Sometimes life changes for no reason. The interesting thing is whether these changes are good or bad.
Does waking up in an unknown world with many people who develop a crush on you count as a nice thing?
It has been almost a year since I started this book - like what?
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The ground feels uneven and hard. Slowly you open your eyes and see that you are surrounded by countless roots that form something like a cave. It is very dark but you can still make out the outlines of the plants. Your back hurts slightly.
Suddenly something next to you jumps up and takes a few leaps forward. It appears to be a person but you can't tell who it is despite the feeling of familiarity. They look at you and seem to wait for you to stand up.
You are barely standing on your two feet as the figure already continues their way forward. Trying your best not to trip over a root you follow the strange person. But at some point the pain in your back becomes so immense that you have to stop for a beak. The shadowy stranger wants to help you but before they can reach you the roots under your feet have already given in making you to fall into black nothingness.
Your body flinches and the pain in your back becomes even greater. You groan.
"Good morning."
Eyes now wide open your heart feels like it stopped beating. "Not this búllshit again."
"Your expression looks so sour, puppy. Is something wrong?" A fake worried tone is mixed with an amused one.
"No, nothing at all. A few 'whys' here and there but nothing that you would genuinely care for." You sigh. "I wish I could go back to the time when I was still in Mondstadt... It was so chill over there. But no - I have to deal with Scaramouche again."
The Harbinger goes outside the room for a moment and comes back with a glass of water. You don't move an inch as he offers you the glass. "What are you starring at me like that? Take the glass and drink."
"Why... are you offering me something to drink?"
"Because you are half-dead and I have no interest in making you completely dead. That stab wound on your back already made you lose an unholy amount of blood. I might have a liking for your displeasure of being here but human life is so fragile that for now you are spared of any kind of punishment if that is what you were expecting."
"Why stabbing me in the first place then?"
He rolls his eyes. "Do you actually think I would order something even remotely like that? Bringing you back to me, yes. Using possibly lethal force, no. For that you would have to thank that idiotic subordinate of mine. Not that he is able to receive any kind of gratitude anymore though... Now drink." Scaramouche places the glass in your hand.
You try to lift it to drink but there is no strength left in your arms.
The male sees your struggle and places the glass at your lips.
Slightly confused you start drinking as you do indeed feel very thirsty. "Scaramouche being nice... That I lived long enough to witness this obscure moment..."
Once you finished your glass Scaramouche goes to a different corner of the room and sits down next to the table there and starts to skim through some documents and occasionally writes something down. He looks up and sees that you are still staring. "Just rest, puppy. And if you feel that your condition is getting worse tell me." With that he goes back to work.
Your gaze moves to the ceiling. "Is that guy actually able to care or did he just change tactics? 'Barely a dog can be trained with just violence. I have to show them that there is a decent life possible at my side.' Yeah, that's probably what he's thinking. But I wonder..." You look at Scaramouche again. "Did your subordinates take Rosa too?"
"Look at the corner to your right."
In the said corner there is Rosa sitting in a glass box that hangs in the air. Your friend seems to be just as exhausted as you are.
Reassured that your companion is alright your eyes move back to the short male. "Are you going to stay here for the whole time or...?"
"No, I still have some things to do. Your human friend is probably eager to meet me after all."
"...Aren't you afraid that I will escape again during your absence?"
"If you manage that even under my new precautions I would have to congratulate you." His voice is too calm for your liking.
"What... precautions?"
"Why should I tell you?"
You sigh annoyed. "I wanna go home..."
"You don't have one."
"Ouch. At least my mother didn't create me as a prototype for her clone just to abandon me afterwards..." The last part is muttered so quietly that you didn't expect it to be heard at all.
"You really don't know when to shut your mouth." Illuminated by the candle on his desk Scaramouche's blue eyes shine through the darkness like daggers.
"Don't people say the same about you?" You know that with every additional sentence you say at this point you are pushing your luck further and further but you can't help it - just as much the Harbinger loves the expressiveness of humans you loved provoking him.
"Tsk. At least I am not so blinded by my curiosity that I get caught in the traps people made for me."
"Huh?"
"Besides the financial factor, giving Delusions to the soldiers of the Resistance had another reasoning: As long as you were on Watatsumi Island you would certainly get too close to the Fatui members one day. I just had to wait."
"And from where did you know that I was there? That isn't a widely-known fact after all."
"Where else should I have expected you to be? I don't see you as someone who would like to spend their time on one of the hostile islands all alone and the other islands are under the close watch of the Shogun. I doubt you could avoid getting captured for that long. Therefore, only Watatsumi was left."
An eerie feeling spreads through your chest. "...Could it be that you have something to do with the fact that the Shogun is searching for me?"
"Perhaps. It isn't so hard to make that happen after all. Just mix a few lies with the truth and voilà - you are pulled in the center of her attention."
His words anger you more than they should have. "You. Fúcking. Gnome of a bítch. Do you know what kind of problems you caused me? Or what kind of problems this could have caused for the future?" Despite your lack of strength, you try to stand up and immediately fall to the ground. Before your head can hit the ground some force pulls it back in a more painful manner that the reunion with the ground would have. Something around your neck is holding you in place.
You hear footsteps approaching you. Scaramouche pulls at the chain that is attached to the collar around your neck, forcing you to face him. The sadistic grin on his face now resembles the Scaramouche of your past memories. "How beautiful your angry face is... Come on. Show me some more emotions. Since pain is off-limits in your current state, how about fear?"
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