Some Years Prior, Mondstadt, Seriniteapot of Miss Alice
Even the instant warmth that permeated the teapot and the rich smell of cloves hanging in the air could not warm Albedo. He shook the snow from his shoulders, teleport losing its glow as he took off his boots. That was ignorant of him not to prepare more warming bottles for the peak.
Just as he shrugged out of his coat, Albedo froze. There was a voice he didn't recognize, slightly high and familiar, singing gleefully. Albedo turned slowly. A girl stood in front of him.
Shaking the last bits of snow free from his braid, Albedo observed her. This girl was barely more than an infant, tinkering in Alice's lab. Gold was nowhere to be seen, on another expedition to find Skirk no doubt. He could hear Alice up to something in the house, particles of true divinity buzzing in the air.
"Alice, there's a girl here," Albedo called. The girl looked up, blinking at him with a toothy smile.
"That's my daughter!" Alice called back. Albedo stared. He noticed the snowflakes frozen on his lashes.
"I didn't know you had a daughter," Albedo said as he crouched down. To his surprise, perfect Mond came out of her mouth.
"I like the star on your neck!" The girl said and Albedo just looked.
"Klee!" Alice called. "She lives with the knights in Mondstadt when I'm not here. Entertain her."
Somehow Albedo felt true terror for the future.
"Can Klee get one?" The girl–Klee–asked. Albedo shook his head slowly, a gentle smile on his lips.
"I'm afraid not. It used to be my soul," Albedo said and Klee frowned.
"That's sad. Where did it go?" Klee asked and Albedo wondered about that. He had not seen Kaeya since the sky fell. If Kaeya was alive and truly in the future Albedo believed he had simply not met him yet. He could not stomach the idea Kaeya was in the past.
"I'm not sure," Albedo admitted. "I'm waiting to find it."
"Kaeya says that lost things tend to find their way back to us," Klee said, humming with a smile wider than any Albedo had ever seen. "He's got stars in his eyes too and he wrote Klee's survival rules. Do you wanna be Klee's big brother too?"
Albedo felt his body petrify and for a second he was worried his molecules were finally breaking down. Kaeya. She couldn't have said Kaeya...
"Mom!" Klee called but she sounded so far away. "Mom, something's wrong with my new big brother!" Albedo could not move but he felt those cold steady hands on him. It was impossible that Kaeya was here, in Mondstadt. That he was with the knights.
Albedo did not remember much. He remembered fighting with Alice about an introduction letter. He remembered Klee screaming about him joining the knights. He remembered so little yet so much of the flashes.
Albedo could not be here, not with the knowledge Kaeya was in this timeline–in this life–so instead he retreated into the corners of his mind. A place that held him across the centuries.
When days end, nights begin. Albedo knew that, but he didn't really understand it. The night is cold and it is lonely.
'I am fine,' Albedo would think, and so he would be.
In all those years, he was fine but he could not bear the color blue.
So he avoided it. The first time he saw the sky, Albedo could not help but squeeze his eyes shut. When he first gazed upon the blues of the Dandelion Sea, Albedo could only stare at the sand.
YOU ARE READING
Stardust
Fanfiction"I wish you wouldn't be so suicidal. It's bad for Klee." Albedo said, dragging his pencil along the sketch. Albedo ignored Kaeya's scoff, continuing on. "You needed to move on. Master was right that you were clinging to the past." "Don't tell me wha...
