Frozen Heart
So, this was supposed to be a little thing because I was inspired by the Albedo event and the asks @nya-vivi and I sent plus her amazing story
And then I kept writing lmao so yeah this isn’t edited so beware and also I’m sorry if the two canon characters I included are ooc, it’s hard for me to write canon characters also if there is an error in the lore (that I didn’t make up lmao) I was going based off memory
(Just as an FYI the first two sections happen in the past, that’s why the ages are different)
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“Watch your step.”
“Pfft, stop treating me like a kid! I’m not going to trip- OOF!”
Eve let out a sigh before reaching a hand out and helping the younger teen up from where he face-planted into the snow. The ginger quickly brushed the snow off his front, a deep blush burning across his face in embarrassment. The two teens continued forward, carefully watching their footing against the snow and uneven terrain.
“I don’t even know why you decided to go through this place to get to Mondstadt from Liyue. We could’ve easily went around it.”
“I figured you’d want to see some familiar scenery; something similar to back home.”
“At least Snezhnaya has people,” the fourteen-year-old grumbled under his breath. Eve lightly hopped down from a small ledge and stopped as the ground began to flatten. He was right, besides the very few treasure hoarders they had seen, the two hadn’t come across any other humans.
“I noticed that too. There’s ruins which obviously means there were people here at one point but now… there’s no one. It’s eerie.”
The kid snickered. “Are you really scared of some old ruins?” The seventeen-year-old scoffed and pushed him in front of her, pushing him to continue.
“Like you were with that Lawachurl?”
“I wasn’t scared! It just caught me off guard!”
“Whatever you say, kid.”
“I’m not a kid! I told you to stop calling me that!”
“Well, don’t have a name like Childe then.”
Childe huffed, “I told you it was codename!” Eve rolled her eyes. “Besides, I defeated it didn’t I?” The ginger continued on. “In fact, I defeat every single enemy we’ve come across. They’ve been weirdly stronger her too, but I still did it! And all those Ruin Guards too! In fact, If it was still alive, I think I could defeat this dragon!” Eve let out a chuckle.
“I doubt that, bud. Look around,” Eve gestured around the the giant remains of the dragon’s ribs, towering over the two Snezhnayan teens high in the air. “If this is the size of just it’s ribs, imagine how big the rest of it was.” As the young man continued to ramble about how he could definitely take down the dragon, the seventeen-year-old followed behind him with a small smile on her face.
The smile didn’t last long however, as Eve suddenly stopped in her tracks. A chill ran down her spine, but it wasn’t from the cold. This was different. Slowly she turned her head. There, to her left, was a cave and at the very end was something that made her breath catch. All of the natural sound of mountain disappeared as she continued to stare, fear quickly growing in her chest as she couldn’t pull her eyes away.
“Hey, you stopped. What happened?” Childe’s voice snapped her out whatever trance she was in, bringing her back to reality. She tore her eyes away from the cave. “It’s nothing.” Childe tried to peek around her.
“What we’re you looking at?”
“Nothing,” Eve started pushing the kid forward, away from the cave before he could see. “Let’s go, quickly. We’re almost at the edge and I don’t want to camp in the cold for another night. She continued pushing the kid forward, ignoring his confused protests and the lingering of feeling of what she saw.
- - - -
“I want to send troops to investigate Dragonspine.”
“……What.”
The harbinger stared at the assassin a deadpan expression. Eve resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
“I said, I wanted to send troops to investigate Dragonspine.”
“No, I heard what you said. I just want to know why you’ve come with such a stupid idea.” Eve let out a frustrated groan.
“It’s not stupid-“
“It is stupid. And besides, why did you come to me with this?”
“Because you harbingers are closer to the Tsaritsa than I am, so it’s easier to get an answer if it’s from one you.”
“And the reason you chose me is?”
“Signora is out on an assignment and I refuse to talk to Dottore.” Scaramouche rolled his eyes, pushing past her. Eve quickly followed behind him.
“Listen-“
“I’m not.”
“-There’s something wrong with that mountain. There were Ruin Guards all over the place,-“
“Ooo, big scary monsters.”
“-the creatures have to be some sort of mutations. Even Childe said that they were more difficult to defeat.”
“The kid is willing to fight everyone and everything. Hell, the psychopath would probably try and fight a rock.”
“Not to mention all the ruins despite the entire mountain being in habitable. I’m sure that has to do with the pillar-“ The Balladeer let out a huff before quickly turning around, causing Eve to almost run into him.
“So there was a city and now they’re all dead, whoopty do, that’s not the first time that’s happened. This entire thing is stupid and besides, this has nothing do with what your job is. Now, go bother someone else with your ramblings; you’re wasting my time.” Scaramouche quickly turned back around and continued to walk away.
“There’s a heart. A beating heart.”
The harbinger stopped in his tracks. He slowly looked back over his shoulder at the ginger.
“There was a beating heart inside the mountain,” Eve continued, determination in her eyes. “There’s something wrong with that place, very wrong. I want to know what it is.” The two stood in silence, tension hanging heavy in the air.
After a minute, the Inazuman turned back around. “I’ll tell the Tsaritsa. Now leave me alone.” The harbinger then left, leaving Eve in the hallway by herself.
- - - -
Eve brought her scarf closer her face as she walked up the the Fatui camp. She walked this path many times at this point she had it memorized.
“Captain Evelina!” The skirmishers quickly stood to attention once they caught sight of the young woman. Eve lifted a hand in greeting. She may hate the the organization she works for, but she can’t deny that the fact that she can make even the biggest of the skirmishers anxious is something she enjoys.
“I won’t stay for long. I was stopping by to see if there was any progress involving the heart.”
“Unfortunately no, Captain Evelina. Not since the last report.” Eve sighed. It had been six years since she started the investigations and progress had been severely slower than she had originally hoped. Some information has been uncovered, but not enough to prove anything. If anything, more information was uncovered by the traveler than her own men.
What was interesting though, was that in recent events that supposedly occurred, she was sure that Albedo was involved some how. She always had the suspicion from the minute she set eyes on his workshop, but she never had the evidence. She still didn’t have enough concrete evidence as the only information she had was what she had heard, so his involvement is still considered suspicion. The entire operation made her tired, but she’d continue on until she uncovered the truth.
“That is all. As you were.” Eve left the camp, not bothering to look back, and continued down the path. She always spared a glance at the cave in case something has changed, and while over the years she has become used to it, there was always a slight chill in her bones when she looked at it.
Eve, however, had to stop and do a double take this time. There was someone inside the cave down by the heart. The woman seemed familiar to Eve somehow, the red glow of the heart causing her white hair to almost appear pink. Eve furrowed her eyebrows.
“Hey!” She shouted down from the entrance to the cave and when the woman turned around, Eve understood where she recognized her. She couldn’t put a name to the face, maybe it started with an L, but she was the one who was around and good friends with Albedo.
“I don’t know how you got past the fatui agents, but you need to be careful! We don’t know much about that or what it can do, so it’s best you don’t get too close to it.” Before the woman could respond, Eve pulled her scarf around her tighter and left. She already spent enough time in Dragonspine for now, she didn’t want to spend anymore time there than she needed to. And especially not around that heart.
Besides, she still had to get to the Angel’s Share before closing so she could surprise someone.