Archive of Our Own

You held seven flowers softly in your hands. You lowered your gaze and dropped the flora into the well.

At last, the seventh flower, fallen ever so gently as no wind could turn it away from the shadowy depths below the well, where all the other flowers remained afloat. Something that was known to be a momentous occasion, turned out to be something no one saw coming.

The brilliant summer day no longer shone bright, as it was washed away by the dark gloomy sky. You remained motionless, caught in both shock and awe at what had appeared. It was not a reflection like the ritual had said, but it was something better. Or at least, that’s what you thought because you didn’t have to run around looking for your companion in life with nothing more than an image from a water well.

—-—-—

Scaramouche awoke in a menacing state. He expects the one who did wake him to be another cult or assassin firm, but to his surprise and utter confusion, the ritual used to summon him was… different. What was the purpose of the flowers? Why is he currently on a water well?! Where was all the blood, candles, sacrifices and junk with those weird people in robes?

Instead, there’s only one individual, with eyes beaming with excitement.

Shouldn't the person be pleading for mercy right now? Scaramouche could only think of one thing that could’ve led to this incident.

“There must have been a mistake, you didn’t intend to summon me, did you?” He says, breaking the long drawn out silence.

“Summon? I had no idea this old well could do that. It wasn’t mentioned in the legends..”

“So you did this just because of some legend? If there’s no business here, then I’ll be off.” his impatience is visible. Unluckily for him, your patience isn't on the same level as him.

“Hey, wait– you’re supposed to be–” You tried stopping him from leaving, but he stopped you from finishing what you were going to say first.

“If you try this again without some lamb or whatever those people use– then you’re the next sacrifice I’ll take.” And without another word, he vanishes into the well.

Leaning somewhat to peek inside, the flowers that were originally there had withered from his presence. There are more pressing matters than how exactly a demon showed up inside the well and disappeared magically, which is: How are you going to explain this situation to anyone?

“Rude.” ...was all you could manage to utter.

—-—-—

“Drop seven flowers into the well and you will see the reflection of your future love.”

That’s the legend you heard. A tale that has been passed down through the centuries. That was how your parents found each other, how the neighborhood old couple met, even your friends say it works.

A legend you would always hear from young girls dreaming about their futures to amateur myth busters who believe they are actual detectives capable of debunking this. It was a well-known legend, since many people attempted and discovered their beloved using this method.

So why did it seem to fail when you were the one trying it?

Well it didn’t exactly fail, per se, but you and your ‘soulmate’ are the worst possible combination the destiny could ever do. No offence to fate itself, however, was he really the right person for you?

“No one believes I have a soulmate because of you!”

You did, indeed, summon him the following day.

“And it’s my fault.. How?” He paused, looking at the thing on the edge of the well.

“Also, when I said to bring a sacrifice, I meant something more.. grand than that.” He said, poking at the raw fish that laid there dead.

“Don’t be so stingy now, O great demon. And– it is your fault. I said that someone popped out of the well. After that.. You know what they said?”

“No, I don’t care–”

“They said, “Oh it’s alright if you didn’t see anyone; you don’t have to lie. Maybe it’s not your time to know yet!” Seriously, is this really hard to believe?” You gesture your frustration by flailing your hands in the air.

Him, seeing this, merely let out an annoyed sigh. “Don’t dump your problems on me. Try ranting someplace else. Preferably far away from here.”

You stare at him with glaring eyes while crossing your arms, pretending to look hurt.

He continues, “Look, you people usually summon me for blood to be shed. If you don’t have anyone you want to be sent 6th feet under, then I’ll be on my way. Quit wasting my time with this nonsense.”

“You sure do talk a lot of nonsense too. If you really did find me so annoying and time-wasting, then why haven’t you killed me yet?” You point out, settling yourself to the ground and laying on the grass.

You and the demon are glaring at each other now.

“I don’t need to answer you.” He says, his gaze shifting from you to the dead fish.

“Oh? Am I at the mercy of a demon?” You say, grinning at him.

“Hah. You wish.” He says, rolling his eyes. Though you found a new expression on his face: alertness. You were about to question it but he answered it before you could.

“The one who keeps me from killing you is calling me right now.”

“Ah, I guess this is goodby–”

And he’s already gone by the time you start to respond. Looking at the well, fourteen withered flowers littered the well. You ought to take a few out next time to clean it.

You began walking away, but not before taking another look at the well. There you realized the dead fish you offered had disappeared.

—-—-—

"At the very least, you did what I asked. But what exactly is it this time?" He remarks, putting his hand to his brow and letting out a tired sigh.

“Hello to you too.” you say mockingly, wiping the blood from your hands with a piece of cloth, thinking that you should’ve brought gloves. “Glad to see you not complaining about the sacrifice this time. This sheep cost me a fortune!”

He merely looks at you with a blank face. “Then stop summoning me if you want to save your money.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” You mutter. “I just wanted you to know about how much I went out of my way for you!”

“As if I’d care about that. Now, I’ll say it again: what do you want? You better be quick, I am a busy demon after all.”

Your eyes start to sparkle for a bit. He thinks that what he said was spun into a different interpretation. “Aww, you make time for me?”

“Hey, that’s not what I said. Did all the demonic summoning mess with your head already?”

You huff, “I’m not that weak.”

“If you aren’t weak, then try picking up all these dead flowers on your little summoning well. It’s clogging up all my space here.” he says, holding one of the withered flowers and disintegrating it in his hand.

You watch the ashes fly away with the wind. “Right now? Is that an excuse to be close to you–”

With a disgusted look, he throws a few of the flowers at your face, momentarily distracting you. By the time you have regained your bearings, one look at the well and he was gone, all without saying goodbye.

You peer down the well. Most flowers were already thrown out of it. Guess you just still have to pick it up from the ground though.

—-—-—

“What’s your name? Demons have one right? how else could people summon you?”

Your back rests on the walls of the well, facing away from him.

“I guess it won’t hurt for you to know. It’s Scaramouche.”

You start to rummage through your pocket to get something.

“Don’t.”

You slowly put your phone back into your pocket. “What? You don’t appreciate some good music?”

“Not since that band of kids who thought it’d be a good idea to put Bohemian Rhapsody on max volume and assault my eardrums.”

“Sounds rough.” You reply, dripping with insincerity as you try not to laugh. ‘Serves you right.’ You decided not to say, lest he vanishes once again due to the sheer annoyance he said you put him through. If that’s the case, then why has he been sticking for longer everytime you summon him?

“Well, that’s another step to friendship done!”

He sighs in response. Seriously, this guy signs so much he’ll run out of oxygen in his lungs. Wait, do demons even need to breathe?

“I told you– nevermind. Isn’t this the time where you also tell me yours?”

You gasp dramatically in response, placing a hand on your chest and leaning back slightly. “Wait, you don’t know? And here I thought demons were powerful enough to know that kind of information.”

You raise your head just enough to catch a glimpse of his expression entering your field of vision. He wore the same old annoyed face you found yourself seeing more often that you actually look forward to it everytime you talk to him, like doing things to elicit a reaction. (or was it something else about him that you look forward to?)

“We demons are powerful, but that doesn’t mean we’re omniscient, idiot. I don’t even need to know your name anyway, you’re just another insignificant human being.” Scaramouche replies with a sly grin while crossing his arms.

“You don’t need to be so cold! Hasn’t hell burned that icey personality of yours?”

“Then stop summoning me?” He says, ignoring the last statement.

“Hey, you’re the one answering my summons.” You jab back.

“..we’re done talking.” Scaramouche began descending into the well.

“Can’t you say a proper goodbye first?” You had to stand up and lean into the well to actually find him.

“See you.” and with that, he left.

He saw your stunned expression on your face before vanishing, and he thought spending his free time on you was worthwhile because of that.

..you on the other hand, forgot to tell him your name.

—-—-—

“Why is the world so cruel to think we’ll be good soulmates?” You say while you writhe on the surface of the brick well.

“Why are you so caught up on this soulmate thing?” Scaramouche really couldn’t wrap his head around its importance. Nor even cared enough about it.

“It’s.. very important to us humans. Everybody has one! People will judge or pity you when you haven’t met yours..”

“Well, why do you even trust some stupid legend? Are you sure a cultist didn’t trick you or anything?” Scaramouche would know, he’d have some accidental summons here and there. Mostly when it’s Halloween for some reason.

“It’s not just a stupid legend. I’ve known people who have found their happiness through it.”

“Well, one of them isn’t you.” Scaramouche replies coldly as always.

“Ouch, that’s one way to indirectly reject me.” You say with a dramatic flair.

“I don’t have a need for love.” He is, of course, too much of a workaholic for that.

“Then can we be platonic soulmates?” Why are you even negotiating with him right now? Weren’t you just complaining about him a moment ago? Well, no matter, you already know what his answer will be.

“I’ve learned not to accept that either.”

As both of you had some sort of staring contest, silence overtook the scene, with you not having anything worthwhile to say to him. Scaramouche was the one who broke it after a while.

“Since you didn’t provide a sacrifice for me, I have no business here anymore.”

He takes his leave. A lone withered flower sat atop of the well wall, reminding you to maybe apologize to Tighnari for continually stealing and killing his flowers.

—-—-—

Scaramouche emerges in the well as per usual, but there was a stark difference this time around that you hadn't seen in any of your previous meetings with him. It was simply that he was soaked in blood, not his blood though. You expected this, with him being a demon and all, but you couldn’t help but stare at his figure. Red looks good on him.

“Looks like you didn’t have time to clean yourself up, huh?” You start off.

Scaramouche rolls his eyes. “Not when you call me without warning.”

“So you want to set up meetings for us then? Getting used to us seeing each other all the time, aren’t we?”

"..." Instead, his disgusted expression speaks for him. You can't help but chuckle at him.

You take a glance at the bloody water. “So you do have other summoners! And here I thought you were bluffing since demon summoning isn’t exactly.. widely used.”

“What? Did you think you’re the only one annoying me everyday?” He began to wash the blood of his hat using the water from the well. It's a good thing the well is off-limits.

Your attention is diverted away from Scaramouche when you hear loud sirens of an ambulance and several police cars.

You should be thankful that the place around the well is covered in trees, since seeing Scaramouche right now may result in an investigation. Though you turn to look at him suspiciously.

“Hey Scaramouche, was your target from around here?”

“Mn. Looks like it.” A casual response, like he didn’t just commit murder. In your neighborhood no less.

“Who was it?” You hope it wasn’t anyone you personally know.

“I don’t know, some random salesman with an unpaid debt. The usual.”

Oh. It wasn’t anyone you knew, you felt a little relieved. Poor guy though.

“Well, anyway, I was going to ask if it'd be possible for you to get out of that well? Must be uncomfortable being cooped up in blood water and dead flowers all the time.” you comment as you scoop up a flower from the well. You notice that it now has blood stains.

“No, I can’t. This well serves as my summoning circle. I can only leave if I accept the summoner’s request, but I’ll still be trapped in the targeted area until I fulfill it.”

“Really? Then I request you to–”

“I can also decline requests.” He rejects you before you could even say anything. This guy..

“Fine. But I’m still curious about something. Could people see you if you were to walk around in the streets or something?”

"It depends on the situation; sometimes I show myself to my targets, sometimes I don't."

“Your targets weren’t really the thing I was primarily asking for but alright.”

Scaramouche looks around for a second before casting his attention back to you. “I have to go. I still need to report my murders.”

“Huh. Didn’t think you had to report things like that. Hell sounds strict as.. Hell.”

Scaramouche just narrows his eyes and prepares to descend. You remember something that you had to say, so quickly you try to call out to him. “Wait! There’s going to be a festival–”

You weren’t sure that he heard it. You look down, finding the water to be miraculously clean, with no crimson stains left behind whatsoever.

You begin to walk away from the brick well, away from the woodland area and back to the bustling roads and monotonous chatterings.

—-—-—

Scaramouche finds the familiar setting bothersome. He had just left the realm of Snezhnaya, where his ‘workplace’ is.

The only other realm he tolerates, or tolerates him, is Sumeru. Though Scaramouche thinks that the one who rules that realm, Buer, is very nosy. He always complains that she pries into his personal life with too much concern. He.. isn’t used to someone worrying about him.

What you said a while back when he was leaving was on his mind, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

He decided to take his predicament to the Sanctuary of Surasthana. Scaramouche feels like he’s going to regret his decision.

Opening the doors, he was more than welcome as no one tried to stop him from entering. Nahida further extended this hospitality when she saw him, ordering her followers to prepare snacks and other things for him. Scaramouche thinks it’s a bit overkill, considering he won’t be staying here for long.

“What brings you here today?” Nahida begins the conversation as usual.

“I need to ask you something. Do you.. know anything about festivals?” He says, straight to the point of his visit.

Lesser Lord Kusanali has the clear look of surprise on her face. “I see you’re quite enjoying your time on the human realm to wonder about this.”

“Just answer the question please.” He says impatiently while he crosses his arms.

Nahida giggles before answering, “Very well. Ahem, festivals are a great way to bond with people and learn new things based on their themes. It’s quite a popular human event, and can happen anywhere and anytime.”

“Why do people do that?” He asks.

Nahida takes her tea from the table and then responds. “It can be really fun, are you thinking of partaking in one? You could use a break every once in a while from your work.”

Scaramouche gives her a look. While he was thinking, one of her demons poured him some tea before he could refuse.

Nahida was only met with silence. She takes it as a no.

“Well, if you ever change your mind, you could always join this realm’s festivities. I’ll personally invite you whenever there’s one.” She cheerfully offers.

“That’s not it, it’s just.. There’s someone who might invite me to one.” Scaramouche idly swirls his tea around.

“What’s stopping you from declining then?”

He shrugs. “Nothing, I suppose.”

“You should go with them. It’ll be enjoyable, I’m sure. You may learn a thing or two about humans, and it might even help you with your job."

Scaramouche breaks eye contact to gaze off into the distance instead. He notices his tea is now cold, but he couldn’t care less. He thinks deeply before responding. “I–”

—-—-—

You haphazardly toss the seven flowers into the well, your excitement building as you wait for a response.

Scaramouche appears in front of you. No cool light though, he just pops up in existence out of nowhere. Actually, it would be a good thing this ritual isn’t so flashy, heaven forbid someone investigates this area while you’re chatting with a demon.

“What is it? And what are you hiding behind your back?” He tilts his head.

“An offering, so you could accept my request!” You still tried to hide it, but the animal noises made it obvious.

“First time seeing you bringing a live one. You’re the first one to do that though.”

The small lamb escapes from your grasp as you yelp in surprise. The lamb runs to Scaramouche, clearly favouring him more than you. You feel your heart break in little pieces due to that revelation, but the sight of Scaramouche holding the tiny animal bandages your heart in an instant.

“Aww, the offering likes you!” You say, with comical hearts bouncing off of him. He, however, looks at both of you with narrow eyes.

He ignores you. “So, what exactly is your request? Do you want someone’s head off or something?”

"No, nothing like that; I want you to come to the festival with me today!" You lean against the well, awaiting his response.

“..and why should I–” He stops himself. He pets the lamb while thinking things over.

With a sigh he hesitantly says, “Fine.”

You were actually surprised. Though that was swiftly overshadowed by the beaming happiness that spread across your face. Scaramouche practically has to cover his eyes by how bright you are right now.

"Wait, what will we do with that lamb? Should we bring her along with us?” You sit on the edge of the well so you could pet the small lamb as well. She appears to enjoy the attention.

“If you’re the one who’ll be carrying it.”

“Then it’s a deal!” You extend your arms up towards him. He carefully relaxes his grip, but the lamb leaps out and onto you. Good thing she didn’t miscalculate her little jump, or else she might have fallen in the water. You softly cradle the small animal as she snuggles up to you.

"When exactly is the festival anyway?” he asks.

“Excited already? Well, it already started yesterday, so we can go in whenever since the festival lasts for the whole week.” You stand up from sitting on the well.

You continue, “Are you ready? You already accepted my request, so you can go out of the well now!”

Without a word, Scaramouche slowly climbs out of the well. There was no water on him at all, which makes things a whole lot easier. You think to yourself that having this kind of demonic power could be very convenient on rainy times.

While Scaramouche right now is feeling strange, especially since this is his first request that didn’t involve any bloodshed, and because he actually accepted something like this. There really is a first time for everything.

“Lead the way.” He beckons. You did, and he follows you out of the forest. It was quite funny to watch him struggle to get through the branches and leaves due to his enormous hat.

You pluck out a leaf that was still resting on his hat and left its fate to the breeze. You try not to mind the close proximity as you rapidly lean away from him and continue walking towards the festive grounds.

As you walk together, you notice a shop from across the street with police tapes all around it. Suddenly, in the alleyway next to it, a dog barks loudly at the two of you. Though upon closer inspection, or at least from what you could see from the other side of the street, the dog wasn’t being aggressive towards you, but to your companion beside you.

The lamb’s shaking from fear. You quickly attempt to comfort her.

You cast a glance at Scaramouche, who was also looking at the dog. He sticks out his tongue to mock it. He notices you looking at him and merely shrugs.

You turn back and resume walking. Well that was.. something. There were police tapes, and you heard about a murder yesterday there.. Did the dog recognize him as a murderer?

The chattering and excitement of people indicates that your destination was right around the corner. You can see it already; the sight of all the food vendors and various little game stalls is a bit overwhelming, but it’s certainly fun as well.

“We’re here!” You are so elated, ecstatic, thrilled and other words related to it. Scaramouche really doesn’t understand the hype, but he walks with you to the entrance anyway.

The atmosphere is full of joy, but there’s an unspoken tense vibe among some of the people. You could sense it as well.

You find a newspaper littered on the ground. “Another murder,” You read out loud. “More than the town has seen in many years.”

Scaramouche didn’t pay attention to anything you just said. He's too preoccupied with getting used to being around so many people at once. And without any bloodlust.

To not spoil the mood too much, you drag him to one the nearest food stall. You doubt he has any money, so you saved some just for today. Fortunately, you didn’t have to wait long as it’s already your turn to buy by the time you reach the stall. They were selling cotton candy, but it wasn’t the regular ones.

There are already pre-made designs of cotton candy that’s ready to buy, the custom made ones were too pricey, so you guess you have to settle for the pre-made ones.

The designs consisted of popular kids mascots, animals, colourful layers and some other unique shapes. You turn to your companion for his input. “Hey Scara, which one should we buy?”

No one answers you. Mostly because there isn’t a Scaramouche to be found everywhere.

“Scaramouche?” You call out again and begin to worry, even the lamb notices your distress. You return to the entrance to find him, but you are abruptly stopped by a hand on your shoulder.

“Wha–”

“Hello there, I apologize for startling you, but I may be a bit lost.” You slowly face the person to reveal it’s someone who you haven’t seen in town before. He must be here solely for the festival. This foreigner was wearing an odd mask, but who are you to judge?

“Oh, it’s alright. Where do you need to go?” You offer him your most polite smile.

He tucks a stray blue strand of hair behind his ear while he tries to remember the name of where he’s supposed to go.

The stranger stills. From his mask, you can tell he isn’t looking at you, he was looking right behind you. You want to look back as well, though the man steals your attention as he says a brief goodbye. The last thing you see on his face is a sly grin directed at someone else.

You didn’t watch him walk away; instead, you promptly turned around instead.

There’s no one you could find suspicious. Weird. Is this type of encounter something you have to deal with after making a deal with a demon? Hopefully the next one is as friendly as him.

Ah right, back to your mission at hand. Finding that demon. Where could you possibly find one–

“What are you staring at the entrance for?” A familiar voice says behind you. The lamb also perks up at him.

“Scaramouche! I thought I lost you!” You say as you face him.

“I’m not a child that gets easily lost in big crowds. I thought you were the one missing.” He scoffs.

You wanted to say something else. You decide that maybe they should just get a move on and not continue the silly banter.

You tell him to follow you. After passing by a few booths, you both arrive at the center of the festival. There, a water well and a few people gather in that area. You wanted to show Scaramouche how popular the legend is. An employee was scooping up the flowers left in the well for the next patron to try it out.

There’s a lot of merchants selling flowers for the well too. You approach one of them, eyeing the bundles of flowers laying on the table. Of course, the ones with a seven flower bundle have special discounts. You pick the purple ones, you didn’t know its name nor meaning, you just thought it looked pretty and reminded you of Scaramouche.

You say a small Thank you after paying for it.You return your focus to Scaramouche and with one hand giving him the flowers, while the other is pointing in the direction of the well.

He looks a bit confused so you drag him towards the well. You weren’t going to summon him or anything since he’s already here. You wanted to see what would happen if he’d be the one throwing the flowers and what he’ll see.

Fortunately, the last patron was done by the time you both got there. “Drop seven flowers into the well!” –and you will see the reflection of your future love. You conveniently left the last part out.

He complies without a word, believing it’s still just a stupid human legend.

One, two, seven– he dumps all of it without care. He leans forward to look inside. You see him fighting to look neutral, so you try to see if it actually works, since you didn’t know if it applies to demons as well.

“What did you see?” You curiously ask him.

“Myself.” Scaramouche says, attempting to appear uninterested while he uses his giant hat to cover your view of the well.

“Really now?” You move away from him, just to catch him off guard by sprinting on the other side of the well.

Scaramouche flicks his fingers, and all you could see inside was the flowers scattering to cover the majority of the water’s surface. If there was a reflection there, it would’ve dispersed with it.

“Damn, so much self-love you have there I guess.” You say, though you could tell he wasn’t telling the truth. You made the decision not to press any farther. At least, not yet. You could tease him about this later..

Even if that was one of the prime reasons for making him go with you to the festival, it was alright if it didn’t produce much results. Now for the other reason.

“Well then, if you don’t want to tell me,” You slowly walk back to his side. “Promise me you’ll go with me again to see the fireworks at the end of the festival.”

You lift your pinkie finger up, expecting him to return the gesture. A few seconds pass. You feel a bit awkward as different passersby look at the both of you being as still as a statue.

“What are you, a child?” He breaks the silence.

“Oh, what else am I going to do, have a blood oath with you or something?” You say as you continue to wave your hand at him.

“That’s not necessary.” His face spells out his disgust about the suggestion. Eventually, he gives up and connects his little finger to yours.

“There, that’s a promise. You better not break it, Scara!” You say before you break the contact.

“Hey, what did you just call me?”

You were out of sight until he saw you running to catch the small lamb that had fallen out of your embrace.

After that, you both explored the festival together with the lamb in your hands. Occasionally, you’d find Scaramouche looking behind you. You didn’t think much of it as the joys of the festival outweighed your worries.

You and Scaramouche finished looking at almost every stall available and it’s getting late, so both of you head back to the forest.

—-—-—

You head to a flower shop to pick up your daily order —you felt kind of guilty about stealing from Tighnari’s botanic garden—, but you start to notice that there are more police cars speeding down the road than usual.

You find the flower shop encircled in police tapes, however. Lots of blood in the scene too. The shop lady was so sweet though.. What may have happened to her?

You couldn’t get your flowers afterall. You turn around and decide to just pick up seven flowers from the road, silently hoping that you could find enough.

The first flower is blooming on the side of a fence post. It wasn’t inside the house, so it’s an easy steal.

While you walk around, someone has nearly pushed you to the ground. They hurriedly apologize before running away in the opposite direction. Seeing the panic-ridden expression on the stranger’s face makes you somewhat concerned. You find the second flower right next to you.

The third and the fourth are near a field. It’s not like the field was a garden, so it wouldn’t hurt if you take the two flowers there.

A passerby with a basket full of flowers drops the fifth. You were going to ask them for two more, but they were gone by the time you picked up the flower.

The sixth where on the entrance of the forest. There is only one more flower to go.

You walk through the forest, only finding the seventh flower when the well is on view.

You go near the well and drop all the flowers into it. Then you wait.

And wait.

But no one hears your call.

You were going to say something important to him, too..

You decide to wait more until you see the light from above dimming, with the sun going down; painting the sky with a sunset.

Yet you never once saw him today. This was the first time he ignored you. It’s fine; maybe he’s just busy today. He has a role to fulfill too. You yourself can’t believe you waited hours for him. You figure that you wasted your time with this little thing.

So you quietly walk back home, feeling rather down.

—-—-—

You try again the next day.

He was still nowhere to be found.

Is he doing this on purpose, or did something bad happen to him? No, like he said in the past, he was a busy demon. (But he still always makes time for you, doesn’t he?)

It has only been 2 days. Maybe it’s equivalent to a minute in hell. You could only wait for a while more.

Even when a week has passed.

You’re sitting by the well, under the moonlight. It is the final day of the festival, and all of the lights can be seen in the distance above and between the surrounding trees.

Why are you still waiting for him? You still didn’t know why. You simply wanted to. Is this fate playing tricks on you and your emotions? That’s no fun at all. You decide to continue on playing with what destiny has in store for you.

Things at the festival have toned down for a moment, and you assume something is going to happen. On cue, you unconsciously cover your ears while your eyes are fixed on the night sky, where the stars gain company with a dazzling display of colours, exploding bright. More and more fireworks shot up, but none of it seems to fill you with awe like it usually does.

The beauty of the lights only serves to distract you momentarily before the feeling of loneliness encompasses you once again. You could go to the area holding the festival, where there is sure to be a large crowd to accompany you. Though all you wish is to see him there as well, to see the beauty humans can make. A captivating magical little performance of wonders and lights, without the works of actual powers and spells.

All that is just wishful thinking. He isn’t here, and he broke the first promise you both made.

You observe the reflection on the water in the well. You see not your face, but the lights of the fireworks and the scattered wilted flowers that were left to float.

A tear falls down and disturbs the water’s balance and a feeling like a knife twisted your heart.

—-—-—

Scaramouche is currently being tasked to kill multiple people from the same summoner. He never questioned the reason, only ever hearing the word ‘traitors.’

His mind drifts to you. He didn’t know why you stopped contacting him.

It’s a good thing, right? He was always so annoyed with you, but why does he feel like he’s missing you so? It must be from all the work. It’s a shame he couldn’t rest right now, with such a big client on his hands. Hell would pester him even more if he failed.

As another victim fell to the floor, he could only distract himself from all this.

—-—-—

Everywhere you go, there are police officers. Numerous journalists were publishing a lot of articles. So many people were being murdered. They all had one thing in common: they were all connected to a large criminal organization.

You thought you heard screaming from the outside. You slightly open the window to find the source. There isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Except that your neighbor’s curtains changed. You think the new crimson curtains didn't quite suit the house’s colours well.

You waited for another moment and didn’t hear anything else.

What you hear, however, is a speaker announcing that people were to evacuate the area.

That is exactly what you do. As you walk outdoors, you can't help but bring seven roses in your bag with you. You almost forget to close the TV; the screen shines bright in the room, playing the news channel. Before you turn off the power, you hear something about a hurricane incoming.

You walk outside and gently close the door, the streets and houses around you are still decorated all in the same theme of the festival. Banners were swaying from the breeze, hanging lights waited for the night, tents left unbothered at the mercy of the strong wind and confetti of all sorts of colours littered the ground.

It’s a mess, but it all meant that it’s a day that was lively for many.

You pass by a small white flower growing in the street you’re currently walking through. You think nothing of it. You keep on walking on the side, content on how peaceful it is right now, since there are no cars or people to disrupt the bird’s songs and cool winds that you hear.

You keep going and make your way to the nearest evacuation center.

People in uniforms escorted you and other neighborhood residents into a place where you found the others, some were fine and some were hurt. You can see a blue haired doctor with a strange mask treating them.

When the doctor notices you, he motions for you to come over.

He asks you to assist him, seeing that you weren’t hurt anywhere and he needed some help. You didn’t know much about medical knowledge, but he assures you that you won't have to do any of that, so you accept.

You help him get a few things, like a roll of bandages and the sort. While helping him, there was a medical staff who rushed over to the doctor’s side with a stretcher.

You peek over the staff just enough to see who the person on the stretcher was. It was your neighbor.

“Hey, you there!” Someone calls. You tense up, slowly turning around to look at the person with an unfamiliar voice. They were wearing a uniform similar to the other medical staff. Were they addressing you or the others beside you?

“Me?”

“Yeah, someone’s looking for you.” The person gestures behind him. There’s only ambulances and tents. You walk over to them to ask who and where, still confused.

“Behind that tent over there,” They point again and look back at you as they continue. “I believe it was a short man dressed in traditional Japanese clothing.”

Before you can thank the person, they add: “He looks like a suspicious individual, so don’t hesitate to call for help here.”

“Oh, alright.” You thought it’s all so strange. You feel a wave of excitement and confusion, as your mind races with thoughts such, Who summoned him here? Why didn’t he respond to yours? And one of the worse ones: Are you his next target?

You let the medical worker go treat the others as you stand in silence, hesitant to even take a step towards the tent. You take a deep breath and move forward. Your instincts are telling you not to go, however, you choose to ignore it all. You finally have contact with Scaramouche, and you would like to have a word with him about his absence.

You slow your movements as you approach the tent; silent a mouse when you go around it. You gather the courage to look what lies beyond the corner. It was too late to think of what to say to him, or if you can even say something to him at all.

You step out and see– no one at all. Did you get the directions wrong? Where was he? There isn’t anyone here. Everything is starting to confuse you so much. You decide to turn around to find him.

Only that you couldn’t.

You didn’t know what happened. There was only a sharp piercing pain on your neck, and everything went dark. You guess this is how it all ends– with betrayal. Or was it even considered as such? Was he truly by your side, or were you just someone who kept pestering him, until he got bored of you and left? That would explain why he was no longer responding to your summons.

—-—-—

You wake up in a dimly lit cell.

This isn’t purgatory is it? No, you hear your heart beating, you’re still alive.

What– I’m alive? What happened to me? You think. You didn’t know where you were; were you kidnapped? Possibly, definitely.

You aren’t bound by anything either. No chains, no blindfolds, nothing at all. This gives you free reign to inspect the cell and the room beyond it. Everything looks high tech– the bars reinforced with black metal, machines and devices you haven’t seen before sitting outside your cell in excellent condition, no rust or dust anywhere. It all must be well maintained. It adds nothing to you getting your freedom though; it instead makes that chance even lower.

You sit on the cold floor, waiting for someone. Your kidnappers have faith in all the locks and security in the room, since you don’t see nor hear any guards near you. That, or you weren’t worth all that trouble; which makes more sense, taking into account that you have zero involvement in any criminal activity and had not witnessed one.

Except – you connect a potential target – That demon, Scaramouche. Did you get dragged here because of him? Are they using you as bait? That probably won’t work, because not even you had contact with him for the past week.

It only has been hours since you fell unconscious right? You don’t actually know. There isn’t a single clock in this stupid room.

You try to find a way out. There is practically nothing but a wooden slab stuck in the wall to sit on. Outside the cell has more furniture: a white table, a hanging light, two chairs, and a locked door.

You think, huh, you’re going to be staying here for a while. Looking at the closed exit of the room, that crest engraved on the door does look eerily familiar.. Your memory fails to remember why.

—-—-—

Nahida invites Scaramouche once more. He’s still not fond of her tea, but he tolerates her presence more than he’d expected. Nahida on the other hand is getting better with her alloparenting, or her attempt to. She saw Scaramouche working too much again, so she forced him to rest at her realm.

He, sitting across from her, looks more horrible than his last visit, which concerns Nahida more. So she starts, “I’m glad you accepted this invitation, Scaramouche.”

“You would’ve ordered your ‘scholars’ to drag me here,” he retorts.

Nahida gives an innocent smile. “Well, I didn’t. Besides, you were working too much, and I heard your performance was declining. So I wanted to ask, are you doing alright?”

“Obviously not.” he chuckles grimly. He closes his eyes for a bit. Demons don’t need to sleep, but he looks visibly tired. Even he can see that.

“Perhaps we could talk about it little by little? It can help relieve some tension in your mind. After all, if a candle burns for too long, it would drown itself and be unable to provide light anymore.” Nahida says, while getting a piece of Candied Ajilenakh Nut.

Scaramouche takes a sip of the tea that’s set on the table for him. It’s surprisingly different, as it was more bitter than the last one. He takes another sip and responds, “How could I not work myself to death, when it’s the Fatui? Snezhnaya’s leader is working with that human organization back on Earth, so it’s deemed to be a high priority.”

She frowns. “Guessing from your tone, the Fatui hasn’t been the most pleasant to work with.”

“My summoner is a high ranking harbinger. He is powerful, but that annoying and insane personality of his pisses me off. And I’m supposed to work with that guy? I’d rather kill his clones one by one than those traitors he assigns me.” He puts his cup down on the table, maybe a touch too hard, as he notices Nahida jump a little from the sound.

“Why won’t they get other assassins like you? It could minimize your load and make things progress faster.” She suggests.

“They say that I’m ‘the right person for the job’. There's nothing I can do if it's direct orders,” He says with obvious annoyance.

“Perhaps not you, but I could persuade the Tsaritsa. I know she’s a kind and sweet person on the inside, she’ll understand if I talk to her.” She says with a little smile.

“I don’t need your help, I can do this on my own.” Scaramouche shoots it down just as quickly as it was offered. He abruptly stands up and begins to walk away without a word.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Buer calls out, trailing behind him quickly.

He comes to a halt and glances at her. “To work. I've just received a new target."

She also slows down her pace until she’s standing next to him at the door. “Alright. Just come back to take another break, if not, what you said a while ago will come true.”

Scaramouche hears a ‘Take care!’ and ‘Good luck!’ from a distance before he departs from the Sanctuary of Surasthana and crosses to Earth.

—-—-—

Scaramouche finds himself being teleported into an unfamiliar house without warning as always. Wandering around a couple rooms, he finds no one, not a single person. Coming to the staircase and walking silently to the living room, he studies the area to find yet another dead end to his assassination mission. Where on earth could they be?

He proceeds into the kitchen to investigate, but nothing of interest is in there except for a letter with a crest printed on the paper. It’s already open, so might as well read it to get clues.

He tosses the letter aside; it’s just another threatening letter from the Fatui, detailing something about how they have taken someone hostage, and if they want to see them again, the target must return to the Fatui and get subjected to the appropriate punishment. Which is most likely death.

Must have worked, considering his target isn’t where the place his summoner said they’ll be. Wish his summoner said that first before he’d wasted his time here wandering aimlessly around a traitor’s home.

He’s standing in front of a dusty window. No one could have maintained it, he figures. He glances outside the screen, and he thinks it looks familiar. He realizes that he has already walked in those streets with you.

He runs.

He stumbles upon a room. On the walls hang the photos of you. This was your house. You were the hostage. And is being held captive right now. He has to do something. He comes to realize... He doesn't want to be without you just yet.

He knows someone who can help, but as much as he doesn’t want to ask her, there isn’t much that he can do. He can’t go outside, since the stupid little demon rules won’t let him do that.

He goes back to the realm of Sumeru with a flick of a finger.

—-—-—

“Oh, welcome back, Scaramouche. That was quite quick, was it an easy job?” Nahida greets him as soon as he arrives.

He rushes towards her. “Buer, there’s no time. I need a favour.”

“Scaramouche, calm down first. Here, take a seat,” She stands up from her own chair so Scaramouche can use it instead. She then summons a swing to sit on and continues, “What is it?”

“I need to save someone, I don’t know if they’re alright, or where exactly they are. You have more power than me,” He holds his head between his hands, looking down at the floor. “So, will you help me?”

“That is quite tricky.. I do have experience looking through the minds of humans, and I can try to find them that way." She says, not hesitating to help.

“Even if you did find them, you and I can’t just go there without a summoner.”

“Well, you can make them summon you then.”

Scaramouche raises his head to reveal a confused expression painted on his face. “What do you mean?”

“I can make a small portal, but only objects can go through. It may require a lot of power, but I’ll be alright.” She mostly uses that power to get human food, she didn’t think it could also be helpful in this situation.

Scaramouche replies quietly, "I'll make sure to repay you after this, Buer."

“Really? Then go visit me often, it does get a little lonely here sometimes.” She smiles brightly. She then closes her eyes. “Now, what items are needed to summon you?”

—-—-—

You're thrown into another room with all the other captives. They all sit in silence around different tables in groups. You didn't know where to go and wanted to ask a guard, but when you looked behind you, they were gone.

So you go to the nearest table, and there isn’t a single person sitting with you. You scan all throughout the room, hoping to find anything that might help you adjust to the new environment you've been forced to endure in. There’s another room to your utmost left, it is smaller, and has a few people in uniform inside. They’re making food from what you could see.

Oh. To be fair, this room really didn’t look like a cafeteria, so you didn’t think it was; guess you were wrong. Though you had to blame the people who designed this place for making you arrive at the wrong conclusion at first glance.

You had no choice but to wait. Awkwardly looking around, you see a group of prisoners approach different tables, and after a while of observing them, they are finally at yours.

“Hey there, you look new and itching to get out of here.”

“Don’t we all?”

“I had hoped so, but some of them refused our plan to escape.”

You gaze at them with visible doubt in your eyes. “You have one?”

“Yes we do, but we’ll only tell you if you agree to join us.”

You thought for a bit. Will you join or deny the traitors’?