Maybe he was thinking of turning Kaeya into soup, or filling him with stones like in one of Diluc’s fairy tales. He needs to leave. Now!
Kaeya jumps to his feet and collapses with a cry when he puts weight on his ankle, and immense pain shoots up his leg and spine.
The commotion wakes the entire household. Diluc leaps onto his feet with a worried expression as Crepus bursts into the room.
“Don’t try to walk, you’re hurt,” Diluc says. He’s by Kaeya’s side immediately, grabbing onto Kaeya’s arm to support him, hand running through his sweaty hair.
Kaeya seized with fear as Crepus walked up to him. With nowhere to run to, he backs up against the wall, grabbing onto Diluc’s clothes like his life depended on it, as though being in close proximity with the boy could save his life a second time.
He flinches as Diluc’s father approaches him, only for the burly redheaded man to crouch down, putting himself at eye level with Kaeya.
“Hello, Diluc tells me your name is Kaeya,” He says gently. With that, Kaeya gets the courage to look at the gentleman’s face, and he finds that his expression is soft, nothing like yesterday, where his red eyes screamed bloody murder. “I’m Diluc’s father, Crepus. Thank you for looking after my son.”
Kaeya could not answer, but he loosens his grip on Diluc’s clothes somewhat. Why is his dad being so nice? Isn’t he supposed to hate monsters like Kaeya?
“Diluc told me you live alone in the forest, and that you don’t have a home,” Crepus continues. “We have plenty of room and food here, so would you like to become a part of our little family?”
Kaeya once again could not answer. This was happening so quickly and so suddenly, he didn’t know what to say.
Diluc has no such reservations as he grabs Kaeya’s hands with his own and squeezes. “Come on Kaeya, pleeeeeease? I’ve always wanted a little brother.”
“But I’m a wolf,” Kaeya says bluntly, once he found his tongue. His tail wraps around himself self-consciously. “I’m a monster. I don’t belong with humans.”
“I don’t see a monster,” Crepus says kindly. “I see a scared little boy, who went out of his way to be a good friend to Diluc, even though it put him in danger.”
“He’s right,” Diluc chips in, a proper one-two punch. “And with your leg injured like that, it’ll be dangerous for you out in the forest on your own. At least stay with us until you heal and then if you still want to live in the woods, we won’t stop you.”
Kaeya’s ears flatten against his head. He’s still a little hesitant, but Diluc had a point. He wouldn’t be able to hunt for food, or run away from enemies if he couldn’t even walk properly.
He knows that this place is the safest for him and… he trusts Diluc.
“Okay.”