Echoes and Experiments

⬖ Chapter 12 ⬗

Mieko let out a strangled gasp as she woke up, tears flowing down her cheeks as she laid there, trying to catch her breath. "Mie?" She heard the click of the lamp, seeing a blurry outline of Albedo through her tears. "Mie, what happened? Did you have another nightmare?" He asked, Mieko just laying there and trying to get her voice back. Albedo cupped her cheeks and the tears came flooding out, the woman sobbing and clinging to Albedo with shaking hands. "Mie...?" He pulled her to him, letting her cry against his shoulder. "Shhh, Mie, it's alright. You're safe now." he said gently, rubbing her back with one hand while the other tangled itself in her hair.

"I'm sorry." Were the only words she could choke out between sobs for a while, Albedo tightening his grip on her. "Albedo... Albedo, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, my darling." He replied to her, letting her cry until she was too tired to even hold onto him anymore. "Shhh, back to sleep." he cooed to her as she tried to apologize again. When she fell back asleep, Albedo took a deep breath to calm himself. Her nightmares had begun escalating, and Mieko was well and truly falling apart piece by piece. He had to do something about this.

-

"Mie, what happened?" Traveler asked, seeing bruises on Mieko's forearm. The woman looked up at the traveler from her chair.

"Hm? Oh, don't mind the bruises. You missed the fun, Traveler~ Some hooligan decided it would be fun to harass one of the young girls in front of my shop, while I was fixing a client's bracelet."

"What?!" Paimon exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Traveler asked.

"Oh, don't worry. I'm fine. I've gotten much worse. Being a little reckless is necessary sometimes, to protect people. I'm sure you know that well, don't you? All I did was step in front of her to protect her, and he tried to intimidate me by gripping my arm hard enough to leave a bruise. Haha. It didn't feel like anything, honestly."

"No wonder Albedo was so upset..." Traveler sighed, having seen the blondes' expression they heard the news about Mieko having been injured. But, where had Albedo gone? "How did you get out of that situation?"

"That was Kaeya." Natalie piped up. "He beat me to it."

"Oh, Kaeya did?"

"He did." Mieko nodded. "He was patrolling and he got the man off of me. Apparently he was a former apprentice Knight that got kicked out in training."

"Oh?"

"He was drinking, clearly. Drowning his sorrows. A little bruise is nothing." Mieko shook her head. "And the young lady is safe. A bit shaken, though."

"And where's Albedo? We thought for sure he'd have gone to you first!" Paimon exclaimed.

"I haven't seen him." Mieko shook her head. "I was going to go and see him, but it got busy, so I kept working." She replied.

"What?! You should have closed the store!" Paimon exclaimed. "You kept working???"

"I did." She chuckled. "Well, since I'm being scolded, shall we go and find Albedo?" She asked.

"Yes, we should!" Paimon huffed. They set out to search for Albedo, finding him at the Knight's Headquarters taking to Jean.

"Of course, Albedo." Jean said, looking a bit worried. "Is Mieko alright?"

"I'm here, Jean." Mieko said, Jean turning to her friend and seeing the bruise on her arm.

"Your arm..."

"It really is nothing, please don't worry." She said, catching a dangerous look in Albedo's eyes as he walked over to her, gently inspecting her injured arm. "It's becoming a bit tender, but I promise it's nothing serious. Just a bruise." She insisted to Albedo specifically. "Shall we go inside and talk?" She asked.