Cw: mention of PTSD
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Scaramouche
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"You've actually managed to find this place. Congratulations. Hah. Barely two words in and you already look like you want me dead," the Sixth Harbinger, Scaramouche, said once he entered a room of exhausted figures who had just finished off fighting multiple Fatui agents.
(F/n) felt their body freeze up when they saw the familiar Harbinger right in front of the group.
(Y/n) scowled at the purple-haired male that held a cocky smirk on his lips.
"You're manufacturing Delusions..." Aether hissed out as he glared at the Sixth Harbinger.
Scaramouche raised a brow, an amused twinkle in his eyes. "Oh, so that's what this is about. I think you've got the wrong idea. I know how this looks, but I'm just here to follow orders. I'm obviously not the mastermind behind this. Aren't you two supposed to be pretty tough? What are you two waiting for, go get them."
(Y/n) watched as a smirk grew onto Scaramouche's lips as he ran a hand down his face, showing a glint of insanity inside of his indigo hues.
"You're getting all worked up over nothing. Pff, you've changed... You're getting weak," Scaramouche snickered.
"How can you say this is nothing?" Paimon rudely asked in nothing but pure anger.
Scaramouche pressed a finger to his lips and smirked once more. "How can you call it anymore? It's the way of the world. Human life is worthless. They were always going to die, with or without a Delusion. At least having one gives them a chance to fulfill their ambitions. Do you have any idea how useful the Vision Hunt Decree is to us? It took a lot of work to make it happen. Obviously, it was in our best interests."
The Harbinger then turned away from the group of four and stared at the sliding doors in front of him.
"Good news is, our hard work is finally paying off. Generating conflict creates a big market for Delusions. Now we just let the promise of power draw in the weak..." Scaramouche trailed off as he looked at the group once more over his shoulder, "For just a small price, they get the feeling of controlling the world. Trading their life for supreme power... pretty good deal, don't you think?"
"So the Fatui started the Vision Hunt Decree? You've been behind it all along?" Paimon asked in horror.
(F/n) eyes widened in horror as they watched Scaramouche bring out a small boxed remote control into his right hand, and clutched it.
(Y/n) gritted his teeth in anger as his Dendro vision lightly tapped against him.
Scaramouche turned to look back at the group. "From the outside, Inazuma looks pretty impenetrable, but on the inside... it's a land of opportunity. With a little effort, we were able to break them down from within. Eternity stretches things out over a long time. But each moment within it becomes all the more fragile. Take your friend in the resistance, for example. There's nothing you can do now. He's a lost cause. Just like a bubble on the water. Beautiful for a moment, then total destruction. The more it takes from them, the more tightly they hold onto it. And the more incompetent they are, the more determined they are to fight it! Hahaha, it's such a farce, you have to see the funny side," he laughed.
(F/n) shakily lifted a hand to their throat when they watched Scaramouche run a thumb over the controller he had in hand.
"Don't you dare mock Teppei..." Aether retorted back in anger.
Slowly, purple mist surrounded the group of four in tidal waves, cornering them at every angle as it swallowed the group's feet at ankle-deep.
"Hey! Aether, calm down..." Paimon exclaimed, trying to calm down her first father figure.
As Aether marched forward, the purple mist slowly rose toward the ceiling.
"Uh... No!" Paimon exclaimed.
Before Aether could get even a step closer, pain clawed at his chest causing him to crouch.
Scaramouche smirked as he pressed the button in his hand while picking up a dead Anemo vision that (Y/n) didn't realize had fallen off of his person.
Dark blue eyes shrunk as their owner felt the pain of static electricity run up their spine.
Instantly, (F/n) fell to their knees and clutched a single hand on their choker, and a single hand to their face.
"Off! Get it off!" (F/n) screamed in pain, as their pupils were blown with nothing but the horror and pain that their body felt.
Paimon and (Y/n) quickly turned to their companions in worry.
Aether clutched his head for a few moments before snapping his eyes open, which flashed purple for a quick second.
"Shit! Aether, (F/n)!" (Y/n) shouted as he swerved his head between the two in pain companions.
Tears fell from (F/n)'s wide eyes as their life flashed across their eyes about a specific Harbinger.
A doctor glanced at the caged figure beside him, a small smirk drawing upon his lips in amusement.
Walking over to the cage, the doctor bent himself over a bit and gave an amused hum.
"Oh? You're awake?" The doctor asked, tapping the muzzle that this caged figure had.
Chuckling, the man gave a crazed grin. "Such a special little specimen you are. After all these years, you've been stuck with your master. Following him every single time he's been reincarnated... isn't that right?" He asked with a raised brow.
The figure stared at the man in front of them with a look of horror.
"I wonder... if you ever told him what you... No. What BOTH of you really are?" The doctor wondered while tapping his chin.
The figure hissed, trying to bare their fangs to seem more threatening and bigger.
A cry of pain was heard as this figure was snatched out of the cage and up into the air by their scruff of fur.
The doctor chuckled once more as he gazed at the paralyzed and muzzled figure in his hand.
"Quite a catch, I must say. I'll let you go one of these days, but remember this... I'll always find you no matter where you're at."
The only thing next was a piercing painful cry as the figure was shocked by something that they couldn't see.
A terrifying cry left (F/n)'s lips as they pressed their forehead against the floor, feeling light-headed as the pain subsided once the electric shock faded away.
Scaramouche chuckled in amusement as he gazed at the figures in pain. "Hahaha... That's it, just like that! Embrace the anger... Embrace it! The wrath of the gods fills this factory, and it feeds on your anger..." He cackled.
Aether fell to his knees as the world around him started to go dark.
(Y/n) gritted his teeth as he fell to his knees, and quickly pulled Aether and (F/n) to his chest, glaring at the purple-haired male.
"Ah, what's happening..." Paimon squeaked out as she went over to the fallen figures.
Aether's eyes drifted close, but the last thing he could see was Yae Miko walking up from the side and toward Scaramouche.
✧˖*°࿐
Yae Miko leaned over Aether's body with an amused glint in her purple eyes.
"Repeat after me, "Three, two, one, one, two, three, ahhhh, ahhhh". Come on," Yae Miko ordered lightly.
Aether repeated what Yae Miko said under his breath, calming down his racing heart.
Yae Miko gave a nod of approval. "Okay, that's positive. Your brain seems relatively unscathed, this is good news," she states.
Aether got up onto his feet slowly, lightly shaking his head.
"It's just as well, really, with the amount of effort it took me and (Y/n) to get you and (F/n) both back here. Honestly, it was like you both were glued to the ground back there," Yae Miko sighed.
Aether's eyes widened. "Where's (Y/n) and (F/n)?" He asked once he realized that the said duo wasn't there.
Yae Miko gave a solemn look at that question. "They're both alright, no worries. They're both... under careful watch," she answered despite lying a bit.
Aether gave a sigh of relief despite feeling a pinch of something not being told fully.
Paimon decided to break the ice.
"Uh, Miko, Paimon's been wanting to ask you something. How come you're acting so differently from when we first met you?" Paimon asked.
Yae Miko gave an amused look as she smiled. "Am I? Maybe it's because I had the other shrine maidens leave to watch the other two. Anyway, I've always been like this. People show you whatever side of themselves they want you to see. I know this for a fact. Every side of me is the real me. People just like to define things in all sorts of arbitrary ways. This is a human society – at the moment, anyway – and I'm just doing as I please," she answered.
Paimon rubbed at her head in confusion. "Uh... Paimon didn't quite follow."
Yae Miko giggled. "Hehe, study humans a while longer, my little friend. You'll see what I mean," she replied.
"How did you save us from The Balladeer?" Aether asked.
Paimon's eyes lit up. "Right! Paimon was so focused on Aether, (Y/n), and (F/n) that Paimon didn't notice what you did to get Scaramouche off our backs..." She trailed off.
"What if I told you it was a secret art from the Grand Narukami Shrine, and that I had The Balladeer down on his knees begging for mercy in an instant... Would you believe me?" Yae Miko asked with a raised brow.
Aether and Paimon gave a dumbfounded look but stayed quiet.
Yae Miko smiled in amusement. "Hehe, well, maybe you should be worrying less about that and more about how exactly you are going to thank me... no?"
Yae Miko gazed at Aether's figure for a few seconds before nodding her head.
"Hmm, maybe some of your neutral circuitry is less intact than I thought..." Yae Miko trailed off.
Aether gave a thankful smile as he placed a hand on his chest. "Thank you ever so much, Yae-sama."
Yae Miko's eyes sparkled with muted laughter. "I didn't mean you had to be so formal about it. I need your actions, not your words, hehe."
Her eyes then softened a bit. "The Delusions... they're still on your mind, aren't they?" She asked.
Aether softly frowned. "Yes..." He answered quietly.
Yae Miko softly sighed as she gazed at the duo before her.
If they had questions, she might as well answer a few before they go off killing themselves in getting answers from somewhere else.
✧˖*°࿐
(Y/n) sat in front of (F/n) quietly, watching the said feline rock back and forth with their dark blue eyes filled with nothing but terror and unshed tears.
(F/n) was nothing but mortified at what happened an hour or two prior.
Their tail and ears were stiff as a board, showing not a single movement from their owner.
(Y/n) opened his lips as he was about to say something, but (F/n) beat him to it.
(F/n) raised their shaking dark blue eyes to meet with a pair of worried (E/c) hues.
Tears gathered up in their eyes as the feline opened their dry lips a little.
"Please... please don't throw me out. D-Don't throw me away," (F/n) whimpered while trying to hold back sobs that wanted to escape.
(Y/n) reached out a hand, but stopped when he saw how the ombre bluenette flinched away from the sudden movement.
The (H/c)ette frowned and sucked in a breath as he placed his outstretched hand back on his lap.
"I would never throw you out, (F/n)," (Y/n) softly said.
(F/n) gripped at their arms, their nails piercing into them.
(Y/n)'s eyes softened as he slowly reached his hands out to the other – not wanting to scare them – and gently intertwined his and (F/n)'s hands together.
(F/n)'s body trembled as they kept their head low.
They didn't want to see a possible look of disgust on the other's face.
"(F/n), I would never throw you out..." (Y/n) repeated.
(F/n) shook their head. "Yes, you will! I'm nothing but a burden! I've been a damn burden, and I've done nothing but have been slowing you down!" They retorted.
The feline clutched their eyes shut. "There's always someone saying that I'm a burden. Saying that I'm... worthless, disgusting, loud... annoying... and that I'm... replaceable," they vented out as tears dripped down their cheeks.
(Y/n) stayed quiet as he pulled the sixteen-year-old into his chest.
He couldn't do anything except let (F/n) finish venting.
"I'm a waste of space, aren't I? Haha... You probably think that, don't you?" (F/n)'s voice trembled out in a whisper.
(Y/n) sucked in a breath as he pulled (F/n)'s head into his chest.
"You're none of those, (F/n). You're not a single damn word you speak of. And you're not fucking replaceable," (Y/n) said softly.
(F/n)'s clutched onto (Y/n)'s top as tears dripped down their cheeks.
The next few familiar words broke the feline as they remembered one of (Y/n)'s past reincarnations saying that.
"I will never get rid of you–"
"Because a true friend would never abandon someone that they think so highly of," (Y/n) states.
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