To Be A Harbinger

To Be A Harbinger, pt. 12

Scaramouche was sailing back to Mondstadt, and everyone flinched when he walked by. It wasn't so unusual, but they wouldn't even look up after he passed. He was pissed, and the whole ship knew it.

Pedrelino had refused to allow him to bring Signora back to Mondstadt. He claimed her current mission was far too important. Even when Scaramouche explained the situation again, he shrugged, stating Dottore would simply take up the mission to Fontaine if he had to. They couldn't afford to pull Signora out of her mission.

So he was going back, with a paper detailing the Tsaritsa's conditions for the punishment-now to be doled out onto Lucille. The paper was sealed, and he had no idea what to think. It could be anything from a detailed description of requirements to absolutely nothing. Would the Tsaritsa let them kill Lucille so soon? Would the Knights of Favonius go through with an execution in the first place.

He dug his nails into his palm, snapping at whoever he could for whatever he could until finally, he was standing alone, looking out at the waves. What would he tell her? He could take her place. Well, he could try at least. The damned red head would probably stop him.

He held onto the railing until his knuckles turned white. Between his worry for Lucille and his anger at Pedrelino, he was also angry at himself. He had lost the bet, and he hadn't even known it. He thought about when they made it, how she felt in his hands, how she said she would never lose. He thought about the kiss, and how he had been craving it since she took her lips off of his. He decided he had to convince her to fall in love with him-before she found out she won.

•••

"Ma Fleur." Scaramouche didn't think before he pulled her into his arms. He buried his face in her hair, and she had to hold onto his hat to prevent it from falling off his head. Lucille was caught off guard by the softness in the way he held her. It was intimacy in its simplest form. She closed her eyes and concentrated on how his body felt against hers. She was surprised to realize that she missed him.

Jean cleared her throat.

Scaramouche debated flipping her off, scooping up Lucille and running all the way back to Schnezznya. But there wasn't safety for them there either. He straightened up. He fixed his hat and waved for one of the agents to give Jean the paper from the Tsaritsa. He didn't let Lucille go, holding her against him as he watched the Acting Grand Master's eyes scan over the paper.

"Well?" He asked finally.

She frowned, and looked back up to Scaramouche and Lucille. "You don't know what it says?"

"No."

Jean glanced at Kaeya and then Diluc and Lisa. "The Tsaritsa wants the two of you back alive."

Scaramouche finally let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Two of them?" Kaeya raised his eyebrows as he read the paper Jean was still holding.

Lucille found herself clinging onto Scaramouche's clothes, praying he'd give the word to run. Scaramouche cleared his throat. "Safe passage during and after the punishment is fulfilled."

Kaeya shook his head. "I quote, 'You may administer whatever punishment you deem fit upon my harbingers, but the two of them must be returned alive, regardless the state they are in.' Huh, I guess it's compensation for sending the wrong ones."

Scaramouche snapped at the lower agents to leave while they discussed this further, and to remain inside the hotel until he called for them. When they left, the tensions in the room only grew.

"Well? What is the punishment?" He asked tensely.

"This... isn't ideal." Jean muttered. "The two of you did not commit the crime, so there is quite the moral conundrum."