Until We Meet Again || • Scaramouche x reader •

Chapter Eighteen

You were frozen in place. Locked up, not being able to intervene, having to watch everything unfold in front of you while you're incapable of doing anything.

You felt miserable. The Traveler and the God of Wisdom were giving it their all to stand up against Scaramouche's killing machine. Was everything you've done until now... for nothing? This is exactly what you were trying to prevent from happening, yet... you walked right into it.

"Bow before me, worm!" You heard the Harbinger shout out before attacking Aether once again. It was incredible how he was still keeping up. His fighting skills were close to unmatchable. But... is it even a surprise?

Half of Teyvat knows about him and his companion already: They defeated a dragon in Mondstadt, defeated a God in Liyue, fought against the Shogun in Inazuma and stopped the vision hunt decree, and now... trying to defeat an artificial God.

While you were lost in thought, you almost didn't even notice that everything started shaking around you. You could see cracks in the floor already, it was about to collapse.

"Scaramouche, Aether!" You warned them which earned you a shocked look from the blonde and an evil grin from The Balladeer. It was clear that he has planned this.

The next thing you knew, the floor broke completely, leaving the Traveler to fall down and to reveal... to reveal... to...

"What the hell is that..." You asked from yourself, fear washing over you.

The already big robot turned out to be ginormous with it's entire body revealed. All someone needed is to be stepped on once, and they were dead.

You walked forward and gripped the bars in fear of what will happen next. You could see that Aether was taken back by The Balladeer's transformation, while The God of Wisdom on the other hand... She seemed rather calm.

"Well then... let's see how well you can do now." The Harbinger said, most likely with a smug smile on his face. You could tell that he was very confident in himself.

That's all it took for the fight to continue. He attacked with four elements while the Traveler was only able to use one. Not so surprisingly, it looked like he was still doing fine. Dodging his blasts didn't seem hard for him and in the meantime, he was also able to deal some blows.

"Alright, I'm almost done setting up. Come here!" The God spoke up, signaling Aether to go behind her.

"Huh? He's not going anywhere..." Scaramouche exclaimed demandingly. The next moment, he was ready to fire another attack, but this time... it was unavoidable. No matter what tricks the Traveler would've pulled, he would've got hit anyways. You saw the horrified look on the Dendro God's face as well, letting you know that she didn't expect things to turn out like this.

This was it for you. This entire time, all you wanted was to save your old friend. But... of course it can't work out if he's also aiming for another friend of yours, clearly wanting to end his life. How could it be called saving, if one goes mad, and another passes away...

The next thing you knew, everything faded around you. Your eyes locked on the machine, focusing on it's little moves. In this moment it was like time went in slow motion, just like in movies.

You felt yourself lifting up from the ground a little bit, and not long after, you launched yourself at the big robot. How... did this happen?

A pyro vision was hanging off of your clothes, signaling that the Gods have decided to bless you with one. The ones from Celestia have found you interesting... probably.

The pyro power easily destroyed the cage made of electro you were trapped in, the blast even giving you a bit more momentum to attack. At that time, you felt like you were almost moving at lightning speed, letting yourself get immersed in this moment.

You reached the Harbinger without a problem, hitting him with such a big impact, that he completely fell over.

You could feel everyone's eyes on you in that room. Even Scaramouche's through the armor of the machine. You surprisingly managed to land safely after all that, standing in one place, shock completely washing over you.

Before you had any time to have a protagonist moment, you saw the Archon sweep past you. She was heading towards the Balladeer, who's robot was still struggling to stand up. You could imagine how hard it must have been to control something as enormous as that.

"Wait! Don't you dare come any closer!" You heard the Harbinger scream out. He was obviously panicking, as his so called 'God form' was malfunctioning.

Of course, this didn't phase the God. She used her powers to swiftly pull out something from the chest of the machine... It kind of looked like a... chess piece? A purple one at that.

"Don't take that away! Please!" The armor on the face opened up, revealing Scaramouche who was trying to reach out to grab whatever was being pulled out.

This didn't have an impact on the God of Wisdom, she was focused on her task, although... She did seem like she felt horrible, hearing him call out so helplessly.

All it took was one last pull and that chess piece was out. It seemed like everyone held their breaths to see how he would react, but... nothing happened. He seemed to have completely broken down. His hand was left reaching out for the one that was in his possession not long ago, and he got tired of it.

The tubes that were all connected into his back snapped, releasing Scaramouche from being held in there, letting him fall out of the robot as he had no strength left.

It was now that you realized his struggles. Planning everything out, fighting for what he wanted, what he yearned for all this time, and it got destroyed in the matter of minutes. Weeks... months, even years of preparing... For it to end like this.

You were unsure if the Traveler knew his past struggles, but the Archon surely did. Maybe that's why she felt sympathy for him at one point. This is what told you that she was indeed a kind hearted person, wanting to help him rather than wanting to get rid of him.

The boy fell to the ground with a big thud, leaving the machine empty and powerless. You felt your legs move on their own as they started approaching him. It looked like Paimon, Aether and the Dendro God all got the signs, letting the two of you have some time alone... After all, no matter how much the three of them knew, it was you who was the closest to him.

You heard the doors close behind you from further away as you slowly sat down next to the Balladeer. He was laying on his back, silently staring at the ceiling, not even bothering to lay his eyes on you.

"Scaramouche...?" You asked but then quickly spoke up again. "No... Kunikuzushi."

His eyes widened to hearing you say his old name, seemingly turning his attention to you now.

"It's okay, y/n. I promise we'll talk but... for now, let me rest for a while..." He almost whispered, as his eyes slowly closed like he went into a deep slumber, even as a puppet.