The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 55

"He's awake?!"

Vena practically jumped out of her skin, sprinting down from the entrance of the Narukami shrine and down to the room Aether had been resting in.

"Don't look at me like that." She raised her hands in defeat as soon as his eyes laid on her, his facial expression turning sour almost instantly.

"You already know what I'm going to say."

Why must Aether always lecture her so much?

"Hey- we got saved! We're fine." She blew air out of her mouth, making an obnoxious noise as she attempted to deflect.

She knew she'd fucked up, but that didn't mean she needed to openly admit it.

It was an extremely reckless decision and it had almost gotten her captured again.

But Aether could have died. Maybe she was what saved him, aside from Yae obviously. She stalled him and maybe that was what caused Yae to find them.

"I'll lecture you later. Did she tell you everything she told me?"

Vena almost let out a sigh of relief, but didn't want to test his patience for fear of being yelled at again.

"Yep. Basically, you peaked the Raiden Shogun's interest and you might be the only one who can save Inazuma because of it." Vena made sure to make it short, sweet and to the point, noticing Aether's subtle roll of his eyes.

"You just always have the weight of the world on your shoulders, huh?" She nudged him playfully, hoping to maybe try and cheer him up.

"The people of Inazuma deserve happiness."

They were definitely alike in some ways. Vena agreed, she just wished it didn't almost always come down to Aether saving everyone and everything and she'd wished he could take a break, but on the bright side, it meant he cared. Despite trying to find his sister and reunite with her, he always tried to stop and help the genuine kind souls along the way, and that was something she understood all too well.

"You do too, best friend."

Now that pulled a smile from him.

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"How was your training?" Vena eyed Aether, scrunching up her nose with a smirk as she watched the sweat drip from the visible areas of his body, his clothes dirty and soaked.

"What was it again? Anti-Raiden Shogun training?" She snickered, enjoying the sight of Yae working Aether to the bone.

Aether grunted with a roll of his eyes, taking a seat at the table with her as he laid his forehead down across it.

"You're gonna make a mess."

"Did you see how Yae convinced Scaramouche to let us go?"

Oh, so he still has that on his mind. No wonder he didn't play along with her teasing.

"No," Vena shook her head, actually quite curious herself now that he had reminded her.

"Basically as soon as she showed up, she told him she had a proposition for him, but he had to let us both go. He refused for a minute, until she showed him something she pulled from her pocket. I couldn't see because her back was to me still, but whatever she offered him, changed his mind real quick."

That was a good point. She was just so thankful to escape with both her and Aether's freedom that she didn't even think about it.

Aether hummed, clearly mulling the possibilities over in his head. What could a Harbinger like Scaramouche want more than Aether or Vena..? Whatever she traded had to be of great value to the Fatui, right? They didn't know much about them as an organization, but from what they knew of Childe, it was that most Harbingers would do anything for their Tsaritsa.