Chapter Text
“I believe this is the place he requested for us to meet,” a smooth, deep voice said as the tavern door opened. “He said he’d be upstairs waiting.”
Diluc looked up from the bar to greet the newcomer with a soft, “Welcome to the Angel’s Share.”
The tall man with warm eyes nodded in response before looking for the aforementioned friend. He wore a rich suit and had an air of wealth around him. Diluc wondered who he could possibly be meeting that was one of his regulars. Behind him, though, was a man with red hair, a familiar grey outfit, and a red mask on his head: The Eleventh Fatui Harbinger, Tartaglia.
Diluc cursed under his breath and turned his back to the door, busying himself with the shelves. What was he doing in Mondstadt? Kaeya shouted for a refill from his seat at the bar and Diluc had to be careful as he served to avoid being seen.
He had not been careful enough.
“What a small world!” Tartaglia exclaimed. His companion turned in confusion as Tartaglia abandoned him to head for the bar. “Now there’s a head of red hair I could never forget.”
Tartaglia shoved himself between Kaeya and Rosaria to put his arms on the counter, grinning bright. He ignored the taller man that asked, “Childe? Do you know him?”
“It’s been quite a while!” Tartaglia exclaimed. “How have you been, Mr. Delusion Thief?”
“I believe you have mistaken me for someone else,” Diluc answered, keeping his voice as level as possible. “May I get you a drink?”
“No, I have the right guy.” Tartaglia reached over and poked the gem at Diluc’s collar. “I remember this cute little bobble of yours very well. You hid it under that hood and cloak, but I saw glimpses of red during our fights.”
Diluc forced his expression to stay calm. The gemstone had been a gift from his father. Diluc rarely took it off, but knew how to hide it while he wore a mask. For him to notice such a tiny detail during their fights, it was no wonder Tartaglia was a Harbinger so young.
“Again, I believe you are mistaken,” Diluc said. He could feel the eyes of both Cryo users on either side of Tartaglia staring at him during the exchange. They hung on every word and Diluc had to tread carefully. Rosaria suspected too much already and Kaeya did not need more teasing fodder. “My apologies.”
“Childe?” The other gentleman put his hand on Tartaglia’s shoulder and sounded like a scolding father. “My friend we are meeting is upstairs.”
“Go on ahead,” Tartaglia said, grinning over his shoulder. “I’m going to take a minute and catch up with this old friend of mine.”
“The bartender said he did not know you.”
“He’s lying.”
“Fair enough,” the stranger said, believing Tartaglia over Diluc. They walked in together, so that should not have surprised him. “Please don’t take too long.”
“Now then,” Tartaglia said, clapping his hands together as the other man walked away. “I believe congratulations are in order!”
“Congratulations?” Diluc asked. He should not have humored the man at all, but he was curious. “For what?”
“On receiving a Vision!” Tartaglia exclaimed. He put both hands on the bar and leaned toward Diluc, grinning brightly like a little kid. Tartaglia reached down and tapped the top of Diluc’s Vision, laughing when a spark of fire licked at his fingers. “Pyro suits you!”
“You really must have mistaken our dear Master Diluc for someone else,” Kaeya said, watching the Fatui Harbinger over the lip of his cup. “He’s had his Vision since he was a young child.”
“Has he?” Tartaglia asked. “How curious.”
“If you’ll excuse me,” Diluc said. “I need to help other guests if you do not plan to order.”
To Diluc’s dismay, Tartaglia followed him down the counter as he refilled the glass of a patron at the end.
“You know, when you stopped showing I thought you might be dead.” Tartaglia leaned on the counter, watching Diluc’s every movement. “But no one would fess up to dealing the final blow.”
“If you do not stop bothering me, I will have to ask you to leave,” Diluc said, doing his best to remain professional. “I do not know you.”
“How long are you going to keep lying?” Tartaglia asked. “I can push all night.”
“Is this man bothering you, Master Diluc?” Huffman asked. The Knight approached Tartaglia, standing at attention. “Would you care for assistance?”
Tartaglia would kill Huffman.
“I will take care of it,” Diluc said, resigning himself to the inevitable. He would withstand Tartaglia’s mocking and hope that appeased the man. He could not get into a fight with a Harbinger in Mondstadt’s main city. “Could you please get Patton from outside to watch the bar?”
“Of course,” Huffman said. He glared at Tartaglia and left. “Please call if you need anything.”
“We can talk outside if you must insist we are acquainted.” Diluc left the counter and went to the back door. Tartaglia watched his every step, a pleasant and fake smile on his face. “This way.”
“You really don’t want anyone to know you used to run around challenging Harbingers to fights, do you?” Tartaglia laughed as soon as the door closed behind him, leaving them together in the alley. He put his hands on the back of his head and walked a circle around Diluc, looking him up and down. “Is it because you don’t want them to know how badly you lost each time, or is it something else?”
“Is there something that you want?” Diluc asked, gritting his teeth. “If it is only to mock, please get it out of your system so I may go back to work.”
“Was the gentleman with an eyepatch covering for you when he said you’ve had a Vision since you were a child?”
“No.”
Diluc wasn’t sure why he told the truth, but it felt wrong to lie.
“Now I’m intrigued.” Tartaglia stepped closer until he was chest to chest with Diluc. He hovered his fingers over Diluc’s Vision, but didn’t touch it. “If you had this, why didn’t you use it?”
“I did not have it at the time,” Diluc admitted. “It was only returned to me last year.”
“It’s settled then!” Tartaglia clapped his hands together and nodded his head. “I want a fight. I can’t recall the last time I had a challenge against someone like myself who wielded both a Vision and a Delusion.”
“No, I am not going to fight you,” Diluc said. He swallowed and shook his head. “I stopped chasing after the Fatui for a reason. If you’ll excuse me, I need to return to work.”
“It doesn’t have to be to the death or anything.” Tartaglia grabbed Diluc’s arm and tugged him away from the tavern door. “It can be for fun! Like a spar or a good training session.”
“No,” Diluc repeated. He yanked his arm back and straightened his coat collar. “I don’t even have my Delusion. The Knights of Favonius confiscated it.”
“The downfall of being a law abiding citizen, no doubt.” Tartaglia whined in frustration and crossed his arms. “How bothersome!”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I really must be getting back inside. I don’t trust Patton behind the bar for long.” Diluc entered the tavern and took a steadying breath. Kaeya sent him a searching look from the bar and Diluc shook his head in response. However, he did appreciate the concern. “Would you care for a refill?”
Kaeya asked, “Are you going to tell me what that was about?”
“No.”
“Then yes, another Death After Noon would be perfect.”
Diluc made Kaeya’s drink and watched Tartaglia enter the tavern from the corner of his eye. The red head of hair disappeared upstairs, hopefully to rejoin his companions.
He prayed Tartaglia left things alone.
The annoying, but endlessly entertaining, masked Delusion Thief was a bartender named Diluc.
Childe had expected him to be a Knight or an Adventurer with a chip on their shoulder. The man was a skilled fighter who had to have gotten his training from somewhere. His form was too formal to be self taught. The man had been no match for the Harbingers, of course, but it was all about comparison.
It would not have been unreasonable to assume the masked man was a Knight who envied those with Visions and secured himself a Delusion to compensate, but it appeared the masked nuisance already had a Vision.
Childe burned with curiosity.
Had every fight they had been at half strength? Did his fighting style change while using his Vision? What was his weapon of choice when not wielding the chains of his Delusion? Could the bartender last five minutes longer in their fight before Childe crushed him?
He wouldn’t know until they clashed.
Childe slipped inside a window of the Knights of Favonius headquarters. Zhongli was drunk on wine and nostalgia with his bubbly Mondstadt friend. He hadn’t said a word when Childe excused himself to take a walk and see the city at night. Zhongli would never know what Childe truly had planned for the evening.
First Goal: Retrieve Diluc’s Delusion
Second Goal: Return it to the bartender.
Third Goal: Start a fight.
After that, Diluc would either defend himself and fight back, or Childe would kill the man for wasting his time. He’d offered a friendly spar, but had been denied. Life or death fights were more satisfying, anyway.
“Where would I store contraband if I were a lawful, responsible organization?” Childe asked, walking through the empty hallway. He saw a light from a door further ahead and shut his mouth. The building wasn’t as vacant as he had believed. Childe stayed quiet as he searched, spotting a girl with green hair in a lab, and a blond man with a sketchbook sat in a room nearby.
It took longer than he’d liked, but he found a guarded door that looked like a storage room of sorts. He used his Vision to create a Hydro bubble as a distraction and entered the room when the two guards investigated.
Childe would be in and out before they popped the bubble.
He found the Delusion with ease and pocketed it. As a Fatui, he had the right to take it anyway. Delusions belonged to the Fatui and they controlled the distribution. Speaking, he needed to ask Diluc where he stole the Delusion. No one had any clue where he got the thing, and Dottore had lost the record.
Childe used a second Hydro bubble to distract the guards one more time, and slipped away from the storage room. With his prize in hand, he slipped into the nearest room and jumped out the window. The night air of Mondstadt greeted him and the cool air celebrated his success.
He couldn’t wait to see the bartender’s face!
“The tavern is closed,” Diluc said, wiping down the counter. He had just shoved Kaeya, Rosaria, Venti, and the man from Liyue out the door. Diluc’s patience had left him far earlier in the night and he had no time for people searching for last minute drinks. “Please come back tomorrow.”
“But I’m here to see you, not drink!”
Diluc looked up and smacked his hand on the counter. “Tartaglia.”
“You do remember my name,” the Harbinger said. He strolled across the room, still grinning. That scarf of his fluttered behind him as he trotted up to the bar. “This is for you!”
The Harbinger dropped Diluc’s Delusion onto the counter and pushed the glove toward him with a finger.
“And since I, a Fatui Harbinger with the authority to do so, am gifting it to you, it is no longer stolen property!” Tartaglia dropped an elbow on the counter and leaned on it. “Isn’t that generous of me?”
“I don’t want it.” Diluc shoved it back. “Take it and leave.”
“But you were so skilled with it! I could have sworn it was crafted just for you.” Tartaglia picked up the Delusion. “Do you know how few can use one of these without suffering backlash?”
“Yes,” Diluc said, his voice catching in his throat. He knew it very well. “Keep it.”
“You look like you want to hit me.” Tartaglia snatched Diluc’s wrist and shoved the glove into his hand. “Use that and your Vision to fight me. It’ll be superb stress relief.”
Diluc squeezed the glove and snarled. “Leave.”
“We are having a fight,” Tartaglia declared. “It can either be in a controlled, safe location or I can start it right here and wreck your tavern. Either way, if you want to live longer than a minute you will need all the power you can get.”
Diluc despised the Fatui.
“Fine,” Diluc said. He shoved the Delusion in his pocket and left the counter. “The fields near Windrise should be empty enough for combat.”
“I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”
Tartaglia opened the door for Diluc and grinned the entire walk to the main city gate. They walked shoulder to shoulder and Tartaglia chatted about nonsense and being bored. Diluc tuned him out and thought of the best place to hold a fight.
Preferably where no one would catch them or see.
Diluc had never beaten Tartaglia. He doubted his Vision would make enough of a difference to change his losing streak to a win. He knew damn well Tartaglia had gone easy on him in the past. With the aid of his mentor in the underground network, Diluc had realized the folly in fighting opponents far over his head.
He was no match for the Harbingers and continuing to clash against them would have only led to his death.
It had been better for him to go home and fight the enemies he could defeat, protecting those in Mondstadt, than to die young in another nation.
Diluc should have known he couldn’t hide from the Fatui after catching their attention for so long.
“Is this the spot?” Tartaglia asked. “It’s lovely.”
Diluc took him to a field behind a rather tall hill. A few hilichurl camps were in the area, meaning that foot traffic was low. They should be well enough hidden from the Knight patrol routes as well.
He could lose in peace.
“Let’s get this over with.” Diluc summoned his claymore and walked a few paces back to ready himself. “If you want to fight so badly, so be it.”
Tartaglia didn’t answer and stared at his weapon.