Second Lead Syndrome || Diluc R. x Reader

The Woman from Fontaine

Y/N's face shifts into one shock, the Fatui's expression mirroring hers.

"Y/N?"

"Ida?"

-----

Diluc only stares at the two women in confusion. Do they know each other?

The white-blonde woman, Ida, cracks a smile, lowering her weapon and removing the Fatui eyemask from her face. "Gods, I almost couldn't recognize you!" Her voice is similar to Y/N's, but a bit higher-pitched compared to Y/N's relatively deeper yet clear voice. Although there's a vague resemblance between the two in terms of facial structure, it's evident that Y/N takes after a different side of the family than Ida does.

Y/N doesn't move her rapier, chest heaving and her face frozen on a look of surprise. What is she doing here?! Her thoughts are screaming in a mix of shock, panic, and excitement.

"Mind putting down the rapier?" Ida chuckles.

Y/N blinks, snapping out of her thoughts as she lowers her weapon. "You bleached your hair." Y/N says in surprise before her face becomes serious again. "What are you doing here?" She asks her older sister.

"Wow, not even a hello." Ida takes a good look at her younger sibling, grinning. "You've gotten pretty tall! You've changed a lot in the past threeish years."

Diluc looks on at the two sisters' exchange, feeling a like he's seeing a bit more than he should be. He glances down at Y/N's trembling hands though her face stays stoic. She doesn't seem to be completely thrilled about seeing her older sister.

"What are you doing here?" Y/N repeats her question.

Ida's eyebrows raise in surprise. "Looks like you've grown a bit of a backbone since I last saw you." She half-jokes before looking over to Diluc. "Who's this? Your boyfriend?"

Diluc and Y/N both scrunch up their noses in disgust. "No! Gods, no." Y/N quickly exclaims, though the tips of her ears grow pinkish. "He already has enough women fawning over him." 

Diluc scoffs. "If you have things under control, I'll take my leave." Diluc turns to walk away.

I don't think I have things under control, though. "Go, go." Y/N shoos him off as if he's a nuisance like she always does, but for once, she'd rather him stay. 

"You never answered my question." Y/N says, still showing no emotion towards her sister. Although Y/N has missed Ida, she definitely doesn't miss her enough to want to actually see her. Ida was definitely far better than Y/N's parents, but that doesn't mean she wasn't toxic in her own ways.

"I'm only here for a mission." Ida states. "I'll be staying around for about a week. Didn't think I'd see you."

"You know that I'm here in Mondstadt." Y/N replies.

"Well, nobody back in Fontaine even knows if you were still alive!" Ida jokes. "We haven't heard from you in years. But by the looks of it, you seem like you're doing pretty well. Knight of Favonius?" Her blue eyes flicker to the Favonius symbol on the side of Y/N's pants. She whistles lowly before grimacing. "Of course someone like you would be a part of the Knights."

"I don't care. And you guys were the ones to stop contacting me first. You sent a letter like once a few weeks after I came here." Y/N narrows her eyes. 

"Well, I'm sure it won't matter in a few months when you come back to Fontaine." Ida says. 

Y/N's eyes flicker downward as her heart sinks, but her gaze lands on a pair of footprints in the dirt from behind Ida. An exact match. Y/N thinks as she compares the footprints and Ida's boots to the ones she's been tracking. Why was Ida in that collapsed house? Y/N opens her mouth to ask her sister, but is interrupted by a tall Knight with long, dark brown hair. Y/N recognizes him as one of the Knights that patrol the streets of Mondstadt.

"Huffman?" Y/N asks as she watches him rush over.

"Captain Y/N!" He calls out.

"Captain? Oho." Ida's eyebrows raise as if impressed.

"There's an emergency inside the city! They're asking for you." Huffman explains.

"On it." Y/N tells him before looking back to her sister who seems to be observing the situation with an amused look on her face. "Where can I find you later?"

"I'll probably be hanging around Goth hotel." She responds.

Y/N feels a bit uneasy about leaving a Fatui alone like this, especially when she was acting really suspicious earlier. "Don't go disappearing on me and don't increase my workload." Y/N tells Ida before running off with Huffman towards the city Mondstadt.

-----

A large crowd clusters around Flora's flower shop- or what's left of it. The front of the shop is completely demolished, cracked pots and soil littering the ground, leaves and petals burried under the rubble.

"What the hell happened?!" Y/N exclaims as she pushes past the crowd towards Jean. She lets out a cough from the smoke and dust in the air.

Jean shrugs, her eyebrows knitted with stress. "According to Flora, she saw Mr. Floatty- whatever that is, exploding the front of the shop."

Y/N hums. "Mr. Floatty is Flora's imaginary friend." Y/N recalls a mission Flora had sent her on a while ago to find a friend for her imaginary friend. Y/N had just retrieved a second Bloaty Floaty plant for her.

 "Donna was there as well, but she saw a man with an anemo vision tearing apart the shop." Jean explains. "I think this may have something to do with the case you are investigating currently."

Y/N nods. "This sounds exactly what happened to the house in Springvale, but the witnesses saw a dragon and tornado instead of Mr. Floaty and a vision wielder." Looks like this may have something to do with illusions and perception. However, this damage definitely isn't an illusion. Y/N remarks. "Are there any other witnesses?"

Jean shakes her head. "Apparently everyone only saw the aftermath."

"Well, let's investigate the site, first." Y/N says, rolling up her sleeves. "Then, we can go question Donna and Flora."

Jean nods, beckoning more Knights from the investigative department to follow them in. Y/N steps into the destroyed pile of stone, glass, and wood. Only the back part of the shop seems to be still standing.

"Look for footprints." Y/N tells Jean. If the Fatui really are behind this, we'll find some more of their tracks. Y/N thinks as she scans the debris-covered ground. It can't have been Ida this time, though. I still don't know why she was inside the collapsed house, but she was with me when this shop fell apart.

"Y/N, this isn't really a footprint, but there's definitely something here." Jean calls Y/N over.

Y/N quickly makes her way across the floor, avoiding stepping on any fallen plants or cracked pots. Jean points to a shard of some type of honey-coloured crystal about the size of her thumb. Y/N squints her eyes before raising an eyebrow. "Is that Cor Lapis?"

"It looks like it." Jean replies before handing it to another Knight. "We can hand that off to the alchemists to analyze."

Y/N glances around, her eyebrows knitting in thought. "Jean, this collapsed recently, right?"

She nods. "We called you as soon as we found out."

"Then, can you smell that?" Y/N asks. The house in Springvale collapsed hours before Y/N got there. She couldn't look for evidence like scent that would've dissipated by then.

Jean takes a sniff of the air. "The only things I smell are flowers, dust, and smoke."

"Exactly." Y/N says. "But there isn't a single trace of fire anywhere. Where is the smell of smoke coming from?"

As the two are scanning the scene for a source of the smell, a bloodcurdling scream pierces through the air. Everyone freezes in their place. 

Y/N immediately recognizes the familiar- and annoying, voice of the scream. "Where's Donna?"