Kaeya's Ascent

13: Married Life

  Albedo groaned. He felt *awful*. He forced his eyes open, feeling like everything was wrong.

  What Albedo saw was a far-off stone ceiling with lots of holes in it. The Abyss Palace? Why was he here?...

  Albedo almost gasped as the memories came flooding in. They were all blurry and hard to understand, but the main idea was that he had gotten incredibly hurt.

  He lifted his hands to find himself covered in several blankets.

  "I was starting to worry you might never wake up," Kaeya smiled from where he sat beside Albedo.

  Albedo stared at him with wide eyes. Why did he look like that?...

  The crown of stars around his head was now pitch black, and the markings under his eye mimicked the color. The scar over his eye sparkled as if it were a star itself. And the white of that eye was a dark purple color, shifting and swirling as if it were a body of water. It made his milky blue pupil stand out like an island in those waters.

  Kaeya reached out and took Albedo's hand, lacing their fingers. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

  Albedo paused, "not... amazing... What happened?..."

  Kaeya sighed softly, "a lot happened. But now you don't have to worry about who you are. You're the only soul inside of you, now." He smiled reassuringly.

  Albedo pushed the blankets down and sat up. Then he seethed, his chest hurt so much!

  Kaeya took hold of his shoulders, "careful, you're still healing..."

  Albedo looked down at himself, starting to panic.

  "Sh, sh, sh," Kaeya caressed his face, "you're okay. I promise you'll be fine. It's just taking a while to go away..."

  Albedo had a large scar on the left side of his chest. All the imagery of someone's bloody hands digging through his insides came to his mind. He fought the urge to throw up.

  "Hey," Kaeya whispered, trying to get his husband to calm down. "I'm right here, it's alright."

  Albedo had never scarred before. Ever. It shouldn't be possible! He looked up at Kaeya, suddenly remembering who had hurt him. "What happened to Aster?..." He could feel his heart beating uncomfortably within his chest. It had never felt so hollow...

  Kaeya's expression was washed away. His eyes were cast to the side. "He didn't make it."

  Albedo faltered. What did that mean?...

  Kaeya slid his hand down from Albedo's face to his chest, gently running his fingers over his neck. As he passed over it, the gold star lit up for a brief moment. And as Kaeya pressed his hand against the scar, a red glow started showing through Albedo's skin.

  The King of the Abyss smiled softly, "Albedo, I love you... I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to heal you... It was a few days before your wound started to close..."

  Albedo nervously leaned away, "how did you heal me?..."

  Kaeya's smile grew as he brushed his hand over the scar tissue. "I can do so much more, now. I can heal like it's nothing. I can use magic now, too."

  "But... you can only heal people who have sin... right?..."

  Kaeya paused, "while that is true, you seem to be the exception."

  Albedo looked down, growing more nervous. The red glow of his heart was making him uneasy. Shouldn't it not do that if he didn't have anyone else's soul in him?... "Uhm," the alchemist started, "Lumine wasn't angry with you for helping me?..."