✧𝚄𝚗𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍✧ GENSHIN oneshots

◕,◔- Of Blood and Flowers- Scaramouche

featuring:- Scaramouche, reader
warnings:- hanahaki, brief mentions of blood, coughs, the usual hanahaki shit, and dottore
a/n:- gosh one of my first oneshots so like.. cringe warning but whatever....

wc:- 1k

"Well you only need the light when it's burning low, Only miss the sun when it starts to snow,"

YOU were one of the few Fatui Secretaries- those who managed all the affairs of the Harbingers and basically served as their right hand man. You were responsible to three Harbingers- Arlecchino or the Knave, Tartaglia or Childe, and Scaramouche or the Balladeer. Mostly it was just Scaramouche though, because the other two preferred to do their important work themselves. Scaramouche, of course, was the exact opposite, believing himself to be 'too mighty and important' to do anything apart from the bare minimum. His words, not mine. So you ended up doing all of his paperwork, and training new recruits and stuff. And only you, because in his words, "Everyone else is much too unskilled and too much of a fool to be able to do half a thing mediocrely."

Maybe it was that you both shared similar pasts, maybe it was something, but you and Scara seemed to grow steadily closer. And that's where things started to go wrong. Because you started to fall in love with him slowly, started to fall for him. The Scaramouche who was never kind to anyone other than you. The Scaramouche who actually seemed to care for you. And yet, you knew that his feelings for you could never be more than platonic.

You knew that your love for him was unrequited.

And so, it wasn't long before the coughing began. Naturally, you waved it off. But it quickly grew worse, frequently raking through your body. And everytime, you felt somethinng gnawing and clawing at your throat. Of course, you hid it from Scara. Within time, blood too started coming out with your coughs.

Then the first petal came. It was an exotic Sumeru Rose's petal. You stared at the bloodstained petals in horror. Why didn't you realize it sooner? The coughs, the blood and now the petals.

Hanahaki. You had hanahaki. The affliction only grew more serious with time, and got in the way of work too. You had the frequently excuse yourself for a quick trip to the washroom, where you hid all the evidence that something was dreadfully wrong with you. But Scaramouche, being sharp, did notice that something was off about you. Whenever he asked, you merely replied that it was a bad cough.

You often wonder, is it right for you to throw away your entire life just for someone who didn't love you back? You knew of the possible outcomes. Either he started loving you back, or you had to choose between losing all your feelings and memories for the loved one, or death. You were torn between the latter two.

It was another mostly normal day. Till you were hit with another bout of the bloody coughs. It seemed much more severe this time. You earned yourself a concerned look from Scara, but you paid it no mind as you doubled over in terrible pain, feeling something both solid and liquid in your throat. You tried to escape the room, but Scara had quickly come over to you, putting his hands on your shoulders and bending down to your eye level. "Something's wrong with you." He said with narrowed eyes, It was a statement, not a question. "We should go get you check-" He began, but was cat off by the sight of you coughing up blood, and a flower. An entire Sumeru rose, in all its bloodied glory, purple petals stained with red. You stared at it, and so did Scaramouche. Then he slowly looked up at you in horror, and you knew that he knew.

Despite you still coughing severely, you quickly dragged your body up and ran out of the room. You didn't want to face Scara. Without you knowing, your feet took you to a certain doctor's room as fast as possible with your condition. Dottore, the Doctor, No. 2 of the Harbingers. You urgently knocked at his door, and immediately entered on hearing him call out.

He was quite surprised to see the blood on you. There were a few flowers in your hands. Before he could even spoke, you made a desperate request to him. "Lord Dottore, right now I come to you not as the Secretary, but as [name]. May I ask if you know of the surgery to cure the Hanahaki disease."

He asked you to explain yourself first, which you did, periodically interrupted by blood and coughs. "You should have come to me sooner, [name]." He said grimly. "If you wish to perform the surgery, we must do it quickly. But if I may ask, who is it that you love?" You hesitated. "...It's Scaramouche."

A snort escaped Dottore, and he wheezed. "Really? Balladeer? That rude angry little midget? Wow, [name], you really are a special one." You sighed, the coughs having momentarily ceased. "Yes yes, I'm so special that I'm on the verge of dying. I've been coughing out entire bloody flowers, in case you haven't noticed. Can we get on with the surgery please? I don't want to waste my life chasing after a man who doesn't love me back." His mood changed again."Are you really sure?" "I'm aware of the consequences. I will forget all memories and feelings I held for him. Yes, I'm sure. Perhaps I might find love again, perhaps I wont." He sighed in resignation as he led you to the operation room. "And don't even try doing anything funny." You warned him.

~ ⟪§⟫ ~

You got out of the bed, feeling slightly dizzy and nauseous. "Oh, Dottore?" you asked, surprised. "[name], what do you remember from before you got here?" he asked you. You frowned at his weird question before recollecting. "Uh, lets see. I had some.. Disease? Can't remember what it was, but I think it got serious, so I came to you?" You looked at Dottore for confirmation. He tensely said, "And Scaramouche?" You only replied with a confused "Who?"

Dottore triumphantly said, "The surgery was successful."

(a/n - Haha this actually doesn't meet my angst standards at all yk*cue author-san cheerfully waving as she slowly disappears into the void for final exams season* see you guys again if exams dont kill me~)