Frozen Heart

Chapter 45: A puppets Euthymia

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Someone tapped your shoulder, waking you up. You opened your eyes trying to adjust to the current brightness and yawned, stretching your whole body. You looked around the ship, just to be the only one here.

Panic rose.

'Where's Signora?? And-' you glanced over to where Scaramouche was supposed to be, but he wasn't there. Nothing was there.

'Another nightmare..this is just a dream'

But this felt way too odd to be a dream. It gave you the same feeling you had in the Plane of Euthymia. You stood up and checked the deck of the ship, there was no one and nothing, just one thing.

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You walked over to pick up the hat, ignoring the sounds behind you. You were too focused to find out where you were. Why was his hat here? Could he still be alive? Is this his Plane of Euthymia?

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Someone tapped your shoulder again and you turned around,

"You must be really dissapointed to see me, right?" Scaramouche smiled at you, that smile always had bad intentions, even if this was some sort of dream and not real, you had a feeling that he just wanted to cause something bad.

"Is this your Plane of Euthymia?" you looked away from him and realised that you two weren't on the ship anymore. It was a more empty space, yet it had a more calmer aura than Ei's. There was a river quietly flowing past you in its own pace and a field of flowers that danced in the wind.

"You could say that. Unlike Ei, I can manage mine better than she does." he smirked. You shook your head and tried to concentrate on what was happening,

"What do you want? You're literally deactivated, how are you still able to do this??"

He walked past you, down to the river and looked at the calm water flowing past his feet.

"The Dendro Archon might've destroyed my body, but not my soul and will. You may see my destroyed body and think I'm dead, but I can still overhear everything anyone says"

You felt a little embarrassed, knowing that he saw you and Signora have a moment with eachother.

"Okay and? What do you want from me? Why did you bring me here?" you walked over to him, watching the river. He was silent and the Plane changed its atmosphere, it went a little darker and had a gloomy effect.

"I know that we are enemies and that I despise you for the rest of my–"

"Yes I get it. I hate you too."

He glared at you and continued,

"I wish to not be handed over to the Tsaritsa nor to the Electro Archon. Once the Tsaritsa gets me back..." he stopped. You understood what he wanted to say immediately and didn't bother asking about the Tsaritsa,

"I can understand the Tsaritsa problem, but why not Ei?"

He refused to answer,

"You do know that if we don't hand you over to Ei, you will be stuck in that lifeless body forever."

He shrugged and turned around, walking over to the field of flowers, you felt a few droplets of rain coming down. You just watched him stand there looking off into the distance of his Euthymia. Is this his true personality? If so, why was he hiding it? Why was he covering it up with such murderous intentions?

"Good luck to you, Y/N." he said.

You were slowly being covered by darkness, watching him turn around to you with his usual smile. But that smile. That smile carried so much guilt and sorrow.

You couldn't do anything other than waking up, back on the ship.

His lifeless body was still on the same spot, and Signora was resting her head on your shoulder, fast asleep.

'She's so intimidating, yet so cute...' you felt your heart melt at how peacefully she was sleeping, and with that, you tried your best not to move too much on the rest of the way back to Snezhnaya, giving you a big pain in your neck, but it was worth knowing she was able to sleep nice and quietly.

As soon as the ship was close at the harbour, she was awake, yawning and also stretching.

"Good morning" you smiled at her. She smiled back at you, but quickly changed her expression,

"For how long have you been awake for?" she asked.

"Not that long, I'm guessing about 20 minutes? Why?"

"You should've woken me up...you probably got a sore neck from not moving" she sighed.

"Signora don't worry too much about me, also I'm just glad to know that you're able to sleep so peacefully next to me"

Signora's face turned a little red and she just stood up in silence, going towards the exit of the ship. You chuckled to yourself and walked over to Scaramouche,

"If I can't bring you to the Tsaritsa...then what? Signora and I might get punished if we don't.." you thought for a while. Bringing just his arms or legs would be impossible, you needed his full body as proof of his defeat.

'Think Y/N! Think! I cannot bring him back to the Tsaritsa, if I do, she might reprogram him into something way worse...' you bit onto your nail while thinking,

"Stupid! Stupid!" you groaned in annoyance and held your head.

"He is stupid, I'll give you that." Signora stood by the door frame, she was waiting for you. Which meant she also heard your struggles.

"Why are you hesitating to bring him to the Tsaritsa? He's none of our business and shouldn't be" she walked over to you, crossing her arms.

"It might be a little crazy to say, but, he told me to not bring him to her. Well, it was his wish. While I was asleep, he somehow managed to bring me into his Plane of Euthymia, it's this strange world of your subconsciousness...goodness this is so hard to explain..." you sighed.

She raised an eyebrow,

"And you want to, fulfill his wish? Remind you, he tried to murder you and your friends"

You nodded,

"I know, yet if we do give him to the Tsaritsa, she may do something to him that'll turn him to something way worse than what he already was..."

Signora glanced at Scaramouche, then back at you, turning around and walking back to the exit,

"Come. Just follow me and trust my every word. Act along with me, alright?"

You let out a quick "Yes!" and turned to Scaramouche, picking him up,

"Heh, looks like your life is in the hands of the people you hate the most"

Even though he couldn't respond at all, you felt as if he was just glaring at you and cursing you out.

With a heavy knot in your stomach, you followed Signora out of the ship, ready to face the Tsaritsa once more.