Chapter Text
Click
The door shut behind him softly as he heard her lock the door. He stood leaning against the wall next to the door, keeping silent. He counted in his mind, 1, 2, 3 and flumppf, Scaramouche could hear Lumine fall onto the bed, and with that he began to slowly walk away, the sound of his shoes clacking against the floor was almost inaudible.
‘Nightmares… quite plausible, but… if that is the case… what was she dreaming of? Her brother? Her past? Enough, I need to inform to her majesty.’
After a slow and steady paced walk, Scaramouche reached the entrance of his room, turning the door knob, he opened the door to his room, revealing a grand space. The room itself looked as if it was on land more than a boat, if anything, it was twice the size of the cabins available in the ship. A bed, soft and luxurious looking, in the far corner of the room. A table made of the finest wood found in Teyvat, suitable for a Harbinger’s use.
Scaramouche pulled out the chair in front of the table and sat down, crossing his legs as he reached for a piece of parchment and a quill made from the feather of a great bird from the lands of Inazuma, the feather of the Thunderbird. The brilliant purple feather fluttering and swaying side to side as he began to write on the piece of parchment in ink as black as the darkest depths of the abyss.
Your Majesty, The Tsarista,
How do you do? The seas of Teyvat are as unwelcoming as ever as I write this letter to you from the seas of Liyue travelling to your land of Snezhnaya. Upon my journey in Liyue as I “looked after” the youngest Harbinger, I happened to stumble across the most peculiar being. Perhaps someone who will greatly interest you and your belief, for she claims to be from another world, and is now stranded here in Teyvat separated from her own kin after being struck down by an Unknown God.
I have decided it would be best in the Fatui’s interest to... keep water over her… She may prove to be of use in the future if her claims to be a traveller from another world is true.
If I may add, I would like to have the responsibility of keeping watch over the Traveller.
Sincerely,
The 6th Harbinger, Balladeer
And with that the letter to the Tsaritsa was finished. There was no need to add to many fancy words, the only thing he needed to write was information. Placing the quill down onto the wooden table top which made a small ‘tap’ noise as the quill made contact with the table, he then reached for an envelope that sat on his table, gaping open as the seal flap swayed back and forth following the calm rocking of the ship. The letter slid in the envelope smoothly in one slide, which Scaramouche sealed with dark purple wax that had been melting prior to writing the letter, completing the seal with a push of a stamp which engraved the marks of the number 6.
Scaramouche stood up, leaving behind the sealed letter on the desk, already knowing that one of the lower Fatui that resided in this ship would make sure to have the letter delivered before he woke up the next morning, otherwise there would be punishment worse than death waiting for them as a Harbinger’s letter to the Tsaritsa was to be delivered at all costs even if some died in the process, which rarely happened as the last time it had happened, all the Fatui, new or old, knew to deliver the letters in great secrecy to prevent assassins attempting to sabotage the letter.
In front of the wardrobe, Scaramouche took off his shirt, then replaced it with a much warmer top and did the same for his pants. Once, he had finished changing, he slipped into his bed and once he was under the comfort and warmth of the bed, he too grew drowsy before falling asleep, but like usual would never be comfortable as being Harbinger meant enemies, whether it was from within or outside of the Fatui.
- • •
The morning sun shone through the gaps of the curtains covering the windows, sitting up, Scaramouche turned his head towards the table and as expected the letter was gone. At least whoever that incompetent servant was, had some common sense in their non-existent brain. Slowly he stepped out from under the covers of the bed that oddly offered warmth and comfort, something that a Harbinger like him could only treat as a luxury as their line of work could never offer such feelings. Walking towards the wardrobe for a new change of clothes, he remembered.
‘Ah… right… the girl… Lumine was it…?’
Now opening the wardrobe, he continued to think about how he could use her to gain favour over the other Harbingers since no other Harbinger could have found someone like her, an outlander, somebody from outside of this world. As his trail of thoughts slowly faded out, he grabbed his ridiculously large hat and stepped outside of his room, shutting the door softly behind him, stepping towards the room his precious guest rested. He stood in front of the room ‘005’ and lifted up his right hand that was shaped into a relaxed fist, knuckles facing the wooden door, then he knocked.
Knock knock
The sound of knuckle against wood was crisp and clear, yet there was no response. Perhaps she was still asleep and if that was the case, there was no choice but to enter the room. Usually Scaramouche would not give a damn about whose room he entered unless it was someone he had to respect or be ‘polite’ towards and this was one such cases, for he did not want to lose her trust in him by an action as simple as walking into her room as she was sleeping.
Pushing open the door and his eyes trailing to the bed, Scaramouche saw something that was the complete opposite of his thought, the bed was empty. She was not in this room. She had disappeared from this room and this meant three possibilities, one, she had gone against his words and went downstairs, two she was upstairs on the deck or three, an option he believed to be impossible, she had escaped from the ship.
Where. Could. She. Have. Gone?
Dread filled him as he thought that the first option was reality. He turned around immediately while slamming the door shut in fury that someone disobeyed his words, traveller or not, it did not matter, no one EVER went against his words. In an instant, he arrived at the bottom of the stairs, the veil on his hat swaying side to side as he stepped through the dark, eerie hallway of the forbidden floor. The sound of his shoes clacking against the floor echoed in the hallway as he stepped towards the end of the hall, eyes flashing with red with no movement being able to escape his sight.
Relief rushed over him the moment he reached the end of the hallway. The cells were filled with fresh corpses as expected and the research rooms were sealed shut, preventing any stranger without the respective key to enter. Upon standing in the hallway for a while, Scaramouche decided that he really ought to tell his subordinates to clean up the corpses soon as possible as he scrunched his face up at the smell of rotting flesh. But now this left two options, first, she was upstairs on the deck or two, she had escaped. Scaramouche highly doubted the latter as escaping would not benefit her, especially after he told of the advantages of joining the Fatui and how they would help her brother. So, option 1 was the only plausible option.
Walking up the stairs towards the deck, Scaramouche could hear the sound of ocean waves crashing against the ship, occasionally rocking the ship, the cawing of birds echoed through the sky and the chatter of his subordinates silenced as they saw him walk towards the deck. Soon only the sound of the waves could be heard as no one else dared to utter a word in front of the Harbinger.
Violet eyes darted across the deck searching for the Traveller who had disappeared from his sights. But it was no use, he couldn’t find her. How? Nothing ever escaped from his sight… That was until he looked up. High up on the ship’s mast, golden hair as bright as the sun that shined down upon them, swaying alongside the breeze with a dress purer than the white snow that fell in Snezhnaya fluttering with grace, a sight that truly mesmerised anyone who looked.
It felt as if time had for him only as he stared, only to suddenly remember his purpose of finding her. In a bright flash of violet lightning, Scaramouche appeared behind her on top of the ship’s mast. Silently he reached a hand towards her shoulder,
“Hey-”
Akin to the saying of ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, it was highly wrong of Scaramouche to assume that Lumine was a little naïve traveller who was unable to defend herself, regardless of the fact that he believed for her to harbour mysterious powers from outside of Teyvat. His sentence was cut off by the sudden action of a dull sword slicing the air in two in a manner of both elegance and danger. Her glowing amber eyes were sharp and carried an aura of a killer hunting their prey as she swiftly spun around, a sword materialising in mid-air, prepared to slice the sudden intruder of her peace.
The dull sliver sword stopped centimetres away from his pale doll-like face, except his calm expression and posture did not change as if her sudden attack didn’t faze him, besides for the fact that his arms moved instantly to block her sword from removing his head from his neck, putting each other at a stalemate as he was equally prepared to electrocute her in a case she succeeded in injuring him. His actions proving his status as a Harbinger.
“O-oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t expect anyone to appear behind me.”
Lumine feeling flustered, stuttered an apology as Scaramouche blankly stared at her amused at the sudden change of her bloodthirsty intent to one of an innocent little girl. Perhaps he had flustered her a bit too much as she took two steps backwards to create space between the two in the small mast on the highest point of the ship before ultimately losing her balance as her back hit the wooden railing behind her. As if she had been in many similar situations before, her head turned around to see where she would fall and the possible dangers that may lie on the deck of the ship, but all was for naught as she never fell off the mast. Instead, her body was pulled closely to another person’s, who held her by the waist by one hand and her slim wrist by another hand. His ridiculously large hat shading the two from the sunlight, she could feel the warm breath of this person on her ear which sent a shiver down her body. This was almost a scene of a waltzing pair that was frozen in time.
“Careful.”
Scaramouche whispered next to her ear as he held her quite intimately by the waist that fit around his pale arm perfectly. He had reacted within a split second to catch her before she had fallen, instantly reaching for her wrist that was closer to his body and pulling her towards himself, wrapping his arm around her waist to completely secure her. The two felt as if time slowed around them, both falling deep into each other’s resplendent enchanting eyes that drew them closer.
Slowly realization fell upon Lumine, who snapped out of their daze as to how they looked to the people below them, little did she know, nobody would dare to look where the Harbinger and his guest were unless they were allowed to do so. Pink began to fill her face as she tried to push away from him, but all effort was futile as Scaramouche kept her enclosed in his arms.
“Stay still.”
He whispered before a flash of violet lighting filled their vision, it felt as if for a split second that she was being pulled down by an unknown force but soon after their vision cleared and they were back on the deck of the ship. Releasing Lumine from his grasp, he peered at her face that was burning bright red.
“Embarrassed are we?”
He asked her smirking at the sight.
“N-no! It’s simply the heat from the sun! T-thank you and goodbye!”
Lumine rushed off back to her cabin with the echoing sound of Scaramouche’s laughter following her, a laughter that sent a cold shiver down the back of the Fatui on board. The two of them very well knew that her complexion had been completely fine and that she was shaded from the sun by Scaramouche’s abnormally large hat, but turned quite red after the intimate moment they shared.
Scaramouche was left alone to think but he knew one thing very well. Lumine’s knowledge was simply nascent which meant there were many things considered common knowledge she didn’t know of, one being that joining the Fatui meant no leaving until death took her breath, whether naturally or unnaturally, it did not matter, and two, once something caught Scaramouche’s eyes, it would never leave his grasp until he lost interest or it broke. A sly grin spread across Scaramouche’s face at the thought that she was still a naïve little Traveller that had yet to know the world very well, a person he very much could manipulate into false trust until she served no use to him. At that point he would toss her to another Harbinger who would have interest in her. But for now she was his to play around with and he would uncover all of her secrets.
“I’ll see you around little Firefly.”