Duchess of Crime | Genshin Impact

8. dreams ♥

Floating through the dark-blue depths of the ocean, I slowly sink down. 

Blinking carefully, the fear of the unknown tries to fight its way through the ethereal, invisible bubble around me.

It pops, sending me hurtling down. Tina's note comes to mind, "Feel the feelings of Fontaine as well as your own."

Squeezing my eyes shut, I let myself breathe. With a sharp inhale, voices flood my mind and conflicting emotions fight inside of me. They grow louder, screaming in my mind and I ache to push it all out. 

Silence becomes prompt, the white noise disappears and my feet finally touch the ground.

"You did it..." A relieved, feminine voice speaks.

My heart flutters at the green-haired woman, she proudly holds a book against her Sumeru Akademiya uniform, "Tina?"

Down here, my connection to past memories feels clearer than ever. She nods at her name, "Do you remember much?"

I shake my head and she attempts to hide her disappointment, "We don't have much time, I doused you in primordial seawater, and effectively forced a connection."

"Can you tell me everything?" I question, desperate for answers.

Tina sadly sighs, "I wish I could, I doubt I'll even be alive after you return, especially if they're here." She gently smiles, "It's lucky we were able to meet again, thanks to the many consciousnesses within the primordial seawater."

My heart sinks and I wish there was something I could do. 

"Why are you risking your life?" I question, vulnerability clouding my thoughts.

"I swore to protect you, and I never wanted them to do this to you." She speaks, her determination loud and clear, 

I ponder her words, feeling comforted that not everyone is my enemy. 

"Who's them?"

Tina hesitates and takes a deep breath as if it'll hurt her to tell me the truth, "All I can say is that they're a cult. A cult who wishes to see Fontaine sink, and you're the one who can make it come true."

Suddenly, my vision begins to blur and Tina fades away slightly. I reach out for her hand, eager to hear what else she has to say—I can't run out of time now!

"...Memory...loss..."

"And...slave...for..."

Her voice distorts, becoming muffled and impossible to make out. My consciousness swirls away, returning to my body in the present. 

♥

With a gasp, I cough up more water and sit up straight.

Tina's lifeless body lies against the wall. I sit in silence, her face soft and at peace, no longer troubled by our past together. She's fulfilled her dying wish.

Unlike before, the book I saw her hold in the strange realm lies next to her. Holding my breath, I gently crawl over and grasp it, tucking it under my arm as I stand up. Still wobbly, I mutter a simple prayer, ripping my eyes away from Tina and forcing myself to climb through the vents once again.

It doesn't take long for me to hobble through, reappearing back in the administrative district. The smoke's cleared out and a few inmates wander around like nothing ever happened. Fatigue grows like mould in my muscles, slowing me down as I attempt to make my way towards Wriothesley's office. 

I can barely shove open his door, and the hushed tones within go quiet. 

Wriothesley, Archie and a handcuffed Gracie lock eyes with me. I blink, nearly dropping Tina's book.

Archie grips Gracie's arm, paranoid she'll run off. Her face is permanently scowling, annoyed at being caught out. More importantly, she isn't happy to see me either. 

"What's going on?" I question, suspicion rising inside of me, my fatigue disappearing in an instant and replaced by adrenaline.

Wriothesley turns to me, half-smiling and holding a golden cup of tea, "I caught her sneaking around, it's like she wanted to be caught." 

I eye his tea, deducing that the water supply problem mustn't have been as bad as we originally thought. 

He drops the smile, "Where have you been?"

I quickly tell Wriothesley and Archie about what happened, but neither shows surprise. I glance at Gracie, who looks back at me. 

"It's true." She speaks up, her voice dangerously low, "But, of course, you were desperate for the truth and now we'll all be killed."

Wriothesley sharply looks at her, some tea spilling from his cup, "Killed? By them?"

She thins her lips, only nodding. I assume she can't say much either. What surprises me is the willingness to tell us about this, after all the chaos caused to suit their plan.

"The fortress has already been infiltrated, expect many tragedies." These are her final words as she falls to her knees, a gurgling coming from her. 

Archie rushes down, shaking her limp body.

"She's dead."

♥

Reports of dead bodies come flooding in, the supposed infiltrators killing off those with any links to them. Sigewinne has already given us a post-mortem, explaining that Gracie's sudden death was inevitable due to an unknown ability. 

Soon after, Louis was the next victim. The cause of death is the exact same.

Archie and I lean against Wriothesley's desk, waiting for the Duke's return. In his desperation, he'd called for backup from the surface and the Chief of Justice, Neuvillette, had set up an urgent meeting.  

"Do you think I'm next?" I shakily talk, anxiety poisoning my speech.

Archie shakes his head, leaning uneasily with his hands on his hips, "Don't forget, you're some sort of goddess to them." 

I look down, squeezing my nails into my palms. I try and make sense of Tina's final words to me, wondering what she meant by saying I'm a slave. What am I slave to? And how does it link to my memory loss? 

I voice my concerns, "Do you think my memory loss has a purpose?"

He looks at me, a disturbed look in his copper eyes, "You mean, you think they erased your memory to..."

"Make me a slave to their cause, yes. To manipulate me." I finish for him, the words sliding together to make perfect sense.

In that way, I would blindly follow their most esteemed members and get them closer to their goals. A memory flickers back of the first revelation from Louis: their plan to overthrow Wriothesley. Why would they need to do that? 

Is the Duke hiding something they need?

♥