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It was raining. Heavily.
The droplets assaulted his cheeks, slackening the hold he had for his jaws as they hung pathetically agape. His bold unwavering smile was nowhere to be found.
"Mona…"
Scaramouche managed a word, a name, a prayer.
She lay on the ground surrounded by white flowers, tainted in red ink, still and lifeless.
The sky above was dark and menacing and roaring. It looked down on the pathetic puppet who lost his heart yet again.
His extended hand could reach for nothing. His open hand could grab not the hands he wanted to hold the most.
Breathless and out of strength, his eyes could only watch as her life was taken away.
・・・━━━☂★━━━・・・
Scaramouche was out of breath. His hand instinctively squeezed his chest, as if doing so could alleviate the pressure on his lungs.
He was wide awake, but everything was pitch black. He thought he might have lost his vision, or lost his vision and got transported to hell. The thin silver ray flashing from the gap between the swaying curtain told him that he was still under the moon, and by extension, still in Teyvat.
Now he could feel the soft material under him, the bed, and the fluffy material partially covering his body, the blanket.
He snapped and turned to his right, where the blanket pooled. In the plain darkness, his hands touched every surface they managed to. The headboard, the pillow, the bedsheet, the other pillow, the stray strands of midnight locks (he knew the color even without light), until he finally reached soft skin.
"Unghh…"
His thumbs tried to map out the features of her familiar face. Her forehead, her temple, her eyebrows, her ears, her eyes, her nose, her lips, and finally he rested on both of her cheeks.
"Hngg??"
Scaramouche gripped the bouncy cheeks with all of his might.
"Hnggghh???? What the fuck????"
He exhaled a panicked sigh as his heart raced again. His hands scrambled frantically as he pulled her tightly, practically headbutting her chest.
"Oomph!"
If Mona was not awake before, she was wide awake now. She was so ready to lunge at the man and threw him out of her bed, out of her house, out of her sight, when she noticed something odd about him.
He was trembling and she could feel a wet patch forming on her chest, right where he was nuzzling at. Though, it was hard for her as his vice grip was blocking her airways.
"Scara- I can't breathe-"
She tried to inform him, but it seemed whatever was ailing his mind still kept him.
Mona lightly bumped his shoulder and he still did not budge.
"Kuni-"
She called him.
"I'm alive."
She told him.
His grip loosened and she could breathe easier now. His head was still stubbornly at its place, unwilling to move to another place.
"I'm alive but I might've died because you strangled me to death." Mona let out a hearty chuckle.
He tightened his grip again.
"Joking! Joking! Let me breathe!!"
Mona exhaled in relief when he complied immediately, but she's cursing under her breath that was earned with great effort.
Though.
Enough about her for the night, she thought. She focused on the man clinging to her like his whole world might come crashing down if he let go. His whole body was trembling and his snappy comebacks were lost in the darkness.
What happened to him?
Mona rubbed circles on his shoulder and lightly tapped his side in rhythm to soothe him. She hummed a melody softly and his tense shoulder started to relax.
The rhythmic taps, her soft hums, and her steady heartbeats calmed his nerves. He could finally differentiate that this was the reality, with her warm body and her chest rising and falling; that what he saw before was just a figment of his subconsciousness, the realization of his deepest fear that he shoved down the deepest corner.
Scaramouche could gradually feel his rationale kicking back. And as it returned, he curled deeper into her chest.
Mona reached for the light switch and finally, some brightness alighted the darkness.
"Nightmare again?"
"Uh-huh."
Scaramouche finally looked up and locked eyes with her brilliant jade-green, so bright even in dimness.
Mona's eyes softened as she wiped the trails of tears left on the corner of his eyes. He closed his eyes to brace for her gentle touch, so soothing that it touched deep into his soul.
"Wanna share it?"
Her other hand was still on his shoulder, occasionally rubbing small circles.
"Nah," he declined. "Now that I'm fully awake. It's just a silly dream."
"Consider me intrigued."
"No."
"I'm more intrigued now."
"Forget it and go back to sleep."
"You made me curious so you better take responsibility, Raiden Kunikuzushi."
Damn his girlfriend and her rock-hard stubbornness.
Scaramouche stared at the ceiling for a moment and sighed. He used to always win in their fights, but he's used to losing now.
"Y'see."
Mona's eyes were sparkling with enthusiasm and he couldn't falsify any details of his story.
"I don't know how or why, but we were at the top of the Cathedral, right in front of the big bell."
Scaramouche checked for her reaction before continuing.
"I dared you to toll the bell despite it not being the appropriate time and you were so gung-ho about proving me wrong, as usual."
"So I smacked the bell?"
Scaramouche nodded, "Many times."
Mona laughed at that. Even in his dream, she was totally in character.
"And that's bad because it notified the world of your existence… Dangerous people kept coming after you, after your life," Scaramouche paused for a moment before continuing in a pained voice, "and it was all my fault."
His brows were knitted together. Although he knew it was unreal, at that moment, the happenings were his reality and so was his anxiousness.
Mona shushed him by repeatedly muttering "it's alright" and that "everything's okay". Her finger lightly touched his brows and the knot came off.
"In the end…" He exhaled heavily. His voice slightly trembled as a sob threatened to take over his windpipe. "You fell, in the middle of a cecilia field, and I was just a pathetic fool."
The way he described it, she could imagine the scene vividly. Her, in a pool of red, contrasting the pure white blooms surrounding her. Unresponsive to his calls, unmoving to his pleas, unreachable to his touch.
"I thought the sky was raining but it was just my tears streaming down my cheeks."
This has been a recurring thing for him ever since that dark splotch in their time together. That catastrophe that they had silently agreed they would never talk about.
As such, Mona could only look at him endearingly and comforted him every time this happened, for however long he needed.
"And then, a gigantic pigeon appeared in the crackling sky and squawked loudly that I got what I deserved."
Mona burst out laughing. So much for a melancholic moment with him.
"I told you it's a silly dream. Wacky, what the fuck, and it's not only one gigantic pigeon, anyway. After that, more appeared and their squawk echoed sinisterly."
"Hahahaha!" She was laughing so suddenly and so hard that her stomach hurt.
"You disturbed Timmie too much, you got karma!"
The man clicked his tongue. "Their sinister squawk still lingered in my brain. I gotta sue that boy."
"Stupid!" Mona slapped him playfully. She couldn't stop laughing as Scaramouche looked seriously considering that option.
Scaramouche raised one of his brow in dissatisfaction. "Happy there? Laughing at my misfortune?"
"Says the one who headbutted and choked me when I was happily sleeping."
Scaramouche laughed without feeling any guilt and pulled her closer again.
"I love you."
His love confession was out of nowhere. She didn't anticipate it and couldn't help her racing heartbeat.
"I'm always at peace hearing your heartbeats."
She broke down into a big smile and stroked his soft hair. "Silly," she mumbled.
They stayed hugging each other close for the next few minutes, basking in each other's warmth, being comforted by each other's breath. Scaramouche soon started to doze off, as his body registered the crisis to be averted; his eyes refused to open any longer for the night.
Mona peppered light kisses on top of his head and whispered; as though she did not want him to hear.
"Fate brought us together."
A light peck on his forehead.
"Fate foretold that I would always love you."
A loving kiss on his cheekbone.
"For forever and more."
She laid her head next to him as she covered them both in a blanket.
"Until fate does us part."
Fate is called as such, for it cannot be changed, nor can it be reversed. It can only but be accepted.
・・・━━━☂★━━━・・・