《Your POV》

After everything that had happened that morning, the air was very tense and awkward. Though Scaramouche seemed to be keeping his cool while teaching you how to use a sword, you could tell he noticed the awkward tension between you two as well.

"Got it?" He confirmed, hoping you'd remember the tips he just told you.

You gave him an affirmative head nod, doing exactly as he said. You had to admit, the sword was heavier than you thought. But slowly, you were getting the hang of it.

Scaramouche walked up behind you, wrapping his arms around you to grip the sword, "You're gripping it wrong. Do it like this." He placed his hands on top of yours, teaching you the correct gripping technique.

Your heart nearly beat out of your chest, and you could feel your face burning. If he had never kissed you, you wouldn't have reacted like this, so what was so different now?

He simply chuckled, "Embarrassed, are we?"

You quickly broke free of his grasp, nearly dropping the sword, "Uhm- I-I'll be back," you ran away in a panic.

Scaramouche just watched you, speechless.

♢♢♢

What was wrong with you? You never would've reacted like that if it weren't for that stupid kiss. Maybe he was just toying with you. There's no way somebody as cool as him would go for you, surely. At least, that's what you thought.

You sighed, putting the sword down next to you, the reflection of the creek shining on the blade. It was quite a beautiful sword, beautiful just like your mother. Before your mother passed away, she gave you this sword. You never learned to use it, simply because this sword was the reason for her death. It was a gift from her dad, and because of that, your mother wanted to be skilled in combat. She stopped at nothing to become the greatest knight of all time.

Eventually, that love for fighting came to an end when she was killed by a Fatui's hands. Hence your overwhelming hate for all Fatui. You had yet to meet a Fatui who was genuinely nice, you didn't think they even existed. After all, the Fatui was an evil organization. The tactics they used were unforgivable. Heck, you'd probably be able to spot a Fatui from a mile away, so you thought.

Snapping out of your daydream, you heard footsteps behind you. You turned to see Scaramouche taking a seat next to you by the small creek. This caused you to look away out of embarrassment.

He sighed, "Should we talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?" You replied, obviously nervous. Your voice was a bit shaky. You couldn't tell whether it was from thinking about your late mother or because of Scaramouche.

As you looked at him, you examined his features. You never really got a good look at his face. Was he always that pretty? Why were you just now thinking of him that way? One thing was for sure, you thought he had the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen. They were a mix of blue and lavender, almost exactly like your mother's. Looking at him made you think of her somehow. Maybe that's why you felt safe around him.

Scaramouche gazed off into the distance. He seemed a bit fidgety, which was very out of character for him. He was always very stern and professional, "I've uh, never done this before."

"Me either.." you added.

Great, you thought. Neither of you had any idea what was going on between the two of you. You both had zero experience when it came to romance.

One thing was for certain, you definitely felt something. Whether it was attraction or just respect for him, you didn't know. But something was there, and you suspected he felt the same too.

He leaned forward, looking into the water, "Nobody really likes me at work. I don't have any friends either. I just thought.. maybe if I pretended to be normal, I'd finally see what it was like to have someone. Anyone."

You glanced over at him, almost astonished. He had never spoken about his feelings like that before. Scaramouche was a man of many secrets, you knew that for sure. But something about the way he said it, you knew he was telling the truth, at least about that part.

You sat there, speechless. You wanted to say something to comfort him, but you couldn't seem to form the words.

"What do you mean by.. normal?" You asked, a little confused.

He sighed, "I already told you, my job isn't thought of in a very positive light."

You turned your whole body towards him, "Well, why won't you finally tell me what you do?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

He looked straight into your eyes, "Because I'm afraid you'll leave me if I do."

Leave him? Why would you do that? He's done so much for you, he's helped you through so much, you didn't think there was anything he could do to make you leave his side. You knew it was crazy since you just recently met him, but when you know, you know.

You rolled your eyes, "That's ridiculous. I already told you it doesn't matter what your job is, it doesn't determine who you are as a person."

Scaramouche looked away this time, "You say that now, but I swear to you, you would change your mind if you knew."

Hearing those words almost saddened you. Scaramouche seemed very passionate about keeping his job a secret, and he wanted you to know that. It made you feel bad for prying.

"Alright," you nodded, "Then you don't need to tell me right now. I'll be here when you're ready." You smiled at him.

Scaramouche gave you a soft smile, pulling you into another hug, "Thank you, Y/N."

You'd never seen him so vulnerable before. He almost seemed like a lost puppy. Scaramouche was openly telling you about something that was really sensitive to him. You honestly felt honored that he trusted you that much.

It must've been hard holding back all these emotions and for such a long time.

The two of you broke away from the hug. You cleared your throat in an attempt to make the aura less awkward, "So.. what now?"

Scaramouche threw his hands up in the air, "We could kiss again-"

"I MEAN ABOUT THE METEORITES," you yelled, purely out of embarrassment. You were honestly surprised he was so smooth despite him just telling you about his deepest insecurity.

He quietly laughed at your quick response. Of course he was just messing with you. He really seemed to like seeing you in tough situations, didn't he?

"Well," his mood completely changed. That aspect of him was something that did scare you a little. He could go from 0 to 100 real quick. It was quite impressive actually, "We could continue the investigation while I train you. That way we're hitting two birds with one stone."

You looked back down at the water, "What about Aether?"

"What about him? You want to show him that you're just as capable as him, right?" He asked you, to which you nodded, "Then you need to work for it."

Scaramouche's words never failed to amaze you. It's almost as if he was used to training people and giving advice.

You sighed, remembering how you had no more clues about the meteorites, "But.. we hit a dead end, remember? How are we supposed to find new evidence? Especially now with Aether investigating it as well."

"Well that's the exciting part, isn't it?" He smirked, obviously enjoying it. He probably wasn't used to such laid back investigations, so perhaps he was just soaking it all in. It made you wonder what kind of harsh job would have such tough commissions..

After a bit more planning, you both decided it would be best to head out towards your next location. It was directly west of where you were, and not too far either. You offered to go the whole way there without camping out, which would've been exhausting but doable, yet Scaramouche suggested that you at least stopped once. After all, he was worried about you overworking yourself.

He was right though. You had gotten a bit too fired up after hearing Scaramouche's words. He planted the idea in your head that with some training, you could show Aether and everyone else at the guild that you weren't just some lousy, low ranked adventurer, and that you could do whatever the almighty Traveller could do.

You were thankful to Scaramouche for helping you realize that. If it weren't for him, you'd probably have given up your life as an adventurer and settled down somewhere. Sure, that might have been somewhat extreme, but after all of the years you put in climbing your way up the ranks, befriending people just to get on their good side, and constantly changing your personality, you thought it was a logical reaction.

Anyhow, the two of you continued your journey towards the next meteorite.

It was quite the uneventful trip. You had a few run ins with some weak enemies, to which Scaramouche guided you through how to fight each of them properly. You had to admit, he was a really good teacher, even if his tactics were a bit.. strange.

During your training, he had no problem making you feel embarrassed by flirting with you, or even simply touching your hand or your shoulder. While those seemed like trivial things, he made it his mission to make sure you were beet red afterwards. You noticed a pattern, he seemed to like it when you were flustered or embarrassed. Did he have some sort of god complex or something?

You paid no mind to the matter any further. Eventually, you made it to your destination, only to find a person laying unconscious on the ground.

"Hey, there's someone there!" You told Scaramouche.

Being the kind person you were, your immediate reaction was to run to see if they were okay.

You knelt down next to them, checking their pulse, "They're still alive. They must've came in contact with the meteorite."

"Put them over there and wait for them to wake up," Scaramouche ordered, "I'll look around for any other victims."

You followed his instructions and laid the person down on a spare blanket you had. Looking at the man's face, he seemed in pain. Knowing what previous victims had told you, you knew what the dream was about, so you unconsciously felt sympathy for them. It saddened you to see innocent people in so much pain.

Eventually, Scaramouche came back, walking up to you with his arms folded, "It's clear. There's no one else."

You sighed, "Why was someone all the way out here anyway? This isn't a place normal travelers would go through, since it's off of the main path."

"Maybe for the same reasons as us," Scaramouche shrugged his shoulders, looking over at the unconscious man, "We can't be the only people that are after information."

Once again, he was right. In order to beat Aether at his own game, you had to step it up. You had to somehow break through this stump you were in and figure out the meaning behind the meteorites. And to do that, you needed Scaramouche's skills as well.

You were determined to find all the answers, and before Aether got to them too.