Warning for some non-bloody body horror/loss of limbs, suicidal thoughts.
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Chapter 2: Playtime's Over
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Childe clicks his tongue as he looks over the ruined tents. His mens' bodies litter the frozen ground, about half a dozen total. Judging by the amount of snow on them and the spread of blood, they're recent kills.
Childe takes out his bow and scans the area, already dreading the report he'll have to give about this outpost. The men stationed here told him it was no urgent matter, so Childe took his sweet time coming. Did they underestimate the threat? Or were they ambushed? Their wounds were made with a sword, so that left out monsters native to Dragonspine…
A tent's flap flutters. Childe initially thinks it's because of the wind until a small figure stumbles outside. HIs white ornate robe is stained red, as is his hair, a braid around the back of his head having come half-undone.
Childe recognises the sigil on the stranger's robe from his debriefing before leaving Snezhnaya. Even if he isn't stationed in Mondstadt, all Harbingers have to know of the different administrative units and authorities across the seven nations of Teyvat.
"Well, if it isn't the Chief Alchemist of the Knights of Favonius," Childe nonchalantly says as he tries to remember his debriefing. The alchemist's file was suspiciously light on details. "Albedo the Kreideprinz, am I right?"
Even if the person before him wasn't covered with blood and surrounded with his men's bodies, Childe would find him unnervingly odd. His skin is completely and evenly pale, with none of it slightly reddened by the sheer cold of the area — something even Childe has a hard time adjusting to. More than that, the blood bunches up on Albedo's skin in strange patterns, like it has seeped into his skin like clogged powder.
"Do you want to play with me?" And to top it all off, Albedo's serene, light tone does not match his expression, his mouth wide in a relaxed smile and his eyes pin-pricked and terrified.
Something has gone very wrong here, but Childe reciprocates with a grin as he readies his bow. "I'm always up for a challenge."
Albedo tightens his grip on his sword, but Childe is faster and has already fired an arrow at his hand. He wastes no time and readies another bow aimed at Albedo's other hand, but pauses when his first arrow goes through the alchemist's hand but comes out bloodless.
Albedo ignores it as he rushes at Childe blade first, and the Harbinger jumps back to evade his first flurry of attacks. His arrow is still lodged in Albedo's palm, and the alchemist flexes his fingers around the arrow before he pulls it out, leaving behind an uneven hole, like it had just pierced through a thick layer of sand instead of a human's arm.
"Well, aren't you full of surprises," Childe says as he charges another arrow and fires it at Albedo, hitting him in the shoulder. The arrow connects and its accumulated hydro energy bursts around the wound, coating his shoulder and part of his exposed neck. Where it touches skin, the water clogs up and coalesces around a spot, just like the other blood knots on Albedo's skin.
What a strange opponent. But Childe can't let himself get distracted by that. He can feel his element nest itself within Albedo and fires up another charged shot before jumping out of the way of another haphazard slash.
Childe's arrow hits Albedo's forearm this time, and more blades of hydro erupt thanks to Riptide. Just like its previous attack and with the blood, the water clings to Albedo's skin, and Childe can swear the alchemist's skin is melting off like waterlogged paper.
But that strange detail distracts Childe long enough for Albedo's slash to catch him on the side, his sword cutting a deep slash dangerously close to his ribs.
"Augh!" Childe cries as he pushes Albedo away and clutches his side. "Amateur mistake…"
Albedo's expression is unchanged and as he rushes at him again, Childe decides it's time to stop playing around.
He channels his hydro power through and out his hands, feeling his water blades form around them and briefly repel Albedo from his advance. "Bring it on."
The alchemist predictably comes at him again, but Childe knows what to expect at his point. He deflects his sword with one blade and uses the other to cut into Albedo's arm and disable him.
Childe does not expect his blade to easily cut through Albedo's palm, wrist and halfway up his forearm before it's clogged with white particle matter and disperses into whatever strange material the man before him is made of.
The two move away from each other. Childe is left with one water blade whereas Albedo can still hold on to his sword, even though half his arm is cut across its length.
"I admit I haven't seen anything like this before," Childe says as his free arm clutches his injured side. His wound has grown numb thanks to the encompassing cold, but he is still losing a worrying amount of blood. "What are you, Sir Alchemist?"
"I—" Albedo's voice falters. "I want…" his voice trails off and his hands tremble but that all goes away as fast as it came, leaving behind the serene grinning monster that killed so many of his men. "I want to play."
And he rushes at Childe again, eyes blank and mouth wide in a smile.
Childe grins right back. Time to end this.
"Shouldn't let your guard down!" He holds out his blade, which extends into a double-pronged spear. Albedo's grin falters as Childe jumps back and swipes at the alchemist's legs.
Childe's spear cleanly slices through the alchemist's thighs with little resistance.
Just like cutting through chalk.
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Albedo comes to be with his back against the snow and with no feeling on his legs. He wasn't sure what he was doing before. Was he playing? The area around him smells like blood.
He has enough strength to slightly raise his hand and look down at his body….
Bloody, frozen and wet. His chalk has melted and contaminated with blood, snow and dirt.
Of course. Chalk endures in its pure form, but once it becomes corrupted, it's as easily washed away as dust.
A water-formed spear rests at the gold star on his neck, and Albedo looks up at the man who took him down.
"Had enough?" The Harbinger's expression is relaxed despite the hand on his ribs. He's bled through quite a bit.
Albedo wonders why he suddenly gained control of his mind. Did the corruption recede because of all the damage to his body? Maybe it grew too tired and has gone to rest for a while. But that's a nonsensical theory, as nowhere in his research has corruption displayed anything close to intelligence.
But there's no point in pondering this now. It's already too late. He expected the Traveller would be the one to do this, but a Fatui Harbinger would do just as well.
"Do it," he sputters, using the last of his self-control to stop himself from uttering that infernal phrase.
And as the Harbinger raises his spear, all Albedo can think is that he doesn't want to stop playing just yet.
"Master Albedo!"
The Harbinger hesitates and his eyes briefly widen before he dodges sideways to avoid a pyro-infused arrow and jumps back moments before an oversized claymore collides to where he was, shaking the ground and Albedo with it.
"No one hurts burny girl's Lupical!" the attacker yells as he lifts his claymore and growls at the Harbinger. Albedo recognises the boy with wild silver hair as Razor, one of Klee's friends, the one Albedo tried to apologise to once because Klee burned a good part of his home. It was an arduous task, as Razor kept avoiding Albedo, saying he smelled of 'nothing'.
The Harbinger narrows his eyes at Razor and readies his bow again, but the Traveller runs and jumps between them, sword aimed at the Fatui. He's accompanied by more familiar faces, Acting Grand Master Jean, Kaeya, Lisa, Amber, Sucrose, Klee…
Klee must have alerted the Knights of Favonius and her friends about his disappearance. But why did all of them come to find him…?
"Oh no, Albedo…!" comes Paimon's voice as she materialises by the Traveller's side, having become even more high-pitched from shock. "Childe, how could you—?!"
"Your little friend has gone on a bit of a rampage," the Harbinger shoots back. "I fought back in self-defence, honest!"
Klee hovers over him with tears in her eyes. "Big brother…" Her hand reaches out to him—
"Wait!" Albedo chokes out and that shocks Klee enough not to touch him. But his relief is short-lived as he struggles to let out his next words. "Don't—Let's—Touch—Play—Me."
"Eh…?" Klee lets out and sniffs. "I don't understand, I couldn't find you so I didn't want to play hide and seek anymore but you didn't show up so I went back home as you told me I should…" Klee sniffs again and starts crying again. "Did I do something wrong?"
Albedo doesn't have enough control of his body to soothe Klee and tell her it's ok and that she did nothing wrong, but all he can do is possibly move his arms and the last thing he can let happen is for him to touch him. If his theory is correct and the corruption he has is like that of old, then if he touches Klee, if he touches anyone….
"It's gonna be ok," comes Sucrose's timid voice, and though she too seems at the verge of tears, she calms Klee down and eases her crying. Albedo's glad to have had her as his assistant.
"What happened here?" the Acting Grand Master says, her momentarily shocked expression hardening before the Harbinger. She really is more than worthy to be Varka's successor and lead the knights in his stead. "You're a Harbinger of the Fatui, aren't you? Did your men abduct—?"
The Harbinger retracts his bow and puts his hands up in a peace gesture. "My men sent me word that they'd found someone collapsed near their camp bearing the Chief Alchemist's sigil. When I arrived, they were dead, and he was wondering about, with that sword," he gestures at Albedo's discarded bloody blade, "on his hands."
"You're lying!" Paimon shoots back. "Albedo would never do something like that!"
"Paimon's right!" Sucrose speaks up before she sniffs. "Mr Albedo wouldn't… Even if he did as you said, he must have had a good reason to!"
"Is that blood?" Klee asks in a low tone, and Albedo wishes he could tell her to look away. But just as he is about to try, Amber and Sucrose have already blocked the girl's view of the worst of this massacre and are whispering reassurances at her.
That's good. Klee should still have someone to take good care of her when he…
"Are you sure you're telling us the whole truth?" Lisa asks, and there's a dangerous undertone to her otherwise languid poise. "I dislike liars, boy."
"It doesn't look like he's lying," Kaeya says as he inspects what's left of the campsite. "I hate to admit it, but the…" he glances in Klee's direction, "injuries match with Albedo's weapon. Of course, that doesn't mean there wasn't some element of self-defence…"
Albedo doesn't hear what follows as he's overwhelmed with guilt. He's deeply ashamed of himself. He wants to apologise, for making Klee cry, for worrying everyone, for taking the lives of men who, even if they were at odds with, hadn't hurt him…
A new face hovers over him, yet one Albedo is familiar with. He's seen it in the statue towering over Mondstadt, at the smaller status scattered across the region, at a foreign memory of soaring over a snow-less Dragonspine, when his twin first stretched out his wings to play…
Why is Lord Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, with them? Did Klee's pleas reach him? Or is he one of the Traveller's companions, each one more unique and amazing than the other?
Albedo stumbles over his words before Mondstadt's Archon. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to play…"
Lord Barbatos kneels by him and shushes him with a wink. "Don't worry." His voice is airy and carefree. "I'm sure everything will work out in the end."
And despite the lightness and reassurance in his words, Albedo can't bring himself to believe him. He's failed, and this is just delaying the inevitable.
"No matter what happened…" Jean trails off as she turns to look at him. "Albedo your injuries…"
Ah, and a truth he'd never bothered to hide finally comes out. Have they realised what Albedo is? As far as he knows Homunculi are still a theoretical construct in Teyvat, the creation of a sentient human-like being belonging more to fantasy novels than textbooks. Still, those unfamiliar with alchemy would be confused, but with enough time, people like Lisa or Sucrose…
"I was wondering about that," the Harbinger says. "I'd heard Mondstadt's alchemy can out-weird even Sumeru's, but I thought those were tall tales—!"
"That doesn't matter!" Sucrose speaks up. She yelps, momentarily surprised by the intensity behind her own voice, but quickly recovers and throws everyone a stubborn look. "We need to help him either way!"
"Is Albedo gonna be ok?" Klee asks but Amber gently shushes her by patting her head and reassures her that Albedo is too hardy and stubborn for his own good.
"I agree with Miss Sucrose," Kaeya says with a gleam in his eye, and Albedo wonders if his suspicions about the mysterious Cavalry Captain are correct and he knows more about Albedo's origins than Albedo himself. "You'll be happy to answer our questions when you feel better, no?"
Albedo has much that he wants to say, but he can only utter that same maddeningly empty phrase. "I want to play."
"Geez Albedo, now is not the time!" Paimon pouts and hovers back to the Harbinger. "Did you hit his head too?!"
The Harbinger gives her an innocent shrug.
Out of the corner of his eye, Albedo sees Lisa reach out for one of his legs and he struggles against his own voice. "Don't!" Lisa pauses along with everyone else and Albedo struggles to speak again, only saying the same nonsensical thing he said to Klee. "I—Don't—Want—Touch—To—Me—Play."
"Yup, he's gone cuckoo," Paimon says, and Albedo cannot understand how the Traveller can put up with her for so long.
"Hm," Lord Barbatos hums. "Sounds like whatever he has might be infectious, so we better be careful!"
"Infectious? So we can't touch him? But then how do we go on about healing this…" Jean wonders out loud before she looks at him. "Sir Albedo, can you understand me?"
Albedo tries, but cannot say yes. "I want to play."
"I see…" Jean mutters with frowns before her face brightens up with an idea. "Blink twice if you can understand me."
… Oh. That's smart. She really is a suitable leader for the Knights of Favonius.
Albedo blinks twice.
Jean lets out a sigh of relief along with many others before she sobers up. "We're not sure what's wrong with you, but from what you've said, we shouldn't touch you, right? As before, blink twice for yes, once for no."
Albedo blinks twice.
Jean nods. "Would gloves or cloth offer enough protection?"
Albedo doesn't know the answer to that, so he doesn't blink. But the more time passes and the longer an uncomfortable silence stretches between them, Albedo thinks of blinking twice, just to be safe…
"Blink three times if you're unsure." Kaeya says, and Albedo does as instructed.
"Um," Sucrose speaks up, "we have a special canvas to help prevent cross contamination of samples while moving them between workshops… Would that do Mr Albedo?"
Yes, actually, that would work great. Albedo blinks twice and tries to put enthusiasm behind the gesture, but he's not sure if that comes across.
"Ok," Sucrose whispers, and there is a hint of her smile on her worried face. "Ok, that's great, there should be some in the Dragonspine lab, I can run and get them—"
"You shouldn't go out there alone," Amber says before she gives Klee a nudge. "Hey Klee, what say you and I go with Sucrose and help keep her warm? That way we can help Albedo too!"
Klee sniffs but she wipes her face, and her nod has a bit of energy behind it. "Yeah, Klee's going to make sure you get well soon, big brother."
Albedo tries to smile, but the expression does not come through.
"I'll come with," Razor says with halting syllables, "fight monsters."
And with a few more words between Sucrose and Jean, the four are off.
"And now we wait…" Jean says before she looks back at the Harbinger and her stare hardens.
The Harbinger crosses his arm and gives her a relaxed smile. "Oh, I'm just seeing how the situation develops. I'm involved in this too."
Jean's stare does not falter, but when she looks back to Albedo, her expression falls. "I wish we could find a way for you to tell us what is wrong…"
Albedo gets an idea, inspired by Jean's breakthrough. He starts blinking and hopes at least one of them understands the pattern…
"Oh, is that code?" Kaeya asks as the others look at him confused. "You're blinking in Morse, right? Oh, twice for yes."
Albedo blinks twice and starts outlining his plan again. K-I-L-L-M-E-
"Ah sorry, my Morse is a bit rusty, I don't think I quite got that," Kaeya says with a relaxed smile, earning him a few indignant looks from the rest of the group. "Care to repeat?"
Albedo can guess what will happen if he repeats the same plan. Rusty Morse his…
It's frustrating, but he has alternative plans, though they are less likely to succeed and 'heal' him in any permanent manner. He knows the issue with his heart and the connection he has with the sealed dragon of Dragonspine, tuned in to its corruption. Normally Albedo's chalk body would suppress any such infection, but…
He does not know what triggered the impurity, but he knows it's spreading through him rapidly. He needs chalk, chalk to purify himself, in accordance with alchemical principles. He needs enough of it to remake himself from scratch if need be, though that very well could cost him his memory, and really that is as good as killing someone, isn't it? Or at least it may be in Albedo's case. Still…
"N-E-E-D-C-H-A-L-K, stop," Kaeya translates Albedo's code. "A-N-D-R-I-T-U-A-L, stop. C-A-N-G-U-I-D-E-Y-O-U-T-H-R-O-U-G-H-I-T- stop."
Albedo signs 'K-I-L-L-M-E-I-F-I-T-D-O-E-S-N-T-' but Kaeya merely says: "so how much chalk are we talking about?"
Albedo does some rough calculations, adds half the answer to his estimation just to be sure, and blinks his answer.
Kaeya's smile turns into a grimace. "About 225 kilos, huh?"
Lisa lets out a light gasp. "That's a lot. I don't think our stores can even hold that much…"
"Most of Mondstadt's chalk comes from Liyue harbour, right?" Lord Barbatos asks and Albedo cannot, for the life of him, understand how no one else is shocked by his presence. Is his existence a well-kept secret by the highest-ranking members of the Knights of Favonius? It seems unlikely they are not at least suspicious, even the greatest actor cannot hide the actual physical resemblance — "And they sure have a whole lot of supplies about rituals there so there should be people who know more about these things…"
Paimon and the Traveller give each other a knowing look and Albedo is convinced that at least the two of them are in the know. No one can be this blind.
Jean nods. "Then it's decided. Now we need to find a cart for transport…" She pauses for thought. "From where we are, Dawn Winery is the closest, but I suppose we can search for one in Springvale or even head back to Mondstadt—"
"I'm sure Diluc will be happy to lend a hand," Kaeya says. "I can go there and ask myself."
Jean doesn't hide her frown. "I'll come with, just in case." She looks to the Traveller and the rest of the group. "Can you all make sure he's safe after we head out?" Again, she doesn't bother hiding her suspicious glance at Childe.
"Don't worry Jean, we're here to kick his butt if he tries something!" Paimon says as the Traveller nods. "We've already done so—!"
"And I'm looking forward to a rematch," the Harbinger cuts her off and Paimon yelps and scrambles behind the Traveller. "Besides, if I'm following correctly, from what you said he was a threat to me so if anything, I did you a favour—"
"Childe!" Paimon says, still cowering behind the Traveller who gives the Harbinger a challenging look. Childe's smile grows slightly wider.
"Oh, don't worry Jean, we'll be fine," Lisa says as she puts her hand on Jean's back. "I'll be sure to punish anyone who misbehaves, alright?"
The Traveller pales but nods along as Childe lets out a small laugh.
Lord Barbatos has retreated to the back of the campsite, having taken out his harp and playing a low soothing tone. Probably doing his duty and escorting the lives Albedo took…
And as he listens to that haunting melody, Albedo drifts to a gentle sleep.
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I may have taken some creative liberties with the distance between Dawn Winery and Springvale with Dragonspine, but is it possible if you're at a specific point in the map. Let's just say Albedo wondered a lot around Dragonspine :P
Feedback is appreciated.