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"The elemental energy here is strong."
You and Diluc were hiding in bushes while you watched a group of Abyss Mages and strange wolves scout the area. As you grew closer and closer towards Springvale, you could feel the air grow thick and your mind becoming foggy.
"Hm. The shard must be close." Diluc pulled out the first shard you secured from the Regisvine. "Look."
You watched it glow softly, which was different from when you first recovered it. "...It's like a compass."
"We can treat this as a game of 'Hot and Cold'. The brighter it glows, the closer we are." He said, pushing it back in his pocket.
"Springvale looks deserted." You said, looking back at the small village.
"The locals must have evacuated because of the Mages." Diluc's voice grew darker. "There's a good number of them."
You looked back over the bush, seeing a pyro and cryo Abyss Mage float back and forth along the path. An electro one was seen by itself inside a small wooden hilichurl tent.
"...I'll take the purple one." You said, slowly grabbing your weapon.
"Be careful." Diluc warned. "These are no ordinary Mages."
You nodded, moving away from the bush. You snuck around the first two Mages with ease, making your way over to the electro one.
Your presence startled it as you lunged towards the tent.
It quickly spun up, summoning its purple shield around it. You watched it throw a lightning orb towards you, and you used your pyro vision to slice through it.
You could hear Diluc attacking the other Mages behind you, causing the hilichurls and wolves to awaken.
"...Shit." You grit your teeth, continuing to dodge the electro Mages' attacks.
Eventually, you saw an opening and cut through its shield. It cried in pain, its body flying back towards the edge of the tent.
You grabbed your handle at an angle to finish it off, but it wasn't giving up that easily.
A bright flash blinded you for a moment, causing your movements to be thrown off balance. You blinked, trying to find the Mage.
It spun behind you, summoning a ring around your body.
Your jaw clenched as you panicked.
...This is going to hurt.
You felt your body endure the shock, making you writhe in pain as a yelp escaped your mouth. It felt like the shock dragged on and became more painful with every passing second.
The Mage laughed evilly, while you struggling to break free from the ring.
You looked down at your claymore, using your foot to grab it.
You kicked it up, using the last bit of energy you had to swing it towards the Mage.
It pierced through its body, causing it to quickly disintegrate as the ring around you faded away.
You fell to the ground, panting and in pain.
"Damnit..." You stood up, fighting back at your aching body. You pushed yourself out of the tent, grabbing your weapon and watching a Metachurl lunge at you.
It felt like you were fighting for hours until the last purple wolf that charged at you with its claws was finally knocked out with your pyro vision.
You used your claymore as support to take a kneel on one knee as you caught your breath, your body still trembling from the electro infliction.
"Y/N...!"
Diluc's voice yelled out to you until he sprinted your way. He kneeled down to check you for your injuries.
"...I'm fine." You said in a shaky breath.
"Take off your cloak. The friction in it will suffocate you." He said.
You noticed the cut on his arm that was fresh and deep. You tried to do as he said, but your body endured another shock that caused you to yelp.
Diluc pulled his arms towards your head to remove your hood and unbutton the cloak himself. He pulled it off your shoulders but quickly stopped when he realized...
"...You don't have any clothes under this?"
You shook your head, not being able to form words.
He pulled down your cloak to your waist, the shock leaving your body as you exhaled in relief.
Now, you kneeled whilst exposed with only a bra to cover your top half.
"...Your arm..." You finally spoke. "...Here."
Diluc looked down at his wound. "It's fine. I've had worse."
You shook your head, pulling your hand to his arm.
He watched as the wound stopped bleeding. "...You can heal?"
"I only burned it. You probably couldn't notice the feeling because you have a pyro vision..." You said, tying your cloak around your waist.
He looked down at you, watching your muscles move as you pulled your claymore out of the ground and stood up. "Are you sure you're alright?"
You nodded. "I'm good."
Sighing, he pulled the shard out once again. "...The glow is stronger."
"We're close..." You looked back at the tent.
You exchanged a similar glance with Diluc before you both walked inside of it.
"Hey. Look over here." You examined a box that seemed out of place.
Diluc walked over to you, watching the glow of the shard become brighter. "...It must be in here."
You opened the box, looking down the second piece of the delusion. Grabbing it, both of the shards glowed in sync.
"It's best to not put them together." Diluc said. "You hold onto that piece."
You nodded, tucking it away in the pocket of your cloak. "I'll have the Knights clear out all the props and such tomorrow morning."
Diluc groaned. "They should have mobilized around this area a long time ago."
You tilted your head. "'They'?"
"...Nevermind. Let's go."
You remained frozen in place, making Diluc question your acts. "Something wrong?"
"...I'm kinda half naked right now..." You shyly said.
He looked at your chest and quickly averted his gaze, blushing. "Right... we can go to Dawn Winery to get you some new clothes."
...
As you arrived at Dawn Winery with Diluc, he had taken off his disguise and pushed it into an abandoned cart behind some grape vines. He was still fully clothed, which is something you made note of to do next time.
Walking towards the entrance, he unlocked the door and held it open for you.
You stepped inside, looking at the vacant area. "...No one's here?"
"Of course not." He said, shutting the door.
"Then why'd you take off your disguise?" You asked.
"Because our work for the night is done." He replied.
You felt slightly embarrassed by your question, but quickly recovered from it. "Do you have a first aid kit somewhere?"
"In the corner by the desk over there." He pointed.
You walked over to the desk, sifting around inside the drawers and grabbing the kit. Diluc had walked upstairs and returned after you laid the kit on the long table in the center of the room.
"Here." He handed you a coat.
You took it, quickly covering yourself up and removing your disguise. "Can you sit down for me?"
A puzzled look crossed his face, but he did as you said. You opened the kit and grabbed an alcohol pad with a bandage wrap.
You walked over to him and started unbuttoning his coat.
He watched you as you rolled up his sleeve to examine his wound. "...You're gonna need stitches."
You walked back to the kit, hoping to find a needle and surgical thread. Thankfully, they were inside.
"...How do you know how to stitch?" He asked, feeling the alcohol tingle on his wound.
"Amber taught me." You replied. "She's all about first aid."
Diluc watched you tie the thread around the needle, biting his tongue to distract himself from the small pain.
You watched as he removed his high ponytail, making his long hair fall over his shoulders. It got in the way of your work, so you tucked a strand behind his ear.
The both of you made brief eye contact before blushing and looking away.
"...After I'm done, we should talk about where the next shard is." You spoke out to avoid the awkward atmosphere.
"The connection between the first two shards is vague. It seems that they're just scattered around Mondstadt." Diluc felt the thread pull through his skin.
"...I could ask the Knights to write up a report about any unusual situations happening. Like the frozen area around the Regisvine, or what we just went through..." You pushed the needle carefully around his wound.
"Knights of Favonius..." He mumbled.
"What do you have against us?" You asked.
"Exactly as I said before. I'm always getting involved within their affairs and cleaning up their messes."
"There it is again." You laughed.
"What?" He looked at you.
You looked back. "You keep referring to the Knights as 'They' or 'Them' as if you're not speaking to one."
Diluc looked away. "Why did you join them?"
You frowned, pulling the last stitch you made through his skin to close the wound. "Because my Mama and Papa were Knights."
Diluc could sense your sudden change in attitude. "You're following in their footsteps?"
You slowly nodded, burning the end of the thread. "They had big dreams to become heroes of Mondstadt. My Papa always wanted to receive the greatest title and honor a Knight can have... the Medal of Freedom."
You grabbed the bandages and pulled them around Diluc's arm. "My Mama always looked up to Vannessa. She always wanted to do something great for Mondstadt just as she did."
Diluc looked at your sad eyes. "...You're speaking in past tense."
You hesitated as you taped the bandage on his arm.
"...Sorry." He spoke softly.
"It's fine." You replied. "I'm not in mourning or anything."
You pulled his sleeve back down his arm, organizing the materials back inside the kit.
"...Back to our plan." He said to erase the depressing feeling. "Here."
He laid out a map on the table as you took a seat next to him. Grabbing a pen, he drew a large 'X' over the places you discovered the first two shards.
"Hm..." You rested your hand on your chin, leaning over the table. "...I think we should do what I had said."
"Which is?" Diluc asked.
"To get a report about any anomalies."
Diluc shook his head. "It's best not to involve them."
"'Them'." You mocked. "Tell me. Why do you keep saying that?"
Diluc sighed. "...Because this is our mission. Not theirs."
You smiled. "That's a better word... 'our'."
He looked at your teasing eyes, turning his focus back to the map. "...Regardless, our best point of interest would be some place with concentred elemental energy. If we think about where the first shards were..."
You hummed. "Springvale tends to have ley lines flowing through their village because it's near Wolvendom. It seems the delusion broke apart and each piece found its way to those concentrated ley lines."
Diluc nodded. "We should check Stormbearer Mountains next."
"Wait." You looked down at the map.
"Hm?" He looked back at you.
"...The Regisvine at the Thousand Winds Temple, Springvale near Wolvendom, the anemo cube thing in Stormbearer..."
You made eye contact with Diluc, who seemed to follow along with your thoughts.
"...There is a connection with the shards' locations."