Diary of a crystalfly

Chapter 9. A place to go

"Albedo, go to Mondstadt. Find my old friend, Alice, and give her the recommendation letter. Then, complete your final assignment.

Your final assignment: show me the truth and the meaning of this world."

***

***

Perhaps getting Albedo a laboratory of his own was a bad idea. I rolled over his shoulder, sleepily watching him weigh some grounded iron, and then sprinkle them into the boiling flask. Even with hollowed-out eyes, he observed the chemicals intently, furiously scratching over his notepad with a pen.

I inched away from his knots of hair because it was no longer soft. Days of working in the lab had rendered his locks unkempt, tangled and rough. His shoulders drooped as if his coat and I weighed a million pounds, and every now and then, he would rotate his shoulder backwards, making it cry out with a cracking sound.

He hasn't eaten at all, I know because I haven't eaten since his self-inflicted imprisonment. Thankfully, I have been feeling strangely full these days, so hunger wasn't much of an issue for me. But for Albedo, it might be a different story.

With a sudden sigh, he placed down his notebook with a loud thwack and paced to the noticeboard behind. The board was a mess - and it gets messier every day: pages of torn, patterned notes, red ropes, sketches of monsters I've never seen before, all pinned weakly over the wooden surface. He stared hard at it, then reached out to scribble more illegible nonsense on a tattered paper. Making haste, he paced back to his work table to snatch up a crumpled paper: that very same letter he'd read over every night - except these days, he'd read it every 10 minutes or so, trying to sift out any more clues it could offer him.

Albedo, that was his name I knew, then a bunch of words I could not read, and then

"The truth of this world," he muttered to himself, scrunching his brows together like the words in the letter stabbed holes.

A swipe of shadow caught my attention. Beneath the closed door, I saw little shadows wandering to and fro.

It's her again. I thought, deciding to shift to the new company since watching Albedo mix substances for the gazillionth time was definitely not entertaining. I swooped down to the gap beneath the door and greeted the visitor on the other side.

"Bluey!" Klee exclaimed in a whisper, hands up in the air. I drifted into her arms and she gave me a gentle hug. Aw.

I looked to the ground, seeing that Klee had already placed out her crayons and drawing paper, ready to spend her time camping outside of the lab again.

Klee had visited Albedo every day, asking for more playtime. Perhaps she really did enjoy their first outing together and simply wished for more. But ever since that day, ever since he saw Dragonspine, Albedo hadn't been quite himself. He had firmly declined Klee's every invitation, and when he finally had enough of her incessant requests, he told her in a quiet voice, icy to the core,

"Klee, do you see that sign I've put up there?" he pointed to a placard hung by the door reading: Experiment in progress.

"When you see that, it means that I'm busy. So please don't disturb me until I remove it."

Klee looked sad, her tiny hands were balled into fists, suppressing her usual explosive outbursts. Yet, her reply came surprisingly quiet, controlled for a small girl like her.

"Okay," she said, voice low and listless, "Klee will wait for big brother Albedo. Because Klee is a good girl."

The way she peered sheepishly at him hinted at her attempt at fishing for compliments on the promise of good behaviour. Yet, I remembered it well: the chilling glance Albedo barely graced her as he turned to retreat back into his lair.