Chapter Text
Diluc woke up with a jolt, shielding his eyes instinctively as sunlight beamed through the crack in the curtains. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand, it was already well past noon.
While before his leave, days were filled with an early morning, a day full of festivities and training under the Knights in the sun, surrounded by company, now lay an empty manor in front of him, dust collecting in all the corners.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
A sick, twisted part of Diluc supposed he deserved this. Some days, he would look out at the city at nighttime from the rooftops, hovering over the city, not quite touching the buildings, staring at the people below.
How funny, he would think on most days, looking at the people smiling below, greeting one another leisurely, How everything changed in the years he had been away.
Everyone had seemed to move on, laughing while he seemed to be at a standstill, being away for so long that close friends had become strangers. He remembers the first time Jean and Lisa had invited him to their place for a dinner, the first few weeks he had come back. He had accepted the invitation, only to sit awkwardly at the table, watching as Lisa and Jean had excused themselves, knowing that they were going behind the dining room into the kitchen, quietly discussing how he had changed, how he wasn’t the lively boy that they had remembered him as, and what to do next.
When they had returned, the chair that Diluc had been in previously was empty.
The next couple of weeks proved no better, as every time he had tried to go out and conduct the Winery’s business as normal, tending to Angel’s Share and visiting the marketplace, trying to stock up on everything that had expired in his time away. Everywhere he went, the locals crowded behind him, their stares piercing through him, as though they were trying to find the Diluc Ragnvindr that had existed before, the lively boy that they were all familiar with.
The awareness of it all led to Diluc to shut himself in, refusing to come out of the Winery unless the sun had set, when the dark could help as a shield for him, of sorts.
“Have you heard?” voices whisper, as Diluc walks through the streets of Mondstadt, his hood pulled up and hair tucked back, as he shuffles through the back aisles of the convenience store, carefully selecting out his groceries for the week (not that it mattered much to him, moreso to keep his hands busy, trying anything to keep them from shaking). “They say that the Phoenix had come back.”
Diluc pauses, staring down determinedly at the candy bar in his hand, not wanting to look up. The chances of being recognizable, while slim, still had him hesitating, as he crouches down to the floor, wincing slightly as the bandages on his calf were aggravated by doing so, deciding to take the entire box of candy bars into his basket.
“The Phoenix?” a girl laughs as the group of friends shuffle towards the counter, ready to pay, “He hasn’t been seen in years, not since he burned down the Knights’ headquarters in a fit of rage after the death of, y’know…”
Diluc clenches his fist tightly by his side, little crescent marks indented on his palms, as he stills himself, not even daring to breathe, the wrapping of the candy bar all the more interesting to him now than ever before.
“Then explain all of the recent signs of scorch marks on the streets!” another friend says, as the group continues to check out their items, bagging them.
“Pyrokinesis isn’t a rare talent,” another friend deadpans, as the other two sigh, deciding to leave it at that, “As long as the bad guys are taken care of, who cares?”
And with that, the group leaves, leaving Diluc alone in his thoughts.
He sits on the rooftop of the Windmill overlooking the city, watching the lights down below, as he tears open the wrapper of one of the candies next to him, noticing the chocolate melting, dripping and pooling into his hands. He watches the town square below, looking at the children and adults dancing, weaving in and out around the fountain as flowers flutter through the city.
He had been a part of that, once.
Now he couldn’t bring himself to go out of the house if it wasn’t for his duties.
With a sigh, he wills his hands to light up brighter, burning the remaining chocolate bar into nothing but ash and dust, scattering it to the city below. He rolls up the leg of his sweatpants, revealing the bandages that he had moved earlier at the store, a deep sigh coming out of him as he unwraps them, going to wrap them again.
While it was nothing compared to what Adelinde could have done, it would hold him for now, until sleep took over and he could allow his body to properly heal himself. While being a superhuman being allowed him to heal naturally more than most, it still required adamant amount of bed rest, something that he hadn’t allowed himself with the way that crime was still running rampant in Mondstadt, unbeknownst to both the students and the Knights force. He unfurls his suit from the duffel bag behind him, getting ready for another night.
“If it isn’t Mr. Darknight,” a voice says, as Diluc feels himself freeze, hand just barely about to knock on the Grandmaster’s door, “Ever so elusive, are we?”
“Captain,” Diluc says, mouth feeling like ash, as he thanks the archons above that his hood was raised and his mask was on. It would allow him identity protection for now, until he was in the safety of his home, “I was just on my way to clock out for the night, unfortunately.”
A man dressed in blues and browns from head to toe takes a sweeping glance at Diluc, or rather, the Darknight Hero, before giving a tight-lipped smile.
“Well, don’t let me keep you,” he says, giving a small nod as he passes by Diluc, going up the stairs. Diluc says nothing back, simply choosing to watch him leave, before taking a deep breath.
He wanted this.
He chose this.
He enters the Grandmaster’s office, deposits the papers, and makes a swift exit, nearly crashing into the entrance of Dawn Winery, everyone else asleep but the odd crystalfly here and there.
Without even bothering to take off his suit, he falls onto the bed headfirst and remembers nothing else.
“Don’t miss me too much now!”, Ajax laughs, holding his baby brother in his arms, as Teucer’s lips turn into a pout, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes, baby fists balled up and hitting Ajax’s arm lightly. Ajax plants a kiss on baby Teucer’s forehead, before setting him back down in his mother’s arms. He pinches Teucer’s cheek lightly for good measure, “I’ll be back for you all, I promise!”
“How long will you be gone?” His father asks, as the entire family looks at Ajax, a wet sheen present in all of their eyes (with the exception of baby Teucer, who seemed more sleepy now than anything else).
“I’m not entirely sure,” Ajax admits, “I’m told to investigate something in Mondstadt, but don’t worry! I’ll bring plenty of souvenirs for you all!”
His mother and his father exchange glances with one another. Ajax’s father used to be a small-time hero, before he had retired. Everyone knew about Mondstadt, the land of the free, and supposedly one of the safest places to live in Teyvat, albeit the fact that it had the most mysteries. Their god had disappeared long ago, leaving people deterred from moving there. No protection in Teyvat, especially in a world full of superpowered people, was asking for a certain death.
However, Ajax would be safe there, as he had assured them multiple times. While his work had often put him in the path of danger, Mondstadt’s assignment was nothing in comparison to his previous ones.
A little reprieve, Ajax tells his parents over a cup of hot cocoa at the chipped dinner table, Her Highness is giving me an opportunity to rebuild my strength in the comfort of Mondstadt.
He remembers the warmth of the wind (funny, how different it contrasted from the harsh winter winds of Snezhnaya) as he gets off the boat, luggage in tow, staring in awe at the docks.
He smiles, as he settles into Grand Goth’s apartment complex, surprised to find a small diner located on the first floor, just overlooking the marketplace and the townsquare. He meets the chef and owner, Skirk, and is promptly hired within the next fifteen minutes.
“I won’t go easy on you,” Skirk says, as Ajax laughs, clapping his hands in delight.
“Bring it on!”, he says, as Skirk gives a small smile, dismissing him for the day and telling him that he would start tomorrow.
Later that night, when he unpacks, he opens a box labeled "Suit (Anthon NO TOUCHING!)", revealing a mask that would cover the lower half of his face, and a padded hoodie with matching pants to go with it, a deep shade of blue with pink and yellow graffiti marks. A pair of gloves and a pair of sneakers were located at the bottom.
A glint at the corner of the box catches his eye, as Ajax tilts his head, looking down at it, before noticing it was a small blue jewel-like orb, attached to a note.
While you conceal your true nature,
With destruction and death,
I hope the winds you find here will set you free.
The note withers away, crumbling at Ajax’s fingertips, before being blown away by the wind. He opts to leave the jewel in the drawer at his nightstand, until he figures out what to do with it next, the words buzzing in his mind.
How interesting Mondstadt was!
Next to a passed out Diluc, a red jewel materializes next to his nightstand, glowing like an ember, before the light dims, a note materializing underneath it.
Where there is love left in your heart,
Life will bend to your creation.
May the wind guide you to solace.