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It’d be a cold day in Mondstadt before Diluc thought he’d meet him again.
Lumine had sent him on an expedition around Sumeru. The expansive and layered terrain was something Diluc could get used to; high tree tops, rivers he’d travel for miles, and a desert he’d longingly wish to explore in the distance. Cubbies and holes in the wall were commonplace, much unlike the rolling hills of his homeland. In order to do much of anything that Lumine asked his searches would have to be thorough.
And thus, he happened upon the old shell of an ancient machine. Far larger than any other he’d seen before. Diluc hauled himself up onto the mech’s arms. Looking like nothing but a tiny speck to a giant. He wondered what it’d be like to come face to face with such a monster. Its outer shell was overgrown with moss and greenery, conditions favored by the mysterious ‘rare’ mushrooms the traveler so coveted. For what reason, he was unsure. He just hoped they were being responsible.
Jumping down, he slowly found his way inside the structure. It was almost completely hollow. If he was quiet enough he could probably hear the sounds of old echoing through the walls. Diluc rolled up his sleeve and folded his coat into a makeshift sack. Surely he’d find ample harvest amongst the growth.
———-
Diluc rolled out a cramp in his shoulder. A loud crack echoed in his skull. He sighed, looking at the pitiful harvest he’d accrued: 3 of those damn mushrooms.
He’d been looking for hours. Top to bottom, side to side, left to right, the entire compass of directions and there was NOTHING. He groaned and threw himself — admittedly very childishly — against a nearby wall, slouching on impact and sliding down in defeat.
Diluc rubbed his eyes, he still needed more materials. At least 8 to reach his quota (a quota set by himself at the behest of Lumine). Maybe someone had come through and collected all of the mushrooms before him? Or maybe they were just in the process of growing back? Diluc deflated against the wall. Tiredness overtook his body. He was about to nod off until a distorted birdish grunt cut his snoozing short.
Diluc’s eyes snapped open. Did another ruin machine spot him or something? His eyes quickly raked the area before landing on a metal bird; a pigeon maybe?
It looked at him with beady lifeless red eyes. Diluc watched it tilt its head in that pigeon-like way. It didn’t look like an ancient machine. Its plating was silver, with rust coating the edges of its wings. The bird cooed at him with its distorted voice and walked in circles a little— obviously trying to get his attention. He glanced at his mushroom haul. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do.
Diluc hesisited, hoisting himself up from the ground and swinging his sad sack of mushrooms over his shoulder. As he neared the thing he could see the symbol printed on its back.
Fatui.
Diluc moved back suddenly at the sight of it. What the fuck was a Fatui bird thing doing in Sumeru? It had probably gotten separated by its owners, he thought. If these things even had the traditional ‘owner’. Maybe it had a camera attached to it just behind its empty metal pigeon head. He stood awkwardly just a foot away from it as it cooed and danced even more. Diluc took an experimental swing at it with the mushrooms. It quickly flitted out of the way and landed back in front of hin to continue its stupid dance.
He tried shooing it away with his arms, but that didn’t work either; it was foolish to think a metal bird would feel the same kind of fear of people, no less a Fatui made one.
“What do you want from me?” Diluc asked. The pigeon stopped its dancing and stared at him before waddling away.
Diluc watched it go several feet before it turned its head to look at him…and then it started dancing again. Taking a couple steps forward the pigeon stopped and looked at him expectantly.
“Fine, fine.” Diluc relented. He tied the sleeves of his coat together and hung it on his shoulder. Freeing his hands up to summon his blade. “But you won’t lure me in without a fight.”
Diluc followed several paces behind. All the while he kept a keen eye trained on the Fatui symbol on the bird’s back as it bobbed its way around the inside of the machine. It was making a beeline to something. Diluc gripped his weapon tighter as they made their way deeper into the structure.
Turns out he didn’t explore it as thoroughly as he had thought. The bird weaved through the nooks of the place. Occasionally looking back to check if Diluc was still on its tail. Eventually they happened upon a hole in the wall, one he thought was just an overgrowth of foliage— or in other words, not usually where the mushrooms would grow.
The bird turned a corner to what looked like the remnants of a research camp. Blueprints and notebooks were scattered on the damp floor, along with several tools and trinkets. Bags of ruin parts lined the walls. By the looks of it it was completely abandoned, except for one thing: the robotic corpse of a man.
Forgoing his hatred for the Fatui, Diluc rushed his way to the figure lying limply in the growth, the bird settled beside it.
He kneeled down to get a better look at the figure. Its blue hair made him nervous, along with the oddly specific mask it bore. One eye was almost entirely displaced from its socket, while the other one — a bright red— stared into Diluc’s soul. His left leg was twisted unnaturally. Luckily the rest of him was still left intact as far as he knew. He wasn’t willing to undress a cyborg robot thing to check for damages.
Let alone how to even start fixing those damages or even why he should.
It was heartless of him for sure. But, getting involved would just put the traveler and him deeper into Fatui cahoots.
“I can't do much here.” Diluc bluntly told the pigeon. “Sorry.”
He got up from his spot in front of Dottore and turned to leave. As he was getting up a shuttering robotic and strained breath left the broken body. The pigeon cooed in response. As if begging Diluc to stay.
There’s no reason that he should help him. For what he does, and what’s become of him is all just a glorious karma. But, Diluc couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt, of leaving someone to die like that when they’re at their lowest. He could easily kill him. Out of mercy or pity. The struggled breaths and twitchy fingers made him look too alive.
Diluc felt an unease looking at him. One question haunted him at be made eye contact with Dottore:
Why did they leave a harbinger to die?
The unease overtook him and he marched to Dottore’s side. He sheathed his weapon and slid his arms underneath Dottores armpits, hoisting his body from the plants desperately trying to claim him.
“GAH! What are you doing?!” Dottore yelled. Startled, Diluc all but dropped him and the sack of mushrooms— his heart hurt a bit at the loss.
“Your bird decided you were in dire need of help or something. You looked like a dying statue; if that’s even possible.”
The bird cooed in response, a proud coo if Diluc’s ever heard one.
Dottore scoffed (at him or the bird?). “Lapses in judgement happen, no need to get so defensive.” Dottore spat. “Run along now then!” Dottore began to shoo him away with a slap to Diluc’s knees.
Diluc blankly took hit after petty hit from the harbinger, or former harbinger? He didn’t know.
Diluc snatched Dottore’s wrist before he could hit him for the umpteenth time. “Do you remember who I am?” Diluc growled.
“As luck would have it, I do. I think I bear the honor of also being the only one to have met you.”
Diluc stared at him as if his other eye popped out.
“Don’t- ugh…what do you mean by ‘only one’?”
“Are you not caught up on international affairs?” Dottore cocked his head at him. Wicked but crooked smile on his face. “I’m just one of many ‘segments’. Clones if you will.”
Diluc dropped Dottore’s wrist in shock.
“Oh, come on, it's not that bad.”
“So there's more of you?” Diluc said in disgust. He couldn’t fathom having to be in the presence of more than one.
“That’s the point.” Dottore said flatly.
“So…what are you even doing in Sumeru anyway? Alone too.”
Dottore’s shoulders slumped in annoyance. He dragged his body to a nearby mossy rock and rested his back onto it. His left leg dragged behind him like dead weight. The sound of it made Diluc wince.
“Frankly, I came here out of my own curiosity. Another segment,” Dottore coughed and grumbled something along the lines of ‘the shittier one’ under his breath, “thought I was trespassing as if he owns the place, and now I’m stuck in this decrepit pit of mushrooms and duckweed.”
Diluc wanted to open his mouth to comfort him, but quickly shut his mouth. Comfort him for what? He’ll just get some scathing response for even asking if he’s okay. The thought of Dottore— or this Dottore, he doesn’t know what to think— getting beaten by his own self was both terrifying and amusing.
Dottore looked past Diluc. “I see you’ve taken to the taste of mushrooms. Did you abandon your wines?”
“Ah, no. They’re uh…they’re for a friend.” Diluc corrected, getting up to bundle up his haul again. The pigeon waddled over to him and swaddled up in the bundle of shrooms. He didn’t have much of the heart or care to move it.
Dottore hummed and moved himself past Diluc and into the tiny camp. Diluc watched him fish through each bag. As far as he can tell, Dottore has been down here and in this state for a while. Enough that he’s become efficient in moving around with a leg that looks as if it’s been flattened by a boulder, a barely functioning face and some weird robot respiratory system.
“Aha!” Dottore exclaimed. He picked up the bag and threw it as best he could towards Diluc. It landed unceremoniously at his feet, causing all its content to spill out. Mushroom after mushroom rolled out of the bag. Diluc couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Have fun with them, or whatever you do with shrooms.”
“How did you-“
“There’s nothing better to do.” Dottore answered quickly.
Diluc considered him for a second before gently plopping down his coat bag and moving all the mushrooms to the bag Dottore had just given him. He couldn’t articulate his thanks. He really couldn’t. Does he just thank him and leave? Diluc threw the bag up over his shoulder. The pigeon sat at his feet and cooed.
“.. How long have you been down here?” Diluc said slowly.
“Don’t know, I don’t get the best sunlight here.”
“And no one’s come looking for you?” Diluc asked himself more than he asked Dottore. Gods what was he saying? What was he doing?
“You clearly don’t know much about the Fatui if you think they’d care if one clone dies.” The robotic distortion in his voice cracked.
Diluc approached him wordlessly, gently brushing past the pigeon at his feet.
“Don’t pick me up again you-“
Diluc took his coat and wrapped it around Dottore’s bad leg. The metal in it poked at the thick lining of his coat.
Dottore grunted. “Like that’s gonna do anything.”
“Please, no more talking.”
Diluc knelt down and picked up the (former?) harbinger. Who let out a terrified yelp at the motion.
Dottore squirmed in his arms, almost falling out like a fish at some point. But, after some adjusting Diluc finally settled on a hold with enough freedom to make Dottore comfortable. It just so happened to be a bridal carry.
“Where in Teyvat are you taking me?” Dottore scowled up at him. The pigeon fluttered to rest on Diluc’s shoulders, balancing comfortably on the broadness of them.
“Dunno.” Diluc admitted. He left out the But, I can’t just leave you like this. “Hopefully to someone in Sumeru who would know how to fix you.”
Dottore groaned. “No, thank you.”
“Why not? You’re the one who admitted they stumbled into the land of geniuses. Make the best out of your situation.” Diluc was so close to just scolding the harbinger.
“This may come as a surprise but a lot of people here don’t hold much fondness for me. And even if they did, I wouldn’t bother anyway. Sumeru doesn’t lean too heavily into mechanics; everyone here is vision obsessed and self-serving.”
Diluc tried to stifle a laugh. Self-serving sounded rich coming from Dottore’s lips.
“And what does that make you?”
“A martyr.” Dottore huffed.
The robotic body felt just about the same as carrying a person. Diluc thought he’d be heavier, lest he get blown away by Mond’s constant wind. He began to carry him out of the robot; mushrooms in hand, a robotic pigeon on his shoulder, and a broken Dottore in his arms. Diluc counted himself lucky that most people in Sumeru don’t know who he is. Kaeya would never let him live it down.
As they walked down the side of the mountain a nagging idea kept pulling at Diluc. It was dumb, likely very dangerous, and would probably cost him a lot of sanity and money.
“If you have nowhere else to go,maybe you can come with me back to Mondstadt and we can fix you up there? I doubt anyone would know or really care, considering even I heard no word of your shenanigans.”
Dottore frowned deeply and stared somewhere off and past Diluc. He wondered what that ‘brain’ looks like when it thinks. Did he have a robot brain?
Dottore groaned loudly and slouched in Diluc’s arms. “I have no better option, now do I?”
“I suppose not.” Diluc mumbled.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they treaded down the mountain. Diluc felt like he had no control of his steps; llike he was just gliding across grass. Eventually Dottore dozed off, head hanging limply as if it was going to just roll off it’s spine. Diluc nudged his head up to rest on his chest.
————
“Diluc?” Lumine stared at him, mouth agape, and brows worried.
Lumine watched him stumble into the camp, a limp body of a blue haired man in his arms.
“I’m taking a leave.” Diluc blurted out.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
Diluc gently raises the body in his arms up at her, like a cat presenting its kill. “I need to take care of this.”
“I-“
“I also brought back your mushrooms.” In a motion Lumine couldn’t even process, Diluc shrugged up his sack of shrooms and let it fall pathetically onto the camp floor.
“Thank you?”
“Goodnight. I’ll leave at dawn.”
Before she could get another word in, Diluc had tucked himself back into his tent and quickly shut off his lamp.
Lumine looked at the tent in utter shock.
Was that Dottore?