Chapter Text
Prologue
Inazuma is a nation currently torn apart by war, with its God known as the Raiden Shogun closing off its borders and preventing people from leaving and entering. Thanks to a third party offering her the option to create the Vision Hunt Decree to take any and all powers granted by the Gods from the people, the creation of the Resistance was made- a group of individuals from Watatsumi Island gathering a military force together to rebel against their Archon. Such conflict was ripe for the spread of chaos- an easy place for the Fatui of Snezhnaya to take advantage of.
Not only were they the third party responsible for the Decree, their ultimate grand plan was to sponsor both sides of the war so that they could easily control the heated chaos of the nation. This was all elaborately planned out in order to work under the nose of the Raiden Shogun and seize her Gnosis- a belonging granted to her by a more powerful body above the skies. It was a tall order to be sure, so two Harbingers were dispatched to Inazuma for the plan to work. The 8th Harbinger- La Signora, was in charge of overseeing the entire operation and confronting the Shogun directly, while the 6th Harbinger, Scaramouche, was stationed on Yashiori Island in charge of overseeing the distribution of Delusions- man-made visions, to the Resistance.
At this current moment, everything was going according to plan. Soldiers of the Resistance didn’t think twice to third parties sponsoring their campaign because they were desperate for any help they could get, and the Fatui were well under radar of the public eye and the Shogun, working with political allies that kept their mouths shut. La Signora was now in Inazuma City and the operation was proceeding along without a hitch so far.
Until… a little pink fox showed up.
“A what?” One of the Fatui soldiers asked his confused friend whom had an embarrassed expression on his face.
“A little pink fox about this big,” The soldier made a small circle with his hands, “…it jumped me. I was caught off-guard and fell… spilling some of our cargo in the process.”
“You can’t be serious… A pint-sized fox made you drop 30 pounds of marrow? What is wrong with you?! Lord Harbinger isn’t going to pleased if he finds out, you know.”
“I know! I’m scared, man… he’s gonna punish me for sure… and demote me into one of Lord Dottore’s experiments…” The guilty soldier brought his hands above his head and began to sink to his knees.
“Calm down, so long as you don’t say anything he won’t find…” The guilty soldier’s friend then trailed off as he met face-to-face with a pint-sized pink fox on top of the tallest stack of boxes that surrounded them. Immediately the soldier readied a throwing knife and aimed.
“What is it?” His guilty friend lifted his head only to also see the fox as well. “Wait- no way, it followed me here?!”
“Shush! Don’t scare it off!” The soldier with the knife then tossed it, utterly missing the fox by a mile. The fox darted effortlessly out of the way and landed on another stack of boxes much bigger than the previous one.
“Don’t let it get away! If we dispose of it now we can prevent more marrow from being lost!” The armed soldier continued throwing knives but missed every time, his shots landing on the boxes instead as the fox darted across the entire supply.
“Be careful! You’re damaging the cargo!” His guilty friend stepped in front to stop him from throwing and the armed soldier stepped back, realizing what he had done. Dozens of throwing knives were stabbed into the wooden boxes, with multiple spots creating large gaping holes. The fox stood on top of the nearest box, taunting them with its within-reach presence.
“You really did it now…” The guilty soldier stepped back and stared at the mess his friend caused. He knew if he attempted to make a move on the creature it will result in disaster.
“I- I’m so sorry…” His friend buried his face with his hands in shame.
“We’re going to have to report this before the Lord realizes that our shipment wasn’t delivered on time. That will at least lessen the impact, won’t it?” The guilty soldier lifted his comrade’s arm over his shoulder, taking them both forward.
“Yeah… so sorry again. I don’t know what caused me to be so careless.”
“It’s going to be fine. We’ll tell him about the pink fox too so that he’ll know we’re not the only ones involved.” The guilty soldier glared at the fox who tilted its head in piqued interest.
“Yeah.” The two soldiers began walking towards the factory. The fox watched them leave, an unchanged expression upon its face.
~
“So, this so-called “little fox” impeded your delivery of marrow today, is that correct?” Lord Harbinger- the 6th known as Scaramouche, crossed his arms at the two soldiers whom were on their knees. He was standing on higher ground above them, with nothing but the fumes of crystal marrow ominously illuminating his face from below.
“Please forgive us, Lord Harbinger! If you’re going to punish us, please let me take all the blame!” The guilty soldier demanded. He and his comrade were wearing masks to protect themselves from the harmful effects of breathing the fumes.
“No way, I was the one who destroyed the cargo. It should be me who receives all the punishment!” His comrade shouted, clasping his hands together.
“Silence. It is I decide who decides on who gets punished.” Scaramouche snapped, causing the two to bow their heads lower.
However, as the guilty soldier bowed, in the corner of his eye he saw a flash of pink. Immediately he lifted his head and his eyes grew wide in horror.
“What are you looking at? When did I give you permission to lift your head?” The Harbinger glared at him with a sour expression but the soldier’s bottom lip quivered, too afraid to obey.
“L-Lord… on your…”
“What did you say?” Scaramouche shifted his head down with a furious expression and sure enough, his giant disc-shaped hat revealed the pink fox sitting comfortably on top of it.
“I-It came b-back…”
“Huh? Speak clearly so I understand!” The Harbinger was growing more annoyed the more his foot soldier delayed his response. Why was it so hard for a man to speak? If something needs to be said, spit it out, he thought to himself.
The pink fox began to giggle as the soldier raised a throwing knife at his superior.
“Hey! What are you doing?!” His comrade immediately grabbed ahold of the guilty soldier but it was too late as the knife left his hand, flying straight towards Scaramouche’s face.
“Lord Harbinger!” One of the soldiers working nearby immediately shouted to warn him but Scaramouche was ready. He simply shifted his body to the left, the knife landing straight against the wall behind him.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what came over me! I didn’t meant to strike you like that-” The guilty man cried out in horror but Scaramouche brought a hand to his own mouth, shushing him.
Spreading his arms, a floating catalyst began to form itself midair and the Harbinger closed his eyes. A concentration of electro began manifesting itself by appearing as two circular voids on both sides of the fox, whose ears began to twitch. Scaramouche opened his eyes and a line of electro snapped in between the voids, which caused the fox to dart off his hat. It landed on the railing in front of him with a sour expression, causing the boy to grin.
“Found you, you little pest.” Scaramouche spread a hand forward and a ray of electricity struck in its direction, causing the fox to dart away and scamper towards a nearby soldier between her legs and she screamed in fear, tripping over herself and dropped the box in her hands. The fox continued to dart through the working soldiers and supervising Fatui Skirmishers, causing them to drop their cargo and trip among themselves. The fox began aiming for their masks, kicking at the mechanisms that lock them to their face.
Surprisingly, it managed to dislodge one of the skirmisher’s, causing the soldier to fall to his knees in a suffocating, painful fit. A comrade of his rushed to his aid and began taking him into an intensive care department. Everyone around him began to panic and run away from the fox, fearing for their masks being dislodged. The fox was now at the exit of the factory and turned its head back at Scaramouche to taunt him with a teasing expression. Then it turned on its paws and scampered away.
“Quickly, we must form a search party to apprehend that creature!” One of the Pyro skirmishers demanded and a group of soldiers immediately set their supplies down to meet his orders.
“No, I will handle it.” Scaramouche raised a hand, stopping the soldiers in their path. Turning his head, the floating catalyst in his hand disappeared. “This operation must proceed as smoothly as possible. We cannot afford anymore delays by sending a team out to take care of some pest. I will go after it.”
“Understood, my Lord.” The skirmisher bowed on one knee with a hand to his chest and nodded to the rest of the soldiers, whom immediately picked up their things and went back to work.
Scaramouche began taking the stairs down his elevated platform towards the exit of the factory and stepped outside, breathing in the fresh air. It has been a while since he’s seen sunlight and a clear sky on Yashiori Island. Stretching his arms and fixing his hat, he trudged forward in the direction of the pink fox, whom was patiently waiting for him in the northeast direction.
The fox was quick on its feet, but not too quick to leave Scaramouche behind as he trudged through the uneven terrain of the island. The boy found it strange why it was being so obvious within his field of vision instead of disappearing into the woods as it was capable of doing. Nevertheless, he didn’t question it until the fox actually vanished, leaving the sight of a ditch in front of him surrounded by overgrown wildlife.
A confused expression spread across his face as Scaramouche turned his head, trying to find the fox again while bending on one knee to investigate the ditch. What he found could barely be seen as there was nothing but darkness within its depths.
“Is this some cruel joke?” Scaramouche sighed, standing back up and brought both hands on his hips. He felt like he wasted his time. The whole reason why he set out after the fox in the first place was because he knew his soldiers would continue to act like idiots from its antics if he left it up to them, as well as the fact that he felt a strange sense of familiarity from its gaze. He didn’t know what that feeling was exactly, but he knew it had to be important enough for him to handle by himself.
But that feeling seemed to be all for naught.
Turning on his heels, Scarmouche began to retrace his steps back to the factory. If he did not return by the time the skies of Teyvat turned orange the operation will be a few hours behind schedule- a fate that he cannot afford to allow happen.
However, unbeknownst to him, the fox appeared on one of his legs and nuzzled close to it. Scaramouche’s body jolted, glaring at the creature who now had a mischievous grin.
What are you making that face for, Scaramouche wondered at the back of his mind until the fox jumped at him.
“That was close…” Scaramouche stopped himself in the nick of time with a step back, a step that nearly made him fall to his death. Readying his catalyst, the boy struck electro attacks against the fox, who darted effortlessly away and continued to jump at him, pulling at his hair and brandishing its claws at his face.
“Stay away!” But it was futile for Scaramouche to demand as the fox was pushing him further back into the ditch. The boy knew that was its plan but the fox then opened its mouth to chomp on the open skin of his leg, causing him to cry out in pain and slip on the edge, plunging his body right into the hole and sent him screaming all the way down into an unknown abyss of Inazuma.
~