vision • diluc

xvi

• third person •

"Good morning~ How did you sleep today~?"

The red-haired man's face was squished into the soft pillow his head rested on, his crimson eyes narrow with a tired frown.

"Have I told you how pretty you look when you wake up? What a handsome man you are."

Diluc stared silently at the floor, Gloria sitting on the other side of the bed with her usual unsettlingly gentle smile.

Gloria sighed, playing with her nails. "Some pesky Fatui came to our door this morning. Do you know how hard it was to hide you? If it weren't for your beautiful wife, I would simply allow them to find you and take you away."

"Come on. I have some experimenting to do with you. Don't worry, I promised your wife I won't hurt you. Meet me in the tent in fifteen minutes sharp, alright?"

Diluc didn't say a thing.

Soon enough, Gloria had left the small house, leaving Diluc to get ready for the day.

He furrowed his brows, abruptly jolting up. He gripped the pillow beneath him.

A sudden crash echoed throughout his eardrums. He had thrown it across the room.

Diluc cursed aloud, gripping his hair, crying out, his eyes tearing up in frustration.

None of his thoughts were his anymore. He no longer had any control over his body. He could only do whatever Gloria told him to do.

Diluc began to sob, his tears soaking into his hands, dripping onto the blanket in the lonely room where he longed for his wife to be back here by his side.

Diluc didn't realise when the door had opened again.

"My, that's quite a mess you've made. I heard the crash all the way from the tent!"

Diluc stared at Gloria in distraught, who began to pick up everything that had fallen off the table where Diluc had thrown the pillow. With a smile, Gloria brought the pillow back to Diluc, placing it back in its rightful place on the bed.

"Tell me, what do you want?" Gloria asked. Diluc's eyes fluttered shut as she wiped his tears with a tissue. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait until your wife is back for the antidote."

"(Y/N)..." Diluc mumbled. "(Y/N)..."

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait until your wife is back for your wife."

Diluc broke out into a sob once again.

With a soft exhale, Gloria took Diluc's hand, guiding him off the bed. Diluc allowed her to take him out of the house, following her into the large tent not too far away. Gloria smiled at him, before sitting him on one of the beds in there.

Locks of his bright red hair fell in front of his face, out and unruly, as he bawled, hiding his face in his hands. Gloria stepped towards her desk, swiftly bringing back a small vial with a strange liquid inside that Diluc was too despondent to pay attention to.

"Here, drink this for me, will you?" Gloria ordered with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Diluc's teary face became exposed when she removed his hands, lifting his chin. Her first two fingers rested beneath his face delicately, before she pressed the vial against his soft lips. "And you just tell me how it makes you feel, alright?"

Without protest, Diluc gulped down the contents of the vial, his tears gradually coming to an end.

"Stand."

Diluc did so.

Gloria observed his facial expressions. The corner of her lips turned upwards as his previously distraught tears were now nothing but streaks upon his pale cheeks. The flames in his eyes from their first meeting were now just piles of wood in a never-ending rainfall.