Sometimes life changes for no reason. The interesting thing is whether these changes are good or bad.
Does waking up in an unknown world with many people who develop a crush on you count as a nice thing?
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Tense silence – that’s all there is to this moment. Nobody dares to move or even speak.
Nobody aside from you. Legs wobbly, you walk towards where Aether and… Scaramouche’s corpse are. You are mentally prepared to see the destroyed head of the former Harbinger. Hopefully he doesn’t bleed as an artificial being…
Whatever you were expecting, it doesn’t match what you find at your feet. The sword – it only pierced the Balladeer’s left shoulder. What Aether did isn’t fatal. Nobody got murdered because of you. An extreme wave of relief and confusion calms down your heart.
For some reason Aether seems equally surprised as you are. After staring at the unmoving body for a few seconds longer, he pulls out his sword and turns around towards Nahida. “That was you, wasn’t it? You redirected my hit with your dendro powers.”
Nahida nods, but otherwise doesn’t come closer to have a more appropriate distance for a conversation.
“Why? You know too what kind of maniac this puppet can be. If we let him live, he will continue committing atrocities – to (Y/N) and the rest of the world.” If your mind wasn’t having troubles processing the emotional rollercoaster you went through in the last minutes, you would register the rising irritation in Aether’s mood. A type of irritation which is entirely foreign to you to see in the face of your trusted travel buddy.
This time Nahida shakes her head. “I don’t believe that the Balladeer will pose any threat at this point. After this failed stunt at becoming a god he has damaged and drained himself enough of his powers to consider him harmless. Since I find it highly-likely that the Fatui will abandon him now as he has lost his use, he won’t pose any political danger to anyone either. That’s why I want to propose that I will take care of him from this point on. You won’t run into him again, I promise.”
“But what point is there to let him live? Based on what I have seen today and what (Y/N) has told me about him in the past, he will never be willing to repent for his sins.”
“Just… take a look at (Y/N) and you will see what my issue with you killing him is.”
Aether turns around and takes a look at you. You aren’t exactly in any distress right now, but you are nevertheless blankly starring at the unconscious Harbinger, lost in your own thoughts of relief. Somwhere beneeth the surface there is also disbelief over your ‘sweet’ best friend’s hateful action though that isn’t the current concern of your mind.
After a few seconds the goddess continues. “If you kill him now, you will cause nothing but emotional pain to the person you hold so dear. And – if anything – (Y/N) is the one who has the right to judge him for what he has done.”
“But…” He wants to argue back but seeing you like this makes him bite his lip and sigh. “…Alright. I will leave him be as he is - onlythis time. If you don’t properly keep an eye on him and he pulls another stunt at us, I will kill him. That’s a promise.” His voice still holds anger, but at the very least the frighteningly dark aspect to his gaze is gone now.
