Chapter Text
Sucrose couldn’t move; her legs wouldn’t allow it. In a second Albedo would slump to the ground, bleeding, gasping, dying . He’d die again and she couldn’t do anything about it. Who was to say this time wouldn’t be permanent? How many times could this happen until he was actually gone? She prayed that she’d wake up at any moment, having just fallen asleep on the couch with Albedo’s warm coat draped around her.
She didn’t wake up. Not a surprise. What did surprise her was the fact that Albedo wasn’t dead. He stayed where he was, on his knees, staring down at the floor. Sucrose managed to wrench a sound from her throat. “Albedo?” His body stiffened at the sound of her voice. In a gesture that lacked Albedo’s usual composure and demeanor, he whipped his head around to face Sucrose, his eyes wide and wild.
“Sucrose?!” He got to his feet, almost tripping over himself, and turned to face her fully, his eyes dashing between her glasses and the side of her stomach. Her clothes were clean though a little wrinkled. No blood to be seen. In the hinge of her glasses, there were a few stray strands of hair pinched. His eyes rested on hers, he wasn’t the only one whose expression was wracked with worry.
“What was that crash?” She sounded out of breath, had she run here? It wasn’t very far from Jean’s office, that run shouldn’t have taken her breath like that. Albedo blinked in his utter confusion and in the darkness behind his eyes, he saw her on the floor again, lifeless. Fear shot up his spine before he remembered that she was standing right in front of him. “Albedo, are you okay? You look like-” Her words swam past him and around him, unable to be properly processed.
The sword. How could he have been such a fool? He should have known from the instant he saw it. The man Sucrose had described from her visions. Visions of his own death.
Jean pushed past Sucrose and grabbed Albedo’s shoulders, holding him steady. He was glad she did, his head felt like it was spinning faster and faster. “Albedo, can you hear me?” Jean’s words broke through the fog and he righted his mind as best he could. Breaking free of his stupor, he shoved Jean aside, nearly knocking her into the lab table. He hurried over to Sucrose and embraced her in a way that Sucrose recognized; it was the same way she had held onto him on the mountain.
“Sucrose… You’re okay…” He was talking to himself more than anything. The image of her limp body being tossed across the room still burned behind his eyes.
Sucrose hugged him in return, not sure what to make of the events of the last minute or so, but nonetheless finding comfort in his embrace.
Jean spoke from behind him. “Albedo, what happened? What was all the noise we heard” Albedo released his hold on Sucrose, having held on longer than he thought he should have. He turned to Jean, though not letting Sucrose leave his peripheral vision, and replied in a tone that Sucrose wasn’t used to hearing, he sounded more demanding and direct than usual.
“The visions that Sucrose has been having, the man she described, he was here.” Sucrose’s eyes widened, and her heart hammered in her chest. Albedo explained what had happened to Jean. “I acted out of emotion. I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry, we could have gotten more information had I contained myself.” Sucrose wasn’t used to seeing him like this, Albedo rarely got emotional, and lashing out at a threat? That felt strange for Albedo. In his explanation, he never directly mentioned what the threat was.