Little Flower |Scaramouche| ✓

◤XXXIII |Welcome Back|

One by one, Kuragari and his right hands returned with the containers. They continued the rigorous and tedious task until five of six bodies were present at the garden. After many years, the heirs had obviously grown. Especially the older ones as they would currently be somewhere in their twenties. However, (Y/n's) mind was not focused on how old the heirs looked now, but rather on the fact that Raijin was still missing. She recalled the conversation she had with Ishtar and Guozhi not too long ago about Raijin's absence inside of her. Thinking back on it, she gradually became more worried about the whereabouts of the youngest heir.

The electro from Raijin still lingered inside of the girl and so she must be somewhere. But then what would happen if it turned out that Raijin was nowhere to be found?

"Where... where the hell is Raijin? Why... why isn't she in any of the containers..." Scaramouche's indigo irises frantically looked over each of the heirs over and over again as if suddenly the electro archon's daughter would suddenly appear in one of them. The happiness that once overtook him was replaced with everything negative as it sank in that Raijin was not with the other heirs. "Maram... where... why the fuck isn't she here?"

"Calm down," Maram floated over to the frantic boy and lightly touched the top of his head as a way of giving him a head pat. "Don't worry about Raijin. She's safe, just... not in one of those containers. Please allow me to separate the other heirs first and then I'll explain."

"Hahaha you're telling me to be calm? The whole reason I went through that hellish journey with (Y/n) was to find Raijin and bring her back to Inazuma! And now you're saying that she's not here?"

"Oi, Scara," the girl went by his side and attempted to rest a hand on his shoulder but he was quick to aggressively shove her away.

"Shut up, you probably don't know where she is either."

"Calm your ass down before the archons arrive," she snapped back. "We're supposed to have a peaceful reunion between the gods and their children. Trust Maram, alright? And plus, I don't wanna see you being angry as my last memory of you before I leave," (Y/n) slowly grasped his hand in hers once she was sure he wouldn't push her away again. Leaning in close so that her breath was tickling his ear, she whispered, "Just like you didn't like having to see Raijin's distraught face as she was taken away by the Fatui as your last memory of her." These last words immediately made Scaramouche go silent as he let out a sigh. The girl let go of his hand and turned her attention to Maram, signaling that he'd calmed down.

Right on cue, the remaining six archons entered the royal gardens with Cyno and Collei trailing awkwardly behind them. A tall and elegant man walked in the front and once his topaz eyes set gaze upon the five containers, his refined demeanor broke and a soft expression appeared on his face. Like a domino effect, each of the archons slowly let their guards down as they were finally able to see their children again after so long.

Scaramouche locked eyes with the violet hues of the Raiden Shogun and he quickly averted his gaze and purposely avoided any sort of eye contact with the almighty electro archon. He knew that she would be unhappy to see that Raijin was not amongst the other heirs.

"I hope that you don't mind that I also invited Cyno and Collei to join the reunion party," (Y/n) grinned nervously. "I figured that they'd want to see their prince again especially since Cyno is so close to Ishtar."

Kusanali shook her head with a small smile on her face.

"I think that was the right decision to make. I'm sure Ishtar would be delighted to see his dear friend again."

"Alright... well then, (Y/n)," the ghost god looked over at the artificial archon. "Whenever you're ready, we can begin the process."

Inhaling, the girl nodded slowly. She gently touched Scaramouche's hand causing him to lift his head up from staring at the ground. Giving him a smile that said goodbye, she pulled him in for one last hug without warning. He hesitated for a second, still not used to her outbursts, but eventually gave in and wrapped his arms around her to return the gesture.

"Thank you for accompanying me on this wild journey, Scary Moose. I really appreciate you letting me get to see and experience what Teyvat's like even if it was only visiting three nations. I'll miss seeing you and having a body of my own," she said her final farewell to the bestest friend she ever had in her sixteen years of existence. Never would this happen as she would disappear from the world and eventually, it would be as if she had never existed once enough time passed.

"I'll miss you, (Y/n)." Though he felt a tug in his chest that begged for the girl not to leave him, Scaramouche ignored that feeling. Whoever this person was whose body was being used by (Y/n) would soon be freed and given another chance at life. Even though this person wouldn't be the same as the heir that was in front of him, at least it would be a reincarnation of sorts.

Breaking from the hug, the girl gave him one last smile before going up to Maram and nodding her head, giving the okay to begin the process.

Scaramouche didn't want to see her go. He didn't want to let her go after the time they'd spent together. As much as he wanted Raijin back, he equally wanted (Y/n) to stay so at least they would have each other once the Raiden Shogun killed him. Subconsciously, the boy began to reach a hand out towards her, wanting to pull her back and find a way to compromise with Maram so that she could stay, but he caught himself and pulled back. He had to remind himself that his Raijin would soon return.

A dull light flashed before everyone's eyes as the young god of wishes thrust his hand through the girl's chest to carefully extract each of the heirs' souls and memories as he had to make sure that each soul correctly matched each ball of memories that were jumbled inside of (Y/n's) body. The light lingered for a while and as everyone watched the tedious process Maram was performing, they quietly whispered amongst themselves.

First, a glowing ball of memories was extracted and with his free hand, Maram quickly flipped through all of it to determine which soul needed to be matched. This continued until five souls each paired with their memories floated around in the air whilst the girl hung limply in mid-air, unconscious. Nodding over at Kuragari, the chief of the Cerise Praelia migrated to the containers and with directions from Maram, he cautiously opened the containers and allowed the ghost boy to guide the souls and memories back to their original bodies. In no particular order, the heirs were revived.

It took a few moments, but Ishtar was the first to open his eyes. He blinked a few times and looked down at himself, confirming that was indeed back in his own body and not stuck inside of (Y/n's) mind anymore. He then looked around at his surroundings and settled upon looking down at his mother as Kusanali was much shorter than he was due to his growth over the years. His eyes then caught Cyno's vermillion ones and a small smile tugged at the corner of Sumeru's prince.

Guozhi, then Odessa, Beau, and finally Siggy woke up in their own bodies and rushed to greet their parents and reunite with them. While the five archons had a reunion with their children, the Raiden Shogun stood alone wondering where her daughter was. Though her expression was neutral and held her usual cold facial appearance, underneath it all she was confused and distraught.

All the containers were now empty and (Y/n) was still unconscious. She looked very... different than before. Her archon form had disappeared as soon as Maram took out the first soul and memory. After that, each trait of the heirs that were present on her vanished leaving behind a head of (h/c) locks. Undoubtedly, her eyes would no longer be heterochromatic and would instead be one colour.

Scaramouche searched around, a fragment of hope inside him. Raijin was here, right? Maram and (Y/n) said not to worry, but where was his Raijin? The Raiden Shogun, Ei, was thinking the exact same thing. By this point, the other archons and heirs, Cyno, Collei, Kuragari and his right hands had noticed the lack of the heir to Inazuma.

Where was Raijin?