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Albedo hummed an old Khaenri’ahn tune as he began carefully organizing his experiments. He made sure to set aside the ones he would leave in Dragonspine, and tucked the rest of the little glass vials into the bandolier over his shoulder.
“Mr. Albedo, the gunpowder is ready,” came a dull, soft voice behind him. Albedo turned to see Sucrose holding out a small flask, blood dripping from a cut on her cheek. He felt a satisfaction at the sight—his assistant, normally so quiet and docile, now not even raising a hand to wipe the blood away. He wondered how far her talent in alchemy might have gotten had she worked under a different master.
His lips curled into a grin as he took the flask from Sucrose. “Wonderful. I’m quite excited to see the results of such a large-scale experiment.”
— ♦♢*⟆♦⟅*♢♦ —
Kaeya was returning from the Dawn Winery when he felt it: a whisper of Khemia alchemy on the breeze. He froze, drawing his sword halfway out of its sheath. There was only one man he knew who practiced such a dangerous art, and Kaeya had been seeing less and less of him over the past few weeks. His blood ran cold.
“I’m afraid for us,” Albedo said to Kaeya’s back, the latter of whom was changing out of his Knights uniform.
Kaeya paused, his shirt halfway over his head. “Why’s that?” He yanked the shirt off and turned around to face the alchemist.
Albedo sighed, breaking eye contact and fidgeting with his gloves. “I’m sure you’re aware that my master did not create me with good intentions in mind. If…if I turn out to be like her…can I rely on you to stop me?”
Kaeya knew he had said something similar to the Traveler, so he wasn’t really surprised. Instead, he crossed the room and enveloped his lover in a tight hug. “You can rely on me for anything, but let’s hope it won’t have to come to that.”
Albedo embraced him back. “I appreciate you. And you’ll know if I start to lose control. You’ll feel it.”
Now, as he raced back to Mondstadt, he could only think of Klee. He didn’t know if Albedo would spare his younger sister or if he would destroy indiscriminately. He could tell he was getting close when he saw smoke, staining the sky red.
He arrived at the city gates, winded and out of breath, to see the buildings in flames and the citizens screaming in terror, running to salvage what they could. For a moment, he could only stand there, horrified. His city, once so beautiful and free, now reminiscent of his other home.
He felt a tug on his arm and whirled to see Jean, her face and uniform covered in soot. Holding her hand was Klee, the little girl’s mouth quivering with fright and tears running down her face. Kaeya let out a breath of relief he didn’t know he was holding and scooped her up into his arms. To Jean, he said, “Thank you, Acting Grandmaster. Have you—”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. Jean pointed a shaking finger towards the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. “He’s inside.”
— ♦♢*⟆♦⟅*♢♦ —
Albedo grinned, looking out at the burning Mondstadt. “It’s ironic. I haven’t felt this unbound in the City of Freedom for a long time.” He turned to Lisa, who was standing defiantly in front of the door to the Library. “I appreciate your devotion towards Mondstadt’s history, but I’m afraid such a history would be false once I’m finished. So please, would you move?”
Lisa narrowed her eyes and summoned Electro. “Over my dead body.”
Albedo summoned his sword, the gold and blue tinted by the hazy smoke outside. “That can certainly be arranged.” He lunged at her. She countered. He slammed Geo into her lightning, creating an Electro shard that he was quick to turn into a shield.
Lisa raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed. “I wouldn’t have expected anything less from an alchemist. You know your elements well~”
Albedo couldn’t help but smile briefly. “Don’t flatter me, witch. I’m sure your talents are on par with mine.” His shield blocked her next strike, but he still felt the shock resonate up his arm.
She laughed, her eyes dangerous, and spun away from his attack of Geo crystals. “How is your relationship with Captain Alberich, by the way? Does he know you’re here?”
“He most certainly does.” Shards of ice pummeled Albedo from behind, and his shield broke as he was forced face-down to the floor. He grunted, desperately reaching for his sword before it skidded away from him but his fingers closed on empty air. Hissing in annoyance, he flipped himself around just in time for Kaeya’s boot to step on his stomach. Lisa took the opportunity to send a jolt of lightning at him, paralyzing him. He gasped in pain, his skin tingling.
“Speak of the devil.” Albedo panted, looking up at the Cavalry Captain’s furious expression. “And…is that Klee behind you?”
“Big brother Albedo…” Klee sniffed, holding Dodoco tightly to her chest. “Did you do all this?”
Albedo started to laugh, a choked, raspy laugh. He couldn’t help it. Somehow, he had both won and lost at the same time and he was delighted to see how much he terrified Kaeya. “I told you,” he said between giggles, “I told you to stop me.”
Kaeya dug the heel of his boot in further. “You asked me if I could, and now I am.” The normally-unshakable Knight sounded close to tears.
Out of the corner of his eye, Albedo saw Lisa soothe Klee and both disappeared behind the Library door. He cursed, but forced himself to direct his attention back to Kaeya. He grinned, his laughter subsiding. “That’s right, I did say that.” The paralysis was wearing off. He clenched and unclenched his fingers to bring some feeling back into them. “Well? Are you going to?”
To Albedo’s surprise, Kaeya picked him up and supported him with one arm around his back. “I’m so sorry, my prince.”
My prince . The words flashed Albedo back to the first time Kaeya had arrived in Dragonspine. They had become almost immediately smitten with each other.
Albedo forced himself to return to the present. “It’s quite alright.” He smiled half-heartedly. “For the good of Mondstadt, right?”
Kaeya bowed his head and prepared to strike. Albedo noted with satisfaction that it was his own sword, and not Kaeya’s. Good . Dust to dust.
“For the good of Mondstadt…” Kaeya whispered, and plunged the sword into Albedo’s chest.
— ♦♢*⟆♦⟅*♢♦ —
Kaeya was not a crier. Yet he wept as the light began to fade from the alchemist’s sky-blue eyes. He wept as he bent for a final kiss, tasting his tears and his lover’s blood. And he wept when he saw Albedo smiling, his Geo Vision fighting to retain its golden color.
Albedo began to chuckle again, though it was weak, and blood dripped from his sword onto the ashy floor. “My captain…always so…noble…”
He raised his head to try to meet Kaeya’s lips again, but his body gave out and he closed his eyes for the final time, still smiling. His Vision dimmed to a dull, lifeless gray.
Masterless
.
Kaeya wailed into the air, screaming at the unfairness of it all. If he had only been a little earlier—
No. There was no room for self-doubt. He lay his lover’s body on the floor and watched through his blurry vision as it shriveled into dirt, leaving the Masterless Vision on top. He cradled a handful of the dirt, remembering how Albedo always talked fondly about being returned to the earth.
Well. The least he could do was respect his wishes.
He slipped the Masterless Vision into his pocket, gathered as much of the dirt as he could in his hands and walked outside, his head pounding. The fires had all been put out, leaving charred remains of wood and stone. Mondstadt City was nearly gone, far beyond repair.
He turned to see Jean walking up to him. Her eyes dipped to the pile of dirt in his hands and her breath caught. “Is he…?”
Kaeya nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
Jean began to cry. “We’ll do it tomorrow,” she said, taking some of the dirt from him.
Kaeya nodded again, gazing out at what remained of his city. The people were tending to those who were injured and weeping over those who were—
He pushed the word out of his mind. He didn’t know if Albedo knew the damage he caused, but his wishes deserved to be respected like anyone else.
Yes, he would take care of Albedo’s wishes tomorrow, and then he would set out on his own journey.