Archon Quest: Custom Night [FNAF/Genshin]

Chapter 24: It's Me!

Michael, Elizabeth, and Evan stood in the girl's bedroom, all equally lost. What should they do now? It wasn't as though they wanted to greet their father. Elizabeth continued to stare blankly into the closet in front of her, where her family should have been.

"Liz? Liz!" Michael snapped a finger in front of her eyes, and she blinked.

"Oh, sorry, what?"

"Why is your closet such a mess?" he lifted his hand at the clothes, toys, and books that were scattered all around the floor, "Did you leave it like that?"

"Wh—no, I didn't leave it like that. We were playing outside before we woke up in Teyvat, remember? There was no way Father allowed me to go outside if my room looked like this," she cringed.

Evan shivered, "Something's wrong."

"Yeah, something is wrong, it's hot as balls in here," Michael grunted as he pulled off the warm Snezhnayan garments, revealing his signature grey tank top and blue shorts.

"Well, yeah, that," his brother nodded, taking off his jacket as well, "But also this. If it wasn't Elizabeth, then who did it?"

Elizabeth reluctantly shimmied her arms out of her coat, "You're right. Mm...we should probably go find Father right away and ask what happened."

Scoffing, Michael turned away from his siblings. His sister glanced at him, then raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, why are you upset? If he tries anything, you can just light him on fire," she joked with a smile, "But also, I could protect you with my shield. We all still have our Visions, right?"

Evan leaned to look at his brother's hip, "Um, well..."

The teen furrowed his eyebrows as he grabbed the Vision from his waistband. Sure enough, it was there, but the red light had completely greyed itself out.

"Michael...this is your Vision."

He remembered when Zhongli slid the Vision into his hands; even then, it still glowed faintly in Zhongli's hand, though it was brightest in Michael's. Now, there was no glow at all. Seeing her brother's dismay, Elizabeth pulled her Vision off of her skirt to find the same grey orb staring back at her. She stared back at her reflection; she used to see a shocking fighter, but now, there seemed to be nothing special about her.

"Is it just me..." she bit her lip, "...or is it weird that being here feels more empty than when we woke up in Teyvat?"

Eyes still on his Vision, Michael shook his head, "It's like everything we worked for is gone."

Evan tapped his foot, "The Visions come from ambitions, though, right? We still have ambitions, we're just not in the same place as the magical energy Visions take their power from. If we go back, they'll probably light up again."

He watched as Michael turned to him. It was then that Evan finally noticed how bruised and bloodshot Michael's eyes were. When was the last time he slept? He cringed, but when he did, Michael chuckled.

"Yeah, you're right," he brought his hand behind Evan's head, leading him to the door of Elizabeth's room, "Even so, I can still handle a sword pretty well. I'll just slice the guy, or something."

Elizabeth snickered, "Yeah, he would be like, 'Michael! You're grounded for a million years!'"

The teen let out a snort as they approached the staircase outside of the upstairs bedrooms. Michael put a finger over his lip, then slid his fingers along the railing and descended the stairs. He walked slowly, trying to not make any sudden movements in case his father was around. When he peered into downstairs family room, Evan hit the banister from the top of the stair. Pursing his lips, Michael kept walking, but Evan knocked again.