The consequences of the book

"What now?" asked Kenshin once they returned to the bar. Everyone was silent, mainly because Dvalin was tricked by the Abyss Order, and because they now knew Barbatos' identity.

"You knew it from the start?" asked Jean with a tired sigh. She had to personally detain this bard a few times for provoking altercations, and she now knew it was Barbatos himself. Knowing how much Kenshin talked with him, there was no way he didn't know.

"Of course" Kenshin nodded without shame. "The first time I saw him was...maybe 13 years ago, and he looked like this, but it doesn't matter now, we need to decide what do we do".

"We go to his lair" replied Diluc with a pondering expression. "One way or another, there is where everything will be solved".

Venti squirmed hearing that, but he still thought they could convince him.

"Go away then" said Kenshin, standing up and leaving the Angel's Share. "I won't go".

"Kenshin?" asked a shocked Jean.

"Let him go" Venti said with a frown. "He has something else to do".

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"Hello there" Kenshin waved at Signora, who was waiting for him outside Mondstadt. "It's been a while".

"Indeed" Signora's face was devoid of her usual arrogance, wearing instead a blank face. "2 years right?"

"2 years" Kenshin nodded, sitting on the ground and resting his back on a tree.

"You have improved a lot" said Signora standing a few meters away from him. "Never expected you to recover your sight, not after seeing the thing you call the Being".

"Thank you" Kenshin didn't reveal the truth, as he was sensing Signora's nervousness. Something was wrong today, but he preferred this to being assaulted on his way back. "What do you want? I don't think you are here to say hello".

"You were direct even as a child" Signora sighed and shook her head.

"Say what you want to say, listen to the answer and get the fuck out" Kenshin hadn't forgotten this mantra, and he probably never will. "But that means that you have watched me grow without changing yourself, maybe I should call you grandma".

Signora looked at him with a stern face but didn't answer.

"I want you to come back with me to Snezhnaya" she said in an authoritative voice, but Kenshin sensed her nervousness.

"I believe you, you want me to" Kenshin nodded but looked at her. "But that's not what I will do".

"You should come with me, or else-"

"Don't threaten me with Arlecchino's life" said Kenshin still with his calm voice, but anger was boiling under the calmness. "You won't touch her because you all know that's the moment I will actively work against your plans. And judging by how desperate you are, you don't want that".

"And still, I need you to come with me" replied Signora, her nervousness growing by the second.

"No" replied Kenshin. "Are those guys going to attack me now?"

Signora had orders to take Kenshin to Snezhnaya no matter the price as the plan to reunite the Gnosis was starting, and they needed to secure Kenshin before the end of it. They may need years to collect the Gnosis, but it was now that they could capture Kenshin relatively easily when the world was still unaware of his uniqueness.

And the soldiers that came with her were sent to reduce Kenshin in case he didn't comply, they were not under her. She feared they would destroy every chance they had to cooperate peacefully with him.

She was the one who knew Kenshin the most, maybe just behind the Knave, and she knew how Kenshin would react to an unprovoked attack.

"Regretfully" Signora sighed and prepared herself. "Yes".

A few dozen people jumped from everywhere near them and rushed to Kenshin, who was still calm.

He saw everyone approaching and ran back as fast as he could after standing up. His objective, get away from Signora. Once he was far away from her and the other attackers were almost touching his skin, he gracefully 'invited' everyone to his Plane, making them look around in astonishment.

But Kenshin had no intention of explaining anything about the tree or the colourful orbs.

"You know" Kenshin spoke to the Fatuis near him with an icy voice, noting that their appearance was different from the usual Agents and Cicins. "I have tried to avoid hurting people for my whole life. But when you fuckers come with those souls brimming with hostility, there is no way I would let you go. So for the first time in my life, I will kill someone".

Spears the size of a tree materialized behind him and were propelled forward at a speed that made them almost invisible.

He was used to throwing these same spears at Ei, there was no way these runts would be able to dodge.

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"Something else?" Kenshin icily asked Signora, who upon seeing the corpses of the 3 dozen Fatui appearing all around Kenshin started trembling.

Kenshin had killed them all in 10 seconds, and based on the wounds, with an extremely big projectile.

A few of them were missing a head or an arm, but others were missing the whole lower part of the body, making their innards spill all over the ground.

"What happened?" Signora asked, still looking around. She had seen Kenshin disappear into a black space taking all the Fatuis with him, and 10 seconds later, he was back to the same place, the Fatui looking eviscerated.

"That's what I want to ask" Kenshin said, not bothering to hide his fury. "What happened to my parents".

"You knew?" asked a dismayed Signora.

"That you guys kidnapped them? No" Kenshin replied with his still heated voice. "But the moment I sensed you accompanied by these runts was the moment I realized you weren't going to pull any brakes. You didn't care about antagonizing me, there is no way you would leave them alone".

"Indeed" Signora sighed, feeling regret over what happened. She tried to defend a peaceful approach until the end, but some Harbingers were tired of the peaceful approach as it wasn't working and decided to send their own soldiers to do the job. And one of them was kidnapping Kenshin's parents.

RUMBLE

Both Signora and Kenshin looked towards the Stormterror's lair, sensing the tremors on the ground.

"Looks like they are finishing over there, one way or another" mused Kenshin, but looked towards Signora again. "What do you want to do?"

"You need to-"

"I don't need to do anything" interrupted Kenshin. "You think taking my parents as hostages can make me obey, and that would be true, only if I didn't have anything to counter that".

"What do you mean?" asked an uncertain Signora.

"My parents are worthless to you, only I am needed for your bullshit plan" replied Kenshin. "I don't know what you want to do, but I don't care about Celestia at all. I'm happy living my life in Inazuma with my family and precious people, and it's just now I am free to wander around the world, I'm not going to jeopardize all that for you fuckers. But again, I'm needed on your side".

"Yes, that's why-"

"But I'm not the only one you need" added Kenshin with a bloodthirsty grin. "Maybe I could destroy a few Gnoses, that will surely hinder your plan, at least a bit right?"

"You can't do that!" Signora panicked. Forget about hindering, if a single Gnosis was missing, their whole plan would be ruined.

"Ohh, believe me, I can" smirked Kenshin. "I am the best in soul-related themes, so believe me, I can. And I know Morax is not that enthusiastic about keeping his, and between you and me, I think he would give it to me first. So I have a Gnosis at my hand, and I am ready to destroy it".

"What do you want?" Signora couldn't believe how bad things went tonight. She had not only broken their tentative 'friendship' with Kenshin, they even got a sword to their neck. That's why she didn't want to follow this plan, but there was nothing they could do now.

"My parents" Kenshin' reply was simple and concise.

"I can't do that, I don't have the authority to give them back to you" Signora said, now having calmed down. She still had the card of Kenshin's parents. "You need to give me something of value for me to be able to bring them here".

Kenshin pursed his lips. As much as he knew, if the Fatui didn't release them, he would be endlessly blackmailed. He needed a Gnosis or something similar, but he didn't have anything at hand right now.

"I can wait for a week" Signora sensed his dilemma and tried to extend an olive branch. But she was aware that the moment they left Mondstadt behind, it would be the Fatuis who would be on the back foot.

They now had the advantage purely because of Kenshin's parents, and Kenshin would have the advantage of his friendship with Morax.

And the moment Kenshin gets his parents back, they will have a new enemy. Only with Arlecchino's help, maybe, they would be able to calm things down.

But that was only her hope, she didn't think Kenshin would prioritize Arlecchino over his parents. And she was right.

No matter how charming and attractive Kenshin found Arlecchino's soul to be, his parents took priority over her.

Kenshin didn't reply, he turned back and returned to Mondstadt, every single animal running away from the extremely powerful soul radiating hostility. No matter how stupid or simple the animals were, they recognized that someone dangerous was approaching, and their only option was to escape.

Naturally, Signora sensed it too, and could only thank whoever was watching over her that Kenshin kept his calm. At least for now.

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In Snezhnaya.

A nervous Mio was hugging Yahiko, who had a pronounced frown on his face.

They were in a lavish room with a warm fire on a chimney giving them the necessary warmth to endure the biting cold of Snezhnaya.

They had been kidnapped a few hours ago, and taken to this mansion near Snezhnaya's frontiers.

"What are you going to do with us?" asked Yahiko with a frown. He knew that his 'tough' front was only there to help Mio feel a bit better even if it made no sense. Whoever kidnapped them could kill them again in the blink of an eye, but the kidnapper had left at some point, and now they were face to face with a young woman with white hair with some black undertones.

"Nothing" Arlecchino replied in her calm voice. "You are being used as a hostage against your son, but I guess you already knew that".

"Yes" Yahiko nodded, his frown intensifying. "Guuji-sama warned us when we decided to stay in Mondstadt that this could happen, but we thought that we were not important enough".

"We won't participate in this" interrupted Mio, forgetting her anxiousness and donning a frown. "We won't do anything that may harm Kenshin".

"That is not in your hands" replied calmly Arlecchino. "You will stay put until your son decides what to do. You underestimated your son's ability".

"We don't understand about souls and curses" commented Yahiko with a wry smile. "He was always special, even as a baby. We watched him grow up with his mischievous attitude so the reality didn't really sink in".

Arlecchino could only sigh.

She had been under enormous pressure these past 2 years. The Tsaritsa had ordered the Harbingers to bring Kenshin back, but that was it, it was up to them to decide how.

And she was being pressured to bring him to Snezhnaya using the 'female wiles' that had worked in the past. Her only option was to busy herself with other work but she was being watched so she couldn't send letters.

She still kept receiving his, and it warmed her heart full of hate how Kenshin didn't press her or recriminate her. Even when she asked for his help after failing to comply with the deal they had, he always solved the problems she was facing.

Fontaine's water level was starting to rise, and the prophecy was weighing heavily on her mind so Kenshin's help with souls was proving to be essential. Now she knew that people from Fontaine were not cursed, but their souls were peculiar. And considering how little she had before, this was a huge step forward.

But hearing how things escalated with Kenshin's parents behind her back, she came here to be sure they were alright. She didn't know whose soldiers kidnapped them, but a few devious ones like Dottore or to some degree Tartaglia could try to use them to make Kenshin appear only before them, and they didn't mind using force.

She owed Kenshin them at least, even if she didn't know what was Kenshin thinking about her right now. It brought a wry smile to her lips.

She wasn't in love with Kenshin, but was afraid of losing him. 

It was the scariest thing she could think of right now.

"Who are you anyway?" Yahiko asked with a frown.

"The Knave, one of the Fatui Harbingers" Arlecchino replied. "And one of the women your son is romantically involved with".

"Even if that's true" Mio said suppressing her surprise. "Do you still consider yourself one of them? Even after this?"

Arlecchino looked at her calmly, but inside she was being eaten by doubt and uncertainty. She wanted to think that Kenshin.....who was she fooling.

Kenshin was probably seething right now, and even if she hadn't participated in this, she was still a Harbinger. And she didn't think Kenshin would help the same people who kidnapped his parents.

She was the one who knew Kenshin the most in the Harbingers, and she knew how he would react to this.

So probably, not anymore.

"I will be nearby" she stood up and left the room without looking back.

She wanted to be alone for a while.