It was so early in the morning that the darkness of the clouds overshadowed the slow-rising sun. Paimon continued to hide under Lumine's scarf to shield themselves from the rain that was pouring from the sky.
There was quite a heavy downpour, yet none of the Traveller's party members seemed to be bothered by it. You guessed, since they all hail from Liyue, they were used to the wacky ecosystem.
Xiangling was skipping happily as if she enjoyed the current drizzly weather. Xingqiu was pulling his coat shut, not really concerned about his clothing but more about protecting his book from the rain. Chongyun was running his hands through his hair and irritably pushing the strands away from his face, narrowing his eyes to focus on the trail ahead.
As much as you tried to keep up with the group, you obviously couldn't stand the constant watery wind blowing your way, almost making you trip over your own feet which would cause you to lag behind even more.
There were raindrops dripping from the tip of your nose and you felt a sneeze starting to build up from the inside of your mouth. It wasn't really a pleasant feeling. You really missed the gentle Snezhnayan snowfall...
If Scaramouche were here, he would be complaining more than you were right now.
"There you are."
You turned around quickly when you heard a random voice from behind you. To your confusion, there was no one there. That was a little eerie you thought to yourself. To be honest, you never really know what kind of monsters you could run into during their hellish weather.
Regardless, the journey continued. It was a little difficult to see where you were going, not only was your vision blurry but you also had no clue where you were.
It wasn't an over-exaggeration to say that you were literally walking around blind, your sights on Lumine's back were growing farther and farther. Even though you were specifically told not to stray too far from the party, you couldn't help but fail to keep up.
"Over here."
This time, you were sure you heard a human voice. The heavy rain made it difficult to make out who was in the area, other than you and the party members. It was mildly infuriating not seeing who was the person making those sounds.
Unless you were starting to go insane? At last? Though, you really didn't want to call out to the group and tell them you were starting to hear voices. Who knows how they'll react? It's been really difficult adjusting to this new team and you were sure that you already stuck out like a sore thumb as is.
Or maybe, just maybe... Ghosts really do exist?
"Let me amuse myself a little."
There was something that was caught from the corner of your eye and the next thing you knew, you saw a hot flash of purple. You knew that you and the Traveller's teammates were in terrible danger and you acted on your gut feeling.
You unholstered both spray guns and fired one shot before you suddenly tensed up, collapsing helplessly to the ground with a heavy thud. The loud bang of the gun startled and grabbed the attention of everyone in the party as they quickly turned their heads to look at you.
"Fatui girl!" Chongyun ran over.
"No, stay away...!" You warned weakly.
"What happened-?!" Before the Cryo user could finish his question, he also froze up and fell to the ground in front of you, groaning painfully.
It seemed like your warning failed to reach everyone's ears, when you looked up from the ground, you saw that Lumine, Xiangling, and Xingqiu fell to their knees as well.
This was most likely an ambush, after all, you did have the feeling you were being watched by multiple people. It was still dark out and frankly, you guys were in the middle of nowhere, only halfway to Liyue Harbour.
You looked around and finally saw who was responsible for this attack. There were dozens of Electro Cicins buzzing above you, moving from side to side every now and then, watching your bodies spasm from the Electro-charged hits.
"There you are, Cryogunner [Y/N]! I've been wanting to fight you for ages!" A young woman suddenly laughed out of nowhere and began walking around the group, lifting her legs with every step.
You struggled against the Electro sparks holding you down, managing to lift your head to ask: "W-Who are you?!"
The Cicin Mage threw her lantern over her shoulder opposingly, leaning against her foot, "What a shame, you don't recognize me? Well, I guess you only got along with my other girlfriends."
There was confusion written all over your face, that didn't really answer your question. To be honest, you were laying there as lost as Lumine's team. You have never seen this girl before and you were starting to think that this was a random act of violence.
But then again, you did wonder how she knew your name - until you realized that you were quite popular because of what happened. You figured that Scaramouche had something to do with this woman, maybe he sent another soldier to retrieve you again.
"Why are you doing this?" You asked.
The Cicin Mage suddenly lowered her voice as if she thought of something unpleasant, "Do you remember evaluation day?"
Of course, you remembered evaluation day. You remembered it like it was yesterday. It was months ago, maybe even over a year. Honestly, you couldn't put an exact date to when you were promoted, but it was a treasured memory of yours. Even though you betrayed the one who promoted you.
The girl suddenly exhaled angrily, "I was supposed to be Lord Scaramouche's secretary but you were chosen instead! What a joke! You stole that position away from me! I've never hated someone so much!"
"Huh?!" You exclaimed out of surprise.
She stomped her foot like a child, "Lord Scaramouche said he liked my form, the way I handled the Cicins, and my looks! Don't tell me those were just lies! He complimented me - he really did! He left me high and dry for someone like you?! A Cryogunner?!"
"What?!"
"He said I had potential! He said that if I trained hard enough, I would meet his expectations!" The Cicin Mage clenched her fist tightly around the lamp handle. "But I was too late. Apparently, La Signora changed his mind and then introduced him to you! I couldn't believe it! Secretary [Y/N], you ruined everything for me - you need to pay!"
She lifted her arms and the Cicins followed her unsaid commands, spitting Electro energy everywhere onto the wet ground. You felt your body react to the electrifying hits, causing you to let out a muffled scream. Chongyun gasped in pain when he was hit with another shock, gritting his teeth and looking up at his two best friends helplessly.
Xiangling struggled to keep herself upright and Xingqiu couldn't seem to be able to unsheathe his sword. Lumine was also annoyed by the setback, yet couldn't do anything either as she succumbed to the Electro-charged attacks.
"I can't believe you became his secretary..." The Cicin Mage spat out. "And then threw it all away like nothing!"
All of a sudden, all those insects flew around the girl and lifted her into the air, glowing with purple Electro energy. Her eyes shined brightly as an evil laugh left her mouth.
"I'll take you back to my Lord and he'll see that I'm worthier than you! I'll take your place! I swear by it!"
You mentally cursed at yourself for getting yourself into this mess. You obviously knew what this Cicin Mage was doing, after all, you did train with a lot of them.
A purple circular forcefield was raised around the girl, electrocuting everyone to the core. It felt hot like you were being branded with a burning rod. It hurt a lot, the sound of Lumine and her party crying out in agony was just as painful. It really didn't help that all of you were face down on the ground as it was raining. If only you had the power to reach to the side to grab your weapon.
You could feel yourself growing weaker by the second, your body continued to seize violently as you tried your best to stay conscious to look for some sort of escape. Ahead, Chongyun stared right at you with a strange look in his eye, all while shaking terribly from the electrocution. To his side, Xingqiu was experiencing the same thing, shutting his eyes and bracing for more pain. Lumine also couldn't keep herself upright, at this point, you felt despair.
Guilt was now tearing you up from the inside. Maybe if you never ran off, never even met them, they wouldn't be suffering like this. You felt like it was all your fault for putting them into this avoidable situation. It just wasn't fair for them to get hurt with you. It would have been better if you stayed under Scaramouche's control.
"Guoba, get them!" Xiangling managed to shout aloud before becoming stunned with Electro shocks.
To your surprise, a little panda was summoned out of nowhere and hopped around in place to look directly at the floating Cicin Mage. It started to chow down on some sort of chilli pepper before inhaling deeply and opening its mouth.
Gasping, you shut your eyes fearfully as the panda blew scorching hot fire over your heads, aiming directly at the Electro forcefield. Despite the rain showering down, miraculously, the barrier slowly fell apart. Cracks formed over the surface and soon, the Cicins surrounding the girl dropped like flies.
Once the Electro effect went away, you recovered quickly and got up to your feet, charging full speed at the girl. She didn't have time to react as you grabbed her by the hoodie and pulled her into your hold. There was a suggestive yell from the Cicin Mage as you threw her to the wet ground, sweeping her legs and letting gravity do its thing.
Immediately, your knee landed on her chest to keep her in place. Even if she tried to fight back, you wasted no time pinning her to the ground, hitting her swiftly on the side of her head to stun her for a brief second. She blinked a couple of times to regain lucidness but found herself trapped as you placed your hand on her face.
You ripped the mask off and sighed as you looked into her eyes. Her green bangs swayed from side to side as she attempted to get away and her teeth gritted angrily.
Everyone slowly got up, weapons drawn, and ready to fight the Cicin Mage. However, you made it known that it was a battle you wanted to fight alone.
You clicked your tongue out of disappointment, "What a shame, I still don't recognize you."
She hissed at you like some kind of wild animal, refusing to admit defeat, "I will have that bounty reward and I will take your position! That title will be mine!"
"Bounty reward?" Your expression darkened as you heard those words. An unpleasant chill down your spine made you grab onto her choker, threateningly pulling her off the ground. "There's a bounty reward? What is it?"
She went silent for a second.
"Tell me." You shook the girl roughly. "Tell me!"
"Fatui girl, I think we should just drop it-" Chongyun was cut off when Xingqiu gently grabbed onto his sweater's sleeve. Both boys stood back quietly, tensely watching the exchange.
Your grip tightened on her collar, "The bounty reward, tell me what it is!"
"Two million Mora and counting!" She finally answered with a loud giggle. "Lord Scaramouche adds another million every twelve hours!"
"T... Two million...?" You looked away and whispered to yourself, completely taken aback by the amount of money on your head. "Adds... Every twelve hours...?"
Reluctantly, you glanced up at Lumine for help. She looked as surprised as you, raising her shoulders and pouting deeply. You didn't know it was going to get this bad, you've never been targeting like this before.
The Cicin Mage under you struggled against your grasp, not shutting her loud mouth, "I will be working under Harbinger Scaramouche one day... when you're gone!"
"No," Your attention landed back on her as you leaned in to mutter sharply. "In your dreams. I'm his one and only secretary-assistant, no one will replace me."
"How cute, you're in denial!" The girl cooed. "Why don't we go back to camp and let him choose!"
"[Y/N] what are you doing...?" Lumine whispered breathlessly when she saw you pull out your weapon from the side of your hip.
The Cicin Mage kept talking.
"I want to see the look on your face when he picks me!" She smiled wildly as she fantasized. "He'll beat you to a pulp and I'll watch! We'll laugh! We'll be unstoppable!"
Your gun glowed with elemental energy, turning a striking ice blue and glowing in the misty air. The small raindrops landing on your tank quickly turned into frost and stuck to the glass. You looked like you were going to snap at any moment.
"Let's go back! Let's go back~!" Her voice became whiny. "Let's go back to our Lord Scaramouche~!"
"Shut up." You ordered.
"Uh, how mean!" The girl scoffed sarcastically before widening her eyes out of realization. "Are you jealous?!"
There was a loud click as you pressed the gun against her cheek, digging into her skin and pressing it deeper.
The Cicin Mage gasped blissfully, "Oh, you are!"
"Do you want to die?"
"Secretary [Y/N] is jealous!"
"You better shut up right now."
She got one last word in, "Do think you're the only one who wants a taste of Lord Scaramouche?!"
Something within you shattered into a million pieces. You felt a hot surge of energy rise from your chest and spill over your head. It was indescribable - the anger pulsing through your veins. The pace of your heartbeat was all over the place. Perhaps, for the first time, you felt jealous.
Envious. Selfish. Possessive. You wanted to be the only one. The one who was the closest to Scaramouche, although right now you were farthest from him. It didn't occur to you until now that there were many other capable soldiers - women who would kill for your position. The funny thing was, you too would kill to keep your status.
As the Cicin Mage continued to cackle like some kind of injured hyena, you couldn't stand to hear her endless taunts and impassioned cries for Scaramouche. You just wanted it to end. You wanted her to watch her mouth. You wanted her to understand that it was a mistake to ambush you and the Traveller's party.
What would it feel like to punch her face with no restraint? Would her eyes pop out? Or would her teeth chip from the mere contact of you hitting her jaw? You wanted to see blood pour out of her nostrils and cut lips, as well as hearing her struggling to breathe through her dry mouth.
"Did I touch a sensitive nerve, secretary [Y/N]?"
Forcefully, you knocked her head to the ground when she tried to get up. You began hitting her with the base of your gun, ruthlessly beating down on her reddening cheekbone and now crooked nose. She let out short, agonizing screams of pain, which you swiftly muted as you busted her lips.
Blood flew in the air yet you didn't even stop for a second. You wanted to inflict as much pain as possible before you ended her life. She should regret ever thinking about attacking you from behind like some sort of coward. The Cicin Mage really believed that that kind of foolish move would be enough to please Scaramouche?
You knew exactly what your boss wanted in a secretary-assistant. He wanted someone strong, calm, smart, cold, calculated, angry, naive, adorable, unstable, gullible, obedient, afraid, submissive. That's all you. That's what Scaramouche wants, those are his standards. Not some adulterous, unloyal, loose, prideful, sleazy, tramp.
"Lord Scaramouche would hate you." Your words cut her deeply, you saw it in the way she started to cry. "He would hate you. He hates girls like you. He wouldn't even bother wasting a second with you. He's too good for you. I'm the one he chose. I fit his standards. You would never be enough to satisfy him."
Your degrading whispers were being drowned out the more she screamed for mercy. You already see her forehead caving inwards the more you thrashed your gun against her face. The Cicin Mage couldn't keep up with the countless hits; her watery eyes were becoming bloodshot, her nose was smashed, and chunks of red were slowly pooled up in her half-open mouth.
"Hey, you got my gun dirty with your filthy blood." You stopped your assault and waved the weapon in front of the girl's good eye. "I hate it when my gun gets stained like this. If you can clean it up, I'll let you live."
A defeated moan left her bruised lips and she failed to give you a proper response. The Cicin Mage looked as good as dead, limp, almost lifeless. Her body twitched every now and then, but it was mostly because her mind was telling her there might be hope in making it out alive. Of course, you shot that idea down.
The spray gun was pointed directly right between her eyes and you waited for her to react. All she did was cry. She kept crying. The sound of her wailing hurt your ears. You wanted her to shut up, she was being so annoying. Who does she think she is? What gave her the right to speak to you that way?
Right, she's nothing - nothing compared to you. Just another girl trying her hardest to get noticed by the Harbingers. It was pointless, idiotic. She got herself into this situation and couldn't get herself out. What a joke. Did she really underestimate Scaramouche's secretary-assistant? They don't know anything. They don't understand. They will never understand what you've been through.
You pulled the trigger and her crying stopped at that very moment, frozen blood sprayed over the ground.
The feeling of relief washed over you like a cold sweat. You were breathing heavily as you slowly stood up, overwhelmed by the indescribable thrill coursing all over your body. It was like what a hunter feels after killing their prey. Powerful. You missed this feeling of freeness and unrestrained fun. It was addictive.
The body was blown away by the harsh wind, dissolving into the nothingness she was. Right after, you finally placed your spray gun away.
This rookie girl was obviously sent by Scaramouche on a mission to take you back to him. It gave you the urge to laugh at how stupid of a plan that was. If he really wanted you to return, he should have sent ten more of these girls. It pained you to imagine him thinking that you were that weak. First, the failed Ruin Guard attempt and now, an incompetent Cicin Mage?
You wondered what was next, it would be a lie to say that you weren't the least bit curious. If he really, truly, yearned for you to come back, Scaramouche should do the dirty work himself.
The Traveller and her party slowly surrounded you, cautious and worried. Lumine wasn't exactly bothered by the violent death of the Cicin Mage since she too has probably done the same. Xiangling looked like she was turning a little green at the sight of the abandoned Fatui recruit insignia laying on the ground. Xingqiu only pondered to himself quietly, studying your behaviour.
"And I thought you were different," Chongyun whispered disappointedly. "The Fatui really are coldblooded killers."
"Shut it." Infuriated, you pointed your bloodied finger at him and took a threatening step forward. "You don't have the right to say anything about what I did. You know nothing about me and the Fatui. I've had enough of your insults. So, shut your mouth before I lose control over myself and kill you too."
Thanks for reading!! I hope you enjoyed!!
Man, y'all like a character until they show their emotional and mental trauma :/
Also, the chapter's title was a lie but I didn't really feel like changing it huehuehuehue