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Albedo and Kaeya had been together for awhile now, Kaeya remembered. Almost 2 years of him teasing Albedo, laughing at his blush while hiding his own, spending time wrapped in each others arms and legs, tied up like ribbons.
Kaeya remembered their first kiss under the Windrise tree, surrounded by the trails of crystalflies and glow of lamp light grasses. He remembered all the kisses that came after, in the library, on Dragonspine, against his neck, on Albedo's back.
Leaning his head against the stone wall, Kaeya smiled at the thought of everything they had done together since then. Klee had come to describe Kaeya as 'Albedo's boyfriend', a term that never failed to bring heat to his face.
Being on patrol in Mondstadt during the middle of the day was really quite boring. Thinking about Albedo was one way he could distract his mind while walking the streets.
A sudden ringing. Kaeya couldn't hear anything anymore. What had happened?
The high-pitched ringing faded as Kaeya turned around, and saw people dashing out of their houses, cradling children, clutching their ears. Shouts of concern filled his ears and gradually, the world was brought back into view.
It took Kaeya a while to realize that every single window had shattered, all at once. Shards of glass lay on the ground, reflecting the sun. People gathered together, whispering behind their hands. Everyone seemed discombobulated, not sure what had happened.
The other Knights of Favonius gathered around Kaeya, all asking questions. Slowly, regular citizens filled up the spaces as well, throwing questions around.
"What just happened?"
"My ears— I can't hear anything!"
"Where should we report? Does Acting Grandmaster Jean know anything about this?"
"I heard it come from Dragonspine, a loud boom, but then all I heard was ringing."
Kaeya waved his hand and people stopped speaking, turning to Kaeya as the closest person with the most authority.
"Please calm down." Kaeya forced out, through the shrill buzz in his ears. "All the Knights of Favonius, return to the Headquarters and give Master Jean a calm, and orderly account of what you heard and what happened to you."
The Knights, sun still reflecting off their polished armor, left. A few of them were still holding their ears. Kaeya watched them leave, a slow sludge in his brain that felt like it was preventing him from forming a coherent thought.
"What about us?" A civilian cried.
"Don't worry. I want you all to go back inside, being careful about the shattered glass. If you can keep your children safe and away while some of you clean it up to avoid injury, that is the best option. If not, please stay safe inside your homes and protect your families. A notice will be out from the Knights of Favonius about this incident soon."
The civilians left, muttering to each other and retreating to their homes. Hopefully, Kaeya thought, their children would be safe.
Klee! She most likely hadn't had anyone watching over her when the explosion happened. Kaeya's heart raced as he turned in a circle, looking for the little girl.
Luckily for him, Klee raced out from behind a corner where she was hiding, apparently. Kaeya bent down on one knee and wiped some soot off of her round face, eyes searching her for any hint of injury.
"Kaeya!" Klee cried, tears lining her eyes. "Klee heard that the big big explosion came from Dragonspine. Boyfriend Albedo was on the mountain when it went boom!"
Kaeya stood up, feeling his face go pale. If Albedo had been hurt...
"Please go find him, Kaeya," Klee asked, reaching up towards him.
Kaeya quickly made sure that Klee was safely heading towards Jean's office building before racing away, out of Mondstadt, trees covered in ash blurring past him.
The gates disappeared in the wake of his feet, faster and faster. The sky melted into a gray-blue as Kaeya entered Dragonspine, feeling the cold bite at his collarbone. There remained a faint ringing noise around this area, just faint enough that Kaeya could only hear it if he stopped breathing and moving and just focused.
Perhaps Albedo had been at his laboratory. That little cave full of warmth, where Kaeya liked to hide when Jean was mad at him, or needed to recover from a hangover. He prayed to any archon that might be listening that Albedo was still there.
Kaeya skidded to a halt in front of the laboratory, and shivered. None of the lamps were lit, all of the fires were put out. The cave still had the faintest trace of warmth, leading him to believe that the fires had been extinguished by the explosion of noise.
"Kaeya?" A faint voice called. Kaeya spun around, searching for the sound of the voice. "I'm over here."
Kaeya climbed through the fallen bookcases and found Sucrose, her light green hair covered in dust. He carefully pulled her out, trying to ignore his growing worry for Albedo.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thank you." Sucrose coughed twice, adjusting her glasses.
"Do you know where Albedo is?" Kaeya asked quickly, growing increasingly nervous at his continued absence. He had been so sure that Albedo would be right here.
"Kaeya, he was near the heart of Dragonspine when the explosion went off. At least, that's where he said he was going." Sucrose whispered, her voice hoarse. Kaeya turned to leave, but Sucrose grasped his arm to stop him from going. "There's one last thing, Kaeya."
"What is it?" Kaeya asked, a bit impatiently. He immediately regretted it, but Sucrose didn't seem to notice.
"The explosion came from the heart of Dragonspine, Kaeya."
---
"Kaeya, do you ever think about what Khaenri'ah was like?" Albedo asked, tilting his chin up towards the sun. Kaeya almost didn't process what he had said, he was so busy admiring the way the sun reflected the gold in Albedo's eyes.
Honestly, Kaeya was quite glad that Albedo had told him about his past in Khaenri'ah. It had finally given him the chance to open up and tell someone a secret he had kept for centuries.
"Khaenri'ah is a distant memory. All I need now is you, Albedo."
Albedo turned his head to look at Kaeya, a nervous look on his face. The sun flickered as clouds moved over it.
"Kaeya, if I ever—" Albedo breathed in, once, twice, and Kaeya fell in love with the way his throat moved. "If I ever lose control, will you stop me?"
"What do you mean? Lose control?" Kaeya had never heard of Albedo talking like this. He wasn't even sure what Albedo meant. He was always in control.
"It will happen, soon, I'm sure. I can feel it." Albedo told Kaeya, eyes wide-open in seriousness. "Please, I need to know that you'll stop me. Promise."
"I promise, Albedo. I'll stop you."
---
Kaeya found himself thinking of that distant memory, all those years ago, hands intertwined under the shade of a tree. He ran faster, fearing the worst. Was this what Albedo had talked about?
A pulse throbbed under his feet as Kaeya neared the heart of Dragonspine. He entered the cave, eyes awash with red light, and looked down.
Albedo.
He lay on the floor of the cavern, blonde hair and pale skin tinted red. His eyes were halfway closed, a sliver of teal peeking out from under eyelashes tinged with red. Kaeya rushed forward to Albedo's side, one hand on his head, other hand on his chest.
Kaeya moved his hand down Albedo's body, checking for injuries, and his hand came away powdered in chalk dust. He looked down and saw that there was a horrific gash on one side, tearing through Albedo's clothes. White powder spilled onto the floor, ice white against the veiny red floor.
"Albedo— Albedo!" Kaeya shook Albedo's shoulders, begging him to open his eyes.
"Kaeya?"
Kaeya looked down again, and took a closer look. Veins of black had crawled their way up Albedo's smooth white throat, and were growing around the edges of his jawline. Albedo held up one hand and put it in Kaeya's grasp, and Kaeya saw that his fingertips were crisscrossed with black veins.
"Kaeya, why didn't you come earlier?" Albedo whispered, his voice rough. His eyes opened a little farther, just enough for Kaeya to see that the outsides of his irises were surrounded with spiky black.
"I came as quickly as I could, whatever do you mean?" Kaeya grasped Albedo's hand and ran a thumb over one cheekbone. He tried to ignore how the black veins skated farther up Albedo's cheekbone and focused on his words.
"I told you to stop me." Albedo said, his voice taking on a hint of anger. "Why didn't you?"
"I tried, I didn't know." Kaeya told Albedo, still not sure what was happening. "Forgive me, I didn't know."
Spiders of black veins traveled up Albedo's arms, moving faster and faster. Veins had appeared on the sides of his face, and were making their way into the roots of his hair, bleeding into the area around each vein, staining it black.
The hand Kaeya was holding started to dissolve into white chalk, fingertips and then knuckles disappearing under Kaeya's grasp. He grabbed on, tighter, trying desperately to hold on.
"I trusted you, Kaeya." Albedo whispered again, apparently too tired to speak above more than a faint rasp. "I trusted you, and you came too late."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Kaeya pleaded, feeling silver tears line his eyes.
"I'm so tired." Albedo said, his eyes fluttering shut. "Kaeya, please listen to me."
"Albedo, please don't go, please. I already found you again, I can't lose you for the second time." Kaeya begged, cradling Albedo's body in his arms, trying desperately to hold on to the flakes of chalk.
"Kaeya, I found you again after almost 500 years. If this was the time we were allowed, so be it." Albedo said, a soft smile coming over his face. "I'm beyond happy that we were allowed to spend these last two years together."
"Please," Kaeya whispered. "Please, where are you going?"
"That's not important, Kaeya. What is is that I found you again, and I'll find you again, over and over again, maybe not in the life I have left but in every life beyond that." Albedo reached up with his remaining hand and touched the side of Kaeya's face, streaked in rivers of silver tears.
Kaeya reached up to hold Albedo's hand against his face, but found that it too, had dissolved into flakes of chalk dust. He sobbed harder as Albedo slowly dissolved into ashes and chalk, falling through his arms and onto the cavern floor.
Eventually, Kaeya was left holding his arms around air.
Kaeya was looking down at Albedo's remains, when a light breeze ruffled his hair and dried the tears on his cheeks. The wind picked up, moving from the corners of the cavern, and specks of chalk dust blew into the air.
Standing up, Kaeya watched, barely breathing, as the lightest wind blew Albedo's ashes out the entrance of the cave, out, into the swirling air, sprinkled among the snow.
Kaeya held out a hand, and a speck of white floated down and kissed his palm, and melted. It was snowing.