Do you know the muffin man
The muffin man, the muffin man
Do you know the muffin man
Who lives on Drury Lane?
Sucrose has always been fond of sweets, pastries, and the like. She hovers about the bakeries near her home, inhaling the scents of freshly baked bread and pastries; she is constantly on the prowl for sweets shops, and it seems they are the very reason for her existence.
It is too bad she hardly has any money - but that comes from being a student still.
It is one lively summer day on her trip from the grocer's that she hears the street performer on the corner of Melody Way sing of the "muffin man".
His name is Venti, and he comes to Melody Way often, carrying a violin with its scruffy case, hat upturned on the pavement, while he sings and plays.
Sucrose usually gives him an apple when she passes instead of the Mora - but he is quite joyful when she accepts his gift, and sings her a tune in turn.
In this frequent exchange the two have become dear friends, and Venti often tips her off about special places within the city of Mondstadt, so that she may find the best sweets to savour.
Today, he sings a childlike tune, something about a muffin man on Drury Lane?
As she passes, she gives him an apple, and he winks at her.
The children he is singing for cheer as the tune finishes. Sucrose smiles, and pushes up her glasses.
Drury Lane is two streets ahead of her home - she will pay the "muffin man" a visit later.
Yes I know the muffin man
The muffin man, the muffin man
Yes I know the muffin man
Who lives on Drury Lane.
Sucrose rounds the corner of Favonius Street, and presently finds herself in what has to be the sweetest little place in Mondstadt.
Houses line either side of Drury Lane, and on the street itself (which is made forbidden to cars), there are hawkers and small little stalls selling accessories to flowers and everything in between.
She may only be here because of finding the one "muffin man", but she gazes in wonder at the many different things on sale.
"Sweet flowers, Windwheel Asters, and Small Lamp Grass!"
"Find odds and ends here at Marjorie's!"
"Fresh salad! Made personally!"
"Sucrose! Sucrose!"
At the voice, Sucrose turns. They sold what? Oh, it was Barbara, the music major at school who was really nice to her.
"Ah, hello Barbara. Why are you here?"
"Sucrose, one of the stalls here sells music scores. You can find anything here!"
Barbara's own beam of a smile lights up Sucrose's mood as well.
"Well, um, Barbara, could you help me find a muffin man? I hear he sells muffins here…"
Sucrose does a mental facepalm.
Barbara laughs good-naturedly. "I think he's at the other end. I haven't seen anyone selling muffins, but I only browse this end because the stall I visit should be somewhere here. Also, what do you think I should get my sister? She's working so hard and I want to give her a little gift of encouragement…"
Their conversation ends after they decide on giving some dandelion seeds in a bottle to Jean. They are floating in the bottle, courtesy of some gel, and look dainty and beautiful.
Sucrose heads to the other end of Drury Lane, and true to Barbara's word, she finds a person selling muffins.
And she discovers - she knows him.
Albedo Kreideprinz, the quiet class valedictorian that hardly talked in her chemistry class, who hated social interaction-
Was selling muffins. Smiling. Talking to children as he sold his wares.
She raises a hand to her lips, covering her slightly open mouth. That has got to be the most wholesome thing she has seen today.
A little girl called Diona laughs as she thanks him for the muffin, and then he looks up…
And looks at her, teal eyes boring into hers.
She flushes. Forget his aloof personality, with his long lashes and the little musculature showing on his arms (his sleeves were rolled up) there is no denying that he sure was a looker.
Albedo breaks into a small smile, and holds out a muffin.
"Sucrose. Do you want one?"
Here is when her brain decides it's going to completely disable her speaking ability.
Has a sis, the muffin man
The muffin man, the muffin man
Has a sis, the muffin man
Who lives on Drury Lane.
Despite her getting a heart attack the first time (and subsequent times) of visiting that end of Drury Lane, she finds that she quite likes being a regular customer.
Albedo starts business after school and earlier in the day during holidays, each day bringing different flavours to his baking tray that he takes around to sell his treats, muffins on display for the world to see.
She is a paying customer - but she follows him around on his rounds throughout town sometimes, and will see him giving out some of his muffins to children, to random people on the street. When she asks him why he does this, he scratches the back of his neck, and answers, "I give them one if they look like they could use one."
It is on one such regular visit that Sucrose discovers that Albedo has a little sister.
"Come right up, come right up! It's blueberry muffins on sale today-"
Albedo does not yell - and in any case, the voice sounds too girly to be his.
And thus, Sucrose finds herself under the gaze of a child with blonde pigtails and crimson eyes as bright as fire - with a spirit to match.
"I'm Klee! You're really pretty!"
When complimented, keep in mind: the woman is jealous, the man is lying, and the child is honest.
Sucrose feels a smile tickle her lips. She laughs, cheeks red as a tomato.
"I-I-uh-th-thank you?"
Klee grins.
Behind her comes a familiar baritone.
"Ah, Sucrose, don't mind her. Meet my little sister, Klee. Klee, this is Sucrose."
Klee pouts. "Bedo-gege, I already know. You tell me about her a lot, you know."
Albedo chokes on thin air, ears bright red. Sucrose raises an eyebrow, cheeks even redder than before.
Klee sighs, and tugs on Sucrose's hand, making a gesture for Sucrose to lean down.
Klee then proceeds to whisper in Sucrose's ear.
"Sucrose-jiejie, my gege is a hopeless case. Kaeya-shushu told me, so it's really true! You've gotta help him."
Albedo's entire face is flushed bright crimson, showing that Klee had not been discreet at all.
Klee winks at her elder brother.
Albedo sighs and mutters, "she's adopted," under his breath.
But under that is a smile, showing the true love of a brother for his sister.
Found a love, the muffin man
The muffin man, the muffin man
Found a love, the muffin man
Who lives on Drury Lane.
Days turn to weeks and to months, and even then, Sucrose is still a regular customer.
To say their relationship has developed would be an understatement.
Albedo trusts her with his sister - she entrusts him with her address.
He helps her with chemistry homework whenever she needs it. She helps babysit Klee whenever he wishes.
They laugh freely in each other's presence. They feel free to confide their secrets and terrible days in each other, so they can laugh it all away. She has leant on his shoulder - his hands have been round her waist.
It is winter now, and snow brushes the windowpanes and the concrete pavement. Venti still sings at the corner of Melody Way, but Sucrose knows he will have to move to the place under the bridge near the Mondstadt Plaza soon - it is warmer there.
She is stuck at home, doing complicated chemistry questions, when suddenly-
Thump.
Something crashes against her window.
She opens it, looking outside, and sees Albedo, one gloved hand carrying a small bag and the other gloved hand free, but with remnants of snow on the palm of the glove.
"Mind opening the door?"
Sucrose beams, and rushes downstairs.
They enjoy the muffins he has brought over.
It is the first time he has come to her home, and he looks impressed.
"This is quite the cosy place."
"My family bought it for me, but they're elsewhere."
After pleasant conversations and a little nudge in the right direction regarding her homework, he waves goodbye to Sucrose.
She does the same, and does not question the meaning of the visit until the next time he comes.
The snow is falling outside - the doorbell rings to show him at the doorstep, bearing Cecilias and Sweet Flowers as well as muffins. He opens his mouth, closes it, looks away, opens it again, and stutters a staccato "I-I love you" on her doorstep.
She is shocked - but she reciprocates, and pulls him inside her house, closing the door.
With the snow whirling around her home, she whispers back, "I love you too."
A few minutes later, his lips capture hers above two steaming cups of hot chocolate.
Where's he gone, the muffin man
The muffin man, the muffin man
Where's he gone, the muffin man
Who lives on Drury Lane?
Sucrose skips home from school one wintry day, eager to meet her boyfriend.
They have been dating for a while - and he said there would be a surprise for her today, so he had rushed home alone first.
She rushes home, changes, and finishes her homework in record time - and then dashes out the door.
She runs like the wind towards Drury Lane, and waves to Venti joyfully as she passes him.
Venti waves back - he has set up an umbrella to sing and play under so his violin does not get ruined.
When the sound of her footsteps vanish from his hearing range, he sighs.
He is playing for children again, and as they ask the reason for her joy, he relays to them-
"Ah, young love."
Ahead, Sucrose's step still has a skip in it.
That is, until she hears the screaming - and smells the smoke.
She is afraid, but she presses on.
She arrives at absolute mayhem.
Drury Lane is a mess, hawkers scrambling away from the end of the street where Albedo sells his muffins. People are screaming - the burning house is crumbling, and the houses nearby will catch fire if it roars any fiercer.
Firefighters are everywhere. One orders, "put out the flames immediately!"
But the fire is great, and water weak - several others are trying to scoop snow into the burning house, but the snow evaporates faster than the water does.
Sucrose rushes forward to help, finding a bucket used for storing food and filling it with snow.
After a painful thirty minutes, the fire is subdued, and Sucrose is panting with exhaustion.
With a terrific groan, the roof collapses inwards, and debris is released outwards.
She coughs, but when the dust is cleared, she registers - the sign next to the door.
It says Kreideprinz.
And then she sees the two stretchers.
Her next words are screams.
"ALBEDO! KLEE! ALBEDO KLEE ALBEDO KLEE ALBEDO KLEE ALBEDO NOOOOO!"
Have you seen the muffin man
The muffin man, the muffin man
Have you seen the muffin man
Who lived on Drury Lane?
It is a month later, and her life has been completely turned upside down.
It was an arson, apparently. The terrorist group, the Abyss, had wanted to spark some sort of war between it and the Mondstatian government.
Instead, they had had their leader mercilessly tracked down and put in prison.
After that, one of the prisoners at the Mondstadt prison who had known the Kreideprinz siblings had brutally murdered them.
Both Klee and Albedo were seriously injured, and for weeks she watched as doctors treated their burns and cuts until it was too painful to watch.
To see them both so silent, so quiet…it was unnerving, as she watched their heart monitors beep.
In the time they had met, Albedo had become her boyfriend, and Klee her dearest sister. She wouldn't exchange either of them for the world.
Three weeks into the treatment, the world decided to conduct the exchange, but with no return on her side.
Sucrose had wept stormily after, as she watched the line on the heart monitor flatten to zero. The brother and sister were siblings nevermore.
She wears black today, and half-heartedly accepts the condolences given by all the people there at the funeral.
The sombre mood is killing her, and her hand holds another, that of an anguished soul.
They are silent, but grieving all the same. Like her, they are not shedding tears, but on the brink of doing so. Blonde hair let down, shaking shoulders, agony written plain on their stony face.
She hears them grit their teeth.
The ceremony is long, and drags on forever.
There are many people she knows: classmates from the chemistry class, Barbara, Mona from Astronomy, Jean, Kaeya, Diluc, the girl named Diona - so many more she could name.
It is after they all leave she decides to walk up to the altar.
She brushes the photo of the fallen sibling with her fingers. The surviving one tightens their grip on her hand.
Tears brim in Sucrose's eyes. She turns to them, voice shaking.
"You can cry now. Only I will see you, and I love you. I'll always be here."
The sobs that wrack the empty church are heart-rending.
Sucrose pulls them in for a hug, shedding tears herself.
When both of them are done, eyes red, Sucrose asks, "what do we do now?"
Klee sniffles. "I wanna go home."
"Okay."
(The picture of a smiling Albedo sits on the altar, wreathed in Cecilias. The picture doesn't quite fit - but it never will.)