Fischl guaranteed everyone she was efficient in anything she partook. A hardworking adventurer by the day and coveted vigilante at the crack of dusk. Commanding Oz to be her eyes had to be the greatest feeling ever. To be able to see above the clouds and in-between places she couldn't cross was indeed a phantasmagoria to her.
Still, she provided input to her trusty Raven when its own pair of eyes failed its purpose, about anything enigmatic and seldom mischievous. The winged creature unfastened its hearing whenever she spoke nonsensically at times. But this creature knew better than anyone else as it was the only existence that can understand Fischl without having to ask 'Come again?'
They journeyed through a chasm side-by-side. The Adventurer's Guild was getting merciless with its daily commissions but Fischl wasn't susceptible to the unknown. She had Oz as her second sight unequaled in awareness and accuracy. Fortunately, the blonde-haired archer bounced often with her activities. She was quite a spontaneous teenager with a sense of danger. And that eagerness to tackle the looming threat in front of her is what made her iron-clad without any armor.
"Perhaps a breather is best, Mein Fräulein." Oz recommended. Despite being an elemental bird of electricity, it still had a limit to it. Oz can't be out for too long without sustenance.
Fischl hopped atop the gravel, the myriad of pebbles below her looked like discarded garlands, almost as if they were leaves sent down from the skies. She took in the lavish grasslands and trees in the forest. Oh, the number of hilichurl camps she had vanquished in her quest was handled in a debonair manner.
She extended her hands out, reaching as far as she can into Adepti knows what, "Light has now chosen to slumber in the alcoves, obedient to the time that makes us all brittle and inane..."
Fischl turned around for Oz, a powerful glint unescaping in her eyes, "Do you see Oz? Dawn is nothing without decorum! Prinzessin der Verurteilung shan't not be agog with this opportunity! Let us delight in the abstruse quality of the ever-shining orb of darkness!"
Oz deeply sighed, "I know you're restless at night but just ten minutes and we'll be back on foot." Oz inspected its two feet, "And talons as well. A bird can't catch a break?"
"Beads of sweat from the aloof and picayune cause great insult to my fate." she talked back, pointing a finger at Oz.
"Gah! Let me rest!"
"H-help me!"
Fischl and Oz's mood swiftly shifted when they had heard the scream directly south from their direction. Knowing formation and a battle plan already being concocted, they stormed right into the heart of the problem,.
Electro Cicin mages cornered a teenage boy in their grasp, the echoing laughs becoming sinister as they encircled the young boy menacingly.
Fischl emerged out of the bushes, posing and releasing out her powers. "For thy sinners! It is I! Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung, Sovereign of Immernachtreich, the lustrous, indomitable judge of the execrable!"
"She means to say she'll take you down," Oz repeated her words.
It didn't take Fischl a second to pour out her arrows into battle.
One by one, the mages synchronized, their magic unbecoming and devoid of life. Swarms of flying electro cicin flew above their heads causing a normal person to nauseate before the gloomy yet bursting ray of elemental power.
Pulling the string back was music to Fischl's ears like she had been strumming a wind instrument all this time. She reveled in her own little world of music. Her battling style was completely divergent from her melodious singing inside her head but it linked astonishingly well in a fight.
A popping sound could be heard every time she pulled the string and then the purplish jolts sparking frequently boosted more of her arrows. Investigator by occupation, assassin by heart. The arrows sank into their skin. A miss wasn't in Fischl's vocabulary. The woman knew no such simple wording.
Aside from the mages, the electro cicins were incredibly frustrating to deal with as their movements were unpredictable. Luckily, Oz took reign over the position of destroying them. No point to waste arrows when the bird was enough to eat insects.
The mages saw this as abysmal, choosing to retreat by teleporting to another location. Fischl clicked her tongue when she anticipated what they were formulating as a means of escape.
"Oz! Leave no stone unturned! Chain them to the very bottom of a hellish vessel if you can!"
"Yes, Mein Fräulein!"
Oz disappeared, pursuing the mages by force. The area was now free from noise. The gleam of the night coaxed his skin to dazzle like a crystal chunk.
He stared at Fischl, nervous, and scared. "H-hi..."
"Greetings! You are devoid of any torment now fellow patriot!" Fischl assured the man. She could also see from Oz's vision the mages were being dealt with. She let out a breath of victory. "That's a veritable blood-seeker, nothing is free from Oz's persistence..."
"U-um..." The boy didn't know how he should thank her.
Fishcl raised a hand up, the other hand on her hip. "Gratitude is a weeping leaf, falling but soon to rise once again from its motherland. Knit your ambitious convictions soon as you set foot into another world."
With that being said, Fischl was about to dash away when the boy gripped her forearm.
"Why must children be like quicksand? They entice you to stay for eternity until you slowly deliquesce..." Fischl managed to smile at the boy, telling him internally she needed to go back to Mondstadt as soon as possible. How would this boy comprehend her if she spoke in such a grandiose manner?
"Whatever is the issue you bear with me, boy? Do you need replenishments?"
"Don't call me boy. I'm Liang. What's yours?"
"I pray sincerely to those denizens that don't utter my name in a single glance. It is Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung, Sovereign of Immernachtreich, and you shall remember it."
The man kept holding on to her forearm. Curse her nature of goodness. She can't very well move freely without this boy letting go. He smiled up at her, eager to ask something. But it was only there his smile morphed into a frown. Fischl's annoyed expression began to dematerialize.
"Be open of your shadows. A shadow never leaves but it's a bundle of knowledge carrying one's secrets and sins... As well as those that are harrowing."
The boy gloomily asked, "Is it okay to tell you?"
In a rare showing, Fischl grasped him by the shoulders, "Tell me what troubles your heart, Liang. I shall be your benefactor just this once."
"I wasn't actually the only one caught up there with the bad people earlier..."
Fischl patiently waited for him to spill out the rest. She inspected the waterfall at the center of the forest, the vitality of life relapsing and transforming.
"My parents were killed by the same bad people you guys fought today. Though it was a long time ago, I couldn't save them." He was trying not to let his emotions defeat him. "I tried my best but..."
She remained silent, listening, and entering in the conversation when it was needed. Personally, she wasn't such a fan of having heartfelt discussions. What stung her momentarily was the boy's eyes. They were alive yet so dead.
"I kind of heard that there's a secret dungeon here that encases an all-powerful piece of paper capable of being delivered even to the dead. A guy with blue hair told me, which is why I'm near a hostile area. But I'm too weak to go there. Dungeons are... tough."
Fischl stepped in, "You suggest I'm willing to lend my graces?"
She grimaced. That must've been Kaeya or a fool.
"I was gonna go there alone anyway. I know the way. I always go there but the monsters keep scaring me." He smiled but it represented something else.
What did she want to do here? She really needed to head back but this boy was going to be in more danger if he kept being reckless with his decisions. It was a first for Fischl to find out about this mystical piece of paper. How did this boy know such a thing existed?
"I have returned, Mein Fräulein."
"Oz. The wind has changed its course. Tonight, the moon is far from perishing."
"Huh?" Liang's mouth opened.
Oz interpreted, "She means she'll help you."
Between the crevice of a huge rock, a metallic and mysterious door was inside, the smoke in there was indescribable as if it wasn't the air they breathed.
The paper was here.
"Are you sure about this? Mein Fräulein?"
She only nodded, opening the doors with a grin on her face. She could smell the monsters from the entrance and her foot wasn't even inside yet.
"An arrow will never hit you lest you turn around."
Oz interpreted, "She means to stay close."
Liang gulped and nodded.
Ponds and rivers situated outside of the dungeon were now replaced with lava on both sides of the room. There was only a single space here. There were no walls. Just emptiness on all corners with floating bits of debris swirling and floating in mid-air.
"We have seen this before haven't we, Mein Fräulein?"
"Another creation with similar organisms and mechanisms permeates a dull repetition, these dungeons have yet to be unorthodox."
"Rightfully so, Mein Fräulein."
"Look out!" Liang shrieked.
Fischl hurried for Liang's spot, grabbing him and tumbling out of the way. The axe of a fighter hilichurl almost sliced him up into two. Fischl was going to wince if she failed her saving attempt. As if she was going to be defeated by a brainless mongrel that only knew how to operate around one weapon!
One hilichurl came out of the darkness, then two, and three. They all exited the darkened pathways coming from all directions, gnarling and stimulated to attack.
"Liang is under your tutelage, Oz!"
"Of course!"
The fighter hilichurl pumped itself up, spinning aggressively in a tornado-like movement towards Fischl. Saving herself against this kind of maneuver wouldn't be a problem. The number of hilichurls dominating her line of sight, however, impedes her plan of evasion. Oz assisted the verbally fluent woman in a game of thunder by unleashing a storm above the enemy, zapping the small ones fairly quickly and stunning the bigger hilichurl into a state of paralysis.
Fischl wasted no time and efficiently shot them all in their heads. A wrathful display of combat purged and laid destruction onto their masks as her electro powers began to manifest violently.
"Rejoice! Death is but a trickle that lasts shortly!"
A loud boom erupted in the field, completely disintegrating the existence of the enemies.
"We can finally get the paper!" Liang skipped over to Fischl, excited of the revelation he can give his parents one last message before they move on.
Fischl narrowed her eyes at him, her grip tightening on the bow.
"Ms. Fischl?"
It didn't take long for her to pull the string and let the arrow loose into the boy's head. Liang fell to the floor, blood showering over his head.
"Mein Fräulein?! What is the meaning of this?" Oz yelled out.
"Anguish repels happiness. Happiness is beyond suffering as happiness doesn't ensnare."
"T-that means..."
The Liang on the floor decomposed into tiny bits of bugs, scattering and fleeing. It was a fake.
"T-those were..."
"Electro cicin bugs will be the fang of every child's nightmare. Liang, you're in good health I presume?"
Liang peeked out behind a wall, scared. "Y-yeah..."
The rays of light so powerful enveloped the lower hall of this dungeon, a spot where precious rewards and treasures lay.
Liang rubbed both of his eyes, "Is that..."
Fischl nodded her head, "Your family awaits."
Liang genuinely smiled with a tinge of sadness walking to the staircase that led to the shining hall of gold. A big tree was in the center, its roots and branches exuding vibrant colors of yellow and white.
Each step felt heavy but he trudged on.
The boy asked Fischl, upon grabbing the paper. "This is it, right?"
Oz talked for Fischl, "Don't let us bother you. We'll take the rest. You can have the main course."
Liang, energized unlike before, started on to write. He realized he hadn't brought a tool to write but when he expressed his frustrations verbally, the paper recorded his voice word for word.
"Huh?"
He could see his parents standing right there beside him. They no longer existed. They were merely illusions by now but their smiles so real to Liang.
Liang was now stunned at how this situation turned out to be. They had this ethereal glow to them that Liang couldn't comprehend.
"I-I'm sorry mom, dad. I always walked behind you but it seems I'm too scared to follow where you are right now..." He lowered his head, "Is it okay if I remain here? Am I allowed to live? I don't want to die."
Liang's dad pulled at his forearm, encasing the young boy into a hug trying to be a better dad even in this situation. "Of course, Liang. Experience all kinds of things and find a dream, okay? Dad and mom will be with you, always."
Liang squirmed in his dad's hold, his fatherly nature driving him to a spiraling sorrow. "That isn't true! Why did you and mom have to die?! You said you were strong! I don't want this! I've been contemplating this whole time if I even had the right to live without you both!"
His mom clutched the hem of her shirt, looking down on the floor. The light slowly pulling both of Liang's parents out of reality. The mere thought of talking to spirits or deceased ones were nowhere near sacrosanct unless permitted.
"I wish I could've talked you out of it! Things could've been different if you didn't leave!"
Liang's mom cried out, "We were preparing for your birthday, son...!"
"Huh?"
"The only reason why we didn't want you to join us is because we planned a surprise for you..."
"Y-you..."
"We're sorry." his dad said, their bodies diminishing each second. "Your present got torn up when we were attacked."
"D-dad... Mom... Please don't go... Please."
"Death ends everything and begins all over." Oz murmured.
Fischl could only look down on the floor solemnly.
"Stay..." Liang clung to whatever remained of his parents but it was no use. The light was stronger.
The last he saw of his parents was their smiles, "We love you. Live on. Let's see each other again."
Liang bowed down, pleading for more time but reality wasn't so lenient. The mortals of this world needed to accept that.
The light died along with his heart.
"What will you be doing now, Liang?" Oz asked.
"It really feels weird talking to an animal..." Liang scratched the back of his head.
"How foolish! Me? Being compared to the likes of boars? Hmph!"
Fischl had been strangely quiet for some time now. She took great pride in her way of communication as it is how it befits a princess.
"I'll probably just head back home and find a job in Liyue."
Liang sighed.
"You know... By this time, I should've given you guys a reward... I have nothing but ores back home. And they're not even the good kind."
"Oh, that's fine. We have a lot of those already. Mein Fräulein may not look like it but she travels all over to find rare treasures, artifacts, and scout out monsters bigger than the ones we fought long ago."
"Must be a difficult routine to live by..." Liang chuckled. "I guess this is goodbye then? Are you sure you don't want anything as a reward?"
"Doth ask too much." Fischl walked closer to him, enveloping him in a hug.
"M-m-m-m-ma'am?!" Liang stuttered.
"Husheth, may you be absolved and given acclamation for your valor of facing your shadows." She could feel his back quivering in intervals.
"Thank you."
After bidding farewell, the two close friends walked back on foot, aiming for Mondstadt.
"Was it really okay to give him your bow?" Oz asked.
"Benevolence is infectious, I suppose."
"You're talking normally to me now?"
She did not know why she hugged him. Fischl was pretty silent that day.
Back at it again. I'm probably gonna write another one sometime soon. See ya. :)