The midday sun is now high in the sky, radiating warmth down to the town of Springvale below. Y/N wipes some sweat from her brow. It's far too hot for her to be walking around outside for this long.
There really isn't anything. Y/N remarks as she wanders around the fields behind the crime scene, searching for clues. More specifically, searching for more of the footprints she found in the house. A small pond on the outskirts of the city comes into view. Cool air hovers over the crystalline waters as frogs and water fowl bathe in the pond to escape the swelteringly hot sun.
Y/N fans herself as she walks over to the pond, dipping her fingers into the water. She feels relief wash over her as the refreshing water comes into contact with her hot skin. As she gazes at the ripples in the pond, a relfection on its surface catches her eye. Y/N narrows her eyes as she sees a face staring from the treeline across the pond. The distorted reflection shows a vague figure between the trees. She freezes as the ripples die down and the waters still. Y/N recognizes the familiar grey mask over the figure's face. Fatui.
Y/N snaps her head up, glaring into the trees. She scans her surroundings, but there's no signs of anyone around. She looks back down to see that the reflection had disappeared from the water's surface. A duck glides over where the reflection would have been, warping the water's surface again.
She lost sight of the figure, but an unsettling feeling hangs in the back of her mind. The feeling of being watched creeps over her skin like hundreds of tiny insects. She shivers even though she's sweating under the sun. She doesn't dare to move from her position, precariously crouched over the water's edge as her eyes lock onto the treeline where the figure stood moments ago.
"What are you doing?"
Y/N hears a voice coming from behind her and spins around abruptly. Her eyes land on Diluc's figure before widening. Her balance was thrown off by the sudden motion as she begins to fall backwards into the water. Y/N quickly grasps onto the edge of Diluc's black jacket, but it's too late.
"Y/N-" He's cut off as both of them fall into the pond, splashing into the water and scaring away any frogs or ducks nearby. Y/N's back hits the soft, sandy bed of the pond as the water carresses her head. Thankfully, it's shallow enough to not drown her.
She opens her eyes to see Diluc over her, his hands and knees holding him above the water and consequently, above Y/N. His scarlet hair drips down from his side and into the water as he glares at the captain.
Y/N nervously smiles while muttering out an apology. "S-Sorry..." She mumbles sheepishly. "Why did you sneak up on me like that?"
"I really didn't." He retorts. "You pulled us in." He hisses.
They glare at each other, not uttering a word or moving from their spot, until a voice speaks up from behind them.
"Captain Y/N?" Y/N looks over Diluc's shoulder to see Lizzie, one of the Knights in her Investigative department. "Is this a bad time or...?"
Y/N suddenly realizes the position she and Diluc are in and blood rushes to her face. The pinkness of her cheeks doesn't go unnoticed by the red-haired man, but he decides not to comment on it. Y/N clears her throat, whispering to Diluc, "D-Do you mind...getting up?"
Diluc glances at Y/N's hand still clutched onto his jacket from earlier. "How about you let go first?"
Y/N flushes with embarrassment- more embarrassed than she already was, as she lets go of his jacket. The two quickly get out of the water and Y/N turns to her junior. "Sorry about that," She clears her throat. "What do you need?"
"I interviewed the two you sent to the Head Quarters, Dagna and Bluma." Lizzie hands Y/N a document. "If you don't need anything, I'll get going." She says after eyeing both Diluc and her captain with her eyebrows raised. Lizzie walks off without saying a word.
Y/N quickly looks down at the papers to see water dripping from her hair onto them. She quickly moves them out of the way. She grimaces at her soaked clothes. "At least I'm not hot anymore." She grumbles. "Ugh, but I'm all wet."
"Be careful what you say." He mutters under his breath, as if the words just slipped out without much thought.
Y/N has to do a double take to realize what Diluc said, her eyes widening. He said it in such a casual and non-suggestive tone that it almost flew over Y/N's head. "You know that's not what I mean."
He doesn't respond, taking his heavy and drenched coat off. Without his coat, his build is much more noticeable under his thin, black dress shirt and white vest. Y/N has to admit that he does have quite a nice physique. She quickly tears her eyes away before he thinks she's checking him out, or something- which, she kind of was.
"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Y/N asks.
"That's none of your business." Diluc responds curtly. "What are you doing here?"
"'That's none of your business.'" Y/N mocks as she briefly glances back towards the treeline. Still nobody there.
Diluc follows her gaze into the trees. "Looking for something?"
Although Y/N had just said it's none of his business, she decides to indulge him anyway. "I'm investigating this house that got destroyed in the middle of the night. I was just scouting out the area when I thought I saw someone standing there." Y/N points to the treeline. "Specifically, a Fatui."
"What a coincidence." He responds. "I came here following a shifty individual, myself."
"Well, let's take a look then." Y/N says as she and Diluc walk around to the other side of the pond towards the trees.
Y/N freezes as her eyes land on a foot print in the dirt. She puts out her arm so that Diluc doesn't walk over it. "A footprint." Y/N opens up her notes to see that it matches her sketch. "This footprint was inside the collapsed house, too."
"Does the Fatui have anything to do with your case?" Diluc asks her.
"No idea." Y/N opens up the document Lizzie handed to her, skimming through the pages. Her eyes narrow as she reads, "Both Dagna and Bluma cannot recall any details of what they saw (colour, shape, size, etc.). Both say they 'just know' what they saw."
"This is confusing." Y/N mutters under her breath.
Diluc's eyes scan the papers in Y/N's hands, briefly reading them as she flicks through the pages. "Have you considered the possibility of it being an illusion or hallucination?"
Y/N hums thoughtfully. "Maybe something that different people perceive differently? But what would have caused two different images like that..." She continues, half-thinking out loud, half-talking to Diluc. She abruptly pauses, snapping out of her thoughts. "Wait a minute, why are you still here?" Y/N crosses her arms. "Aren't you usually repulsed by my presence?"
He rolls his crimson eyes. "I'm not staying for you. I want to see where that Fatui went." He responds. "I really couldn't care less if you had drowned in the pond back there."
Y/N glares at him. Initially, she was surprised both of them were conversing quite civilly. Usually, their conversations consist of part-bickering and part-insulting. She was beginning to think they could actually get along. Y/N almost gagged at that thought.
"I don't regret pulling you into the water." Y/N states. "Maybe I should pull you off a cliff ne-"
Diluc slaps his gloved hand over Y/N's mouth, shutting her up. She wrinkles up her nose at the smell of pond water from his wet glove. "Shut up." He hisses quietly before lowering his hand.
It's dead silent around the two, minus the rustling of leaves from the breeze. They freeze as their ears pick up on a rustle that definitely didn't come from the breeze. Y/N glances towards the direction of the sound, seeing a shape move behind a tall bush before stopping. The two of them creep closer to the bush, their footsteps almost silent as they sneak across the grass.
A figure leaps out from the bush and Diluc and Y/N draw their weapons. Everything halts, coming to a standstill as the end of Y/N's rapier points towards a Fatui woman with long, wavy hair in a warm shade of white-blonde. All three of them are frozen in their tracks as the woman holds a dagger in her hand, held back by Y/N's blade barely grazing the skin of her neck. Diluc's hands grip firmly around the handle of his claymore.
Y/N's face shifts into one shock, the Fatui's expression mirroring hers.
"Y/N?"
"Ida?"