Halfblood [King|Alber × Reader]

Twenty-seven

A few weeks later

"Are you sure we shouldn't wait a little more?" you ask him, but the man shakes his head stubbornly.

"I can do it, Rain," he scoffs like a child. "Trust me."

You roll your eyes when he grimaces as you take off the rest of the bandages.

You don't know how he managed to do it, but he replaced the missing part of his wing using Lumen's.

It took a longer time, but whatever magic she used to protect it for him, altered her wing slowly until it took the needed shape, mirrorring his intact one.

The rest of the gifted wing that he couldn't use, turned into dust in a couple of hours to follow the soul for which it was born.

"It still hurts, Alber," you hit him on the head gently. "This is a bad idea. You should give yourself more time to heal!"

"I know what I'm doing, woman!" he snaps, and you smile, stepping back as he opens his black wings.

You fly opposite him, and joy runs through your mind like molten gold when you see his happiness.

His song hasn't changed a bit despite the change, but the sounds are softer than before, giving the melody more depth and an ethereal tone that reminds you of your friend.

You stay in a distance where he can't reach you, and the red eyes find your figure.

You look around once again, trying to take in the greatness of the place where you are.

The carving he made at Wano was astonishing and wonderful, but this original place is a miracle of its own.

The hall reaches up for the sky, its sides growing toward the ocean, almost like a different, new world created behind the endless walls, with the rich materials from wood and marble, to the purest of gold engraved into the shapes you find familiar.

It's like the memory of all Lunarians echos in the details of the nonsuch work of art.

"Do you remember the meaning of the lines, or should I remind you?" you ask playfully, turning upside down in the air.

"Stop teasing me, Rain!" he huffs, flapping once carefully.

"I'm not teasing you, I'm offering my help," you laugh, flying in a circle around him so he can follow you with the crimson gaze, which softens from your sight as always. "I know you can do it on your own. Just sometimes, things are easier together."

The Lunarian smiles at you gently, but still shakes his head to refuse your offer.

You accept his will and fly even higher to give him more space, sitting under the rosace on the top that lets the sunrays enter, filtering their light into myriads of colors that can paint the canvas of his white hair below.

Alber's eyes rest on you for one more second before he finds the center and beginning of the artwork, the circle where it opens and closes.

His thoughts flood with memories of how you slept near the same place at Onigashima.

He presses his lips together as he looks up, seeing you so bright and glad compared to those first days.

On his way here, he accepted the loss of his wing and wanted to try to live without it, to remember where he came from, and the journey he has gone through. He saw it as a punishment for the mistakes of his past.

But this was Lumen's last wish, and that's much more important.

Not to mention that he has a new purpose now, for which he was ready to do anything since he found you again, waiting for so many years.