Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 59: Matching Scars

"You lost your eye?" Sucrose shouted, about to tear her own hair out. "Oh... I can never let you leave Mondstadt again..."
"I thought you would say that," I sighed. I was in my own bed, and Noelle went to get Sucrose the second I was settled.
The door opened, and another familiar face walked in. "What's all the yelling- y/n?"
Kaeya's eye went wide, surprised to see me back home. "What in Teyvat happened to you?"
"Never thought I'd actually be that happy to see you, but here we are," I said sarcastically and smiled. "I took a bit of a fall, but I'm okay."
"A bit?" Sucrose said, distressed. "You fell off the Jade Chamber in Liyue!"
"Your eye..." Kaeya said, walking over. He studied the bandages on my arms and face.
"Sorry I... it looks like I copied you again," I said, glancing at my cryo vision on my nightstand.
"Your arms..." he continued, his eye wide in shock.
"My legs too, actually," I said, cracking a wider smile. "I'm okay, nothing is broken. Just scratched real bad."
"How did this happen?" He asked, while Sucrose looked on as though the lights were on, but nobody was home. Had I worried her that badly?
"Well... it's a really long story. Diluc and I went to go see the Rite, but you've probably already heard about that," I said, referencing the death of Rex Lapis. Kaeya nodded slowly. "A few days later, we got wrapped up in a fight between Aether and a Fatui Harbinger."
"You know Aether? Wait, a-a Harbinger?" He said, raising a brow. "Is that how it happened?"
"No, it gets a bit stranger," I laughed a little, despite the situation. "We actually beat him. You've probably heard about this too, but then Osial was raised..."
"Was that the cause?" He tilted his head.
"Indirectly," I said, since Osial was the one who broke the platform. "Didn't Diluc explain this in his letter?"
"No!" Sucrose said, breaking from her stupor of sorts. "He only said you got hurt! Not all... this!"
"Please forgive him," I said, my ears flattening in guilt. "He didn't sleep for two days before her wrote it, and was awake for two days after."
"Four days without any sleep?" Kaeya said, dumbfounded.
I nodded. "Theres got to be a reason for it, Diluc doesn't just lose sleep like that," Kaeya said. Despite their differences, Kaeya knew Diluc well.
"I..." not sure how to say it. How could I tell them? "There was a platform on the Jade Chamber, that's where we fought Osial," I said, describing the situation vaguely.
"Did it break? Is that how you fell?" Sucrose asked.
"It did break, but I was one of the first few people off it," I said, unable to meet Kaeya and Sucroses eyes.
"Then... how did you fall?" Sucrose asked.
"Diluc was still on it," I said, looking away. Kaeya tensed up. "He was running, but he wasn't going to make it. So I..."
"You..." Kaeya said, understanding.
I nodded slowly. "I just... ran out there and swung him over on the platform. I don't know where my strength even came from. After that, I couldn't run off the platform in time."
"...Why?" Kaeya asked after a few moments.
"Because... I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't," I said, looking up to him. "Diluc asked me the same question when I woke up yesterday. I guess it bothered him so much that he couldn't sleep."
"But... how did you even survive that fall?" Kaeya asked me.
I remembered how I saw that light flickering between the falling sections of the platform, the figure hidden within. Just after that, I hit my head on something and blacked out. Just thinking of it made my head throb...
I hadn't even realized that I had put my hand on the back of my head, rubbing the sore spot. "I met an Adeptus at Wangshu Inn. He saved me."
"Adepti?" Sucrose asked, sounding intrigued. Her eyes seemed to light up a little, her ears perked. "What was he like?"
"Sucrose, I believe it would be a good decision to leave y/n be for now, she needs rest," Kaeya said, looking at Sucrose with concern. He was right in doing so. If she started to ask all these questions, she'd never stop. Not to mention that I was already exhausted. "Barbara will stop by shortly," Kaeya told me before leaving the room.
Sucrose sighed, pushing her glasses up. "I'll stop by in the morning..."
With that, the room was once again silent and empty. While I was relieved to see Kaeya and Sucrose again, I still felt uneventful. I thought I was going to be happy to be home, which I was, but I was also left with a feeling of melancholy and uncertainty.
What happened to Childe after? Zhongli? Were the friends I made okay? Was Diluc really okay? There were so many questions I had, but not enough answers.
I had a strange and grim feeling about how close I was to death. Just remembering the sensation of the fall made me feel sick.
Not long after Kaeya and Sucrose left, Barbara walked in. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly.
"Long time no see, Barbara," I smiled, feeling a bit better at just the sight of her. "I'm doing okay."
She carried with her a bag, which she set down and began to remove items from. I saw a familiar jar of red jelly, and fresh bandages. Not a second later, Noelle peeked in through the door.
"Barbara?" She asked, and then her eyes set on me. "Oh, I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. Come in," I said. She walked in hesitantly, and then stood beside Barbara. Barbara smiled at her before returning to the items.
"I was just walking by and saw Barbara, so I peeked in. I hope that's alright," she said apologetically.
"Don't be sorry, I don't mind," I reassured her.
"Noelle, I hate to ask, but..." Barbara began, looking over her stuff. "I forgot water and a cloth... will you please grab those?"
"Of course," she said quickly before hurrying off once more.
"I've been forgetful lately, I'm sorry," Barbara smiled before holding her hand out. "Let me take those bandages off so we can get you cleaned up..."
I brought my arm to her hand, and she began to unwrap the the cloth. As the pressure was taken off my wounds, my arm stung a little as it was exposed to the air.
"It's likely going to be a bit sensitive," she said as she removed the old bandages.
As my arm became exposed, my injuries seemed to consist of mostly small scrapes and bruising. A few large scratches raked across my arm, which was likely the source of my troubles.
I began to feel a little lightheaded, so I looked away. "It's not too bad," Barbara reassured me, and I heard Noelle walking in. She stopped for a moment, before walking over the the bed. "Who ever was watching over you at the time took great care in cleaning the injuries."
Cleaning them... I had told Diluc that if I didn't clean his wound, it would get infected. Did he remember?
I looked back, Noelle setting a tray down on the bed. On it was a bowl of water and a cloth. It reminded me of when I sent for the same items while caring for Diluc. Everything just reminded me of him...
"Thank you Noelle," Barbara said, dipping the cloth in the water before steadily cleaning off dried blood. In the bigger scratches, the wounds hadn't fully closed yet, so the tiniest bit of blood still remained. "It seems like your body hasn't been able to properly heal itself, the wounds haven't fully closed."
"Why don't I go make you some tea?" Noelle asked, not waiting for a response before excusing herself and walking out of the room for tea.
"I understand that your vision grants you healing abilities, right?" I nodded in reply, looking away from my arm again. "Have you tried healing yourself?"
"I did," I said, nodding again. I had tried it when Noelle left to get Sucrose. "It didn't work," I winced a little as Barbara cleaned the bigger wound. "It won't even help with the pain. It worked okay on Diluc, though..."
"Strange, but I suppose it's not unheard of," Barbara said, setting down the cloth. She opened the jar, spreading its contents over my arm. "They say visions reflect who we are. Maybe that's why..." she muttered the last part.
"Why?" I raised an ear. She had said it quietly, I had barely heard it.
"Hm?" She asked, looking up to me.
"I... suppose not," I said. Maybe it was in my head. "Reflect who we are?" I posed a different question.
"It's just a little something I like to think," she said, reaching for fresh bandages. "I like to think that Noelle has a shield because she wants to protect people, for example. It's not a grounded theory in any way, but I like to think that that's why."
"Perhaps," I said, now deep into thought. Why wasn't my healing working when I tried it on myself? What does that mean?
Noelle walked in with a pot of tea, pouring it into a cup and setting it on my nightstand. "Here. I'll let you rest now."
She nodded politely before leaving, and Barbara began to rewrap my arm with fresh bandages. After she repeated the process on my other arm, which had similar wounds, she motioned to my legs.
"I haven't seen these injuries yet, so sorry if I seem a little nervous," I apologized, bringing my legs out from under the covers. Those hurt the most. They stung so bad I couldn't walk properly.
"You had trouble walking, right?" She asked, starting to unwrap one. "I'll come by tomorrow so we can start helping you walk again."
I nodded, although in my mind I was dreading it. It hurt just to walk to the table that morning, and I had help.
I watched with uncertainty as the wounds became revealed. Deep scratches were engraved in my calf and thigh, staining the canvas of what were once smooth and spotless legs. I felt my stomach drop. How could the wound be so deep without me bleeding out?
"Are those going to scar?" I said, holding my breath as she put the cool water to my leg.
She nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so. You got scratched pretty bad."
All I could think about was how this was almost as bad as Diluc's injury was. How was he able to go in and clean it? I nearly passed out at the sight.
Diluc... I felt slightly cold as I sat in my bed, the cool water hitting my legs making me shiver a little. I wish Diluc was here.
"Are you alright?" Barbara looked up to me, worried.
I nodded. "I'm okay, I just..." I sighed, looking away from my wound. "I'm alright."
With my legs and arms clean came the part I dreaded the most. Barbara seemed focused as she carefully unwrapped the bandage over my eye.
"Barbara... you've seen a lot of injuries, right?"
She nodded, not taking her eyes off her work. "I have. Why do you ask?"
I was silent for a moment, feeling the breeze hitting where my eye should be. "Is it... really bad?"
"Are you asking if it's rough?" She said, setting aside the dirty bandages. On them, I could see dried blood. So this wound was having trouble, too. "It's not as bad as you might think, besides the missing eye."
She never even bat an eye at my wounds. How much had she seen before this, that she was desensitized?
"It's not bad?" I raised an ear in hope. I couldn't gauge how big the injury was, since the bandages had covered half of my entire face. I prayed that they only did that to prevent blood leaking, and not that the injury had actually spread that far. "Do you have a mirror?"
She nodded, and finished cleaning my wound. Turning to her side, she grabbed a hand mirror and gave it to me.
Taking a deep breath to prepare myself, I held the mirror to my face and my eye widened. I barely recognized the person staring back at me.
Her hair was the same, and her ears too, sure. But there was a deep scratch where my eye was, the skin around it bruised. I carefully touched my finger to the bruises around the wound, pulling my hand back when it stung like fire.
Is this really the same person? I asked myself as I studied my face. Although, Barbara was right when she said it wasn't as bad as I'd thought. I was worried that half my face was gone.
The only visible wound other than bruising was the deep scratch over my eye, or at least where it used to be. "I'm going to need an eyepatch, huh?" I asked, smiling a little.
Despite the wounds I saw in the mirror, and how different I looked... I just had to accept that it was still me.
"Are you okay?" Barbara asked solemnly. "I know it's not easy, but... I cant do much about your eye. I'm sorry."
I shrugged, setting the mirror aside. "It's fine. Not much anyone can do about a missing eye anyways," I smiled.
I began to feel a little better. Although I was upset about my eye, I was just glad that I was still alive, alongside Diluc. I'd trade an eye for him any day.
When she was done applying the jelly and wrapping my injuries, she hovered her hand over each of my limbs. As she did, I felt a strange sensation on my skin.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm using my vision to speed up the healing process," she said, hovering her hand over my eye. "It should heal everything cleanly, so scarring should be minimal... although it won't disappear completely. It should fully close the wounds that are having trouble, too."
I nodded. "I see. Well... I see with one eye," I said, pointing to my good one.
Barbara could help but crack a smile. "That's... a little morbid, but it's good to see that your personality is intact."
After hovering her hand over the back of my head, the throbbing sensation disappearing, she gathered her things back in her bag.
"I'll come back tomorrow afternoon to help get you on your feet," she said, opening the door. "I know you've slept for four days, but try to get some rest."