Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 56: Diluc?

Dilucs face soon disappeared from my sight as the floor collapsed beneath me. The Jade Chamber grew smaller and smaller still, growing further away as I fell.
I tumbled across platform pieces, unable to stop myself from crying out in fear and pain. My arms and legs were getting banged up, and bad. Crimson ran across my skin as I tumbled across piece to piece.
That was going to hurt later... is it? Does it matter anymore? Things looked pretty grim for me. I looked down as I fell, the city below growing ever closer.
I don't think I can get out of this one, I thought. My skill couldn't help me soften this impact, the fall was too great. I looked back up to the chamber. At least Diluc will be okay.
My eyes widened a little as I saw red hair peeking over the side. Diluc? He was looking down, but I was too far to make out his face.
Diluc... I'm sorry. Despite knowing that he would be okay, I couldn't stop myself from crying. I felt the tears running down my face get quickly swept away by the wind. I'm sorry I can't be there with you.
As all of that had happened, I was still tumbling from pieces of the platform. I wish I wasn't falling on these things. They hurt pretty bad...
I looked up again for a moment, and saw flashes of light. Light? It seems familiar. I was able to make out a figure. Who was that?
I didn't get to figure it out before I fell against another platform, and hard. The back of my head hit the hard surface, and I yelled in pain, closing my eyes in retaliation. My head throbbed, my arms and legs were numb. When will the falling end?
I felt myself passing out, was it the blood loss or the head injury? I felt lightheaded, unable to breathe properly. My heart raced as I finally processed that I was good as dead.
That was, until I felt something else collide with me. I opened one eye, struggling to open the other, blinking through the pain and tears.
I felt blood running down my face. My vision was blurry, and I felt myself slipping away. "Who...?" I said quietly, not able to utter the full question. Who are you?
"Y/n, you'll be okay!" He shouted over the deafening sound of the wind. Who was that? Why was he yelling?
I brought my hand to my eye and held it in front of me. Through my blurred vision, the only thing I could see was the blood on my fingers.
"It... it hurts," was all I could manage to say, my brain blanking out through all the pain.
"Hang on, I'll take you to safety!"
Please keep it down... his voice hurt my head, and I felt my vision going dark again. I'm trying to sleep...
"Don't pass out on me," He said, sounding frustrated, angry even. "Don't you dare. Diluc is waiting for you up there!"
Diluc?

"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Thank you..."
"You can't be too careful around these parts. These pests are everywhere. Why aren't you carrying a weapon?"
"I don't know how to use any... And I thought I would be okay this close to Mondstadt, but so much for that, hehe..."
"They were after this? ...What for? They aren't that valuable. Mora wise, at least."
"Who knows, they must have not known that... I saw you in the tavern yesterday, what's your name?"
"Diluc."

I shot my eyes awake, sitting up with a gasp. "Diluc..." Where was I? The room was unfamiliar, yet familiar at the same time. This wasn't the hotel room... or mine in Mondstadt.
"Y/n?" I heard a panicked voice to my side, and I turned to see a familiar redhead. He was outside on an open balcony, a cool breeze seeping into the room.
He turned toward me, a hand still on the railing. His red hair, pulled into its familiar ponytail, flowed softly in the wind. He stared at me with a look of shock.
It seemed to be the morning, or was it evening? The orange sky was my only indicator of what time it was. My head felt groggy, and sore. I touched the back of my head, feeling a bandage there. I ran my hand across it, my fingers tracing it towards my face. It went over my eye. My eye?
I couldn't see anything out of it, although I wasn't sure if it was just because of the bandage. Seeing my confusion, the redhead left the balcony and came inside, walking towards me steadily. He looked to me with both concern and relief. I was on a bed, the warm covers over my legs, which also felt sore. Were those... bandages I felt on my legs?
I looked down at my hands, my arms covered in bandages as well. I felt my heart race, my stomach drop. What happened? Why am I like this?
The fear dialed down a little when I saw a hand go over mine. I looked up to it's owner, my eye widening and my ears perking.
"Diluc?" I asked, studying his face.
He looked tired, as though he had aged several years. Dark bags hung heavy under his eyes. "Y/n, you're okay..." he said in relief, brushing my face gently. "You fell. Why did..." he uttered quietly, then stopped.
"I fell?" I said, trying to remember. The memories of the night previously trickled into my brain, bits and pieces coming together. "Liyue..."
"Liyue is okay," Diluc said, reassuring me. I brought my hand to his, which was resting on my cheek, and held it tight. "How are you feeling?"
I thought for a moment. "I'm feeling a major headache," I said, smiling a little. "And my arms, my legs..."
"Scratched up pretty bad, I'm afraid," he said, although he couldn't help but smile a little. "Nothing is broken, but..."
"And my..." my other hand came to my left eye, feeling the bandage over it.
"Your eye..." he said, his smile disappearing. "I'm sorry."
"What... what happened to my eye?" I said, starting to panic. "Diluc, what happened to my eye?" I felt tears welling up, but held them back.
He pulled me into an embrace, his hand rubbing gently over the back of my head. He avoided the bandage, but I still felt the pang of the injury on my head.
My eye... "It's gone, isn't it? My eye?" I said, trying not to cry.
"Well it's..." he said, stopping and sighing. Diluc hugged me slightly tighter, although he was mindful of my injury.
"Yeah, it's gone..." I said, the realization hitting me. I sighed, running my hand across his back, comforting myself more than him. "It's okay. I've got another one," I joked, trying to relieve the situation.
"Don't joke about it, it's not funny..." Diluc said, although I felt his shoulder shake a little as he held back a chuckle. I smiled, glad I could make him laugh despite what happened.
"Diluc, where are we?" I asked, and he pulled away a little. "Are we at...?"
"Wangshu Inn," he finished my sentence, looking around the room briefly. "You've been asleep for four days."
"More than one?" I said, gulping a little. I overslept sometimes, but this was just overboard.
He nodded. "We only had one night left at the hotel, and then one here. Xiao helped me carry you here," Diluc added. Xiao helped?
"Xiao?" I asked, looking around. "If we only had two paid nights, then what about the last two?"
"You can thank Xiao," Diluc said, looking around. "He let us stay here."
"This is his room? But... where has he been sleeping?" I asked, feeling guilty.
Just then, the door creaked open. Diluc and I turned our heads towards it, and in walked Xiao. He was carrying a tray of sorts, and had pushed the door open with his back.
"Xiao-" Diluc said, although he was interrupted quickly.
"Diluc, I thought I told you to let her rest," Xiao said, his back still turned to us. He pushed into the room, and set his tray down on a table by the door. He began fumbling with the items, his back still turned to us. "It's like you humans say... what was it... it's like watching paint dry, if you keep bothering her-"
He turned and stopped, noticing me sat up. He walked over slowly. "She won't wake up..." he finished his sentence, although quietly. "You're awake?"
"Well... yeah," I said, smiling a little. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to the tray he had carried in.
"It's tea and... medicine," he said, still surprised that I had awoken. "Just to keep you healthy while you were sleeping. But I'd assume that we won't need it anymore."
"Y/n, are you hungry?" Diluc asked, looking at me with joy. He was very happy I was awake, it seemed. "Wait here, I'll get you some soup from downstairs."
I watched him with a smile as he hurried off, shutting the door behind him. He left Xiao and I in the room, Xiao pouring some tea into a cup.
"You should have seen him earlier," Xiao said, sounding slightly amused. The hot tea steamed as he poured it, my mouth feeling slightly dry at just the sound of the trickling liquid. "He wouldn't leave your side."
"Xiao, what... happened to my eye?" I said, although it was obvious. It was gone. "It happened when I hit my head, didn't it?"
"Not quite," he said, turning to me with a cup of tea in his hand. "After you initially hit your head, you couldn't use your arms to protect your face. I believe you might have blacked out without realizing."
"I... did?" I said, my memory still a little hazy from that night. "When I fell... you're the one who caught me, weren't you? Thank you."
"I wasn't just going to let you fall," Xiao said, handing me the tea. "That would just be... never mind. You should have seen Diluc. He was the main reason I went after you."
"Diluc?" I remembered him peering down at me as I fell, but he was too far away to see his face.
"I've seen a lot in my thousands of years," Xiao said, reminding me that he was much older than he appeared. "I've seen a lot of loss, a fair share of death. Some of it by my own hands," he looked out towards the balcony. "But he just seemed so lost. I couldn't just do nothing."
I was quiet for a moment, holding the warm cup of tea in my hands. "You're being really nice, Xiao. You weren't like that before."
He looked over to me, confusion on his face. "Me? Nice?" Xiao said, giving a bit of a 'hmph'. "You've been through too much for me to rude, have you not?"
"But there gotta be more," I said, looking up to him with an ear raised. "Why?"
He sighed. "You were prepared to sacrifice your life for his," Xiao said, he face softening a little. "It reminds me of someone else I knew once. But thats a long story."
I nodded, looking down at my tea. I should probably drink this before it gets cold. "Did you sleep at all? I feel guilty for taking up a bed..." I asked him, drinking the tea.
He shook his head. "Humans have little knowledge of the ways of the Adepti," he said, sounding feisty again, back to his normal self. "I don't need to sleep."
"You don't?" I said, tilting my head. "Then why do you have a room?"
"What kind of question is that?" He said, raising a brow. "It's a base of sorts. Somewhere to go when I'm not doing my job."
"Do the innkeepers know who you are?" I asked, intrigued.
He nodded. "I'm the whole reason this inn exists."
"The whole reason?" I said, drinking some more tea. "So... the inn is a cover?"
"You could say that," Xiao said, shrugging a bit. "Although, it does still function as an inn. Not very convincing if they never took any customers."
I nodded, agreeing. "I see... hey, what time is it?"
The sky was still orange, so I had no idea if it was morning or evening. "The time?" Xiao looked out the window, and understood my confusion. "It's... maybe six? It's evening."
Evening? It felt like I had woken up from a nap, groggy and confused. It wasn't often that you woke up at the end of the day, after all. It was a surreal feeling.
"I'm just glad everything turned out okay," I said, sighing. "I wonder where Aether and Paimon are..."
"They stopped by yesterday," Xiao said, and I looked up to him in surprise.
"They did?" I asked, raising my ear again.
He nodded. "Paimon was quite upset. She was really worried about you," Xiao went back to the coffee table, pouring himself a cup. "And Aether was just glad you were still alive."
He turned, walking back with the teapot. I looked down at my cup, which was now empty. I held it out to Xiao, who filled it back up for me.
"Thanks," I said, drinking some more. I felt dehydrated, and downed some more tea quickly.
"Don't drink it so fast, you'll get sick," he warned me, putting the teapot back on the table and sitting down on a chair. "We tried our best to make sure you got water while you were asleep, but it's a little difficult to do so. We didn't want to drown you on accident."
"That... wouldn't be ideal," I said, slowing down on the tea. Getting sick was probably not ideal either, especially seeing the state I was in. A sickness would be really bad while I was like this. I set the tea down on the nightstand for the time being.
The door creaked open, Diluc walking in with a bowl of soup. He smiled, more than I had seen him smile ever before. Bringing me the soup, he set it in my hands.
"Here, it's Jewlery Soup. What you had at Wanmin," he reminded me, sitting at the foot of the bed.
"Thanks," I said, peeling the lid off the bowl. I blew on the broth, the steam rising into my face. Hot soup...
"I have a job to do," Xiao said, standing up. "No funny business when I'm gone."
He walked to the door, leaving quickly. "Funny business?" I asked after taking a sip of the soup. I hummed in delight, the taste making me feel a bit better already.
"Who knows," Diluc shrugged, standing and walking around to the other side of the bed. He sat down again, glancing at me now and again.
We sat quietly, none of us saying a word until I finished my soup. I set it down with my tea on the nightstand beside me, and then turned to Diluc.
"I mean, I know I'm not the person who you'd expect to be asking, but are you okay?" I asked, smiling a little. "You seem a bit down."
Even though he had been smiling at me, he looked exhausted. Diluc seemed pale, and he moved sluggishly.
"Don't worry about me, you-" he sighed, looking down. "Why?"
I tilted my head. "Hm? Why what?" I raised a brow, slightly confused.
"You traded places with me," he said, not looking at me. "I mean, I don't even know where your strength came from, either. You practically threw me, but that's besides the point... Why?"
Diluc looked up to me again. He seemed so, so tired. He had bags under his eyes. Although I was groggy, I felt like I could stay awake for a while, since I had slept so long.
"What do you mean why?" I said, worrying for him. "Why wouldn't I?"
"No. Why would you do that?" Diluc said, and I felt a pang of sadness for him.
"Did you sleep... at all?" I said, my ears going down against my head. Had I caused him this guilt?
"No, I cant," he said, shaking his head. He sounded uneasy, frustrated. "It should have been me. I should have been the one to fall and lose my eye, or even my life. That should have been me."
Diluc pointed to himself as he spoke, looking at me with a mixed expression of sadness and anger, which I felt wasn't directed at me necessarily. Was he mad in general, or at himself?
I shook my head. "No, it shouldn't have, and it wasn't. Diluc," I said, putting my hand on his cheek in comfort. "I made that choice for myself. Don't beat yourself up for something I did."
He stopped, and I felt my heart stop as well when I saw a tear rolling down his cheek. A tear? He was... crying?
I wiped it away with my thumb, and he looked up at me sadly. "We've already had this conversation... haven't we?" He said after a few moments.
I nodded. "We did, didn't we? It seems like places are just switched this time," I noted, smiling a little.
We already had a situation like this. I remembered with a pant of guilt, how Diluc was willing to risk everything so I would be okay. I had cried, thinking it was all my fault. I still felt that way occasionally, how could I not? But in the end, you can't change what's already happened.
"I guess I'm just returning the favor," I said, wiping his tears dry. "Please don't cry for me."
"I already said that before," Diluc said, smiling a little. His tears began to dry, and he pulled me into a another hug.
I smiled with a red face as he kissed my cheek, hugging me tight. "Hey, come on now..." I said, although I didn't stop him. "I'm fine!"
"My biggest regret would have been not kissing you one more time," he said, kissing my lips quickly. "Just let me kiss you just in case... please?"