Journey | Albedo's Descent Book 3

Chapter 4: Candles, Please...

Albedo woke up to find himself alone. It was cold and dark. As it should have been. It was well passed midnight.
Kaeya had probably gone to meet up with Rosaria. Albedo sighed quietly as he gazed over at the door, why was sleeping so hard?
He pulled himself up to sit and swung his legs over the side of his bed. He was reminded of when he had almost fallen earlier...
Why had that happened? Normally he didn't loose his balance like that...
He was probably just being paranoid but, even so, he flicked the lights on and walked into the adjoining bathroom. He pulled his shirt open and gazed at the fair skin of his chest.
Nothing.
He sighed heavily as he pulled the ties out of his hair and ran his fingers through his braids, undoing Klee's handiwork from that afternoon. Was fatigue finally getting to him?
Albedo stared at the dark pockets under his eyes.
"It's never enough, is it?"
He hadn't even realized he was speaking out loud to himself until the words sunk in. He placed his hands against the counter, pressing them hard against the smooth marble.
"I know it doesn't help... nothing will change... so why do I keep doing this?... what's the point?..."
He slid his hands into fists. He noticed that he didn't have veins over his knuckles like Kaeya's hands did...
"What does he even see in me?..."
"A pretty face?"
"Unblemished skin?"
"The color of my eyes?"
"My idiocy?"
"The way I don't care about myself?"
"Or anyone else?"
"That isn't true... I care about Klee..."
"I care about Kaeya...
"?"
"He makes me happy...
"?"
"He's kind to me... he doesn't care that I'm not human... he keeps me from destroying myself..."
"Is that a good thing?"
Albedo abruptly looked at his eyes on the other side of the mirror. He stared at those wide, greenish blue eyes for a long moment. He turned and left the bathroom, his steps faltering.
He rummaged around for his lighter. Kaeya said they only needed to be lit for a minute... Albedo needed to go back to sleep.

"Rise and shine!!!"
Albedo blinked his eyes awake. He was sure that was the deepest he had ever slept in his entire life. It was like he were surrounded by tar, encased in a cozy cocoon. He only woke up after his door had been broken open by an explosive little girl.
Albedo rubbed his eyes as he forced himself to sit up, "ugh... what time is it?..."
"Time to get up, silly!" Klee grabbed his arm and started tugging.
Albedo sighed quietly.
"You slept with your clothes on?!"
Albedo blinked a few times, "Uhm, yes..."
"Noooo!!! You're supposed to put jammies on first!!!"
Albedo chuckled, "Kaeya told me the same thing last night." He stood up.
Klee narrowed her eyes, "why was Kaeya in your room?"
"Is he not allowed?" Albedo asked as he walked over to his dresser.
Klee looked around, "Klee is just worried he stole something."
Albedo chuckled, "he may look like a pirate, but he wouldn't steal."
"Are you sure? He always smells like a thief..."
"And how do thief's smell?"
"Bad."
Albedo laughed, "if you're so convinced why don't you go ask him yourself?"
Klee gasped and ran out.
Albedo shook his head with a smile as he laid his fresh clothes over his arm. He stared down at the dresser as he closed the drawers.
There was this odd, lingering feeling. He couldn't quite figure out what it was. It wasn't like anything especially disturbing had happened...
He shrugged it off and quickly changed, got ready, the whole nine yards.
He then went to go find Klee, deciding his experimenting could wait a few more minutes.
Those few minutes turned into a half an hour of looking around...
He swore Kaeya's room wasn't that far away from his. How had he ended up in a completely empty hallway? There weren't any pictures on the walls or any sort of decoration. Only a few doors here and there.
He couldn't seem to see the end of the hallway either. He didn't recall this sort of place being in the Knights Headquarters.
Albedo had probably just zoned out and gone up another staircase. He turned back around and started walking back where he came from.
After only a minute Albedo started to feel a bit uneasy. What if this wasn't the right way out? Well, no matter which way he went, there had to be a way back downstairs, right?
"Albedo? What are you doing?"
Albedo turned back around to see Lisa smiling with her arms crossed. "Oh, good morning, I was just looking for Klee..."
"She's pestering Kaeya in the library," she chuckled, "he had only gone in there to speak with me. Not two moments later did Klee barge in yelling at Kaeya about being a thief! Haah!"
Albedo smiled, "Kaeya didn't take anything but she seems pretty adamant that he's a real pirate and, therefore, a criminal."
"Well I, for one, am glad he isn't," Lisa laughed again as she turned, "come on. Let's go, then, shall we?"
Albedo quickly went to her side and matched her pace. Taking in his surroundings, he found they were passing the door to Kaeya's room.
"What happened to the..."
"Hm? What is it?" She stopped and looked back at where he had halted before the door.
Albedo gazed around, "it's nothing..." He resumed walking, muttering, "probably."
Where was that strange hallway? Wasn't he just in it? There was no way it was connected to this one? Based on where they were now, Lisa had found him just at the corner of the hall where it turned towards Jean's room.
Albedo didn't have much time to wonder as they were already descending the stairs.
Lisa pushed open the doors to the library and it was eerily quiet. They walked over to her desk to find Klee happily humming to herself as she colored on blank papers strewn about the floor.
"Are you making a mess?" Lisa placed her hands on her hips and spoke playfully.
"No, Klee is apologizing."
"Apologizing?" Lisa asked as she crouched down.
"See?" She held up the paper. It was a cute little crayon drawing of Klee and Kaeya holding hands and smiling with explosions in the background.
Lisa chuckled, "I think he'll love it!"
Albedo smiled, "where is Kaeya?"
"Kaeya is over there," Klee pointed across the balcony to where Kaeya was flipping through a few books. "Kaeya told me that the only thing he might have stolen was your heart."
Albedo blinked, "what?"
Lisa stood, giggling, "smooth, Kaeya, real smooth."
"And then Klee got mad because Klee didn't understand..."
Albedo smiled, "I'm glad you were worried for me, Klee." He pat her head, "but I don't think Kaeya would do something so horrible."
"I don't even think I could," Kaeya was suddenly behind Albedo, placing his hand over the alchemist's head.
Albedo jumped, almost letting out a yelp from his surprise.
On reflex, Kaeya took Albedo's arms, holding him fast. Albedo loosed a quiet sigh of relief as he realized who it was.
Lisa was staring at Albedo with a concerned look and Klee wasn't even paying attention because she had gone back to coloring.
"You're rather jumpy today. Did I really scare you that much?" Kaeya chuckled, but Albedo could tell he felt awful.
Albedo smiled a little bit, "you didn't scare me, I was just a little startled... I didn't think you would get over here so quickly."
Kaeya finally let go, "looking for Klee, I'm guessing? I don't mind keeping an eye on her while you work."
Albedo shook his head, "no, it's alright. I actually wanted to talk with you... Lisa, if you-"
Klee shoved her paper into Kaeya's arms and sprinted off. Lisa giggled, "I'm on it."
Kaeya looked over the paper and laughed, "did she really think I was upset?"
Albedo smiled, "that's just who she is."
Kaeya folded the paper and pocketed it, "you said you wanted to talk to me?"
Albedo nodded, "yes..."
"Good. Because there are a few things I want to say to you, too."
Albedo blinked, "oh." His only thought was, "am I in trouble?"
Kaeya took Albedo over to Lisa's desk and rummaged through her drawers for something to fiddle with while he spoke. "Now... I'm not good with this sort of talk... but there are a few things we need to address. First of all, we hardly see each other and that just isn't good for a relationship."
Albedo nodded slightly, paying close attention to the words Kaeya chose.
"Secondly, I... I really feel like you're too hard on yourself. I understand that you are very passionate about alchemy and finding the answers of the universe and all, but... I also feel like sometimes you push everyone away when you go off by yourself for weeks on end."
Albedo listened attentively, soaking in the information being relayed to him.
"And last of all, we are both really bad at communicating with each other." He smiled at how silly this sounded now, "we just need to share a calendar or something! I honestly have no idea when you are ever doing what or where you are."
Albedo had just listened silently this entire time.
Kaeya sighed quietly, "that's it. That's all I had to say."
"I... I do think your last point is wrong."
"Hm?"
"Well, you're communicating with me right now, aren't you?" There was that lifelike flickering in his eyes that Kaeya hadn't seen in a while.
Kaeya laughed, "I guess you're right! Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Albedo blinked, "uh, I forgot..."
He snorted as he ruffled Albedo's hair, "alright then... about that calendar?"
Albedo smiled, "I think that can be arranged.
"Also..." he leaned into Kaeya, putting his arms around his abdomen, "I don't mean to push you away and I'm sorry for making you feel like that... I-"
"See, there you go again," Kaeya sighed as he hugged Albedo, "you're too hard on yourself."
Albedo chuckled, "I guess you're right."
"You guess? I am right."
Albedo nodded, "you're right..."