Delusional

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"You cheated!"

Yelled out the platinum blonde-haired girl as she blocked Childe's upcoming hydro attacks. "It's not considered cheating if I want to make the playing field even."

"We agree that no visions would be used." The girl said as she was trying to land some hits on the eleven fatui harbinger, but they were being blocked. "If you are not going to follow the rules, you might as well not continue this fight." The woman said as she put away her sword.

"Those lessons with Pantalone are sure to bother me now. Just a small agreement was broken, Ana. What harm can it cause." Stated Childe as he made his hydro weapon disappear. He started to walk close to the girl and placed his hand on her shoulder. "No harm feeling, right?"

Ana swat Childe's hand off her shoulder, "In the art of the deal. If an agreement was broken, the guilty party must remedy the breach. In other words, you are at fault, as you must have fixed the mistake. But knowing you, you wouldn't care and continue to fight. Now let me ask this, Childe: What would you have done if I had been harmed in this fight? Word would spread around how I was harmed, and the other harbinger would give you an ear full and possibly the Tsaritsa."

Then suddenly, a slow, loud clap came behind them. Both of them turned around to the source; it was Pantalone standing at the door. "I'm glad my lessons are useful to someone, at least. As for you, Childe, maybe spending some time with the other harbinger might be helpful," he said with a little giggle at the end. "Anyways, the reason I'm here is for Anastasia. La Signora is asking for you."

Ana bowed down to Pantalone, "Thank you for the message. I'll be taking my leave then."

As the girl started to walk out, both of the Fatui Harbingers gave each other a mean glare at each other. Pantalone closed the door behind, and now it was the two of them left in the training room.

"Childe, you should know better than to damage the Signora new passion project. Like Anastasia said, what would happen to the Eleven Fatui Harbinger if word got out."

"What would the great Patalone, the handler of Snezhnaya economics, want from these interactions?"

"There are some treasure hoarders that are pests to my side. They stole something of great value, and I want it back. You help me with this, and I'll make sure that Anatasia's temper doesn't get the best of her and spread what happened here like wildfire. You know how things tend to be in her favor, mostly if Arlecchino catches wind of this." Childe just looked at him, gave Patalone a nod, and walked out of the training room.

__

"Mother, you asked for me?" Asked as she opened the door to her office and walked towards her desk.

Signora was reading a book. The book looked familiar to Ana, more like a notebook. It took her a while until it finally clicked. "Oh no," she thought as she quickly checked her pockets. I thought I was carrying that thing around me. I'm so going to get an earful from this."

Signora closes the notebook harshly and slams it down on her desk. "I will consider limiting your time with Arlecchino and possibly the other Harbingers. You'll return to the old routine you so miserably hate, as you stated in your notebook. This will be reported to the Tsaritsa. Is there anything you want to say?"

"The guilty party must fix the breach," Ana thought as she tried to think of the next possible words to make or break this situation. But those words would be hard to find. What should she say to the person who helped her get where she is?

"I just thought that maybe I could help out with the other Harbingers somehow. Then maybe the Tsaritsa's plan would be reached quicker."

Quickly, Signora stood up from her chair and grabbed Ana's chin. " You are not in the position to think about what's good for the Tsaritsa plan. You are only in this position because both of your parents died to protect me, and you would have been living at House of the Hearth for the rest of your miserable life. That's if I haven't come to take you under my wing out of my heart's kindness. So be grateful that all you have to do is follow my order. Do I make myself clear?"

"Bu-" Signora placed more pressure on Anastaia's chin.

"Do I make myself clear?" Ana nodded her head.

"That's what I want to see." She lets go of Ana's chin, and she left a small mark. "You will go directly to your room. As for your stuff, they have been taken care of, so there are more distractions. You may leave." Ana quickly left the Signora office and ran to her room. But the room wouldn't feel like her if all her precious items were taken away.

The girl is going to be the death of me, thought Signora as she sat back down. It wasn't long before the door opened up again.

"Here, I thought I was here to prevent Anastasia's outbreak, but you did it for me. One less thing to worry about. Thanks for helping Signora." He let out a giggle as he walked in. "I'm going to assume that telling the Tsaritsa was a lie. To keep your little birdy trap in its cage a little longer."

"If you're not here to discuss diplomatic relationships with other countries. I suggest you leave and not tell me what to do with Anatasia!" yelled Signora.

"Now, what's the matter? The girl will soon be a substitute for your position one way or another. Arlecchino already has one ready, and they are already on missions. So what does little Anatasia have that you don't want to release her yet?"

"I SAID LEAVE!"

—

As Ana returned to her room, she noticed that her room was ransacked. All noted and plans for

"DAM IT!" Ana hit her hand against the wall out of pure anger, and her hand started to hurt. Most likely fracturing something in her hand. All she could see was red as she angrily started to wreck her room more. There was a knock at her door. Ana had to calm down for a moment and become presentable again. Ana started to fix up her hair and hide her hurt hand behind her back. She opened the door, and on the other side, it was the Fatui Harbinger Arlecchino.

"Hello, Father. Is there something that you need?"

Arlecchino already knew something was bothering Ana. She walked by when she heard the yelling and commotion coming from Ana's room. Plus the mark at Signora left on Ana's chin was still faintly visible.

In a cold voice Arlecchino responded, "You need to go to the medic and get yourself treated. Follow me and we will get it treated at once."

Ana hesitated for a second. Signora commanded her to stay in her room. Once Signora found out that she left her room. Then more issues would just occur.

"Mother said that I can't leave my room. I'm sorry Father." Arlecchino goes tense for a slip moment second. She never liked the idea of Signora being referred to as Mother. But she can't interfere with their dynamic since Ana is officially under Signora's care.

"I'll handle Signora when the time comes. But you, my child, need to be taken care of."