A Single Spark (Scaramouche x Reader)

Chapter 10: Co-op Mission

Hi hi!! I've noticed my update schedule is getting sloppy and I apologize, but I'm still pushing out updates around once a week when possible :) Hopefully no one was too tortured about the cliff hanger from last time ehe~
If there's any bugs lemme know I'm half asleep

Scaramouche sent a wave of electro throughout the battlefield, and the very atmosphere crackled with electricity. You took some of that energy and imbued your weapon with that glorious violet power.

The traveler's loose hairs were standing on end, and he's not getting enough air into his lungs. Perfect. If you defeated him, the Tsaritsa would praise you for sure!

As you attacked Aether with your claymore, he could barely parry, and slid back, against an old column. You smirked. Now's your chance!

Bang! Clang! Clash! Boom! The traveler was struggling to keep up with you! He had what looked to be a dislocated shoulder, and one of his eyes was already black and swollen.

After a few minutes the blonde mustered enough force to knock you back a little.

Fortunately, you're a lot sturdier than him.

Unfortunately, you didn't see his next attack quickly enough.

Aether plunged his sword into the ground...

You waited.

"Pfft—that's it? AHAHAHAHHA WHAT WAS THAT?!" you laughed. You even heard the Balladeer snort, but when you turned around to glance at him he was as stoic as ever.

Suddenly the ground began to tremble. A huge amber spike shot up next to you, and before you knew it, a wave of geo came at you and Kunikuzushi like a tsunami—if tsunamis were made of rock.

You jumped over the wave just in time, aided by your vision, but when you swiveled around, you saw your fellow harbinger wasn't so lucky. A surprise amber spike shot up and hit him head-on, and the poor shrimp went flying through the air.

Your gaze followed Kunikuzushi like a flyball, and the harbinger finally crash-landed into a cliff about 100 meters away. The explosion it created was huge.

"SCARAMOUCHE!"

You turned back to Aether, that blonde bastard.

"I will end you, traveler!" you shouted.

You started to build up energy, so much so that it was coming off in waves inches thick. The air was heavy, and you could probably cut it with scissors. The purple haze obscured your eyesight just a little. Or, was it that you were just tired? Either way, the beads of sweat dripping off your face fizzled away before they could even touched the ground.

Your gaze hardened once you had enough power inside of you. Lifting your broadsword, you strike. And strike. And strike. And strike again, and again. You can't see anymore, with just purple and red filling your view of the world, and you were relying on pure instinct at this point. You could feel Aether parrying, and every time he did you would bring another strike right on him.

The electrified atmosphere hurts. It stung worse that hundreds of bees.

But at the same time...

It felt so good.

That's when you hear the traveler yell, and the next thing you knew your body collided with something hard, and pain shoots into all your bones.

When your head stopped spinning and the world regained focus, you saw Aether glaring down at you, his sword pointed at your throat.

"Why you..." you grimace, looking up at the traveler with the utmost contempt. Aether squats down to become eye level with you.

"What are you doing in Liyue?" he asked. You can tell he's trying to scare you, but that cold golden gaze and sharp words barely scratch the surface. You just rolled your eyes.

"Like I tried saying before, dumbass, we weren't doing anything! The Tsaritsa literally assigned us to watch Childe and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. If I'm being perfectly honest, he came WHAM out of nowhere with all the stupid stuff. Now we were left to clean up the mess!"

You barely revealed anything important, but you'll have to fill in what you told the traveler to Kunikuzshi later anyway. Maybe you'll just kill him. That would be way easier.

Aether's gaze turned quizzical.

"So you had no idea what was gonna happen?"

What did I literally just say? Of course we didn't! you thought with contempt.

Despite your thoughts, you simply forced a smile and replied "Nope. We only thought Rex Lapis was turning over his gnosis peacefully."

The boulder crushing you crumbled to dust, and you winced as you sit up. Great, I could feel a crushed rib, maybe two.

You pushed your hands off the ground, and used the extra momentum to jump onto my feet rather gracefully considering your condition.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go drag my associate out of the cliff." you call over my shoulder.

Once Aether is out of sight, you break into a run after the poor shrimp.

Kunikuzushi was laying like a limp noodle in the sixth harbinger-sized crater he created. Oh gosh, he had to be injured terribly. Sheesh.

You grabbed him by the hat, effectively yanking the raven-hair out of his "nest". His hat fluttered to the ground beside him.

The Balladeer quickly left his gaze as he collided with the ground. He glared at you, and put his hat on with an attitude.

"Watch it, I saved your life!" you scolded as you grabbed his cheeks and squeezed them.

"Let go of me right now," he growled.

Aether sauntered over to you two, and you could feel the ravenette beside you stiffen.

"Sorry to bother you guys again..." Aether rubbed the back of his head. "But uh... seeing as you guys aren't bad Fatui as far as I can tell, could you help me with something? I was sent on a mission earlier and I need a team to beat this monster. Uh-just for the time being, of course. It's not like we're allies or anything...

The traveler looked at you with puppy-dog eyes. Good grief.

"No," Scaramouche immediately replied, turning away and already walking towards the general direction of Zapolyarny Palace. You grabbed him by the ear.

"Oi!"

"Oh you're impossible!" you whined. You leaned towards his ear, whispering, "Please? I'm just as mad as you are that we got beat...but isn't that all the more reason to prove ourselves now?"

The Balladeer sighed, then lifted the brim of his hat out of his eyes to look up at you.

"...Fine," he said.