Work Text:
You don't know what to think about the Traveler. Though you have heard tales of their travels both the good from those they've helped and the bad from those that survived an encounter with them, you have yet to actually form an opinion on them.
Maybe you should feel positive about them for the way they keep looking at you with concern as Dottore monologues about things you hardly care about anymore. How they reach out to you and take your hand even though the Doctor has little patience for those who wish to take what's "his" but he allows it if only to help persuade them to his side even more.
How they hold your hand firmly shielding you behind them as they talk back to the Doctor even as the space around you morphs and reshapes around you both disorienting you. Maybe you should think them the righteous hero that's trapped by the villain while protecting the villains captive giving them hope of escape.
Instead of singing their praises you want to curse them. But most of all...you want to cry.
It happens in a blur as the Traveler stabs the Doctor pushing you away from them as Dottore strikes in rage. They try to keep you safe while dodging his attacks but ultimately as they're pinned down by his gravity the Doctor prepares to send you away. But for just a split second before the gateway surrounds you completely sending you to your plush seat in Dottore's lab you saw "him".
The puppet that you're the only one who remembers anymore rushing in and probably grabbing the Traveler and escaping with him. You don't know. But what you do know is that it hurts.
It hurts to see a familiar face you cared for despite his prickly personality save someone else. You wonder if he even remembers you.
You wonder if he remembers watching you train or do your duties when Capitano was away because he "had nothing better to do". How he coldly scolded you for any injuries you gained when training or when you got sick for being outside in the rose garden for too long yet he tended to you himself because the nurses were "inefficient". How roses filled your bedroom vase because "what kind of idiot freezes themselves for a bunch of flowers?" and "I don't want to hear you whining while that knight of yours is away".
You wonder if he remembers soothing your anxiety at night when you would wander the halls unable to sleep in the Captain's absence. How he'd mock you for being a child that needs their "bedtime stories" to go to sleep yet he told you tales anyways. He was kinder than he let on just like how many of the Fatui are but his kindness and Capitano's meant the most to you.
You want to cry.
Did he recognize you? Who were you kidding? Did he even see you when rushing in? Why did he care about the Traveler's safety anyways? Why was he there?
Just why was he by their side and not with you?!
You're the one who loved him not them!
Dottore finds you slumped in your seat head in your hands surrounded by broken glass and spilled vials. He doesn't question you, he's used to your outbursts by now and with a flick of his fingers the mess is undone. He lightly scolds you but pets your head like some kind of pet as you gaze unfocused ahead of you.
Just who did you mean those words for?