Chapter Text
"Uwahhhhh! Stop it! Go away!" The high-pitched wail of a six-year-old girl rang out on the playground followed by the furious tapping of cotton shoes on dirt as she hurried away from the source of her torment. Behind her, twintails flowed like velvet ribbons as she attempted to scramble out the sight of a certain indigo-haired boy with a strange bowl cut. "If you don't I'm really going to tell Ms. Jean you've been mean to me all the way fworm snack time!"
"Telling the teachers? Hah! Do you have any idea how much money the Raiden family donates to this Monteswori?" A smug retort was quickly fired back from her assailant who was steadily catching up to her. "Come back here! I told you we were going to hang out at my place after school! My sister's here to pick us up alweady!"
"Don't wanna! I told you yesterday and yesterday-yesterday that I don't wanna go!" The girl shot back, making the mistake to look over her shoulder and giving the boy the chance to grab her by the hand as he came to a screeching stop by the sandpit. Jerking backward, she had no choice but to tumble back onto him. "Eep! Ew, ew, ew. Boy cooties! It's getting all over the new dwess Ms. Wisa (Lisa) bought me!" In an instant, tears welled up in the little girl's eyes and her lip quivered.
"C-cooties? What kind of peasant disease is-" The boy stopped himself mid-sentence when the girl sniffed loudly. "O-okay, I'm sorry Mowa (Mona). I'll buy you a new dwess that's pwettier and expensive-r than the one you have, okay?!" He took the girl's hand in his and this time she straight up burst into tears.
"BWAHHHH. MOUCHIE COOTIES ON MY HAND!!!" She wailed, kicking at the boy who somehow managed to defend himself from every flimsy strike the girl sent his way. "Now I'll have to cut it off before it spweads to the rest of me!!!" She violently tore herself from him before crawling towards an abandoned play-bucket filled with plastic shovels and rakes. Dramatically, she lifted a well-used and blunted plastic saw in the air, hesitating for a moment before bravely declaring, "Goodbye, cruwel world and my dweams to be a world-class piano-ist, for I will have nothing to give the world but my... my..." She stopped to ponder to herself. Her vocabulary was far more advanced as compared to a typical 6-year-old, but it didn't mean she knew every word in the dictionary. "Hand-less-ness!"
"What in the world is going on here?!" Kaeya, one of the childcare teachers from Mondstadt Montessori came jogging out from the front door to investigate the loud screams. "Mona, why are you trying to saw your poor hand off?!"
"'Mouchie chased me all the way from his s-stupid school to touch my hand and now I've got b-boy cooties on my fimgers!" Mona waved her reddening arm in Kaeya's one unpatched eye pitifully just as he managed to pry the sandy tool from her little hands. "Ms. Diowa (Diona) says if I don't c-cut it off, it'd spwead up my arms to the rest of my body!"
"Language! Boy cooties? Spread to the rest of your-" Kaeya couldn't help but gape at the two children, wisely grabbing and lifting Mona out of Scaramouche's reach before he could pounce on the poor girl. Scaramouche was from a Montessori just down the street and Kaeya (more like everyone) knew the little boy had a major crush on their little Mona since the day he saw her transfer in from across the street. Everyone thought it was cute how the distant little prince of the prestigious school was completely enamored by the purple-haired girl, not being able to take his eyes off her the first time his car drove past the daycare during dismissal.
'Mama, look! I want that one right there to be my wife!' He'd all but screamed from the passenger seat that day.
It's still cute when you say it out now.
That was until he started turning up at the front gate every afternoon to wait for her to come out. From then, Kaeya watched as the boy attempted to approach his muse countless times, only to be dragged away by his butler. There were times he was able to evade his help, but Mona's guardian would arrive early to pick her up. The poor child, Kaeya almost felt bad for him. Keyword being 'almost', because there came the day the little prince managed to catch his princess alone at the front gate.
The stars had aligned for him.
There was a confession, followed by rejection, and a ton of screaming and crying from both children before daycare teachers had to step in to separate the two; more like Scaramouche from Mona. Turns out the little prince didn't know how to take 'no' for an answer when he'd asked her to be his girlfriend. And boy, did little Mona know how to break a heart when she saw one.
"Mona, darling, pray tell. What's so bad about accidentally touching a boy? You could always wash your hands after." He tried his best to hold on to the little girl who was still flailing in his arms but to no avail. His expression darkened, swearing to never let any non-daycare personnel near the children again, no matter how harmless they looked. How did he let Rosaria convince him otherwise back then? It must have been all the wine she brought along with her... "Look, didn't you have tea with Albedo this afternoon? Isn't he a boy too?" The little girl sniffed, suddenly noticing her obvious double standard.
"It-it's different when it 'Bedo. I don't mind turning into 'Bedo, he's pwetty." Mona mumbled, burying her head into Kaeya's knitted sweater while she kicked at Scaramouche who was attempting to tie her shoelaces that had come undone during their little runaround. Poor guy, Kaeya knew he meant well. Most times he was a complete gentleman, but damn, why did he have to be such a creep at the same time?
"Huh? Turn into Albedo?" He squinted an eye skeptically at her and she pulled away from him with the most offended look he'd ever seen on a child.
"Of cworse! Don't you know that if you get a boy's cooties on you, you turn into him???" Is that right? Kaeya raised a brow at the girl who could only nod furiously at him to prove her point. He chanced a glance at the little prince, who was looking back and forth between Mona and him curiously and obviously at a loss of what to do. Kaeya felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. He was only trying his best. Why not help him out a little?
"So you don't mind turning into Albedo?" He asked slowly and Mona nodded. "So what so bad about turning into Scaramouche? He's smart, rich, and has a lot of toys to play with..." Kaeya let his sentence die off as he watched the little girl's face gradually scrunch up in horror.
"NOOOOO!!! DON'T WANNA!!!" She started kicking and screaming again, a shoe flying dangerously close to Scaramouche's face. Thankfully, he managed to duck out of it and Kaeya stood up to keep the distance between the two children. God knows how much his parents would sue for if anyone got even a scratch on their precious Heir's face. Kaeya winced at the thought. The daycare teachers were still walking on eggshells since the day Mona punched him square in the face for allegedly sneaking up on her during recess. Seriously, you'd think that with all the money that school rakes in, they'd have enough to hire security to keep their student inside the school compound!
"Okay, okay! Don't worry, Mona, you won't turn into him, okay? I promise."
"Rweally?" Mona peeked out from his shoulder, cries subsiding instantly.
"Yeah, really." Kaeya sighed tiredly as he pat the child on the back. She cutely nuzzled back into his shoulder. At last, the worst was over.
Or so he thought.
"What so bad about being me? Mama says I qwuite the catch!" Kaeya grimaced when the young boy at his knees spoke up, obviously listening in on their conversation as kids do. Ah. Seems like he would be working overtime today. What did he do in his past life to deserve his current treatment?
"Because you're short!" Ouch. The words were out of the little girl's mouth before he could shush her in time. The silence that followed was so painful it made the blue-haired daycare teacher outwardly wince. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes to check on the boy (or what was left of his ego), only to come face to face with a look of complete and utter devastation. The indigo-haired boy stood eerily still, eyes wide while his jaw hung open. Kaeya entertained the thought of whether it was possible for children to die from heartbreak. The poor boy looked like he was having a brain aneurysm.
"Ue... I so am not!" He finally shouted back, much to Kaeya's relief.
"Are too!" Mona popped her head out from his shoulder and argued back before he could face her away. She was obviously feeling more bold and daring now that a teacher was around to keep the prince away.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
If this kept up, Kaeya was going to have to burn this school down.
"Young Master! I should have known you'd be here the moment I found out you were missing from your Inazuman history classes!" Kaeya could almost cry at the sound of the familiar voice. Thoma, a former Monstadtian teacher who had recently transferred to the neighboring school, came running up to them with a tired look on his face. "I knew it would be too good to be true when I heard from your playgroup that Mona had finally agreed to play with you! Oh! How are you, Kaeya, I hope he wasn't been too much trouble!" The blonde man bowed quickly at his friend as he made a half-hearted grab at the indigo-haired boy. Said boy easily dodged him, running up to Kaeya's legs and jumping in an attempt to tug at Mona's shoes.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess." The blue-haired man sighed wearily as he held Mona up and by the arms to keep every part of her out of the little prince's reach. "You know the drill, just our couple of lovebirds fighting again."
"Quite a determined one, isn't he?" Thoma laughed nervously, managing to scoop the struggling prince into his arms just as he made another leap for Mona's shoes. "Can you imagine he's been like this for the past year and a half? I never knew children had such long attention spans." Expertly, he tucked the growling prince under his arm, securing him by his side. From over his shoulder, Mona stuck her tongue out at the wiggling boy.
"Yeah, yeah. It was adorable for the first three months, now it's just flat-out creepy. Can you imagine having someone obsessively stalk and proclaim his love for you every day of the week for over a year? I wouldn't wish that on anyone." Kaeya outwardly shivered while Thoma shot him an apologetic smile. "Shenanigans aside, it's best you keep an eye on all your children, especially now. There have been strange disappearances happening around the neighborhood, and the police can't figure out who's behind it or where the missing persons have gone."
"Ah yes, that's one of the reasons why I came here today, Kae." Thoma's expression suddenly turned serious. "I wanted to tell you to keep the doors of your establishment locked and eyes on your kids at all times. Losing adults are... fine I guess... but kids? I can't imagine the hell they'd have to go through."
"Oh, you mean like how you managed to lose sight of the one and only Heir to the Raiden family today?" Kaeya couldn't help but smirk at the blonde who shot him an irritated glare.
"Ha-ha, very funny. You and I both know how slippery this one can get. If his family hasn't donated so much money to the school, I'd have him collared and chained to the flagpole already! Isn't that right, little man?" Thoma playfully bounced a sulky-looking Scaramouche under his arm who could only growl at him in defeat. "Anyway, Kae, we must get going. Scaramouche's butler has been waiting in the lobby for over an hour."
"Oh the horror, having to wait in an air-conditioned lobby with plush seats and fine tea served to you on silver platters!" Kaeya grinned at Thoma who could only roll his eyes. Even for a private school, the Montessori the little prince belonged to was way over the top. "Anyway, you got a good grip on that one?" The tanned man nodded in the direction of Scaramouche who instinctively hissed back at him.
"This one? Yeah, he isn't getting away from me anytime soon." Even with all the confidence in his voice, Kaeya spied the blonde tightening his hold on the toddler.
"Good, because carrying Mona around like this is really killing my arms! No offense my little princess, you know I'd gladly carry you to the ends of the earth if I had to, right?" He carefully set the young girl down on the ground and watched as she daintily stretched her legs and fluff her hair.
"None taken." Mona giggled, brushing imaginary dust from her spotless dress with a blush. "I'm gonna go wait for my Old Hag over there, okay? Bye, Mr. Thoma! Bye, Mr. Kaeya!" She spun and did a curtsy before running off, obviously thrilled to finally be free of her aggressor.
"Ah, if only all the children in my school were like your little Mona." Thoma sniffed dramatically, wiping a fake tear from the corner of his eye with a sigh. "Alas, it is what it is! I best be hurrying back as well, now that the package is secured." He motioned to a rather dazed-looking Scaramouche who had his gaze set on Mona who was wandering near a bush to sniff at flowers.
With a nod, Thoma turned on his heel to briskly walk towards the main gates, Scaramouche in tow.
"Mr. T-Thoma, I can walk by myself." He heard the little prince whisper from under his arms and rolled his eyes. No way was he falling for this again.
"No can do, Young Master. We all know the moment I put you down you'll be tackling poor Ms. Mona to the ground again and we can't let that happen, can we?"
"Then I pwomise I won't tackle her."
"I'm not going to go through your entire list of technicalities either." Thoma didn't even bother to look down at the child. The last time he'd 'promised not to tackle' Mona and went to do it anyway, he got away scot-free because he claimed he 'just wanted to give her a hug before he left'. Yeah, sure, a hug- With his entire body weight, causing the both of them to slam straight into the water fountain! "We're going to have a nice and silent walk back to school, am I clear?"
"But you're dwopping me." The young boy kicked and struggled under his arm, managing to shift himself back by an inch and putting him in an altogether uncomfortable position. Seriously, what was this kid's deal? His position was completely fine before -was this his way of throwing a tantrum? Two can play at that game.
"That's because you've been struggling."
"Making myself more comfy." The boy pompously corrected him, causing Thoma to grit his teeth. He really wasn't being paid enough for this shit.
"Same thing, deal with it." He huffed, not caring that the young boy continued to struggle in his grasp. His hold was air-tight. The boy wasn't going anywhere unless he let him go from his steel-like grip. There was nothing -absolutely nothing- this boy could do to him in order to getaway. Over his dead bod-
-NOM-
He didn't.
"ERUGAHH!" Contrary to how unyielding he thought his hold was, the blonde's first instinct was to fling the offending child/rodent/thing off him. Luckily, Scaramouche easily dislodged himself, landing gracefully on his feet just as Thoma turned to examine the darkening bruise on his arm. The boy had bitten him and drawn blood! How the hell could a child's milk teeth do something like that? Did he have fangs instead of teeth?!
"Did you just- Biting is very uncouth for children of your pedigree-" He looked up to shout at the boy, only to see him zooming down the same way they'd just come from. The Mondstadt Montessori. "Ah fuck, Kae's going to kill me, isn't he?" The blonde let out a weary groan before jogging down the road.
At least he would know where to find the young master again, and maybe the tanned Montessori vice principal would cut him some slack when he saw him bleeding from his arm.
"Okay, Mona. Whatever you do, don't go out of the compound until your guardian is here, okay?"
"Un, un. Okay!" Mona raised her hands as she cheered as Kaeya turned to usher and greet parents who came to pick their children up. That dumb gremlin from that know-it-all school was finally taken away for the day, which meant she was free to spend some time by herself. "Ah, it's so nice to just kick back, relwax, and-"
"KAEYAAA!!! KAEYAAA!!!!" Mona's ears perked up at the familiar voice. That was Mr. Thoma, wasn't it? Didn't he just leave? Why was he here again? And why was he screaming as if his life depended on it? Curiously, she peeked out from behind a bush in an attempt to figure out what was happening when she spotted a small dark figure dart past the front gate and into the compound. Mona squinted her eyes as she followed its movements across the compound. It looked around frantically, hiding behind benches now and then before its eyes locked with hers. Mona felt a shiver run down her spine.
No. Mr. Thoma had him in his famous death grip. How did he-
She didn't have time to think. The moment she moved, he moved too, dashing towards her at an inhuman speed. Unlike the usual times, she didn't scream. Instead, she turned and bolted in the opposite direction, as quickly as her little legs could take her. This wasn't the first time Scara-smooch or whatever his name was had chased her down after being taken away the first time, and she figured it wouldn't be the last either. If anything, it left as he would never stop chasing her. Then again, why was she so scared? Ah, that's right. He had this strange look in his eyes like a rabid dog would have. She turned to check how far he was and paled.
Was that blood on his lips? Oh my God, he'd finally completed his transformation from human to twoll and was coming to lick the flesh right off her bones!!!
"M-MISTER KAEYAAAA!!! MIS WISAAAAAA!!!" She screeched at the top of her lungs when she was met with empty space everywhere she looked. Why oh why did that old hag of hers have to be late to pick her up today of all days? "HEWWLP MEEEEE!!!" She stopped dead in her tracks when she came face to face with the muddy sandpit. It was a shortcut to get from one side of the playground to the other where the teachers were sure to be. All she had to do was cwoss it, but her pwetty shoes and dwess...
"Mona! Don't run! I pwomise there will be cookies at my house, okay?" She turned to see the little twoll that had been haunting her entire Monteswori life stop a short distance from her, panting heavily. She had to think of something fast or she wouldn't live to see another day in her short life!
"I-if you take one step cwoser, I'm- I'm gonna... I'm gonna dwown myself in the mud!" She stabbed a finger in the direction of the sandpit and grinned inwardly when a mortified expression overtook the older boy's face. "Y-yeah so don't you dare come any cwoser!"
"B-but-"
"Young Master Scaramouche! There you are!" Thoma appeared from behind a corner with a bloodied arm and stumbled towards them. Oh my God, what the heavens had happened?! The sight of blood spooked the young girl and she took an unconscious step into the sandpit, not noticing how her foot sunk in deeper than she realized.
"Eep! I got mud on my shoes!" The little girl screamed as she tried to pull her feet (it was ankle-deep now) out to no avail. "E-eh? I'm stuck?" She tugged at her foot again but the sand only sucked her in deeper. She was up to her knees now, and there wasn't very much of her left. "M-Mister Thoma, please help me, I can't get out!" She attempted to pull her way out with her other leg braced against the corners of the sandpit but her foot slipped and now both her legs were knee-deep in what seemed like killer quicksand. "GYAAAH It's eating me!!!"
"Don't worry, I'll save you, Mona!" Mona wasn't sure what was worst. The fact that the resident sandbox was actively eating her, or that she was actually considering stretching out her hand to reach for the little troll's hand as he stumbled clumsily towards her. She decided that maybe Mr. Kaeya was right. Maybe she could just wash her hands later on and reached a hand out in the direction of the only boy who had managed to make the last one and a half years of her life a living hell. He caught her almost instantly, but the pull from the sandbox was just too much, dragging him along with her as it crept up her torso.
"Kyah! Whatever you do, don't let go s-stupid, o-or I'll hate you forever!" She was sobbing now, as she felt the dampness of the playground sand seep into her satin dress. It was warm and strange feeling. She could kick her feet freely on the other side of the killer quicksand, which was unheard of even to someone her age. It was almost as if the other half of her body was in... some other dimension? Oh no, what if she got sucked into somewhere strange and couldn't get back to this world??? "'Mouchie... you gotta help me!"
"I'm trying!" He growled just as the sand pulled over her head. Terrified, she held her breath and clung to the boy's arm for dear life. She must admit, she thought it was sweet how his hold on her never wavered, not even the slightest when she felt another strong pull through the killer quicksand. "Huh? Woah!"
In the same breath, she watched as the boy who was supposed to be her savior -perhaps his one and only chance to redeem himself- come barreling towards her as he lost his balance. The last thing she remembered was his head smacking hers square on the forehead, and everything went black.