Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Timmie wasn’t stupid. When he turned ten, Sister Grace had told him the “truth” about his father. But he knew there was more to his death than a hunting accident. Had known since he was six.

The days before his father’s disappearance, Timmie had seen a few strange masked people around. There had been yelling, threats, and many things six year old Timmie did not understand. What he did understand was this: these men were dangerous, and wanted to hurt his father.

He’d tried to tell someone, he really had. The knights told him he had an overactive imagination. The nuns told him to pray to Barbatos. Nobody listened, then his father disappeared.

But Timmie knew. 

As he grew up, he learnt about these masked people. The Fatui- a diplomatic organisation from Snezhnaya. He also learnt about the stories people told of them. There was no doubt- these were the people who had killed his father.

Sometimes, he would fantasise taking revenge on his father’s killers. He’d sit on the hand of one of those giant robots- ruin guards- and it would crush them beneath its feet.

He was hardly the only person in Mondstadt with a dislike for Fatui. He hadn’t ever acted on it, but it was a recurring thought in the back of his mind that he would entertain for a moment when he had nothing else to do,

Well. Timmie hadn’t acted on it until now.

He was feeding the pigeons on the bridge, when he noticed there were less than usual. That wouldn’t have worried him much, except for the fact that a few of the pigeons seemed to have difficulty flying.

“Hey, come here.” He reached out a hand to one of them, picking it up for a closer look. Gently lifting a wing, Timmie could see the damaged flight feathers. Some were bent out of shape, and some were broken completely. 

“What happened? Did you fly into something?” He murmured to the pigeon, while carefully smoothing out its feathers, combing the bent feathers back into place. The pigeon chirped at him.

He stretched out his arm, and the pigeon flew away. He reached for another, who had similar injuries. 

It didn’t make sense for all of these pigeons to have had accidents. Taking into account the missing birds, Timmie realised it had to have been intentionally caused by someone.

Softly petting the pigeon, Timmie asked, “Who hurt you?” He hadn’t really been expecting the pigeon to understand him, but it chirped before flying off his hand and landing in the grass. Instead of flying away like Timmie expected, it turned back to him, as if expecting him to follow.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Timmie asked, feeling a little silly. He was, after all, talking to a bird. But the pigeon chirped again, and Timmie had the very odd feeling that it actually understood him.

He decided to follow it. It flew towards Springvale, and Timmie ran behind, before it stopped. Timmie looked ahead, eyes widening. It was a Fatui camp.

Not wanting to be spotted, Timmie dived behind a bush. The pigeon landed next to him.

“Did they hurt you?” He asked. The pigeon cooed.

Then another sound overlapped- another pigeon cooing. But it seemed different, pained. Timmie risked a look over the edge of the bush, and saw a skirmisher holding a small bird in his hand. 

He was hurting it. 

Rage, anger flared inside him. These people had killed his father, and now they were hurting his pigeons. How dare they. 

He had to stop them- stop them from hurting the pigeon. His pigeons.

Timmie shoved his hand into his pockets, and found a slingshot. It had been a gift from Nora. Picking up a stray pebble, he carefully aimed, hoping to knock the man over. Then- release. 

Fwoop. As the pebble flew, it began to glow red. Fwoosh- it had caught on fire. 

Strange. Pebbles weren’t supposed to do that. Timmie quickly crouched again, hiding behind the bush.

“Damn- it’s on fire!” “Put it out!” “Put it out!” “Water!”

The Fatui had started screaming. Timmie could feel the heat from the bush, and could see the faint glow of fire out of the corner of his eyes. He looked up- the tent was on fire.

The pigeon had flown away. Timmie let out a sigh of relief, before standing up and running. He didn’t stop until he reached the city gates.

How had the Fatui tent caught on fire? What happened?

Timmie’s right hand was burning, and he looked down. He had his slingshot in his left hand, and on the other, he was holding an object he hadn’t had before.

A glowing, red gem- a pyro vision. 

Huh, that explains it.

He’d burnt down a Fatui camp- he’d saved his pigeons. He’d hurt the people who had killed his father.

Maybe his fantasies weren’t so distant after all. 

-

Diluc’s informants have all been telling him the same thing; in the past three days, ten Fatui camps had been burnt down. When the flames were gone, there would be a singular, charred stone lying in the ashes.

Diluc had an appreciation for all those who antagonised the Fatui- still, he had to make sure whoever this person was or these people were wouldn’t be a harm to Mondstadt. Not only that, some people had begun to assume it was him, or at least his alter ego, due to the method used. Diluc felt slightly offended- arson wasn’t his style.

So it was time for the Darknight Hero to make a reappearance.

There wasn't much of a pattern to these attacks- they seemed to occur randomly, but most camps targeted had been close to the city. Diluc made a plan to apprehend the arsonist- he would wait at a camp that he designated most likely to be attacked next, and catch them in the act.

Diluc donned his mask, and found some bushes to hide in near the camp, while eavesdropping on the conversations. Even if the arsonist doesn’t show up, he could at least gain valuable intel.

Fwoop- fwoosh. Diluc’s head snapped towards the source of the sound, and saw a fireball flying toward the tent. It caught on fire quickly, burning down in the matter of seconds. 

Immediately running towards the source of the fireball, Diluc reaches out to grab the perpetrator, and finds- 

A kid?

The child looked back at him with frightful eyes, holding a slingshot with one hand, a red glow emanating from his pocket. Of course- a pyro vision. 

“You- you’re the Darknight Hero?” The kid asked with wide eyes.

Diluc sighed. This was not what he expected. He responded, “That is the title I’ve been given. I didn’t really choose it, but it seemed to have stuck. What’s your name? Why have you been burning down Fatui camps?”

At the mention of Fatui, the child bristled. “I’m Timmie. A few days ago, some of the Fatui were hurting my pigeons. I defended them with a slingshot, but then the stone caught fire and the tent burnt down. I got my vision then.”

Diluc recognised the kid now- he had looked familiar. It was the child that fed the pigeons on the bridge. But why had he continued the attacks? 

Timmie seemed to understand the unasked question. “The Fatui- they killed my dad. Everyone says he died in a hunting accident, but I know. They killed him.”

His answer caused Diluc to flinch slightly- it had hit a bit too close to home. Looking at Timmie, Diluc could see the rage in his eyes, the same rage he had seen in his own when he looked into mirrors all those years ago.

Diluc puts both his hands on Timmie’s shoulders. “You can’t just go around burning down Fatui camps.”

Timmie’s eyes narrowed. “Why? I thought you also targeted Fatui. I won’t let you stop me.”

That stubborn flame Diluc could see in the child was oh so familiar. Yet, Diluc couldn’t let another child go down that path.

If Timmie was anything like Diluc when he was younger, there was no stopping him. Diluc could think of one other solution…

He reached out a hand to the kid.

“How would you like me to train you to use that vision, then?”

Chapter Text

Here’s what I imagine Timmie’s vigilante costume as, he puts stones in the pouch to shoot with his slingshot

I also finally decided his vigilante name, it’s gonna be Flock