Work Text:
il dottore was in sumeru. the word didn’t spread very quickly, thank god, but as soon as it did it didn’t take long for it to make it to gandharva ville. as soon as word spread past sumeru city it was like a wildfire that not even tighnari could keep control of.
the moment he heard he insisted any other forest rangers who knew keep it on the down low, but archons know that wouldn’t be very easy. the second of the fatui harbingers being in sumeru was a big deal and everyone who found out felt that everyone around them needed to know. and honestly? maybe they did. maybe word spreading so quickly was a good thing, but it definitely didn’t help all who heard it, especially if you were a trainee forest ranger with green hair and a bow strapped to her back named collei.
tighnari did everything in his power to keep the information away from collei, as he knew how detrimental it could be to both her physical and mental health besides everything else happening right now. even despite all the measures he took to delay the information reaching her, he knew it wouldn’t last forever. he knew the day would come.
so when the day did indeed come that collei approached tighnari with her hands behind her back and an incredibly nervous smile on her face, he knew he had finally failed.
“uhm.. master? can i ask you a question?”
“of course, collei. always.”
she looked down at her feet, taking a moment to pull in a deep breath as she kicked a pebble she noticed.
“the, uhm.. the doctor. is he… really in sumeru..?”
collei had brought her eyes back up to tighnari’s as she finally asked the question, giving her the chance to watch tighnari’s eyes fill with regret and sorrow. this finalized it for her. dottore, the man who had done all those horrible things to her when she was younger was really in sumeru. he was so close to her, so near that if he learned of her existence in sumeru she was sure he would take the opportunity to claim her as his once more.
“yes, he is. but you shouldn’t be worrying about that, collei.” tighnari took a step closer to collei, making an attempt to comfort her. “he’s irrelevant to your studies and work as a forest ranger, yeah? so try not to focus too much on his presence. besides, he’s in sumeru city, and i don’t plan on taking you with me if i ever need to return there anytime soon.”
it was hard for collei not to focus on the fact that such a man was so close to having her again, but she nodded nonetheless. she no longer had anything else to say, so she bid her master goodbye for now and turned to walk away.
as she walked away she failed to move her hands in front of her quick enough, and it led to tighnari getting a glimpse at just how badly her hands had been shaking. whether this was due to her illness or the information, he couldn’t be for certain, but the sight worried him nonetheless.
collei made her way back to her room, immediately shutting it and leaning back against it. as she slid down the door her head filled with horrible memories of the experiments they conducted on her, memories of constant needles digging into her skin and even of laughter.
another thing she remembered much to vividly was the pain. god, there was so much pain, and the memories only made the pain seemingly flare up again. when she eventually came back to her senses she would realise it was only phantom pains, but for the time being she had to hold back a cry at how badly everything hurt.
with her back to the door she curled up on herself, shaking like a leaf in a storm, ready to depart from its branch. if anyone else were to lay their eyes on her right now they’d immediately recognise the panic attack shaking the poor girls body but alas. she was all alone save for the figure standing directly across from her.
“oh, my dearest subject.”
collei’s head snapped up immediately, coming face to face with dottore.
“why would you ever convince yourself you could run?”
her shaking had suddenly ceased, and any tears rolling down her cheeks had dried up as she stared at the man, trying to make sense of this. how did he get to gandharva ville so quickly, and how did he get into her room? it made no sense, unless..
“this isn’t real. you aren’t real.”
she tried so hard to sound confident, but her voice shook even worse than she had been just moments before.
“deary me, of course i’m real!”
dottore moved closer to her, and she was suddenly so incredibly regretful of having chosen to seat herself right against her door. it gave her no room to back away from him at all.
but just as dottore had gotten close enough to be able to touch her, a knock sounded at her door.
“collei? it’s tighnari.”
she had looked up when she heard the knocks but as soon as she turned back to where dottore had been only seconds before, he was gone. so he really wasn’t real. good. she took a deep breath before standing up, reaching to open the door with a shaky hand. when she came face to face with her master he immediately looked sorrowful, noticing the tear stains on her face.
“you doing alright in here?”
“yeah, i’m uh.. i’m alright, master tighnari.”
it wasn’t a very well-crafted lie, but she didn’t want to tell the truth. she couldn’t tell the truth. there was no way she could just tell him she had a panic attack that led to her hallucinating the man who allowed all those experiments to be conducted on her.
“i don’t believe that for a second, but i won’t push.” he gives her a smile, stepping back for a moment. “if you want i have medicine that needs to be produced in bulk and i would more than appreciate some help.”
collei perks up slightly, giving tighnari a small but genuine smile. “that would.. be nice.”