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Kazuha remembered a friend from his youth. He was short with jet, blue-black hair. His family was one of the elite ones, not unlike the Kaedehara family. He could not remember the family name, unsure whether he ever even bothered to learn it. His friend… his name was…
“Ryuu,” a voice in his memory rang out.
Ryuu. Dragon.
That’s right. He was a dragon. The way his nostrils flared when he was angry, the way he slithered through the tall grasses and could almost sneak up on even Kazuha. He would hide in the bushes around Kazuha’s house, hissing noises that only he could discern. It was their code.
At night, they would flee their homes and run through fields, down the valley to creeks. They would take off their shoes, their stockings, their many layers, and play in the light of the moon. Neither cared to seem refined or dignified in these moments- the moon knew them as her children. Under her watch, they would never face harm.
The night the clouds rolled over the moon changed that. Her beams no longer cast light on the boys as they ran to the creek that night. The creek… infested with malicious energy. Monsters, lanky in the shades of night with limbs like twisted trees, surrounded them. Kazuha held onto Ryuu behind him. Ryuu did the same.
The blinding lighting saved them that night. Ryuu’s sister, the eldest daughter, had rescued them. Though the two had managed to fight valiantly, neither escaped unscarred. That night, Kazuha watched as his friend was ripped from his arms, dragged from the banks of the creek, nostrils flaring, slithering and squirming and kicking and screaming so hard it seemed he’d breathe out flames. Kazuha watched, shocked into stillness, as the moon returned from her cloudy prison. Her beams shone onto him once more, but he no longer felt her gaze watching him. He felt alone.
~~*~~
It was a night where the moon’s face was hidden again. Kazuha had long since grown out of the stage of fearing these nights. He no longer scared away from dark, cloudy nights. He knew they meant days of rain, soothing and healing the earth, ahead. And though he dreaded the slosh of wet and mud under his sandaled feet, he knew better than to be so self-centered with regards to nature’s great plans. This night was different though. There was no rain on the horizon, no familiar scent of plant’s waiting for their relief, no ache in his left wrist. Only a thick sheet of cloud covering the sky.
He lit his campfire that night and covered it with leaves, letting heavy plumes of smoke rise into the air. The smell of burning leaves always provided him some comfort. To him, it was the end of their cycle of life. Rather than leave them to rot unceremoniously, he used their fallen bodies to cast off the gloom of death with scalding, bright heat. It was a-
The wind shifted.
The crackle of the fire in front of him was drowned out by the crack of twigs in the distance. They were forty, no, thirty, no, twenty paces east of him. He reached to his blade, gripping the linen-wrapped handle of the weapon. The paces approached closer.
Fifteen.
Fourteen.
Kazuha tightened his grip, standing silently and raising his sword defensively.
Ten.
Nine.
He took a wide stance, preparing himself for whatever fell upon him.
Five.
Four.
The steps stopped. A hiss.
“Unthinkable,” came a voice.
Three.
Two.
One.
A pair of familiar indigo eyes illuminated in the light of the smoky fire. Ryuu.
“In all these years, you never learned to make a fire.”
“In all these years, you never learned how to disguise your presence.”
Ryuu scoffed. “In my ranks, this kind of disrespect would be considered intolerable.”
“Your… what?” Kazuha asked.
“Invite me to sit,” Ryuu said, gesturing to the fire. “I have many stories to tell, old friend.”
Kazuha nodded, disarming himself and sitting beside the fire once more. “Come, sit.”
Ryuu obliged, stepping into the light of the fire for the first time. Kazuha saw him. He had not changed in height by much, still much shorter than he was, but there was something so different. His attire was still Inazuman, though he had a large-brimmed hat attached to his back. Kazuha was not unfamiliar with these- a symbol of status and power among Inazuman families.
“How did you find me?”
“We’ll get there in due time, Kazuha,” Ryuu assured him. He paused. They sat in silence, with only the fire’s crackling to break it. “Do you remember my sister?”
“Very… vaguely,” Kazuha searched the memories in his head. The only one he could truly remember was the one that had precipitated their final parting.
“She’s dead.”
Kazuha felt his heart soften. “I-I’m so sorry.”
Ryuu shifted slightly, letting out a weary sigh. “I’ve had ample time to grieve. I do not need your condolences.”
“Then… If I may ask, what happened to her?”
“The Vision Hunt Decree. After losing her Vision, she took her own life.” Ryuu’s words were cold and factual. He had never been one to mince words, but even Kazuha found this to be nearly inhuman.
“I, too, lost someone to the Decree,” Kazuha recalled.
Ryuu nodded. “I’ve heard. You’ve become quite the legend around Inazuma.”
Kazuha never really thought about the rumors and stories that must have come from his actions after Tomo’s challenge. Considering he’d merely acted on instinct, he imagined it as nothing more than what needed to be done in the scenario. Many had phrased it to him as an act of courage or undying devotion to a cause. In truth, he thought these stories put too much emphasis on him. After all, he was alive. Tomo was not.
“They’re all sensationalized lies.” Kazuha turned his head away from Ryuu’s expectant gaze.
“Then what really happened that day?”
“It does not matter,” Kazuha deadpanned. For once, he saw Ryuu’s dragon demeanor falter. The stoic and cunning dragon seemed to give way to a softer, empathetic lizard.
“Then you don’t need to tell me, I think the stories will satisfy my curiosity.”
“Ryuu, why have you come here?” Kazuha turned back to face him, ruby eyes meeting indigo ones.
“I came to offer you a chance at revenge.”
Revenge?
“I know that look in your eyes. I’ve piqued your interest, haven’t I?” Ryuu said, a tone of glee lying in the undertones of his voice.
“I do not seek retribution against anyone.”
“Even her ? The one who stole your friend’s life? Come on, tell me honestly that you would not like to see her brought to her knees.”
Kazuha remained silent. The thought had crossed his mind before. In his brief stint with the resistance army, there was a taunt of dragging the Shogun’s soldiers before the capitol and slaying them one by one. He was not a violent man, but it was only human, he figured, to fantasize of enacting a punishment equal to his own suffering.
“Like I said, even you, faced with the chance, would like it.”
“Why do you think so?”
“I know that look.”
“Don’t be cryptic with me, Ryuu. You show up in the middle of the night to my camp in the woods and expect me to just humor every idea you throw my way without any explanation?” he snapped.
Ryuu straightened his posture and inched closer to Kazuha. He took his face into his hands, stroking his cheek delicately. “All in due time.”
Kazuha pulled away. “Tell me,” he insisted.
“On one condition.”
“Which is?”
“Do not pass judgement until you hear my story.”
“Alright, that’s fair.”
“Then… chose a comfortable position. This is a long tale.”
“I’m ready.”
“My name is Scaramouche. I am the Sixth of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers.”
Kazuha felt chills run up his spine.
“You agreed not to pass judgement. Please at least try to hide your horror.
"In the years we have spent apart, I’ve joined the Fatui. On my 17th birthday, I left Inazuma for Snezhnaya. I had heard tales of an organization with a need for new recruits. Naturally, I wanted to join. Imagine the power they could wield with a dragon on their side.
"When I heard of the Vision Hunt Decree, I was far from Inazuma. By this time, I’d already risen through the ranks and become a Harbinger. I took a personal leave to return home, to protect my family. Of everyone, only myself and my sister had been favored enough by the Archons to receive Visions.
"Not unlike yourself, I returned in time to see a Vision being stripped from its Bearer. In my case, I was out for a walk when I heard the first scream. That was the moment I raced home only to see a Shogunate soldier attempting to pry the Vision from my sister’s fingers. She would not release it. He smashed her fingers with his foot after throwing her to the ground. When she saw me, she told me to flee. I was enraged. She warned me that I was in danger, that even with my own powers, I would not be able to stop them. So… in a moment of weakness, I let them walk.
"In the next few days, she lost her memory. She could not recognize me.
"Kazuha, I was her ambition. That night she saved us? That was the night she received her Vision. She fought to protect me. And in listening to her in that moment, she got what she wanted. I had to live with the knowledge that I was the cause behind my sister’s lost ambitions.
"And just a few days later, she was dead.” Ryuu’s voice trailed off. A silence fell once more.
“I found those Shogunate soldiers. I electrocuted them. I killed them. I felt freed from my burden. Kazuha, why do you carry that blank Vision? Do you feel the burden too? Wouldn’t it be enough to just let it go?”
“...Is that all?”
“I believe so,” Ryuu finished.
“Then my answer is no.”
“Really? A shame.”
“I’m no killer.”
“The blade you wield says differently.”
“I. Am. No. Killer,” Kazuha maintained, punctuating every syllable.
“Suit yourself then, Kazuha. May you never find yourself in the path of my lighting.”
“And may you never find yourself at the end of my blade, Scaramouche.”
Kazuha closed his eyes for a moment. He heard his former friend stand and leave.
Five.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Forty.
A dragon’s fate is one of solitude .