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It was all a blur. Durin and Albedo had been walking along a road, gathering ingredients for some experiments. Then some Fatui appeared walking down the same road.
A fight ensued. It was hard to say what exactly caused it, but the Fatui had struck first. With how fast things went, it almost felt like they had simply wanted to fight for fun.
It had all gone by so fast. In the blink of an eye the Fatui were on them and then leaving.
There was a lot of blood. Albedo's blood. Too much blood everywhere.
"Durin... I'm fine. It's... not that bad."
Durin zoned back into reality at Albedo's voice. Albedo was lying on the ground, a hand over a wound on his stomach. He tried to push himself up, but failed, gasping in pain.
"You're not fine!" Durin replied frantically. "I... I'll get help."
Durin picked Albedo up, cautious about his wounds. Without another word, Durin took off running for Mondstadt. They could get help there. Then everything would be okay.
At some point, Albedo had passed out. The sudden limpness in his brother made Durin panic harder, pushing his limits to run even faster. In his desperation, he hadn't even considered taking to the sky.
Mondstadt loomed in the distance at last. Durin was starting to slow down as he approached the entrance, his body not wanting to keep moving. He stumbled forward toward the two knights stationed at the front.
"H-help..." Durin pleaded, his voice wavering.
It all went black after that.
...
Durin slowly stirred to find himself in the infirmary. He stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to recall everything that had happened. As his brain woke up and started reminding him, he sat up, wincing at a sharp pain in his arm.
Durin glanced at his right arm finding it completely covered in bandages. Had he gotten hurt there? He didn't remember feeling much pain. But with how heavily bandaged it was, there was no way he hadn't been hurt there.
He took in his surroundings more. There wasn't anyone else in sight. A curtain hung nearby, most likely blocking his view of the bed that held Albedo in it.
As much as he knew he should probably not be getting up, Durin started to swing his legs over the bed.
"Don't you even think about it."
The door opened to the room and Jean stepped in. She crossed her arms as she gave Durin a firm look. Durin shrunk back under her gaze and moved back fully onto the bed.
"A minute later and you'd have been up. Cut that close." Jean sighed. "You're in no condition to be moving around. You lost a lot of blood."
"How is Albedo?" Durin asked, "He's okay, right?"
"He's in much worse shape than you were, but he's stable." Jean replied, stepping closer to Durin. "He probably won't wake up for a while though."
"Can I see him? I need to see him."
"You need to rest."
"No. I need to see Albedo!"
Jean sighed, rubbing her temple. "He's going to be fine. I understand you're worried about him, but you're in no condition to be moving around like that. You can see him later."
Durin got off the bed without another word, staggering slightly but remaining standing. He moved quickly despite his state, dodging Jean's attempt to grab him and moving over the curtain.
Durin went still as he laid eyes on Albedo.
His brother was bandaged heavily, looking pale. If it wasn't for the faint rising and falling of his chest, it would be easy to think he was dead. And that only made Durin's heart drop.
"Albedo..." Durin's legs gave out.
Jean managed to catch him and keep him upright. She pulled him into a hug.
"This is why I didn't want you to see him right now." She said quietly.
"He'll be okay... right? You promise?" Durin asked quietly, his voice cracking.
"I promise. He'll be okay. It's just going to take a bit longer for him to recover." Jean replied. "Will you sit back on your bed now?"
Durin nodded. Jean helped him back to his bed. She closed the curtain once more.
Durin curled up on his side. Tears were starting to form in his eyes.
"He's awake?" A new voice entered the room.
"Yes. I... couldn't stop him from seeing Albedo. He's..." Jean trailed off.
Footsteps approached the bed. A hand found its way onto Durin's shoulder.
"Hey. It's gonna be okay. Albedo is tough. He'll be up and at it in no time."
Durin finally registered the voice belonged to Varka. He slowly lifted his gaze, meeting the man's eyes. Varka offered a smile.
"How are you feeling yourself?" Varka asked, "Your arm was torn up quite bad."
"I didn't even realize it..." Durin whispered.
"What exactly happened to you two?" Jean asked.
"There were some Fatui. They... got the upper hand and..." Durin trailed off.
"The Fatui? This close to Mondstadt? That's not a good sign." Varka frowned. "Jean, can you go get a patrol together to see if we can find them? If they did this much damage to these two..."
"Of course." Jean nodded and left the room.
Durin hesitantly sat back up on the bed. He pulled his knees to his chest.
Varka took a seat at the end of the bed. "This is the first time you've seen someone this badly hurt, isn't it?"
Durin nodded.
"And to make it worse, it happens to be your brother that you have to see this way." Varka sighed, "I know it's rough, Durin. But, every doctor that tended to him said he'll make a full recovery. He just needs some time to heal first."
"He looks dead..." Durin couldn't stop his mouth from moving.
Varka scooted closer, wrapping an arm gently around Durin's shoulders. "He does look pretty bad. Can't deny that. But looks can be deceiving. He's definitely not as bad as he looks."
Durin lowered his gaze, his hands gripping the sheets on the bed tightly. He hated this. Why couldn't Albedo be better already?
"Will he wake up soon?" Durin asked quietly.
"I don't know. It could be little bit before he wakes up. It's hard to say." Varka replied, tightening his grip on Durin slightly. "But he will wake up. Don't worry."
Durin leaned his head against Varka's shoulder.
He really didn't like this...
...
Durin had no idea how long it had been. At some point, Klee had come in, offering him a few pieces of paper and pencils to draw with. Judging by Jean's reaction when she saw Klee though... it seemed she wasn't meant to have been allowed in.
Probably to keep Klee from seeing Albedo in his pitiful state as well, if Durin had to guess. Though, Klee had taken it much better than he had when she saw him.
Durin stared at the paper on his lap. Klee had given him a book to use to draw on top of. He hadn't actually drawn anything yet. His paper remained blank except for the few doodles Klee had snuck in while he wasn't paying much attention.
It was hard to focus on anything. All he could think about was what happened and how bad it had looked. He couldn't get the image of Albedo bleeding out on the ground from his mind. It was haunting him.
A groan came from behind the curtain. Durin lifted his head.
This wasn't the first noise he had heard by far. But it sounded different from the other ones.
Durin set the book and paper aside and slowly got off the bed. His vision swam for a minute, but he steadied himself. He shouldn't be up yet, but he had to see if maybe this was finally Albedo waking up.
He made his way over, slipping past the curtain. Albedo still had his eyes closed, but his body seemed tense. His face scrunched up suddenly.
A few moments later, his eyes opened. Durin sucked in a breath, going still.
Albedo blinked a few times. He raised a hand, almost as if testing his strength. He lifted it to his face, clenching and unclenching it a few times before setting it back down.
"Albedo..." Durin breathed out, staggering forward.
Albedo's gaze turned to him as he sunk down beside the bed.
"Durin..." Albedo's voice was hoarse as he spoke. "How... how long has it been?"
"I- I'm not really sure... it's been a while though." Durin stammered out. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not dead. Could be better, though." Albedo replied, tracing a hand over the bandages littering his body. "How about you? Are you alright?"
"I- I'm fine. Just my arm got beat up a bit. It's fine now though." Durin mumbled, averting his gaze.
Even for as hurt as Albedo was... he still was taking the time to be concerned about him...
"Help me sit up?" Albedo requested.
Durin hesitated. "I... I don't know if you're allowed to. I'm not even supposed to be out of bed..."
Almost as if on cue, the door to the room opened. Durin winced, ready to be yelled at again for getting out of bed.
"Thought I heard voices. Glad to see you're awake, Albedo." Varka's voice cut through the air. "How are you feeling? Need anything?"
Durin relaxed a little. At least it wasn't Jean.
"I'm alright." Albedo replied. "Though my body feels quite numb. Is it because I've been motionless for quite some time or is the damage worse than I thought?"
"Might be whatever meds they gave you. You were not in good shape." Varka walked over to the bed. "They did a number on the both of you."
"Did you ever find them?" Durin asked quietly, turning his head to look at Varka.
"Unfortunately we did not." Varka crossed his arms. "We'll have another patrol go in the morning to look again, but it seems they may have already left the area."
"It was a very fast attack." Albedo commented. "It felt like we were just in the way so they had to deal with us quick."
"At least it wasn't a targetted attack." Varka sighed in relief. "Still, they didn't go easy on you guys at all."
"Do you know how long they predict it'll take to recover?" Albedo asked.
"Hard to say. No one was quite sure. Given you seem to be not in too much pain, maybe it'll go faster than expected." Varka replied, "I don't think they were expecting you to wake up yet, so hopefully their estimates are off. But, you both should rest as much as you can for now."
Durin gripped the side of Albedo's bed tightly. He didn't want to leave yet. But, there was no way he was winning an argument about staying, was there?
"As long as you're careful, I won't say anything if you share the bed." Varka said.
Had he noticed the hesitation? Guess he was quite observant, after all.
"I don't think anyone else will be as willing to brush it off." Albedo replied.
"I'll take the blame if it happens." Varka shrugged. "He needs you."
Durin lowered his gaze to the floor at Varka's words. He wasn't that needy... was he? Then again, he kept disregarding everyone's orders to check on Albedo out of worry.
"Can you get up yourself?" Varka crouched beside Durin. "I can help you on the bed if you need it."
Durin jumped slightly as he was brought out of his thoughts. He glanced over at Varka and then at Albedo. Albedo had already managed to shift over to make room on the bed for Durin.
Durin shakily started pushing himself back to his feet. Varka kept an arm behind him, ready to catch him if he fell. Thankfully, he didn't and managed to climb into the bed on his own.
"Sleep well. I'll be nearby if you need me. They wanted someone to keep watch in case anything happened." Varka nodded to the two of them, offering a warm smile before he left the room.
The moment the door closed, Durin shook off the hesitation and clung to Albedo's side for dear life. Albedo let out a small gasp, causing Durin to immediately back away.
"I'm fine. You just... hit a bad spot." Albedo said in a slightly pained voice.
"S-sorry..." Durin mumbled.
He was a lot more cautious the second attempt at wrapping his arms around Albedo. This time, Albedo didn't react in pain. Durin pressed his face into Albedo's shoulder.
Albedo brought an arm up to wrap around his body. "I'm okay, Durin. I promise."
"I was so scared..." Durin whispered. "There was so much blood... I..."
"I'm alive. It's okay." Albedo hushed him. "Get some sleep."
Durin hesitantly nodded and closed his eyes. His grip tightened slightly on Albedo. Albedo started to rub his back.
"I love you." Albedo spoke softly, pressing a kiss to Durin's head.
"Love you too..." Durin mumbled back.
His posture relaxed a bit after that. It took a bit longer for his mind to settle down and stop thinking of the worst case scenarios, but that too stopped.
He was safe. Albedo was okay. Everything was okay now.
Sleep finally came.