Archive of Our Own ^beta

Fake Albedo looked at the young girl with curiosity. From what his research told him, she was Albedo’s “little sister”, and took care of her.
Since his own opinion about his “brother” was not exactly positive, he was interested how the relationship between Albedo and this Klee were.

Getting info on her whereabouts from one of the Knights hadn’t been difficult (A certain Huffman, who also looked somewhat flustered when talking to “Albedo”. It was worth investigating), so now “Albedo” was just outside Mondstadt, on the road to Starsnatch Cliff.

Apparently, Klee needed wind, for some reason.
He found her trying (and failing, much to her dismay) to fly a heavily-equipped kite.

No explosives this time? Weird, from what he knew she LOVED explosives, and making things explode, so much that she even got a Pyro Vision.
“Albedo-niisan!” she greeted him from afar “I though you was too busy today to play with me”
That’s why I was able to come here and be sure to not meet him, he thought.

When he got closer, however, she made a really confused face, and for a moment “Albedo” feared she might had seen through his disguise, but then she smiled at him, and showed him her kite, asking for help.

It turned out that the kite was in fact equipped to explode, either with a timer or on hit, she hadn’t decided yet, but the one she was trying to fly wasn’t exactly explosive, yet.
“It’s for safety reasons!” she had explained, all satisfied with herself “I’m following what Jean said, and making proper experiments with the kite before making it explosive! But I can’t make it fly yet, it’s too heavy…”
How… singular.

So, “Albedo” sat with her, using his expertise, stole from the real Albedo, to help her make the kite fly.
After a whole afternoon of trial and error,  a couples of snapped wires and a few barely-aborted explosions, the fire-kite was dramatically reduced in firepower, but at least now it managed to actually fly.

She looked really happy, and “Albedo” found that it somehow warmed his heart. Was it the warmth of the “bond” they shared as brother and sister? He wondered.

“Thank you for helping me when my brother couldn’t!” she said happily, and “Albedo” froze.
“Don’t worry” she whispered “I won’t tell anyone”

“Why?” he only managed to ask. One single little girl, and his perfect disguise was busted? Did it mean he has to eliminate her or-
“You are not Albedo-niisan, but if you want you can be Klee’s brother too!” she continued, taking both of “Albedo”’s hands between hers, much smaller, much warmer.

“Albedo” didn’t move, he felt like he couldn’t do anything aside from looking at her cute smiling face.
A weird, uncomfortable sensation raised to his eyes and his vision clouded, then he felt wetness on his cheeks. Was he crying?
“Why?” he managed to whisper “If you know I’m not your brother, why are you so kind to me?”

Klee pulled on his hands, making him crouch at her height, then she started squishing “Albedo”’s cheeks with her tiny hands, awkwardly trying to wipe away his tears.
“Because you looked lonely”
He felt his eyes sting even more, and instinctively pulled her in a tight embrace, sobbing quietly on her shoulder. She patted on his back, murmuring “there, there” every now and then.

Was it the warmth of a family? Was it what he longed for ever since he was created, then discarded? What he had tried to steal from his “brother”?

After a few minutes, “Albedo” released her from the hug, a much calmer expression on his face, although tears were still falling, he was now smiling.
“It’s getting late” he said “Let me take you home”
She made an inquisitive face “But at this time my brother probably finished his work, won’t you get in trouble?”
He smiled, grateful of her worry for him “I’ll take you only to the gates. I’ll be fine”
“Ok!”

They didn’t talk on their way back to Mondstadt, Klee happily humming a tune, “Albedo” distantly watching the road ahead, tears still falling down his cheeks.
He really got everything wrong.
Once near the bridge, he stopped, and released Klee’s hand he’d been holding all the way back.

She pulled him down and hugged him, tightly “Will you come back to play with me?”
“One day” he promised.
“Now I have some… things to think about”
She nodded “Ok! See you later, brother… how should I call you?”
“Hmm… I don’t know”
“You don’t have a name?” she asked, curious.
“Not one that isn’t stolen from someone else” he confessed “But next time, I promise I’ll have a name to give you, a name that’s mine and mine alone”
She gave him a big, big smile.

“Ok, mysterious brother! I’ll see you next time!” she waved at him as she traversed the bridge to the gates.

“Miss Klee!” she was greeted by the guard.
“Hello! I’m just going home now!”
“Wait, were you playing outside alone again?!”
“Not at all! I was with brother!”
“With Albedo?”
“Nope, Albedo-niisan was busy”
“Then who…”

She placed her index finger on her lips.

“Secret!”