Gonna live this life as the Heroine Villainess

🌑 Chapter 15 🌙

Something in her had died that day. Wren didn't know how it happened, or why- but the events of that day greatly changed her. For the worse, or better, she didn't know.... it was the reason she was wearing the thin contraption fixed to her gloves, a gift from... her. A mix of alchemy and technology that was now responsible for her ability to bend the elements, and sensing thought waves of other people, even illusions... That day, Wren had completely lost her old abilities. Now, she relied on her constantly growing source of mana to survive.

It felt wrong, almost, like she had lost a part of herself- and in some ways, she had. Wren missed it, the constant thrum of energy running through her veins. But she had learned to live without it, like she had with many things. For example, sweet bubble tea. Oh, how she missed bubble tea. Dango milk was an okay substitute, but nothing was quite the same... Wren pulled Klee away from the slimes bouncing around on the edge of cider lake, then guided her onto the stone bridge. Wren laughed when Klee bounded over to Timmy, who was tending to his pigeons as usual. They reached Mondstadt city gates.

"Hello gentlemen," Wren said airily from under her hood. "A nice day, isn't it?" The guard closest to her eyed her suspiciously. "...I'm going to need legal identification, and a name...?" She smiled. "I don't think I'll be needing that, Lawrence." His eyes widened. "How did you-" As if on cue, a blur of red raced passed her, and Klee launched herself into his arms. "Mr. Lawrence!" Beside him, Lawrence's fellow guard, Swan, if her memory recalled correctly, gasped in surprise. "Klee? Where have you been? The acting Grand Master has been worried sick- wait. Don't tell me you went fish blasting again?" Klee fiddled with her fingers sheepishly. "....I got lost. But..." Klee's face lit up. "Miss Angel found me! All the way in Liyue! And she bought me toast!" She added, as if it was the most important thing in her statement. The guards shared a look. "Klee..." Lawrence started. "We can't let just anyone into the city, you know that, right?" Wren rolled her eyes, thinking back to the time when she had just climbed over the city gates and no one even looked her way.

She thought for a moment, then lowered her hood, allowing her white hair to flow out behind her. Wren gave the guards a sweet smile, watching as their eyes widened. Swan flushed. "I'm sorry- I'll just be in and out. I just wanted to make sure she got back safely." It was partially the truth- she did want to make sure that Klee would be alright. But she had no intentions of leaving anytime soon. "A-Ah..." Swan stuttered. Lawrence gave his partner a dead pan look, but turned back towards her. He stared at her curiously. "...Alright. Welcome to the city of Mondstadt, Miss."

~🌑🌙~

Wren kept her hood lowered as she followed Klee towards the Knights of Favonius headquarters. This was the city of freedom, right? She had every right to show her face. It was a strange feeling though, feeling the fresh wind on her face instead of staring at the ground all the time. She was so used to hiding being out and about like this was almost unnatural. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the occasional curious faces peaking out from windows, or the dark corners between the buildings. She didn't mind them. Wren was used to it now. After all, white hair wasn't exactly common- not in Mond.

She stopped where Klee stopped, at Good Hunters, at Blanche's stall- and Timaeus' alchemy table. All looked surprised to see them, but expressed their happiness at Klee's return. "Ah, it's never the same, not waking up to explosions on the country side," Blanche recalled dreamily. "Thank you, for bringing her back." "...Anyone would have done it." Wren said softly. In moments like these, she never really knew what to say. "Oh, but would they?" Blanche countered. "People... are crueler than we can ever imagine." She smiled softly, reaching forward to grab her hands. "Comes to show you're just one of those kind souls out there, right?" Wren couldn't help but laugh... "kind" wasn't exactly a word she would use to describe herself. Her kindness was a mask. It was just another illusion. But she would entertain the young girl, because why not? It wouldn't help for her to build her reputation, right?