Second Lead Syndrome || Diluc R. x Reader

Cat and Mouse

Dust clouds the air as debris lay at their feet. The elevator behind the receptionist's desk is no more as a gaping hole leading downward is left behind.

"What....just happened?" Y/N asks, stunned.

-----

Finally shaking off the shock, Y/N comes back to her senses. She notices Diluc's tight grip around her arm as she was pulled back and consequently into him. She coughs awkwardly. "Um, Diluc..."

Diluc looks down at Y/N, equally as stunned as her before realizing his grip on her. The tips of his ears go red as he quickly but hesitantly lets go of her. "Are you alright?"

"Thanks to you, I am." Y/N notes as the chunks of wood and stone from the broken receptionist's desk lay crumbled where Y/N previously stood. She would have been crushed by the debris. "What about you?"

Diluc nods before a figure emerging from the rubble interrupts them. Ekaterina wobbles on her feet as she shakily runs towards the gaping hole. "I-Igor?!" She calls down, her voice echoing through the quiet bank.

"Let's go." Diluc says as he begins to rush towards the hole, pushing past Ekaterina.

"W-Wait!" Y/N is cut off as she runs to catch up to him. Diluc's eyes flicker to cords still connected to the elevator down below, though the elevator shaft has been blown apart. Y/N peers down into the giant hole. The first signs of light are very far down.

"Don't tell me you're scared of heights." Diluc scoffs after seeing Y/N's expression.

"No, but I think everyone is at least a little scared of a giant sinkhole." Y/N snarkily snaps back.

"Then, you better close your eyes." Before Y/N can retort, Diluc grabs her by the waist with one hand and grabs ahold of the sturdy cord with his other. He then jumps from the ledge as Y/N squeezes her eyes shut. They don't fall as fast as she thought as Diluc controls their descent downward.

"You can open your eyes now." Diluc tells her. Y/N opens them to see a long hallway lined with vault doors on either side. "You can also release your death grip."

"Oh, sorry." Y/N sheepishly says as she realizes how tightly she was holding onto him.

Diluc takes off the Fatui mask and jacket, tossing it aside onto the tiled floor. "If Igor is still down here, we don't want to scare him off by making him think we're here to kill him."

Y/N nods, slipping off her mask as well. As she's about to return Diluc's coat to him, he stops her. "It's cold down here, just keep it on." He states and Y/N nods, fighting the heat creeping onto her cheeks.

The two quietly rush down the hall. "Igor must know we're here if he set off that explosion." Diluc notes as they glance at the vaults, trying to find the one Igor would be at. All of the vaults are labelled by what they hold. "Mora, ores, contracts..."

One vault door that looks a little different from the others stands at the dead end. This vault doesn't have a label. Y/N remarks as she examines the giant, metal door. Her eyes widen with realization. This is the inside of the vault door. "We're inside the vault."

Y/N looks back at the elevator from which they came, seeing that the elevator shaft ended several floors up and the elevator itself only crashed down this far because of the explosion. Y/N thoughtfully looks around, examining the situation with inductive reasoning. "None of the vaults inside this vault are open yet, and we came from the only entrance and exit."

"Then who set off the explosion?" Diluc questions.

A chill runs down Y/N's spine as she gulps, lowering her voice to a whsiper. "Igor set it off. He's in here with us."

The air grows a million times thicker as soon as Y/N utters that sentence. Every nerve in their body is tense as they fall silent. The sounds of their movements are magnified by the echo of the hall as the sounds bounce off the stone walls, forcing them to freeze on spot. We're likely preventing him from doing anything. If he makes a single sound, we'll hear it. Y/N notes as she looks down the hall behind them, the lights are flickering or broken farther down.

"He's down there. In the dark." Y/N predicts as it's the only place they wouldn't be able to see him. Her voice, although barely a whisper, seems much louder in this tense atmosphere.

Diluc nods before obnoxiously clearing his throat. "Looks like there's nobody down here. Let's go back up." He says rather loudly, giving the two an excuse to walk back to the explosion site and closer to the shadows.

They stop at the hole leading up. The rest of the hall right in front of them is too dark to see clearly. Diluc grabs the claymore on his back, the blade lighting up in flames as he uses his vision. He swings his claymore and a blazing ball of fire in the shape of a bird soars forward, illuminating the hall as it flies down the entire length of the hall.

A figure ducks as the flames fly by, illuminating their silhouette in an orange glow. Y/N and Diluc rush forward as they chase the figure running away from them. As they eventually gain on him, Diluc manages to grab him by the shoulder and pin him down. Diluc's palm bursts into flames to light up their surroundings.

Under Diluc is a middle-aged man with disheveled black hair in a ponytail and green eyes filled with fear. He wears a wrinkled button-up, grey cargo pants, and black boots that are all equally covered in dirt and dust. He has patchy stubble on his face with horrible eyebags. He looks like he's seen better days. Y/N thinks.

"Don't kill me! I-I haven't stolen anything yet!" He pleads in a quivering voice.

"Are you Igor?" Y/N asks. "We aren't going to kill you, but that really depends on your behaviour."

Igor looks at them in surprise. "W-Wait, you're not Fatui?' He takes a better look at Y/N and looks up at Diluc who has him pinned down. "Aren't you the Ragnvindr? That famous wine guy?!" Igor exclaims incredulously.

"You're a resident of Springvale, right?" Y/N questions. He's probably familiar with the Ragnvindr name.

Igor nods in response to Y/N's question. "What are you doing here?"

Y/N sighs. "I'm Captain Y/N of the Knights of Favonius. We're here investigating a series of blown up buildings in Mondstadt. Your house was targeted."

Igor's eyes fly open. He clearly has no idea what Y/N is talking about. "Is my family okay?!" He exclaims.

"Yes, they're fine." Y/N replies.

"Y/N," Diluc starts. "There's people coming." All three of them fall silent and sure enough, sounds of people can be heard talking and moving above them. "It's the Millelith."

Y/N frowns. "We have to leave. If we hand him over to the Millelith, they're going to involve the Fatui. The Fatui will kill him and then our lead is gone." Y/N looks over at Igor who has panic written all over his face. "Is there another way out of here?"

Igor nods vigorously. "Outside this vault are stairs. We can take them past the main bank area and all the way to the top floor where there are windows."

"Then, let's go." Y/N says.

"But the vault!" Igor stares longingly at a vault labelled "Mora" as he holds a steel key in his hand. "I came all this way for it."

Y/N and Diluc both glare at him and he quickly shuts up. "Fine, fine."

"Is anyone down there?" A voice calls down from the top of the hole.

The three of them fall silent for a moment. Y/N whispers, "Come on, hurry. And Igor, if you dare try anything, we won't hesitate to hand you over to the Millelith. Or, I'll kill you myself." Y/N gestures to the rapier sheathed at her side.

"O-Of course!"

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A/N: WOOO 50K :D
Ty for all the reads! Sorry this update came a little later than usual. My wifi has been trash all week and everything was a million times slower 😭
-Bora 🌌