Messing up...or not

5 women were seated in a circle, and some people behind each one.

Jean, who looked uncomfortable, had her mother behind her.

Arlecchino, who had a calm expression, had a smirking Signora behind her.

Sara, who also looked uncomfortable, had a confused Ayato behind her.

Yae, who peeked suspiciously at the other 5, had Ei behind her who only had time to breathe before Yae pulled her here.

Shenhe, who had a blank face, had Guizhong behind her. Cloud Retainer wanted to come, but Guizhong convinced her that she was better in this kind of situation.

Alter-Shenhe was screaming in rage, unheard by everyone.

"You are here to decide something important" said Frederica with a relaxed expression. "I say you, because my side is already decided. So speak between yourselves, I am here to make sure my daughter's interests are not harmed".

The unaware women, meaning Sara and Yae, who were out of the Alliance, looked unsure of what was going to happen.

Ei looked confused, and for once, Makoto too.

"What am I doing here?" asked Ayato raising his hand. Being the only man here was scaring him.

"The same thing I am" replied Frederica putting her hands over Jean's shoulders. "Defend the interests of your client".

"Client?" wondered Ayato. "Was I supposed to receive something?".

"Shut up Ayato" Sara said in a sharp voice.

"It seems no one wants to start" said Arlecchino in her calm voice. "We are here to decide Kenshin's romantic partner".

"Then I will leave now" Ayato nodded and tried to leave, but Sara grabbed him by the wrist.

"Then why am I here?" asked Ei calmly. "I don't think Yae is interested. Yae. Yae?"

But Yae didn't answer, her mind was working overtime to find a solution to this.

She knew that Kenshin was special to her, but she still didn't know why, or how she felt. Leaving this meeting will lock her out of a possible future, but staying while she is still not sure doesn't sound like a good idea either.

Arlecchino seemed to sense that dilemma because she spoke.

"Just to be clear, I don't have those romantic feelings for him" she confessed, making Shenhe look at her with a withering glare. "I'm here to leave that door open to the future. If nothing happens between us, we will go our separate ways, or stay collaborating with each other but without involving those feelings" she needed to add that last part when she sensed Signora's warning gaze.

Yae nodded, feeling relieved that she had that option.

And yet, the one with the problem now was Ei.

'What can I do now....' she wondered.

She had absolutely no feelings towards Kenshin. She hated his constant mockery towards anything she believed in but appreciated his sacrifice towards Inazuma and his capability to rule.

But...her sister was another thing.

She knew that they talked a lot. A LOT.

Sometimes they didn't even sleep, but because they were talking about things she didn't understand, she chose to meditate. There are some things that you can't change in a short time.

But she noticed how her sister seemed happier after talking with him and saw her giggling after their talks.

She didn't think her sister liked Kenshin, but just like this girl said, what if?

She didn't want her sister to lose the opportunity to have a good partner, and Kenshin was the only person she knew could stand next to Makoto.

So the answer was clear then.

She left the meeting, leaving everyone surprised, and Yae stunned.

"Did she get fed up with this?" wondered Frederica.

"I don't know. She normally would stand behind me, no matter how boring" replied Yae, as the one who knew the most about her dear friend.

But then they saw Ei coming back.

"Oh no, please tell me you are joking" asked Yae with a pale face.

Ei planted the chair she had gone to grab and put it in the same circle the other 5 were sitting in.

And then, slowly, almost as if she was mocking everybody else, the Electro Archon sat.

"What the hell are you doing Ei" Yae said with gritted teeth. "I didn't bring you here for this".

"I need to fight for my happiness" said Ei. Makoto's happiness was her happiness.

"Well, things got complicated now" muttered Guizhong, who even in her wildest imagination couldn't have imagined this.

"Indeed" said Frederica with a frown. If this dangerous woman decided that she was the only one who could be with Kenshin, she wasn't sure even the 9 of them ganging on her would be enough.

This sudden development had left everyone floored.

"Come on" Ei decided to fight until the end for her sister's 'happiness'.

"I have one demand" said Frederica with a fierce look. She had everything under control until this Archon came into play. "When he is in Mondstadt, Kenshin is my daughter's".

Frederica looked at everyone, trying to find dissenters, but surprisingly she found none.

"I won't go to Mondstadt, so I don't care" said Arlecchino. Mondstadt was Signora's territory after all.

"Shenhe doesn't care" spoke Guizhong in Shenhe's stead, who didn't understand why everyone had gotten so tense. Wasn't this purple woman just another one of them?

"I don't care" said surprisingly Ei. Why couldn't everyone find happiness with the same person?

Yae and Sara bit their lips.

The people from outside Inazuma were, in one way or another, crazy.

Jean's common sense had been eroded by her mother for years.

Shenhe was, well, Shenhe.

Arlecchino, after witnessing every single act of cruelty humanity was able to commit, had little scruples or morals left.

But they had no ground to refuse, not when Ei, the strongest from Inazuma, had agreed. Yae wanted to strangle her 'dear friend', not knowing how much advantage she had thrown away.

"I...agree" said a defeated Sara. She couldn't win against the Shogun, well, former Shogun. She wasn't that excited to 'share', but it was better than nothing, and she trusted Kenshin's capability to make her happy.

"You all....." said Yae clenching her teeth, and throwing Guizhong, whom she had helped a lot in the past, a murderous glare.

Guizhong avoided her look, she had to look for Shenhe's interests.

"You should be intelligent enough to know your position" said Arlecchino, inwardly happy that Ei decided to agree. "Besides, you are in the same position as me, you shouldn't have any reasons to oppose this".

"I....agree" Yae clenched her jaw. She decided that she wouldn't forget this, but most of all, she wouldn't forgive Ei, the direct culprit of all of this. If Ei refused, who could stop them?

"Then it's easy" said Arlecchino, who allowed herself to wear a little smile. "Mondstadt, Jean. Liyue, Shenhe. Inazuma, you 3. The rest, mine. I think that's an easy way to describe our deal".

Nobody complained, even if they knew that Arlecchino was the biggest winner.

Jean couldn't leave Mondstadt, just like Sara, Yae and Ei couldn't leave Inazuma. 

And Shenhe probably wouldn't want to leave Liyue, but she was a wildcard.

"I don't see a problem" Yae wanted to murder Ei again. 

"Then it's resolved" said Frederica with a smile. She was scared for a moment when Ei sat herself with the rest, but it seemed that this Archon was the most reasonable person from Inazuma. "Now we only need to seal the deal".

"Indeed" Arlecchino nodded. It wouldn't do for the Electro Archon to understand what she was giving away, only to go back on their deal.

"I heard that you were looking for me. What can I help with?" asked a wild Morax.

"What are you doing here" Yae paled even more. She could explain things to Ei later, and they would still take back their word, foxes are crafty. But with this guy, they will find a meteorite before that could happen.

"A friend told me that you needed me" replied a confused Morax, making Guizhong and Yae understand what happened.

"Barbatos..." Yae muttered, remembering that disappointment of an Archon.

Without Kenshin near, they had no way of detecting him, and it looked like he had been spying on them, probably thinking that it looked to be a fun conversation.

Arlecchino saw Guizhong and Yae's faces, and while not knowing who this tall man was, she understood that he was someone capable of making the deal a sealed one.

"We need someone to witness our Contract" she said. This guy came from Liyue, so he should probably know the seriousness of a Contract.

"Hmmm" he pondered for a bit, but seeing Ghizhong desperately nod, he also agreed. "Very well. May I know the contents of such a Contract?".

.

.

.

.

"I have never felt like this" Morax admitted, his face unchanging. "I wonder what this feeling is called".

The fact that a 6000+ years old being was saying that he had never seen such a large amount of stupidity put together in a single Contract was quite telling.

"Just do it" Guizhong said, glancing at Ei, that for now was calm. 

Morax saw her glance and nodded. He also didn't want an agitated Ei stirring up things.

"Then the Contract is finished. If you break it, you will face the Wrath of the Rock". Aka, meteorite.

"I have to admit" said Signora, speaking to Arlecchino. "You got the biggest prize while being the weakest one. You truly are our best diplomat".

"I just used my cards" replied a calm Arlecchino. "But I think a lot of factors were in play here" she added, looking at the calm Ei.

"We need to leave" Yae said before grabbing Ei's wrist and disappearing in a purple light.

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Ei waited in Yae's room for her to calm down. 

Just in the perfect time, she heard Makoto again. They weren't listening all the time, and more often than not, Makoto was working on some long-term plans to make Inazuma prosper.

'Ehehehe, those rebels won't know what it hit them' Makoto perversely laughed.

'Makoto, I had to fight for your interests, so better thank me' Ei loved her sister, but as the younger one, loved to be pampered sometimes even if it was something she would show to her sister.

'My interests?. What happened?' asked a confused Makoto.

"Ei, do you have any idea of what you have done?" asked a seething Yae.

"I did what I had to do" Ei calmly replied. She felt bad for Yae, but her sister came first.

"Is Makoto listening now?" asked an eerily calm Yae.

"Yes" Ei nodded.

"Then take me to the Plane of Euthymia, she needs to know what her 'genius' sister has done"

'Ei, please tell me you didn't do something stupid again' pleaded Makoto, who felt a bit better seeing Ei's calm countenance.

A shadow covered Yae, and the both of them were looking at Makoto in the now extremely small Plane of Euthymia.

"I did it for my sister" Ei was the first one to speak. "I feel a bit guilty for you Miko, but you need to understand that my sister is also allowed to pursue her happiness".

"What are you talking about?" asked Makoto. Ei fighting for someone's 'feelings' was not a good thing.

"Why don't you look at this?" asked Yae giving her a transcript of the Contract.

Makoto took it with trembling hands, and read it slowly. She knew how meticulous you had to be reading these things.

But the longer she read, the whiter her face was.

"Ei, what have you done?" asked a shaking Makoto.

"Fight for your happiness?" Ei was now a bit unsure. Did she mess up again?

"Why did you think this was my happiness?" asked a trembling Makoto, with the Contract still in her hand.

"You talk a lot with Kenshin, sometimes the whole night. And you often laugh after talking with him" argued Ei. She wasn't that dense. "And like Miko, even if you don't love him now, it could happen in the future, and it seemed that if I didn't do that, you would have lost your place".

"That's...well thought" Makoto admitted. "But when I talked, it's only about Inazuma, and how to make it prosper again. He has some nice ideas, so I tell him mine, and we also talk about how Inazuma was in the past, the festivals we had, our friends, what we like....why would you think I like him?"

Yae couldn't believe what she was hearing. For once, Ei was correct.

"Did I make a mistake?" asked an uneasy Ei. She acted on the spur of the moment but now thinking back, she realized that she assumed Makoto's feelings. If she had made a mistake identifying them, she got Makoto into trouble.

"I can't believe this" Yae wanted to leave, but she didn't know how. And she needed to solve this.

"We need to break this Contract" said Makoto, not realizing Yae's defeated look.

"We can't" said a nervous Ei. "Morax signed it, and you know how he is with Contracts".

"What the hell is Morax doing signing this kind of thing?" asked a surprised Makoto. Was the oldest Archon that bored?

"Well, maybe- Yae?" Ei was surprised when Yae suddenly hugged her.

"It's okay. I'm sorry Ei, you fucked us up so many times that I was making assumptions" said Yae, holding Ei's surprised face between her arms. "You did it good. You weren't mistaken this time".

"Uh, un" Ei was still a bit confused, but nodded. If Yae was telling her she was right, she probably was.