Those Who Dream of Freedom (Scaramouche x fem!reader)

Chapter 12 ☆ A common cold

☆ y/n

I had a very good friend in the group, we did almost everything together and never got bored of each other no matter what. The silence that sometimes fell between us never made us feel awkward, it was always pleasant and refreshing. At times I had the feeling that he might be my soulmate, but at other times I thought I was only thinking about it in the heat of the moment. Maybe I just wanted to believe this because he had been the first boy I had ever liked. I had no idea if what I felt for him was love or something else. In the end, I didn't have a chance to figure it out.

One day we both saw some people in strange clothes, the likes of which we had never seen before. They were talking about all sorts of things I didn't understand and I didn't pay any attention to them. They didn't seem to be from Inazuma, so they couldn't have been a threat to any of us. At the time I didn't know what the deal was with them, and even if I do now, there was no way I could change the past.

Not very late the shogunates found us again. They approached us slowly, so as not to scare us somehow, but he and I knew we had to make a run for it. We had to alert the group and find another hiding place. We both had to get out of that mess safely, because I couldn't go on living if anything happened to him. I was stupid to think that, we both didn't have a chance in the first place.

The shogunates told us to surrender. They asked for our visions and when we refused to hand them over they pointed their weapons at us. I told myself with determination that we'd both rather die here than give up something that belonged to us. Still, the fight did not end well. The only vision that was stolen that day was his. He was the only person to lose his memories as a result of that altercation. I, on the other hand, ran when I had the chance, pushed on by his words telling me to save myself. I told myself I would call for help, but I couldn't do it in time. When I returned with the others, there was no one else in the place.

Two months after the incident, we learned that the shogunates had taken him back home, where he had not been for a long time. The leaders of the group told me that because of the lost memories he was no longer himself, that he would never be able to have a meaningful conversation again, and that most certainly he would never be the way I remembered him.

Why did this have to happen? I used to tell myself over and over again every night before I fell asleep. We were very close, we could have said anything to each other, but that too ended eventually. I wish we had always been close to each other, but I had run out of that hope that had driven me since I had become a rebel. His absence left a hole in my chest, one that I haven't been able to fill even to this day, no matter how many people I've met in the meantime.

I got the vision on one of the nights I couldn't sleep. It glowed purple in the back of my hand, so bright I was afraid others would see it. "True friendship resists time, distance and silence" was what I heard the moment I felt the vision touch my skin.

☆

When I wake up I notice that my condition from last night has worsened; I have a stuffy nose and chills, and when I put my hand on my forehead I feel like I'm burning. And it's great, because today we were supposed to study at the library and now I have no way to get there. I let Zoe know I'm not feeling well, and she arrives at my house in less than fifteen minutes, with something in her hand. Obviously, as I expected, the first thing she asks me is how I got in this sorry state, and I answer:

"Well, last night, Scaramouche and I..."

But I shut up when I notice the way she looks at me, like I've done something she didn't expect.

"The last time I saw your dynamic you seemed to refrain from getting into a fight. When did your relationship progress that much?"

"What do you mean?"