Chapter Text
“...if you don’t want to get involved, leave early.” Ayato’s serious expression. How he held himself sternly, with the poise of the young man he would soon grow into…
A soft kiss on his cheek waking him up, opening his eyes to find nobody there but a singular glove, Ayato’s glove, laid purposefully on a chair in his quarters…
Little Ayaka running in front of a younger Thoma near the shore, him not close behind, picking up shells and skipping them across the ocean when nobody was around to hear their laughter…
Memories flashed through his mind; no clear timeline, beginning or end, the scenes slowly burning together into a white light, blurring them together, mushing his thoughts into one singular line of confusion until his vision cleared and he was staring down at the pavement again, barely in himself, his own shoulders trembling just so slightly. Droplets of rain drizzled onto the top of his head. The Raiden Shogun, holding his pyro vision in one of her hands, eyes glowing a bright violet, her expression angry but empty.
“No!” The traveler, minutes too late, thrusted themselves in front of Thoma and toward the Shogun, whose eyes darted from Thoma to glare into the traveler’s face. Flinging out an arm, the ropes binding Thoma’s wrists were free with a blast of purple electro energy. The traveler turned back to Thoma for only a split second. “Thoma!” Time seemed to slow as the traveler met his eyes. “Get out of here!”
“After him!” The Shogun commanded, pointing at Thoma’s still-hunched and shocked body, before her expression hardened once more and became empty as she stared at the traveler, her hands ready to reach for her weapon. Her and the traveler stood apart, glaring at each other; the travelers eyes locked on Thoma’s vision in her hand, and the Shogun’s eyes glaring daggers at the Visionless traveler who glowed with elemental energy. All eyes, including all the guards, followed the Shogun’s arm as she tossed the Vision shell high into the air, before catching it in full force and thrusting it into the statue, the shell creating a large blast of white light that made Thoma stumble back. His limbs went weak, the scene before him barely registering in his head. The Shogun seemed to clench one of her fists. “Contain him!” She pointed to Thoma again.
All guards suddenly stood at arms, eyeing Thoma with intensity as he struggled up and hesitated for a moment, his hip cold where his Vision was only moments before. The guards advanced toward him all at once, and he looked around. The traveler met his eyes once again. “Thoma! Go! I’ll get it back! Just get out of here!” The scream was hasty as the traveler’s eyes turned back to the Shogun drawing her electro-infused sword, before they both disappeared in an electro cloud.
Still plagued with guilt, the guards closing in around him, he wielded his polearm; not to kill, just to stun and move the guards, and quickly found himself bolting into the crowded streets of Inazuma, taking one last look back at the traveler, who told him to go but whom he could never leave behind. Chaos surrounded him. People screamed, crowding and running in all different directions, trying to get back into their homes, or just get somewhere safe. They pushed and shoved, and Thoma ducked down, hiding the masses of people, sheathing his spear away to drift smoother. Guards yelled, pointing in the direction he’d disappeared in the crowd.
The rain quickly spiraled into a downpour, buckets of it hitting the streets, flowing in sheets off the green roofs in downtown Inazuma. Lightning struck overheard, black clouds forming into something nasty above the statue of the Shogun in the distance. He panicked when someone suddenly grabbed the jacket on his shoulder, pulling him out of the crowd and into a building, door slamming behind them and a deadbolt clicking. Immediately, he flinched back, his blurred vision from the rain clearing to form the muddled silhouette of Ayaka, and behind her, Taroumarou watching them both closely from the front desk.
"Thoma, are you alright? Do you have any injuries?" She felt his arms and scanned him for any wounds like a trained professional, just as her mother had done to her many times as a child.
"My.. my lady…?"
She paused and stepped back, meeting Thoma's eyes, regarding him in a serious manner with soft, concerned eyes. "Thoma?" She walked into the hallway to get away from the door, and Thoma followed.
"How are you here? Are you alright?" Thoma tried to make his questions light, but he just sounded anxious.
Ayaka patted his arm, and though she most certainly didn’t mean to, her eyes flitted down to the spot where Thoma’s Vision used to be, before returning to meet his eyes. He noticed the movement but tried to remain just as he had looked before, but Ayaka’s demeanor changed, and he knew his face had fallen, if only slightly. “Yes, I’m perfectly okay,” Ayaka responded carefully. “This was the place I hastily agreed to meet the traveler after arranging rescue preparations…” she trailed off, one of her hands never leaving his arm before her shoulders visibly shook for a second and she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Thoma’s waist in an almost protective embrace, and Thoma winced as she hit a bruise but he didn’t move. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” her voice was muffled by Thoma’s shirt. “This was all my fault. I could’ve… we could have done something to prevent this.” She looked up at him. “I know we could have.” She wasn’t broken, like her shaking shoulders suggested, but rather looked at him with fierce determination.
He patted her on the back, just like they did when they were kids and forced a small smile, willing it to look natural, and responded softly. His head pounded with a headache that’d been building since his vision was taken. Though he forced his voice to be thoughtful, at that moment, his mind blurred around the edges. “Aya, this isn’t your fault. The traveler will-”
The entrance to the teahouse flung open, a winded traveler running in and slamming it, Paimon fluttering worriedly behind them. Ayaka stepped away quickly and unnoticeably, stepping towards the traveler in long strides.
Everything was foggy. The headache burned, and he watched in third person as he rushed to help the traveler, bending down and putting one of their arms over his shoulder, helping them out of the lobby of the teahouse and into one of the rooms. They looked exhausted, but continued, with Thoma's help, walking on.
They groaned. "Thank you, Thoma." They placed a gloved hand on one of Thoma's forearms, still damp from the rain. They faced him suddenly, meeting his eyes. Behind the traveler’s eyes was an indescribable guilt, one that seemed to hit Thoma in waves as soon as their eyes met. Thoma’s face felt heavy. The traveler looked down and to the side, gritting their teeth. “I’m… so sorry, Thoma. It all happened so quickly. One moment- I-I had it in my hand,” their eyes widened in panic, then returned to their normal size, “and then… the Shogun... I’m so sorry,” they looked back up, deep into Thoma’s eyes. “I promise, I will do EVERYTHING in my power to get it back. I…” Despite the determined look in the traveler's eyes, their bottom lip trembled. “I broke my promise to you,” looking down again, away from Ayaka’s concerned gaze and Thoma’s shocked, blank face.
Thoma paused before answering, but then patted the hand on his forearm softly, making the traveler look up. “It’s not your fault.” Another smile that he hoped didn't look as forced as it felt. "Don't worry about me, it’ll be okay, please don’t beat yourself up about it."
The traveler's concerned gaze did not waver. They'd seen what could happen to people who lose their Visions. Memory loss, depressive episodes… Thoma looked tired. They all were tired. They swore to themself that they would not not let anything else go wrong. They knew they were the only one that could pull them out of this mess. Thoma was strong, it was going to be okay. They turned to Ayaka. "We need to plan out our next move."
Ayaka sat on the opposite side of the table with a piece of paper, and the two of them got to work, the traveler pointing to different parts of the paper until it formed something map-like, Ayaka writing down key pointers about each location, going back and forth with ideas immediately.
Despite himself, Thoma was relieved that the conversation shifted from him to Ayaka. His head pounded and ached with every thought he had, leaving him unable to focus on anything else, much less think of a viable response to any question he might be asked. Really, his condition was laughable, as it felt like years, months, days, since the vision had been ripped off of his belt, when really it had only been half an hour at most.
Rain battered against the windows on Komore Teahouse, and though the temperature was comfortable inside, the sound left an invisible chill on his forearms and down his back. His wrists itched, reddened from rubbing against the rope only moments earlier. He could still hear commotion from outside. He expected that any minute now, guards of the Shogun would come knocking on the doors of the teahouse, asking to search for a specific couple of now-fugitives, rebels against eternity, whatever they would call him. Oh, he could just see it now, another tarnish on the Kamisato name: now not only do they employ an outlander, but a fugitive outlander. His right hip was cold and light where his vision should have been.
“Thoma, what do you think?”
He hadn’t been paying attention. The paper was a mess of controlled chaos, scribbling going every way in different colors. The traveler eyed him carefully, as if this was some sort of test. If it was, Thoma knew he just failed. He gulped visibly and smiled apologetically. “W-what you’re doing looks good so far.” The stutter was so apparent that he wanted to start crying. Ayaka's eyebrows furrowed just enough to be noticeable; the traveler's eyes squinted just slightly.
Thoma looked down. He needed… a broom in his hand right now. Yes, that was it. It really had been a time since the estate had been deep cleaned. He needed to destress, and now they were both looking at him in silence, concerned. The room was quiet except for the rain slamming down onto the teahouse and out on the concrete roads, and the sound of his heartbeat, which seemed to grow quicker every second despite his attempts to calm himself. It seemed infantile, to be feeling like this. He hadn't been so helpless before he'd gotten his vision, so why would he be so useless now? Crap . Tears pricked his bottom eyelid. Shakily, he rose from the table, helping himself up with the back of a chair.
"Please excuse me, I'm going to go clean up," Thoma managed with a strained voice, hurriedly walking out of the room to the teahouse’s restroom. Soft murmurs followed him out, but he couldn’t make out their words.
A tall, cloaked figure quickened his pace through the crowded streets of Inazuma. Townspeople, usually so composed, scrambled about, grabbing each other's hands and rushing towards their homes or their shops. The dark cloud continued to loom overhead; thunder and lightning struck every couple of minutes. Guards were indistinguishable from townspeople. The rain blinded him. Somehow, the atmosphere perfectly characterized his current state of mind. Chaos. Unrest. The teahouse blended with the muddy houses, soaked in rain and tears. Hiding in plain sight.