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magiclyney · 3 months ago

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A Mission in Fontaine

Scaramouche and Coviello(OC) are summoned to Fontaine for a mission where they must face a mysterious underwater foe while also attempting to not tarnish the Fatui’s image.

Mostly just Coviello Character building stuff, showing his thought process during a mission. If you haven’t read my fic Red Skies and Blue Birds I suggest you do if you want this to make sense bc this was originally chapters from that that I removed to keep the fic concise. But if you want to raw dog this that’s also fine ig, I can’t stop you.

CW: violence, discussions of the handling of corpses(?)(idk)

Words: 4,680

“It’s been attacking civilian divers too.” Furina explained, “We have no idea if it's a person or an animal, but either way it’s intelligent. We’ve put out warnings around the city and placed guardes on the beaches in the east to warn divers.”

“Has it attacked any ships yet?” Coviello asked.

“Thankfully not, but we should try to stop it before it gets bold enough to try.”

“Has the Fatui been effected?” Neuvilette asked.

“Of course we have. We wouldn’t have deployed two harbingers to a location if we weren’t being directly effected by whatever this is.” Scaramouche sat in silence as the three of them spoke, eating the slice of cake he was provided slowly so Furina wouldn’t offer him more of it. “We didn’t even know what was happening to begin with, just that our divers and researchers would go under and never come back up.” Coviello responded.

“And the teams we sent to investigate also wouldn’t come back up.” Scaramouche added.

Furina glanced between the harbingers, “Don’t take this as an insult to your abilities- I am aware of the harbingers strength- but what makes you so confident that your colleague wouldn’t end up the same way?” She said to Coviello, “Is he an immortal too?”

“My mother is Beelzebub.” Scaramouche responded. Furina’s eyes flashed a look of familiarity before she composed herself and changed her expression to one of interest. Neuvillette however seemed instantly interested, though he seemed to pretend not to. “She abandoned me before I could even read or write, not that she even tried to teach me, and I eventually wound up here.” He knowingly looked at Neuvillette, who had a slight grin. He knew that the Iudex wanted to judge all of the archons for their crimes, and he wanted justice. It looked like Neuvillette couldn’t wait to put “child abandonment” on the electro archon’s record.

“Well that definitely helps your case. I’m not entirely sure on how archon reproduction works but you should have a natural connection with the elements, right?” Furina asked.

“Yes?” Scaramouche replied.

“Then you both would be able to breathe in the Fontainian oceans without an oxygen tank.”

“Yes, that is why we were both sent.” Coviello nodded. “The Fatui have to plan a few weeks or months in advance to send out a harbinger, it’s based on who is available and who would work best for the mission.”

Furina took a bite of her cake and bobbed her head from side to side as she chewed, “Hm, you know I guess that makes sense.”

“This mission benefits both Fontine and The Fatui.” Coviello said, getting the meeting back on track, “The two of us should be qualified to solve this issue for both parties. All we need is information right now.”

“We do not have any more information right now. We have told you all that we know.” Neuvillette replied sternly.

Coviello sighed, leaning back in his chair to think. He looked up at Scaramouche and stood. “Then thank you for your cooperation. Please inform the Guards that we will be diving in the area to subdue the threat. Have a good day.” He bowed as Scaramouche began to stand as well. Furina nodded in response to Coviello’s request.

The harbingers began to walk towards their hotel. “So what’s your plan?”

“We’ll be going under in the morning. I did some research on the way over here, reading all of the recent news about the missing divers, and do you want to know something interesting?” Scaramouche looked at him curiously, “Not a single one of the missing divers was a vision holder. Plenty of vision holders go diving every day. It's a much cheaper hobby for them and yet there is not a single report of a single one of them going missing, nor have any of them reported seeing or sensing something dangerous in the area. That means it is targeting specifically non-vision holders who need to bring oxygen tanks with them.”

Scaramouche glared at him, “So what was that whole meeting for?”

“One, to get any additional information that the government may be keeping from the press, of which there unfortunately was none. And two, to prevent a scandal. If we were stopped by the guardes on the beach and then snuck into the water anyway there’s no doubt that the press would hear about it and the Fatui’s reputation in Fontaine would falter, but we gained Furina’s permission. She should send the Guardes stationed on the beaches a notice that we will be looking into the situation. This way we may actually improve the Fatui’s reputation in Fontaine.”

“Alright then smartypants. What’s the rest of your plan?”

“If everything goes perfect, this will be a two day operation.” Coviello held open the hotel room door for Scaramouche and they sat down on their respective beds. “Day one, we go down without oxygen tanks and suits and find the remains of our fallen comrades. We investigate how they were attacked and do our best to bring their bodies back up to the surface for their families. If everything stays on schedule for day one then we move onto the procedure with day two. We go down with fake oxygen tanks and diving suits to lure it out, when it attacks we use this.” He pulled out a serrated hook. “It’ll get stuck, we play dead, drop the gear, and follow the elemental trail.”

“What if, when we find the bodies they’ve been eaten?”

“Then we do our best to decipher what happened. If my hypothesis is correct and it is targeting oxygen tanks then those would very likely be left behind, I can’t think of any creature that eats metal. We can study those.” Coviello kicked off his boots and laid down on his bed, “Though the day two plan would have to change slightly. No- lets just change it all together. When it attacks we let it happen.” Scaramouche looked at him slightly offended. “We play dead after only a little bit of damage has been done, I’ll put up a small shield around myself and you discharge electro into the water. Superconduct will electrify everything around you, hopefully getting the creature, and if your attack is strong enough maybe even killing it.”

“And if that doesn’t kill it?”

“Hopefully it’ll paralyze it enough that we can kill it with a blade or other means. If it doesn’t get paralyzed and instead flees, then we go back to the original plan. I'll get the hook into it and we’ll track the path that the elemental energy leaves behind after dropping all of the gear. This plan is subject to change once we’ve gathered more information off the bodies.”

“We may need more manpower for day one.”

“We have the rest of today to find it.” Coviello sat up and put his boots back on, “I think it would be best that we speak with Furina again. At least tell her of our vision holder theory and then go to the Steambird to put out an ad in the morning. We explain everything, so that vision holders who are squeamish around bodies don’t come with us and get in our way.”

***

They decided upon a location for everyone to meet up while looking around for Furina, and she ended up coming along with the harbingers to the Steambird, “I’m all booked tomorrow so I wouldn’t be able to come along, but I can always help you get that ad out for tomorrow.”

“Thank you so-”

“If-!” She interrupted Coviello, “If you also do the same thing for the Fontanian divers and their families as well.”

“Of course.”

The doors to the Steambird’s office opened eagerly for the Hydro Archon and the owner ran up to the trio. “Has something happened? Why are you two coming to the Steambird office together?” He said, completely ignoring Scaramouche. His eyes lit up, "Are you announcing your relationship?”

Scaramouche looked at the other two as they groaned in irritation. He grinned and chuckled.

“No!” They said in unison, clearly having been asked similar questions before and were getting tired of it.

“We’re just here to put out an urgent ad for tomorrow morning.”

“The Fatui have also been targeted in the recent attacks on divers in the east, so we’re going to be going under to investigate.” Coviello said, motioning between himself and Scaramouche. “We’re looking for volunteers to help us. Specifically volunteers who have visions and aren’t squeamish around bodies.”

“They hypothesize that whatever has been attacking divers specifically targets divers with oxygen tanks and other diving equipment, so vision holders who do not need such items would be safer.” Furina continued.

The owner nodded, “We’ll do that if you also allow us an interview to go along with it.” He looked at Coviello and Scaramouche.

“If we have to.” Scaramouche sighed. Furina went away on her own, and the owner led the harbingers to an office with another reporter, and they sat outside for a moment until she was ready for them. “What was that thing about a relationship with Focalores again?” He spoke in an extremely teasing tone.

“She invited me to watch a play with her once, seventy years ago. Reporters like to look up into Furina’s box to see what she’s doing and when they saw me they spun a wild story. Apparently the romantic pairing between an archon and a sinner of Khaenri’ah was extremely appealing. But there’s nothing, it was all just made up and they apparently still haven’t dropped it.” Scaramouche chuckled at the Conductor’s exasperated tone of voice.

“Hi! I’m Charlie, I’ll be interviewing you!” The young reporter said, her eyes shining at the opportunity to interview two out of the eleven Fatui harbingers.

“I’m the Conductor, number four. This is the Balladeer, number six.” He shook her hand and glanced at the cryo vision on her wrist, Scaramouche also saw it. They stepped into her office and she started.

“So, you’re here about the missing divers recently right?” She asked.

“Indeed. A group of Fatui divers went missing a few weeks ago, and we finally arrived to begin a search. Based on the research we’ve managed to do above the surface we believe that whatever is causing the disappearances wouldn’t target vision holders.” Coviello said. Scaramouche leaned back to let Coviello do most of the talking.

Charlie paused for a moment, “Yes- that does seem correct, there haven’t been any missing vision holders yet.”

“We plan to locate the bodies of those that have disappeared to investigate. This will be early in the morning, but around noon we will resurface and wait for extra manpower. The entire point of this ad is to hopefully get at least a few volunteers to help us bring the bodies back up to the surface for their families. I will see what I can do about financial compensation for those that show up, but we will at least have lunch and dinner for them.”

“Oh catering! I might show up!” Charlie joked and continues to write.

“We would really appreciate that, but please do remember that we will be dealing with decaying bodies, so if you are queasy we wouldn’t really recommend it.”

“Oh it’s fine! It wouldn’t be the first or last time. Besides being able to write firsthand about the situation would allow me to make a much more accurate report.”

“We should have our subordinates secure some body bags,” Scaramouche suddenly thought, “We could have a group bagging the bodies and another group of people bringing them up to the surface.”

Coviello nodded, “Yeah. We should probably be doing a lot more to involve the Guardes. Why don’t you do that while I’m here?”

Scaramouche stood and walked out of the building and stopped the first Guarde on patrol he could find. “Excuse me, where are your headquarters?”

“If you need to report something you can do it right now.” The Guarde said politely.

“No. I’m the Balladeer, number six of the Fatui harbingers.” The Guarde looked at him with a mix of shock and horror, “We’re partnering up with the Fontainian authorities to retrieve the bodies of the missing divers. My partner wants to work more closely with you so that we know we are doing everything correctly and have the proper supplies.”

The Guarde relaxed slightly, “Oh! Thank you. Yes, I’ll bring you to the headquarters.” The guarde began walking him to the headquarters, “You know, my sister is one of the missing divers. Do you think there’s any chance she’s alive?”

“Maybe if whatever is making these people disappear is only kidnapping them, but we sent down a large group of skilled fighters and divers and none of them have surfaced. If this thing was human they would’ve been able to fight it off. I wouldn’t get my hopes up.” The Guarde’s face dropped and he nodded. Scaramouche thanked the guarde and stepped into the HQ. He explained the whole thing over again and the guardes agreed.

They set up a place for everyone to meet up, the beach closest to where the Fatui’s missing divers would’ve been and where the current Fatui camp is. The harbingers, volunteers, and a few vision holding Fatui would bring the bodies up to the surface and the Guardes would attempt to identify them and notify the families.

***

Scaramouche laid down in the hotel bed with his new pajamas on, it was colder in the hotel than it was in Coviello’s house. Coviello walked out of the bathroom, his hair was damp and unbraided and he was dressed in what seemed to be old clothes. The fabric had been worn down by age and the garment itself was no longer in style, but it was comfortable enough for a second life as nightclothes. Coviello sat down on his bed and grabbed his brush, beginning to yank the tangles out of his wet hair and occasionally wringing water out onto the carpet. Once it was sufficiently dry he brushed through it one last time, before he set the brush down and began to braid his hair.

He was looking down at the ground, his eyes seemed unfocused and he was looking at nothing in particular. Seemingly seeing more with his hands than his eyes. Scaramouche watched mesmerized as he braids his hair. They sat with an awkward silence lingering in the air, Scaramouche played with his own hair as he waited for his fellow harbinger to finish to not distract him.

Coviello sighed and shook his head once he finished, “Is it even?” He asked, turning his back to Scaramouche.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Good.” He flopped down onto his bed.

“This’ll be the first time I see you in action, are you really as strong as they say?” Scaramouche asks.

“I hope I live up to your expectations. Whatever your expectations of the fourth harbinger look like.”

“I was told you’re quite fast and that your flames burn hotter than those of normal pyro users.”

“Then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. Not because those things aren’t true, but because underwater my movement is impaired and pyro abilities are weakened.” He summoned a flame to his hand, its blue glow illuminating and warming the room. “Every flame has a bit of blue in it. Even if you look at the bottom of a small campfire you may see the faint hint of blue in its flame. That blue is the hottest part of the flame. A majority of pyro users could conjure up a blue flame like this if they tried really hard, but for me it's the opposite.” The flame began to flicker and turn into a more natural red and orange and the heat dissipated slightly. Coviello closed his hand and extinguished the flame, but not before it returned to its blue color for a split second.

“Interesting. How do you not get burned? How does your sword not melt?”

“Well, iron’s melting point is greater than the heat that my flames produce, so all I have to do is not use the flame constantly to give it time to cool down again. But in the situation that I do keep the flame constant for an extended period of time, it will eventually melt. This is true for all pyro users, it would just happen quicker for me. And as for your other question, you’ll have to ask a ratawahist student or something. I don’t understand it at all.”

Scaramouche cuddled up under the blankets, hugging himself to try and use the little body heat he could produce to warm himself. Coviello turned out the lights and laid down as well. Scaramouche technically didn’t even have to sleep, but he had the feeling that Coviello would get upset at him if he stayed up all night. So he pulled his knees up to his chest to cling to the little body heat he could create. He shifted around on his cot, trying to at least pretend to sleep. Not long after he finally found a comfortable position he heard a shifting next to him. ‘It's nothing. Just Coviello moving in his sleep.’ He told himself, until he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He flinched and tensed his body. Until he felt a warm sensation spread through his body.

He let his body relax as the hand left his shoulder, leaving the heat behind. Coviello walked over to the radiator and turned the temperature up, then laid back down on his bed, “Goodnight.”

---

Scaramouche thought back to the early morning investigation from the previous day, it was so odd. There were the obvious signs of decay, but that was really the only sign of damage on the bodies. They’d simply drowned. Their oxygen tanks had been destroyed and there was evidence that they’d tried to make it back up to the surface, but never actually made it. This thing wasn’t just hunting for food, it was seemingly hunting for fun, picking on things it knew it could easily kill.

Coviello paced up and down the campsite as his subordinates silently observed. He was wearing a diving suit, they were supposed to go under in thirty minutes. He seemingly wasn’t the only one disturbed by this whole thing, all of the other human volunteers that had seen the scene were also disturbed. As the news spread of what they’d found, it felt like the air grew heavy amongst everyone who knew the truth. Scaramouche just couldn’t understand.

He heard Coviello tossing and turning for hours the night before, he barely even ate breakfast that morning. The Court of Fontaine was unusually quiet that morning when the harbingers left their hotel. They could only guess that Charlie had managed to write her article immediately after returning from helping with the volunteering.

“Conductor.” Scaramouche stated firmly, “We need to be getting ready.”

“I know, and you can just call me Coviello at this point. There's no need to keep using codenames.” Scaramouche placed the oxygen tank down in front of Coviello just as Neuvillette stepped into the camp.

“Monsieur Neuvillette?”

He looked down at the oxygen tank. “Is that what your plan is? To go down there and lure it out by pretending to be divers?”

“Yes?”

“I’m afraid I cannot allow that.”

“What?”

“It’s simply too dangerous.”

Coviello sighed, “Then get us a mannequin. We’ll use that as bait,” He said, without missing a beat.

Shock flashed across his face. “And where do you suppose I’d get one of those?”

“Fontaine is Teyvat’s fashion capital, there’s gotta be a designer or shop willing to give up an old mannequin for a good cause.”

Neuvillette huffed in approval, “I suppose I can’t argue with that. I will go and find one for you, but if when I return you two aren’t here anymore you will be tried in Fontaine’s court of law.”

“Understood.” Coviello sat down again.

“You seem stressed.” Scaramouche stood next to him.

“I just have a really bad feeling about this.”

Scaramouche huffed, “Are you backing out?” He teased, crossing his arms.

“No. Of course not. I just can’t seem to quell this pit in my stomach.”

***

The mannequin was rigged up. Neuvillette had somewhat put them on the spot so they had to come up with something quickly. They managed to hand it off a ledge and let it flow with the current, only praying that the creature was dumb enough to not notice that it wasn’t an actual human. The harbingers hid in some seaweed, keeping an eye on the mannequin from a short distance.

“I have a feeling this may take a while.”

“We have to be patient.”

“What if it's not stupid and we waste our time?”

Coviello sighed, “Hopefully it will at least come to check it out first.”

“Why did the Iudex have to poke his nose into this?”

“I don’t know, okay?” Coviello’s calm demeanor didn’t quite seem to fit the circumstances.

“Do you think he could’ve been trying to get us to back off?”

“We can’t say anything for sure.”

“Are you not at least a little upset over this?”

“Yes, I am!” His voice suddenly had an edge. “But I can’t linger on it, we have to just move on for now. We can’t get distracted.” Scaramouche was quiet.

The mannequin remained untouched.

“Humans are so inconsistent.”

“Elaborate?” There was a hint of offence in Coviello’s voice.

Scaramouche hesitated, feeling that he had made a mistake. The only thing he could hear was the soft sound of Coviello’s breathing. He chose his words carefully, “Everytime I grow to expect one thing from you it changes.”

“No shit.” Coviello turned to look at Scaramouche. Scaramouche met his gaze, “We aren’t a hivemind. You can’t expect every individual to act the same, humanity isn’t changing, the people you’re around are.”

The mannequin remained untouched.

Scaramouche stared silently, forcing himself to remember that Coviello was much older than his appearance implied. He wasn’t sitting next to a guy in his early twenties. He was sitting next to someone over a century old, with all the experience to back it. Maybe Coviello had this exact conversation in the past with someone?

Coviello took a few deep breaths before rising to a standing position, “Balladeer. Keep fighting to subdue it even if I’m injured.”

“What?”

“Killing and restraining that thing is your goal, I am secondary.” Coviello said fearlessly, as his entire body was tense as his eyes darted around. His nails dug into the palm of his hand. The only thing Scaramouche could hear was Coviello’s deep, panicked breathing.

The mannequin remained untouched as a sudden cry of pain echoed through Scaramouche’s ears and red filled his vision. Coviello gripped the side of his chest with one arm and reached out with the other. The creature writhed against the restraints that formed around it, strings of pyro energy seared into its scales. Scaramouche kicked off the ground, launching himself towards the creature. He grabbed its tail and pulled a dagger from his belt and slashed through its stomach. That attack alone would eventually kill it, but Coviello was losing blood quickly and he was choking and coughing.

It was then that Scaramouche realized the extent of Coviello’s injury, his lung was punctured, he was going to pass out soon.

Scaramouche then swam towards its head, knowing that Coviello could lose his hold at any moment. He slipped the blade under its scales and cut around the head, hoping to sever something important. Anything to just make it die faster. It continued to screech and writhe, though it was growing weaker. Finally he stabbed it through the eye and it began to sink.

Coviello’s strings disappeared and he collapsed. He raced Coviello up to the surface where a team was waiting for them. “It ambushed us. No idea why. It completely ignored the mannequin.”

Coviello was laid out on a stretcher and carried off. Neuvillette walked up to Scaramouche, “Did you see what has been attacking?”

“Yeah. If it isn’t already dead, it will be soon.”

***

The only sound in the hospital room was that of Coviello’s labored breathing. He was slowly waking up after surgery. The doctors had to drain the water and close the punctures in his lungs then make sure his broken ribs would heal correctly. Scaramouche led Neuvillette to the body of the creature and they brought it up to the surface for research.

Scaramouche walked into Coviello’s hospital room and sat down next to him, pretending not to care that much. “How are you feeling?”

“Awful.” His voice was raspy and sore.

“Really? I never would’ve guessed.” Coviello tried to laugh but ended up gripping his side in pain, “Sorry. We’re being transferred back to Snezhnaya soon, that’s where you’ll finish your treatment.”

“Okay. Go pack up our stuff. Most of mine should already be mostly packed, but please double check for me. Make sure we don’t leave anything behind on accident.”

“Do you want me to bring you something to have here in the hospital and on the journey?”

“I’m fine. Just let me rest.”

Thankfully, Coviello’s legs weren’t injured in the attack, so he was able to walk. Blood loss and shortness of breath were still issues, but he was able to walk himself from boat to boat as they made their way back to Snezhnaya. One of Dottore’s clones -a younger one- accompanied them from the harbor to Snezhnaya. Supposedly to make sure that Coviello was healing correctly, despite not actually being a doctor, but ended up focusing on how an immortal’s body reacted to something that would kill the average person.

“It was weird,” Coviello said, “Like I was drowning and breathing at the same time.” The clone sat hunched over a notepad, scribbling down everything Coviello said in a handwriting that only the Dottores could even begin to understand.

Scaramouche waited patiently for him to finish before joining the conversation, “Alright smart guys- any idea why it attacked despite Coviello being a vision user?”

Coviello began to object to something before shaking his head, “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it just preferred to attack non-vision users and decided to go for a challenge.”

“What if it saw you put up the decoy and wasn’t happy that you tried to trick it?” The clone suggested, still hunched over the notepad and writing.

“Plausible, but this is out of our hands now. The Fontainians will do their research and come to a conclusion eventually, so I guess we’ll just have to stay updated on the case.”

“It’s made international news already. Everyone is already talking about it and the ‘two wildly beautiful harbingers of the Fatui who stepped up and saved the day.’ It has been quite entertaining.” Both Scaramouche and Coviello sighed, “Multiple newspapers from across Teyvat have requested copies of your portraits.”

“By the archons.”

“What? Is your portrait embarrassing or something?” Scaramouche asks, grinning.

“Nope, just 100 years old.” Both Scaramouche and the clone began to laugh, “It was made right after The Cataclysm, I had short hair, I was in pain physically and emotionally. I look half dead. It’s hardly the image of a ‘wildly beautiful harbinger of the Fatui,’ or whatever. It’s just the portrait of a survivor of The Cataclysm.”

“I was half expecting you to deny that you aren’t that attractive.”

“It’s something I’m used to at this point, and I do usually try to maintain my appearance, people usually just complain that I look too feminine. I’ve even been mistaken for a woman a few times.”

“You do have quite the feminine figure.” The clone’s comment visibly embarrassed Coviello, and he quickly covered himself with a blanket, suddenly claiming that he was cold.

The rest of the trip was silent. Even the trip from the dock to the house was quiet. The only words that escaped Coviello’s lips the whole time were quiet thank you’s for the assistants.

Freya was sitting patiently at the door when they arrived, she rubbed herself up against their legs and purred. She followed Coviello down to his room as Scaramouche stayed in the kitchen to brew some tea for himself.

—————-

First off yes Charlie is like, Charlotte but 400 years ago lmao.

Second: what was the real reason the sea monster attacked? (Yes you can figure this out just from what is in this text, I even emphasized a few things in post to make it clearer for the reader)

Third: thank you for reading this omg 😭

I know this was a long one so I super appreciate it.

Forth: constructive criticism is encouraged as always, I post because It gets my works out to people I don’t personally know and can’t judge me irl but can still give me criticism and help me improve as a writer. So anything, even if it’s small, is appreciated :]

#genshin impact #small art account #genshin #genshin original character #fanfic writer #original character #genshin impact fanfic #please just read my stuff i’m trying very hard #pretty please #scaramouche fanfic #scaramouche #furina #Neuvillette #it’s 3 in the morning #I need to sleep #goodnight

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