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“Hey, do you think we can find some more treasure before we leave these islands?” Paimon flew in circles around the Traveller.
“We just gotta wait here for that Guoba-looking thing to come pick us up, right?” Xinyan looked up, scanning for the red flying contraption, but the sky was clear blue and empty.
”I, the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, shalt also peruse our surroundings for the fated portal that will lead my entourage away from my kingdom,” Fischl said with a flourish.
The others looked to Oz for a translation, but the electro bird seemed to be flying away from the group, heading towards somewhere—or something.
Fischl noticed as well. “Oz! Where are you—I mean, ahem! My loyal servant Oz, for what purpose do you amble away from your dear Prinzessin?”
Not far from where the group was standing, Oz stopped and turned back to look at Fischl and the others. Not for Fischl’s words, but because he seemed to have found what he was looking for.
”What’s that?” Kazuha walked over to where Oz had stopped, and then his eyes widened in surprise.
”What is it? What is it? Let Paimon see!” Paimon flew over to Oz and Kazuha, and when she saw what they had been looking at, she let out a small sound of surprise as well.
Paimon clapped her hands together. “Everyone, come here.”
The rest of the group gathered around, astonishment travelling across each of their faces as they looked at what the others saw.
A copy of Flowers for Princess Fischl on a stand, much like the books in Fischl’s mirage. But what was it doing here? They were far from Fischl’s islands, and had thought that their summer vacation was finally over.
The Traveller was the first to speak. “Why is it… so torn up?”
And it was. Tattered and torn, its title only been recognizable by the distinctive drawing on the book’s cover.
”Maybe it’s no longer functional because of its condition, and was tossed here haphazardly?” Mona guessed. She furrowed her brows in thought. “No, that doesn’t seem right. I’ll just divine the…”
Mona never finished her sentence, as the world faded to black. Fischl had not waited for the others to find answers, having opened the book, transporting the group to a new mirage they had never seen before.
They were not in the Immernachtreich this time, but the surroundings were more than a little familiar to everyone there. They stood in the city of Mondstadt, the very place they had left to go to those islands.
”We’re back?” Xinyan’s voice held equal amounts of bewilderment and incredulity.
”I guess so.” Paimon shrugged and looked around. “This is Mondstadt. Nothing looks out of place.”
”So we’re back,” Kazuha sighed. He looked around as well, and then frowned. “Where’s Fischl?”
”Do not fret, as I have not departed from my dear, loyal retainers as of yet.” Fischl’s eyes were closed, but when she opened them to look at everyone else, she saw that they were all staring at her. The pressure of their gazes caused her voice to revert. “What? What’s going on?”
Fischl looked down at her body, and horror flashed across her face. The purple dress she had worn for years as the Prinzessin Fischl had disappeared, and in its place was a dreadfully familiar outfit—one her mother had purchased for her when she was still “Amy,” a girl Fischl thought she had long since killed.
Her body filling with dread, Fischl reached behind her to where she kept her Vision secured to her back, and although she had suspected that it was the case, her stomach lurched when she felt nothing there. She looked beside her for her faithful bird companion, but he was gone as well.
Fischl then looked up at where her friends stood before her, and she could tell that there was something different about them too. On the surface, they looked the same as they did before, unlike Fischl, but the images of them seemed to waver slightly, and when Fischl squinted, she could just barely see the streets of Mondstadt through their bodies.
”Amy, what’s wrong?” Mona, who had known Fischl the longest out of everyone there, was someone who would never have called Fischl by her birth name. But this time, she did. Something was wrong about this, and about everything that was going on.
”I am Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung.” Her voice was a mere whisper.
”What?” Paimon crossed her arms. “Isn’t that the name of the princess from that fairy tale?”
At this, the tears that Fischl had kept hidden inside her started streaming down her face. “No.” Her voice cracked.
Unbelievable. That was the only word Fischl had to describe what was happening. She couldn’t believe that she had lost her Vision coming back to Mondstadt, and she couldn’t believe that her friends didn’t know who she was. So maybe…
She reached to where she kept her bow, and was relieved to find that it had not disappeared, unlike her Vision and Oz. She took a deep breath and prepared an arrow, pointed at the ground in front of her friends. She had just a moment of hesitation, afraid that she was wrong, that those were her actual friends and not just the illusions of a mirage. But when she saw that none of them so much as flinched at the sight of her bow aimed towards them, she drew the arrow.
It lit up purple with the power of Electro, and she then knew for certain that she was right.
She let the arrow fly, and when the sparks of her Electro power hit the ground, the image she saw began to crack, before everything faded to black.
”Fischl? Fischl! Are you alright?” It was Mona, and she had called her Fischl. Everything was back to normal.
Fischl was lying on the ground, sand beneath her, and when she opened her eyes, she saw both the concerned looks of her friends as well as the islands they had thought they left behind.
”What happ— I mean, I express my sincerest gratitude for Lady Megistus’s benevolent concern, but I, Prinzessin Fischl, am nothing short of quite alright.” Fischl rose as she spoke, flipping her hair.
”We were worried when we suddenly teleported back to the islands but you weren’t here with us.” Kazuha gave her a hand as she stood.
Fischl just laughed, and hoped that it didn’t sound too forced. “There is nought for my loyal retainers to worry about regarding myself.” Her voice went soft. “Nothing to be afraid of.”
And then she whispered, so low that no one could have possibly heard, “What am I so afraid of?”