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˖°࿐ Chapter 3

author's note
_honestly i enjoyed writing this chapter so hope you enjoy reading it as well!
_TW// horror and violence

Scaramouche, following Beidou, walked towards the pale-blond haired young man. He observed the man in front of him for a while, thinking that he has some style at the very least. That's when Beidou also spoke up.

"So, s/n.. This is the one you've been looking for," she said. She held her hand towards the young man then to Scaramouche. "Kazuha, meet s/n."

Kazuha fixated his gaze towards the one beside Beidou for a while. He dressed quite similar to an Inazuman, but the one that intrigued Kazuha was his sophisticated hat. It would definitely stand out if he actually lived there, yet Kazuha never remembered seeing such a hat around Inazuma.

Kazuha's gaze then moved down to Scaramouche's face. His face wasn't as visible since there wasn't any light around there, but it was clear that the boy in front of him was avoiding his gaze. He chuckled and said lightheartedly, "I guess the wind had prepared for our fortunate meeting.."

Scaramouche flinched from hearing what Kazuha said and replied, "That's ridiculous, the wind blows according to the tide- ah nevermind."

He stopped talking, knowing that it wouldn't be appropriate to bring up now-useless topics. He turned back to the two and tuned in to their conversation. As it turns out, Kazuha is actually joining in on the event and when they arrived, the first round had ended. He also mentioned that the second round would start soon.

"Beidou, are you also here to join the event?" Kazuha asked.

Beidou shook her head and replied, "Ah, sadly no. I'm just here to get s/n to you actually." She smiled and turned to Scaramouche. "He said he has something for a Kaedehara descendant."

"Huh, you're looking for me?!" Kazuha was a bit shocked.

Scaramouche shocked his head but then shrugged. He slightly pouted before answering the one in front of him. He said bluntly, "Well I am supposed to give this letter to a Kaedehara descendant but you can't be the only descendant, it could be anyone right.."

But oh how he thought wrong, he might've lived through with one of the descendants but there was nothing that pointed to there being more than one alive right now. Scaramouche turned to be replied with a weird, concerning face from Beidou. He really couldn't understand what she meant though.

"If you want to say something just say it, goddamnit." He glared at Beidou. But neither Beidou nor Kazuha said anything. There was this moment of silence, and not a good kind of one. Beidou looked at Kazuha for a moment when she decided to open her mouth. She simply said, "He's... actually the only one left."

That short sentence woke him up.

He almost forgot what happened a hundred years ago. Maybe some things are better left forgotten, this was one of such. But it seems like Nahida didn't want him to fully forget it, nor did his subconscious mind. He dazed off a while when Beidou shook him a bit.

"Hey kiddo, you there??" she asked, a bit worried. Scaramouche shook his head then nodded in reply. He's fine, for now. And that was all that Beidou cared for so she nodded back. "Well I might have some things to handle, again.. It was nice talking with you again though, Kazuha!" And with that, Beidou left the two alone (not really).

Kazuha waved back to her and then turned to Scaramouche. He tilted his head and said, "Well... You got nothing to do right, what if you join the second round of the Test of Courage?"

It took a while to get a response from the blue haired boy. He slowly took out the letter and handed it to Kazuha. Then he replied, "Open it first."

"Why should I open it now?" Kazuha teased him.

Scaramouche shook his head and groaned. "What if it's important?! Urgent?!"

Kazuha only gave him a chuckle and replied, "Relax, I'm a wanderer! And the wind says that it will be just fine~"

"Ugh you people," Scaramouche said under his breath. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll join. But after this you NEED to open the letter."

Kazuha nodded and the two of them went to the shrine maiden. He signed both of them as a team for the second round. The shrine maiden also added that Scaramouche couldn't win the final prize since he joined midway but it looked like he never cared about it either. And then the second round starts.

[TRIGGER WARNING!]

The two of them started to follow the arrows, searching the western part of Chinju Forest. The atmosphere gets darker the deeper they go. It started just fine at first, but then they heard crackling noises. None of them minded the noise and kept walking deeper. Kazuha went in front and Scaramouche followed. Not long after, Kazuha spotted something which resembled the object and he told Scaramouche about it. They both started to run lightly there. But fog starts to blind their sight. He opened his eyes as much as he could but it was as if there was glue in his eyes. His head felt very light. And he felt like his head was getting thrown back and forth. There was an attempt from him to reach for Kazuha but collapsed. His eyes also went against his will and closed itself.

Darkness engulfed his sight when he tried opening his eyes. Even if he couldn't see at all, he was a bit relaxed since his head had stopped spinning and he could at least think properly. But he still didn't know where he was. He thought that maybe, someone moved his body somewhere after he blacked out. He tried moving his limb, turning his head, yet only felt like his body was entangled by a string. A string pulling at him from every side. It can't be reality could it?

Scaramouche looked around with only his sight available at the moment but all he saw was black and a lot of nothingness. There wasn't any sound either, it was just the void. He didn't really expect anything else though. When it felt like eternity of darkness, a purple orb flickered. The orb grew bigger and smaller, the flickering stopped a while but it flickered more intensely. Then it was gone.

Scaramouche sighed and thought that maybe he'll just wake up to it. He looked up and saw a pair of black hollow eyes, black substance coming out of its eyes. Scaramouche's eyes widened and his body trembled uncontrollably. He could see the reflection of himself, in fear, in its pupils. The pair of eyes suddenly formed a shadow silhouette. It starts to say something but Scaramouche couldn't catch a word of it. 

Snap.

The silhouette starts cutting up the strings in Scaramouche's body.  The feeling of pain felt so real that even him, supposedly a puppet, screamed in agonize. No one could hear him. His head dangled on the string, struggling. The string on his neck silting his throat slowly. Scaramouche couldn't do anything but wait till it cuts the last string for him.

Snap.

And he fell to the void.