The Most Important Gear

Chapter 12

scaramouche gave her an eager look, one filled with surprise. then, he refocused himself and began to speak.

"words are meaningless to me," scaramouche said. "in a way, i'm unsure about how i can 'convince' you of anything. the only thing that i can really say is: using irminsul was my way of attempting to correct what i did wrong. now i want to make things right with her as well."

"what you're feeling is grief, as you probably already know," nahida said. "i can tell how you're remorseful of your actions. get {name}, i'll do as i promised."

scaramouche nodded, letting out a small "thank you" before going outside to fetch you. "we're finished."

"oh hi! that took a lot less time than i thought," you said, putting away your sketchbook and pencil. "i was just sketching some design ideas that i had."

"cool," he remarked, opening the door and letting you walk in. "i'd love to see them when you're finished."

"i'm glad you're interested," you giggled. "ah! nahida! you're finished?"

"yes," she said. "however, i have something i have to do for you."

"huh? what do you need to do for me?"

"come here," nahida motioned for you to come closer. "close your eyes."

you nodded hesitantly, then walked over and closed your eyes. nahida took out a small chunk from the larger orb, examining it first, then it plunged into your head, making you gasp in pain. your head felt like it was aching, many voices screaming at you at once making you stumble and lose balance.

"this is the balladeer."

"call me scaramouche when we're in private. that's an order."

"stop being so careless."

"azar has a brilliant talent working under him, that i'm certain about."

"will you be a part of my plan, {name}?"

your hands cupped your ears, scaramouche using himself as a brace to help prevent you from falling. he may not have looked it, but he was growing more and more concerned. the puppet looked at nahida, "can she handle it? i understand that i'm not a human, so my pain tolerance is higher. but what about her?"

"she will endure," nahida said, trying to comfort him. "believe me. she will get through this. have faith."

scaramouche bit back his words, trying to see if you are okay. if you're wrong and {name} is hurt, i won't forgive you, buer.

then, you stumbled, leaning onto him while clenching your head between your hands to try and stop the pain that rippled through your body. he caught you right away, wrapping his arms around you while you continued to writhe in pain. scaramouche gently held the back of your head, turning to nahida with a questioning glare. "how much of her memory did you give back?"

"i gave her back her memories up until right before her hand was injured."

"alright," scaramouche nodded. then he felt you go limp and touched your neck with two of his fingers to check your pulse. "she fainted."

"let's get her back to her house to rest," nahida encouraged. "she might go into shock from confusion if she's in this environment. let's allow her to think that she woke up from sleeping."

he wordlessly picked you up, then flew out of the sanctuary with you in his arms. on the way over to your office, he felt you mutter something under your breath and snuggle into his touch, making him look at you with a gentle smile, kissing you on the forehead.

it was dark, the streets of sumeru city were illuminated from the lamps. there were practically no people out at this point, and he caught sight of the traveler as well as paimon talking with a red-haired woman in blue clothing. however, none of these things really mattered in comparison to getting you home.

he got to your front door and then an issue came up: how was he supposed to get you inside without your keys?

~flashback~

"hey kuni, catch," you called to him, throwing him an object that he effortlessly caught in one hand.

"what is this?"

he held the object in his hand, seeing the key that led to who-knows-where that had a small keychain on it with a fire-red string.

"it's a spare key to my house," you said, smiling. "it's just in case you need it, but {robot name} will usually let you in. i'm giving it to you so you can access my house if {robot name} or i am not available."

he nodded, holding the key tight in his palm. "alright. by the way... you're not concerned that i'd abuse access to your house?"

"well i trust you," you said innocently. "and besides, what would you even do once you're inside?"

"i could do a lot of things," he scoffed. "i'm still dangerous even though most of my power is gone."

"sure," you rolled your eyes. "as if you could do anything to me. anyways, if you lose the key, don't sweat it. i have a hidden keycode that you can access, it's behind the wooden panel on the right side."

"what's the code?"

"you'll have to figure it out," you playfully said, earning a glare. "fine fine, it's my birthday."

~present day~

scaramouche walked over, removing one of his hands from under you so you were gently leaning on him and opened the wooden panel that he saw. he punched in your birthday and heard the lock on your door click.

"huh," he remarked, picking you up again. "looks like some of the time that you spent tinkering instead of going out with me actually came in handy."

he kicked the door open, careful not to hit it too hard that it would break or slam into anything. as if it was pure habit, he carried you to your bedroom, and then turned on a few lights. then, he went to your wall of photos and looked at all the pictures.

all of them remained the same, except the fact that any photos of him were replaced with empty frames. he looked at them sadly, seeing the result of his actions. he turned over the photo of you and cyno again once again.

he flinched when he heard a voice speak from your room: "my lord?"