Rising Storm || Genshin Impact

49: Missing

okay ik i say i update every thursday but i basically update every friday since i write at like 1 am HAOWDAHWD

also i didnt have time to do event chap bc smthng came up today so ill do it sometime next week :))

...

It was raining in Mondstat that day.

Diluc Raginvindr sat alone in his winery office. Usually, the corridors would echo with the footsteps and shuffling of maids carrying brooms and dusters. But today, it was quiet. 

As per the Master requested, all staff had been put into a temporary "vacation" for a week or so. Now, the only sounds Diluc could hear from his desk was the rain pattering on the red brick roof and the sound of his own breathing.

He felt his vision flicker as his eyelids grew heavy. Just as Diluc was resting his head on the desk, he heard three gentle knocks on the doors downstairs.

"What the..." he groaned, slicking back his frizzled red hair.

The slightly dusty floorboards creaked as Diluc lazily stepped down the stairs. As he opened the front doors with a click of the knob, he found a drenched, red-eyed Amber staring back at him.

"Outrider? What are you doing here?" Diluc uttered. "You look like a mess. It's 3 AM."

Amber's lips moved as if responding to his remark. But if she had said something at all, the noise was drowned out by the pouring rain.

Diluc narrowed his eyes.

"Huh?" he muttered.

Amber frowned. 

"I said, can I come in?!?!" she screamed.

"Oh...sure." Diluc nodded as the shivering girl stepped into the room.

The door closed with a slam behind her, but neither of the two seemed to notice.

"What are you doing out here at this hour, in this weather? The Knight's would be disappointed if you caught a cold."

Amber's gaze was stone-hard, Diluc had never seen that look on the Outrider before. Her warm, brown eyes were just a tad more chilling, and she had barely moved a muscle since entering the mansion.

"Y/N went missing 8 hours ago," Amber finally whispered, here gaze fixated on some crack in the floor. "We've been trying to follow her tracks all night. Where have you been?"

Diluc froze. Had he heard her right?

"Y/N's missing?"

Amber sighed. "I just said that."

"What do you mean she's missing? Did she run off again?"

"We don't know," Amber urged through clenched teeth. "If we knew everything, then I wouldn't be here asking you for help, now would I?"

She bit her tongue once she saw Diluc staring back at her with his lips pursed into a thin line and his eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm sorry-" Amber took a deep breath. "I-It's just...the weather and the search, everything- it's getting to me. I shouldn't have yelled at you..."

"It's fine. Don't worry. A friend is missing, it's only a natural reaction," he muttered.

Though his composure and poise never faltered, his words never missing a beat, Amber could tell that Diluc was deeply troubled from the slightly panicked look in his eye. He seemed calm, too calm. As if he knew something she didn't and wasn't willing to share.

"Are you alright?" Amber whispered.

Diluc instantly snapped out of his trance.

"Yes, I'm fine." He stumbled over his words. "I was just thinking...that...you should get some rest. It will be easier to search for Y/N in the daylight than with a bunch of lanterns in the dark."