Chapter Text
The kingdom of Inazuma was peaceful on a day like today. A gentle breeze drifted through the land, rustling sakura leaves and the long grass that drifted out across the countryside. The clouds had finally parted after a long rainy season - leaving the rooftops and plants glittering with dew. Warm sunshine settled across the land like a promise of a new beginning. The palace was in a lull as the guards reached the midpoint of their shifts. The empress sat in her office.
Her hands were folded in her lap as she gazed out the window. Her eyes were half lidded as the call of sleep settled along her shoulders. Just outside the door she could hear the gossip of her guards as they made bets when her priestess would arrive to drag her from her duties. She reached her hand out to catch a sparrow that settled against her warm skin. They came frequently for the seeds she left out for them. Alas, today she had none, and the little bird fluttered its wings in disappointment before flying off. The empress's gaze followed it out the window as it spun up into the air, past the balcony and up far above the rooftop, finally cutting it out of her line of sight.
The sparrow flew on, twisting in the small currents of the wind as it soared upward. A little creature like it scarcely flew that high - its wings were too weak for the strong pull of the air in the clouds, and building a nest in the high awnings of the palace was asking for the eagles to attack it. Yet it stubbornly moved on, passing by the two men crouched over the rooftop.
The two men were both holding a rope that dropped into one of the rooms below. It was a display room, rarely used, still guarded by the greatest agents of the land. They struggled to keep their partner steady as the roof stood slick against their boots. Sethos had resorted to kneeling only a few moments ago. Alhaitham gazed out over the rooftop to check for any guards that had suddenly gained the intelligence to look upward.
Sethos wasn't in denial. Alhaitham was doing most of the heavy lifting. Sethos was lithe, sure, but it didn't translate well to holding a man up by a skeptical piece of rope they had gotten from a random farmhand at the edge of the kingdom. Alhaitham had somehow managed to be the most muscular of all of them. But the balance of two kept their partner from slipping too far.
At least, it did until the rope jerked. Sethos slid forward, his pants dragging against the wet tiles with a squeaking noise. Alhaitham tried to twist his grip, but his eyes widened as two guards passed through the hallway beneath them. He shifted forward to try and hide out of sight - and his leg gave out from under him. He only faltered. It was enough.
They both winced as they heard a thud from below them. Alhaitham glanced down at his hands to see that the rope was gone. Sethos had managed to catch the edge of it and wrap it around his wrist, but he could feel the pull of gravity dragging him forward. They could both hear the faintest tinge of voices down there. Damn Inazuman walls and their horrible acoustics. Great for planning, horrible for telling what had gone wrong.
But the first rule in their business was to get out before things got bad, so Sethos felt zero qualms about thrusting Alhaitham the rope again and hauling it up like their lives depended on it. They may, considering how the voices turned into yells, and the sound of thunderous footsteps running out of the room reached their ears.
Alhaitham gave the rope one last tug, and Kaveh came tumbling out onto the roof. He closed the flap of the satchel and stumbled on the roof as Alhaitham tugged him up. "Did you get it?" Sethos asked in a whisper.
"Of course I got it," Kaveh protested. "I would have gotten away with it too, if you two hadn't dropped me!" He turned his chin towards Alhaitham. "You told me I knew better than to doubt your abilities."
Sethos cut in before the two could devolve into one of their bickering matches. "Does the escape route still work?"
Alhaitham shook his head. "If the guards were alerted, the opening will have closed. We only have moments before they figure out our exact positioning."
Kaveh paused for a moment to think, but Sethos grabbed his wrist and tugged him forward. Their boots threatened to slip on the wet tiles, but speed was more important than caution. Alhaitham followed close behind.
Sethos slipped into a dive at the edge of the rooftop and leapt onto the pathway below. He watched Kaveh turn towards Alhaitham, the grey-haired man raise an eyebrow, and then Kaveh's leap of faith downward. He stumbled. Alhaitham managed to catch himself in a roll.
"We're going in the opposite direction of the main road," Alhaitham pointed out.
"Which is where all the guards will be expecting us to go. We have to take an alternate route." Sethos flashed a smile. "Don't you trust me?"
"Sure, yeah, whatever, but I think you're forgetting the fact there's only one way off this island ," Kaveh snapped. He took a deep breath. "You do have one good idea, though. We need to keep moving."
Sethos nodded. "Follow me." He didn't bother taking Kaveh's hand this time. He dashed forward, then skidded to a stop as he heard footsteps approaching. Sethos hesitated only a second before leaping over the railing and crouching on the lower level of the rooftop. He heard Alhaitham and Kaveh land next to him - just in time. The guards overhead dashed through with little thought. He could hear their out-of-breath panting. "They must be rushing towards the front," he muttered.
"They're expecting us to head towards there too."
"Which we'll have to, eventually," Kaveh snipped.
Sethos sighed. "Stop being pissy, Kaveh. I have it all under control."
"I sincerely doubt that, considering where we are right now." He shuddered. "Why did I agree to steal from the Shogun herself?" He glanced down at the satchel, and Sethos could watch as his face steeled. "Right. What's your plan?"
"As I said, just follow me." They could afford to move a lot slower. Probably. If the guards were just running past them overhead, the three of them would be better off being careful than running and slipping into sight. Especially now that Sethos got a look at how far down the fall was.
The tiles eventually seemed drier as they got to the sunnier part of the rooftop. The palace walls were in sight - only far, far down below them. The top of the wall curved in a slope on both sides. Not exactly a suitable landing point. Even ignoring that, the outside quickly turned to cliff. Sethos could see the faint doubt in his partners' faces.
But they hadn't gotten this far on reasonableness. "Kaveh, you go first. Remember what I taught you about landing."
To his credit, Kaveh bit his own lip after he took a moment to almost protest. He glanced down, and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he leapt. Sethos didn't bother waiting to see how he landed before he jumped himself.
The air rushed through his hair. A strip that had fallen out in the chaos went into his eyes. His legs threatened to slip out of his control. The balls of his feet skimmed the edge of the tiles below. He just barely hit the slant of the wall, rolling forward to manage to grip onto the strip of solid space at the top.
He could just faintly see Kaveh slip and fall onto the other side of the wall. Alhaitham landed firmly beside Sethos as he picked himself up. Just as he staggered to his feet, his friend slid down the other side to help the weakest member of their trio up. Sethos did the same, landing down in a smoother roll this time.
The cliffs were too far up to jump down. Sethos could swear he heard the gods laughing at him as he looked down the cavernous drop. The waves crashed against the thin shore. Sethos glimpsed a speck of something brown at the edge of the water. His breath caught in his throat.
It came down to the inevitable. "We're going to have to climb down." He heard a small sigh from Alhaitham and a groan from Kaveh. "Look, we can do this. Just take it slow and steady. And-" An arrow whizzed past his ear. He cursed and kept himself from instinctively stumbling backwards, grinding his foot into the grass so he wouldn't go off the cliff. "We're out of time. They've noticed us."
He would have to be a fool to think all the guards left their posts. He did have a bit of respect for leaving their archers behind. If you couldn't cover distance on foot, you could at least shoot the intruders in their face. Sethos didn't really feel like having his wrecked today. It was one of his best features.
Shuffling his way down the cliffside wasn't that hard. At least, not at the beginning. Adrenaline had kicked in around the time he had almost taken an arrow to the face. Plus, climbing cliffs had been something he had done for fun as a child. He couldn't exactly say the same for Kaveh and Alhaitham, but at some point, the two had decided to risk gravity's call instead of the Shogunate's.
The first hour was fine. At least, Sethos was pretty sure it was an hour. He wasn't the best at keeping track of time, but the sun seemed to move just a few inches over enough that it seemed to be about the right guess. Edging into the second hour, though, was misery. The arrows had stopped. The archers had eventually managed to get to the edge of the cliff, but the angle of the cliff curving inward allowed the trio enough shelter for them to stay out. There wasn't a quick way down to the edge of the water. His muscles were starting to ache from taking the hard way.
Finally, though, his feet touched the sand. Sethos breathed out a small laugh. Moments later Kaveh or Alhaitham followed. The satchel was still intact around the blonde one's neck. The guards wouldn't be able to make their way down to them for a while. Well, maybe one of them could have, if they had any talent.
"What now?" Kaveh asked. He was flexing his hands and wincing. Sethos could see the scratch marks clawing down his palms. They'd need to treat that soon. The other two seemed to get out relatively unscathed.
"Now, my dear scholar, we get out of here." At his partners' disgruntled looks, he burst out into a peel of laughter. "I know, I know! We're on an island. But getting off is quite simple."
Alhaitham crossed his arms. "I can't swim."
"Neither can I," Sethos agreed. "Downside of growing up in a desert. But-" he winked "-there is something that can."
His partners looked largely unimpressed. At least, until Sethos pointed out the boat. It was a small thing, something a poor fisherman might pilot. The hull was encrusted with some sort of rock-like substance Sethos didn't particularly want to touch. But it was their only way out of there.
Kaveh was the one who moved first, kicking it. The little boat shifted in the sand and bobbed out onto the water. He nodded in satisfaction. "It floats, at least. Alhaitham, you can paddle."
"Why should I be the one to do most of the labor? If you recall correctly, I'm just as much of a workman as you are."
Sethos rolled his eyes. "We only have so long before the guards actually get down here, guys. Let's go. Kaveh's hands are obviously torn up, and you are freakishly strong for a 'scholar', Haitham." He watched as Alhaitham paused, his eyes darting to Kaveh's hands. "C'mon, let's go!" he urged them, stepping into the boat.
All three of them piled on. It took a few tries for Alhaitham to understand the way the splintered paddle functioned, but they were out from the coast. The guards wouldn't be able to find them if they hit the mainland. They could slink away into the forests, never to be seen in this nation again.
Sethos whooped as they reached the open waters. Far enough away to not be caught, of course. He reached his hands up to try and brush the clouds. Kaveh snorted. "Someone has to celebrate our victory, boys. We're set!" All they had to do was get far enough away to pawn off their prize. No more struggles. No more risky moves. At least for a while.
He could even see Alhaitham smile at the prospect. Sethos felt like he could kick his feet up and lay back. Chat with the crow flying overhead and spin wonderful tales about the riches he was about to bring home. Instead, he grabbed their medical supplies. "Hand your hands over here, Kaveh." There'd be time for celebration later.
The sparrow settled on the back of his hand. Scaramouche pulled the limb closer to his chest, his eyes tracing over the little thing. The bird looked weak. Its feathers were ruffled, its eyes seemed empty and devoid of thought, and it surely couldn't have come from far. The creature hopped onto his shoulder and pecked his hair. Scaramouche jerked its head away. The movement startled the weak little thing, and it fluttered off to more merciful nesting places.
Today had been boring. The nothingness got tiring after a while. He didn't dare poke around in Dottore's cabinets or workspaces, leaving him with little to do whenever his guardian went out on his 'expeditions'. Dottore didn't mind if he sketched on the walls or cooked something with the strange ingredients he brought back, but the walls were covered in old doodles, and the cupboards were bare. It had been three days since Scaramouche had any food. Not an unusual occurrence, but an annoying one nonetheless.
His hair had gotten caught on the edge of one of the tables. It had threatened to overturn one of the experiments still bubbling in a small cauldron. He had spent the next hour unwinding it cautiously. The damn locks were really becoming an issue. He'd love to just cut it all off - but he wasn't that foolish.
Dottore had no use for him outside of his hair.
So all he could do was wait. Hunger made him idle and angry. His mind clouded over in a thoughtless glaze as he stared out the one exit of his tower. The sun dipped lower and lower into the sky. He closed his eyes. There was a faint reminder in his mind that falling asleep here was potentially dangerous. He didn't much care.
His eyes flickered open to the call of his guardian. "I'm waiting, Balladeer." Scaramouche could just make out the smile from this distance. The mask around his eyes made his eyes look dark and as sharp as knives. Scaramouche let down his hair.
The tugging sensation abated after a couple minutes. Dottore certainly had gotten better at climbing over the years. Scaramouche couldn't recall how he got down in the early years, before his hair reached the ground. Surely there had to have been some rope at some point. He shook the thought off. "Did you bring food?" he asked instead.
"Of course. You're so impolite though, Scaramouche, demanding things from your caretaker just after you've gotten home. What would you do without me? I battled through wilderness and monsters just to get back home to you." Dottore tutted as he set the large basket on the nearest table. He pulled off his gloves, reaching out to grab the nearest lock of Scaramouche's hair and rub it in between his fingers. "I'm so tired, you know... My age is really getting to me."
Scaramouche sighed. It was easier, at least, when he came back like this. In a good mood, suggesting rather than stating his demands. "You could use my hair," he offered. Dottore grinned. Scaramouche knew he made the right choice.
"There you are. So much better when you're docile." Dottore pat him on the head and stepped over to the dresser to grab his brush. Scaramouche settled down onto his knees and took a breath. He had brushed his hair this morning, of course. It was one of the few tasks that were in front of him. Luckily, it took hours.
Dottore stepped behind him and tugged the brush through the hair. Scaramouche closed his eyes. He could feel his hair glow and magic hover in the air. He was never entirely sure how it happened, but it always made things better. Dottore's mood lifted, his guardian's energy went up, and cuts and wounds healed near instantly. It was finicky. Dottore was the only person who could consistently trigger it.
He hated it. It felt unfair that Dottore understood his body better than he did. Anger curled back up in his chest. Scaramouche shoved it down. Dottore would tolerate his outrage at times, laugh when he snapped about the lack of food or hiss about his idle mind, but he never allowed a disruption during the Brushings.
Eventually his guardian's hand stilled, and the brush was tucked back into its rightful place. Scaramouche stood up and rubbed his temple. It alleviated a bit of the pressure building in his scalp. Dottore hummed and tucked away the food into its rightful place. Scaramouche pursed his lips at the haul. Small, small enough that there would be another expedition soon. Dottore had probably planned for it.
His guardian turned on his heel. "So how has it been, my dear little Balladeer? I hope you haven't been too lonely without me."
"It's better when you're not here," Scaramouche managed out. He sat back down on his bed and pulled his hair towards him, out of the way of Dottore carelessly stepping on it. "How much did you bring back?"
"Less than usual, little one. I'm planning on leaving soon." He hummed as he set down another pile of strange books on his table. "Though I will have to organize all this mess before I do, I'm afraid..." Some books would disappear. They always did, long before Scaramouche got curious enough to risk looking at them.
"I'm not a child anymore," he focused on, gritting his teeth. He was pretty sure he wasn't, anyway. Dottore had never been all too clear about the difference between men, women, and children, but Scaramouche was as well-defined as he was. His face had lost all of the fat that made it up in the early years of his youth, and he had stopped gaining height a few years ago.
Dottore tsked. "You'll always be a child to me," he cooed. "A cute little innocent, malleable child that I graciously took in when you were attacked in the wild. I gave you everything! Why wouldn't I think you small and vulnerable?" He shook his head and moved on, gracefully sidestepping Scaramouche's growling. "I'll be leaving soon. It's that time of the year again." It took a moment for him to register Scaramouche's confusion. "Oh, Balladeer, don't you remember? You look oh so forward to it every time."
A jolt shot up Scaramouche's spine. He had lost track of time. Usually he tracked it by the weather he could glimpse and the stars. The snowfall this year had been light, so it had been hard to tell when the chill of autumn moved into winter, and the clouds overhead had been blocking his view of the stars.
Every year, just after the turn of the old one into the new, the sky lit up with floating lights. Dottore seemed unbearably smug whenever he saw them. It was the only true, definitive passage of time Scaramouche had to his age. He counted his age out by the amount of times they passed by his window into the pitch sky. The number was in the eighties now.
Every year, Dottore left to do some research. Scaramouche constantly questioned the danger if he was so willing to go out frequently around that time. The next time Dottore had come back, it had been with no food and a gaping side wound Scaramouche hadn't been able to fix until he pressed the brush into his guardian's bloody hands. "It's safest around this time of year," Dottore had said afterwards, and Scaramouche had never questioned it afterwards.
He never questioned it. He just thought.
"I'll be going out for one more trip for preparation before leaving for a month." He paused. "I'll come back with more food first, don't you worry."
"I never worry about you," Scaramouche assured him with a barbed tongue and a look that would set stone on fire.
Dottore laughed. Scaramouche wondered. The next day, Dottore left with a long slide down his hair. Scaramouche used the free time to practice the wording he would use.
Branches snapped underneath their footsteps as they dashed further into the forest. The thieves could hear the flapping of winds and the movements of a man far faster than them approaching. The leader of the pack twisted around a tree, rapidly switching direction. His companions followed with only a bit of a stumble.
The sun overheard streamed in through the canopy of leaves in small rays that skittered over their skin and flashed into their eyes. Sethos blinked the spots left behind away. His breath was coming out in short bursts as they continued to sprint. He faintly worried about how Kaveh would hold out if they went on much longer. They had scarcely a moment to rest after they docked before the Tenyrou's special attack dog was on their heels. Attack crow, actually, but Sethos didn't care much for the distinction when she was part of a duo trying to drag their asses back to get executed.
The turn seemed to have bought them a few moments. Their pursuers also probably had spotty vision, dashing past the detour where they had taken. It would only give them a minute. A minute before the tracker stopped and realized he had been duped, then turned back around and found the obvious trail they had been leaving.
Sethos could only faintly hear the roar of a frustration from a man-beast that had just been outwitted - by a silly little turn of all things. The grin, though, was quickly lost when he skittered to a stop in front of a small cliff face. It was nothing like the one they had scaled over before. Maybe a bit taller than two of them put together.
"There doesn't seem to be another way out," Alhaitham stated, only a few steps behind him. "The trees are too thick for us to make a practical escape. We'll be slowed down enough to be put in range of their projectiles."
"Then the only way out is up." Sethos glanced back to see Kaveh finally stumbling in.
Alhaitham had the raw strength, Sethos had the endurance, and Kaveh... well, he was the heart of the whole operation. Alhaitham and Sethos split the brains between them. Kaveh had the most dexterous fingers, Sethos supposed.
At least he hadn't dropped the satchel.
Sethos leapt up and grabbed onto the nearest holding. It took him mere moments to scrabble up the cliff face. He turned around to help Alhaitham pull up the last step. They were as quick as possible, but they could hear the crackle of electricity as an angry guard made their way towards them. "Shit," Sethos cursed. They needed more distance. Verticality meant nothing to those two.
Kaveh hadn't climbed up. Alhaitham looked near outrage, but Sethos looked down at the man's hands. He had pulled the satchel from his neck. He was just holding it. And below them, his hands were sloppily bandaged, stained with red.
Sethos caught the satchel. Before he could tell Kaveh off for being a dumbass, the man had dashed off in a different direction into the forest.
Alhaitham tried to move towards him. Sethos tackled him down as their hunters burst into the small clearing. He could hear a caw as the crow perched somewhere. They could only pray it was somewhere that didn't see them.
Suddenly, though, the crow shot off. Sethos caught a glimpse of it shooting off towards Kaveh in the corner of his eye. Her companion followed suite. Sethos felt his shoulders tense. "Kaveh bought us a few minutes," he mustered up as he stood. Alhaitham didn't move. "Don't let that be in vain."
It seemed to do the trick well enough. Alhaitham stood up and looked down at the satchel in Sethos's hand. Sethos knew what that look in his eyes meant. And he agreed. But it wasn't a matter of value anymore.
The two of them moved further into the forest, careful not to make a sound.
"I think we're lost," Sethos muttered. Alhaitham shot him a glare. Night had fallen, and they spent the whole time stumbling over their own feet trying to move further into the woods. Sethos hadn't even realized there was this much forest in Inazuma. When Alhaitham had researched, there had been a vague warning that all cover led to open fields and cliff sides eventually. If Sethos felt a bit more like ruining his relationships, he'd point that fact out.
The first few rays of sunlight were peaking into the forest. Even though the canopy of trees was thicker, it had gone from pitch black to the point where Sethos could make out the roots he was about to trip over.
"We are," Alhaitham admitted after a moment. "We've been walking in one direction for hours." Neither of them had even considered resting. Sethos's eyes stung and the satchel on his shoulder felt heavy. Still, the question of rest seemed impossible. Not until they were safe. If they could even be safe.
He had followed them from Sumeru. And teamed up with the Tenryou for their newest crime. Moving across the world wouldn't help them at this point. Especially since they had to go back for Kaveh.
They just kept walking. Sethos's feet ached. Every step sent burning heat of fatigue up his calves. Alhaitham couldn't be much better off. Sethos opened his mouth to suggest a break- and then the scenery changed.
There was a curtain of vines. The purple strings of leaves fell in neat rows that almost felt deliberate. Sethos chuckled. It was a poor partition, bringing more attention to the opening of the cave than anything. The leaves of the vines didn't even cover anything, having small holes in the middle. Alhaitham probably could figure out what they were.
Sethos only really cared about one thing. "Are they toxic?"
"Naku weed? No." Alhaitham paused. "It looks like a variant of naku weed, at the very least. The coloration is off, and the size-"
"Alhaitham, we found a cave. We can rest." He took him by the wrist and led him inside. The tunnel wasn't quite spacious. It was large enough for three people to stand comfortably side by side, but Alhaitham's head almost grazed the top. Sethos could feel the worn down grass beneath his feet. And, strangest of all, there was a light at the end of it. He stopped in his tracks. "It might be a way out."
"I doubt it. The tree coverage was still quite thick. The chances are that it simply leads to a separate portion of the forest." He stepped forward. Sethos let a confused noise escape him. "I did not say it wasn't worth it. Wherever it is, it seems there are limited entrances. Our trackers will have a harder time following us."
Sethos had to blink the light away from his sensitive eyes. The walk through the cave felt like it had taken forever. By the time they had gotten through, the sun had already fully risen over this strange new place. A small bubbling river ran across, with purple and blue flowers Sethos hadn't seen in this portion of Inazuma sprouting all over. The walls of the clearing stretched up higher and higher in smooth, long strips. It was probably impossible to climb.
There was a tower in the center of the clearing. It stretched up halfway as high as the mountainous walls. Sethos stepped forward to get a closer look. It didn't look Inazuman in design. More a... mishmash of Sumerian and Mondstadtian? Kaveh would have been able to give a better analysis. Whatever it was, it was strange. Sethos found himself drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Alhaitham's hand was firm on his shoulder. "Look. It's shelter. An easily protectable place or whatever. It's probably abandoned with how overgrown it is. We can raid it!" His partner looked even less convinced. Sethos tugged his shoulder away from him. "The real reason is I'm going to go up there whether you like it or not, so if you don't follow me, we split up here," he said with a grin on his face.
The vines did not provide great handholds. Sethos was light enough they could hold his weight, but Alhaitham seemed to run into issues. Luckily, the more brick-like construction meant there were crevices and divots their hands could fit into. They were more exhausted than they had been during the initial chase, but there was a definitive end in sight. It was enough to spur Sethos on and make his way over the sill of the opening. Why this place didn't have a door, he would always wonder.
He fell to the floor in a sweaty slap. He groaned. His hip ached from landing on it just the wrong way. Sethos pulled himself up just as Alhaitham landed competently inside.
The stranger stared at them. Sethos stared back. There was hair everywhere. Long, thick purple hair that wrapped around furniture and piled on the floor. It was all connected to the pale, short stranger. Who was currently glaring at him.
"Hey," Sethos said with all the charm he could muster.
The hair-person grabbed the nearest chair and lunged.