Chapter Text
Scara - formerly known as Scaramouche aka The Balladeer aka Kabukimono - was a puppet. A prototype puppet created by the Raiden Shogun, in fact. His origins were known to very few, and then they became known to even less. Still, erasing himself from Irminsul served to work in his favor for the most part. At least, that’s what he thought.
No one had expected the Fatui to have preventative measures. In hindsight, it made sense. The Doctor was the primary researcher on the project to make The Balladeer into a god. Of course he would be privy to the resulting connection between his former comrade and Irminsul. The harbingers were careful, and calculated, and they hated loose ends.
At the end of the day, that is what Scara had become. A dangling string off an ill-begotten puppet that now needed to be taken care of. Scara had attempted to rid himself of those strings, but the Tsaritsa’s reach was apparently infinite. Even the God of Wisdom had underestimated the Fatui’s intelligence, though she had done her best to protect him.
Adjusting to Sumeru at first had been… difficult. Despite the many times it had happened throughout his life, being tossed out like useless trash never got any easier. When he first awoke from his coma after being separated from the mech, everything hurt. His body had been so entangled with the machine that any level of functioning without it brought immense pain.
Nahida (she insisted he call her that) spent several days tinkering and tweaking until he was back to an operational state. Her kindness was initially very unsettling. Scara knew that nothing ever came for free. Then, the incident with Irminsul happened and it all made sense. She wanted to use him, just like the Tsaritsa and the other harbingers had. Well, he supposed he owed Nahida now. And being considered useful to a god wasn’t such a bad feeling.
Although, after a while, Scara had to admit that working with the God of Wisdom was not like he had expected. She was patient with him even after all he had done. She laughed and made jokes with him, she listened when he spoke about his past, she asked if he was comfortable completing certain tasks, she didn’t perform any weird experiments on him, and… she watched over him in his sleep when he had nightmares (as embarrassing as it was).
To be clear, Scara technically didn’t need to sleep at all, but Nahida suggested it could help reduce his stress and make him feel better. He supposed it often did. Still, whenever the nightmares came, he would often go long periods without sleeping again.
It was a similar case with food. He didn’t need to eat, but Nahida claimed that good food was a key ingredient to happiness. To that regard, she insisted he eat at least one thing a day. He was against it at first, since he had already gone a significantly long time without eating.
(Since back when he was pretending to fit in)
(Back when he wanted to be human)
(When it didn’t matter in the end)
Eventually, with enough nagging, he got used to human food once again. Every time Scara ate something, Nahida would smile proudly at him. It was weird, and he didn’t know what to think of it. Until he got used to that, too.
Gradually, he had grown accustomed to Sumeru. The early days he spent there were similar to Nahida’s, like a bird in a cage. He could glimpse at the sky but his clipped wings kept him grounded. After all, he wasn’t trustworthy yet. But after some time, the cage door was opened and he was soaring all across the jungle and the desert. And then he came crashing back down.
The first sign something was wrong was when an assassin tried to break into his sleeping chambers. Of course, where he stayed was also where Nahida stayed, so the place was covered in divine protection. The intruder was detected and dealt with before they could even come close to Scara himself.
But killing him wasn’t really the point. The point was to send a message. That the Fatui remembered him. That they knew where he was. And that they were coming for him.
Whether it was to reclaim him or finish him off, no one was sure. But once the would-be assassin was interrogated and revealed that they were hired by someone called “The Doctor”, it became clear that the threat was not to be taken lightly.
The next day, Nahida pulled him aside.
“It’s not safe for you here at the moment. You will need to go into hiding for a while while I prepare protective measures,” she said.
“Where could possibly be safer than beside a god?” Scara questioned.
“You should know the top three harbingers are equal in power to that of gods, and if it really is The Doctor coming, I’m afraid I’m no match for him right now,” Nahida sighed. “I’m sorry I can’t protect you better.”
“... When will I be able to come back?”
“Oh, will you really miss Sumeru that much after all?”
“Don’t be absurd. It’s just a pain to move around so much.”
“Right, of course,” she chuckled. “Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to that yet, but I will work as quickly as possible so that you can return home.”
Home?
“Well, where are you sending me off to, then?” he asked, changing the subject.
“Lumine has agreed to help make arrangements for you.”
“You really trust the Traveler?”
“Yes. And I know you do too, so don't try to hide it.”
“... Fine. What’s her great idea then?” Scara relented, crossing his arms.
“She arranged for you to join a pirate crew called the Crux Fleet temporarily!” Nahida told him.
“A pirate crew?” he asked skeptically.
“Yeah, it’s perfect! They move around a lot on the open sea, so it will be harder for the Fatui to track you. Plus, they have some really strong people on board!”
Nahida sounded excited as she explained. Scara supposed that for a young god who had seen little of the world and took delight in storybooks and fairytales, joining a pirate crew on an adventure must have seemed like fun. Scara, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic, but the reasoning made sense so he couldn’t argue.
“Lumine will pick you up and take you to the ship this afternoon,” she said, tone becoming somber. “I wish that I was stronger so that I could protect you better.”
“You’ve done plenty,” Scara informed her. “Besides, I don’t wanna have to owe you any more than I already do.”
“Hey! Remember what we talked about! No more transactional relationships!” the god scolded, but her mood seemed lighter.
–
That afternoon, Lumine came to pick up Scara as promised.
“Do you have all your belongings?” she asked, looking around slightly confused.
Truth be told, Scara really didn’t have much of anything. Everything of value he kept on him. The golden feather as proof of his identity dangled below his Vision, and the crude doll he made in memory of someone long gone was tucked away in his robes. Those were all he needed, so he didn’t have any ‘luggage’ to speak of.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“Well, alright then. Let’s get going,” the Traveler suggested.
As they began to walk out of the Akademiya and towards the docks, another voice piped up from beside them.
“So, all that work, and you’re still making trouble for Nahida?”
It was Paimon nagging as she floated beside the Traveler like a pet. Oh, right. How could Scara have forgotten about the little flying nuisance?
“You mean like you make trouble for the Traveler?” he retorted.
“Alright, alright! Let’s not fight,” Lumine placated. “Oh, yeah! Why don’t I tell you about the crew? Captain Beidou is really amazing! She…”
They continued walking, and Lumine continued rambling on and on about the crew of the Crux Fleet. Paimon would occasionally chime in with an unhelpful comment or useless tidbit, but in all honesty, Scara wasn’t really paying attention. As they made their way through Sumeru City, he was too busy taking in the scenery he had grown accustomed to and trying to commit the sights to memory. After all, he didn’t know when he would be able to see it again.
When did I become so sentimental?
Finally, the trio reached the docks, and Lumine cheerfully led Scara over to a big, wooden pirate ship. It was admittedly quite impressive, larger than most ships Scara had seen in his time. Out in front stood a woman in red with long brown hair and an eyepatch. She had an aura that was both alluring yet intimidating, but when she saw the Traveler her face lit up.
“Long time no see!”
The two greeted each other as Scara stood awkwardly to the side. He was briefly introduced shortly after, and learned that this was the legendary Captain Beidou that Lumine had mentioned. He wasn’t sure what the Captain had been told about him, but by the critical look he was being given, it probably wasn’t very good.
“Listen, kid. I know you’ve been through a lot, so I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Hell, I’m no stranger to taking in fugitives. But if you try anything funny or do anything that puts me or my crew in harm’s way, I’ll deal with you myself.”
Despite the fact that she had just referred to him as ‘kid’, her tone left no room for argument, and Scara also had no reason to doubt her abilities. He recognized where she was coming from, honestly. It was fair that she had likely been informed about his past. She was taking on a great risk by temporarily taking him in.
“Understood,” he agreed. She seemed pleased by that answer.
“So, this is him?” a new voice spoke, soft and soothing though it carried a hint of judgment.
It came from the railing of the ship above them, causing everyone on the dock to have to turn their heads upwards to acknowledge the newcomer. Once Scara tilted his head back and saw who it was, he swore his heart would have stopped if he had one.
Niwa?
–
Meanwhile, Lumine: Shit! I forgot to tell him about Kazuha!