I will save you (Kunikuzushi x fem!reader)

Everlasting lord of Arcane Wisdom

When they mentioned The Balladeer, I turned my attention to them again.

"So... The Balladeer is who they're trying to turn into a god..." Nahida started.
"We had previously come into contact with his consciousness. He harbors particularly strong obsessions..." Nahida said.

I walked towards them again.

"One is the desire for a gnosis, since he was created to be the vessel for one. I wonder how he got a hold of The Electro Archons gnosis though..." Nahida said.

I felt myself sweat drop. That's right, no one knew I had given him the gnosis yet...
Maybe I should come clean about that...

"Well... about that... I'm sort of... the one who gave it to him..." I said, chuckling nervously.

They all turned towards me with wide eyes, almost making me jump.

"What?! Why?! When?!" Paimon asked loudly, leaning towards me.

"It's a long story, I didn't know he would use it for this. I just felt like... I owed him something..." I said guilty, looking down.

Nahida spoke again, "About that, his other obsession... is probably related to his past. Maybe Y/n herself as well..." she said.

Aether doesn't know my past with him yet I assume. I have a feeling he will find out one day, even if it was against my will.

"Paimon knows he was a prototype puppet for the Raiden Shogun before he became a Fatui Harbinger." Paimon said.

I looked to the floor.
"He was... so much more than that before he became a harbinger." I said, not intending to explain further.

"Sounds like all of you know The Balladeer quite well." Nahida said.

"We've had earlier encounters..." Aether responded.

"I see. Tell me more about how he's like." Nahida said to us all.

Aether explained how he had seen him, met him and spoken to him. How his encounters with him were all terrible.

I decided not to speak at all. I didn't want to tell them my vision of him. This gave me a sense of Deja vu. When I used to sit behind a screen, playing this very game. This was the feeling I had when I saw Scaramouche.

A feeling of abandonment, connection, and relating to him. And now when I had been with him for so long, a feeling of love. These were all feelings I couldn't bring up now with these people. They wouldn't understand, not at all.

"Ah... I see. How fascinating." Nahida said as Aether finished his explanation.

"Alright, time to go. Let's get through here and meet him in person." Nahida said.
I nodded in agreement and we started heading on our way through the domain.

There were soldiers in almost every room.
But with both me and Aether, they all easily went down.

Through hallways, we ran, we climbed, and fought.

The whole building reminded me of the delusion factory again, as well as the encounter with Scaramouche I had there.

I would face him again, in a new domain, on opposite sides. This time... I wasn't alone. And it wasn't about my feelings, this was about the fate of Sumeru.
But for some reason... I still hoped he would acknowledge my presence in the room...
It was selfish of me to think that way...