Young Writers Society

Viktor stared.

After a pause, Viktor said with a deadpan look on his face, "Because you asked us."

"We also want to help you," Evie added. She gave an awkward smile and rubbed the back of her neck again. "We started talking about us instead of you, but we were serious about helping you make a new identity."

James stared back at Viktor, equally as deadpan.

“Fair point,” he said lowly. “I knew something was off, I just didn’t expect it to be that.”

"We probably wouldn't have expected it if our situations had been reversed," Evie interjected, even though Tiberius was currently focusing more on Viktor.

Viktor tore his gaze away from Tiberius. "...Lumine is from another world."

"We think she's from another world," Evie corrected. "We don't know for sure. She's never said. Maybe she's just from the past, before..."

Evie faltered and fell silent. She didn't like to think about that time, or think about what had come immediately afterwards. Khaenri'ah had never been her home in the same way Mondstadt had, but it had still been where she was first created and technically grew up.

James was reaching some of the limits of his patience. Despite the healing potion healing him physically, the stress off the day was getting to him. Being captured, running away, gettung recaptured, and getting released was lot. Them being from another world was a lot. Them being mages but not mages was a lot. Him having to start over again was a lot.

James let out a deep, deep sigh.

“Who’s Lumine?” he asked wearily.

"Oh, Lumine's one of our friends," Evie said. She caught Viktor freezing up at her so casually calling Lumine one of their friends—he was still learning to be comfortable calling Evie that. Calling Lumine, who he had a much more complex history with, that was a completely different story. "She's not familiar with most things in Teyvat, so we've just started assuming she's from somewhere else."

There was a pause.

"Lumine isn't here," Viktor said. On the ground near his feet, Felix picked a handful of flowers and started to absentmindedly make them into a very sloppy flower crown.

James let out another sigh, but this one shorter. Okay. He didn't need to worry about another person from another world.

"You know what," James said. "I don't know if you three can even help me, but we can't stay here. If news of who I am has spread in any manner like I suspect, I'd much rather be having this conversation while moving than stationary."

He started walking in the opposite direction of the town, and in the opposite direction of the outpost - both of which he didn't want to see at all.

He didn't even want to begin to think of what was happening with Leo, but he pushed that out of his mind.

Walking past the others and expecting them to follow, he kept talking.

"Clearly you've all managed to blend in enough to not face too much trouble yet. Unless, that is, that you learned magic is outlawed the hard way. But I wouldn't imagine you'd be bounty hunting if you did."

Viktor waited by Felix as he grabbed a last handful of flowers. When Felix finally rose to his feet, Viktor fell into step just shortly behind Tiberius. Evie and Felix quickly followed after. The three fell into an uneven line, with Tiberius only slightly leading ahead of them by a handful of inches.

"We overheard a conversation about it when we first arrived," Evie explained.

She reached into her pocket and started to fiddle with a piece of metal she had shoved in there at some point. Viktor wasn't sure when.

Even as she toyed with the very beginnings of what would be an automaton when they returned to Mondstadt, Evie kept her eyes on Tiberius. "We didn't know it was outlawed, but we knew people didn't like it. We thought it would be best to hide our magic, and finding out it was outlawed made us think it was an even better idea."

"Well... good," James said stiffly. "You would've been killed at worst, and chased out of town at best, becoming wanted yourself."

He paused, glancing back at them only for a moment before he looked forward again, his expression hardening.

Mage hunters and bounty hunters were cut from the same cloth, but the difference between the bounty on his head was that he was wanted alive, and mages were always wanted dead. He always had the benefit of never being killed on sight. If these three got discovered as anything other than ordinary, it would be a mess.

They were silent after Tiberius spoke.

Evie absentmindedly raised a hand to the back of her neck. Viktor shut his eyes for a moment and tried to push thoughts of a sword running through his chest out of his head. And Felix, who might not have fully comprehended the conversation, still paused in the middle of making his flower crown.

Viktor would...hope that they could protect themselves. That if they were discovered, they would be able to fend off any attackers. But he was still new to using guns even when he was able to use his Vision, and if he had lost both Evie and Felix...

It made him feel sick.

"It's a good thing you're the only one who's seen our magic, then," Evie said, giving a small, weak smile.

James didn’t reciprocate the smile.

“Yeah,” he said gravely. “Good thing.”

He supposed, in a situation as bizzarely stressful as theirs, they had to look on the bright side in any way they could. They really had been luck to not get caught, yet. The fact that he was the first person to discover them was hardly luck for him, though. At least, not at first. He didn’t yet know what would come of all of this, but he had a feeling they weren’t going to just leave him alone.

And well, if they really were from a different world - and with each passing bit of information he learned about them, he was starting to believe that a little more, but not just yet - then it would really he cruel of him to leave them to fend for themselves.

Clearly, they weren’t helpless to have survived this long.

But they’d had to piece things together. If anyone looked at them a little closer and asked more prying questions like he had, they’d get into some kind of trouble.

James fought back the urge to groan as the pain of obligation weighed on him.

Sometimes it was exhausting having a conscience.

Evie and Viktor stayed silent as they walked. Viktor had seen both Evie and Felix come close to death before. If either of them had been normal—had been human—he wouldn't be standing here with them right now. He still couldn't shake the fear of losing them. He had other people to rely on in Mondstadt, but Evie and Felix were the ones he was closest to.

Felix suddenly put something on Viktor's head. Viktor paused for a moment, looking up to see what looked like a flower out of the corner of his eye. Felix had apparently finished making his flower crown.

"Thanks," Viktor softly said. He felt silly walking and wearing it, but knew that Felix would get upset if he took it off. He really was like a child sometimes.

Evie looked over at him. Seeing the flower crown, she covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to hide a smile.

James let the conversation fall to silence. He wasn't thrilled about this situation, and frankly, he didn't know how any of this was going to work out.

The nearest civilization to Port Brakken was aside from the outpost was a small town called Bethany. It was a bit more secluded, having been built right up against the shores along a cliffside. It was a fishing town, and while it did have a sheriff, hardly any trouble ever came there. He'd only passed through the town once while with Leo and his crew, so it was possible people might recognize him from his previous visit, but that was months ago.

He just hoped he wouldn't be recognized as "Tiberius" there too.

He glanced back at the others.

"How much do you three have on you by way of supplies?" he asked.

"Not that much," Evie admitted. She moved her hand from in front of her mouth and sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck again. "We don't...need a lot of them, and weren't really able to get much outside of what we already when we first arrived here. If there's some kind of town or outpost where we could get supplies, we might want to stop by there."

"We can also make supplies," Viktor pointed out. He wouldn't be able to make anything too complex, but he could make do with the limited resources the forest provided. Alchemy could be flexible when used the right way.

James flicked his eyes to Viktor. Make supplies. Sure. With things they could find in the woods, yes. But some things were just easier to buy, and some things couldn't be found in the forest and made life easier overall.

"I'm taking us to Bethany," James said. "The town's not far from here. We should make it before nightfall and shops close."

At least, that was his hope. He was trying to be somewhat optimistic.

Evie nodded.

Viktor didn't say anything. He was trying to make a mental list of what they would potentially need. Tiberius already knew they were from another world, and probably wouldn't take kindly to wasted supplies. Still, it wasn't like they weren't entirely...open about what Evie and him were when they went to completely new places. Evie's true nature was a secret they especially made sure to keep. The fatui had come after her before.

Evie enjoyed food and drinks, but didn't need it. Neither did Felix, who could probably get by on sunlight and water. It was Viktor who needed the most out of the three of them. Homunculi weren't perfect imitations of humans, but that was one thing that Rhinedottir hadn't found a workaround to.

"What supplies were you thinking of getting?" Viktor asked.