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It was cold up in the snowy mountains of Dragonspine. A lone alchemist huffed as he scaled the mountains to reach his camp, he had been staying there for a while ever since he mentioned to Sucrose that he had an experiment to do. The assistant seemed very worried for him at first, but after a lot of reassurance, she’d calmed down and let him go.
Though when Albedo reached his camp, he was met with an unexpected guest. They were examining the pieces of equipment on the table, their catlike ears twitching as they picked a beaker up in curiosity. Adjusting the scarf they had on them that’s wrapped around their neck a little too tightly, they started to mumble to themselves. A small smile rose on the alchemist’s face as he stepped into the camp, as quiet as possible.
“So, alchemist. What do we have here?”
Albedo stood behind the figure, making them jump in surprise as they accidentally hit the other’s face with the back of their head. And, in the process of that, dropping the beaker and broke it. Their eyes widened in fear as they looked up to the alchemist, shaking a bit.
“I-I didn’t mean to touch your things!! I was just curious, I swe-”
“That’s fine, Vi. The beaker contained nothing but unimportant substances. I could simply get some more from the depths of the cave.”
Still feeling guilty, Vivi’s ears lied flat against their head as they slowly squatted down to pick up the broken shards. One of the glasses accidentally slit their finger, making them yelp softly before they went back to pick the rest of them up. The alchemist frowned as he also joined in, helping them with the glasses. Though, in reality, he just took most of it in his hands and discarded them. After all, he was the one with actual covered gloves, unlike someone.
“You have the nerves to come onto Dragonspine with uncovered gloves.”
“It’s a lot colder back where I’m from anyway! This little cold is nothing!”
Their stubbornness made the alchemist shook his head in disbelief as he walked towards a drawer that kept first aid kits and opened it up, revealing the bandages in it. As soon as he turned towards the bluenette, he noticed them licking their injury like what a cat would do. Frowning, he quickly walked back and did proper procedure on the other. After bandaging the injury up, he flicked the other’s forehead as a punishment, making Vivi yelp in pain as they quickly put their hoodie back on their head, hiding their face against Albedo.
“What was that for?!”
“Don’t be that careless again, look at you. You have even more injuries than the last time I saw you.”
Albedo’s fingers pressed against the gauze on the other’s face, making them flinch as they pushed his hand away. And with a pout, they replied,
“This is normal… You haven’t seen me at my w-”
Sensing an aura colder than the blizzards in Snezhnaya and the wind in Dragonspine, the tail and the catlike-ears they had stood up as crimson eyes slowly turned towards the blonde alchemist. Albedo’s icy stare and downturned lips made Vivi gulped in tension as they quickly turned away again.
“T-That was a joke! That was a joke, I swear!!!”
“You should know better than to not to crack such jokes around me, Vivi.”
Hearing the disappointment in the alchemist’s tone, their ears once again fell flat against their hair. Eyes flashing with slight distress, Vivi sat on the now empty table, legs swinging as it couldn’t reach the ground. Albedo noticed the change in their mood and stepped closer towards them, and wrapped his arms around them. Vivi, surprised with the sudden affection, started to panic as they felt their face burning up.
“A-Albedo?”
“I must’ve said something wrong, I apologize.”
“...Albedo, you do know you didn’t say anything wrong right?”
Pushing the alchemist away from the hug, Vivi cupped Albedo’s cheeks with a soft smile and continued their sentence.
“You were worried. That’s a normal statement coming from… Someone like you.”
That sentence made Albedo blinked, and a small chuckle came out of him. It made Vivi tilt their head in confusion, have they said something weird? Albedo then adjusted their scarf to make it a lot looser, and gave the other a kiss on their forehead.
“You’re just as kind-hearted as always. Remember to take care of yourself as well.”
Such kind words, short yet meaningful. Vivi leaned into the alchemist’s chest, their tail unknowingly wrapped around the other’s leg. They felt their tears slowly falling, but the other didn’t notice.
“If you knew me, you’d hate me.”
“Huh?”
The whisper was too soft for Albedo to hear, so they just shook their head. Pretending that it was nothing.
It was nothing.
No. Nothing at all.
-
Who am I?
Did he ever know me?
He doesn’t understand.
I don’t understand.
How did it come down to this?
Why did it come down to this?
Someone make this stop.
Please make this stop.
-
Albedo wiped the blood on his lips away, wincing at the feeling of the bruise that had lingered on him for way too long as his eyes glared at the person standing in front of him.
“Why are you doing this…?”
An icy wind blew past the alchemist as the hooded figure in front of them transformed their own into a sword infused with Cry- No, a Cryo Delusion. Using their sword to tilt the other’s chin up to meet their own, Albedo could only notice the soulless eyes reflecting his own face. He looked desperate, and for what? Only they could answer it.
“Snezhnaya does not believe in tears.”
Their voice dropped as they kicked Albedo in the chest, raising their sword to land a hit on the other. But his reflexes were quick enough to grab hold of the other’s hand before they could even touch him, making them drop their weapon which soon shifted back into a bow. The abrupt motion made their hood dropped as well, and a familiar tuff of blur hair and crimson-colored eyes revealed themselves in front of Albedo.
“Elite assassin of the Fatui, right Vivi?”
The question made them click their tongue in annoyance, as they tried to struggle out of the tight grasp that the alchemist had on them. And they did, by throwing him over their shoulders and swung him away. They could hear the grunts of their enemy, and felt a tug in their he- No, this shouldn’t happen. That’s the opponent, the enemy.
They need to get rid of him for the Tsaritsa.
Stepping closer to Albedo, they tried to step on his head but not before they were dragged down to the ground. Vivi glared at the alchemist who was now hovering over them and restrained their hands, anger and uneasiness started to fuel them as they started to speak in anger.
“Albedo, just fucking let me go.”
“You’re going to try to kill me.”
“That’s the fucking plan.”
“But you don’t want to.”
“So what if I don’t want to, this is for the Tsaritsa. My feelings do not matter in official duties.”
“Then do explain the tears that fell throughout the fight.”
As soon as Albedo had mentioned them, they’ve finally noticed the wetness on their face. Rejecting the truth, they tried to force themselves back up.
“Let me finish my fucking du-”
“Do you really want this, Vivi?”
The question struck them like the thunder that had been rumbling in the background for all these while, then with brute force, they got away from the restraints. The rain started to pour as Vivi remained kneeling on the ground, with Albedo in front of them. His hands were slowly reaching out to the other, not sure what to do.
“....-te you.”
“Huh?”
“I said, I hate you.”
Hate. A strong word. He’s rarely heard anyone said it before, and to hear someone he cared about to say such a negative word to him. There must be valid reasoning behind it.
“Why s-”
“Why did I have to take up this mission? Why do you have to turn out to be someone so likable? Why are you this kind to me? Why do you do this to me? Why… Why… WHY?!”
The assassin screamed out in anger as they grabbed the alchemist’s collar and screamed right at him.
“Why can’t I get you out of my head?! Why are you occupying my thoughts every day and night, why are you… Why are you here with me…”
They felt their own tears, or was it the raindrops? It doesn’t matter anymore; it was the fact that the grip on Albedo’s collar got weaker as they looked down at the ground with their eyes wide open. The delusion on their gloves flashed light blue as they felt themselves getting weaker and weaker.
Ah right, it eats their life away.
Albedo, noticing something weird was going on and held the assassin tightly in his arms. He realized that they felt a lot colder, could it be-
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
Albedo frowned, wondering if he should let go. He did care about Vivi a lot, but was this… Was this actually them… Or were they… Faking their kindness the entire time? That would be impossible, he noticed how the edge of their eye raised when they were listening intently to Klee’s adventure. He noticed how their ear raised in excitement when Sucrose told them about the newest outcome in her experiment.
They weren’t trying to fake it, they were trying to be themselves.
“....-ll me.”
“Vivi.”
“I said-”
“No.”
“But-”
“Don’t even think about i-”
“If I can’t finish my mission, then I might as well don’t show up in front of the Tsaritsa alive.”
Vivi then pushed the assassin away, scrambling to grab the bow that had left forgotten on the ground. Infusing it with delusion, they could already feel their own consciousness going away from them. Maybe just by using their delusion, they could die.
Yeah. That should’ve happened a long time ago. Why wait until now?
They felt the alchemist reaching out for them, but it was too late.
Blood gushed out of the quick stab wound, they felt their heart slowly stopped. Have they stabbed exactly into their heart? That would be perfect, if that was just the case. They’ve stabbed into the lung, puncturing it instead.
“V-VIVI!!”
In an uncharacteristic scream, Albedo ran towards the falling figure and grabbed them as his eyes watched the cryo delusion flash weakly on their gloves. Eyes filled with anxiety and worry, he held the assassin’s hand, feeling it going limp.
“...Even when I’m your enemy… Even when I’m about to… d-die… You’re still this attentive... “
The bluenette smiled weakly as they tried to breathe in short but quick tempo, as they stared at the alchemist.
“You don’t have to cry for me… You know? After all,
Snezhnaya does not believe in tears.”
And with that, their soulless eyes remained soulless. It was as if nothing had changed. Except for the fact that their vision, Anemo vision that was on their thigh strap had dimmed, signifying their death.
Albedo, still holding the cold body in his hand, started to tremble, started to feel nothing but dread. How could he let this just happen in front of him? How could he not let them kill him?
After all, if he wasn’t dead by now. He would be dead soon enough as well.
All the anger, all the dread, all the negative emotions he had tried to suppress had him burst out. He grabbed onto the body tightly, feeling tears falling down his face.
Or was it rain?
It didn’t matter anymore.
Nothing matters.
-
There was a rumor of a genius alchemist, who used to be a part of the Knights of Favonius. He apparently was well-liked by the people in Mondstadt.
But one day, he had gone missing after last seen at the top of Dragonspine.
No one knew where he had gone. No one knew who took him. The knights had issued a search warrant, but alas to no avail, there were no outcomes.
-
There was also a rumor of a mad scientist that was constantly finding for a new catalyst. More specifically, a human catalyst.
Someone he could finally replace his beloved’s soul into it.
He was said to linger around the same parts of Dragonspine where the genius alchemist had gone missing. And people were trying to match two rumors together.
But no one was brave enough to step into Dragonspine.
No one was strong enough to face the scientist.
-
“We will reunite… One day… I will bring you back to me.”