This was easy, too easy. He pretended to cower as Amber took on an electro slime. Her youthful vigor and athleticism only made him salivate.
His eyes watched her, finding her much more attractive than he had first anticipated. She was short but her legs were long, thighs supple and so tempting to squeeze.
He watched her run around, twist and flip. He saw her crouch low, heard her grunts and saw her stupid smile.
He watched with lecherous eyes, fingers twitching as Amber loaded her bow with smooth and practiced ease, letting the arrow fly with an explosion of fire. She grinned, satisfied with the elemental reactions.
What a whore. Teasing him like this. He felt himself grow hard, nearly ready to bust out of his pants and take the dumb bitch by storm. He didn't think she was a virgin. How could she? She certainly knew how to tease.
The more he watched, the more angry the man became.
These stupid knights. Did they think this was fun? Easy? She had no concept of the real world! He'd teach her. He'd show her just how cruel everything could be, he'd prove to her that she was nothing!
"Don't worry, sir. No traveler will be turned away from Mondstat on my watch!" Amber said proudly. With one more notched arrow gathering flame. One more hit and the traveler would be saved! "Pyro is great against Electro!" She said with a satisfied grin.
After she saved him and brought him to the city, she could show Jean just how successful her scouting had been.
"Shut the fuck up."
Her eyes widened, a crackle of purple, and an explosion at the end of her arrow caused her to fly back. It was hot, burning. She didn't understand what had happened. It was as if she couldn't move either. She laid flat for a moment, unable to lift herself up as electricity coursed through her veins.
"He-Hey… What's…" She was gonna ask the man, the stranger who she had already trusted and protected for an answer. Though, it took only a second to realize that it was an awful and terrible mistake she had made.
Darkness enveloped the crimson knight, the electro vision user sent volts through her. His anger bubbled as she convulsed. The first time wasn't enough, the second time was less satisfying even though her body twitched without her being awake. The third time he hurt her was to send a kick into her ribs. A crunch could be heard as Amber rolled.
They were on a dirt path and the night was rolling in. If anyone saw the sparks of electricity and the flames, they'd come and investigate. He didn't need anyone to interrupt them. He tossed her over his shoulder, not caring for any of her comfort as he brought her into the shadows of the nearby trees.
——————
The clock ticked and tocked as the shorter hand now passed twelve. The constant noise of clicking gears grated against Jean's ears as she anxiously waited. Her head was bowed, blonde locks in her face and her gloved hands were so tight it was cracking the leather.
Why… Why didn't she stop her!? Why didn't she do anything to call her back!? What kind of a leader - no, a friend - was she!?
Lisa was sitting on the arm of the grandmaster's chair, hip against Jean's side. Her own gloved hand found Jean's, carefully and slowly taxing her fingers apart, opening her hand and slipping hers inside.
"My dear dandelion," She whispered. Lisa kept her voice soft, the soothing tone providing relief from the stupid clock. "Kaeya will be back with our crimson knight." Lisa stated. "It's normal for our Outrider to be late. Perhaps, she got caught up somewhere or is helping someone." Lisa knew logic was Jean's focal point. If she could appeal to her logic, then perhaps, her dear and lovely friend would finally calm down.
Jean took a shaky and deep breath, the first sign of acknowledgement Lisa had received since Jean gathered the search party and attempted to lead it herself.
Jean leaving the city now would be a bad idea. The night was cooler, but everyone was exhausted. They needed to protect the city. The priority was always Mondstat. But the leader of the knights couldn't stand it. Amber is Mondstat! She was the hope and joy and kindness of the citizens, the beauty of the city, and the bright fiery light of the future.
She… She was…
That feeling only intensified. The gut wrenching feeling between nausea and fullness. Her outrider was in danger. Jean could swear it.
Lisa understood the feelings behind Jean's paleness. She had never seen the woman so stiff, if only she could massage away her worries, kiss away her fears… Lisa cradled Jean's hand, undoing her glove. It wasn't until lips met skin that the sword wielding knight jumped to attention in her seat.
"Oh, sweetheart." Lisa breathed, "If you truly need to go, then let me watch the city. Nothing will come of it." Green eyes, so mysterious and mischievous was dead serious. Jean had never been so visually shaken like this before. If Jean said something was absolutely wrong, then something was absolutely and terribly wrong.
"But before you go, you must protect your identity. At least until you're out of the walls." She said, helping the stiff and silent woman up, guiding her out of the office and into another room, trading her cape for a cloak and pulling it around her shoulders. She tied the front, hands quick and efficient but extremely gentle.
The blonde kept opening her mouth but found nothing coming out. It wasn't until Lisa's cool hands were resting on her cheeks did Jean notice she was crying. Lisa… The witch hadn't said a thing about the tears, didn't even acknowledge it or react to them.
Jean would be eternally grateful.
Even as their foreheads rested against each other and Lisa's breath tickled her lips, Lisa acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary despite everything being so so so strange and wrong and heavy.
"Bring her back." Lisa said, "I know you'll bring her back, Jean."
Suddenly, as if Lisa had placed a spell on the taller of the women, Jean's tears stopped and the grandmaster felt a renewed sense of determination and strength.
"I will. I swear to the archons, I will."
A figure, hidden beneath a cloak slipped out of a door. Shrouded in the night, the woman snuck past her own guards and wards. She didn't know where to go, but wherever she ended up, it would be with Amber.
——————
"You haven't seen a bouncy red bunny about this high, have you?" Kaeya asked, ice continuing to spread across the abyss mage's fat little body and face. It's high pitched squeal full of panic. "No! No I swear! No one has been in here!"
The man frowned. He didn't like that answer. He didn't like the previous one either, or the first answer he got. No villager, no member of the order, no one has seen Amber since the sun began to fall.
"Wait-Wait! I thought, why are you doing this! I didn't do anything to her! Noooo-" The abyss Mage was silenced and with a harsh crack, fell to the ground in pieces beside his friends.
So, if there was no groups that saw her, then it must be an individual. A loner. The bubbly, friendly and ambitious Amber would never go unnoticed. Someone knew something.
Kaeya let out a frustrated groan. He has been looking in all the wrong spots. All his intel came back dry with no leads whatsoever. He swore, if he saw the archer, he would… Well, he didn't know. It wasn't like that two of them were extremely close. She always seemed a bit distant and quiet around him, except for the loud moments where she had claimed she wasn't a kid.
The cryo knight clenched his teeth.
Of course she was a kid! To Kaeya, Amber would always be his kid sister. He'd protect her. At least that's what he had promised her during a particularly late night.
It was during Amber's first time to see a body. She had been her bubbly and optimistic self during the whole ordeal, being a great help with the investigation, but as it started to wind down, he came across the young girl vomiting.
Instead of teasing her like she had feared, Kaeya placed a cool hand on her back as Amber sobbed for the deceased child.
"There are many evils in the world, Amber. Evils that have nothing to do with slimes, elements, and riding a wind glider. You do realize that, right?"
The more he thought about his words to the outrider, the more Kaeya felt he had been harsh. Although, Amber didn't seem to take his tone that way. She had straightened up, gave a shaky salute, and nodded.
"Then, I will do all I can to combat that evil, Captain Kaeya."
He had thought she was silly, almost stupid. At the time, he had no positive thought towards her resolve or resilience.
The red bunny constantly made him look like the idiot.
He left the ruins, a frown set on his face. With each step, ice erupted from the ground. If it was one person who was holding their Amber, then that just meant less paper work for Jean to justify why Kaeya had murdered scum.