I want to fight // Genshin Oc insert //

Chapter 10

My head is spinning. Thoma, oh no, Thoma. The guy who was like an older brother to me. He's going to lose his vision and all memories attached. Will he remember me? Please let him remember me. Don't let him forget me.

I squeeze Taroumarou close to my chest, he's panting slightly, blissfully unaware and just happy to be held. I wish I could be as happy as him. Being completely ignorant to the fact one of my best friends could get hurt, or worse, while everyone watches. And why? Fear. The Shogun wants us to fear her. Ayaka's looking at her feet and Ayato is staring blankly at the wall when I realize I'm hyperventilating. I got over to get a glass of water but choke on it. I cough into the sink, but it only makes me more panicked and afraid. I can't deal with fear. I can't really deal with any emotion except anger, so I do what I always do, and be angry.
"You need to fix this Ayato." I say, trying to keep the harshness in my voice to a minimum. Ayato was leaning on the table and staring blankly at the wall,
"I can't." He said. My fear spiked. I can't deal with that. Make in anger, make me mad, I can do something about that, I can't stand on the side. I don't see how Ayato can stand on the side when he has the power to fix everything. 
"Yes you can! Fix it!! Stop this from happening!!!" I got increasingly louder and more aggressive with each phrase. I couldn't help it. Ayaka and Ayato look a little surprised at my outburst. "In fact, how could you let it happen in the first place? He was your friend! Please don't let this happen!" My voice started crack at the last sentence. Ayato was silent, his expression didn't falter, as if I was just repeating everything he was saying in his head. I sat on the chair facing the counter and put my head in my hands willing myself to stop panicking. It doesn't work. I need Thoma back. 

I stop for a minute, are we sure he's gone? Is he really in custody? I need to know, so I bolt up and run to one of the rooms in the back. Empty. I check the next, empty. The last room is far from empty, however. Tea that was once hot, now lukewarm spilled on the floor. Scratch and burn marks that indicate a fight using fire. Or a pyro vision. Books and trinkets were spilled onto the floor. As I walked around I was careful not to trip. I can't imagine Thoma scared, but he must've been in that moment. I hold back tears as the rage inside me boils to the surface. Why Thoma? Why him? Out of all people he was the least dangerous vision-bearer. He wasn't going to hurt anyone. He would never. Why did this happen to him of all people? Why is this happening to so many poor, innocent people? I let out the sharpest, loudest scream I could ever muster, and kicked the doorframe as the tears poured down my face. Ayato comes, looking for the source of the noise, but who I can tell is distracted. Of course he would be. I know he feels something for Thoma, it's just the way he looks at him and smiles when he calls him 'My Lord'. He looks like he wishes he could have stopped it. 

 And, ignoring me, he stands in the middle of the room blankly staring at the marks on the walls. He then turns to me.
"Emiko... "
"What? You're sorry? Sorry won't bring him back, you know? The next time we see him could be in a fucking wooden box, and you think 'Sorry' is gonna cut it? Well-" I stop myself when I see Ayato's face full of regret. I bite my tongue as the silent tears roll down my face. "I'm sorry." I say, my voice cracking like a glass window. "I just want him back." 

I sit on the counter again with my head in my hands, Ayaka sitting next to me, and Ayato still in the room Thoma was taken from. That was when someone walked through the door of the Komore Teahouse. Lumine and Paimon. I knew from the sound of her knee-high boots against the wood floor, as I didn't look up to check.
"What's going on?" I hear her say. I look up at them and they see the tears streaming down my face.
"Emiko, what's wrong?" Says Paimon floating closer to me. I wipe my tears, because I look like an idiot. 
"You know the 100th vision seizure thing?" I ask. She nods and I continue. "Well um.. we think that. The um 100th vision to be taken away is going to be-" My voice cracks again "Thoma's. And there's nothing we can do." I sniffle, because this is probably the worst day of my life. 
"WHAT?!" Shouts Paimon. 
"Wait, how do we know that Thoma's actually the one chosen and he's not just sick or something." Lumine reasons. I lead her to the room with all the burn marks and Ayato still standing there. She looks around inspecting the marks and shelf ornaments on the ground. She looked down at the cold tea on the floor and the scuffle marks on the floor. Lumine and Paimon looked back at me and Ayaka, I was holding back tears but it stung a little less now keeping them in. The blonde turned back to me and lifted her arms a bit before letting them drop to her side as a way to shrug and I nodded as we came to a silent consensus about what happened.

"So... What are we going to do?" She asks. I shake my head. 
"There's nothing we can do. Politically speaking, if Ayato or Ayaka did much more to try and stop it it could lead to a full-scale investigation and the resistance will go kaput. And we can't go against the Shogun."
"Why not?" Wonders Paimon. 
"Because she's dangerous." Replied Ayato. "And we aren't going to risk anyone else getting hurt when we don't need to." I nod silently. 
"So... we're just gonna let Thoma get his vision taken away? You've seen first hand what this does to people. People lose memories, and some die. This can't be beyond you!"
"It's not beyond me, Lumine." I growl. "I know very well the risks. I know someone who died because of this bullshit decree, and I don't want it to happen to Thoma. But, I don't know what to do." My fists tightened into balls and I clenched my teeth. I'm tired of her asking me like There's something I can do. But there isn't, especially not alone. 
"So, your just gonna give up?" Says Paimon in astonished tone. "Paimon didn't think Emiko of all people would give up over something like this." I give her a look of annoyance, which she clearly missed. 
"Look, you may think I'm being a pussy, but I can't do whatever magic crap you can do without a vision. And I don't even have one. And it seems like everyone does, but no one can help." Lumine lends me a confident and reassuring smile.
"We're gonna do this. Together."

"So what's the plan?" Asks Lumine, as I'm sitting atop the counter, resting my feet onto the stool. I think for a moment, then reply, 
"Our best bet is saving him before the ceremony. If we're too late we'll have to face the Archon and if we do, we're dead meat." Paimon replies,
"It will be much harder to fight off the Shogun than fighting off a few guards."
"In other words, we need to save Thoma before the guards get onto the scene." Lumine clarifies. I nod and say,
"Okay, Lumine, you will need to be our distraction. While their attention is away from Thoma, I'll get him to safety." 
"Sounds like a plan. When is the ceremony anyway?" The traveller asks. 
"Soon." Says Ayato, "We have to get moving now." 

✩｡:*•.───── ❁ ❁ ─────.•*:｡✩

I push past the crowd next to the statue, as I pull the hood down onto my face. I'm losing the top half of my vision, so I need a better plan to cover my face. Well, there's nothing here so I'll just have to make do with what I have. I look behind me and nod at Ayaka and Ayato who gave me one back and looked to my other side to give a nod to Lumine.  I finally got into view of Thoma, sitting in between two guards on his knees. I couldn't see much from a distance, but I could see that he looked pretty roughed up. Hair ruffled, clothes wrinkled and torn in a few places, and I could spot a few bruises on his visible skin. I looked back at Lumine and gave her the signal to go ahead, but she then shook her head and pointed to the statue. That's when the eerie silence of the crowd kicked in. We were too late. 

The Shogun, who was previously facing the statue, turned around and lifted her hand as if she was about to draw the vision from him as if it was by a magnetic force, and she did. My heart dropped to my stomach as something that could only be described as a vision flying toward her.
"NO, THOMA!" I shrieked, bringing all eyes on me. It all happened so fast, that I didn't notice a flash of purple in my perifiral vision. Lumine jumped out of nowhere and grabbed the vision midair as if it was nothing. All attention is now focused on her. It's my time to go. 

I leaped down and tried to cut Thoma free with a kitchen knife without the guards noticing. But they obviously did and restrained me by my arms.
"Emiko, what the hell are you doing?!" Thoma exclaimed, wide-eyed from shock.
"Augh, let me go!" I hiss at the guards kicking furiously "LET ME GO!" I shriek. Although, I don't sound convincing being restrained by a guard. The other guards was charging at Lumine at full speed, but her reflexes where sharp enough to be able to shoot him with a swift string of lighting. Running toward me, she yelled at me to duck. I did, only to be saved by another bolt of lighting. I knelt down to untie Thoma, but a bolt of electricity nipped at my fingertips, causing me to let out a loud squeak of shock. I look up to see the Shogun walking down from the statue on air as if they where invisible stairs. Oh no. She has been known to show no mercy, and I doubt she will to a couple teenage girls doing probably the most idiotic thing known to mankind.
"Capable of using elemental energy without a vision." She declares menacingly. I tried to untie Thoma faster, but I wasn't able to even loosen it because of the sheer tightness of the rope, and that Shogun didn't hesitate to strike my hands with another sample of electricity, even as my hands still ached from the last one. 
"You are an exception it appears." She continues as she gets closer. I start panicking. This is going to be the way I die. At least it's a death worthy of a hero. The Shogun finally steps onto the ground, still a little ways away, but too close for comfort. 
"Exceptions..." She says. "The enemy of eternity."