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Scara awoke to the sound of a crackling fire. The chill of winter nipping at his face. Warmth under scratchy blankets. He opened his eyes to see the very person he came to visit. The one person he thought he could help, but he could see he must have failed, because the last thing he remembered was walking up a snowy hill and making a wrong step into an icy patch. This led him into a tumble. The once stable ground became light and weightless. Within an instant, he was in the air, falling off a cliff with a shriek, before his vision faded before him.
Now he stared at Albedo, who sat at a small makeshift campsite. Whatever had happened, Albedo had found him. Maybe he sensed he was coming to find him or he heard his yell when he fell? Who knew. Albedo appeared deep in thought as he stared into the flames of the campfire that flickered and burned. The azure blues glimmered with the flames sparks.
"Al...bedo..." Scara's voice was grumbly and tired. The trek was tedious and foolish. He didn't have the right supplies, but he really had no choice. He needed to see Albedo. The crack on his arm hadn't gotten better and after this tumble, he was sure it had gotten worse.
The blonde fell out of his trance and glanced at him. "You finally awoke. I worried since you have been lifeless for quite some time. I assumed you needed rest before I probed any further on why you have come back." He almost smiled as if he already knew why. Albedo was funny like that. Talking all prim and proper. Scara wanted to laugh at him, but as soon as a chuckle left his lips, the cold clawed around his lungs and he coughed. "You..." Albedo huffed. "You must still be cold. Did I not pull you close enough to the fire? I would offer more blankets, but unfortunately, I only brought two. It seems that isn't enough to satisfy the likes of you."
"It's not my fault that you decided living in the snow was a good idea."
"You know my reasons for living in isolation."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah... you want to perfect at being human before going back to town." Scara grumbled. He tried to sit up, only to fall over when he bumped into his bad arm and let out a groan.
"You're injured?" Albedo questioned. "I hadn't checked because you seemed complete when I found you. You're typically quite a hardy person. I assumed..." He hesitated. "Is your arm..."
"Broken?" Scara replied. "Why yes, it is, and guess what? I came here because the garbage you gave me didn't work." He sneered.
"Tit for tat..." Albedo mumbled. "I tried to help, just as much as you tried to aid me in the past with failure. These things are not perfect and some of us make mistakes. That includes myself when it comes to tonics and ointments." He raised his hand to beckon the injury reveal. Scara unravelled the wrapping around his arm. A crack that appeared and led to the deep abyss. "Oh," Albedo's concerned stare wasn't the first thing Scara wanted to see, but, alas, he wasn't sure where else to turn. Not many people repair and work on someone like him. He wasn't typical like a normal human, but one that needed unique care that no mere doctor or pharmacist could heal.
It wasn't like he hadn't tried to fix it himself. He used an ointment Albedo had made for him in the past, but it did nothing except stop the bleeding. He pressed in clay with a hardening agent in hopes that this would aid in the healing, but this did nothing except make the wound dirty. This wasn't a typical scratch that would disappear with a few silly remedies that had worked in the past, no, this break was far more serious, and so, he needed someone with expertise on such an injury.
Albedo was hunched over, and his eyebrows jumped up and down as if they were playing jump rope. His hands were turning his arm back and forth as if this would change anything on the wound. "Did you try your typical repairs?" Albedo asked. He rubbed his finger around the remains of dirt around the edges of the wound and took a lick. Before Scara had a chance to reply, Albedo nodded his head. "Hmmm... I see. You attempted using clay and then my ointment I sent off with you last time. It seems it doesn't work very well on major repairs such as these."
"I could have answered that before you lick stuff off my arm."
Albedo squinted at the wound. "Hmmm... uhhhh... Ah, I see, I see..."
Scara could tell that Albedo was in his own world at this point. Not only was he ignoring him, but pondering on lord knew what. His fingertips following that crack that lined up his arm as if he were fine-china with a chip. "Are you hollow on the inside?" Albedo leaned in closer to look into the crack, but Scara lightly swatted his head.
"I don't know, but I feel like that isn't going to fix the problem." In reality, it made him feel vulnerable. What if he was a hollow vessel with a shimmering thread of life? The thought was frightening. Seeing the darkness that lingered in that crevice that once bled made him feel ill. "Just..." Scara sighed. "Can you be a little more careful? What if... I don't know, you break more of me..."
"Oh!" Albedo was taken aback. "I was doing it again, wasn't I?" As if the man was replaying what he had said and done the last five minutes, he gained a blush. "Ummm... I didn't mean to treat you like that. I was fascinated and... I was..." His probing fingers fell away. The careful touch disappeared. "I was worried, even if I sounded quite cold like this winter air."
Scara snorted. "Stop it, you're fine." He looked at the fire. "I was the abrasive one who caused friction."
That night, Albedo snuggled close to Scara once the fire died down. He claimed he would stay awake and keep watch, but they must cuddle to be warm. Scara rolled his eyes at that, but he didn't recoil from the invitation, especially when Albedo seemed quite keen this was about survival. They didn't speak much, even while nestled close. Scara's mind wandered. Albedo and he weren't friends, but not acquaintances either, by how physically close Albedo was to him. His arms were wrapped around him for 'survival warmth.'
They met by chance, and Scara was his helper for a month, in return he got some healing tonics for his 'ailment', well, his artificial status, since this alchemist knew all sorts of things about their kind. After that, Scara never thought they'd meet again until he broke his arm. He came back to Dragonspine in need of repair, but it seemed Albedo found him when he crashed into a canyon. Lucky for him~
Albedo reminded him of a bird fluffing its feathers each time he wiggled. His face was red either from embarrassment from being so close or the chilly air. Each breath now foggy, interestingly enough. "Look at you, huffing out hot air. Last I checked, you breathed out cool air."
Albedo was swift to turn his head as if he were hearing an enemy in the dark. "Mhm, I found a way to make my lungs work properly. I knew if I was to spend time up here, that it would be a dead giveaway if I had no warm breath. I needed to prove that I had it or else be known who and what I was."
"How did you do it?" Scara found himself asking, but soon wished he held back as Albedo's eyes gleamed in excitement. He recalled each experiment he tried and failed. An hour passed over all his failures until he stated that he combined slime, Flaming Flower Stamen that had been cooled with another tonic, and a few other ingredients until he made a potion that he could breathe in the vapors that made his breath have a warm air. It lasted at least a week. At that point, Scara was getting quite sleepy. All the equations and ingredient names rattled in his head. Even Albedo noticed the weariness and apologized for the long discussion, for he was used to speaking to his students about his creations. This one was one of the few he couldn't speak about openly, and he asked if Scara wanted this remedy as well, but at this point, Scara was too sleepy to make decisions.
It really didn't bother Scara when Albedo went on this long tangent. When he helped Albedo before, he said far more weirder stuff. Even he didn't fully grasp it as he lugged around heavy equipment in the past, such as a suitcase, a telescope, and different intricate instruments. The only idea he got out of all of that was that Albedo was studying the stars and making potions from reading star charts, which made no sense to him. They were together for a month. Which felt like no time when one has all the time in the world. Yet it was enough time to learn all about Albedo. From his strange quirks to how he took his tea. Having the blonde wrap around him in a blanket within the snowy landscape for survival was Albedo's m.o.
Letting sleep take him, he woke up in the morning to Albedo's light poking at his arm. He was still snuggled close. Burrowed in the blankets like a small animal hiding for shelter, but still curious about his wound. His fingers continued to follow the cracks until Scara cleared his throat and startled the alchemist, who made a squeak. Albedo pulled away his hand and glanced at his thumb with a frown. A dribble of red trickled down from a small cut. "Wait, did you cut yourself on my...?" Albedo merely nodded. He seemed so distracted by the sharp pain that the skin had cut across his thumb. Letting it freely bleed until Scara grabbed his thumb and huffed. "Stop looking and get something to bandage it." This broke Albedo out of his trance. He felt around his pockets and found a small handkerchief that Scara helped wrap around his thumb. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Albedo that morning since he was so out of it. He felt more grumpy than usual.
Albedo didn't speak much while packing up. I was strange for the guy who always had something chipper to say or even just a statement of something he was in the process of doing. Finally, the anxiety got to him, and Scara asked, "what's wrong?"
"Wrong?" Albedo quizzed. "Erm, nothing is wrong, per se."
"Okay, fine. Then why are you clammed up?" Scara rolled his eyes. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Perhaps..." Albedo mumbled. "I have much on my mind."
"And what's rattling in your little brain?"
Albedo pursed his lips. "How to aid in the fracture on your arm. What else could I possibly be pondering upon?"
Scara was taken aback. Albedo was being suspicious. What did that mean? "Albedo, what else are you thinking about?"
"Ah, ummm..." He looked away as he stuffed the rolls of blankets into his small backpack. "I enjoy your company is all, and I missed you. I assumed that you came back because you may have as well, but it seems it was only for an injury."
Oh... So Albedo missed him. That made this meeting awkward. He bit his lip. What even was this? Did Albedo need an assistant again? Too bad, he was way too busy for that nonsense. "Well, sorry to be here on official business, but I have too many affairs to attend to. I don't have time to help you carry crap up and down this mountain."
Albedo slowly nodded in agreement. "I did not believe you would carry my lab equipment for fun. I thought you were visiting me as a... umm ahem, friend."
"Friend?" One of Scara's brows raised.
"Are we not... friends?"
Now Scara was starting to feel guilty. This guy wasn't just an acquaintance. He knew that much as Albedo, but friends was a reach. He wouldn't have climbed a mountain just to say hi to him... would he? Now that he was questioning it, he wasn't sure. Maybe he would. It wasn't like there were many people he went and saw or many that knew his secret since they were built almost the same. The camaraderie between them was something else. Friend? Perhaps they were. Maybe this connection was that, but it felt off. Albedo was way more upset about this than he should be. Friends shouldn't be this butthurt over this. Sure, maybe they'd be annoyed, but this felt different. Albedo was way more hurt than he needed to be. "Uh, I guess we're friends."
"Really?!" The alchemist lightened up. His head bobbed and he looked over at him. His eyes glistened with enthusiasm. "We're friends as in, someone who would stay by another's side when things become rough? When one of us is disappointed and sad, then we come to each other's aid? A friend who comes at every beck and call? When chilled at night, you will be my survival warmth?"
Scara's jaw dropped. This was more than he bargained for. This sounded like a lot for friendship with Albedo. "You still want to cuddle up?"
"Mhmmm... For survival. Do friends not do that?"
"Not really."
"Oh... so friends don't do that." He whispered to himself.
"What even gave you the idea that friends did?"
"Oh! Quite simple. The best of friends can be those of lovebirds, and do lovers not snuggle at all times? It's nice to be warm next to someone else. Is a relationship like that not the most extreme friendship possible?"
Scara couldn't help but roll his eyes. "You spied on couples."
"Yes, because they looked like very good friends when they went on dates. Plus, have you not seen them kiss? It seems very friendly."
"Oh boy..." Scara slapped a hand to his forehead. "Kissing? Do you know anything about friendship other than what lovers do?"
"Some... My master didn't socialize me well as a child, and being so new to Mondstadt has made me nervous to meet others as much as Alice has tried. You are probably one of my first friends I have thus far. You helped me far more than many others. I may have students that I teach, but it's difficult to speak on other matters other than the typical equations in alchemy."
"Heh, great. Friends or.... lovers? Do you even know what you're saying..."
"Lovers? Is that what we are?!"
"No! No, no, no!!!" He cursed himself for mumbling outloud. Albedo was a genius when it came to weird experiments that Scara had no time to understand, but as soon as it came to something so effortless, he was a moron. "Albedo, we can be friends, but lovers is.... Ugh, how do I say this? Lovers is something else. Like..."
"Having young?"
Scara opened and closed his mouth. "Not completely." After all the interruptions, now he was having a hard time explaining it. Maybe lovers could be extreme friendship. Albedo was convincing him. "What do you think we are?" He awkwardly stood in the snow while holding his broken arm close to him.
"I don't know." Albedo nodded to himself. "Food for thought. I assumed I had it all figured out, but I suppose I don't. Hmmm... let us go to my lab and tend to that arm."
The walk to Albedo's lab wasn't far. It made Scara mad how close he was to reaching his destination before he fell off a cliff and needing to be rescued. Albedo was more than accommodating. Offering his cot for him to sit and boiling water. From there, he looked amongst his glass jars and made soft 'huh and hmm's' as he thought over how to heal Scara's arm. Thoughts flowed into Scara's head. The conversation from before bothered him. What was Albedo to him? He could even see him as an employer. Albedo had hired him for a month... without pay, but he did get the useless ointment instead. Was this friendship, lovers, or an employer?
He wanted to scratch off lovers, but it was nice to feel Albedo hugging him as he started to doze off to sleep. Maybe they were falling in love, as stupid as it sounded. Finally, Albedo walked over and had a few bottles in his arm. Ready for the experiments, he was nervous about what was to come. Placing each bottle onto the cot. Albedo looked at him while kneeling. "Please tell me if any of this hurts, none of these treatments should do that."
Scara nodded, and Albedo gingerly removed his bandage. The deep crack made him feel sick. How could a crack like that be fixed? It almost felt pointless now that he was more aware. Lightly, the fingertips brushed against his arm while Albedo rubbed in different healing balms. Each one was a failure. Albedo's breath was different depending on if he was successful or not. He was so used to it now. Holding his breath with each new ointment, before he pressed the break together. Waiting, waiting, and waiting... until he exhaled and let the pressure go. The wound unfurling before him. Albedo would only look more gloomy than before with each failure
until he looked back at Scara. "So... I have one last resort." He grabbed the last bottle on the bed and handed it to him. "Drink this."
"Drink it?"
"Mmmm, this will heal differently. Instead of externally, it will repair from within. Worry not, I will watch over you during the whole process if anything unnatural happens. "
Scara popped off the cork and downed the drink. It was oily and slick. Scara coughed after ingesting such a substance. Albedo was keen as he watched him. Ready to grab the bottle from his hands as if something drastic would happen. Scara was confused at first once he passed over the empty flask. Yet once the bottle was handed over, he felt the room darken, and his body become weak. He barely squeaked out help before he fell unconscious. Falling backwards right onto the safety of the cot.
Waking up to a cool brush against his forehead and a quiet rumbling of a song being hummed, Scara opened his eyes to Albedo's gentle touch. "Wha... What happened?" He groaned.
The hummed lullaby ended, and Albedo frowned. "Ah," he continued to pat a damp rag across his brow. "I overestimated what your body could handle. I could see the effects coming over you once it was far too late, within seconds after you had drunk the tonic I gave you, but this was not a failure." Albedo gave a gentle smile. His careful caress ceased, and he left the small towel on his head before he moved down to his wrist. Albedo's chilly fingers tickled Scara's skin and he could feel his flesh gain goosebumps. His eyes followed Albedo's touch until he paused. "Look here, it's healed!"
"Huh, I guess it is." The large canyon that once lingered on his skin had all but disappeared. A faint, uneven line left was left behind. A scar to remind him of his time with Albedo... of this... He looked back at the blonde, who seemed quite pleased with himself. "How long was I out for?"
"Five hours, but worry not, I haven't left your side and I have been keeping an eye on your vitals. You were mildly warm, hence why I have a damp rag on your forehead. It wasn't worrisome enough for any intervention more than that, but still, I desired to keep you comfortable. I hope the blanket and warming bottle under the sheets is keeping you toasty in my little cave." Albedo sounded so wholesome. His thumb was lightly massaging over the fresh scar. Typically, such an action would ache over a new healed wound, but with his sweet gesture, it felt intimate. Knowing Albed,o it was a small experiment to see if he was in pain. Scara shivered from the sensation. It felt nice.
"Are you okay?" The thumb stilled while hovering over his inner arm.
Scara nodded. "Yeah, it felt nice. I haven't relaxed in a while, I guess." He leaned back and enjoyed the little comfort between the plush cot and scratchy wool blanket.
Albedo snorted. "It appears so. I would assume my accommodations wouldn't meet up to your standards. They are nothing more than means of survival."
"Survival." Scara scoffed. "Just like survival cuddles."
"Indeed. One and the same."
"Are you calling my cuddles scratchy, lumpy, and mediocre?"
Albedo's jaw dropped, and he shook his head. "No, of course, not. I suppose I spoke incorrectly. Your snuggles are not those of only for survival but for comfort as well."
"Hahahaaa~ Comfort? Are you confessing something?"
Albedo's cheeks turned bright red, and he dropped his arm. "Perhaps, but I must speak and say I have not thought or acted in perverted ways. Neither have I abused my powers in such ways."
"Thank goodness." Scara continued to giggle.
"What? Have I misjudged myself?"
Scara's laugh ceased. "I have to wonder if this potion and survival snuggles was a tactic to make me weak to you."
"What? NO!"
"Really?"
"Wait..." Albedo shook his head with a tired exhale. "You are teasing me, are you not?"
"Perhaps..." Scara snorted while he licked the corner of his mouth. Maybe sticking around here would be interesting and fun.