Chapter Text
" Purple " the label on the vial said.
Albedo's gloved fingers ran over the label, and for a moment he wondered what that looked like. What was purple. Klee and Kaeya tried to tell him.
Lisa's dress was purple, Mona's hat was purple, Electro was purple, Violetgrass was purple. Purple was deep, and kind of like blue.
He wondered what Blue was like.
Once again, Kaeya's hair was blue, Eula's hair and outfit is blue, Hydro and Cryo are blue, the sky is blue. Blue was cold, sad usually, but it can be calm.
Albedo still didn't understand. But they tried, and that's what mattered. In those moments, he couldn't help but feel mad, and resentful. Klee was a kid, 7 years old is what they all decided was closest to her age, and she could see colors. Klee didn't know who her soulmate was, she probably just passed them walking on the street, or looked at them for a second once. But she could see color, without knowing who her soulmate was. Albedo could not, although he'd been alive for almost 500 years. He thought, maybe, because he was not a natural human, man-made, formed from the perspective of someone who couldn't see color when he was made, Albedo may never be able to see the pigments and hues that surround him.
He huffed and shook his head. He picked up the vial, taking the lid off and slowly mixing it in the larger beaker he had. He swished around the mixture in the beaker, before sitting it down and resting his hands on the edge of his desk.
What color was the desk? Brown, he was told, a 'honey brown, or caramel brown, both are sweet though. It's a sweet color, nice and warm.' Klee loved explaining colors to him. He couldn't understand. But she tried, and he appreciated that. Shaking his head again, he pushed the chair he was in out from under the desk, and stood up.
He started walking to the door, softly pushing it open, and walking out of it. He was looking for Sucrose, who was gathering anemo essence from slimes, and her own powers. Before he even got out of the Knights Of Favonius building, Kaeya was running up to him, grabbing his arm and dragging him out into the streets.
" Where are we going?" He asked, once he got his footing and balance. "There's a new traveler. He looks familiar. I know I've seen him before, 'Bedo, but thats not important," The blue haired man waved a hand, brushing away that thought, " But i figured you should meet him. I think you two will get along" Albedo nodded, following him down to the fountain in town.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, walked around a few buildings, and then the traveler was in sight. There was a floating,, person? beside him. He was probably about the same height as him, and a little shorter than Kaeya. His hair was braided down to his lower back or hips. It was bright, almost like the sun or stars... It was yellow.
The traveler's hair was yellow?
Albedo stopped. Kaeya stopped too. He turned to look at him, but Albedo was quickly looking around at his surroundings, making sure that he wasn't imagining what he was seeing. The grass climbing up the building beside him was green. Bright, flowering, alive, and green. The sky was blue, everything was bursting with color and he could see it. "What's wrong-"
He wasn't able to finish, as the Alchemist pulled him behind the nearest building, out of sight of the traveler. "Albedo, What are yo-"
"Your hair is two different shades of blue?" He lifted the small section that was a lighter blue than the rest of the Calvary Captain's hair. "Well, yeah of course- Wait I've never told you that- How can you-" The taller man stumbled through sentences as Albedo rapidly looked around at everything he could see. " The Traveler is your soulmate."
It wasn't a question. Albedo almost wanted to punch his friend right there, to wipe the smug look on his face away. This should be a good thing. Why did he feel upset? Maybe he wondered, deep down, was he capable of being a good partner? He lacked the same emotional capacity that his peers and co-workers had. Before he could think more on this, Kaeya started laughing.
"Well, now you have to meet him!" Albedo shook his head, taking a step back. "What? No, I can't. I'm not ... I can't possibly mimic a natural, casual meeting after almost 500 years of not being able to see color, living without a soulmate. And furthermore-" Before he could continue, the brightness of everything hit him all at once. Not like earlier, where he could take it in.
No, now it was blinding. The sun was too bright, burning through a sky that looked like it could be a screen, reflecting off of glass and water near him, as if it was attacking. And with that, the sounds got louder too, the hammer and yelling from the streets, everything became too much, too bright. He moved his hands to his ears, slightly gripping onto the blonde locks that covered them, and scrunched his eyes closed. Kaeya bent down and spoke softly, used to dealing with many coworkers sensory overloads. " Alright, I won't make you meet him right now. Can you make your way back to the Headquarters on your own? "
Albedo made a small noise in the back of his throat. For a second he was startled, He'd never felt this... small before? He'd seen Klee, Sucrose, Amber, and many others deal with sensory overloads, and he never thought of them as less than himself or others, but in this moment, He decided he was weak. It was just light, sounds, Waves, that his body was made to interpret. Why couldn't he handle them? Subconsciously tugged on his hair a little, before nodding in response to his friend's question. He didn't wait for whatever response the blue haired man may have, quickly turning on his heel and running to the Knight's Headquarters.
Kaeya sighed, worrying for his friend. Then he decided that, if Albedo wasn't gonna interact with The Traveler, Kaeya would get information for him. But not on his own, of course, because the Spark Knight wouldn't be very privy to being left out of the situation, so the Calvary Caption went to find the youngest pyromaniac in Teyvat to help him in his match-making mission.
Albedo felt a little bad, scaring Lisa when he threw open the door to the building, but he needed to get to his lab, so he hoped she'd be understanding later. Once he was in the dark room ( He never realized how dark everything was, the brightest things were the experiments ) Albedo moved to pull the curtains over the window.
Sitting back down in the chair, he crossed his arms over the table and put his head down. Slowly, he started to process what had happened and what it meant. First, Albedo can see colors now.. he lifted his head a bit and looked at the vial. Purple, the label said.
He thought for a second and decided Klee was right. Purple was deep.
Secondly, Albedo has a soulmate. And its a golden haired traveler. And he is not going to talk to them, because he'll mess it up. For now he sat in his dark office, eyes closed, waiting for Sucrose to bring a sample of Anemo extract.