Past Lives || Dottore

14

Y/n was outside again. The snow flurries buzzed around her, almost like they were welcoming her back into their snowy paradise. She smiled, looking up to the sky. The sky itself was gray, the whiteness from the snowflakes seemed to be bright against the cloud cover. She blinked and looked back to the ground, feeling lightheaded. Woo, it certainly was a while.

Dottore was outside as well; he had to make sure that she wouldn't try to make a break for it. Not that she was stupid enough to do so, she knew how secluded this place was from the rest of Snezhnaya. He watched her try to catch snowflakes, watching as when she did catch one, she would watch it melt in her hand. Then the cycle would repeat.

"Oh!"

She fell back, landing butt-first onto the snow. He took a step forward, suddenly worried. When she sat up again and turned to face him, she had a bright smile on her face, and he felt foolish to be worried about something as small as that. Dottore sighed, a faint smile growing his face.

"You're alright?" He called out, regardless of him already knowing the answer.

She laughed. "Of course! I've never felt better!" Y/n waved at him. He relaxed and got comfortable again, leaning against the house. Even though it looked like his guard was down; it wasn't. His eyes were constantly scanning the tree line, watching for any movement.

He had other Fatui agents positioned in the forest, ones that worked directly under him and took no other orders, watching the forest for anything that might be off. He did remember telling them to capture anybody wandering the forest. He couldn't risk this place getting discovered by anybody after all.

They made such great test subjects.

"Hey Dottore!" Y/n called. He snapped out of his brain quickly.

"Hm?"

"Do you want to have a snowball fight?" She grinned; a snowball already made in her hand. A snowball fight? He hasn't had one of those since before he was a harbinger. It was so long ago, centuries ago even. It must've been he came from Sumeru in hopes of proposing his ideas to someone who would listen to him.

He had long since forgotten who he fought against. They were probably dead by now, unless they too found a way to become immortal. Dottore leaned over, scooping up of snow into his hands. He formed it into a ball, sending a toothy smile to his assistant.

"Of course." She beamed.

He threw the ball first, hitting her square in the chest. "Damn, miscalculated." He muttered. He dodged the snowball that Y/n threw, scooping up some more snow. Ah, now he remembered. He fought against an old friend; one of the only people from the academy who listened to his theories and participated in his testing. Other than Y/n, of course. Snowball fights were their favorite thing. They always treated it like a warzone, and they always won that way. Maybe he should try out that strategy.

Y/n's snowball hit him in the shoulder. "Score!" She shouted. "20 points!"

"There's a point system?" Dottore was puzzled. The game certainly changed since he played.

"Yep! You got me in the chest, so you have 15 points!" She tossed up a snowball, catching it. It crumbled in her hands when it landed. She frowned at this, muttering curses under her breath. A snowball hit her on the forehead, snapping her focus back to the fight.

"How much was that love?" Dottore smirked, watching as her forehead turned red to try to warm up the area were the snow hit.

"100 points." She frowned. "The first one to 500 wins."

"So, I'm at 115 then? Alright." He dodged the next snowball, side-stepping it with ease. Y/n was quick to throw another one, this time hitting him again in the shoulder.

"40 points!"

"Are you shouting out your point number?" Weird. Just kept track of it in your head.

"It's easier! At least for me." She shrugged. "Plus, it seems cool to me, so why not right?" She threw another one, missing his head. The snowball fell into the snow behind Dottore.

He smiled, enjoying this feeling. It was nice to feel this once again, to feel this thrill of a simple game Snezhnayan kids played on the regular. "Alright."

~

Dottore sat on the snow, Y/n was barely able to take a step before collapsing into the snow. He turned to look at her, even then making sure she was alright. She rolled over, her arm landing his lap. The snow had stopped a while ago, even though it was still as cold as ever. The snow around the house was littered with footprints, discarded and destroyed snowballs, person-sized holes where one fell.

They both were tired, there was no doubt about that. Over time, the two of them got better at the game, and found themselves quite good. Dottore was particularly good at aiming, only missing because Y/n was good at dodging- even if it was unintentional. Most of the person sized holes was hers, somehow, she always got herself out of one better Dottore caught up to score another sent of points.

"So," Y/n started, looking up at his mask. Her eyes drifted over his lips, noticing how dark it was under the mask. "Who should tell their story first, hm?" She stared at him, watching as his lips became pressed into a thin line. She suddenly felt bad, and she sat up quickly.

"You don't have to tell me, at least not right now Dottore. I can wait until you are ready to." Y/n took his hands into hers, feeling the callous on his hands. She wondered what weapon he used, wondered what could've caused such things on his hands.

"If I didn't, it would feel like a debt unpaid." He said, pulling his hands out of her grasp. He regretted taking off his gloves; he could feel his fingers freeze. Dottore pulled on his gloves quickly, putting them on his lap when he finished. He opened his mouth when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up, seeing one of the agents he posted leaving the forest with a person in tow.

He stood up as Y/n watched his movements with confusion and curiosity. The agent bowed. "Sir."

"Who?"

"A young girl, sir." The agent replied. "She says she got lost."

Y/n looked over, her curiosity overpowering her. Her eyes widened as she recognized the girl.

It was her sister.