— Characters: Klee, Albedo & Albedo
— Tags: cute, family fluff, oneshot
— Summary: Klee found her brother, Albedo as she went to Dragonspine. But was he really her Albedo?
— Word count: 2524
— Ao3
Notes: This story was writting during the last whopperflower season (last year), when we met another Albedo for the first time.
He watched as the group of people had just left from a distance; three young girls and something in the form of a small, flying human being. He didn't have time to learn much about them, but his plan was moving in the right direction. Everything was going as he had expected. Soon, he would achieve his goal.
Then he's going to be the real Albedo. The only Albedo. And no one could stop his perfect plan. He smirked. No one-
"Albedoooooooooooooooooooo nii-sannnnnnnnnnnnn!"
There was a child's voice from a distance. He couldn't turn around when suddenly a thud was heard and he found himself being hugged from behind. Two arms in red circled his waist.
"Albedo nii-san! Klee found you!"
He's confused. Who was this kid...
Then he re-established himself and searched his memory for what he had collected over the past few months. Klee. Red. Mondstadt. The Knights. Alice. It all had to do with someone who was exactly like him. The man who had stolen his life.
"Klee? Why are you here?" He turned around, trying to get out of her arms. How did she find him, when he had chosen a very discreet bush to hide himself like that?
"Albedo nii-san left Klee alone! Albedo nii-san had promised that when he went up the snowy mountain, he would take Klee with him to explore!"
She's pouting. She was much shorter than him, so he had to bend his knee to the snow to match her eye level.
"Ah... My apologies! I was in a hurry..."
"But Klee has escaped to come and find you! Let's go build a snowman!"
She grabbed his arm and pulled away excitedly. He said:
"W-Wait! Don't run around!"
Klee stopped, looking up at him with big round eyes. "Klee is sorry! Klee will listen to Albedo nii-san! Don't take Klee back, please! Please!"
This girl wasn't part of his plan. She must go. He said coldly:
"This isn't your place to play, Klee."
She looked as if she was splashed with cold water. Looking down, her hands grabbing the flounce of her dress as she started swinging, causing the funny animal decorated on her backpack to sway as well.
"Albedo nii-san never said that to Klee... Albedo nii-san doesn't like playing with me anymore?"
He's rather confused. The other Albedo often played with this girl? He only knew that person had taken care of a child after Alice’s departure. But he didn’t know how to please a child!
"All right... I didn't mean that." He sighed. "I’m going to play with Klee, okay?"
Her eyes were bright. She jumped up and held onto his arm.
"Then let's go! Let’s build a snowman together!"
He looked at the direction where the group of people had just left. They were the pieces on his chessboard. And this sparkling red girl was an incident that arose, which he did not expect at all. But he knew her relationship with the other Albedo. He was deep in thoughts all the way while being dragged away by her. Maybe he should please her, at the same time keeping her in sight to avoid her ruining the play he'd worked on for months.
"Let's build our snowman here!" She said and let go of his arm. She knelt down in the snow and gathered some around her with tiny gloved hands.
"You have to check if the snow is moist enough and easy to make into snowballs, Klee! Otherwise we won't be able to do it."
She nodded and grabbed a handful of snow, made it into a circle and held it up in front of her. "Is this good enough, Albedo nii-san?"
He nodded.
"Now we're going to add more snow. Like this..."
He and the girl continued to cover the snow until the snowball grew bigger, then he put it in the snow and started rolling.
"Let Klee help you!"
She quickly ran to him, placing her tiny hands on part of the snowball. Together they rolled it a long way, until it was big enough to make the bottom part of the snowman.
"Phew! It's too heavy!" She exhaled a smoke and rubbed her hands together.
"Klee can rest over there while I continue with this."
He offered. But she shook her head.
"No! Klee wants to help Albedo nii-san!"
He had no choice but to continue working with her as a snowman's body gradually formed, by the same steps as they made its bottom. His mind wandered somewhere else in Dragonspine; perhaps the people from Mondstadt and the Traveller had reached the next location in his plan by now.
“Albedo nii-san?”
Startled, he turned to the side.
"Why are you so quiet?"
"Huh...? Oh... I’m focused on making Klee's snowman." He quickly responded.
She looked at him for a moment, but said nothing more. He was reassured that a child couldn't see through his plan.
He carried snowballs that were too big for Klee and placed them on top of one another. Now there's only the decorating to be done with. Fortunately, there were abandoned tents nearby. He found some useful things and Klee found a striped red cloth that could be used as a scarf.
Klee was in joy. She skipped around as she helped him put stones on the snowman to make ****ons. He attached two sticks to both sides to make its arms. He should have decorated it himself, but Klee insisted on making the snowman's eyes and nose. So he had to lift her up from behind. She was heavier than he thought and her backpack seemed to be heavier than it should be! What was inside and how could a little child like her carry such a heavy thing while still being able to run around all day?
"Stay still, Klee." He said, trying not to upset her.
"I'm almost done!"
She placed two black stones as the snowman's eye, a smaller stone as its mouth. Eventually, she grabbed the carrot they had picked up in one of the tents and pinned it tightly into the snowman's nose.
"Doneeeeeeeeeee!"
She beamed and he was happy to put her down. This was finally over.
"All right. Klee should go home before-"
"Let's build another snowman!" She was excited to say it out loud.
"What?" He asked again.
"If there’s only one snowman, he would feel very lonely and bored!" She replied. "Didn’t you say the same thing before, Albedo nii-san?"
He frowned but immediately faked a smile. "Ah... yes... All right! We're just going to make another snowman then."
Klee cheered. The babysitting lasted a little longer until they had finished the second snowman, only half the height of the first one. Klee said this was her and Albedo. Not him, the other Albedo. Suddenly, he found it very uncomfortable. Obviously, the one who put all his energy into the whole session was him, and yet the other guy got all the credits.
But once his plot was successfully executed, all that belonged to the other Albedo's would be his. Then Mondstadt would be at his feet; even there be a day day Teyvat would be in his hands as well. Everything would be his to destroy, to take revenge...
The next thing he needed to do was cut off his tail - this annoying little girl. He must check the progress of his plan to make sure there was no negligence.
"Klee, you must be hungry, aren't you? Why don’t you wait here while I find something for you to eat?”
She quickly took out a handful of wild berries from her backpack and reached out her hand to him. "Klee has food! It's from Razor! Does Albedo nii-san want some too?”
He sighed. "No. I'm not hungry."
So be it. He had to sit with her in the tent when she ate. He tried to figure out every possible way to leave her alone somewhere, but was also worried that she would run around disrupting his plans. Perhaps he could get her out of Dragonspine. He calculated how long it would take to leave and return here. Only when he was convinced that his plans were not affected was he somewhat reassured.
Yet once recharged, Klee became more excited than ever. She asked to see more of the snowy mountain. Whatever reason he could think of to deny her request, she simply didn’t buy it. She would get everyone’s attention by being so noisy! He was afraid of it, so he gave in before she burst into tears.
He took her to see some caves, showed her the boars, and she was so excited that she even asked to bring meat back for her friend, Razor. Of course, he had to make up a reason why she should not drop bombs on the boars and draw such an unnecessary attention. She was disappointed, but she soon forgot it when she chased a warming seelie on the road.
The further they went, the further away he was from his original plan. At this point, he couldn’t bring her back to Mondstadt anymore. He tried to direct their exploring path closer to the locations he had planned, just to make a quick check on everything. He was also wise enough not to get too close and catch the attention of others who were also traveling in Dragonspine. As long as the red cloaked girl obeyed and remained silent...
"No! Klee! Don't!"
A loud explosion shook an entire area. The red girl shouted gleefully:
"Albedo nii-san! Come see the treasure chest hidden in the rocks Klee has found! There's also some starsilver for you to make painting materials!"
The girl wasn't happy for long when the rocks and snow began to fall down. He was afraid to look up. Her bouncing bomb had caused a serious avalanche. And in just a few seconds they'd be the victims of that.
He couldn't think of anything. He rushed to pick her up in his arms and hid themselves in a solid rock wall nearby. He held her, protecting her. As the avalanche seemed to stop, he let go of her.
Klee's eyes widened, surprised and delighted by their escape. For a few seconds, she just looked at him, then she hugged him by the neck and said:
"Albedo nii-san saved Klee! Thank youuuuuuuu!"
He was in shock. He didn't expect her reaction, nor his own.
“Albedo nii-san... You are very strange today..."
She commented while letting go of his neck. He still couldn’t say anything. For a moment, he was afraid the girl had found something not quite right in her so-called Albedo nii-san.
"Ah... I’m just worried about you, Klee..."
He made it up. Was he really worried about her though? Yet that seemed to please Klee. She took his hand.
"Unfortunately, the chest was buried by the snow now!" She said.
"It's okay... Tomorrow I can dig it up for Klee. As for now... It's getting dark, you have to go home."
He said that not out of concern for the little girl; it was because he knew the group of people from Mondstadt would come here at any moment after hearing such a loud bang.
"Can we go back to Albedo nii-san's camp?" She begged.
His brow furrowed. It was dark and he did not know where exactly the other Albedo was. If everything was still in order, the camp would be empty at the moment. He could take the girl there and left without a trace. What a ****** idea to go back there; he had no choice if he didn’t want her to raise more doubts about him.
“All right. Let’s go back.”
They walked for a little when the snow began to fall. It got darker and Klee's footsteps slowed down.
"Klee's tired, Albedo nii-san..." She looked up at him. "Can you give Klee a piggyback?"
He sighed again. How the other Albedo has spoiled the child! He knelt down and said:
"Up we go."
That’s all she’d been waiting for. She rushed over to hug his neck and put her chubby little legs around him. She seemed to be exhausted after a long day of running around Dragonspine.
"Albedo nii-san… Please don't tell Captain Jean about the explosion earlier, okay?"
"I won’t."
"You have to promise me!"
"All right, I promise!"
"Thank you, Albedo nii-san!"
She whispered to the back of his neck. He carried her all the way to the other Albedo's camp, and was glad that there was still no sign of anyone there.
"Klee?" He called for her, but there was no response. Only a slight snoring was heard. When did she fall asleep?
He carried her to the other Albedo's comfortable bed. That guy really knew how to make life in a tough place like this cozy. Klee slept soundly and didn't wake up the entire time he helped her remove the horribly heavy backpack and put a blanket over her.
He dashed a gaze around. His plan had been slowed down, because of this girl. Although she had caused him to change his original route, as well as be nearly exposed several times, he couldn't deny that the girl was adorable. And her bouncing bombs could be a great help to him in the future. Somewhere in him there was a strange feeling that he would replace the other Albedo as her brother. If that thought had only previously only given him a sense of vengeance, now he was rather happy.
One thing for sure, he would pay attention to the girl’s journey even more.
“Until we meet again. Klee.”
With that being said, he left in the snow storm.
*
**
When Albedo returned to the camp, he was surprised to find Klee asleep in his bed. He didn't wake her up; she woke herself up after smelling breakfast being cooked nearby.
"Albedo nii-san?" Klee yawned. "Did Klee sleep on the way home?"
Albedo found it hard to catch up with what she’s saying. "When I got here, you were already asleep. How did you get to this place?"
Klee climbed down the bed and sat next to him by the fire. "Didn't you carry Klee back here? We had built some snowmen. Two, actually! Then you took Klee to see the boars in the snowy mountain... And then... Klee did cause an avalanche..."
"I had a feeling that the explosion was you." Albedo calmly replied. He had found some of the remaining white and red pieces of Klee's signature bouncy bomb which she carried with all the time. And from Klee's story, he could probably guess who was the Albedo that had accompanied her.
Yet he decided not to say anything about it since he didn't want Klee to be sad or worried about him. Albedo would definitely clear things up, and stop that person from approaching Klee. He promised Alice that he would take good care of her daughter, and would protect her whenever she was in trouble. No one can take away what belongs to him, or what he holds dear - his family.
-The End-
