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" were you looking for me,
princess? "
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"my home is a country that reveres true beauty and elegance. some people from other countries may find our dress sense showy and impractical; but for us, there is nothing more commonplace."
fontaine... home, and the land of the sea.
fontaine was your home, the place of elegance and divinity; beauty and grace. it was the city of ballroom dances; waltz, beauty within masks, and beauty within red lipstick and mascara.
hidden behind masks of the masquerade balls held every night; the people of fontaine never ceased to exist amongst each other. enemy against enemy; friend to friend; nobody knew each other, for everyone was a mystery once the lights dimmed and the curtains fell.
the beauty of this dangerous night filled your stomach with dark butterflies. your gentle soft blue eyes hidden behind the black masquerade mask that covered half of your face with dark feathers of ravens; your fan providing you just enough wind to get by the humid night of the ball.
the rich; the wealthy; oh everyone, was welcome to the ball. fontaine was a special place, and everyone in teyvat was welcomed to dance and drink; if the drinks weren't already poisoned.
the dark purple snake around your neck slowly slithered around and brought its head to your ear and hissed, earning your attention.
"your highnesssss, it would ssssseem like all the guesssssstssss have finally arrived~"
you rubbed the top of your pet snakes' head, slowly rising from your throne. you flipped open your dark fan, and feathers fell from the tips of it; your bloody red lipstick hid away the cruel and pain, and your smile shone under the chandeliers.
your dress was the most stunning of the ballroom, and despite being the princess under the archon of fontaine, you held no lies; no bounds. your words were sincere, deadly, and always poisonous to the core. nobody dared speak to you, for if they were to try to reason with you, your pet snake would decide to nab and nibble.
dress as silky as spider webs; black and darkness looming the entirety of the whole gown; heels as sharp as the spears of any polearm, you waltzed your way to the top of the grand golden steps, overlooking the ballroom of many masked figures.
"the fatuissssss... i sssssseeeee them..."
you rubbed your pet snake once more, your dark fingernails were black, which faded into a dark red nearing the end. you had painted them yourself; and it was the same shade of your dark mascara under the feathery mask.
"hush now, elaphè, fret not, my dear lynette and lyney shall take care of any... trouble." you comforted your pet as she bowed at you and returned to her place on your neck, resting.
you waltzed down, heels against the golden steps as the music began. people started dancing; hand in hand; hand on hips; hand on shoulder. you had your eye on a young man in shades of japanese-looking clothing in the far end corner, leaning agasint the pillars of the grand ballroom.
in the corner of your eye, you spotted lynette and lyney hoping from pillar to pillar, looking out for any suspicious activity. you smiled once you made your way towards the rather slender young man dressed in traditional japanese wear; red, black and purple shades.
his mask covered his eyes, but you could see his eyes in bold red eyeliner. he smiled when he saw you approaching, and immediately took your hand in his before kissing the top of it politely.
gesture. it was everything in fontaine.
"m'lady, what a pleasure of you to want to dance with me," he spoke. voice as soft as silk; tone as deadly as the venomous snake around your neck.
you knew he was a fatui immediately.
you smirked, the corner of your lip slightly rising. "you flatter me, good sir, what name shall i address you by?"
"scaramouche, m'lady," he said with a bow before gesturing towards the middle of the ballroom. "shall we?"
"and we shall."
he led you to the middle of the ballroom, and it was his hand that found your hip, gently sliding his hand onto it. you rested your palm on his shoulder as he took your other hand in his, before starting to dance with you.
everyone slowly slowed down and backed up slightly, to give the princess the space to dance with the young man of the night.
it was curtesy in fontaine; for the princess must forever be acknowledged.
"you are a beautiful dancer, m'lady," scaramouche complimented, spinning you around. the music got louder; more deadly; and you could feel the tip of your ear heating up as he slowly brought you closer to him, his face inches from yours. "tell me, how much more beautiful are you underneath that mask~"
"everyone knows how the princess of fontaine looks like," you said quietly as you brought your lips to his ear. he chuckled as he danced with you, gracefully hoisting you up to spin.
he brought you back down and held your hand, tangling your fingers with his with a sly smile. "my dearest y/n, nobody has seen how the princess of fontaine looks like, you have been behind the mask every year people come."
you chuckle at the fact that he called you by your name. the loud base of the music echoed in your ear as he spun you around, letting go of your hand, allowing you to spin; round and round and round, as the other people from before slowly joined into the graceful dance.
ah, swan lake, of beauty and grace, the one dance that nobody else but you could master in the entirety of fontaine. you spun; you jumped gracefully, not even once tripping over your heels. you bent your back as he spun you around, before coming back up to him, closer to his face than ever.
he brought his lips to the corners of your lips and kissed them gently. "your highness is an excellent dancer,"
"sir, so are you," you whispered as you brought your arms around his neck once the song slowed, toning your lust to dance and spin; the young ballerina in you shining once more.
"let's see how well you dance once the fire starts, your royal majesty~"
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"oh your highness~ the fire seems to be getting out of hand~"
you turned your head to face the young lynette, who had a bright smile on her face. her short dark cape hid her slightly burnt tail, while her black lacy leotard bounced around while she danced her way towards you, happily spinning to the beautiful doom and screams of many non-vision wielders.
"dear lynette, where is your brother?" you asked, wielding your polearm as you looked around for the fatuis who were the main suspects for causing the fire.
"right here, your highness," lyney announced as he landed right beside lynette. he had a hand on his top hat while he smiled in a cat-like way, eyeing you with his dangerous violet eyes. "we'll deal with this for now your royal beauty, please excuse us~"
as easy as he said that, lyney and lynette both took off in different directions to attack; slaughter and cut down the fatuis, while some of your people put out the fire with their hydro. the raging fire was strong; and it was enhanced with the work of...
"wait... electro?" you gasped as you saw the grand chandeliers being zapped out of the light, falling from the glass hinges and straight down into the crowd of people.
you gripped your polearm and ran towards the centre, sending your waves of water to push away the crushing chandelier to the side. it smashed into the wall into a million tiny pieces, and you sighed, looking around for the one man you suspected.
"excellent reflexes, my dearest queen~" claps were heard from behind you in midst of all the burning chaos. you didn't need to turn around, but you already knew who the deadly cold voice belonged to.
"scaramouche," you said carefully as you turned around. he smirked as he peeled off his mask, revealing a handsome and youthful face.
"your royal beauty remembers my name, i am quite flattered," he smiled, his voice high, as if mocking you and your status.
your pet snake coiled itself slightly towards him, but still stayed quite close to you. it hissed at him, slightly spitting out its poison. the black drips of sticky poison landed on his neck and collarbone, and burnt him.
he chuckled and held his hand up, and purple lines of electricity emerged from the tips of his fingers, trying to aim and zap at you. you jumped out of the way and tore off the bottom of your gown, so you could move easier, leaving you with the short ends of the dress.
"you're quick, m'lady, but not quick enough~" he winked at you before sending lightning strikes down onto wherever you were; and wherever you ran to.
you looked up to see lynette and lyney sending rain towards him, trying to electrocute him while they tried to tame the fire; as well as take down the fatuis that were trying to attack you.
your battle was with scaramouche, and nobody else could intervene.
"too slow princess!"
pieces of the wall exploded, and chandeliers fell from the top; the fire engulfed in the fabric of your torn gown in the corner, and while lynette tried her best to put out whatever fire she could see, it wasn't enough.
he sent an army of dark ravens towards you, spitting out electricity volts every second. you slid and jumped out of the way of their aim, but scaramouche was fast.
he moved so fast that your eyes couldn't keep up with him; it was left to right, then back, then front. soon, he had you spinning in circles trying to look for him. you peeled off your mask and threw it onto the floor, and as the last final resort, you stomped on it, releasing a giant wave of water to flush everything out.
you were saving that for an emergency, but the castle was falling apart; people were hurt; fire was spreading like death; and scaramouche was going to kill you. this was the emergency.
the deep wave sent everyone out of the burning palace; through the broken down windows and grand doors. you raised your polearm and swam your way through, grabbing lynette and lyney with you as you swam through the debri and up to the main steps where the water didn't reach.
you placed the twins down as you summoned your biggest weapon; the kraken.
the palace was big enough for an enormous monster like that to emerge from the surface of the water, taking down everything using its giant tentacles, and sucking in every last bit of death into doom. soon enough, you saw scaramouche splashing out from the surface, electrocuting the water and killing off your kraken monster in a heartbeat.
the water subsided, and there was silence as scaramouche came towards you three. he took your hand and kissed the back of it while you glared at him.
"you're quite strong, dear princess," he said before quickly pulling you into a swift kiss. it was curtesy in fontaine to kiss people, but not like this.
you didn't shove him away, and he smiled, knowing that you were enjoying it. lynette and lyney both exchanged glances while your snake came and bit his neck, and it made him pull away from you.
"gah!" he cried, grabbing his neck slightly. he sighed, but still managed a smile at you. "shall we meet again next year?"
"we will be ready for you then sssssssir."
he laughed, deadly. "i hope to see you try, m'lady."