𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧

40 - resurrection's eve

Location: Fatui stronghold, Snezhnaya
Timeline: unknown

"Y/n."

Y/n's eyes fluttered open, lured by a voice with the timbre of long-lost memories. Her surroundings seemed to swim into focus.

Wait. Where in Teyvat was she?

Oh, yeah. That's right. The Fatui stronghold. Memory data recovery. Her head felt like it was stuffed with clouds, memories whisked away like mist before dawn. What on earth happened?

Her gaze settled on a figure standing over her. Blonde hair cascading down like liquid gold, skin as pale as moonlight, and – aha! – a star-shaped tattoo gracing his neck. He was the spitting image of a certain chalk prince she knew from the game, albeit a long-haired version.

"Albedo?" Y/n ventured, her voice scratchy.

A ghost of a smile played on his lips, his eyes twinkling with amusement. It was like watching a glacier crack to reveal the ocean underneath.

"You could say, I'm one of many, but the original article – the genesis of enigmas, if you will. Albedo is but a shard in a mosaic. I am...the slightly cooler, more mysterious counterpart," he replied with a trace of a chuckle in his voice. It seemed the reference had tickled him.

His stoic face returned as quickly as it had slipped. Y/n's brows lifted. This was getting interesting.

"Oh! You're—" she began, but he moved with preternatural speed, his hand clamping over her mouth.

With surprising strength, he hoisted Y/n off the ground and began half-dragging, half-carrying her out of the confinement room. Y/n's heart raced, her words muffled by his hand. She tried to wriggle free, but his grip was ironclad.

"Quiet. The Fatui guards are fortifying themselves with questionable sandwiches," he said with a whisper, the slightest hint of humor in his otherwise deadpan tone. "Our window is small."

"To where?" Y/n whispered, as they darted through the corridors like shadows.

"One of the safest places in this stronghold – the laboratory hidden undergound. Cloaking technologies abound; it's like a ninja's paradise. We shall be invisible," Phoenix spoke, his words falling like icy droplets, stark against the madness around them.

"But what about Dottore?" Y/n voiced her concerns, her eyes narrowed in deep thought. "This is a lab we're talking about, right in a Fatui stronghold. It's hard to believe that a Harbinger wouldn't know of its existence."

Phoenix, in his characteristically cryptic style, let out a soft chuckle. "Dottore and I... let's just say we've crossed paths. He's served his purpose, and if he dares show his face... well, one of his clones will meet an early demise." His words carried an unsettling certainty. "Phoenixes, after all, are known to burn bright and rise from the ashes," he added.

As they weaved through the labyrinthine halls, Y/n couldn't help but be both unnerved and intrigued by this stoic, enigmatic not-Albedo. Phoenix, or whatever his real name was, seemed to be an enigma wrapped in a mystery, dipped in secrecy sauce.

Y/n found herself incessantly prodding at Phoenix with a barrage of queries, her curiosity and quick-witted banter radiating with the luminosity of a myriad lanterns set aflame.

"So, is there a purpose behind this sudden U-turn of your personality since our last encounter? And what brings you to this timeline? Weren't you supposed to be a figure of the Archon War?" Y/n quipped, her smirk playing at the corners of her mouth as she trailed behind him through a secret passageway nestled behind a bookshelf.