Chapter Text
Sucrose hurries towards Mondstadt’s alchemy stand. Today, as she had arranged with Timaeus beforehand, is the day they'll conduct a major experiment regarding DNA residue within mixed organic matter. If proven to be correct, not only this could revolutionize biochemistry but’d serve as prop for her newest thesis and—
Her portable communicator—kept inside her dress’ pocket—buzzes uncontrollably. The device was inspired by Fontaine’s technology. The main signal host is connected at Dragonspine’s tallest peak so it is not affected by the constant snowstorms. It's a bit faulty at times, but enables her to contact the alchemy team on urgent matters pronto without risking an awful cold!
She clumsily grabs the equipment, almost letting it smash against the floor. Passer-by’s gazes cause her to nervously apologize and turn to a quieter corner, to finally attend to her teammate.
“0-02 Sucrose, answering from the city…no halt.” The attending line of the alchemy team. You're meant to state your number in-command, name, location and then a safe code; “no halt” for secure and “on halt” for danger. Mister Albedo instructed both his students very carefully in each precaution, although she's unsure why. Perhaps he's just preventing future incidents?
The Chief Alchemist’s voice goes through. “0-01, Albedo…–from Dragonspine. No halt.” He speaks distant from the microphone, between breaths, rather exasperated. Is it a connection problem?... “I need your help, Sucrose.”
“Mis–Is something wrong? are you okay…?”
Albedo quietly inhales. “ I'm hastening my return to Mondstadt. But…I-I’m unsure I'll make it in time. I need your help to assure everyone’s safety."
Sucrose quickly focuses on the matter at hand. “Understood…! what can I do?”
“ I need you to search the ground… ” a crack! goes through the communicator. Sucrose prays it's merely a stick the alchemist stepped on. “ –A small rifthound. The size- the size of a beetle."
“A small…?–where?”
“ Near the gates, probably…fast, and escaped its containment at my lab.” he pauses and takes a deep breath, “You must capture it, or prevent it from touching pure moisture of any kind. That'll commence its original state.”
“I-is it dangerous?” She sprints over to the front gates of Mondstadt city, searching around frenetically and gathering attention from a few knights on patrol.
“Not in this form, no…I'm on my way to help.”
Sucrose holds the device with both hands. “Okay…! I'll keep looking..!” It turns off as she walks up to Lawrence, the nearest knight on-duty. “H-hello, have you seen—?”
“The chief alchemist? I believe he returned to Dragonspine, miss.”
“No, no! Uhm, a small purple wolf…? the size of a bug…” she glances towards the wall, “Have you seen it…? It's from an experiment. And I can't find it…”
Lawrence just stares. “Uh, I don't think so, Ms. Sucrose. Is it urgent? Should I alert the Knights?”
She considers it for a moment, but gets deeply unsure whether or not Mister Albedo would like that. “No…I-I’ll find it. Thanks…!” She turns to search the area further, when—
A young voice starts yelling, aggressively shaking a flowerpot. “Aah! Get off, you stupid bug…!”
Sucrose follows the noise to meet Flora’s flower stand. And on her hands, a vase with a miniature rifthound on it. “H-Hey…! stay still!”
Flora ceases her motion. “Huh? but the bug—”
With the tiny flask jar she had in her bag, Sucrose manages to trap the rifthound and cover the top, keeping it inside.
“Ah, thanks Barbatos…!! Sorry, uhm, this bug is from my research…! I'm really sorry it escaped…I’ll pay for the flower.”
“A research…? you're a researcher from the Knights?”
“Yes! again, I am…so sorry…!”
“Hmm…Hmph. Well, it didn't hurt my plant, so it's all good.” Flora looks closer at the jar. “It's a really strange bug,”
Sucrose chuckles, timid. “It's– of a very rare species! we're studying their kind, haha…! thanks again.”
The young alchemist carefully holds the flask in one hand, communicator in the other. She resumes the connection. “Master Albedo, I got it…!”
A static tchhh sound. “The small rifthound? you have it?”
She hums in agreement. “It's- it's in a jar. It was eating a flower…” she receives no answer. “Master Albedo?”
“...Sorry, the signal’s bad. I'm at the foot of the mountain.” comes through some distant ambience noises, “Be attentive, for it's still active, unless it's neutralized by some Pyro-potent reaction.”
“Oh, like a flaming stamen? we’ve a few at the stand…”
“Exactly, I…—” His voice is cut. Albedo must be somewhere far from both the host at Dragonspine and the one at the Favonius Cathedral. “—in a few minutes. Please…be careful. It cannot touch any Hydro components, or water,”
She nods, despite it being a transmission. “Yes…! understood!”
Sucrose walks to the alchemy stand.
As she goes through the last steps of the stone stairway, her heel gets stuck. Lost composure, Sucrose falls down. She watches the flask containing the petite rifthound slip from her grasp, suddenly reminded of a specific topic in her old studies. Murphy's Law, to be precise. Although dismissed by the Akademiya for its inconsistent base and considered “pessimist” and “unrealistic” by many, Murphy's Law is subjected as a simple principle. As a funding law of this world, it's unstoppable. Murphy's Law says that “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”.
The glass jar shatters and cracks upon meeting the floor, and collides on Mondstadt’s fountain.
“No…th—” Sucrose goes mute, voice dead inside her throat.
Every person freely straddling around the main part of the city, Mondstadtian or not, freezes the second they hear the low growl of a rifthound beast, louder than it should be possible. The creature morphs rather painfully, skin ripping and blood tainting the ground, her strength going limp as she realizes the reasoning behind Mister Albedo’s frenesi, his need in finding this subject as soon as possible— Oh why, a simple Abyss wolf couldn't generate this much fuss. Oh why, a Favonius’ unit could defeat it with ease.
But not this. Definitely not this.
It's only when chaos starts, desperate yells and commotion, that her brain reels back in. She jumps behind Mondstadt General Goods’ counter, accessing her portable communicator. Sucrose's trembling fingers don't help out whatsoever.
She hears the sharp scream of Sara, Good Hunter's attendee, ringing. And my response was to hide. It's one thing to be practical, other to be absent. She's still a knight…– no. She needs to contact Mister Albedo. He's probably close to the city…or knows a way how to turn the wolf back into beetle-size.
Glows for a second. “Sucrose…? wh—”
“It fell into the fountain,” she explains simply, but sentences no longer leave her mouth. Only guilty sobs. “I-I tripped and– it's so much bigger than a regu– a normal rifthound…!”
“Sucrose. Try to calm down.”
“Where are you?!” she didn't mean to yell. When did she start crying? many were the wonders drained by large canine shouts.
Albedo's voice brought her to reason. “Breathe in. Okay? try to inhale, in and out,” and so she attempts. Any themes social-related aren't exactly Mister Albedo's forte, that was clear, yet his voice is calming enough to temporarily soothe her worries. “I'm arriving at Windrise,”
Sucrose takes a deep inhale, yet still with trembling fingers. “W-What do I do? it's the size of a Mitachurl– that's not normal,”
He hesitates. She can tell. “...No, it's not.”
“Did you…” it feels wrong for her to accuse him of such responsibility, “Did you make a giant rifthound?”
“I did.” He said easier than one could expect, not bitterly or afraid, merely stating a fact, “Sucrose, we can discuss this later. Alright? you must infuse it with a cryo, or pyro,”
Archons, that was such a bold-faced change of topic– yet she couldn't distract herself from the rumbling of wolf-like claws, and so answered, “How?”
“Its humidity is what grants it size,” she thought of how he had access to such information, but really– he made it, didn't he? It shouldn't be a surprise. Her teacher, teal-eyed and kind, and a creature beyond anyone's imagination. “So either provoke reactions of vaporization or turn all water into ice. There's probably vision-wielder Knights on their way. Be sure to inform them of that,”
“Okay.” she says. It's silent for a few seconds. She thinks about hanging up and moving her spot, because the wolf is getting dangerously close to the stand now.
“One more thing.”
Sucrose freezes.
Albedo's voice is…quiet. A chilling tone that feels so wrong mixed with the background horror of destruction, and she can picture his cold eyes just then– gazing distantly, unbothered.
“Tell them you're not certain, or that I'm on my way over to explain the situation.” he pauses, and she can feel her heart thumping in her throat— it's not actually there, is it?— before listening in again. “Don't tell them anything. I'll deal with the paperwork. Alright?”
“U-understood.” she mutters into the microphone, a little anxious. The device's light comes to an end.
Sucrose can only register her options for a few seconds, trying to blend in the shouting through her sensitive ears. On the right to the stand she currently hides in, among alchemy materials, are morning-fresh mist corollas. Would these have enough inner cryo energy to cause a sufficient reaction if thrown into the fountain besides the creature…? or should she—
Her cautious observing of the beast is interrupted by the fiery silhouette of an enraged phoenix, and the giant rifthound screeches in agonizing pain. Angel’s Share midnight bartender points his crimson claymore at it, mouth pressed thin and eyes evidently unfazed.
There's something about his stare that screams some twisted sort of retribution.
If Sucrose's response was flight, Diluc’s was undoubtedly fight.
She gathers all her courage to appear from behind the counter and shout, still with her heart thumping in her trachea, “You have to dry it!”
“What the hell’s this thing?! ” Diluc shouts towards the assistant alchemist, turning upon realizing her presence, assuming she's responsible for the Abyssal creature’s existence. She'll leave that to be corrected when ( if you survive, that is, a lousy voice says, and she promptly ignores it) everything is under control.
“It's big because of the water! You have to dry it away…!! vaporize or– freeze it!”
“Vaporize? tch,” He defends his face from the wolf’s claws once more, putting his sword between their space, then glares at the alchemist. “Don't you dare run off, you hear?!”
A confused shriek is all she lets out. “ T-this is my fault now…?!”
From the opposite corner of her retin, Sucrose catches the shards of ice that immobilize the beast when a second figure joins the battle.
She's quick to recognize the Knights’ prestigious Cavalry Captain, Sir Kaeya Alberich.
He steps into the scene with a characteristic smirk. “Freeze, eh? not bad.” Kaeya’s posture also shows no recognizable trace of fear, but readable interest in the situation. He nods towards her. “Ms. Sucrose. You alchemists are sure to have some explaining to do, hmm?"
She ignores the chill running down her spine to safely settle back and let the duo steady themselves for combat.
Master Diluc obviously isn't used to fighting to provoke elemental reactions such as vape, most damage being from his claymore's impact, while the captain freezes the opponent beast repeatedly in paces of minutes. Sucrose aids whenever she can, swirling the effects to last longer and distancing idly civilians by the area. Sara, Good Hunter’s attendee who fainted at the sight of the creature, was promptly taken to rescue. Although troubling, the quick action from the Knights of Favonius (plus Diluc!) prevented further serious impairment and major injuries.
Albedo sprints across the stairway, holding one of his isotoma constructs before plunging it against the rifthound’s feet, crystallizing the remaining droplets of hydro– its body, lacking fundamental moisture, destroys itself until it breaks its own tissue to return to its original, smaller form.
He turns to them, “Apologies for the late appearance.” His knees meet the floor to reach the minuscule creature, taking it by his hand, applying some sort of steam— stamen’s juice, Sucrose recognizes— and gazes upon the mini rifthound becoming smoke. “Any casualties?”
The assistant alchemist ignores the staring contest between the Chief and Angel’s Share bartender, “N-no records of elevated wounds…”
“That's a relief. Sucrose, could you help me lift this?” he shifts, grasping one of the wooden structures of Good Hunter's roof that dropped to the ground. The rifthound must've hit it.
“Oh, of course…!”
“What was that thing? Why was the Abyss wolf the size it was?” Diluc's straightforward manner breaks the short-lived peace, pupils directed at Sucrose, who flinches under his gaze.
He steps in Sucrose's direction. “It appears there's been a misunderstanding, Master Diluc— Sucrose isn't responsible for this accident. I am.”
“Do you mind explaining?”
“Not at all.” a pause, “You see, I captured the rifthound for experimentation. It escaped my outpost back at Dragonspine in its smaller state. I instructed Sucrose on locating it again.” he says.
“It grew upon touching the water, then?” Kaeya asks.
Albedo nods. “Exactly. I take full culpability for the event, and will present a report to Acting Grand Master Jean as soon as the situation is under control.”
She hesitates. “Mister Albedo…”
“You did well contacting me and finding it, Sucrose,” he displays one of those soft, 24-hours-without-sleep smiles, “Please don't worry.”
Sucrose's only retort is to go quiet for a moment, looking down at her feet.
“That's your explanation?” Diluc frowns, “How did this dangerous subject kept— I hope, in a cage— at the Dragonspine mountains, went all the way over to the city? without coming in contact with water too, since you're saying it only transformed when it went in the fountain.”
Sucrose and Kaeya return their attention, also interested in the mentioned topic. She had the same thoughts, but was waiting to question the chief alchemist later. Meanwhile, the captain’s expression showcases the same curiosity from before. Who knows what goes through him now.
“...I don't have all the pieces yet, Master Diluc. I can guarantee I'm as confused as you are,” Albedo says so, but his face doesn't exhibit any confusion or wonder. Quite the opposite, he looks as if he has just realized something but won't tell. Sucrose considers pushing, but…With the presence of Sir Kaeya and Diluc, results are unlikely. “I believe he must've been attracted by something around.”
“...Rifthounds have a great sense of smell. A-and I found it attempting to eat a flower…Maybe it was hungry?” She asks.
Kaeya perks up. “What flower?”
Sucrose feels uneasy under his gaze too. “A small…grass lamp…”
“Well that doesn't make sense, does it?” he continues after a short pause, “If it really was smelling grass lamps, it would've gone to Galesong Hill, or Wolvedom, where there's a bunch of them. ‘S closer, too.”
The cavalry captain grins, and Mister Albedo morphs his gaze. Is it subjective interpretation or is he…irritated?
“You're correct. It would've gone to Wolvedom. As I said before, a lot of information is missing. I will investigate this further and detail all in my future report. Considering it was my fault the rifthound ever got around in the first place, it's my duty.”
Diluc stares as if he too came to a conclusion, then grits his teeth at the chief alchemist. “I don't know what kind of ‘research’ you conduct, and I don't want to know— but this better be the last time you put your test subjects against Mondstadt.”
He sighs, “I didn't—”
“It doesn't matter. The effects are the same, disregard your intentions. If my ‘experiments’ could kill people, I'd keep them in check. At all times.” he points at the chaos’ rubbles, “If someone had died here today because of your irresponsibility, how would you tell Master Jean? or the victim's family?”
“...” Albedo is quiet for a moment. “...I understand your point, and I agree. This won't repeat.”
“You bet it won't, I won't let you. I swore loyalty to my nation years ago, and I will take out anyone and anything that could endanger it.”
Kaeya caresses his own forehead. “ Ugh… threatening a Favonius, Diluc? really?”
“Shut it, Kaeya.” he snaps, then resumes his gaze at Albedo. “I hope we're clear, Chief Alchemist. Leash your damn toys.” the pyro-wielder would motion to walk away, pause by Kaeya's side and say, “And you get me a copy of that report once it's out.”
A chuckle, “Hu, what's in for me?”
Diluc doesn't answer, instead returning silently to his bar. Sir Kaeya doesn't display much, but offers to help set everything back in place. He and Albedo readjust ground tiles the rithound had previously stomped, and Sucrose positions Timaeus’ crafting table and other objects around that had fallen. A few Knights appear to assist the organization of the mess had successfully rescued the civilians.
“Sorry about Master Diluc’s temper, he's got a headache.” Kaeya raises one of Good Hunter’s seats, “Although, he isn't wrong. This could've ended a lot worse, for both you and the city.”
“I'm aware. I hold no resentment for him being suspicious, either. He's very firm in protecting Mondstadt, it's…admirable.”
A grinning chuckle, “Isn't he? Still got the spirit of a Knight, jumping in front of the enemy. But I'm sure you're no enemy, Master Albedo.”
“I'm not. Mondstadt is my home.” He models the shape of a brick with his own hands seemingly from nowhere —although Kaeya could spot a tree branch between his fingers— forming a second later. “I'll take part in the reconstruction, and accept any punishment administered by the Grand Master. I'm just glad no one’s hurt,”
“Relax. I'm sure Master Jean will understand.” he points at the newly-fabricated brick Albedo holds, “Have I ever said how incredible your alchemy is? you ain't Chief over nothing, hm?”
Albedo smiles. “No, I suppose I'm not.”
——
Diluc cleans the last cups, putting each on their respective shelves. He had been so busy cleaning up the left-over mess— shards of glass, the ambience of commotion, trembled paintings— that he was only able to finish now. Apparently, rumors of “a terrifying wolf the size of a windmill” were sufficient enough to delay the packages of other alcoholic beverages and rum. Diluc personally didn't remember the beast being so big…but again, this type of thing hadn't happened since the Stormterror problem. The people can be creative.
“Sorry, we're only taking dandelion wine orders tonight.” He informs the customer walking in. The bar is silent for the night, perhaps most drunkards or regulars are still too scared to arrive, or maybe it's too early.
“That's fine. I'll have one glass of that, please.”
“Understood.” replies the bar-man.
The peaceful atmosphere makes it easier to ration. The blond man sits at the counter stools, umbotheredly. Clearly a foreigner, perhaps a passing tourist? with that set of clothes? not uniformed as an eremite, Fatui or member of the Adventurer’s Guild. He doesn't appear to be in the city for business— Still, Diluc swears he has seen this man before somewhere.
“Say, the fountain outside was broken. Did something happen?”
That wakes him up from his mindly investigation. As a bartender, he's quite used to making small talk with noisy clients. Yet the stranger’s tone makes it sound much deeper than that. Is it truly an attempt at small talk or confirmation of intel? “There was an accident with a rifthound earlier today, but the Knights of Favonius took care of it.” They also caused it, he feels like saying. He's still looking into that alchemist later, when the day is dawn. ‘Accident’ is a mere assumption, and a weak one at that. Diluc isn't one to point fingers without proper cause, and won't do so, directly at a Favonius even, but it doesn't prove his innocence. Albedo had justified himself through and seemed consequential, but some bits ran up the bartender’s ears as lies. If that report doesn't enlighten his doubts, Diluc will likely take action.
“...I see. It's good the Favonius helped.”
“Yes. Here is your dandelion wine.” he replies.
The mysterious foreigner doesn't speak further. For the next ten minutes he wastes at the tavern, listening to bard songs and finishing his cup, there's not another question he makes to the red-haired bartender. Once Diluc realizes, the man is no longer there– a small pocket of mora in his seat. A weird client, indeed, but considering all aspects of his day today, it's nothing unusual.
Far, across Dawn Winery and joining the snow, Albedo climbs. His boots join in the lightest colors, fur tainted by the storm, but he lacks the necessary nerves to feel such climatic cold. Luckily, nobody was hurt this time.
Tomorrow might be different. The Twilight Sword is most likely coming to fulfill his word and the Traveler is out of the nation, so it's up to him only to stop the madness that could rise.
Master Diluc’s sentence echoes inside his head, “If my ‘experiments’ could kill people, I'd keep them in check”... that was solid advice.
The night is sad, but the snow is kind. It's peaceful, one could forget the blood it covers, every night and dawn over again, in layers.
But not Albedo.