Chapter Text
"What do you mean you let her escape?" Dottore could be heard hollering inside his lab as he scolded his subordinates.
Ever the eavesdropper, Scaramouche paused outside and leaned against the door to listen. He could hear a voice responding to the doctor.
"Lord Harbinger, we don't know how it happened! We had guards stationed outside her room and suddenly she overpowered them—"
"I don't care who was where. All I know is that my most valuable experiment is gone!" There was a sudden crashing sound as Dottore seemingly shattered a few of his glass vials in one of his angry fits. Ever the hotheaded one. "Don't even bother showing your faces in here until you find her!”
"Y-Yes, Lord Harbinger!" three voices said in unison. Scaramouche quickly sidestepped out of the way as he heard footsteps approach the door. The trio of subordinates filed out, pausing in the hallway when they made eye contact with the 6th Harbinger. They each saluted him before making their hasty escape.
Dottore poked his head out from the doorway to call after them. "And make sure you—!" He blinked. "Scaramouche? What are you doing here?"
Scaramouche crossed his arms. "Am I not supposed to be here?"
"You never come to my lab uninvited."
"And I'll be taking my leave now if that's alright with you." He stood from the wall only for Dottore to grab him by the arm.
"Wait. Remember that young girl I introduced you to?"
The indigo-eyed man sighed. "Wouldn't forget her. Why?"
"She's escaped and I believe you'd likely do a better job of finding her than any of my idiot minions ever will."
"So? Go find her yourself," he scoffed. "I take orders from the Tsaritsa, not you. I have my own things to be doing.”
"You mean those plans of yours since you failed to retrieve the Electro Archon’s gnosis? Since you were defeated by that Inazuman priestess? What’s her name… Was it Yae Miko?"
Scaramouche stiffened, thinking back to when he was assigned to oversee the Fatui's delusion factory in Inazuma. How he'd successfully lured the traveler into a trap only to be overpowered by the woman who had once given him so much care. He pushed the thought away, shaking Dottore off him. "Leave her out of this," he snapped.
Dottore lightly cocked his head. "Do you... know her?" Genuine confusion laced his voice.
"No, just— Forget it. Now if you don't mind, I have—"
"Il Dottore, sir!"
The Balladeer huffed in exasperation as he was cut off. A small group of agents halted in front of them, bowing to them both.
"Sir, we have found a possible lead on where the girl may have disappeared to." The leader of the party unfurled a piece of paper and held it out to them. Dottore snatched it away from him to get a better look. Scaramouche had to stand on his tiptoes to see over him. In his hand, the doctor held a wanted poster depicting two figures side-by-side. While crude, he could tell the drawing depicted a short green-haired figure and an individual with a long, blond braid. Dottore exchanged a glance with the 6th Harbinger.
"Is this your traveler you’ve been chasing so dearly?" He shoved the paper into Scaramouche's hands. "Perhaps two birds with one stone? I get my test subject back, you accomplish your goal of killing that outlander."
Scaramouche stared at the paper a moment longer, the lingering agents awaiting his next word. The Balladeer nodded to the scientist beside him. "Fine. Give me time and I'll find him."
"And bring the girl back to me," Dottore corrected.
"Yeah, whatever." The Balladeer pushed through the group of agents and made his way down the hall, already plotting his next move to finally secure his victory over that wretched traveler.
-
“So you mean to tell Paimon that the Fatui snatched you away from your family and injected you with all sorts of sticky Archon energy?!”
“Yes,” Collei nodded solemnly. “Ever since then I’ve been having these… these painful jolts that overtake me. I gained control of it just long enough to flee.”
“The Fatui… Always finding a new low to hit,” Aether muttered disdainfully. “Do you know if there are any other children being held captive by them?”
“I’m not sure,” the young girl responded. “If there are… will you save them, too?”
The blond hesitated. He was already sidetracked enough from his main mission of seeking out the Dendro Archon. Could he risk unnecessarily getting caught up with the Fatui? Aether eyed Collei’s frail, bandaged form. How many others like her could there be?
He sighed. “I’ll do my best.”
Collei beamed up at him. “Thank you, Aether.”
Beside them Paimon cleared her throat. “Paimon thinks this is sweet and all, but we’ve practically gone one step forward, two steps back. Where do we even go from here? We can’t just march straight into the Fatui’s lab. We don’t even know where it is!””
Aether paused thoughtfully. “We do know one friend in the city that could give us a lead…”
“And you expect to sneak back in there?” Paimon questioned.
“We’ll fine a way,” Aether reassured her. “We always do.”
-
“Are you sure this is a safe idea?” Collei asked. She gripped tightly to the hooded cape that disguised her from view.
“Of course,” Aether reassured her from underneath his matching cloak. “Cyno is very knowledgeable.”
“Are we almost there yet?” Paimon’s voice was muffled by Aether’s disguise. “Paimon can barely breathe under here!”
“Shh!” Aether halted at the front steps of the Academia. “This is it,” he spoke, turning to face Collei. “As long as the guards let us in, we’ll be fine.”
“That sounds very iffy…”
“Come on!” Collei yelped as the traveler took her by the hand and led the way up the steps. The guards at the door eyes them warily, and Aether cleared his throat.
“Excuse me, gentlemen. Is Cyno in right now? My, er— cousin has been struck with a terrible illness and requires his assistance.”
“The Academia is not seeing any guests currently.”
“Um… what?” Aether shook his head. “This isn’t just any illness that can be cured by a regular doctor. Isn’t there any way we could meet him? In fact, I have a recommendation letter! Let me just… find it…” He awkwardly fumbled with his pouch, digging around for Lisa’s letter.
“Come on, I know it’s somewhere…”
The front doors momentarily burst open as a couple of scholars exited and made their way down the steps. Peering ahead, Aether’s eyes lit up when he saw Cyno talking with the lady at the front desk.
“Cyno!” the blond called just before the doors closed. “Cyno, it’s Aether! We need—!”
The doors closed with an echoing thud. Collei held tighter onto the traveler’s hand.
“This will be your final warning. Sumeru Academia reserves the right to escort intruders off the premises.”
“Intruders might be a bit of a strong word. We were—“
The guards turned their heads as the door behind them once again. Cyno stood before them, an unamused expression on his face.
“What is it?”
For a second, Aether struggled to find words that weren’t just ‘We’re so glad you’re here!’ He quickly reminded himself of why they were here. Remember the mission. “This girl here has a terrible illness I’ve never seen the likes of before. I’d almost go as far as to say she exhibits signs of possession.”
Cyno eyed Collei up and down, the green-haired girl cringing away from his scrutinizing gaze. Finally he spoke. “Let them in.”
The two guards were evidently taken aback, but did not go against their orders. “Yes, sir.” They stepped aside, holding the double doors open as Cyno led the trio inside.
Aether, Collei, and Paimon let out a collective sigh of relief. Once the doors shut behind them, Cyno turned to face them.
“You are a terrible actor,” he deadpanned, his words directed at Aether.
“What? Pff. I wasn’t that bad.”
The jackal-hooded scholar was already leading the way towards the elevator. “This way. My office.” Collei trailed after the group, busy gazing in awe at the grand room presented before her.
Once the group was alone in the elevator. Paimon burst free from Aether’s cloak with an overdramatic gasp. “Phew! Paimon hasn’t had fresh air in so long!”
“Quiet,” Aether and Cyno shushed her in unison. Meanwhile, Collei studied the scholar out of the corner of her eye. Was this the man who was going to free her of her physical torment? Suddenly she winced, having kept her cool in public for an extended period of time. Just a little more time… Collei reassured herself.
The elevator doors opened and the group continued following the academic to his office at the end of the hall. Now in the secluded room together, he turned to face Collei.
“So, explain your condition.”
Collei blinked. “Um… Well, I was injected with this stuff that made my entire body ache. There’s this voice that tells me horrible, horrible things… Sometimes I get flashes of anger and I just… can’t control myself.”
Cyno had already begun shuffling through the books lining his shelves, placing a few on his desk. “You say this as if you were subjected to this by a third party. Who?”
“The Fatui,” Paimon butted in, her voice grim.
“Yes, and she says there could be more children like her locked up in their facilities,” Aether added.
“Hm…” Cyno placed one final book onto his desk. “I believe there is an exorcism ritual I can perform to assist you.”
Collei flinched. “E-Exorcism?!” Right as she spoke, a flash of pain seared through her. She grunted, gripping her head and stumbling slightly.
“It might be best you stay here overnight. The Academia has a medical wing I can refer you to.”
The girl leaned some of her weight on Cyno’s desk and let out a relived sigh. “Thank you.”
Cyno glanced back towards the traveler. “Meet us on the outskirts of the city tomorrow, right at moonrise.”
“Of course,” he nodded.
Cyno motioned for the group to follow him out of his office and everyone filed out into the hallway. Collei shuffled alongside the scholar, who silently offered an arm for her to hold onto. Aether smiled warmly to himself at the sight.
“Bye bye!” Paimon waved to them as the pair headed down an alternate hallway. “Sleep well, you two!” She glanced back towards the traveler. “We should get some sleep, too. That walk to the edge of the oasis was really long last time.”
“To be fair, we were fleeing the guards last time,” Aether joked.
Paimon let out a huff. “Whatever. No more getting chased by guards next time!”
As the moon outside began to rise over the City of Scholars, they both made their way for the elevator with the promise of progress to await them the next day.