--Fire For Revenge--

CHAPTER TWO

(A/N:- Chapter One has been posted by legend-In-aBlaNk3t.)

 Aurie breathed in the Snezhnayan air. It had been a few months since she set foot here.

 From what she heard, Arimonoku had been patrolling the area they last met every day, hunting for a sign of her or her brother.

 How foolish she is, Aurie thought. Did she really fall for my trap?

 Before she left Snezhnaya, she had placed an invention of hers to roam around the Snezhnayan snow forest. The invention seemed like a small metal platter of no significance. However, it could make a holographic image of anything it scanned. Not to mention the fact that it could move itself and the hologram around so that people could not track it down.

 She set up her robot stand in her usual place. As soon as a kid saw her there, waving at him and asking him if his robot was still working, almost all the kids in Snezhnaya gathered there.

 "Aurella! Aurella!" they called her.

 It was them who gave her that nickname and them who used it the most.

 Aurie spent the rest of the afternoon selling, fixing and playing with the kids. As the sun went down, she took down her stand and started making her way towards the inn. The only reason the innkeeper hasn't reported her to the Fatui yet was because his own son was a customer.

 That was when she heard someone call her pseudonym.

 "Aurella!!"

 She turned around and recognized the kid as Anthon.

 "Hey, what's wrong?"

 "Ummm... I couldn't bring my robot or my siblings'... can you come to our house and fix it, please?"

 Aurie was tired, but she couldn't turn down a kid with pleading puppy eyes. She ruffled his hair.

 "Sure, kiddo, lead the way."

 Anthon happily skipped towards his house.

 That made Aurie wear a sad smile. When she was his age, she was under Tartaglia's training, separated from her parents in Fontaine. All because of her bitch of a grandfather. Thankfully, he was gone and her parents knew she was in safe hands. At first, they were wary of letting Aurie travel Teyvat but Leno and Soi convinced them to let her go as long as she returned every once in a while.

 Anthon led Aurie to a house near the forest. The forest made her nervous since that was the last place she met... was it Arimonoku?

 "Tonia!! She came, she came!!"

 A girl who was slightly older than Anthon appeared behind the door. Aurie beamed at her.

 "Hi, can I see your robots?"

 "Sure!"

 Tonia and Anthon excitedly went to bring the robots. That left Aurie alone in the living room. She examined the family pictures. There weren't a lot of them but one caught Aurie's eyes.

 It was a picture of Tonia and Anthon beside an orange-haired young man, carrying a kid (who Aurie realized was Teucer, their younger brother) on his shoulders. Somehow, she felt that the young man looked really familiar. She went in to take a closer look. The charismatic smile, the easy-going look... she definitely knew him but she just couldn't grasp who he was.

 Then, she spotted it.

 The electro delusion.

 Realisation and horror engulfed her as Tonia and Anthon came back. She dropped to her knees, eyes as wide as saucers.

 "Aurie...? What's wrong...?" Tonia asked cautiously.

 Instead of an answer, Aurie looked at the photograph. Tonia and Anthon understood almost immediately.

 "Don't worry, Aurie! Our brother isn't here!! He went out with Teucer!! He won't be back for a while!!" Tonia explained speedily.

 "We're sorry for not telling you sooner... we thought... you wouldn't sell or fix any of the robots if we told you our brother was..."

 "Tartaglia, Ajax," Aurie whispered.

 That was when she got a look at the terrified kids. She could understand why they didn't inform her beforehand, but she appreciated the fact that they made sure their brother was gone and then called her. They knew how serious the situation to her.

 "Hey, it's no big deal. As long as one of you stand guard, I will still keep in touch with you! It's not your fault your brother is Tartaglia."

 Their eyes lit up. Oh, how Aurie loved to see these kind of faces.

 So, Aurie tinkered, Tonia stood guard and Anthon watched excitedly.

 Once she was all done, the robots were as good as new. Tonia and Anthon thanked her over and over again. In turn, she thanked them for everything, took the change and head outside.

 She walked along the woods for a while, trying to navigate her way back when she heard a voice she could distinguish anywhere.

 "Long time no see, comrade. Or should I say... ex-comrade?"

 Aurie ran. If she could hurry up, she could escape him. She knew she could win easily against Tartaglia but she didn't want to waste her time.

 'If you can avoid it, it's better not to waste your time and energy fighting with others,' Soi had always told her.

 However, luck was not on her side today. Because of all the snow, she didn't realise that she was running into the forest, right into the proximity of another harbinger.

 "I knew you would come back one day... you dare tricked me?" the deadly voice jeered as its owner slammed the broken holograph maker to the ground.

 Aurie gritted her teeth.

 Great, Aurie thought. Arimonoku and Tartaglia... my two favourite Harbingers.

 She weighed her options. She was not about to duel both of them. One to one, she might have stood a chance but two to one? No. So, she did the only other thing she could.

 Aurie quickly took out one of Soi's paper charms and clasped it to her forehead, making her turn invisible, even if it is only for 20 minutes.

 Arimonoku blinked several times then growled and swung her katana around.

 "You think I can't find you?!"

 That was when Tartaglia broke into the clearing and Aurie ran as fast as she could. She would find a way to get back to her adoptive brother and father at the inn safe and sound... hopefully..