Chapter Text
Their final day in Japan couldn’t have possibly made its way fast enough. They’d spent the last part of their final week, calming down the classes and handing over their classes to their substitutes.
At 5 AM sharp on a Sunday, they had been transported to a solitary port. It was now 6:30 AM and they were now awaiting for The Alcor and its crew. In between all that, the three teachers managed to get some sleep.
Yet another hour rolled by before they heard the car doors open. They stepped out and immediately took in the sight of the massive boat ahead of them. A massive thud and a piece of the boat came down as a ramp. A lady – Beidou, he assumes – waves from the top as another figure joins her at her side.
“What’s up UA crew!? Come on, we’re on a tight schedule and I’d rather not deviate from it,” Beidou takes some of their luggage as the other figure, a white haired boy with a red streak in his hair, comes over and takes the remaining duffle bags. He gives them a soft smile before turning around, following behind Beidou.
They get over their shock within a few seconds and quickly tumble over themselves to reach the ship. Once they get situated and greetings are done, it quickly becomes obvious that the entirety of the ship, besides 4 people, didn’t have a certain glowing amulet.
Were these the fabled Visions that scared the outside world? Such small things and yet they caused so much fear among their populace. Just what abilities were these 4 people able to pull from them?
Beidou led them under the ship after she left detailed instructions to the crew. She led them to a decently sized room and shut the door behind her after letting 3 others in. A tall, grey haired man, a shorter white haired man and the boy from earlier stood on either side of Beidou.
From the meeting with Nezu, they could deduce the boy with the red streak was Kaedehara Kazuha. From a single look at Kaedehara, they could tell that he was well fed and cared for. Nothing said that he was being abused or being brainwashed into staying in Teyvat.
The other two men delivered the same results, no bruises on any visible skin and no sign of obvious discomfort. If anything, they were neutral faced and seemed to be waiting for Beidou to start. Not even a second later she was nodding at them in recognition and sat down before beginning to speak.
“Good morning, gentlemen. The crew is checking over your luggage for any contraband and items not allowed in the port we’ll be docking at. Your luggage will be left in your rooms, which Kazuha here will bring you to once this discussion is over,” Beidou begins to say, looking over at Kaedehara who lightly waves at them.
Toshinori bows his head slightly at the boy while the other two remain stone-faced. Beidou either doesn’t care or doesn’t see this happening, unlikely as she stares them in the face, and remains smiling. The white-haired man on the right side of Beidou narrows his eyes just slightly before quickly returning to normal.
“What exactly were we dragged here for?” Aizawa’s clipped tone immediately kills any semblance of peaceful discussion as the, supposed, vision holders immediately get on guard. Toshinori sighs and begins to go forward to apologize but Beidou puts up a hand to stop him.
“It’s alright, we understand that you might want to rest while we make our way to Teyvat so we’ll make this as brief as possible. First, introductions and then we’ll speak on the itinerary we’ve set for you for the first four days of your stay. Go on boys, introduce yourselves,” Beidou looks over to Kaedehara and nods at him.
“I’m Kaedehara Kazuha, a pleasure to meet you,” Kaedehara smiles slightly at them. He looks over to the two men and nods. The white-haired man begins to speak, “Cyno, General Mahamatra of the Sumeru Akademiya,” Cyno goes to nudge the last man who slightly moves out of the way.
“Alhaitham, Akademiya Scribe,” simple and curt, nothing more and nothing less. Alhaitham takes out a small notepad and clicks his pen open. Sekijirou tracks the scribe’s movements. In the eyes of the UA trio, his introduction was vague and short. He didn’t add anything more than who he is and what his job is. And just what the hell is the Akademiya?
“Kan Sekijirou, first year teacher and pro-hero,” the sound of a pen against paper cuts through their introductions. Eventually, Alhaitham closes the notepad and clicks his pen shut. Cyno taps his arm and holds out a hand, Alhaitham passes it to Cyno who briefly checks it over before returning it.
“Alright, you’ll get to ask your questions and voice concerns with the itinerary now. Who would like to go first?” Kaedehara asks as Alhaitham reopens the notepad and clicks his pen. Toshinori asks the first, and in his mind, the most important questions, “Where exactly will we be docking? And approximately how long will it take to reach Teyvatian waters?”
Alhaitham answers him with an even tone, “We will be taking the express route we took to get here, which will cover approximately one day. As for docking, Ritou, Inazuma. Do be prepared to go through Customs. As for what happens afterwards, conferences with The Seven, a near full tour of the nations, and a full tour of the seven academies and the university,” Cyno lets off a quiet whistle, Alhaitham silently grieves his peace for the following week.
Sekijirou widens his eyes at the list of things they are to do, Aizawa shares the same look, if not a bit less noticeable. Toshinori merely nods and mentally notes the small bits of information just given.
Aizawa asks a question before any of them could even try to make sense of the wealth of knowledge they just received, “Teyvat doesn’t appear on map, and neither do we know what it looks like so how can we know that you aren’t trying to fool us?”
This time Cyno cut in, “It’s fine to not trust us at all, but I will not have you undermine neither Captain Beidou’s naval abilities nor Principal Asmoday’s promise to have you enter and leave Teyvat safely,” his eyes shined violet long enough to be dismissed as a trick of the light, but Toshinori knew better. That was a warning to not question their ability to keep them safe.
It was enough to unnerve him but clearly wasn’t enough for Aizawa to back down. Even Sekijirou seemed to want to stand up, barely concealed suspicion shining in his eyes. If it wasn't for Cyno summoning and tapping his weapon to the ground, Aizawa, no doubt, would have grabbed Beidou by her collar.
Sekijirou immediately sat back down and Aizawa stormed out the room, Cyno followed behind him, the door softly clicking shut behind him. Toshinori made the first move by slightly bowing his head and quietly apologizing for Aizawa’s behavior, Sekijirou looked at him as if he lost his mind.
Alhaitham, meanwhile, continued to write away, his pen never seeming to stop. He would occasionally look upwards to stare at Aizawa, his eyes never leaving him up until the door shut behind Cyno.
He must have been making comments on all three of them. Who would he take these notes to? What would they use them for?
Alhaitham sighed before he turned to Beidou, “I believe this meeting should conclude and restart when we begin conference with The Seven as well as the Principal and Vice Principal,” Beidou gave him a sharp nod before waving Kaedehara to the two remaining men.
“Please follow me, I will lead you to your rooms,” Kaedehara smiled warmly and opened the door for them. When they had left and were heard sufficiently far away, Beidou began to speak to Alhaitham, “Make sure they don’t cause any problems for Kazuha. While I’m plenty sure Toshinori won’t be causing any, the other two seem to hold a hoard of biases against us,”
Alhaitham nods and leaves the room, leaving Beidou to send a quick message back to Asmoday.
Pro Heroes Eraserhead, Vlad King and All Might have boarded the Alcor. Minor verbal altercation happened during initial discussions. Keep tabs on Pro Heroes Eraserhead and Vlad King.
The Alcor is ready to set sail,
Captain Beidou of The Crux Fleet
───※ ·✥· ※───
Asmoday hums as Beidou’s message comes through. Preparations for the incoming heroes have been made and she had just sent Nezu an email assuring him that The Alcor was completely safe and had done these kinds of trips before. Now, she could send another to confirm the UA teachers had boarded the ship.
Dainsleif walked in, two coffee cups in hand and a sizable stack of small files under his arm. “Here, Asmoday. Take a break,” Asmoday blew on her mug just a bit before sipping the warm coffee. “Sumerian blend, hmm,” she muttered to herself.
“Kaveh recommended it, says it works during long days of work,” Dainsleif looks over her shoulder and makes note to have Yelan and Navia keep tabs on the heroes. The Spina di Rosula and Liyue’s MCA should be enough, after all. He sets his own mug down before splitting the files between himself and Asmoday.
She pulls her half to herself and just barely restrains herself from groaning when she reads the first bit of the first file. Fatui correspondence was such a drag, and she couldn’t do much since they were the Tsaritsa’s army and Snezhnaya’s political and military core. At least the Cryo Archon, and the rest, would be here soon enough and they could discuss what to do with them.
Even if the relationship between herself and pretty much everyone had improved, she couldn’t just force them to do as she pleased any longer. That would break the contract that Morax had made for them and have them all call war on her. They couldn’t have that, especially not with Japanese heroes incoming.
Archons knows they would immediately try some stupid shit like taking some of the children, allogene or not, with them in an effort to “save them”. Not to mention the fall out as half of the nations continue working through their problems post the Traveler’s nation saving. Ugh, she’ll be needing a cocktail of painkillers after all these meetings.
Asmoday places the Fatui file back on the desk and picks up another one. Dainsleif shoots her a look of pity – not fucking appreciated – before he starts going through his own stack. Clearly, no one got the memo of “don’t send stupid shit the first week of the heroes being here”, so now she has to deal with the Abyss Order and the Fatui just hours before the UA Trio get here.
(She briefly wonders if Dottore would like to kill her, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. He would but the Tsaritsa and Pierro have forbidden him from even interacting with her.)
She makes an actual, physical note to ask Mavuika how hot she can make her flames and if she can burn Zapolyarny Palace down with them. Preferably out of the Cryo Archon’s range of hearing, Asmoday doubts she would be very pleased to hear that she wants to do away with her dearest diplomats and military, afterall.
For now, though, she’ll stick to their current, and temporary, policy and make sure that no mention of the Abyss Order nor the Fatui, or its Harbingers’ identities, reach the heroes or the outside world. If it did, she doesn’t doubt they’d try to strike a deal to end their safe haven
As the minutes ticked by, the Archons made their way in and began to work up until the meeting started. While she brought on Dainsleif as her right hand as a show of peace, she wouldn't deny that she’s grown fond of the man enough to stop the immortality curse that had befallen him. Still, their relationship only went as far as tentative friends outside of work.
With cups of coffee on the table and files ready to be read, they began the meeting.
“We’ll start with the file on the Fatui and move on to our latest update on the Abyss Order,” looks shifted to the Tsaritsa, though she made no effort to acknowledge them. Beelzebul raised her hand and spoke, “Perhaps we should start with the heroes who are currently enroute to our continent?”
A chorus of agreements rang in the room, Neuvillette broke through them all with a simple question, “Has Captain Beidou sent a message regarding them being aboard The Alcor?”
Asmoday nodded in response, “She has, and she would like us to keep tabs on 2 of the 3 heroes sent. Vlad King and Eraserhead. The latter appears to have instigated a minor verbal altercation during initial discussions,”
Morax, Beelzebul and Buer’s faces immediately took on a frown. Minor non physical altercations could quickly turn into major physical altercations. The last thing either Archon wanted was to end the program when the outsiders hadn’t even arrived.
From there the meeting went over Natlan’s recovery efforts in the surge of abyssal activity, the Fatui and Abyss Order. While Lumine still was in charge of the Order, she wasn’t nearly as preoccupied with it. Thus, Abyss Order attacks outside of Natlan had significantly decreased in number but were not exactly zero. The Abyss itself, however, was an entirely different thing that Lumine could not control.
Just as they finish, Beidou sends another message. The message ping rang in the otherwise silent room, alerting everyone within and making them look at her expectantly. She sighs before she opens the message, hoping this won’t throw preparations off.
Her breath hitches and a red aura surrounds her as her face goes from neutral to that of pure and utter disbelief. She turns to Dainsleif and turns her screen to him. “Change of plans. Make sure the heroes know we are actively keeping tabs on them, use whatever organization you must,”
She looks at the Tsaritsa, she nods and starts a message of her own to send to Pierro. The rest, although quiet, looked at Asmoday, awaiting either orders or Asmoday telling them what the message said.
“It seems that Aizawa Shouta simply cannot keep his hands to himself for he raised his hands against General Mahamatra Cyno,” Asmoday said in a cheery voice that everyone shivered at. However, hairs were truly raised when they looked over to Buer, her cheery face nowhere to be seen and now blanketed by an eerily blank face. Not angry, not sad, just blank.
Even the Electro Archon, who could cut through entire islands, quickly looked away and made herself look busy. Buer left the meeting room without saying anything nor packing her things to take with her. The remaining staff all looked at one another and nodded to a silent agreement.
Whatever Buer was going to unleash upon the outsiders, they did not see, nor hear about. One could only pray for them but even that would be futile. They could only hope that she’d only mess with their dreams.
They, afterall, knew that amongst the most cherished of the Dendro Archon, stood the General Mahamatra. Hearing that some measly outsider had nearly laid hands on him must have seriously pissed her off to not even so much as react.
After enough time in rather uncomfortable silence, everyone began to pack up and leave. This left only Asmoday and Dainsleif on their own yet again. Dainsleif took that time to write up a report on that meeting to file away, making sure to exclude Beidou’s message and their reactions to it.
Soon after he finished, he left the room and left Asmoday alone with her thoughts. If the heroes would try to harm their students then they would make sure to gather enough evidence to never accept another so-called ‘exchange program’ and force the WHA or the UN or whoever to enforce it and shut down any further requests.
Reputation with the outsiders clearly was going to be one hell of a hassle if this was the route those so-called heroes wanted to take.
───※ ·✥· ※───
Breathe in. Breathe out. Slow and steady. Feel your body relax.
She didn't know why she did that. One moment she was ready to hear what Beidou had to say and the next she blanks out at the thought of her dear General being hurt.
Realistically, she knew that the heroes wouldn't be able to even so much as truly harm him, Ba Fragments and his powerful group of friends who would certainly come to his aid. Alhaitham was more than likely already tending to Cyno – by letting him rant his frustrations, that is – and making note of this incident.
(She wonders if she can restore the Akasha just for the heroes. Deep inside she knows she’s only momentarily angry enough to think of such an idea. Still, she holds the Sumeru crew – dubbed the crewmeru – very dearly, even those who weren’t there for her rescue.)
Nahida steels herself before entering the Sumeru dormitory. She knows that the dormitory will be in slight – that’s a lie – uproar at what she’ll have to say. She enters the living area and pulls out her phone to text the Sumeru chat.
She sits down on her Dendro fashioned swing and waits. The ever ringing ping from her phone assures her that the chat has seen the message. Not long after, some of the older students began to file in and sit down in front of her. She wonders how they’ll take the news. Kaveh already seems a bit nervous just being here.
When she deems that there are a sufficient amount of people to break the news to, she begins to speak. Her people listen as she details that the Alcor has set sail but that initial discussions have fallen through. Dehya doesn’t seem to be surprised but Kaveh begins to fidget with the rings on his gloves.
She decides to preface it with a warning to not act hostile to the heroes due what she’s about to say. Dehya’s face begins to take on a frown, Tighnari’s lips are pursed as he seems to be going through every possible reason to be told that.
“We very recently received another detailing that Pro Hero Eraserhead very nearly had a physical altercation with General Mahamatra Cyno,” she watches as Sethos quickly goes from annoyed to very quietly pissed off. She feels the same, though she dare not express that to the very people who look up to and worship her.
It’d set a bad example if she lost her temper in front of such impressionable children. Besides, Cyno’s immediate friend group has enough anger to act for her. Still, who’s to say she can’t mess with their dreams just a tad.
The other students who have even slightly befriended the general gasp and whisper among themselves. All of them are absolutely certain that he would’ve won should the ‘hero’ have actually tried anything further.
This, however, doesn’t dissuade them from coming up with ways to mess with the incoming visitors. And who would she be if she stood in the way of their knowledge-seeking minds? Certainly not their ever so gentle goddess of wisdom.
───※ ·✥· ※───
Beidou returns to the upper half of the ship only to see Aizawa practically spitting in Cyno’s face. Inwardly, she wonders if locking his guest room door would save her one hell of a headache. Just as she’s about to let Cyno handle the hero, one of her crewmen yell out in their direction.
She turns around just in time to see Cyno incapacitate the man with a flash of Electro. What she didn’t see was how Aizawa had tried to grab Cyno by his hair just as he was to walk away.
Ugh, another message to send. As she began to walk away to do as such, Alhaitham had already passed her his notepad with a message inscribed on it and ready to be sent. She nods at him as he walks over and begins to lift up the man to take to his room.
Once the message is sent, the notepad in Alhaitham’s possession, and everyone has switched shifts, she takes over the Alcor. As she keeps the ship en route, she doesn’t notice Toshinori walking towards her.
She nearly makes a sharp turn when he clears his throat. She turns around and shakily nods at him in lieu of a greeting. She turns back around and momentarily regrets signing herself up to escort the outsiders into Teyvat. Right now she could have fulfilled a cargo load and had some wine in some port tavern.
The thought of it nearly makes her smile a bit, but not before Toshinori begins to speak. Beidou makes note that it’s only them and that nobody can currently hear them. Hopefully that’s nothing but mere coincidence.
“Ah, Mi- uh.. Captain Beidou, may I ask some questions?” Toshinori spoke in a softer, albeit just as loud, voice. Beidou nods as she keeps her gaze out on sea. It wouldn’t do well to have the ship derail from their destination.
“If you don’t mind telling me, and if not confidential, how are we meant to enter Teyvat?” an answerable question, though she’s also pleasantly surprised that he isn’t trying to access anything confidential.
“Not confidential at all, sir. Though not to alarm you, we will be entering Teyvat through a whirlpool-like portal,” Beidou tells him with just a bit too much cheeriness in her voice. After a while of silence, she turns around to make sure the man hasn’t fainted on her.
Thankfully, he hasn’t but his jaw has dropped so much she wonders if that’s even humanly possible. Actually, is there a quirk that can do such a thing? Well, that is a question for another time.
“I can assure you that we’ll be fine, I’ve taken this route several times,” Toshinori seems to recover after that. He looks over to gaze at the waves ahead. Kazuha joins them later on, opting to be on the ledge of the boat. Toshinori quickly casts a worried glance before Beidou waves him off.
He remains quiet for the next few hours and before long they start to see the edge of the storm. Toshinori seems visibly worried and glances at Beidou who merely hands the wheel to Kazuha. Beidou speaks with her crew and they hunker down to avoid any stray bolts before she turns back.
“If you would like to seek refuge from any of the stray bolts you can head inside with the rest of the crew. Otherwise, you can stay here with Kazuha and I,” Toshinori nods and remains next to Kazuha who hands the wheel back to her.
He watches in utter amazement as she navigates through the storm. Toshinori notes that the winds and lightning bolts lessen in frequency and intensity in the face of the Alcor’s path. A feeling of admiration blooms within him. A feeling he thought he wouldn’t experience again after the passing of his master, Shimura.
She turns back at him and smirks just slightly. “The whirlpool that we’ll be entering through is up ahead if you’d like to see,” she nudges him just a bit. Kazuha nods from up ahead.
As he walks to the ledge that Kazuha is sitting upon and looks ahead. He can see the beautiful blues and purples mixing together to create an inky black void in the middle. The sounds of the waves swirling and splashing inside. It’s as mesmerizing as it is undoubtedly nerve-wracking.
Kazuha however, must have sensed his discomfort and amazement as he simply tells him it would be completely safe. And as apprehensive as he was, he wouldn’t doubt them. He would never doubt the Crux Fleet of the Alcor, even if Toshinori had only known them for half a day.
So he set his sights upon the whirlpool portal and breathed. And then came momentary darkness before light, and Beidou's voice, filled to the brim with confidence, broke through.