Chapter 4: Scaramouche

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You could not believe what you were seeing. After 500 unconscious and 10 living years, you were seeing your friend. All sorts of emotions welled up within you. You rushed to the window, placing a hand on the indide of the cold window pane right where his hand was on the outside.

Kabuki had different clothes than what you remembered. He was now in a viotet and red outfit with a huge hat with a veil running down it's back.

You both just stood there for a while staring into each other's eyes. It was like time had stopped. Kabuki's purple eyes looked the same as before, though you could sense that they had lost their usual glimmer.

"Well, out you come, then," he said.

Hearing his voice after hundreds of years brought back all sorts of emotions for you. You opened the window quickly and quietly, making sure not to wake up Ayaka, and with a little bit of help from Kabuki, climbed right out of the window into the courtyard.

"Kabuki!" you exclaimed, hugging him. Now that you had grown older, you were almost upto his height.

"Yes, y/n," Kabuki patted your head, "Haven't heard that alias of mine for a long time. Let's go somewhere farther than here to talk."

He guided you quietly behind the estate, to the edge of the cliff that overlooks the ocean below. You both sat down side by side.

"So," he said looking at you and taking in as much of you as he could, as if making up for all those years of not seeing you. You couldn't help but blush a little under his intense gaze.

"You've changed quite a bit, haven't you?" he said with a smirk.

"Yeah...I'm 18 now. Not 7 anymore..." you said, looking down, embarrassed.

"518. How did you do it?"

"Oh. Um, you see two days after you had left to get help from the shogun, Hisa-nii put me in a domain, he was trying to hide me from something I guess. But I stayed asleep in that domain for 500 years."

"Hm. That's quite interesting."

"So did you return to the village after getting help?"

"Oh yes. Yes." He sounded suddenly annoyed. "I did return to that wretched place, foolish kabukimono. Everyone had left without me. Did you know that, y/n?"

You were shocked. What was he saying? Hadn't Hisa-nii said that he would wait for kabuki in the village? Reading your expression, Kabuki went on.

"Of course you didn't. You were but a fledgling. Well let me bring you up to par with my life then," he said and you could no longer feel the warmth that previously radiated from him. Instead there was a malicious aura all around.

"First off, I'm not the kabukimono. That was a name given to me by humans. I'm no longer your "kabuki". I'm Scaramouche. The 6th of the Fatui harbingers- the Balladeer-"

"Kabuki, that's unbelievable and-" you were cut off mid sentence as a buzzing filled your year and your vision blurred.

"Silence, human!" Scaramouche said, "What did i just say? This time it was just a slap on your stupid face. If you speak out of your place again, you will no longer be able to speak."

And there was silence. You couldn't understand what had happened to him to make him this angry.

"Well? Do you understand?" he asked.

"Yes, Scaramouche. "

To this, the puppet fell quiet. He had made you, the only person that linked him to his past, address him by his prized alias. But at the same time, he felt as if he lost something within himself. He looked at you again. The look on your face made him gasp. You were no longer excited to see him. You were crying silently from the impact of that one hit across your face. You were not even facing him. You couldn't help but remember that day on Nazuchi beach when this very same person had promised never to hurt you. And even though you had experienced hurt of different types while growing up- during your swordfight practices, breaking quite a few bones while fighting monsters and not to mention, the realisation that no one from your past existed, this slap from the person in front of you somehow seemed more painful and hurt way more than anything had ever hurt you.

"Shit," he sighed, "Y/n, come here." He grabbed you tightly in a hug, as if he hadn't just abused you both verbally and physically.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I broke my promise." Oh so he did remember it. "I broke our promise of 500 years. I will never do it again. Can you please just forgive me this once? I have been through a lot and I'm not going to dump my trauma on our first meeting after years but I am not the same person that I once was, y/n. Will that make you hate me? Because I won't allow it. You can't hate me, you understand?" Something was wrong with him. He started apologetically but now he was sounding dangerous and threatening.

"I waited for you for 500 years. You have no clue of what I went through while you slept off in that damn domain. I searched for you all over. But you had left me too!" His grip on you was dangerously tightening as he squeezed down on the hug.

You could feel him trembling as he said all these. What on earth had happened to him to make him so broken like this? 

"It's okay," you said softly. "I'm okay. And I'm here. Don't worry about the promise. I'll consider it still intact. I'm so sorry for making it seem like i left you. I pray for you everyday. I am so happy you found me."

Not letting go of the hug, Scaramouche continued, "I'll finally become a God, y/n. The doctor will make me into a god. And when that happens, you will be my goddess."

Surprised beyond your wits, you managed to say, "I don't really understand-"

"You don't need to. Just be there for me."

Scaramouche let go of you.

"Now then," you sensed that evil aura returning to him again "you will have my back, won't you, y/n?"

You didn't want to agree. You didn't want to say yes. What had happened to the kabukimono? Or scaramouche as he preferred now. One time he was so warm and loving and the next moment he was hurling insults. It was as if he was fighting between two different personalities. You dared not say no to him.

"I will."

"Heh, what a good girl you are," he again patted your head, "you'll be my first loyal follower. I'll send for you when it's time. Till then, wait for my letter. And I'm trusting you on not babbling about our little nightly encounter to anyone. Else that'll be the end of your long long life."

Saying this, Scaramouche stood up.

"Alright, I'm off then," he said and leaped off the cliff.

"What the-" you bent forward and saw him land perfectly on the beach. He looked up at you, now so tiny, and waved goodbye.

You sat there outside, thinking about everything that had happened. He said he would send for you when everything was ready. He said he would write you a letter too. Well that was good then. You would see him again. And even though this meet was not exactly pleasant, you hoped that your future meetings with him will be utterly joyous. What was that all about him being a god? Had the heavenly principles really chosen him? As his friend, you should be happy right? But he said you were his first follower. Maybe gods don't have friends. They only have followers? But you weren't exactly thrilled at the idea.
Also what was that about everyone in tatarasuna leaving him? Well you couldn't get that answer even if you wanted to. For no one currently living had that answer.

You decided to go back in.

As you lay in your bed wide awake, you glanced at Ayaka, still perfectly asleep. Probably dreaming about the traveller.

Wait a minute. THAT'S RIGHT. THE TRAVELLER! He has been to many nations. Maybe he knows Scaramouche and the nation whose god he was to become? You decided to ask him this the next time he visited Ayaka. Albeit you would have to ask him without exposing much of what Scaramouche had told you, for he had basically given you a death threat. But still, you were determined it was worth a try.

(Picture credit: genshin impact)

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