Stigma | genshin impact
synopsis; Despite the numerous attempts to end each other's lives, one thing is for sure; you're the only person he could truthfully call his rival.
features; you and scaramouche
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Fighting her was always interesting.
Whether he was taking it seriously or dueling her just for fun, there was never a time when his fellow Harbinger hadn’t tried her absolute best to bring him down. He could feel it in each swing of her sword; the determination to beat him burned almost as brightly as the cracked pyro vision dangling against her hip.
There was never a clear winner when it came to their duels and he would have it no other way. Her constant calls to challenge him kept him from feeling the boredom the lack of any action brought and ruining it now proved to be nothing short of disadvantageous for him. Besides, as much as he hated to admit it, he never had it easy in facing her. While her technique was nothing too remarkable, it was the strength behind her every hit that had him reeling and struggling to deal the final blow against her.
In the end, it didn’t matter. He’d get rid of her eventually. The moment she can no longer entertain him is when he’d finally kill her. It was bound to happen soon, no matter how much her strength appalled him.
“Scara!” The shortened call of his name exclusively used by the tenth Harbinger caught his attention and with a tightened frown he turns to face her.
She stands before him, a grin spread across her face and eyes bright with a look of unique hunger. Although she approaches him casually as if she were greeting a friend, the slight flex of her arms exposed by her revealing blouse and the twitch of her fingers suggest otherwise. He knew better than to take her relaxed demeanor for granted. Beneath her cheerful exterior lied a wolf in hiding. The moment he let his guard down would lay claim to his end.
“Ready for round two?” Her eyes twinkle with a certain look that has him slightly on edge. Usually, he wasn’t one who’d refuse a fight especially with someone he considered strong enough to entertain him, but the expression she wore suggested she had something hidden up her sleeve, and if there was anything he hated more than boredom it was being taken by surprise.
With a frown still marring his delicate features, he fully turned towards her with navy eyes hardened into a withering glare. Most people, especially those beneath him, would have visibly flinched or even lower their gaze yet the girl standing before him was never one to back down. Instead, her grin grew wider and the excitement she felt at finally garnering his full attention showed itself in the form of flickering flames licking the ground she stood upon.
Her uncontrollable power was yet another thing that made fighting her all the more fun. Unlike most vision holders, she was never one who overly relied on her elemental abilities, and instead, it was her own personal strength that won many of her duels. It was impressive, to say the least, to not only gain the attention of the Tsaritsa but to become one of her eleven faithful Harbingers without the reliance on a vision. Though all of this was not something he’d never be willing to admit aloud.
Her hand raises from her side and only a second passes before the length of her arm engulfs in flames and her favored sword appears in her grip. Her grin never fades and instead grows when she noticed the moment she armed herself so had he.
“So you were expecting me.” An amused laugh escapes her lips as she twirls the sword in her hand to assume a familiar stance. “To think you actually enjoy our little fights.”
Instead of saying anything, he merely scoffed with a look that suggested spending any time with her was utterly repulsive. And it was, at least that’s what he thought before he found himself almost impatiently awaiting the moment she’d appear in front of him to demand a fight. When weeks passed without her showing up even once he felt an odd sense of unease and even slight disappointment. Now that she was here before him once again, those muddled feelings seemingly disappeared and his current expression was a betrayal of what he truly felt.
“Instead of wasting so much time talking, how about you actually try and beat me?”
At his words and the smug quirk of his lips, she snarls before quickly throwing herself at him. Her sword is raised, silver edge emblazoned in a glowing crimson that signals an incoming blast, and just as it is about to strike his shoulder, a crackling vine of violet electro deflects it. Though she doesn’t back away from him like he had expected her to and instead she takes him by surprise and raises her non-dominant hand, engulfed in orange-red flames, in an attempt to deck him across his face. He grunts, his lips slightly agape from her surprise attack, as he twisted away from her and out of her range.
Despite his quick reflexes, the heat of the explosion could still be felt against his cheek and even the pyro vision holder herself was affected by her own ability. Her hair was slightly singed and the right side of her face was reddened from the tiny licks of fire that managed to touch her skin. Though she didn’t appear all too bothered with her failure to land a hit and simply gritted her teeth. Her hand, the one she tried to use to hit him with during her initial attack, was charred; the skin blistered and torn from the uncontrollable intensity of her flames. It looked painful, and the thought of her hurting herself to get to him made him momentarily hesitate in his attack.
Her own vision was turned against her which subsequently made her abilities dangerous not only to those she attacked, but to herself as well. For a moment he wondered just how far she was willing to go to prove herself.
At her side, he could see her injured hand tremble slightly though it’s quickly stopped when she visibly clenches it. When his eyes meet her own, her gaze is hardened into a fierce glare and her lips were pulled into a tight frown.
“Scaramouche,” She starts, and among the use of his full name her tone is also missing the characteristic cheer that he had become so used to her addressing him with. “Today’s the day we’ll finally put an end to these duels.”
“One of us will emerge as the clear victor. . . and the strongest.” She continues and as her puzzling words continue to spew from frowning lips, her sword once again glows with crimson flames. “No matter what I don’t want you to hold back, even if that means you killing me.”
He wasn’t used to this side of her. Her overly serious expression lacked any of the excitement he was more accustomed to seeing on her face and with the added dread of her words he couldn’t help but stare at her as if what she said was the most outrageous thing in the world. The flash of shock that crossed his face was quickly obscured behind his glower and with more resolve than he possessed during previous fights, he readied himself to attack.
The day he anticipated from the start has finally arrived. He knew their fights, no matter how entertaining they were, would eventually come to an end. Although he expected it to be on his terms rather than her own. For him, things felt too unfinished to call it a satisfying end. Her death now wouldn’t give him that sense of achievement he anticipated when he defeated her.
“Do you honestly think I care about killing you?”
His words were purposely spoken in a cold tone to distance himself from his internal unease. There should have been no hesitation, he knew that, and yet that was all he could come up with to explain deliberately stalling their fight with talking.
Why did he not want to kill her when he was once so eager to in the past?
“That’s too bad,” A smile rose to her lips though it appeared far too somber to be created out of her usual joy. “I. . . thought we were closer than that.”
There’s a moment her smile persists before her eyes flutter shut and the flames running along the edge of her sword continuously grow in intensity until spiels of fire fell off the sword to the melted snow beneath her feet. The heat was almost unbearable from the little distance he stood away from her and he couldn’t even begin to imagine just how painful it had to have been to her who stood directly next to it. Yet she looked completely unbothered as if there were nothing at all that could slow her resolve.
Her chest rises and falls with a deep exhale and before he could even blink, she’s charging at him once more with steely eyes and unbroken determination. It felt as if the world slowed to a halt. The chilly breeze of the frigid mountaintop they stood upon seemingly faded from existence, all he could feel was the heat of her flame; the fire of her will. She was never one he could ignore as he did with those he saw as beneath him. No matter how much he attempted to get away from her, she was always there to force herself into his life and into the small world he confined himself to. Despite his intense dislike for all things that stray from his interest in conflict, he found that blazing fire of hers to be beautiful.
The sharp clang of her sword colliding with his electric barrier disturbed the silence of the mountain before being shortly followed by a decimating explosion. The force was enough to knock him off his feet and noticing there was not a follow-up attack to his obvious falter, he knew it had to have been the same for her, if not worse. He winces slightly at the prickling sensation that climbs the length of his arms and legs. The dark marks that stain his porcelain skin is an indicator of her fire’s strength and for it to have even pierced through his shield meant that she must have suffered even greater injuries than his own.
The melted snow beneath the palms of his hands does little to soothe his burns and as he looks around the small clearing he sees that her fire overtook much of the area. The enclosing trees around them were set ablaze and the blanket of snow that covered the ground was effectively melted in a perfect circle in proximity to their clash. The ends of his clothes were singed and his hat lied strewn behind him, yet despite his disheveled appearance his gaze couldn’t help but focus on finding the familiar figure of the pyro vision holder.
Ash, emitted from the trees around him, obscured his vision and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. He scanned the area before him with an unfamiliar sense of anxiousness and when he finally spotted her collapsed figure a bit of distance away from where he landed, he had to keep himself from breathing a sigh of relief. Never had he ever felt such trepidation in regards to the safety of someone he once considered to be nothing more than a nuisance. Though the thought of her earlier attack, the obvious fierce strength she put in both her fire and strike; he knew there was a chance she would not survive it. She was more than aware of her unique predicament regarding her vision and the repercussions it had on her, yet she was still willing to put herself at risk in order to do what? Kill him? End the rivalry they had once and for all?
At his side, his fist clenched in anger at not only himself but at the unconscious girl who lied inches away from his approaching form. Sure, at first it might have been fun to push her to the edge; to see how far she was willing to prove herself to him after his continuous jabs at her lack of control over her own power. He thought of her as pathetic when he first heard of her. For a pyro vision holder to not even be able to summon their own flames was unheard of and for that very same person to join the high ranks as a Fatui Harbinger only made him question the very organization he joined. Though he quickly learned there was a lot more to her than the fact that she was unable to use her damaged vision correctly.
She was strong. Not only in a literal sense, but her willpower was insanely resolute. No matter what he said or the injuries he caused her, she wouldn’t back down not even when he clearly prevailed over her with his electro abilities. Throughout Teyvat it was relatively accepted that vision holders were favored by the gods and therefore blessed with abilities that made them almost superhuman, so for her to have that part of her denied and still exist as someone he couldn’t refute the strength of; he couldn’t help but feel nothing other than impressed with her.
These were things he could never say to her aloud and though he couldn’t allow himself to be honest with her, the thought of her death only continued to heighten that incomplete feeling he felt in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t allow her to die and although he couldn’t completely understand his own reasoning, he knew it wouldn’t bring him satisfaction for her to die by her own hand rather than his.
Once he makes it to her side, he finds her eyes hazily focusing on him as he kneels beside her fallen form. Her hair is fanned out behind her head, the color deeply contrasting the white snow beneath her and her skin is paler than he remembers. Burns as well as scars mar her face caused from the earlier explosion and the clothes she wears is ripped and singed, exposing her skin to the frigid temperatures of the mountaintop.
“It looks like I failed, huh?” She breathes a mirthless laugh and hissing through her clenched teeth, she manages to sit herself up. “Going all out like that wasn’t my greatest idea. . .”
"It was foolish." He agrees and his frown returns to display his disapproval of her risky move. "You were close to killing yourself."
"That was the point. If I couldn't kill you I was hoping my fire would do the job." She explains as her eyes flit across his face for any signs of aggression, though he masks his expression well behind a glare. "There's no reward without some risk. Obviously my plan didn't work out too well anyway."
Noticing the slight sway of her body, he reaches out towards her, his arm stretching across her back to rest his hand against her shoulder as a means of support. She glances up at him, her brows creased and mouth agape. Her confusion is apparent on her face though he pays her little mind and instead his attention is taken by the shattered remains of her pyro vision.
“It’s. . . broken?”
Her voice is once again in a different tone than what he was used to and her expression was nothing short of what he could only describe as true despair. While she was never the best at controlling her flames, especially after the initial damage her vision took, now that it was completely destroyed; it meant she no longer possessed the ability to even call forth the pyro archon’s fire. Usually, the visions were meant to be indestructible; unable to be destroyed by normal means, yet at her side he could clearly see the crimson shards of her once glowing vision.
He wondered if this meant she was no longer recognized by the pyro archon.
“Well, it was only a matter of time before that happened.”
When he glances back at her, she’s no longer wearing a sorrowful look. Her eyes weren’t as bright as they once were and the light smile she wore on her face wasn’t at all convincing. He couldn’t understand why she would want to conceal her true feelings towards the loss of her vision when it was clear that she never anticipated it. He lightly squeezes her shoulder, forcing her to look away from her broken vision to meet his gaze.
“We’ll get you another one.”
His words are to the point, rough and spoken without too much thought. Yet it attracts her attention and something akin to hope glimmers in her eyes that distinctly reminds him of the light he remembered them once holding.
“We. . .? I-” She pauses for a moment. “Don’t you want to kill me? Why would you help me?”
Logically, it was the opportune time to finish her off and declare himself the winner of this little duel once and for all, yet the idea lacked appeal. To kill her now felt as if he were robbing himself of something he couldn’t quite comprehend and nothing bothered him more than not knowing something. With some time he hoped he could find the answer to his hesitation when it came to her and maybe along the way their rivalry could reach a satisfying end.
“If I kill you, I’d rather it be on equal terms. There’s no fun in ending you in this pathetic state.”
She laughs, a cough interrupting her half way though her smile persists even through her small fit. “Of course you’d say something like that, Scara.”
He purposely looks away from her grinning face, the small flutter felt in his chest adding onto his confusion. Where he was once certain of his hate towards her, he no longer knew what it was he exactly felt. It wasn’t hate, he was sure of that now that the idea of even sharing the same space as her didn’t repulse him, but it wasn’t as if he liked her either. For now, he could only think of her as nothing more than neutral. Someone he didn’t hate, nor like, but tolerated. She was his rival and for the time being that would be the title that best encompassed her existence to him.
She was a person strong enough to be worthy of his respect. Nothing more, nothing less.
His hand that rested on her shoulder lowers to her waist, grasping it as he lifted himself up along with her. He could feel her burned hand gripping his clothes and in a sense he could also feel the trust she was beginning to place into him. Bit by bit, he was sure their relationship would change and soon enough he’d know just what these odd feelings towards her meant.
Even if the pyro archon abandoned her, he wouldn’t. Not until he got the answers he sought and the fight he wanted from her.
“Once you’re all healed up we’ve got pyro visions to hunt.”