To be free with you | Albedo Fanfiction

[2] A Whisp of Freedom

Looking around the place she reluctantly called home, Vortex gathered her belongings and suppressed any feelings of sentimentality. The room was frosty, lifeless. The only colour that seasoned the room being the throne-like chair which La Signora would previously rest herself upon, two crimsony velvet cushions placed to ease her bottom and back. Tempted, she approached the chair and brushed her slender fingers over the dust on the thrones bulky arm. Her hand lingered above it until her focus was distracted by a reflective shine to the left of her. She turned to gaze at her reflection in the full length mirror one last time.

Before her proudly stood a woman with half chalk white, half inky black twintails swinging at her waist, with a small hairpin in the shape of two interlocked and rusted golden gears; a black, long sleeved, turtleneck cropped top with a snow coloured belt-like choker over the top of the cloth that cling to her neck and white rimming along the bottom of the stomach and sleeves which puffed out at the bottom; shorts that also puffed out toward the bottom with similar white rimming at the belt line, following the circumference of her thigh and outlining the pockets on her hips; uneven socks, one white, slumped at the bottom of her left leg and, on the right, a black one reaching midway up her thigh that was being held up with a familiar white belt, the same used for her choker in fact; black ankle boots with thick white soles and mismatched black and white laces on each foot with additional golden swirls on the soles.

Finally, a white belt that messily lay slanted presenting three items dangling from it at the right side: a metal cage-looking capsule the size of her hand that contained a glistening heliotrope orb- a "gift" from Dottore; a gear shaped trinket with the word "Birthday" messily engraved on it- a gift from Signora and lastly a silver flask which more often than not contained sunsettia juice accompanied by a keyring of multiple little gear trinkets dangling from it- a gift from herself.

She broke gaze with herself, her dull silver eyes turning toward her hands. She admired her long pointed nails painted in no particular order with the colours black, white and gold. A tear formulated in the inner corner of her eye. Her mind flooded with thoughts of the future, both pessimistic and optimistic. A million "what ifs" corrupted her vision of destiny so she desperately fought to overwrite them with pleasant anticipation.

I'm going to live a normal life, make meaningful relationships, work a job that helps people, be able to stop and see the scenery, eat tasteful foods, have peaceful interactions with people from other nations, travel the-....
But what if someone finds out? She's not here to protect my secret anymore. What if the Tsaritsa finds out? What if my secret or identity of a previous Harbinger hurts someone? What if they find me? What if I can't defend myself against them?
What if what if what if what if what if  what if-

Abruptly, a short male burst through the door with an infuriated expression, cutting off her negative train of thought. His attire didn't seem fit for Snezhnayan weather but neither did hers. The boy marched up to her, his hat now sheltering the visibility of his emotions. He halted in front of her as her eyes shifted from the walls to his small figure, nervously waiting for him to speak.

"You've made an unbelievably idiotic mistake... even for you." He uttered. She flicked his hat up and looked down at him, smug.
"Ya gonna miss me?~" She asked rhetorically and condescendingly.
He batted her hand away, unimpressed, and crossed his pale arms. The boy wore his anger like a crown, his thoughts and intentions leaking from his eyes as they stayed fixated on hers. He was allowing his passionate emotions to be scanned like a map.

"This isn't funny you moron. As soon as you leave Snezhnaya, you'll surely be hunted. People don't like knowing there's someone stronger than themselves out there, especially if that person isn't fighting alongside them. If not to avenge the Fatui then they'll be after you to prove their own strength... and perhaps expecting to receive a reward." He paused looking away from her momentarily before staring at the floor and raising his voice.
"I just can't understand why you'd leave the protection of the Fatui?!"