☁️neffie’s-cloud☁️

“Sorry to bother you so late Dr. Harvey, I found them passed out in the mines.” Sebastian says as he moves you from a piggy back position to one of the beds in Harvey’s clinic.

You smile and wave nervously.

“The mines? Again?” Harvey says smiling at you but you swear you see a vein pulse on his temple.

“I mean hey, at least I didn’t get robbed this time?” You say nervously.

“Yes, thankfully your pockets are full. Your life totally doesn’t matter.”

“Exactly!”

Harvey sighs heavily. “Thank you, Sebastian, I’ll keep you informed but I can tell you right away she’ll be fine by morning.”

* * *

“she was found on the shore, unconscious and badly injured. as you can see, it looks like she was attacked.”

“it’s the fatui’s doing.” a sigh. “when she wakes up give her food and water, and inform me immediately.”

“yes, sir.”

you hear a door shut and you try to open your eyes, but they’re just too heavy and you feel yourself losing consciousness again.

when you finally come to, you find yourself in a nice room and a large comfy bed.

where are you?

you bring your legs towards the edge of the bed, noticing that someone changed your clothes.

you get up and slowly walk towards the door. just as you’re about to open it, it starts to swing towards you and you’re met face to face with a maid.

“oh! you’re up! please lay back down! i’ll go fetch something for you to eat, and inform the master.”

you silently nod, recognizing her and shuffle back to the bed.

the master?

you twiddle your thumbs and continue surveying the room from your position on the bed.

not too long after, the door opens again and in comes the maid with a tray of food.

“the master will meet you in his study in a little bit to ask you some questions,” she says as she sets the tray in your lap.

“umm…ok.”

you take a look at what’s in front of you: a bowl of soup, a slice of bread, and some jello.

this looks like hospital food.

she begins to bring a spoonful of the soup to your lips.

“i can feed myself,” you mumble.

“no, you need to save your strength.”

“but i feel fine.”

she gives you a look, and you know to just shut your mouth and let her feed you.

“umm… how long was i out for?”

“about a week and a half.”

you almost freak out, then remember that time moves faster in this world, and a day here is only about an hour in your world.

after you’ve finished all that you can eat, she gets up after helping clean off your face.

“now let’s get you dressed to see the master.”

you nod, and she proceeds to clap and in comes two more maids.

they help to bathe you and get you dressed into something one of the maids had on hand.

“adelinde, can you pass me that hair pin?”

adelinde? isn’t that the possibly cannibal maid that works under diluc?

finally, after spending so much time dressing you up, you’re finally ready to see the master.

adelinde leads you through the mansion towards a dark wooden door. she knocks twice and a familiar voice says “come in.”

she opens the door and gestures for you to go in before closing the door behind you, leaving you alone in the room which you now realize is an office, an office with a familiar red headed winery owner.

“how are you feeling?”

“i’m fine,” you catch yourself from saying “diluc” at the end. you’re not sure if it’s a good idea to let him know that you know about him. or to be so informal with him.

he gestures to a set of couches facing each other with a coffee table in between. “have a seat.”

you nod and make your way to sit on one of the couches and he follows and sits across from you.

“when one of my people found you at the base of the waterfall. do you remember what happened before that?”

you hesitate. “i was lost in dragonspine trying to find my way to mondstadt, then i got abducted by some fatui. they threw me in the water and i fell down the waterfall.”

“did they ask you anything before that?”

“umm… after i woke up, a skirmisher asked me if i knew anything about ‘the star’ and when i didn’t know anything he just said to throw me into the water and that’s all i remember.”

“what were you doing in dragonspine?”

“i-“ you hesitate. would it be okay to tell him that you just woke up there? would he believe you if you said you don’t remember?

“never mind. where are you from?”

oh…how do i answer this?

“umm…”

“what’s your name?”

“y/n. y/n l/n.”

“diluc ragnvindr.”

“i know.” shit.

he raises an eyebrow at you and you go wide eyed.

“i mean- who doesn’t know about you? you own the infamous dawn winery, right?” you say, catching yourself.

he doesn’t seem to believe you, but he doesn’t question you further about the topic, but does ask you more regarding your abduction by the fatui, asking what they look like, where you were when you were abducted and the like.

“well, you can stay here for the time being.”

“really?” you ask before you can stop yourself.

“yes?” he says, looking at you just as confused. “unless there was somewhere else you’d like to stay? do you have any mora on you?”

“no,” you say, then add. “the fatui took it all.”

“the fatui did?” he asks. “treasure hoarders i would understand, but fatuus?”

“um yeah…one of them must of been a greedy bastard, that or i lost it all in the fall.”

he nods. “well, it’s decided then, you’ll stay here and i’ll assign one of the maids to you, feel free to ask them for whatever you need.” he then gets up and goes back to his desk.

“umm ok.” you awkwardly get up and leave the room, wandering back to the guest room.

you’ve been at the dawn winery for a couple days, rarely seeing diluc except at ungodly hours of the night if you happened to be up at that time for some reason.

if you wanted to go anywhere, you had to be accompanied by a maid. had to use the bathroom? a maid was standing right outside the door. wanted to go for a walk around the vineyard? you had to be followed by one sometimes two. you wanted to read in the common room? elzer or scullion were in the room with you doing work.

today, you were curled up on a couch under a window in the common area, reading one of the books from diluc’s collection. it had caught your interest and you were close to finishing it.

soaking in the afternoon light, you hear the door open but pay no mind to it until you hear adelinde welcome back master diluc.

you look up to see him taking off his coat and handing it to scullion.

he looks over to you as you give him a small wave, and he responds with a nod your way, before you get back to your book.

you expect him to just be on his merry way, but you hear footsteps approaching you.

“would you like to go into mondstadt with me tomorrow?”

you look up, surprised. “umm, sure. is there any special occasion or…?”

“nothing special, i just need to go into town for business, and you’ve been cooped up inside, thought you might like it.”

you stare for a bit more before smiling softly. “sure, i’d like that!”

he doesn’t respond immediately, but eventually says “alright, i’ll be leaving at 11, so be ready by then.”

he waits for you to respond with an “okay,” and when you do, he nods before walking off, presumably to his office.

you spend the rest of your afternoon reading your book, and manage to finish it just before dinner time.

right as you were getting up to return the book, there’s another knock on the door. adelinde goes to open it and greets the guest.

“master kaeya! welcome back! master diluc is up in his study right now.”

“ah, thanks. i just have a few questions to ask him.”

he begins to make his way towards the stairs when he catches sight of you out of the corner of his.

“oh, well hello, and who might you be?”

“i’m y/n.”

he approaches you.

“i haven’t seen you around before, y/n, where are you from, sweet thing?”

“um-“

“what do you want this time, kaeya?” diluc interrupts from the railing above.

“what? i can’t come and visit?” kaeya pouts. “besides, why didn’t you tell you were keeping such a pretty thing hostage?”

“the guests i keep are of no concern of yours,” diluc says. “and as for your first statement, i’d rather you not-“

you hear adelinde clear her throat quietly.

“but since you’re already here,” he starts, seeming to struggle with what he’s about to say. “why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“oh no, i couldn’t. i just came by because i needed some help with a case.”

diluc raises an eyebrow. “whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me.”

“you’re right, but are you saying i can’t ask the uncrowned king of mondstadt for some help?”

“don’t call me that.”

“why not? you’re the one with the most money and the largest plot of land in mondstadt.”

“i don’t care, don’t call me that.”

you try to hold back a giggle at their bickering.

“if i may,” you start, earning the attention of both the pyro and cryo users, and hold up the book. “master diluc, this is the book i borrowed from your study. thank you for letting me read it, i enjoyed it!”

“oh, i’m glad you enjoyed it, and just diluc is fine.”

kaeya makes a mildly surprised expression but stays quiet.

“thank you, diluc.”

he nods, then looks to kaeya. “come on up, let’s get this over with.” his demeanor shows he’s not looking forward to this in the slightest.

kaeya smirks and nods, and then looks at you. “i can take that book up for you,” he says with a kind smile, whilst laying his hand out for you.

you hand it to him. “thank you-“ you catch yourself and pause, realizing he didn’t really introduce himself yet. ”umm… kaeya.”

he smiles, and then goes up the stairs to chase after diluc who is already at the door to his office.

you watch and then go to your room.

“a guest, huh?” kaeya says as soon as the door closes.

“yes, a guest.”

“not a hostage?”

“can you just get on with what you came for?”

“alright alright,” kaeya puts his hands up in mock surrender.

* * *

you turned off your device after playing on genshin impact for longer than you really should’ve. it was late into the night, and you really. should. be. in bed. by now.

you curl up in bed and pass out. not noticing your device turn on and the genshin loading screen popping up again.

when you wake up, you’re cold. very cold. shivering violently. you try to reach for your blanket, refusing to open your eyes.

nothing…

did i yeet my blanket from my bed in my sleep or something? and why is the mattress so hard?

you open your eyes, blinded by white and grey.

a cold breeze blows through you.

you slowly lift yourself up. taking a better look at your surroundings.

where are you? and why does everything look vaguely familiar?

you stand up and look behind you. noticing a large statue. a statue of barbatos.

a statue of barbatos blanketed in snow.

oh…

this is near the top of dragonspine.

you stare blankly in shock at nothing in particular.

then you smile. “oh…i must be dreaming a very realistic dream.” you step closer to the edge of the balcony, peering over, a gust of wind pushes against your faec. “see! totally a dream,” you try to convince yourself. you proceed to hover your fingers above your arm. “i’ll wake up eventually, but in the mean time i can go to see all my favorite characters!”

then you feel the pinch, and you feel your skin raising into intense goosebumps.

wait…this..this isn’t a dream…is it?

you close your eyes and slap your face with both hands. the sting burns against your cold skin. you open your eyes and your scenery hasn’t changed in the slightest.

there are…ultra realistic dreams… right??

you shiver, not sure if it’s from the cold or the realization.

sighing, you tell yourself that there’s nothing else you can do than walk towards mondstadt and find someone who can help you.

after mentally preparing yourself, you begin your descent.

you’re cold. you’re tired. you’re tired of being cold. by now you’re convinced you’ve somehow teleported into the world of teyvat, a fantasy from the world you come from, but it couldn’t be more real.

and you couldn’t be more unprepared. you’re literally traversing dragonspine in your pajamas.

how long has it been since you descended into dragonspine? it couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes, why has the sun already set?

you come across a small hilichurl camp, noticing a fire.

heat. warmth. a break from this unrelenting cold.

you duck behind a tree trying to come up with a plan. you peek out again. they haven’t seemed to notice you yet.

if this were the game you would just attack. wipe them out in a few seconds tops.

but you have no weapons, no one but yourself. you’re outnumbered, and you’re stiff from the cold.

you have no hope of an ideal outcome.

you could wait till they all fall asleep, but you don’t know when or if that will happen and how long it will be before they notice you.

you sigh, quietly making your way around the camp and hoping that you’ll find some scarlet quartz and a few dry twigs. the former isn’t so hard to find, it’s mining it that’s more difficult. but the dry twigs and sticks are a little harder to come by. not with all the ice and snow incrusting them, that’s for sure.

when you come to the fork in the roads, you had been planning to take a right, down the snow covered path, but upon seeing a lawachurl further down you decide against it. taking the path through wyrmrest valley.

that’s right, albedo might be in his lab. he could help me!

that was until you remembered that you can’t safely get to his lab from where you are without a wind glider or climbing gear, neither of which you possess. the broken bridge is to thank for that.

you sigh, before carefully sliding down the steep ridge, earning yourself a few scrapes on the way down.

once down you make your way to the cave in wyrmrest, hoping to find some warmth.

you make it after managing to avoid the fatui that are for some reason stationed in this god forsaken place.

with it being night time, and the cave being so warm, you find yourself drifting off to sleep.

“hey! wake up, runt!”

you groggily open your eyes.

who?

“i said wake up!”

you look up and meet the eyes of a fatui skirmisher.

“what do you know about the star?”

“the what?” you ask. you feel dizzy and he’s beginning to look fuzzy. why is everything so blurry?

the skirmisher makes an annoyed sigh. “throw her in the water, we’re not gonna get anything from her.”

before you can process what’s going on, you feel yourself being yanked up by the elbows and tossed like a doll into the freezing cold water. the current drags you under and you can’t seem to find your orientation. just when you do you feel yourself falling.

no! it can’t end like this!

you reach towards the sky, clawing at the air. when you hit the water, you see the world go black.