Archive of Our Own

“Why do we always have to climb all the way up here in the cold? Doesn’t Albedo ever work at the shop in Mondstadt or-”

“Paimon, quiet down. Albedo’s working on something, and I don’t want to disturb-”

Pausing before he slipped up and poured too much of the chemical, Albedo looked up towards the entrance of the cave. Although the snow outside created a swirling shell of fog that obscured the skyline, it did not obscure the two small heads standing just in front of the storm, peeking out from where they had squashed themselves away against the outside of the rocky threshold. Albedo smiled and resumed pouring the carefully measured liquid into the beaker, his warped reflection staring back at him as he called out.

“Trying to remain discrete, I see? It’s quite alright, you may come in. I was just working on a new experiment.”

Albedo continued to focus on his work, he had a small window of time when the beaker in his hand could be mixed with the chemicals boiling on the stove for the reaction to happen as he calculated, but he listened to the Traveler’s shuffling footsteps as she continued to bicker alongside her floating companion. It wasn’t often they paid him a visit, as he was often roaming the wilderness for his artwork or for collecting ingredients for his experiments, but whenever they did he knew he was in for a joyful time. He may not show it outwardly, but deep down he did appreciate the company.

“Just so you know,” he said as his stirrer clinked against the inside the glass as he swirled the concoction, “I do make a habit of visiting Mondstadt frequently. It just so happens that you two are always out in Liyue whenever I drop by.”

“Ack!” Paimon gasped and threw her hands over her mouth, “He heard Paimon say that?”

“Your voice is just naturally too loud,” Lumine said, turning her hands over as she squatted close to the campfire, “You’ve never been a good whisperer.”

“Yeah? W-well! Paimon would have thought that the sound of the storm was enough to cover up Paimon’s voice!”

Albedo chuckled as he finished up his work, setting the potion down before circling around the table, “It is certainly roaring out there. You would think Durin had reawakened and was blowing the wind around himself.”

“We’ve had our fill of dragons in Teyvat, Paimon doesn’t think we could handle another one…”

“Don’t worry, I’m certain there is no chance of that happening. But, I hope that if Mondstadt is in another crisis, you will assist us with your other worldly skill, honorary knight.”

Lumine sighed and shot Albedo a glare. The fire flickered in the orange amber of her eyes, “I wish you would call me by my name.”

“You don’t like your title?”

“Not when you say it like that,” she rolled her eyes and stood up, brushing off the ends of her dress that had been dragging in the patches of snow blown into the cave.

“True, I am teasing you just a bit,” Albedo moved closer to the fire. Mentally, he took stock of what cooking ingredients he had stowed away in the crates around the campsite. They may be hungry after their long journey, “But, I wouldn’t take it to heart. The people of Mondstadt, especially in the knights, have always been partial to titles. When you have ranks like Acting Grand Master and Captain, it becomes natural to use them.”

“You would know quite a lot about titles wouldn’t you, Mr. Alchemist?” Paimon said, “Why don’t you give Paimon a title then? No one in Mondstadt has given Paimon one yet!”

“That’s because you’re always coming up with silly nicknames for them,” Lumine said.

“Hey! They’re ugly nicknames, not silly!”

“All the more reason. Those who haven’t been given a name yet fear receiving one if they try and come up with one for you.”

“Oh? Should I be flattered or offended that I haven’t received one of these nicknames yet?” Albedo chimed in.

“You should be thankful. Paimon only gives it to those who have made fun of her, like a few of my friends she’s named Tone Deaf Bard and Guhua Geek.”

“Yeah! And you haven’t done anything mean to Paimon yet, Albedo!”

“Well, now that I’m hearing so much about them, I am curious about what you would call me. Ah, well, you did just call me Mr. Alchemist before, didn’t you? I suppose that works.”

“Well that’s not really… an ugly nickname but, you really aren’t deserving of one so sure!” Paimon folded her hands behind her back as her little pixie body bounced in the starlight field swirling around her, “Mr. Alchemist it is!”

Albedo smiled again, “So, Lumine,” he watched her expression as he said her name, “What brings you out here? Did Sucrose ask you to help with my research?”

“No, actually, I was hoping to offer myself up as the experiment again.”

“Oh? What are you hoping I find? I thought I told you last time you were no different than anyone on Teyvat.”

“You did, but, you said something back then… About the laws of this world limiting my abilities. I didn’t… exactly have these abilities back when I was an outlander but, I’m wondering if we could find out exactly what is limiting it, because... well…”

“You’re hoping to find your brother, I know.”

Lumine’s lips were pursed into a thin line as she stared into the fire. Albedo paused.

“Is there something else you’re hoping to find that I’m not aware of?” He looked to Paimon, the girl seemed just as confused.

“It’s more that I’m hoping… the answer won’t be that I’m required to leave this world for my powers to return.”

Oh, Albedo thought, the realization hitting him like a heavy hammer striking down.

“If it meant finding Aether again, of course I would do it. But, I haven’t explored all of this world yet, and there is still a chance he’s in some corner I haven’t visited yet. Besides, I-”

“You’ve met so many people here,” Albedo interjected, “You’ve grown close to them. I imagine when you used to travel from world to world, that wasn’t something you did often.”

She shook her head, “No. It was always just Aether and me. But now,” she smirked towards Paimon, “I can think of a few people who would complain if I was up and gone so suddenly.”

“Hey! Paimon thinks Venti would miss you more! If you’re not careful, he might just follow you into the stratosphere!”

“Well, I’m hopeful we might be able to yield some results that will keep you from leaving us all too early,” Albedo chuckled, “It’s a bit late to be starting any new tests, however. Although I know you’re no stranger to traversing the wilderness at night, you must be tired after climbing through that storm. Why don’t we both rest and in the morning we can get started on figuring out a way to reduce the limits on your body in Teyvat?”

“Sounds wonderful.”

“Excellent, now, would you like anything to eat? I think I have enough to make some radish veggie soup tonight. I just need to finish up notes on my experiment-”

“I can begin cooking if needed. I am imposing after all.”

Albedo smiled over his shoulder, “You’re never imposing, Lumine. Especially not when you’re offering yourself up for alchemy. However, if you would like to begin cutting up the vegetables, I would appreciate it. I’ll just be a few minutes. You should find everything you need in that crate over there.”

Albedo worked by lantern-light through most of the night, shuffling through pages of his sketchbook as he observed his experiment. Lumine entertained herself through quiet conversations with Paimon, although her efforts to tidy up his campsite did not go unnoticed by Albedo. After dinner, she swept the cave floor of snow, cleaned the pots and pans before she dug her bedroll out of the light pack she carried and rested it on the dry ground. When the gray fog outside turned to dark black as the night crested fully, Albedo watched out of the corner of his eye as she lied down by the fire, Paimon finally floating down to sleep beside her.

Albedo continued working. He was used to all nighters, and while he had finished up his experiment’s notes before dinner, now there were a million more things to plan for and calculate. What should he do tomorrow to figure out what the “boundaries” were that were restricting Lumine’s full power? Should they climb to the summit and see if, using Anemo and his blossoms, if Lumine went high enough into the stratosphere, she could feel her old power coming back? She was an outlander, how did she even travel between worlds to begin with? Did she walk to them, or was it like the teleportation waypoints? If he sent her up high enough, could she even breathe-

“-Albedo. Albedo.”

The alchemist snapped out of his daze around the fifth time Lumine called his name. He glanced down, noticing she had been tugging on his sleeve, trying to get his attention.

“I’m sorry about that. I was lost in thought. What is it you need? Did I wake you?”

“No, you didn’t wake me. I never fell asleep actually.”

“Oh. Was I making too much noise? Or perhaps I need to blow out one of my lanterns? I can work in the darkness, so it’s no trouble-”

“No, Albedo,” she let out an exasperated sigh, her grip tightening on the sleeve of his overcoat. Albedo belatedly realized she was still holding onto him. He wondered if she was doing it intentionally or not, as she looked very tired- dark rings under her eyes from days of travel up the rocky slopes, her free hand she brought to her face and winced, no doubt due to a headache forming underneath it- “I can’t sleep because I keep thinking about you.”

He blinked in surprise, speechless for a moment. Then-

“Well, I must say I certainly am flattered but I think you might be projecting Kaeya’s personality onto-”

“Albedo, no, I didn’t mean it like that and you know it. I can’t sleep because I keep thinking about when you are going to sleep. I’ve talked to Sucrose and Timmaeus. They complain a lot about you never sleeping and they’re growing worried.”

Albedo’s face remained passive as she spoke. That’s because I don’t need sleep. But, can’t very well tell anyone else that, now can I?

Reminding himself that it would be bad for Lumine to see him unexpressive, he forced a small, amused smile again as he closed his sketchbook.

“I am used to working on experiments and research through all hours of the day. But, if you truly cannot rest unless I am relaxed as well, I suppose I can at the very least sit by the fire.”

He double checked that every device was turned off, chemicals were arranged properly so during the night nothing would cause an explosive reaction or toxic gas, and then grabbed a piece of black chalk before digging out his bedroll from one of the crates. Dusty, unused. He carried it with him but very rarely needed it. He set it out near the fire a few feet away from Lumine before sitting down. He rested the sketchbook on his knees, and flipped back to the page he was working on, picking up chalk to continue calculations-

A hand grabbed his wrist before it could make contact with the paper.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I want you to sleep, Albedo. I won’t be able to sleep if you’re scribbling all night.”

“I agreed to relax, not sleep. Besides, I will fall behind in my work if I don’t-”

“Come on. It’s just a few hours. At least pretend to sleep for a bit so I can rest thinking you’re resting.”

Albedo flinched at that statement. Did she know that he was… No, of course not. She meant it as only a joke. There was no way she could have known-

She plucked the piece of chalk from his hand, and then grabbed ahold of his sketchbook, putting it on top of her pack behind her head.

“So it doesn’t get wet or burned. Now, lie down.”

He felt somewhat like a child, awkwardly scooting down on the bedroll so he could comfortably put his head down on the top end of it. Before he could lay down though, she interrupted him again, laughing.

“What is it?”

“Your boots, Albedo! Your boots. Take them off. You act like you’ve never slept before.”

He sighed and sat back up, tugging them off and tossing them to the side, “I will admit, it had been a very long time. I normally… subsist off of naps and the like.”

“That’s a problem. This is why Sucrose and Timmaeus were worried,” she yawned.

“I probably won’t even be able to fall asleep. My body probably forgets how to.”

“It will remember. You likely don’t even realize how tired you are if that’s how little you do it. I bet you would get a lot more done if you slept more. Your mind needs rest, you know.”

Albedo finally flopped down on his bedroll, turning onto his side so he could face her.

“Now, will you be able to sleep?”

“Yup,” she said, closing her eyes, “Because I won’t be worrying about you anymore.”

Albedo was planning on turning over and waiting at least five minutes until she was out, but for some reason he was frozen and stuck to watch her as she slowly drifted away. There was something entrancing about the words she had spoken, the way she had sighed them out, the way her breath was now slowing, how her smile eventually softened until her mouth was a neutral, straight line. They were near the fire, but she still looked cold. Albedo felt an urge to sit up and take off his coat so she could use it as another blanket, but didn’t want to disturb her by moving.

She said she couldn’t sleep if he didn’t sleep, right? Then perhaps he should just wait it out a little longer…

When the sun came through the cave’s opening, Albedo gave up pretending and got up. He had wasted hours laying about, feeling all too aware of time’s passage and yet unable to shut his eyes for long and succumb to the clock’s hands rushing over him. He watched the sky turn from gray to orange to a light lavender color before he went about making breakfast, simultaneously working on the potions he had spent all night deliberating in his restless state.

When Lumine woke up, it was to the smell of eggs and the sight of Albedo drinking from a mysterious blue concoction.

“Good morning, sleep well?” He said, bringing it to eye level as he swirled it around.

“Yes, very. And you?”

“Hm… Can’t recall.”

“What are you doing?”

“Testing out a new concoction before I give it to you. No immediate side effects…”

She sighed and walked over to him, “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Use yourself as a test subject.”

“There’s no concern really, I do this all the time. And my calculations have never been wrong. It’s just a precaution for my experiment’s sake.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean it won’t have any lasting consequences on you,” she said, leaning against the work table, “What time do you want to set out?”

“I would like to take some more time to examine the effects of the potion, so let’s wait some time after breakfast. I should determine by then whether it is safe for you to drink and then we can head towards the lake.”

Lumine gently shook Paimon awake, somewhat surprised the pixie didn’t wake up at the smell of food or the first sizzle of the egg and meats, and Albedo put aside his work to prepare three plates. Any raw food that was caught Lumine knew to store in the icebox Albedo had built near the entrance of the cave, so she had placed some in there last night. She also carried in her pack plenty of preservatives, like jam and sausage from the markets in Mondstadt. The eggs were always tricky to carry up the mountain, but Lumine must have found some on her travels to his campsite and put those in the box too. Albedo made sure not to use too much of the supplies, even if she seemed to be graciously donating them, so they would be sure to have some for lunch and dinner. It was rare to find boars where they would be going, but if they were lucky instead of slimes they might encounter some fish or fowl near the water.

Lumine noticed Albedo was very careful and meticulous when eating. Rather than savoring each bite, he seemed to be analyzing it. He was probably checking to make sure the potion he had consumed had not caused any strange reaction to his tongue, or his stomach wasn’t currently twisting into knots, she reasoned. If it wasn’t impractical and wouldn’t have taken a million years to do, she imagined he would be writing down an observation after every bite.

When they had finished and cleaned up their plates, Albedo went back over to the potion and measured the dosage in a vial for Lumine to drink.

“A bit archaic to make you drink straight from the beaker,” he joked, “Try not to accidentally drop the glassware in your mouth.”

“I won’t,” she remarked dryly before swashing the thing back like a shot of alcohol. Her head came back up, and from the way her lips were twitching, he could tell she was trying to resist making a disgusted face, “So, no side effects?”

“Not that I am currently aware of. But, you trusted me last time, and I have never once made a mistake. I think we are good to set out now.”

“So, what will the potion do to me, exactly?” She asked as they walked down the path together. Paimon was with them, but instead of exposing herself to the cold, she had warped into her other dimension. She only stayed out in Dragonspire when Lumine and her were alone, and saw no reason to risk freezing to death if Albedo was there to watch over the traveler.

“Increase your speed, boost your stamina, the usual. I would like to see you use it with a more aerial sense in battle, though. I want to see if it has any effect on your Anemo abilities. If you feel any strange boost or find yourself able to create longer gusts, let me know.”

“Would you like me to try and jump into one of my whirlwinds then? I’ve normally never been fast enough to pull out my glider after I launch one of them.”

“If you would like to try that, certainly. Maybe see how large you can create the whirlwind too. I am tempted to try and see if we can launch you into the sky.”

“We might need one of your flowers to do that, Albedo,” she laughed behind her hand.

“Well then, it is a good thing I drank the potion too, didn’t I? Although I’m afraid it might be wearing off on me already.”

Albedo was standing atop some rocks at the base of the mountain, as Lumine finished up her fight with several dozen cryo slimes near the shore of the lake. Paimon had emerged from her portal and was watching the combat alongside him, cheering on Lumine. The pixie also decided to stay near him because she had remarked upon him being warm, so he let her hover close to his shoulder and hold onto his coat. She celebrated with a loud shout when she struck the final slime and it exploded in a burst of ice.

Sadly, there wasn’t much to note, although it was good data for the start of the experiment. Right now, Lumine only seemed to get a few feet higher when she jumped off the rocks, and she had only succeeded to launch herself into the air with her whirlwind once without the help of any Anemo spirits to create a gust. Even then, she had only managed to fly for a few seconds before one of the slimes she had swept up knocked into her and she was thrown out of it. Maybe the solution wasn’t in seeing if her Anemo power was boosted, but in seeing if she felt any different power boosted.

“Lumine,” he called out before she could summon her sword away, “How are you feeling? Any differences?”

She turned her arms over and twisted to look down her back and her calves, “Not… really? I suppose I was a bit stronger and faster during this fight. Using Anemo on cryoslimes is not the best, so when more kept coming, I used my sword more. I guess it increased my reflexes. I do feel more… awake, if anything.”

“I see…”

“Sorry, I know you were probably looking for more-”

“No need to apologize. It’s only the beginning of the day, and besides, any data is better than no data. Although, I do have a question for you. I know it’s a sensitive topic, but before you came to this world, did you have power similar to ones granted by Anemo visions? Like control of the winds, or maybe even the ability to move things like heat and cold through space, like from one hand to another?”

He held up his palms so they were facing each other. She walked over, dragging her sword a bit in the snow when she came to a stop.

“I… guess? I honestly didn’t think about categorizing my powers until I got to this world, because while not everyone shares the same universal power but different elements of power, my power was just always… everything. It was constant. It was more like…”

She flashed her sword out of existence and back into it, the glow of golden light disappearing and reappearing in her hand, “Like how we store weapons before we use them in this world. The light… kind of like how the stars fall. Aether and I had wings, but they weren’t powered by currents or anything. We could fly because of the light and when we travelled over worlds and fell into new ones, we followed the falling stars and rocks as they soared over planets. If they fell, we fell.”

“So summoning wind from your palm is not something you were familiar with until you came here?”

“No, I was suddenly able to use the power after I reached the first Anemo statue. It was just… there suddenly. Like if I put my hand out long enough, and thought to do it, I could.”

“Was it the same natural feeling you got from your old powers?”

“In… a way… yes? I don’t need to think that hard to do it. Although I can’t make wings out of wind or float simply because it is there. I need to find to find a current and jump off, only then can I follow it and then-”

“It seems to me,” Albedo said, cutting her off as he swiftly drew a sharp line across his page, “What we might be getting at is a breakthrough.”

“Really?” Lumine leaned in.

“Yes. I will have to revise my planned tests slightly, but I think that maybe, if we were to categorize your original power into anything, it would be ‘energy’. Go more specific, and you could call it ‘light’. There is an old story that outlanders would cut through the realm of our gods to visit our skies, and since there is the belief that Celesita exists in a layer above where our skies reside. Although some see it as simply the clouds, based on the power our gods hold and the recovered texts from the Archon War about where they slept, it’s possible it is another dimension, like where our swords go.”

Albedo flexed his hand out, and summoned his own sword.

“We can only do this much, with other dimensions. Only a fraction of what the gods can do, who are masters of their element, and thus use far more energy than any of us with visions. If one were to cut through Celestia to another world, wouldn’t they need just as much energy as a god to do so?”

“Are you saying I’m more powerful than a god?”

“I’m saying perhaps your power is like a god.”

“Right,” Lumine bit the inside of her cheek. If she was more powerful, then she wouldn’t have been stopped by that god who took Aether away.

“And if you do not recall having any separate elemental powers, it might be possible the only way to achieve the energy you seek, to get closer to light, is to combine all of them at once. You can use Geo, correct?”

“Yes, although normally I must visit a statue and gain power…” she trailed off, realizing dawning, “Would it be energy that I gain from the statue?”

“Precisely,” Albedo closed his sketchbook resolutely, “It might be a bit much, but could you try summoning your Geo powers now? Without visiting the statue, if anything, you can try touching my vision to see if it helps.”

She stepped back a bit, leaving enough space between her and the rocks. Then focusing her hand, she tried to raise out from the ground the meteorites she normally could feel underneath it. Now that she thought of her power as energy, she could feel it along her fingertips, not quite sparking, but the waves of it around her rolling off and over his skin. It was… familiar.

She focused herself and then raised her hand high. Rather than a large rock bursting from the ground, a small ring of pebbles seemed to jump out from a crack in the path, and dance for a minute before falling with a soft patter. It was… disappointing, but then again she had never tried that without visiting the Geo Archon’s statue first. And while she was still wielding wind too… Using her other hand, she summoned a small gale that swirling in her palm, almost like an Eye of the Storm.

“Excellent!” Albedo exclaimed.

“It could be stronger. Maybe I was able to do it because I’ve been around you with your vision all day?”

“It’s a possibility. And you can still use Anemo, so it’s not like it turned off a switch entirely,” He started to hop down from the rocks, “We should try going somewhere else where there is more earth, and less water. It might be affecting what you can pull from the ground. And then we should try and figure out if there is anyway you can combine Geo and Anemo together, not just as separate attacks together, but as one combined element-”

Albedo’s legs gave out and he collapsed. He tried to stop his face from hitting the ground, but his arms felt sluggish and he was holding his sketchbook. It fell out of his hands and bounced open onto the snow, the pages getting wet with the icy crystals as his face scraped against the path.

Lumine and Paimon rushed towards him, “Albedo!”

He tried to push himself up. Lumine’s hands were panicking above his shoulders, like she didn’t know where to place them. He managed to get a few inches up before he felt his entire body pulse with heat, and his energy was sapped out of him in a burst and he fell forward again. Lumine grabbed him around his back and helped him sit up, kneeling next to him in the cold snow while Paimon nervously picked up the book and the fallen chalk. Lumine reached up to brush the snow out of his face and then pulled her hand back as if she had been burned. Then she slowly brought it back and pressed it over his skin.

“Albedo, you’re burning up! And sweating, what happened?”

He was sweating? Now that was strange, why hadn’t he noticed? He never sweats, he thought his skin wasn’t capable of perspiring-

“I… I don’t know. I didn’t notice-”

Being born… of different means than humans of this world conventionally were, Albedo often did not feel or take note of changes in his body as normal people would. He did not hunger, but had to eat. He did not thirst, but needed to drink. Sleep was a wild card. For as long as he had known, he had not truly ever slept but only ever meditated through it. He could grow tired though, but his experience of tiredness was closer to boredom of the day rather than drowsiness. He could always supplement the need for sleep though, gaining energy from other means, through chemicals or foods. When he put chemicals inside his body, he did feel a reaction, did feel them bubbling and changing his biology slightly as he processed them.

As such, he did not have internal messages signalling his body when he should do these things, but had developed a routine from when he was living amongst people, dorming with the knights, spending time with Klee, that kept him remembering to do such things. So, when his temperature changed- didn’t Paimon say something earlier?- or if his knees had begun to weaken, he hadn’t noticed until his body stopped.

He had always been somewhat fearful of this, of what would happen if he just stopped one day. If his body didn’t get enough energy and he froze, like the golems or other failed beings of clay and chalk that he remembered from his earliest memories in his master’s laboratory. Unanimated beings that either never walked or froze before their final step over the threshold.

“Is it the potion?” Lumine asked, as Albedo forced his mind to take stock of his symptoms. He reached out for his sketchbook, his hand flailing in the air and gasped.

“My… notes. I need to see… I can’t remember… what I put inside…”

“The notes, Paimon, the notes!”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” The pixie squeaked as she struggled to hold the book and flip through all the pages, “Where was it written? This morning? Most recent?”

She hovered close enough to them that Albedo was able to grasp it and tug it away from her. He dropped it open on the ground, and leaning over, he began to flip through it frantically, despite the sluggish, painful feeling in his wrist as he moved. He felt like he was melting. Was he finally falling apart at the seams?

A hand came over top to help guide him, and Albedo’s body jolted again as if his heart sent an earthquake through his entire body. He was feeling… strange, and that in it of itself was concerning because he should never be feeling anything. They landed on the page of his potion notes, and he started to drag his finger down along the paper, hissing and pulling back when the feeling of the leather glove rubbing against the pad of his finger became a burning, shocking stimulation.

Wait, stimulation?

The potion was meant to heighten senses- awareness- and boost stamina… I measured the valberry extract to the sixth line...  the wolfhook and sweet flowers I made sure to grind finely and-

Shit, Albedo realized, as he became more and more distracted by Lumine’s hands on his shoulder, one still around his wrist as she tried to pry his hand off his face, I swore I cleaned the beakers perfectly last night. But, if there was any residue leftover then with what I created yesterday may have accidentally been a very slow acting-

“An aphrodisiac,” he confessed, spitting the words out into the snow, “I messed up and created an aphrodisiac. It will probably hit you within thirty minutes considering the time between which we both drank them, but your metabolism might be faster than mine in which case I need to get back to camp and you need to leave the mountain and go-”

“Albedo, I’m not leaving you. Let me help you back to camp.”

He pushed her hands off and swatted her away. He tried to get up and walk, but his legs gave out again.

“Dammit, why?”

“If it was boosting Lumine’s speed, why is it making you unable to walk, Albedo?” Paimon asked.

“Probably because my muscles weren’t built for this kind of stimulation,” he muttered, forcing himself upright again. He didn’t like where his nerves were alighting on his body. His master didn’t create a human, but rather a very close approximation to one. Albedo did not like finding out this late into his time walking the earth that he was created with the capacity for sexual desire and that his first time experiencing any such urges were insanely heightened due to his mistake. He especially did not want Lumine to be subjected to whatever his confused and boggled mind attempted to do once he gained control of his muscles but his brain began running on more animalistic desires, “You both need to go back to Mondstadt, get Sucrose or Timmaeus, preferably. I can probably make an antidote if I get back to the campsite but-”

He heard Lumine’s footsteps crunching in the snow before he saw her. She ran in front of him and had Paimon help coax him onto her back so she could carry him. He could do little to resist in this state, as she pulled him and hooked his arms around her neck.

“I’m not leaving you, Albedo. Besides, if you’re this bad right now, I doubt you’ll be able to make an antidote.”

“Then Sucrose or Timmaeus would be able to-”

“We don’t know how long this will last. You said it yourself that you expected the potion to wear off on you before we arrived at the lake. It might only be for a few minutes. Let’s just get back to camp.”

She quickly surged forward down the path they had come, despite the extra weight on her shoulders. Paimon picked up the sketchbook and pack that had been left behind, hurrying to catch up with them.

It did not wear off within a few minutes.

“Albedo, sit down,” Lumine said, her arms crossed as she stared at the man from across the room.

“I need to finish this.”

They dropped Albedo onto the cave floor before arguing about what to do. Paimon ended up flying back through the snow towards the adventurer camp, hoping that Sucrose would be there and not all the way back at the alchemist’s shop in Mondstadt. She took a copy of the notes in Albedo’s sketchbook with her, and flew out the cave with a blessing from Lumine that she wouldn’t freeze to death or be captured by a Fatui before she made it down the mountain. Once she was gone, Albedo had almost immediately forced his way to his workbench, and had been struggling with shaking hands to pour and measure chemicals for the past fifteen minutes.

“You’re not going to get anything done in this state.”

A storm was already brewing outside. It was only midday. There wasn’t much chance of Paimon making it back up by herself at this rate, at least not until the next morning.

Albedo tried to fill the beaker to the top line, but it overflowed and spilled on his hand. His gloves began to corrode slightly-

“Shit, I grabbed the wrong-!” he cursed, fumbling to take it off. Lumine rushed over and grabbed his arm, trying to stop  him from flailing as she peeled the black leather off. He tried to swat her away again, shouting, “No, stay back! I’ll be fine just-”

A beaker from one of the crates under the table had rolled out in the commotion, and Albedo walked back into it, tripping and tugging them both down on the ground. The beaker shattered on the stone floor underneath them. Dazed, Albedo tried to brush his other hand over it, but Lumine slapped him away.

“You’re not fine!” Lumine hissed, shutting him down, “So let me help you!”

“I can’t,” he muttered as she finally tore the glove off of his skin, “You’re likely going to begin experiencing the effects soon. I can’t subject you to my mistake-”

“We’ll get through it together. If I only have a few minutes left, then all the better you let me help you so we can both get comfortable. It will eventually wear off, right?”

“I’ve never made a potion that had permanent enhancements. If we’re lucky, it’ll be gone from our system before dawn. That’s… still over twelve hours though.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll figure it out. We’ll need to eat soon, so I should start preparing something. Or would that slow down how fast we dispel it?”

“I don’t think it will have… urk… any significant effect. Besides, we might suffer more if we’re experiencing starvation during it.”

“Alright, then-” she looked around the cave for a second before turning back to him. To Albedo’s mind, her face looked too big, like it was bulging towards him. Her eyes were huge and doe-like, and he- “I’ll need to clean up the glass… Albedo?”

He reached out and fisted his hands in the skirt of her dress. He couldn’t control himself, and his body was begging him to get close to her. Without a word, he leaned forward and curled up against her so he could rest her head near her collarbone. With only one hand still covered by his glove, he could feel the silk of her dress, every yarn and every fiber stretched and worn thin from her time in their world. The way the slippery fabric bunched up in his grip, the way its water-like texture did little to conceal the shape underneath. His fists tightened, and his knuckles bumped against her thigh that was resting just beneath the fabric, tempting him as he felt his own clothing becoming uncomfortably tight.

“I… I’m sorry,” he rasped, “This is why I said you need to get away from me… It… It hurts but when I’m near you-”

“Does it lessen the pain?” She asked.

“No,” he confessed, “It worsens it.”

“Why?”

“Because… I can’t control myself… This stupid chemical, it’s making my body… want things. Things that would be wrong of me to do in this state, and things that would be especially wrong once you’re under its spell too… I’m scared that I’m going to hurt you, and that you’re going to hate me-”

She took his hand, “I could never hate you, Albedo.”

She pressed her forehead against his, and he let out a soft cry as he felt his body getting hotter from the touch. Then, with horror, he realized that it was because she had begun to run hot too.

Lumine only managed to put together sandwiches before her body began to shake violently, her muscles just starting to act against her. Albedo guided her away from the fire before she could try and force herself to cook near the fire, and set her down on her bedroll. He winced when her body fell back against him, her hair brushing against his cheek and her scent overwhelming his senses.

He had hoped she would have a lesser reaction to the chemical, that maybe by some miracle, she would remain level-headed despite it all.

Instead, it was three times worse.

Albedo stood against the wall of the cave, far away from Lumine as she writhed under the blankets, the texture screaming against her body as she cried out confused. She couldn’t sleep, it was almost painful how hot her body was burning, and all she could think was how alone she felt.

“Albedo-”

“No.”

“Albedo, please-”

“I can’t. I don’t… I don’t want to hurt you.”

From afar, he was trying to take note of her symptoms, trying to pass the time by cataloging it in his head. Her biology always appeared remarkably similar to the humans of this world, was this accident now showing the true differences between her body’s internal workings and their design? Or was it just because of the chemical differences since she was a female and-

Or was it because he wasn’t really human? Was she having a normal reaction, and was it just dulled by his fabricated biology. His symptoms hadn’t lessened since they arrived, but he was getting better at masking them. His thoughts, however…

Her skin.

She wants you.

It’ll feel better if you both….

Just get it over with-

He shifted uncomfortably and turned towards the storm outside. Thinking about biology in a time like this was a mistake. If he lost control and found he had done something terrible to her during this state he put her in, he would throw himself off of Dragonspire and let himself stop working. He would bury himself so deep in the snow he couldn’t claw his way out of it. He would kill himself if he-

“Albedo, please,” Lumine whimpered, reaching her hand up towards the cave’s ceiling, “I’m scared.”

“I know,” he sighed, his voice echoing across the rocks, “I’m sorry that I did this to you.”

“No, I’m… scared of leaving this world.”

He looked towards her confused, “Although I made a mistake with the chemicals, it shouldn’t be fatal-”

“No, I’m… I’m scared that in order to find Aether, I’m going to have to leave everyone… and I won’t find a way to return.”

He was silent, and just looked towards her. Her hand was still reaching up towards the stalactites stretching down, and slowly she closed her hand into a fist as if she had grasped something he couldn’t see.

“I’m an outlander… everyone says that, they call me ‘ the Traveler’. I know I’m not from this world but… I don’t like being alone. I’ve never been alone until I came here.”

“You’re not alone,” he muttered, “You have many friends who would gladly give their lives for you, and you have Paimon-”

“But they all keep reminding me of why I’m here!” she cried, her other hand coming up to grab a fistful of her hair, “I know I need to look for my brother, I know Aether’s somewhere out there, alone too and scared probably, but- whenever I start to feel happy, whenever I start to get my mind off of him and start to enjoy this world, I feel like someone leaves me. Whether it’s Amber or Kaeya leaving me after a mission, Venti disappearing after we beat Dvalin, or Rex Lapis-” she choked on a sob.

“But, you are from another world. You have other goals. You came here yourself because you wanted to investigate-”

“I lied.”

Albedo sat up, his back sliding up the rough wall as he pushed himself to his feet.

“I need to find Aether, I want to. But, I’m tired of people reminding me what I need to do. Of Paimon telling me I need to be more focused, or people promising me they’ll try to find a lead when I know from their face they think it’s fruitless. I didn’t come up here to look for Aether, I came up here to look for.... To look for you.

“Don’t you get lonely too?” She mumbled, her voice breaking, “You always talk about how alike we are… I don’t quite understand but, I thought you may be tired of being alone, only because people think it’s what you want.”

“It appears that the potion is having other effects on you.”

“Albedo-”

“You’re delirious, right now-”

“Albedo-”

“You need to sleep-”

“Don’t you remember what I told you last night? I can’t sleep unless I know you’re sleeping too.”

He crossed his arms and shifted again. She heard the rustle of the fabric all too clearly, it was like a ringing in her ears from how much her senses were heightened.

“I… can’t sleep.”

“I know that it will be hard but-”

“No, I mean that… I’m unable to.”

“Albedo, that’s not funny. You may think of yourself like a god but you’re-”

“I’m not. I’m not human,” he confessed. The words were like fire, they spat out of his mouth as if they had been choking him for a long time, and left his throat torn up and hurting, and so he couldn’t stop. He spat more and more- is this how Lumine was feeling? He was babbling now, he knew it, but he couldn’t stop, “I can’t explain it to you. But I was born in this world, but I’m not of it. I was created but-”

“So that’s why.”

He lifted his head, and she was there suddenly. How long had he been talking for that he hadn’t noticed? She was standing in front of him, a blanket thrown over her shoulders, and her hand was reaching out again. Her knees were shaking, her arm was trembling as she offered it out to him, but she was smiling even through the pain in her eyes.

“That’s why you always talk about being different. Why you act like you’re afraid-”

“I’m not afraid,” he lied, looking away.

“It’s okay, you’re right. I don’t quite understand it. I won’t unless you tell me about it, but I don't want to force you to. But, no matter what it is, I’m not afraid of you.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I trust you, Albedo. I know you’re not going to hurt me.”

“Not now, I mean… I don’t want to hurt you, or anyone, if one day I lose control-”

“You won’t, because I know you won’t. And if you ever think you’re going to, I’ll come to your side to tell you it’s okay.”

“You’ll be gone by then,” he said, tucking his chin against his chest as he hid his face in his arms.

“I’ll come back then. Or… I won’t leave until I know you’re okay, until you feel it’s time for me to go.”

“I can’t do that. I can’t keep you from finding your brother…”

“Aether and I will find each other when the time comes. As much as I try to scour all of Teyvat to find him, the longer I find nothing, the more that feeling in my heart grows, that maybe… this was supposed to be, and when the time is at its end, we will meet again.”

Albedo wanted to laugh. Words felt like cotton balls in his mouth and his ears now.

“We sound like we’re speaking nonsense. Neither of us know exactly what the other is talking about.”

“That’s what tiredness does to your brain. You need rest.”

“I told you, I can’t sleep. And I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I think you can sleep. And I trust you. You won’t. Come on.”

“Don’t you know what an aphrodisiac does to a person? If we touch each other any more, it’ll be worse for both of us-”

She resolutely grabbed his wrist, tugging him to his feet. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line, and her eyes were angry and teary as she dragged him with shaking legs towards their bedrolls. She stepped over his and stood on top of hers, their arms still connected in the space between them. Then she let go, only to reach up and shove him down onto his.

“You sleep there, I sleep here. Just like last night,” her voice was warbling. The physical contact had done more to her than she had thought.

“I didn’t sleep last night, I won’t sleep again. I’ve known this, Lumine.”

“You can try. Try for me. Relax,” she said, flopping down and stretching out so she faced him.

He mimicked her, turning onto his side so they were face to face again. Suddenly, the space between them seemed very small, and he felt terrified. He started to get up.

“This isn’t a good idea, I might-”

“Albedo, you have the most self-control out of anyone I know. I trust you,” she grabbed his hand again, and held it against the rocky floor not covered by the blankets beneath them, “Try and breathe with me-”

“I cannot breathe-”

“-Then try and think with me. Not about equations or chemicals or experiments or the universe, just think about what you want to do. Shut your eyes, and think about Mondstadt.”

He felt it was pointless, but followed her directions anyway. To amuse her. It was better than focusing on her skin brushing against his as she rubbed her thumb over her knuckles.

“What do you want to do when you return? You’ll walk through the gates, down the stone path… Will you pass by the blacksmith or Flora’s shop? Or will you go up the stairs and go straight towards the Knights? Will you visit the statue first? Who will you run into as you walk? Who will run up to greet you when they hear the word that you're back?”

“...Hm… Klee might… if she’s not on a mission or in confinement.”

“Have you ever climbed the statue and looked out over the town? Or what about the Cathedral? Have you ever scaled its walls and looked across the water at the rest of Mondstadt? At the cliffs, towards Brightcrown Canyon? Have you seen the flowers that grow underneath the cathedral, outside the walls on the small bits of cliff that haven’t been covered up by stone? They’re so high up above the water, and there’s so little space to walk at some points, but they grow anyway.”

“I’ll admit, I haven’t done any of those things,” he said, his eyes still closed, “I imagine you have?”

“I have. I’ve climbed to the tallest spire of the cathedral. I’ve sat in the statue's hands and felt the wind. I’ve jumped off both of them into the wind, and sometimes I soar to the tops of rooftops, other times I soar across the waters high up in the clouds. I’ve picked dandelion seeds from the flowers along the cliffs. Can you imagine the way the grass and the water looks from afar when the sun rises on a new day?”

“I’ve sketched some landscapes near Springvale, and some in Brightcrown Canyon. I usually try to make it green with lots of yellows, the water often has a red tint to it as the sun casts over it, almost purplish.”

“Yes, and if that’s how the water looks over there, can you imagine how it looks from high up? When you’re soaring over the clouds and looking down as you pass over an entire lake? Can you imagine the colors you would see there?”

He could. In what had always been darkness behind his eyelids, there now was something gray. It was fuzzy and distant, but he felt shapes, could almost see reds and blues dancing and converging into a green. It was like there was a door at the end of the darkness, and he was taking his first steps towards it. He hesitated though. He wasn’t human. Going to sleep meant stopping. What if he never woke up again?

“I’m afraid that…” he said slowly, “because of my Geo vision, I’ve always kept close to the ground… I don’t get to see the sights you Anemo folk always get to witness.”

“It’s not about visions at all. Amber is one of the best gliders I know, and she’s got a Pyro vision.”

“Still,” he chuckled, “I’m sure Lord Barbatos looks down on you kindly, giving you the extra wind you need to see such wonderful sights.”

“Then maybe, if I take you with me,” she yawned, “we’ll visit the statue first. Barbatos will lift us up so we can reach the top of the Cathedral easily. Then, I’ll take your hand like this and together we can fly from there to Brightcrown, or all the way to Stormterror’s Lair…”

He welcomed himself to a feeling he had never felt before, “Why wait until then? Together, we could soar off the peak of Dragonspire together… Fly over all the mountains until we reach the ends of Teyvat…”

“I would love that.”

The last thing he felt was a squeeze of his hand, and for a moment, in that darkness, he could swear he saw her standing next to him. She held his hand in hers before she disappeared like a cloud of chalk, and then, before he could resist anymore, he turned and walked forward through the doorway of light.

Sucrose and Paimon climbed the mountain at dawn. They found Lumine awake and picking up shards of glass from the floor, shushing them as she gestured to the figure still asleep on the floor. She ushered them outside, and spoke to them there. She was still a bit dizzy from the effects of the concoction, but Sucrose predicted that within the hour it should finish leaving her system. The two went back down the mountain in peace, waiting at the researcher’s camp for whenever Albedo awoke, as Lumine promised she would come down the mountain together with him.

While Albedo had slept all through the night, Lumine had woken up in stages, first to her stomach growling, then to her body demanding water. She managed to quietly fish supplies out from her pack, and tended to the fire when it began to blow out. As much as her body was alight with hormones unleashed by the chemicals sparking them alive, she restrained herself from any rash actions when she watched her companion’s sleeping form.

It was a much stronger satisfaction to see him experiencing his first dream- far stronger than anything carnal her brain could surmise.

When Albedo did awake, it was strange. He was sluggish, his body was cold, and it was without the touch of the hand he fell asleep holding. When he sat up, Lumine came rushing to his side, immediately making sure he was alright. He had to smile at her fretting, because there was nothing to worry about.

He had never felt so calm in his entire life.

They ate and then packed up the camp. They wouldn’t be leaving permanently, but they tucked away any valuables, and Albedo examined the state of his sketchbook. Then, the two of them made their way up the mountain, climbing through a path in the Entombed City to the peak. Lumine took care of any monsters, and Albedo used his flowers to lift them up in the broken ruins of the caves. When they reached the top, together they walked through the broken archway near the summit’s edge, and Albedo slipped his hand into hers.

They jumped, but instead of falling broken into the snow, the wind buffeted his face, and the clouds and the fog swirled over his skin. When their wings caught and the drop abruptly stopped, he opened his eyes, and he gazed out over the horizon, his eyes grew wide and he gasped.

For the first time, he sought to commit something besides chemicals to his memory, and he longed to see it tonight in his next dream.