Chapter Text
The loud sounds of someone grunting outside the tent, and the strong gusts of wind, had been more than enough to wake Lumine up. She usually was a light sleeper, considering she couldn’t always let her guard down; especially when camping far outside and away from cities. But ever since she got a pretty reliable traveling companion (one that was not Paimon), she felt more at ease, and could get better rest at night.
Scaramouche claimed he didn’t need sleep, and despite her initial insisting; she eventually allowed him to be. And before she knew it, she would begin to wake up feeling more refreshed than ever, now that he would stay up and be on guard for both her and Paimon.
And Lumine had to admit- this was pretty funny.
Initially, she was very much against Scaramouche becoming her traveling companion. For starters, she had Paimon already! And although the little pixie didn't exactly provide much help when it came to combat.. Her presence was enough for Lumine, as she wouldn’t feel alone.
So there was no need for the male to join her.
Aside from that, well.. There was her grudge as well. Scaramouche was much more different than her other Harbinger friend, Childe. He was more frightening and stronger; and definitely had a lot of blood on his hands, which wasn’t something that Lumine herself could simply overlook. Their previous encounters and battles did not help either; and just made her hate him even more.
But still.. The Dendro Archon insisted; claiming that Scaramouche being around ‘someone like her’, would do him some good. Lumine still couldn’t figure out what that meant, but regardless.. She couldn’t let Nahida down.
Not when she’s become the only Archon so far, that has actually managed to help her out in her search for her brother.
So if anything.. This was the least that Lumine could do.
And so before she knew it; Scaramouche had begun to travel along with her and Paimon.
And exactly two months later- here they were now, seeming to finally have gotten adjusted to each other’s presence. Of course, there was bickering here and there; but it seemed like Scaramouche was now a lot more.. Calmer than he had been before.
And now that she thought about it, it most likely had to do with his recently received vision, in which he constantly was putting it to test; trying out new moves, and figuring out how far he could go before reaching a limit, and so on.
Admittedly, she found this newfound excitement of his over his vision rather adorable.
-
Rubbing her eyes, she gave out a yawn and proceeded to stretch her arms a little, wanting to make sure she was ready for the day. As she then looked over to her right side, she caught sight of Paimon still deep asleep.
‘Geez.. and all she does is float!’ Lumine softly sighed, and formed a small smile before finally getting up, and out of the tent.
As soon as she stepped out, her face was hit with a bright beam of sunlight, and she was relieved to know that it wouldn’t be another rainy day. Before she could even enjoy the sunny weather any further however, she was hit by an airy shockwave.
Nothing strong enough to hurt her or the tent, but definitely enough to feel the cool and somewhat fresh breeze. And once more, she continued to hear that loud grunting, and occasionally cursing.
‘He must be training up ahead..’ She couldn’t help but chuckle, knowing he was probably testing out new anemo moves again. Silently, she prayed for whatever hilichurls he was attacking, and began to make her way towards him.
-
Before she could even get close enough, he immediately turned her way. He seemed to have only been testing his abilities alone, and was not using hilichurls as test dummies. This definitely put her at ease.
“You’re finally up. Good morning.” He greeted with a bit of a nod, before proceeding to release the gust of anemo that he held in his hand, towards her direction.
After her already messy hair got ruined even further, she sighed loudly as he merely let out a laugh. “Good morning to you too..” Lumine responded, reaching her hands out and making attempts to pat down her hair. Despite Scaramouche becoming kinder in certain ways.. that mischievous side continued to remain.
It annoyed her sometimes, but.. if acting like a child made him happy; then so be it. He definitely has made progress in changing- and she wasn’t going to ruin that by being mean!
“Ahahah.. sorry, sorry.” With a gentle burst of anemo, he hovered his way towards her and proceeded to land right behind her. It seemed he liked to use his vision for just about anything at this point; and once more, she found it adorable.
“Come, there’s a lake nearby. You can use it to wash off your face, and that birdnest on your head.” He reached out to take off a few leaves that had landed on her hair. The small action caused the blonde’s heart to thump.
‘He really did get kinder..’ She amusingly thought, before meeting his eyes as he then suddenly took hold of her hand. Like usual, his skin was cold, despite him having been training underneath the sun now.
She had grown to realize when he had become a bit more.. Affectionate.
At first, he detested being touched. She couldn’t even pat his head without him blowing a fuse, and getting extremely uncomfortable. But ever so slowly- he seemed to have adjusted to her touch; and hers only, as he’d get irked with Paimon if she tried anything.
She figured that perhaps this was another wall of his that he put up, in order to push people away. And though it took time- Lumine had managed to crumble it down.
Before she knew it, it was him who would now constantly be seeking ways to get close to her. Whether it was just something simple like hand holding, such as now, or embracing her when she’d get cold; he’d do these affectionate actions a lot more, to the point that it was something that felt normal between them.
And Lumine knew that Nahida would be very happy about this.
-
As he continued to hold her hand, Scaramouche guided her through the various crowded trees of Sumeru, seeming to already know the path towards the lake.
“Has that little glutton woken yet?” He asked, taking a glance towards her.
She shook her head in response, “Nope. Like usual, she’s sleeping like a log.”
“Good.” Upon responding, Lumine blinked at his words.
“Then there’s more time to show you…” He mumbled, however due to their closeness, she had been able to hear. And she took note of the small smirk he held.
‘Is he.. planning something?’ She couldn’t help but worry a little; the smirked had looked just a bit too playful to her.
-
Upon finally arriving at the wide lake, Lumine released his hand as she proceeded to approach. Kneeling down, she allowed the hemline of her dress to make contact with the water; knowing she could just dry it up with a bit of anemo.
Or if anything, Scaramouche would love to hit her with another burst again.
“Ahh.. I’ve traveled through four nations already, and I must say- Sumeru’s water definitely is the freshest.” Lumine spoke with a gentle exhale after having splashed a bit of water on her face, now feeling a lot more awakened. She then cupped her hands and dipped them below, gathering a puddle before taking a sip.
“So fresh..” She happily chirped after swallowing the cool liquid.
Standing behind her, Scaramouche crossed his arms; admiring how she’d get happy over the smallest of things. Before her, he had taken everything for granted and hadn’t learned to appreciate the little things in life.
But lately.. He’s believed he’s come to understand.
“If you think this water is fresh, then just wait till we go to Fontaine.” He amused her, approaching and kneeling right beside her. “Do you know when exactly we’re going to go?” Scaramouche questioned as he dipped his own hands into the water to collect a puddle, then gently placed it onto Lumine’s hair.
He used his fingers to gently brush down her golden locks, wanting to make sure she looked tidied up like always. After a few more sips of water, Lumine remained in place, allowing him to continue. “Hmm.. I’m not exactly sure. I don’t want to rush this, but I.. also don’t want to take up too much time.” She sighed, very much obviously depressed over the fact that she hadn’t encountered her brother in Sumeru.
“I see.” He simply responded before going quiet. For the following minutes, no words were exchanged; though they took comfort in the sounds that nature provided.
And once he had finished, he let out a satisfied sigh and took hold of her hand, helping her stand up along with him. “There we go. Now you look less like a disaster.” He teased.
“Just say that I look pretty.” Lumine teased in return, causing his cheeks to form a pink tint. It was barely visible however. “Hah, don’t get ahead of yourself. You look decent at best.” He mumbled, and rolled his eyes; all meanwhile that shade remained.
Lumine simply laughed in response, not taking any offense to his comment. She had practically gotten used to that sharp tongue of his by this point.
-
Now that she had finished getting ready for the day, she turned to make her way out of the lake. But right before she could even take a step, Scaramouche was quick as he took hold of her wrist. “Wait- Lumine. Allow me to show you something new.”
The blonde blinked for a bit before then slightly frowning, “..Don’t tell me you want to spar again? We’ve been doing so for the past few weeks, Scara! And you keep losing.”
Almost immediately he was riled up, “Hey, that does NOT count as a loss! It was merely training; not actual battles! Besides, I just.. can’t allow myself to get all too soft.” His eyes shifted away from hers.
Lumine paused.
‘Right’. After their battle in Sumeru, Scaramouche had weakened heavily. In fact, he even seemed to have lost a good portion of his previous powers. Despite being Ei’s son; he longer even seemed to be capable of wielding electro.
It was like all that immense power that had earned him the 6th spot in the Fatui Harbingers, had just vanished.
And although he did have an actual vision now; there was still a long way for him to go before he could even become as powerful as he used to be.
Perhaps this was why.. He had also been pushing his vision to its limits; all in attempts to get stronger.
Sighing softly, she remained standing in the lake and turned to face him once more.
“Alright, alright. What do you have to show me this time?”, she curiously asked, wondering whether she should pull out her sword yet.
-
“These past mornings, I’ve been learning more about elemental reactions. When I would use electro back then; it was very easy to brute force my way through everything and everyone.” As he explained, he continued to hold onto her wrist as he led her much more deeper into the lake.
‘Brute force…’ Admittedly, a small part of her was certainly content that he couldn’t wield electro anymore. After having been struck by the Electro Archon before; she’s come to realize that it was a sort of pain she never wanted to experience again.
Electro was certainly one of the scariest elements anyone could wield.
“But with anemo.. it is different. I can’t rely solely on it. So I recently began to figure out how to manipulate the other elements by using anemo.”
“Oh?” Lumine happily amused. Of course she knew about swirl’s capabilities and how it could mix with just about every other element. But she found it rather entertaining to see Scaramouche figure that out on his own.
And as someone who used to be powerful; she couldn’t help but wonder just how drastic were these newfound abilities of his. It really wouldn’t surprise her if he somehow figured out how to.. ‘brute force’ his way through anything with anemo.
-
“Before I can show you, wrap your arms around my neck.” He demanded, once they were deep enough into the late. They could still stand however, as the water reached them just a little over their waists.
“Huh? Don’t tell me.. you want me to kiss you?” She teased.
“..As if! Don’t be fucking weird!” He quickly snapped back, his own face growing hot.
Lumine let out a laugh before defeatedly raising her hands. “Okay, okay, ouch .” She proceeded to approach, and had no difficulty whatsoever in locking her arms around his neck, due to their height being the same. And also because she was an inch or two taller.
As her chest pressed against his, however, her eyes shifted off to the side, and she made an attempt to ignore that odd feeling that wanted to bubble inside her stomach, “..Alright, now what?”
“Just make sure you’re holding tight enough. If you fall, I won’t catch you.” He simply responded, refusing to look her way; and merely staring up at the cerulean sky.
Right before Lumine could even question him further, she suddenly felt her feet being slowly lifted off of the ground. “The wind rises!” Scaramouche exhaled out, and before she knew it; they ascended high above the lake. She was lucky she had tightly held onto him; otherwise, the sudden burst would’ve definitely had her fall out.
“You.. learned how to fly with your vision?!” Lumines shockingly asked, as she then used her own elemental energy to give her dangling legs a bit of an ‘air pedestal’, so she wouldn’t have to be hanging from him and could have something to sort of step on.
“Yeah, but only for a certain amount of time; any further and my entire body exhausts for a while. Hahaha, even so, it’s pretty great right?” Scaramouche smirked, clearly flexing his newfound skill- which was something that Lumine couldn’t do.
At least not anymore.
Her eyes shifted below them, and she got a better glimpse of the lake. It almost seemed to glimmer, with the way the sunlight reflected on it. And not too far up ahead, she managed to make out their little camp.
But as soon as her eyes shifted above them, her eyes widened.
The large and heavenly white clouds seemed so close- and yet they stood so far.
Even Celestia seemed to be at the very tip of her fingers.
But when she extended her hand out, she realized she couldn’t get there.
Lumine realized that she no longer had her beautifully golden wings; those that allowed her and Aether to travel from world to world, at such incredible speeds that they even resembled comets.
Those exact wings had been stripped away, and she was now trapped here, like a caged and flightless bird; unable to touch the skies that she once roamed.
-
“You’re awfully quiet. Are you that amazed by how my skills are exceeding yours?” Scaramouche spoke with a laugh as he was amused by her expression.
However, as a trail of tears began to run down her cheeks; he confusedly blinked, and was quick to jump to the worst. ‘Is she afraid of heights? Or is she simply jealous..? No, that can’t be it..’ He furrowed his brows, unsure what it could even be.
Regardless, he had the urge to embrace her; but resisted it, knowing that he needed his hands to remain steady and in control of his hovering. Any wrong movement, and the two would fall right back down into the lake.
Something like that wouldn’t exactly hurt him, but it definitely would hurt her .
-
“Don’t start getting all sad on me. I.. don’t know what to tell you.” He bluntly admitted, still keeping his eyes on. “Right. Yeah- sorry. I.. don’t know what came over me.” Lumine wanted to wipe her eyes, but didn’t dare to remove her arms from his neck. And so instead, she simply leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder.
Something about this small action sent a shiver down Scaramouche’s spine, and for a split second; his right arm moved as he felt the urge to embrace her, though the slight movement gave the two a bit of a tumble to the side.
“..I’ll lower us down.” He flatly spoke, now feeling as if it was his fault that she had suddenly gotten upset. And he slowly began to descend, he kept quiet and simply took constant glances towards Lumine, who was still gently sobbing on his shoulder.
His eyes narrowed as he finally looked away, ‘After two months and I.. still can’t understand you very well. I probably never will’
-
After their feet finally touched the ground, Lumine was quick to let go and turn away; almost as if embarrassed that he was seeing her in this state.
And now that he thought about it- this really was the first time he’s seen her cry.
Of course, she would get upset every here and there; that was a normal human emotion after all. But by the very next day, she’d return right back to the usual, as if nothing had happened. Almost as if she forced herself to smile just for the sake of others.
And although Scaramouche wasn’t good with emotions; he had come to realize recently just how burnt out she was. How tired she had gotten when accepting commissions when all she wanted to do was rest; or how frustrated she’d get when new details on her brother would end up leading nowhere.
She was angry; and he saw that, no matter how hard she’d try to hide it with a false content expression.
His eyes narrowed once more as he watched her try to walk quickly through the water, seeming to want to get out. But it seemed that the weight of the liquid forced her back, as she suddenly fell onto her knees.
“Lumine!” Scaramouche hurried over to her side and quickly crouched down right beside her. He rested a hand on her back.
“Are you alright..?” His tone was soft and gentle; something he’d rarely use. But a small action like this made it clear that he did have a heart, despite him still believing that he lacked one.
“I’m sorry. Your.. new skill is amazing. Really amazing.” Lumine faced downwards, staring at her reflection in the like, as her tears continued to roll down and drop onto the surface. “I just… wish that my powers and brother were returned back to me. I feel so helpless without them, and it frustrates me to the core.” The blonde gritted her teeth and reached her arm out to once more brush the tears away.
“...” Scaramouche kept quiet, as just for a moment- he saw himself in her .
He understood that frustration very well.
“Everytime it feels like I’m making progress.. I end up being one step behind.” Lumine paused with a gentle sniffle, before turning to face the male. She hated being vulnerable, but for some reason.. It didn’t feel too bad being this vulnerable around him.
Perhaps it had to do with the fact that they were both broken in ways; and were ‘left behind’ by those that they loved.
-
“..Do you think I can do it? That I can save Aether and bring him home?”
Scaramouche briefly shut his eyes, trying to find the right words to say. He usually spoke whatever came to mind, but in this particular case- he wanted to be careful with his words. But he also didn’t want to lie to her and make it seem like everything would be alright.
Her journey was still far from over.
But he wanted to be with her for every step of the way now.
“Yeah- I do. But not anytime soon. It still will take a while before you can reach your brother. But I’m certain that by then, you won’t be as weak as you are now.” He assured her with a nod.
“Geez.. thanks for stating I’m weak right now.” Lumine gave out a dry chuckle, but didn’t seem to have taken any offense to his words. In fact, she was glad that he hadn’t made any attempt to sugarcoat it, because at times; everyone had to listen to the hard truth.
“..But.. aren’t you the one who’s been losing to me in our past couple of sparring matches?” In an attempt to lighten up the mood, she teased him.
And as expected, he immediately frowned and removed his hand from her back in order to point his finger at her, “Those don’t count! They’re just stupid practice matches! I’m still figuring out my vision, so it doesn’t count!”
Despite her eyes still being puffy and her cheeks were still stained with tears, she couldn’t help but laugh. Oh Archons.. She couldn’t believe it, but she truly was grateful that Scaramouche had become her new companion. Of course she loved the little pixie, but.. There was a lot Paimon couldn’t relate to. And so Lumine never bothered to vent to her.
But with Scaramouche- something felt different.
She could freely talk to him when she was at her best, and when she’d be at her worst; and either way, he would always be real and honest with her, even if due to his sharp tongue- some words would be a bit too cruel.
Regardless.. She was thankful for his presence.
-
“Keep telling yourself that. You’re just afraid to admit that you’ve been losing to me.” As she stood up, Lumine extended her hand out for Scaramouche to take. But right before he could do so, she released a burst of anemo, sending him to fall back into the water.
“Why, you pesky little-” His words were cut short as Lumine picked up his hat and tossed it directly towards his face, causing him to let out a muffled “oomf”.
“THAT’S for indirectly calling me both weak and ugly.” She scoffed, proceeding to walk away and step out of the lake. Once more using anemo, she proceeded to dry herself up; not wanting to return to camp while completely soaked.
“..Well what else would you like me to call you?” Scaramouche grumbled as he placed his hat back on, before ascending from the lake, and drying himself mid-air.
Lumine batted her lashes, “Oh, I don’t know. How about pretty and strong ?”
“Now, why would I lie?”
The blonde blinked, before suddenly spawning her sword.
“IT’S A JOKE, WOMAN..!”
-
Scaramouche arrived at the camp with his robes a little lopsided, and his hair a complete mess. Lumine on the other hand held a cheery expression, and seemed tidied up like always.
“...Hmm? Is breakfast ready?” Paimon’s voice came from within the tent, seeming to barely be waking up. Upon catching sight of Scaramouche however, her eyes widened, “What the HECK happened to you?! Did you lose to Lumine again?!”
“Ha!” Lumine taunted as she looked towards Scaramouche, taking Paimon’s words as her confirmation as to how she’d be the one emerging victorious in their sparring session.
“Both of you- shut the hell up.” The male grumbled in defeat before walking past Paimon and shutting himself inside the tent, most likely to sulk.
“Well… Paimon won’t even ask what even happened, but.. Paimon will help you make breakfast now.” The pixie spoke with a nervous laugh before approaching a crate in where they kept the fish they had caught.
“Haha, okay; I’ll start getting the fire ready. I am pretty hungry now.” Lumine spoke with a nod, before approaching their stack of firewood. After picking up a couple of logs, her eyes shifted towards the cerulean sky once more.
‘Someday.’