Through Thick and Thin- Diluc x (female) Reader

Chapter 30: Mysteries

I blinked my eyes open, expecting light to fill my eyes. I sat up as I remained in the darkness, remembering that I always awoke before dawn. Still, I wasn't sure that I had quite gotten used to it.
Stretching, I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Right on time," I muttered to myself. Perhaps I could get used to waking up early.
Getting dressed and fixing my hair, I smiled at myself in my mirror. I couldn't stop thinking about how I spent my time with Diluc the previous day, and how I was able to hyped myself up enough to lean on his shoulder. It took more courage than I expected...
But still, taking leaps like that, no matter how small to others, always felt like a big deal to me. I blushed as I touched my finger to my lips, remembering how we had kissed the day before that, and I felt my stomach flutter as I wondered if we could do it again...
I shook myself out of my daydream and headed out the door and down the hall. Walking down the steps, I witnessed Jean talking with Kaeya.
"I need you to help train our new recruits this afternoon," she said, going through some papers she had. Jean picked one out, handing it to Kaeya. "Here, this is the list."
"I see," his eyes wandered down the list, and widened at a certain name. "She's in?"
"Yes," Jean said, walking back to her office. "Noelle will be joining the ranks of the Knights of Favonius."
"She passed the test?" Kaeya said, surprised.
Jean nodded, and entered her office without a word. Kaeya turned to walk to the lab, and saw me standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Y/n, did you hear that?" Kaeya said, walking over. He held the paper out, pointing to it. "Noelle got in. She's been trying for so long. I believe me and many of the other knights were rooting for her."
"I delivered her acceptance letter yesterday," I said, smiling. "She was excited, to say the least."
"Well," he began, glancing at the paper and to the door of the lab. "I have time to kill before I have to train the new bloods," he said, chuckling.
"Don't you have patrol or something?" I said sarcastically as I smiled, rolling my eyes. I opened the door for him, stepping aside. "Come on in."
He stepped inside, and I followed close behind. I waved to Sucrose and Albedo, who were both at their desks. "Y/n, here," Sucrose said from her desk, holding out a cup for me. "Coffee."
I took it with a smile and glanced at Albedo, whom Kaeya was already talking with. "Does Jean make coffee every morning?" I asked, turning back to Sucrose.
She shrugged a little. "She didn't use to, but she started drinking a lot more since she became acting grand master," Sucrose looked over some notes. "She ends up making extra just for the knights now. And the alchemists too, I suppose."
I nodded, heading back to my desk. As I sat down, I looked over all the notes I had been left to simplify. Looks like it's the same today as most other days.
As much as it made me nervous, conducting Mist Flower Experiment 001 was extremely interesting. To see a small mist flower I had picked myself rapidly evolve and change fascinated me.
As much as the regular work became slightly boring, those interesting times would make my job worth it. Although I wasn't sure at first if alchemy was the right choice for me, I couldn't have asked for a more amazing opportunity.
As the day progressed, I looked over to Albedos desk to check up on the duo. Occasionally they would talk, although I didn't know what about since my desk was too far. Sometimes Albedo would smile, or even chuckle a little.
When they weren't talking, Albedo would be completely lost in his work. Kaeya would sit quietly, watching Albedo scribble notes on paper or make quick sketches. It seemed to me that Kaeya was as fascinated with Albedos job as I was. Or was it just Albdeo?
When noon finally came around, I got up from my desk and gathered the notes I had made for Albedo. My eyes glazed over the now organized experiment entries, my brain feeling slightly clouded from doing all the basic work for the day.
Setting them on Albedos desk, I gave Kaeya a little wave. "Okay, I've got to go. Here."
Albedo grabbed the notes, looking them over. "These will do, thank you," he said, and then set them aside and continued his work.
"Hey Kaeya," I began, smirking a little. "Don't forget about the new recruits. You can't slack forever."
He chuckled, and glanced at the clock. "Noon already? Hm... I believe I still have a few more minutes."
I rolled my eyes and left the lab, and then left headquarters. I saw Amber outside, and braced myself when she started running at me.
She nearly tackled me at full speed, and hugged me tight. "Y/n! I'm so sorry I couldn't see you sooner! Are you feeling okay?"
I nodded, hugging her back. "I'm fine, no worries."
"I've just been so busy with patrols," she said, stepping back. She put her hand in her forehead in exhaustion. "Jean has really upped them since the night you went missing."
"Really?" I asked, surprised that Jean had been so concerned for me. "Amber, that reminds me. Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, shoot!" Amber said with energy.
"That night," I began, the details somewhat blurry. "You went to go check that I got that guy, right?"
Amber nodded, toning down her energy a little when she realized I was serious. "Yeah, you got him alright. So what is it that's concerning you?"
"What happened when you looked back?" I said, the question haunting me somewhat. "I mean, when I was getting my vision. I think you were still by that guy..."
She thought for a second. "Well, after I made sure you got him, I looked back and you were screaming, and I assumed the worst. So... I ran up there to make sure that you were okay. And that Diluc was okay, too."
"But when I reached you, I was knocked back by this crazy vortex of ice," Amber said, holding her hands out a little to symbolize how big it was. "And when it stopped, you just... fell over. When we checked, Diluc was awake and the bleeding was mostly stopped. He was definitely still hurting, but he was alive. When we checked on you, you were out cold with a cryo vision in your hand."
So Amber also had no recollection of my conversation with that strange voice. "Nothing else?" I asked, making sure.
She shook her head, and tilted her head. "That's it. Is something bothering you still?"
I shook my head, returning the smile. "No, it's all good. It's just... blurry for me, so I wanted some more details."
"Alrighty!" She said, giving me a thumbs up. "I gotta get back on patrol, before Jean gives me another earful."
She gave me an excited wave before running off. Amber really was fast. She took off and flew down the steps and towards the gate. I was certain that if I blinked, she'd be halfway to Liyue.
I pondered for a moment. So even Amber doesn't know about that voice. It felt like I had been talking to that voice for a minute at least, but to them... no time had passed at all.
It was strange. If it didn't happen to all vision holders, why was I any different? Who exactly was that voice?
I wondered if I'd ever know.