Into Madness [Scaramouche x Fem!Reader]

Chapter 3 - Trapped

All was still as you came to, blinking away the sleep from your eyes. Shadows softly flickered all around you, and the air held warmth. Rough material chafed your skin when you tried to move, opening wounds that had previously half healed.

Bound in ropes meant for your target, you struggled against the expertly tied knots, to little avail.

"Finally up?" A smug voice sounded beside you as you attempted unsuccessfully to turn, the ropes tight and restricting most of your freedom. But through your peripheral vision, you caught sight of the silky haired puppet boy leisurely striding towards you. 

He looked more worn than you'd seen him before, but was scarcely wounded and seemed to be in good spirits. The fight with you must've surely taken a bit out of him. You could see the faint effects more clearly as he neared.

You drew away as Scaramouche approached and knelt down to face you, both the gnosis and your weapons in his possession. But he pulled you back when you tried to maneuver your body further from him.

"You've got nowhere to run now, nor can you do anything in that state." He mused, tracing a finger from your ropes to underneath your chin as you glared up at him. "You're utterly helpless."

"Scaramouche." You scowled, trying to pull away. "What business does the Balladeer have with me worth keeping me alive this long?"

"Entertainment," He remarked. " If you need a refresher, that little trick of yours with the gnosis deflected my electro attack, creating a shockwave big enough to loosen the boulders in this already unstable cave. Now we're trapped in here, forced to wait find another way out or wait until something happens. My elemental powers can't seem to touch this cavern, and I highly doubt yours can either--"

"So it's just the two of us." You concluded, horrified at the outcome.

He stopped as he drew his catalyst. "It would get terribly boring without watching you struggle against whatever I choose to do to you." 

Watching his lips twist into a sick smile, you promptly thought you would quite gladly drop dead at this given moment than to spend another second in his presence. A part of you wondered if you could make it past his monologues, not wanting to think about what else he was capable of.

"As a harbinger, you would also make good ransoming material against the Fatui to have them stop pursuing me for the gnosis, although I doubt it would work."

"How did you know I was a harbinger?" 

Scaramouche lifted a pale object in his hand, a smooth insignia that reflected the surroundings back at you. My harbinger's insignia! A rare token you had just acquired following your promotion, you felt around you chest with what movement you could muster from your ropes as you realized he had taken it from you.

"You put up a good fight, I admit, nothing less than expected of a newly made harbinger, but if the Tsaritsa had any sense left in her, she would've sent someone more experienced." He continued as you struggled against the ropes, trying to take your insignia back.

"Don't you dare insult the Tsaritsa!" You shot at him.

"You Snezhnayans are all the same, worshipping a deity merely because you were taught to. How many times have to actually even seen her?" He shot back.

"More than you Inazumans have interacted with the Raiden Shogun."

"The Raiden Shogun created me, but I aspire nothing like the eternity she strives for. She is merely my creator, but I feel no obligation to place her on a pedestal. Chasing foolish dreams dependent upon one person won't get you anywhere, harbinger." The two of you locked gazes for a moment, daring each other to make a move. After a while he looked away.