Chapter Text
The beautiful, bright halls were lit by extravagant diamond and gold chandeliers, serving as a direct contrast to the shadows of the lightless night. Esteemed guests and scholars were gathering from all over Teyvat, filling up the already impossibly large room with casual banter and lighthearted conversation. Maids and butlers parading around the room with drink trays in hand, elegantly offering various types of sophisticated wine to the various attendees. To say the decorations and festivities were anything less than flamboyant would be a horrific understatement, yet nothing less than a grand celebration was to be expected of the reputable Ragnvindr household.
Tales of these lavish parties held at the Dawn Winery had been heard all throughout the land. The music, the company, the drink; a relaxing way for dedicated knights, hardworking scholars of academia, and thoughtful politicians to spend their evenings. To be invited to a Ragnvindr celebration, much less an anniversary, should be a dream come true for any diligent worker no matter their place of origin. You only wish you could share the same outlook about this party, but an unfortunate reality instead existed in its place.
There you stood, in the very back of the gigantic dining and dancing hall, nervously fiddling with the glass marker attached to the bottom of your glass. Socializing with unknown socialites was never much your forte, much less under this stressful circumstance. With your coming of age several years back, the pushes from your well-off family and overly nosy great uncle about you getting married were non-stop comments every time you would talk to any of them. The topic of marriage always being in the back of your mind at social gatherings, unfortunately, caused you to be far more irritable yet insecure.
This was the very first stop you made after arriving in Mondstat earlier this morning, giving you almost no time to rest after your nearly four-week cavalry riding fiasco all the way from Snezhnaya. Traveling to Mond was your very first mission under direct orders of your supervisor that you would be completed by yourself, well… almost by yourself.
Being a freshly promoted high-ranking officer of the foreign affairs branch in the Fatui meant that you were no stranger to needing to navigate tough situations, but collaborating with your newfound companion, Dimitri, was no simple task. The young fatui pyro agent was sent with you to be some sort of trainee for undercover missions, something you did regularly. However, it seems that Dimitri must have been born with five left feet, considering his inability to be remotely stealthy even in the most simplistic of situations.
Just yesterday when you left him alone for only ten minutes to go and find a source of food for your horses did he manage to admit her was a fatui officer to a retired Knight of Favonious who lived out in the countryside and who had kindly offered his living room for the two of you to stay in just the night before. It was a miracle you were able to make it back in time in order to drag his ass onto the two horses and ride away before you could have any more assorted vegetables thrown at the two of you.
Therefore, the current party you were attending was filled with important powerful individuals wishing to make an enemy out of the fatui was of no help to calm your nerves when you had Dimitri to watch over like a babysitter.
“Y/n!” Dimitri cried, stumbling towards you with a full glass of wine. You swiftly snapped your head towards him, taking notice of his clearly intoxicated state by the way he shuffled towards you like a toddler learning to walk.
“Why-why are you standing hereee?” he slurred, an exaggerated sad expression on his face.
“Because,” you say, a sense of annoyance in your voice, “I’m simply scouting out the groups of people before approaching any of them.” It was silly he even needed to ask this question. You had to be very careful about who you approached for information, after all, your supervisor made it very clear that the mission you were assigned was one that could not be compromised.
“Well…I” Dimitri began to say before he was swiftly interrupted by the ringing sound of a utensil meeting a glass. Like clockwork, the guests ceased their conversations and turned their heads to the source of the sound.
At the elevated front of the party hall stood a man with fiery red hair, one hand holding a wine glass and the other a fork. You immediately knew who it was right away. His lavish black coat, red gloves, and amber pendant he wore around his neck were unmistakable. This was the man of the hour, the host of this flamboyant evening: Diluc Ragnvindr.
The young bachelor smiled graciously before beginning his speech; “Distinguished guests and friends from near and far! I would like to take a moment to welcome you to my humble abode. It is with great pleasure that we can celebrate this joyous anniversary of my father opening this very party hall twelve years ago.”
He took a moment to look around the room at all the various guests and decorations before he continued. “I hope that our honorable visitors from both Mondstadt and beyond, as well as any noble attendees from the Adventures Guild or Knights of Favonius, can enjoy this wonderful occasion together,” he says, before raising his glass to the audience and starting a toast. “To my father, and all the dear workers who made the construction of this event hall possible”. you and Dimitri follow along as you all raise your glasses and repeat his words.
Once everyone began to rekindle their conversations, the young master swiftly made his rounds through the dining hall, chatting with each group of guests as he made his way closer to where you stood. As you waited for his inevitable approach, you continued sipping on your wine and scouting out potential guests to question in regards to your current mission. You thought it would be best to start with the members of the Knights of Favonius in attendance, seeing as they most likely know more information about the citizens of Mondstadt than the scholars or fellow foreigners in attendance.
You spy a man with short sandy gray hair in the distance, conversing with an equally intoxicated group of gentlemen. An easy target, you think to yourself, surely with just the right amount of interrogation and seductiveness getting some form of answers out of them won't be a difficult task.
“Ahem” you hear a stern voice say from behind, interrupting your train of thought.
You turn your head to see a man with bright red hair facing you, a charismatic smile on his face. “Judging from the fur coat you have on, you must be an adventurer from Snezhnaya, no?” he says, holding out his hand for you to shake.
“Hm? Ah, yes. Sorry, I didn’t see you there Sir,” you reply with a nervous laugh as you take his hand in yours to shake. The two of you stand there awkwardly for a moment before you are hit with a realization, “Oh! I’m sorry, I'm Y/n Snezhevna. It's a pleasure to meet you”.
“No worries, and the pleasure is all mine,” he says, chuckling lightly in response, “Though I must say, what brings you here in the first place?” his voice suddenly turns more serious.
You could tell he was studying your appearance with the way his eyes scanned you like an eagle with his prey. It's almost as if he was looking for something, perhaps a symbol that he needed to confirm whichever preconceived notions he had about you.
“Oh, yes well, uh, you see my comrade and I were sent here by the adventures guild branch in Snezhnaya in order to complete commissions and document what the process is like in Mondstadt,” you say before gesturing over to where Dimitri was standing.
“I see…” Diluc replies curiously, looking over to where your hand motioned towards.
You feel a twinge of embarrassment, was that so unbelievable to say? Before you reply further, you look towards Dimitri was supposed to be, until you realize he is no longer there.
Wait, what?
A blush begins to spread across your cheeks as you begin frantically looking around the room for him. You take your eyes off of him for two minutes and he's already disappeared! Diluc begins to pick up on your dilemma as he too begins to scan his eyes around the room for your partner. The sudden sound of glass shuddering causes both of you to turn the direction of which the noise came.
The large stained glass mural located in the center of the wall was now in pieces. But what truly made the situation worse was the fact that next to the broken glass stood an electro abyss herald holding an unconscious Dimitri in its grasp.
Great, leave it to Dimitri to get so intoxicated he passes out! It is almost as if he wants to be kidnapped by a random abyssal creature. This gives you a moment to quickly ponder the circumstances, why is it there is a herald at the Ragnvindr's anniversary dinner for their lavish ballroom?
Before the majority of the guests had time to process the situation, you immediately zipped through the crowd, dagger in hand, as you flew at the abyssal creature holding your subordinate captive. Noticing your impending attack and cryo vision on the front of your coat, the abyss herald fled through the broken glass into the large vineyard located adjacent to the party hall.
Electro sparks flew through the air as you chased the herald through the field of grapes, every so often landing a cryo attack on him when you got close enough. As you got to the near end of the field, the herald stopped right in its tracks to face you. The atmosphere was tense, as it seemed the creature was attempting to taunt you and your poor comrade. You knew this immediately to be the herald to be picking a fight with you, so you readied your attack stance.
As you lunged forward at the creature, triggering your cryo attack you noticed the reaction that the combination of electro, cryo, and pyro had together, causing a sort of overload to occur thus weakening the enemy far quicker. Wait a minute, where the hell did the pyro come from? you asked yourself annoyingly as you continued your steady advances against the enemy. It wasn't hard to put together that there was another pyro user assisting you and your attacks, and it sure as hell wasn't dumbass Dimitri.
After landing a significant blow, the herald summoned its famous shield, something that was always a pain for you to try to break. As it did, you took the time to glance over in search of the mystery pyro user. The stranger stood watching as they readied their claymore sword and flashes of red flames began to appear all around them.
Their red hair, expensive cloak, and red gloves were a beautiful contrast to the purple monster before them. Although you were weary of him at first during the night, you found comfort in the fact that Diluc Ragnvindr would be willing to go out of his way in order to try and save your comrade.
The spectacle before you almost made you want to drop your weapon to stand back and watch. The way he elegantly moved his claymore in sync with his pyro attacks made it obvious he was very well trained and would make a wonderful soldier. The flamed eagle that erupted through his sword and tore after the abyssal creature paired wonderfully with your persistent bursts of cryo attacks. The enemy's shield was clearly deteriorating before your eyes, and you grew more and more confident in the fact that you wouldn't need to report a casualty to your supervisor during your first day in Mondstadt.
“HEY! DO YOU LIKE CHILDREN?!” you suddenly hear Diluc call out.
Does it like children? What a strange question to ask an abyss herald… You chuckled to yourself at the silly attempts at distractions the pyro user must have been trying to make. The distraction did seem to hold some leverage, the herald finally 'let's go' of Dimitri by chucking him at least ten feet forward. You cringe as you see him land straight into a bunch of grape vines.
“MISS SNEZHEVNA?! DO YOU LIKE CHILDREN?! PLEASE DO ANSWER MY QUESTION!” Diluc says, clearly growing more and more agitated at the stubborn shield of the abyss herald.
The mere notion of his question practically makes you fall over as you finish landing another attack. Marry...as in marriage? Could I really marry a man I just met? your mind was just about doing cartwheels.
“WHAT?” is the only word you can muster as a response. What kind of weird question was that? Especially at a time like this? In the meantime, Diluc lands another pyro blow against the shield before running closer towards where you were.
“On three!” he says angrily while preparing an attack. You catch on to what he is doing as you prepare an accompanying cryo burst. That seemed to be the final push the herald needs before it quickly drops to the ground and makes a futile attempt to repare its health. Before you can deal a final blow while it's down, you feel Diluc grab your arm.
“Please, do excuse my brashness, but could you do my a favor and tell me your answer?” he says. You can tell there is some reservation in his voice. “Children, Y/n, do you like children? Would you someday wish for a child?”
Without giving it much thought, and wanting nothing more than just to return to battle to finish off the enemy, you give him an apprehensive reply: “Children? You know what, sure, someday I would love to mother a child. But now isn't really the time to–”
“–Marry me?” he finishes off your sentence.
“Excuse me?!” you reply, flabbergasted that he is even thinking these thoughts in a moment like this.
“Pardon my forwardness,” his grasp on your arm tightens, “but if you really are an unmarried adventurer with high enough status to come to Mondstadt and attend one of my gatherings, you seem like… I have a daughter without a mother and…the school... marry me. You should marry me”.
Shock was an understatement in terms of your emotions right now. The words he spoke were clearly out of desperation, yet he said them so certainly and with such forwardness that you couldn't help but feel confused about his true emotions in this moment. However, you could, of course, appreciate the balls that the man must have to suggest marriage to a stranger mid battle. Secondly, you thought back to all of the times in which your family had spoken about marriage.
Being from a family as highly respected as your own, it was only natural that at your age you should have already been married off. Everyone's eyes were always on you, the first question they always asked being about your marital status. The disappointed faces you would receive when you instead explain that you were taking after your great uncle by joining the fatui rather than settling down so soon. You knew your parents would only allow you to continue your work for so long before they became fed up with the way you conducted yourself as an upper-class woman from a powerful political family…
You looked Diluc in the eyes. The fiery red color bore so much passion as they looked into yours. Diluc was a man of great power in Mond, a man bound to know many secrets, he had just the intel you needed in order to complete your mission. A mission that would surely impress your parents enough so that you could finally gain their favor. And hey, you weren’t lying when you said you always wanted to be a mom, how bad could it really be?
“Alright! Um, I’ll marry you Sir!” you choked out, partially in denial with your own words.
“Truly? Excellent,” he sighs, both relief and disbelief in his voice as he pulls the two of you down into a crouching position before grabbing your dagger from your hands. The dagger soon lights on fire, just in time for him to throw at the still struggling abyssal creature. He then rips his red pendant off his neck and places it in your left hand.
“Until death do us part” he momentarily cracks a small smile as a pyro explosion occurs behind the two of you, as the abyss herald finally falls apart and sinks towards the ground.
No, you think to yourself as you still awkwardly smile back at him, until my work does us part.
After all, your work as a fatui agent and thus your loyalty to the Tsarista would always come first. And, now with Diluc on your side, you're certain you will be able to complete your mission…
Your mission to eliminate the Darknight Hero of Mondstadt.