Fairy Tale | Albedo X Reader [ON HOLD]

1 - Once There Was An Adventurer

It was dark. Unbearably dark. Are your eyes closed? Are your arms moving? There's no sensation in your body at all. All you know is that you're conscious. That feeling that you know you exist, but you don't know where you reside, where your existence belongs.

Your memories are fuzzy. It's hard to piece together, but you recall glossing over a map in the dim campfire light. The campfire was warm, even in the chilling wind that blows at you. Orange and red hues danced playfully at you, but you don't remember feeling mischievous at all. The map in your hands only held lines and no color, a sense of loss in your mind. Your head had ached, but you rolled the map up once more, and at last...

Oh. The chill that ran down your spine as everything became faint, closing your eyes in defeat as you let the cold consume you. Your senses that were once bright had dulled as your fingertips started to freeze. The map you were looking at the night before was firmly held against your chest. It was torn at the edges, the quality wasn't even good; it wasn't helpful at all, so why did you hold it so tightly?

What's that sound coming from around you? Is it up, or is it down? The right, or the left? Is that the sound of glass placed on a table? Someone tapping on it with their fingernail? And yet, it doesn't sound like glass.

"... se! Keep...! ... break...!"

"Yes... We...!"

The sound of people soothed your ears which ached. Your throat was dry and feels strained, so you didn't call out, feeling it would do more harm than good. Were you breathing?

Ached and strained? Some parts of your touch have returned, it seems.

Two hands were placed at either side of your face, generating warmth into your cheeks. The touch sent a ticklish and comforting sensation down your body. Your head leaned forward into it, your body relaxed at the touch.

Your eyes fluttered open, but the world was dim, dark, and muddy to your eyes. A sense of sleepiness washed over you.

"Who... you?" you managed to utter out a whisper, struggling to keep your eyes open. You didn't know where to direct your face in this darkness, so you could only hope that your eyes seemed to be looking at whoever was warming you up. Is it nighttime?

There was a voice next to your ear, encouraging you to stay awake. You could feel your legs breaking free from the ice near the ground, but your mind couldn't comprehend what was happening at all. Your limbs simply refuse to move, so as you felt someone gently lift you out of the ice, you couldn't help but collapse against the warmth of their body.

"Sor... ry," you mumble. The urge to close your eyes was overwhelming, but once again, the voice from before was urging you to stay awake. It was soft yet firm.

"Mr. Albedo! I can carry instead if you instruct to do so!"

"It's alright. Sucrose, go down the mountain and alert the camp that there is an adventurer who is lost." It was the voice from before, the one that kept telling you to stay awake.

"Yes, sir!" There was a scurry of footsteps, one set growing fainter and fainter with distance, the other moving in quick steps around you before carrying you over their shoulder.

Your body was set down on some cloth, which must be placed above the snow, feeling from the softness and the wetness slightly seeping through the cloth. Your eyes are definitely wide open, yet you still can't see anything around you.

"Can you hear me?" The voice that was just instructing "Sucrose" was coming from in front of you. Your eyes are adjusting and now could tell a bit of the person's slightly darker-shade silhouette. His hands were on your cold cheeks again, the warmth of his fingers brushing gently across your face.