SCENE I
"Barbatos."
He flinched and the sweet music he orchestrated immediately stopped. The vast courtyard grew silent, but it was an eerie type of silent, as if your disturbing emotions had been handwritten in the air. The only sound heard from miles was the simple, whispering confusion of the musician's previous audience.
His eyes blinked and shifted towards you, widening as they met your gaze. You could see the terror in his eyes, and it filled you with a heart-wrenching feeling.
Fighting the urge to let any growing tears escape, you peered into his colourful eyes. He did the same, but despite the both of you acknowledging each other, neither of you could utter a word.
"Why'd he stop playing?"
"What's going on?"
Questions arose throughout the crowd, and for a good reason too.
"Wait... Did that girl just say Barbatos?!"
"She did! Does that mean-"
"Don't be silly! Look at her, she's wearing a hospital gown. She's obviously crazy."
"Yeah!"
"Go on! Get lost! Can't you see you've interrupted this young man's performance?"
With the comments about you beginning to get out of hand, your friend, Barbatos, finally worked up the courage to speak.
"Vlanche..." He muttered, barely even audible to you. Carefully, he rested the trusty lyre by his side, so he could use his spare hand to grasp his head. It seemed he was visibly distressed, and unfortunately, this only made his admirers all the more agitated.
"Look what she's done to him!"
"Oh come on, someone up the security at the hospital. A wacko has escaped!"
In the blink of an eye, the surrounding group of people had hoarded all around you, leaving no room for escape. Their harmful comments began to hurt your ears, so you huddled your arms tightly around your head, hoping it would ease the pain and somehow end the constant noise. Your ears began to ring again and it grew more and more agonizing every second.
Fortunately for you, your old friend noticed.
"Stop." Barbatos hushed the crowd, finally snapping out of his little trance.
That one, single word was all it took, and you had been freed as the group refocused their attention on the bard. The little prick had them all wrapped around his pinky finger, and it disgusted you.
"Venti, are you alright?" One curious passerby wondered, furrowing her brows and completely ignoring the stress you were in.
Seeing Barbatos again revived a lot of memories in your head, whether those be good or bad memories. It was very clear that you were going through something at the moment, and it saddened you that not even one single soul cared to help.
They were all too concerned about him. Everyone was so concerned about him, that it was close to impossible for them to even acknowledge you.
You grit your teeth, tears turning to anger and anger turning to jealousy.
This unfortunate circumstance hit too close to home for you, and it made you burn with envy.
"He's doing it again! This is just like how it was with-!"
"[Y/N]!"
Your head jolted towards the voice that had called your name. A long sigh of relief escaped your mouth, for you saw the familiar golden braid of the Honorary Knight. Just like... before... the mysterious duo had come to your rescue.
Aether and his fairy friend jogged up to the commotion, looking both concerned and confused.
"What'd you do now, you tone-deaf bard?!" Paimon exclaimed, noticing the many troubled humans surrounding him.
A few of those said humans' jaws dropped, flabbergasted at Paimon's harsh words towards Venti.
"You've got it all wrong!" An insignificant woman explained, flailing her arms all around to express her sincerity. "This young man hasn't done anything... It was that girl!"
She flung her arm in your direction, almost poking you in the eye.
"... You mean, [Y/N] did this?" Aether replied in disbelief. "What did she d-"
"So you know her!" Another unimportant crowd member piped in. "Have you come to take her back?"
"What?" The poor blondie questioned, scratching his head, visibly puzzled. "Take her where?"
"To the hospital of course! She's clearly an escapee- after all, she's nuts... but since you know her-"
"Traveller."
Every head in the courtyard jolted towards the chilling, gloomy voice.
"You know her?" Venti continued, still pale. He glared at Aether. "You know this girl?"
"Woah!" Paimon wailed, noticing Venti's horrified expression. "What's gotten into you, bard?! You look like you've been denied wine for all of eternity!"
The boy ignored her lousy remarks and directed his path towards Aether. Upon arriving, Venti rested his hands on the blondie's shoulders in an unsettling way, causing Aether to shiver in his shoes.
"Traveller, do you know this girl?" He whispered. his gaze like a laser- almost burning a hole through Aether's forehead.
"W-Well..." Aether started, a bit frightened by Venti's unusually grim mood. "Yes, I know her... She's uh- She's my friend's wife."
The bard's face evolved into an impossible shade of white. His grip tightened, now probably hurting Aether's collarbones.
"Venti, that hurts." The poor boy grunted, his eyes squinting from the pain. "What on earth is-"
Not even a second later, Venti finally released Aether, turned to face you, and barricaded the duo behind his back. From the looks of it, it seemed like he was protecting the Honorary Knight and his friend from you.
You became infuriated, desperately fighting the urge to pummel your old friend to the ground.
This behavior of his was absolutely unacceptable to you.
You and Barbatos had a lot of backstory, whether that be a good or a bad thing- and you were completely dumbfounded that he had the audacity to try and shield people from you after everything you two had been through together.
"If anyone in this courtyard was a threat enough to put other people in danger, it would be him, not me!"
"Why is he shielding them from me?!"
Your heart raced and your blood boiled, but just as you opened your lips to properly express your thoughts, Barbatos grabbed his two friends and vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind except a chilly gust of wind.
It was almost like he was waiting for even the slightest of your movements to signal his escape.
He was gone. After so many years he was finally within your grasp, but... he had escaped again, leaving you with a bunch of strangers.
Your fists clenched as you grimaced over your frustration and defeat.
"I'll find him again. He won't get away next time." By pure accident, your disturbing thoughts crept from your mouth.
It seems you had forgotten about the large crowd Barbatos had stranded you with. Fortunately for you, these strangers were... mortal, therefore incapable of understanding the true meaning of your words.
"He disappeared!"
"Is this freak of a girl really that scary to him?!"
The curious comments started again, this time not having any affect on you, for you were too deeply troubled by your old friend's appearance.
"But... the bard called out to her! He responded to her when she called him Barbatos!"
"You're right! That's how all of this started."
"What if- What if that bard is actually..."
Quickly, you snapped out of your little trance, realizing the severity of this situation.
It was only a minor issue though, for, fortunately, you had the means to resolve it.
Your back facing the audience, you lifted and swung your right arm out to the side, gifting yourself with the momentum to rotate yourself towards them.
Now able to analyze each and every one of their faces, you directed your right hand in front of you, to let it peer over the variety of humans.
Them all locked on your palm, you began your trick.
A pulsing, hypnotizing, colourful light animated from your stretched hand. It was shaped in a spiral, and it looked capable of fooling any creature to do any desired action at your will.
It was pretty, but most likely deadly. Luckily for you, the multitude of humans under its trance didn't seem to notice.
After reaching its blinding climax, it faded almost immediately, resulting in a hoard of confused and dizzy mortals.
Before they had the chance to confront you- now to them a normal human they had never met and not a crazed lunatic from a mental hospital, you left.
You quietly waltzed on out of the courtyard and continued again down the many stairs, leaving the peppy crowd without any memory of what took place in the courtyard only a few minutes prior.
Smirking, you brushed the dust off your hands and wandered out of sight.
~♪
SCENE II
"Stay here for awhile. I don't want Vlanche finding you." The paranoid green bard spoke to Aether and his fairy friend.
After vanishing from the Cathedral grounds, Venti had brought the duo to an unfamiliar home, probably somewhere in the vicinity of Mondstadt.
It was in poor shape, with broken shelves and cracked floorboards. Aether figured it was a temporary residence that Venti had purchased from his scarce performance funds.
It would be no surprise if the floor suddenly broke underneath them and they fell to their death, for from the looks of it, they were on a higher story of the worn down building.
"Venti..." The blondie tip-toed away from the bard's grasp, praying that his careful movements would keep the floor sturdy. "Where exactly are we?"
"Ah- Right." As if he had woken from deep sleep, Venti jumped and peered towards his company. "You could say this is one of my pit stops. Although it's uh... not in the best of shape." He nervously chuckled, sweat rolling down his cheek.
"Tell me about it!" Paimon squealed, kicking a foot in frustration. "I'm glad I can float because this place looks like it's falling apart! Aether if I were you, I'd tread lightly."
Aether only nodded, agreeing with Paimon for the first time ever.
"Oh and I suppose I have some explaining to do." Venti chuckled and playfully stuck out his tongue. It seemed his smiley facade had returned.
"You better do some explaining." The fairy retorted, crossing her arms with sass. "You've got some nerve kidnapping us out of no where!"
Venti rolled his eyes. "Oh come on~ I didn't kidnap you. I just wanted to have a play date at my humble abode!" He grinned.
"Venti..." Aether breathed, not having the slightest belief in his antics. "Tell us the truth. Why did you bring us here?"
He looked away, obviously guilty of some sort of ulterior motive, for even after a few minutes of silence, there had still been no response.
"Hahh..." Aether slammed his head into his hands, sighing ferociously. "We can't help you unless you tell us, Venti. Being a god and all... I know you've got your fair share of secrets, but-"
"Stay away from her." His voice was stern and cold, and he still remained fixated on the wall in front of him, purposely avoiding any eye contact with his company. "Stay here where she won't find you. That's all you need to know."
"What have you got against [Y/N]?!" Paimon exclaimed, shivering from the chilly atmosphere brought upon by Venti's change of mood. "What did she ever do to you?!"
Once again, Venti grew silent, and it discouraged Aether.
"Venti... please." He begged, hoping to acquire at least a little bit of a response from the bard.
Noticing how desperate Aether was for information, the bard in question finally held his white flag in defeat, but of course, only under an acceptable compromise.
"Fine." He breathed, sounding reluctant. "I'll tell you what you what you want to hear, but first you must tell me how you know my... old friend."
Aether furrowed his brows, wanting to trust Venti's words. "You swear to it?" He crossed his arms.
"On my own grave." Venti nodded and slightly bowed to prove his genuineness.
"Alright then." Aether eyed the bard and continued, his arms still folded perfectly. "Although Paimon and I were among those who found her terribly injured at the bottom of Starsnatch Cliff, we don't actually know her- We just know of her." He started. "Katheryne explained to us [Y/N]'s circumstances and she recruited me and a few others to keep it confidential. As you may know already, some things aren't quite adding up about her."
Venti just barely twitched, but still remained calm in manner. It was clear he was holding back about something.
"We haven't met her yet, but we were on our way to find and transport her to a secure spot, due to Katheryne's orders. That's when we ran into you and her eyeing each other down by the Cathedral."
"Yeah! What was that all about?!" Paimon chimed in, a tad bit curious. "It looked like you were going to burn holes into each other's eyes!"
The bard finally turned to face the two. "Is that all Traveller?"
"Just about."
Venti plopped himself onto one of his creaky wooden chairs and readied himself to tell his tale. "Then I suppose it's my turn to talk, now isn't it?"
PHEW! SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG TO PUBLISH... I'VE BEEN SUPER DUPER BUSY ;) WHOOPSIE DASIE! ANYWAYS~ I HAVEN'T EDITED THIS YET, BUT I'M TOO IMPATIENT TO PUBLISH IT, SO IGNORE ANY TYPOS AND DON'T WORRY, MY FRIENDS, I'LL UPDATE IT LATER :D