Chapter Text
Diluc's blood ran cold as he stumbled upon the last thing he wanted to see in the warzone. He couldn't even scream, simply staring in horror with a burning fury running through his veins with each passing millisecond.
The Traveller was impaled by a spear twice their size, straight through their center. Blood was slowly pooling around them, and just behind them laid Kaeya, the spear point just barely missing his face as he also stared in pure horror at Aether. The whole field seemed to pause, a lull forced over everyone at what should have been an impossible sight.
And yet, Aether crumpled to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut when the Abyss monster tore its weapon out, nothing but a pile of limbs and wet, gasping breaths that only lasted a second before petering out into silence.
Someone screamed, then another, and then the fight descended into total chaos that he could no longer keep track of. The best he was able to do was scoop Kaeya back onto his legs and stick with him, eventually finding their way into the company of two others he couldn't be bothered to process at the moment beyond being 'safe'. Working in a team had never been his strong-suit, especially after quitting the Knights, but after all the time spent with... with Aether... he'd re-learned how to do so; so he fell in easily, acting as a front-liner for the catalyst-user and bow-user they were with, catching the bow when the bow-user threw it at him and switching to long-range support as easily as breathing.
Not his best weapon, but one he knew how to utilize decently enough. Besides, he was mostly just catching strays that tried to attack the other's back as he shredded a path in front of them, the metal of their blades cutting through enemies so sharply they might as well never have existed in the first place. Plus, the catalyst user helped boost their speed, so they were making good time on trying to find others to regroup with across the battlefield.
Then a group of enemies managed to split their little group up when they got just a bit too far away from each other, and it was just Diluc and the bow-user - who, now that he was paying closer attention to, was in fact the Eleventh Harbinger.
Well, just Tartaglia now, he assumed. Half the Harbingers were dead already and the organization might as well not even be a group anymore, especially after this fight.
"Know where anyone is?" He asked, taking a quick breather once they took out their immediate surroundings with some quick elemental bursts so they could be back-to-back again behind a small outcrop. It was safer that way.
"My nine o'clock, two but they're heading straight into enemy lines away from us," Tartaglia replied, back leaning against his and huffing a breath, "If only I had the time I'd be able to sense more..."
"Well shit," Diluc muttered, using the bow to poke at him, "Want this back?"
"Nah, you're way better with it anyway," Tartaglia said, barking out a quick laugh, "Plus I'm going to run out of steam soon. You need to find a new person to group with."
"Tarta-"
"Ajax," Ta- Ajax said, cutting him off, "And I'm not kidding. This place is corrupting me with all the Abyss energy I've been using. Once I fully transform I'm not coming back from it until I'm dead, and I'm going to end up rampaging out of my mind, I can just tell."
Diluc didn't bother to try and parse out what he meant by that, knowing there was no time to ask. All he could do was nod and accept that they were both utterly fucked.
No one was nearby. He had no one to fall back to once Ajax was gone, and he was starting to run out of steam as well. He died when Ajax transformed.
Guess there was only one thing left to do, then.
"Ajax," Diluc said, turning both of them so their backs were pushed against the outcrop wall. The other blinked, looking at him questioningly and with a small genuine smile from the use of his name.
"Diluc?"
"If you transform, would you stay sane enough to throw me as far as you possibly can into the middle of them?"
Ajax stared wide-eyed at him in surprise, then laughed, "You're crazy and suicidal. Of course I can do that, you pretty bastard."
And because this was his last few moments, Diluc let himself be honest, smiling back with just as feral of a grin as the other sported, "Might as well go out with a bang, right?"
"I'm having so many regrets right now," Ajax mused, lifting a bloody hand up to cup his neck and face, "Wish I'd known you could get like this years ago when we first met. I think I'm in love."
"Who's the crazy one now?" Diluc snickered, pulling the other down to smash their lips together. It was just a taste of what could've been, chaste and filled with desperation and longing more than love, and ended all too soon but necessarily. They'd been spotted by another group, this time full of Abyss mages, and they had to act now.
"Give 'em hell, Diluc," Ajax smiled, adjusting his grip on him as he started glowing with a mix of Electro and Abyss energy.
"You too, Ajax," he said, smiling back even as the other's face disappeared behind a mask. Before he knew it he was being held up in the air, being swung back, and then-
He was flying.
Having an aerial view of the battlefield was... enlightening. The ruins they were in were littered with craters and burnt plants and frozen grounds, stone jutting up in odd formations and spikes that were broken. Their little pockets of allies had been split up, though a lot seemed to be together further back from where he'd been launched.
He only spared that one look back, enough to see Ajax shred his surroundings then dive straight into enemy lines, just a flash of purple and stars as beings fell under his blade and claws. He managed a smile upon seeing that the line he'd sent himself in just so happened to go right in-between two groups of their allies, so he wouldn't accidentally kill them.
Diluc finally felt himself start to descend, arcing so far back into their opponents that he was actually able to see Aether's sister upon her throne of corruption. He wasn't close enough to hit her with what he planned, but he seemed to be landing right in the middle of a bunch of her most elite units.
Oh, what a shame, he thought, gathering as much energy as he possibly could, what a shame indeed.
His body breaking upon the landing felt like nothing compared to the explosion that came next.
He wouldn't know it, but the Phoenix that rose from him, that burned everything around him to nothing but ashes and dust, was what gave the remaining the motivation to win. A new burst of energy, replenishing fire spreading from person to person. The Abyss Princess overthrown, the war won-
And a certain goddess watches, deciding to reward him for giving her such a good show.
Diluc is ten years old. He has just earned his Vision, a Pyro one whose shiny red orb gleams brightly in his hands.
And he remembers everything.