saudade; raiden ei

xxɪᴠ. thoughts

"Hey, Y/n? What is a... camera?"

Today the pair returned to Inazuma City, once again shrouding their identities behind disguises.

Y/n paused, turning back to see that Ei had stopped at a certain stall, and was now staring at a certain gadget on display. She wandered over, lifting the item into her hands.

"A camera... how should I explain.." Y/n mused to herself, her finger gliding over a button.

"If you press this button here, you can preserve anything that you like, or that's important to you, for.. well, eternity."

She seemed shocked. "For eternity, you say..."

The soldier nodded, smiling as she handed it to the Archon. As Ei got used to holding it, Y/n pulled out some mora and gave it to the person running the stall.

'The things that are important...'

Y/n blinked, glancing around frantically.

Ei was gone.

She resisted the urge to call her name as she ran around and searched for the Archon. Despite their disguises, she didn't want to draw any more attention to herself than necessary.

Eventually, Y/n found Ei peering over the counter at Shimura's. Her camera clicked, and she effectively captured some tricolour dango.

The soldier stopped, her hand on her chest as she tried to catch her breath.

"...Ei.."

"Fascinating." The woman mumbled, eyeing her photo. "This small instrument effortlessly achieves the goal I struggled to reach for centuries, yet I was unaware of it until now... It's almost taunting- oh, Y/n! Why do you appear so exhausted?"

Y/n looked at the Archon in disbelief, however before she could even open her mouth she felt something warm envelop her hand. Looking down, she saw a pair of red horns resting upon a mess of spiky hair. When she met his red eyes, he began to speak.

Disbelief quickly gave way to bewilderment.

"Hey there, sunshine! Now I know this is sudden, but I ain't gonna lie to ya. I wanna marry ya! Now just hear me out, I know what you're thinkin', 'why's he proposing to me'. but sunshine here's the thing, I like ya a lot- like seriously a lot. Betcha speechless huh? So whaddya say sunshine? Yah? or Nah?"

Y/n stood still, unable to formulate a response. Honestly, her brain had yet to entirely process what was happening. However, before she even had a chance to, Ei cut in, the air around her crackling with electricity.

When the man- well, Y/n wasn't really sure what he was- met her deadly glare, he stopped, realising the amount of trouble he had just gotten himself into.

In the Archon's eyes was an unquenchable fire, a thirst for blood like no other. As she placed one hand over her chest in preparation, she frowned.

"You will be inlaid upon-"

Y/n's eyes widened, and she grabbed Ei's wrist. She didn't know what compelled her to do so, but somehow, she felt that this wasn't the first time she'd heard those words.

And they were bad news.

"Ei."

When her eyes met Y/n's, the soldier noticed that their usual beauty was masked with a dangerous glow. She looked past it, into the swirling purple depths, her face full of meaning. The furrowed eyebrows, the pursed lips.. As Ei stared back, she saw what Y/n was trying to convey.

Her eyes stopped glowing, and she averted her gaze.

"...Fine."

"I'm so sorry-" Y/n started, but when she looked back down, the 'man' was gone. She then took a deep breath in attempt to ease her growing migraine.