Turning Gears of Fate (Act II)

[Heizou's POV]

It's been hours...

We have searched all over the city, but there was no sign of her. I went to go and meet up with the Traveler right in front of the Adventurer's guild. But alas, neither did they find any clue on where she had run off to.

"Oh no.. What should we do?? Paimon is worried for y/n... Surely she hasn't ran off too far, right?" I turned to look at the whining floating companion. I feel the same way, I'm as worried as she is.

"We have searched for every possible place she might've gone to... But she's not even around at her own house" Said the Traveler as I start to bite the nail of my thumb, trying to think and align the pieces.

"If she's not anywhere here..." I remembered something before I sprinted off, leaving the Traveler and their companion behind.

I soon arrived at the beach, where I had figured that she ran off to last time but to my surprise, she's not around here either.

"It seems that my intuition was wrong... How surprisingly odd.." I fiddled the tip of my bangs, trying to think of possible places that she could have gone to. Cmon, think Heizou, think!

"Heizou!" It seems that the Traveler had managed to finally arrive and caught up with me.

"Have you found her??" Paimon then looked around the area as I turned around with a bitter smile on my face.

"No.. Unfortunately.."

"Heizou.." The Traveler must've noticed my expression. To be honest, I don't think I could hold back my tears any longer. I just let them flow out of my eyes as I kept forcing a smile.

"If only my intuition was sharper enough.. We would've found her by now" I tilted my head downwards and pinched the bridge of my nose. I could feel the Traveler's hand patting my back as I kept sobbing out of desperation.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Heizou. Paimon's sure that y/n is still somewhere here in Inazuma if not in the city"

Then it struck me. How could I be so narrow-minded?

I immediately wiped off the tears from my face as I had finally calmed down and took a deep breath. Then I turned to the Traveler with a determined look.

"There's something I wanted you both to look at"

***

"Alright, guess that's all I could figure out for now" I had drawn a map using the sand and marked at least three places. "Traveler, Paimon, I want you both to check on Watatsumi Island, search every corner of the island if you have to.. I'll go and take my chances at Kannazuka.. Then after our search, let's all meet up at Ritou. If neither of us could find y/n in any of the two places, our only hope is to find her here" I then pointed at the 3rd mark of the map which is somewhere southern.

"Tsurumi Island? Why would y/n go there? Even Paimon knows that the place is filled with rift hounds and automatons!"

"I'll explain things along the way if we have to resort to search in this place.. It's what my intuition says" I threw away the stick and dusted off my hands. "Let's not waste any more time"

The three of us then immediately head out to Ritou to get on a boat that would take us to our planned locations. I'm hoping that we wouldn't have to resort to the last location. I cannot imagine the things that y/n is currently going through, and I do not wish that she would end up in a tragic fate.

I finally got on the boat, waiting in silence as I gather my thoughts on what to do next.

y/n had once mentioned during our first few meetings that she's invested in the story behind Tatarasuna due to a Sumeru journal that she had read when she was little. There's a possibility that she decided to run away there to clear her mind from everything she has been going through. If Sango learned to be a bit more sensitive, then perhaps things would've been different.

... Or maybe the problem was me.

I was well aware of y/n's relationship with Sango and yet I kept on pushing to get closer to her. It must've been really hard for y/n that her own senior decided to reject her.

I shook the thoughts out of my head because for now, I need to focus on finding y/n first and try to fix things. She needs someone by her side during these difficult times.

Tatarasuna is a dangerous area, it's crawling with Fatui soldiers. Perhaps y/n isn't aware of this because she has never been to Tatarasuna before. I need to find her as soon as possible.

As soon I have finally arrived at my destination, I quickly got off the boat and rushed off to Tatarasuna while trying to avoid any Ronins and Nobushis in the area.

y/n.. Please be safe.

***

[y/n's POV]

You were laying down on damp grass, your body felt cold but you weren't shivering, neither could you even move a single muscle.

Your clouded eyes couldn't see the clear sky as the only thing you could see from where your facing is a thick fog with dimly-lit candle lights surrounding you.

"... Help.." You could only utter out a whisper beneath your breath.

You could hear footsteps nearby, it was slowly approaching you.

"Are you certain that she's the one? We might mistake her for some country girl" It was a man's voice that said this.

"Oh I'm definitely certain~ After all, there's no one else who would resemble that woman's looks outside of Mondstadt. She must've travelled all the way here, seeking for refuge" A second voice replied, this time it came from a woman.

"Who do you think this girl is to him? It's quite strange that he would send us out just to find a specific girl and it's unlikely that this girl is just another of his test subjects"

The woman's voice hummed for a moment. "Who knows~? Besides, we ought not to dare question the Lord Harbinger. We might lose more than just our job"

"I guess so"

After a short conversation between the two voices, they both immediately left your immobilized body right where it is. Then you were back to being all alone.

You could feel a tear escape your eye as you tried to utter out the name of a certain redhead detective, who has occupied your mind before you slowly lost consciousness.