Frozen Heart

Chapter 20: Doubts

You groaned, waking up with a little migraine.

"You're awake! Thank goodness" a familiar male voice said above you.

Your vision began to adjust itself to its surroundings, slowly standing up. The person who spoke to you first was Childe and you were back at the quarters.

"Childe? How-..." you felt your head pound, making you quiver. A cold touch on your forehead startled you,

"What happened?"

You turned to the person who asked, which was non other than Signora. She was trying to help cool off the migraines.

"I found Scaramouche, but just as quick as I found him.." you sighed. Signora didn't seem surprised, she expected this. She looked at a maid and commanded her to ready you a warm bath.

"How did I get back here?"

"It wasn't hard to find you. And as you said, I'll know where you are" Signora smirked.

'Did she hear my conversation with Childe in the morning? Does she even sleep...'

The maid came back and waited for you. Even if you failed your own mission, Signora was still kind and made sure you were alright, although she isn't a person to show kindness, you knew she cares. You turned to Signora and bowed to her. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head.

'What did I do to deserve this?'

"Thank you, Signora" you thanked her and left to follow the maid.

🌹🌹🌹🌹

You crossed your arms,

"What else did you find in the factory?" you asked Childe. He put his hands on his hips,

"Well, if you weren't so lazy to do your own dirty work, maybe you could've seen the stuff down there for yourself!" he glared at you. You rolled your eye,

"Don't stretch this into a long conversation, you know that the both of us would love to avoid that"

"Fine. There was nothing more than her unconscious body and dead units from Scaramouche" he stopped and got something out of his pocket, "and this, was there too"

He handed you a sakura petal,

"I don't know where it came from, but there must've been another person with them. Taking the Traveler but leaving her behind" Childe finished. You examined the petal and crushed it in your hand, forming an ice-like owl around it.

"What are you doing?"

"Tracking down whoever decided to leave her there" you sent the owl out.

"I suppose we're done here." You turned around and walked into your room, right to your desk, writing the report for the Tsaritsa. The writing stopped as soon as you came to the Balladeer, you had a weird feeling about his actions, he stopped reporting for a while and just left Y/N on the floor alive?

'That other person must've had something he desired...' you leaned back in your chair and looked at the ceiling.

'But what could it be...' you closed your eyes and tried to think about different items, materials or anything he might want to possess. 'The Tsaritsa didn't tell me anything about him. He differentiates from the other Harbingers a lot, also that aura he has is strange...'

"Signora?" Y/Ns voice came from the door. You straightened yourself and told her to come in.

"Am I interrupting you at something?" she asked, poking her head in.

"No. Don't stand there like a lost puppy, come inside" you commanded her. She nodded and closed the door behind her,

"What do you need?"

"I wanted to ask you a few things" she sounded nervous.

"Ask away, make sure to be quick and short with it" you waited for her questions, curious about their context.

"What would you do if it ever came to a fight between you and the Traveler?"

The question was very random and muddled you,

"I'd fight. Why? How'd you come to that question?"

"It's just. They have lost someone important. As soon as they found out that the Fatui was behind that, they were merciless. It just worried me about.." she stopped, realising what she was about to say.

"You were worried about me?"

"I mean. Yes, it's my mission to make sure that you're going back to the Tsaritsa unharmed"

There it was again, this weird feeling in your chest. Your heart was beating a little faster, you tried to cool down your body temperature, but it didn't work. It wasn't that your delusion didn't function to keep you cold. No, in fact, it did still work. So what was this feeling of warmth? It didn't make you uncomfortable, you just didn't want to feel this way, but why?

"Proceed with your next question..." you tried to distract yourself.

"When are you planning to approach the Shogun?"

"Since we found Tartaglia and...well, Scaramouche. I'll be paying her a visit tomorrow. Why?"

"What if that goes wrong? What if she uses the Musou no Hitotachi? Signora, you are sure about the way you approach her, right?"

🌹🌹🌹🌹

Signora stood up and gently took your face

"My, my. So many questions"

"I'm just making sure about this whole mission and the approaches..." you didn't want to tell her about the dreams you had, dreams can't forsee the future, or can they?

"Don't you worry about my mission. I'll go to the Shogun, ask her...nicely to hand over her Gnosis. And that's it" she answered.

"I'll come with-" she quickly hushed you,

"No! Don't. I..will be back sooner than you know." her change of tone didn't help, you wanted to believe her, but your uneasiness made you so unsure. "Don't you dare come after me, that's an order" Signoras voice quickly changed back though. You nodded in silence.

"Any other questions?"

You shook your head. There was a knock on her window, she turned around and opened it, letting in an ice-owl, which vaporised right back into her hands.

"You know. Why don't you pay a visit to the Grand Narakumi Shrine tomorrow? Question the nice lady in pink?" she walked over to you and gave you a petal.

"Now go and rest."

You nodded again and turned around to leave,

"Good night, Y/N" she said as she sat back down on her chair.

"Good night Signora" you said and left her room.

'Even if you answered all these questions..I'm still not sure...' you held your head. 'Why am I even so worried..' you sighed and went inside your room, looking at the petal, holding it close to you.