Chapter Text
The sound was small, so small that Venti could mistake it for a small animal. But the winds were getting more and more restless around him, making him open his eyes. Looking at Nahida, the winds encouraged him to hide her from whatever threat was coming. His hair and eyes glowed, as he used his Anemo powers to lift Nahida up into the air and softly letting her down on a branch in the tree. Venti made sure that the leaves of that tree covered Nahida fully and silently asked the winds to make sure that the younger God doesn’t fall. As the winds agreed on his request, Venti’s narrowed his gaze to the direction from where the sound came from.
Leaning back on the tree, Venti stretched himself as if he has just woken up. “Don’t you know it is rude to wake someone up when they were having a pleasant dream?”
The rustling intensified as the young-looking boy closed his eyes, humming to a melody that calmed the winds and made sure that the younger God didn’t open her eyes, instead continue to ‘sleep’ in the tree.
“My sincerest apologies, I didn’t mean to wake you up. But I must say, you have quite a lovely voice.”
The humming stopped when the intruder finally spoke. Venti opened his eyes as a bright smile automatically appeared on his face. “Why thank you, good sir! Though I must ask, what brings you to this part of Yokohama at this time even? Shouldn’t you be sleeping in your own home?”
The intruder finally walked into the open space, given Venti a clearer image as to who he was speaking to. The man was in his late thirties and had raven-straight, slicked back hair with bangs on each side of his face. His eyes were of a dark violet colour, quite pretty if didn’t have that false naivety swirling around on the surface. If Venti were anyone else, then he would have been fooled, but he had lived for many years and seen many faces. He knows when someone is being genuine or faking it and right now, as he watched a calculating gaze behind that innocent expression, this man was clearly faking. Kinda ironic seeing that the man wears a doctor’s outfit, while he had that gaze pinned on the bard. A gaze that screams he has his eyes set on his target.
“Ah, I’m afraid that I’ve lost my way around here. Do you mind leading me back to the city?”
Venti smiled as he stood up and dust himself, before bowed towards the man, not letting any suspicion shown on his face. “Ofcourse sir, follow me.” The Anemo Archon said, as he turned towards city of Yokohama, feeling the man step closely behind him. While he knows that the man is danger, he needed to get him out of here before he discovered Nahida. Who knows what the man will do when he finds out about her. Venti has no doubt in his mind that the man wouldn’t hesitate to use her to his benefit, maybe even hold her against him. And while Venti knows that Nahida is perfectly capable of understanding ones’ character, she is the same God that let her people imprisoned her and make her relive an endless dream. So, someone has to look out for the God that is too kind to everyone, beside the protectiveness that he felt for her may or may not also play a big role into leading this man away from her.
“May I ask why you were so late outside, good sir?” Venti cheerily asked, wanting to break the eerie silence.
“Oh, I was just coming back from a long day in my clinic.”
“Clinic? Are you some kind of doctor, sir?”
The man heartedly laughs, sending chills done Venti as to how warm it sounded. “Indeed! How did you know?”
“I don’t think that there are many professions that use clinics as their go-to office.” Venti bantered back.
The raven-haired man hummed. “I guess so…” They continued their walk in silence, before the man broke it. “If you don’t mind me asking, your clothing don’t look like from here, not even modern, and yet you speak perfect Japanese… How so?”
Venti laughed. “I don’t mind, but it is quite a long story.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Very well, good sir. Just for you then.” The man smiled, leaving Venti down in chills but the smile remained on his face. “Before I was born, my parents went here for their honeymoon, and they found the culture so beautiful that they decided to move here. But alas, I was born and so they decided to wait until I was a little older so that they wouldn’t have too much stress with moving countries and a newborn child. In my home country, I would read too many fantasy and history books, so fascinated by the old times that I started to dress up as a bard and it seems like I am still in that phase!”
The man warmly laughed in agreement. “What happened after? And where are your parents? Wouldn’t they worry where you are in the middle of the night?”
Venti stops as he looked up at the starless night, as a nostalgic smile appeared on his face. If he could, then the bard would pat himself on the back for his acting skills. This man has fallen for the story of him being a helpless orphan with no parents and he probably also concluded that the bard was homeless, since he was sleeping under the tree when they meet. That’s good because it will mean that, from now on, the man is going to underestimate him.
And to put the icing on the cake, Venti looked away to wipe some ‘tears’ off his face, whereby the man made a sound of realisation. “Oh, I apologies for my question and I also apologise for your loss.” Venti smiled painfully at the man, looking more grimace than a smile. “It is alright, good sir, you didn’t know after all, nor was it your fault! Beside they are long dead, no use for wishing for something that is long gone.”
The man hummed in agreement. Again, the silence befalls between them, before Venti took the lead and began walking again. The man has a reason to be here and somehow that reason was related to Venti. He just has to figure out what but to do that, he has to wait and see what the next question will be. Venti wasn’t disappointed. “If you’re here alone at night with your parents gone, then I would assume that you’re homeless and yet… you don’t seem homeless. You are dressed in, what seem like, fresh tailored clothes and also appear to be well-fed. So, just to quell my curiosity, how do you manage to keep yourself clean and healthy?”
“Don’t you know that curiosity can kill a cat?” Venti asked instead as he looked over at the man beside him, who raised an eyebrow at the boy, a glimpse of that calculating gaze could be seen before it disappeared again behind the faux façade. Venti would have missed it, if he wasn’t watching the man so intently. While Venti remained calm, he could feel the winds panic around him and he silently shut them out, the Anemo Archon didn’t have time for distractions as he needed his full concentration on this strange man. A man was trying hard to be a sheep but the snake lies deep within him, waiting for an opening to attack. That snake was the true form of that man and it wouldn’t hurt and try to get it out sooner rather then later.
“You forget that the satisfaction can bring the cat back?” The man said, raising a eyebrow at him as if challenging him to counter him. A challenge that the bard all too happily took.
“But is the satisfaction worth it when you’re already death?”
The air was tensed again as he and the strange doctor stare at each other. The bard could see the man watching him carefully, looking to see if the boy was joking or if it was a underlying threat. Venti never gave anything away nor did he back off the staring contest, looking for an answer why the man so late outside. –What is even the man’s motivation?–
As if to quell the tension between them, the man spoke up. “You’re right, but you can hardly blame a man to be curious about a girl that is out in the open in middle of the night, seemingly well feed and dressed.”
Venti stopped again, looking at the man in disbelief before laughing so hard that some animals might have been frightened and ran away. The man looked annoyed, before hiding it behind some confusion and a hint of amusement. “Did I say something funny?”
As the laughing died down into mere chuckling, Venti nodded before answering. “The funniest thing ever! I might let the delusion live on; let you figure it out for yourself. You are a doctor; you should be smart enough to figure out yourself.” The bard said, amused at the fact that he was being referred as a girl, before continuing to walk ahead. “But to answer your first question, good sir, the reason why I am so ‘healthy and clean’, as you put it, is because I am a real-life bard!”
The man raised an eyebrow in amusement. “So, you sing songs and tell stories in the form of poetry?” Venti nodded. “Exactly!”
“It seems like dreams can come true, since you are doing quite well with your performances.”
Venti shrugs. “Well enough to get by.” The bard stopped as he saw that the tree line ended a bit further up. “Well good sir, it seems like we reached the end of our journey together.” He turned towards the man, his smile falling for a moment as he looked at the man that has dropped his façade, like an octopus finally dropping their camouflage.
“Not quite, my dear friend.” Venti shivered at the tone and took a step back displaying his uneasiness. “G-good sir? What do you mean?”
“Ah well you see; I had returned from the war in hopes of finding new recruits.”
A strained smile appeared on Venti’s face, as alarm bells began to ring his head. “Oh, I am not sure if you want a child in your army, good sir. Besides, like I said, I am more of a bard then a fighter.”
The raven-haired man smiled, not like the faux one from before, this smile was more on edge as if everything was being played out as he planned. –A snake coming out from its hiding place.– Venti mused, trying to think what he has miss that could give away the man’s intention. “Oh, I am sure you would be a good fit. After all, with the wind skill you have…” Venti stood rigid at the mention of his Anemo powers, how did this man even know? “I am sure it could be of quite use in the war.”
Venti thought back whenever he used his Anemo powers and his metaphorical heart dropped, when he realised that the man must have heard him use them when he used his powers to defend Nahida and himself from some bad people. The smile strained even more as Venti answered. “My apologies, good sir. But it seems like you are mistaken something, I don’t have any skills that you’re speaking of.”
A false surprise expression was shown on the man’s face. “Oh dear, maybe I have mistaken you for someone else. I sincerely apologise.”
Venti did not believe him for a second, but he wanted to get out of the strings that the puppeteer seems to be pulling and go back to Nahida. He wanted to see her, safe and sound, and so he did. Venti turned around and began to walk away, back to the open area he and Nahida were resting before and hopefully the girl was still resting. That was until a snap could be heard and then a voice. A voice that is beginning to grate on to Venti.
“But maybe you should look back once more, maybe you will find someone you know?”
Venti stopped in the middle of his steps, dread beginning to bubble up in his stomach, as he slowly looked back. A doll-like girl with blond hair and wearing an outfit of a nurse, came forward, her facial expression is completely empty, however her arms are full. Full of a child-size someone. Full of… Nahida?! The younger God was just resting a moment ago, she should have woken up by now with how roughly that doll-like carrying her! Venti’s eyes widened taking in the sleeping state of the girl. She shouldn’t be asleep, why, in the name of Celestia, is she asleep?!
Venti took a step forward and another and another, until he was running towards that blond doll that was carrying his sister! It seems like the man took pity on him, as he let the doll hand Nahida back to him.
“Nahi?” Venti quietly called out, once he got the girl in his arms. He gently patted her cheek, hoping for a reaction, any reaction, however, getting none but the sound of her even breaths. “Nahi! Hey, hey, hey! Don-don’t you worry, I am here! Just wake up… Why aren’t you waking up?!” Venti said each moment more desperate; the winds pick their speed around the bard as the boy turned his tear-filled eyes towards the man. The man who has started this.
“What have you done?!” Despite Venti’s tearful eyes, his voice was disturbingly calm. He needed to be calm otherwise his powers would be out of his control, and he could not give this man anymore ammunition against him and Nahida.
“Tch. Nothing much, I just instructed Elise-chan here to put your little sister into a deep sleep.” Venti’s brain was going overload, it wasn’t common for Archons to sleep but when they do, it is mostly because they are exhausted and need to repel their energy from their element, reducing them into a deep sleep. However, Nahida can clearly defend herself from humans, that isn’t a big deal, but… Venti narrowed his eyes, that blond doll, Elise, radiates a different aura then what humans normally radiate. It is almost the same aura as the man next to her.
Realisation hits Venti like a brick… Elise isn’t human. That explains her emotionless face and why she radiates such a different aura! But because of her aura is intertwined with that man, means that she is his skill!
So, Nahida must’ve woken up by Elise, and notice that she was a skill, who obviously tried to attack her… But Nahida would’ve still won, gifted or not. Venti knew her powers, it could’ve easily defeated the non-human.
“And how did your emotionless doll do that?” Venti asked, watching the man let out a whine. “Oh, I am hurt that you called my gift emotionless…” –So, I was right. She is his skill.– “… but since I find it difficult to deny request from young girls like you…” The smirk on the man widened. “Elise has injected a slow-spreading poison in to her body.”
The puzzle pieces finally fell into their places. When Nahida was fighting Elise, she must have been injected in the fight and since her body was fighting against the poison while Nahida was also physically fighting… It must have exhausted her to sleep. Right now, Nahida’s body is fighting against the slowly spreading poison. Venti was certain she wouldn’t die, at most the poison will disappear in a few hours to a few days, but he doesn’t know when Nahida will truly wake up… After all, she was exhausted when she fell asleep… It doesn’t matter now; Nahida is defenceless right now and that man was still grinning at him as if he won a game.
Lifting Nahida up in his arms, discreetly covering her elf-like ears as he did so, Venti stood up and narrowed his eyes on the man. The latter won’t tell him the name of the poison because that will defeat the whole purpose of poisoning Nahida in the first place. Venti was proven correct when he still asked.
The bard watched as the grin widened, an almost smug expression took over the man’s face. “You’re a smart one! I knew I picked the right recruit!”
“Is that what you want? For me to join the army in exchange for the antidote of the poison in my sister?” The man only smiled, watching Venti bring Nahida closer to his chest. The bard was in a fix, if this man finds out that they were Gods then there is no telling what he would do to make Barbatos and Buer join in the war. For now, though, the man think that he is a girl with only her little sister left as family, which to be fair is kinda true, and that he just has enough money to buy food and somewhere to rest on most nights, like a room in a motel, which is also kinda true. Venti wouldn’t be able to afford to go to a doctor, which is why the raven-haired man thinks he won. That man thinks that they were humans, and he would have to keep it that way. Venti would have to agree to the offer.
“On two conditions.”
The man raised an eyebrow at the bold sentence but gestured that he was listening. “I don’t have my skill anywhere listed, since I developed it when my parents died, and I want to keep it that way. I don’t want anyone chasing after me because of my skill, so I will not be mentioned anywhere on the records.” The raven-haired man nodded; it seems for Venti that it has some gain for him too. After all, a child in a war will have some uproar, best to avoid it all together. “Second, I am not a fighter, so I doubt I will get to kill anyone before they kill me. So, for my second condition is that I don’t fight or kill anyone in the war.”
He had seen too many people be killed, whether it be by him or someone else... He was tired of being used as puppet by them. Beside, Nahida wouldn’t want him to kill anyone because her, even if it sounds unreasonable. The young God would somehow blame herself of not being stronger and letting the man use her to get through Venti to keep their identities secret. Even though, it was his choice to be used!
Or was it? Maybe he was just playing into the strings of the puppeteer… Venti mentally shook his head, it wasn’t the time for doubts and the winds were telling him that the man only find them today, that means that the octopus of a man didn’t have much information of them beside the things he heard from the people that attacked the Gods. Venti just has to keep the charade going and try to find the antidote to make sure that the man doesn’t think that they were anything else then human.
The man shrugged as he flapped his hand. “Very well, I’m sure there are other use for your skill anyway. Tell me, can you make a barrier of wind?”
Venti nodded. “I can’t hold for a long time though. It takes away my energy and the more energy is gone, the weaker the barrier gets.” It wasn’t a lie, but also wasn’t the full truth either, the man has no needs of knowing the true strength of his powers.
“I see. Well, we will discuss the finer details along the way. For now…” the man took a step aside, indicating that Venti should take the lead towards the end of the forest. Venti sighed, knowing that this means there is no going back. Adjusting his grip on Nahida, letting her head fall on his shoulder, Venti took a step in the direction into the city.
Walking side by side with the puppeteer, its puppet walking behind them, Venti was the one that broke the silence this time. “I still haven’t gotten your name, good sir.” The pretence gone from both sides.
“My name is Mori Ōgai, but you’ll hear that I may be referred to as ‘the doctor’.”
Venti looked at him in a side-eyed glance. “So, you’re a real doctor, Mori-chan.”
Mori raised an amused eyebrow. “Mori-chan? I’m afraid that you are using the wrong honorific.”
“Oh no, I think I used the right one, Mori-chan.” Venti momentarily glanced at the man, before looking away again. “Just because I agree to come, doesn’t mean I have to respect you.” The bard firmly said. “But back to the previous conversation. Are you a real doctor or not?”
“I’m indeed a real doctor. However, I thought we had established that from our previous conversation.” Mori gasped, his hand on his heart. “Do you not trust me?”
“Trust? I don’t think you understand the meaning of trust, Mori-chan..
Trust is like the earth crust,
Rock-hard letting everyone get adjust
Until no limits get crossed!
Sinking everything in the sea to get rust
The rust that mixes everything in to dust”
Was Venti’s reply, to which Mori hummed, looking side-eyed at the bard. “You’re one intriguing girl…” Venti ignored the man’s comment, but he did felt uncomfortable at the lingering gaze pinned on him.
As they reached the end of the forest, a vehicle, that Venti remembered was called a car, was waiting for them. Mori held the door open for Venti, the bard notices the glee in the man’s eyes, and he sighed. Mori was enjoying this, enjoying the power he had over the boy. Venti sat in the car with Nahida in his lap, her ears still tactful covered by him. He won’t let her out of his sight and until he can obtain the antidote, so that Mori wouldn’t be suspicious of them not being humans, Venti has to pretend. Pretend that he can’t just kill the man in a snap, pretend that he can’t disobey him as it could harm his sister, pretend to be Mori’s obedient dog.
As Venti made himself as comfortable as possible in the passenger's seat, Mori took a seat behind the steering wheel on the right side and behind him Elise stepped into the car. Venti knew that Mori was watching him, but he stubbornly kept his gaze on the road. The man finally spoke up.
“You know my name and that of Elise, but I still don’t know yours or of your sister…”
Venti wished to keep his mouth shut, but the boy knew that if wanted Mori to think he won the game then he would have to let him think he’s pulling the strings. “Venti, just call me Venti and this is Nahida.”
The raven-haired man hummed in acknowledgement as he finally started the car. “Such a beautiful names for girls like yourself.” Venti tightened his grip on Nahida, solidifying his decision to never leave her alone in the man’s present. He didn’t bother to correct his gender; it is the one thing that amuses him in the situation so why bother to take it away?
This was like a game of chess, making sure to keep each benefit you have close to yourself and then to use them when the time is right. A game that the bard is more than well-versed at, having played and is still playing it for thousands of years in his own world. What is a human, a mere mortal, to compare with that?
Venti leaned back on the seat and tightened his grip on Nahida, when he saw the amused side-eyed glance from the driver. –Mori-chan may think that he has won the game of chess, but what he doesn’t know is that the battle of minds has just begun.–