Kaeya was no stranger to the possibility of his own death, a consequence of dealing in the shadows. Yet the cries of felled Knights called forth terror unlike anything he'd felt before, the implacable pursuit of Kaeya's own finality given flesh. Blood soaked through his clothes, and he hissed as another spike of pain shoved through his shoulder. He'd seen the haunted look in older Fischl's eyes before. Veterans who'd blown into town, some calamity or war having bled something intangibly vital out of them. Kaeya had chatted with them over a round of drinks, and many were pleasant company.
But he knew never to cross any of them, because war made monsters of men. Who didn't blink at the thought of shooting a 'traitor' in broad daylight. How much worse was Fischl Senior's Teyvat to turn a nice, if talkative girl into that?
Mondstadt's corridors blurred into a treacherous maze in Kaeya's unfocusing mind, and he raced to think of escape routes. Stumbling between houses exposed Kaeya more than he'd like, but better this than being trapped in an alleyway.
The Statue of the Seven. He'd have to double back, but Jean would be helpful to have by his side, and the Traveler might return. The illuminated day, rather than setting Kaeya at ease, caged him with the dissonance of threats being supposedly visible in broad daylight and the distant yells of 'Missing!' from the Knights. How did a fully-kitted, blonde killing machine escape them? Even amidst his biting pain and the dizzy spell gripping his mind, Kaeya thought to give his boys pointers on -
Intuition screamed at Kaeya that something was behind him. A dagger of cold hostility slid into his back and stole his breath, and all thought escaped him.
Kaeya swung back before his sword fully materialized in hand.
Strikes rained upon Kaeya. Bulling through the pain let him keep pace with the blonde. But Kaeya's wound bled the fight out of him like a hurricane making land, his next swing snared in a wrist twist which released his sword into Fischl Senior's hands. Hurling himself away from her swing, steel whistled past Kaeya's cheek before he crashed into the floor.
The one-eyed blonde drew her pistol and stalked towards Kaeya.
"I see it in your eye, you know. Torn by an impossible choice. And so long as you waver, I'll never let you choose."
The floor grated on Kaeya's forearm while he dragged himself away. His clothes were soaked in the blood which ebbed out from his numbing body. To realize someone else knew of his secrets was to behold a new dimension of freedom, to express and discover himself. Like that night, revealing his true self to Diluc lifted a weight from his chest, to get to be true to himself after a lifetime of facades, false smiles and aloof jibes.
And all he could do was chuckle.
"At least this way I won't be forced to choose…"
Fischl senior blinked, but her eye iced over with purpose.
She raised her pistol at him.
Kaeya glared into the darkness at the end of its barrel. No groveling, no bargaining. He wouldn't throw away his pride, even on threat of death, for a long shot.
Something flitted over Kaeya's head. Elder Fischl's free hand snatched an arrow out of the air, then inclined her head to avoid another projectile as it whistled past her ear.
"What?! We hid in the umbra of thy vision, how did you…" Words failed Fischl to have witnessed the OSF's reflexes. The Outworlder likewise failed to mask her shock. Kaeya twisted around to shoot them a glance of rekindled hope, despite the pain contorting his expression.
"Vengeance!" Eula fell upon the OSF in a cleaving blow, crushing pavement and gusting up an icy storm which bit into Fischl's skin. "You two, cover Barbara!"
Barbara ran over to a slumped Kaeya and summoned water to heal Kaeya's wound. Fischl and Outworlder obliged, since the deaconess left herself vulnerable in the meantime.
The veteran summoned a strange weapon and box, Fischl set on edge by how the weapon was a cross between a rifle and a bow. Shoving the box in, the OSF's whirring rifle-bow barked out arrows faster than any handheld bow. Keeping Eula at bay with placed shots, the bulk of her wrath rained upon the twin Fischls, Barbara and Kaeya.
Outworlder cried, "In the name of the Prinzessin, the time to condemn the sinners is ripe!"
Oz's purple bolts fell upon the barrage as rain and disrupted them, while it lasted.
The OSF shoved another box in. "Cute trick."
"Freeze to the core!" Eula's swing missed the veteran, more a testament to the OSF's breadth of experience than Eula's lack of it. Firing into Eula's back and shoulder, the veteran's rifle-bow turned on Fischl. So deep did a dagger of cold fear stake into Fischl's heart, words failed her while she quickened her shots with trembling hands. But a dozen arrow was no match for the mechanical barrage.
A blur of red, silver and white planted itself before Fischl, Noelle's Geo-shield the aegis upon which arrows bounced off of.
And Noelle wasn't alone.
"Care to stay for tea?" Lisa's lightning joined Eula's claymore in fending off the OSF, joined by Fischl and Outworlder's arrows.
"Magus-Custodian!"
"Lisa!"
Fischl's facade was thoroughly broken by this point, and Amy's cry gave flesh to the relief whose warmth thawed frozen limbs.
"Lisa?" The OSF clicked her tongue. "So you're the crazy one from the Sumeru. Ended up insane after experimenting on your Vision in the Seven Nation War."
"You must be getting your timelines mixed up. You're in for a little shock." Fischl couldn't see Lisa's expression. But the air so violently crackled around Lisa that it telegraphed her mood as clearly as a yell.
The OSF raised her rifle-bow again, but her gaze unfocused while another crown of sparks danced across her scalp -
"Hah!"
Fire washed over where OSF Fischl once stood. Diluc stepped up with his claymore alight with guttering flames, so bright they seared an afterimage into the eyes of those who glimpsed its profile.
"Don't think you can weasel out of paying your tab so easily."
The OSF tightened her rifle grip, but another bout of sparking arcs danced across her scalp before she sidestepped Rosaria's backstabbing spear. The priestess teleported before the OSF. Purple arced from the veteran's figure, and she danced around Rosaria's next strike. Rosaria met OSF Fischl with an aggression which would've normally set Fischl on edge. But against the veteran's brutal strikes and positioning to put Rosaria between herself and the crowd, Fischl was overcome with shameful acquiescence to be glad someone could meet the veteran's skills head-on.
The OSF broke off and tossed another canister at their feet before disengaging. The Outworlder's cry gave voice to Fischl's concerns.
"Cease thy breaths! The accursed smoke is - "
"I know, Jean informed me." Diluc glanced back at Kaeya while Rosaria spun her spear and whipped smoke up around her.
"I'm after her," was all the priestess uttered before giving chase.
Fischl gathered her wits and called out. "Oz! Take to the skies, and cast your gaze upon the four corners of Teyvat in pursuit of the veteran!"
While the tension wound down, Mondstadt took a moment to lick their wounds. Barbara split her healing capability between Eula and Kaeya's wounds, and Diluc stood over the latter with difficult emotions written on his stoic mask. Whatever was communicated between them needed no words, yet Fischl saw something exchanged between them no outsider would ever be privy to.
Diluc turned back to Lisa. "I'll be back. If there's rumblings in Inazuma, Liyue and Sumeru won't be exempt from the coming storm. After all…"
Lisa nodded. "The Immernachtreich took off towards Sumeru. I've a bad feeling about this."
The twin Ozs returned sooner than Outworlder expected by the look on her face, as clear a reflection of Fischl's own surprise.
"My apologies, Mein Fräulein, but we lost the OSF over Springvale."
"In our defense, Mein Fräulein, the OSF's activated Vision allowed her to run faster and longer than any human in existence."
What?
"The Vision hath giveth her extrasensory danger perception, enhanced reflexes, and now Vision-enhanced heights of physical prowess beyond mortal ken…"
"Verily, a legendary warrior in the Prinzessin's hallowed image, worthy of the strength of Ozvaldo Hrafnavins and title of the Prinzessin der Verurteilung!"
Fischl winced, for she bore witness to her own anxiety coloring the Outworlder's tone. Such a naked reflection of her own insecurities irked Fischl, not the kind which sparked dislike towards the Outworlder. Rather, a budding frustration at whoever caused this phenomenon.
She glanced over at Aether and Paimon, the latter voicing her confusion.
"Guys, we're back! Why's Kaeya hurt so badly? Rosaria just ran off, and the Knights all seem either beaten up or very mad."
" … and that's everything that happened in Inazuma."
Paimon finished her account to the Knights, Fischl, Outworlder, Lisa, Barbara and Mona. Diluc stood some distance away, close enough to pay heed to their account. And Venti had somehow ended up lounging around them with beer in hand.
Fischl shook her head free of this terror gripping the fringes of her consciousness, to even think of fate bending backwards to turn her , of all people, into an Archon. Even if Fischl was a Vision holder, she was one amongst many, yet fate conspired to hasten her birth after the death of an Archon to consecrate her as the next. As though the Archons' fates were subordinate to something greater, as blasphemous as the thought was.
"A kaleidoscope of myriad fates, how do we untangle, and… um…" Damn, she couldn't think straight. And Fischl burned up from all the concerned gazes turning to her.
Paimon asked, "Uh, are you OK, Fischl?"
Oz spoke up in her stead. "What mein Fräulein means to ask is, how exactly are we to understand and categorize so many Fischls?"
Lisa piped up, "I might have an idea…" The crowd's silence gave her the stage. "We can split the Fischls into two groups: one whose past is similar or identical to our universe's Fischl. The Outworlder is one example. These 'branches' are deviations traced back to an event or choice in our Fischl's life going differently. Say, being transported to another world like the Outworlder. Or a branch where the Traveler never arrived in Teyvat."
Paimon recoiled. "Yeek! Sounds dangerous, without Traveler Paimon might not be able to enjoy all the food and Mora of Teyvat!"
"The other group would be Fischls produced by timelines radically different from ours. A war between the seven nations. Technological advancement. Being chosen to be the new Shogun. They've diverged so much they've become their own universes and likely possess branches unique to them. These universes would collectively form the multiverse."
Paimon asked, "Wait. But if every decision creates a branch in our universe, why aren't there an infinite number of Fischls walking around right now?"
The thought of Mondstadt - nay, Teyvat being filled with countless doppelgangers gripped Fischl in the throes of unthinking terror, masked only by Paimon and Lisa's distraction.
Lisa continued. "Like how offshoots of a river can rejoin the stream, whether you had a Salad or Radish Soup makes little difference in the grand scheme of things. It's 'Another day, another Mora.'"
"Wowee, if choosing between foods doesn't make much difference, Paimon's gonna eat both the Salad and Radish Soup in that case!"
Aether rubbed his chin and stuttered. "That'd double the chances of you choking on your food." "Maybe this is my chance to get rid of Paimon."
"Wha - Paimon chews twenty times before she swallows! You're not getting Paimon to swear off food so easily."
"Mission failed. We'll get her next time."
"Wha - hey!"
The conversation died there once Diluc rejoined them, his scowl darker than usual.
"My contacts in Liyue have reported sightings of 'eyepatched blondes' with inexplicable powers. I'll keep in contact, something tells me the Fatui will inevitably get involved in this."
Jean nodded. "We need to extract Rosaria and investigate the other Fischls. Traveler, go to Liyue and make first contact. Eula, find Rosaria and back her up."
Fischl stepped up, finally getting the chance to resume her persona. "The Prinzessin shall embark on her odyssey to rescue the devout priestess, followed by my entourage of bards, knights and astrologers to chart the Prinzessin's path as foretold in legend."
"Verily, the execution of thy royal tasks are made trivial by the fact that we, the Prinzessin, can be in two places at once. We shall set forth on our odyssey to the West, to gather esteemed allies for that final battle, the Gotterdammerung."
Fischl turned to the Outworlder, and reached some unspoken zenith of understanding.
Mona raised an eyebrow. "You're enjoying your own company a little too much."
Childe wasn't having a good day, not after the Fatui foisted this newcomer off onto him. The last time Childe felt like this, he went on a rampage in an underground fighting ring, only asked to leave after winning too many times to be allowed to ruin the bookie's odds any further.
"So let me get this straight. You're the thirteenth Harbinger, La Stega, from another Teyvat?"
The twin-tailed blonde's choice of clothes spoke of roots in Mondstadt, but she wore it with such disdain, Childe was set on edge after intuiting Strega's simmering resentment towards her homeland.
"Yes. The Tsaritsa has accepted me into the ranks to make up for La Signora's loss. Her orders were to get to the root of this multidimensional phenomenon, harness it for the Fatui's ends, and kill the other Fischl doppelgangers."
Murder her own doppelganger, said with such aloofness belonging to murderers whose hesitation against bloodshed had all but vanished. Not that he'd any right to talk.
Childe bristled. "I'd kill for the Tsaritsa, but I'm asking you here: are you OK with killing your own doppelgangers?"
Strega's gaze fell, difficult emotions coloring her expression in ways unreadable to Childe.
"You unleashed a sea monster upon Liyue, I heard. I struck at the heart of my homeland, Mondstadt, to prove my loyalty to the Tsaritsa. I'll do everything in my power to fulfill her goal." The rawness of old pain only fed into the fervor of her newfound belief in the Tsaritsa's cause. Right then, Childe knew, Strega wasn't the kind of 'dangerous' which would threaten his life, but the kind he'd keep a tight grip on his bow and trail behind like he would around Arlecchino.
Yet she was the opposite of the Knave, for it was her zealotry which was to be feared.
He let Strega waltz past her, and once out of earshot, muttered to himself.
"She's going to be trouble…"