Diluc Whump
~~~~<3~~~~~
Diluc is a creature, an amalgamation of charred flesh and peeling skin, and day by day, he struggles to resist the temptation to grab at the cavernous ladders in his wrists and pull until he finds some semblance of something human within him. Or at least, to prove to whoever still watches him that there is nothing human left.
There are no mirrors left in his house. He shattered two and lay in the shards until something red, something human came out. He woke up the next morning (or rose from a sleepless night where whatever is left of his heart beats in an insane staccato, threatening to forcibly remove itself from his chest) to find Adeline had removed the rest of the mirrors in the house. He appreciates it but can barely look her in the eyes to say thank you. He mumbles apologies nervously at the hardwood floorboards, eyes zeroed in on the slight blemishes and marks from his childhood.
He looks down like a trained dog, with obedience, fear and reverence whisked together into an emotional hurricane. Diluc feels like a trained dog sometimes, or a frog in a pot of water, slowly feeling the heat rise but refusing to jump out. It disgusts him; his actions disgust him, yet he still repeats the same motions.
You can find the rest of this fic, When I See My Reflection, I Don't see myself, on ao3! User @ unaffected
