For reasons unknown, the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius slowly got his way back to consciousness after what felt like hours of nothingness. His last memory was a blur of the tavern.. the clinking of glasses, the warmth of wine sliding down his throat, faint laughter echoing around him… and then, silence. Darkness. Nothing.

Had he drunk too much? Or had someone seen the opportunity to strike when his guard was down?

Yet, pain answered him first. A dull ache pounded in his skull, each heartbeat heavier than the last. He instinctively tried to reach for his temples, only to find his arms pinned. Bound. A sharp tug against the restraints confirmed it. Tight, deliberate, inescapable.

Kaeya exhaled slowly through his nose, a bitter frown creeping on his face. His one visible eye adjusted to the void surrounding him, but the room was pitch black, suffocating in its silence. Whoever had orchestrated this wasn’t sloppy. This was planned.

The Fatui. His mind went to them instantly. It wouldn’t be the first time they tried something reckless, or desperate. Poison in the wine? A hidden hand in the crowd? His lips curled beneath his covered mouth. If it was them, then they were getting bolder. Careless, even. To drag him off like this, as if he wouldn’t notice, as if he wouldn’t remember..

He tried to speak, to test his voice, but the cloth biting at his mouth silenced every word. Only a muffled complaint escaped him, rough and frustrated.

“...Mmph!?” His pulse quickened as his eye swept the blackness, searching for the faintest flicker, the smallest clue. But there was nothing. Just the sound of his own breathing. This wasn’t drunken misfortune. This was deliberate. Someone had brought him here.. and they were patient enough to let him wake, bound and helpless, just to realize it.