Souls in Teyvat

"For the last time!" a short girl with grey eyes looked angrily at a tall man with deep purple hair. "You are not my parent, stop taking away my games!"

"Then be grateful" said Keith with a smile. "I'm not even your father, and I'm still caring about you."

"..." Silverwolf looked at Keith with a scowl.

"You should already know" spoke Kafka, entering the room with Stelle by her side eating from a bag of chips. "How annoying he can be."

"Is that what you call it?" asked Keith with a raised eyebrow. "Then please tell me, miss touch-my-coat-and-die, do you know how many hours she spent playing the last 2 days?"

"I will guess" said the grey-haired girl with golden eyes, raising a hand still dirty with grease from the chips.

"Miss Trashcan" Keith nodded while looking at her.

And of course, Stelle being who she was, could only think of that nickname as the perfect one for her.

"18" she replied, but Keith shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, it's my life" said Silverwolf with a frown, but with a tinge of nervousness in her voice now.

"Ara, it seems like someone has played more than what she should" said Kafka with a small smile that sent shivers down Silverwolf's spine.

The last time she pissed Kafka off after making a comment the purple-haired woman didn't like, she had been hypnotized to puke every time she thought about a game.

It hadn't been a fun week for her.

"Come on, you also came here all mighty speaking against me" said Keith looking at Kafka. "Guess."

"....24" said Kafka after thinking for a bit.

"Once again, you are wrong" Keith's gaze turned towards Silverwolf, who gulped. "She spent a total oooooof...40 hours!!"

""...."" Kafka and Stelle looked at Silverwolf with a deadpan stare that made the silver-haired girl take a step back.

"Out of 48 hours, she spent 40 of them playing" continued Keith while shaking his head. "But the worst part is that it was one of those accursed gacha games."

"Y-You are lying!" tried Silverwolf, knowing that indeed, she had played too much.

"Am I?" asked Keith with a raised eyebrow. "This game came out 2 days ago, that's why you asked for a few days off after all. And yet, your in-game time says 40 hours."

"I-" Silverwolf opted to shut up, as anything she would say would be used against her. She could only curse that Keith knew the most basic things about technology, not as much as her, but enough to find some arguments in his favour.

"Someone has been a bad kid" said Kafka with a small smile. "Looks like someone needs to be punished again."

"No! Not you again!" Silverwolf screamed hiding behind Keith, that was how much she feared Kafka's punishments.

"I have to agree with her this time" said Keith, making Kafka raise an eyebrow. "The only moment you care about her is when she does something bad, which leads me to think you only want to speak with her to punish her. That's the mark of a bad parent."

"Keith, what the hell are you on?" asked Stelle with her mouth full of fried chips, clearly curious about where all this would end.

"Anyway, I will deal with the punishment" said Keith with a righteous expression.

"So in the end, you only want to punish her yourself" Kafka looked at Keith with a deadpan face.

"Yes, I do!" replied Keith. "So, dear girl whose name reveals that you haven't passed through your chuuni phase yet, you will fulfil our Contract. One hour of exercise, one hour of playing."

"But I will need half a month" argued Silverwolf without any heat behind her voice. "Wait, why am I accepting that rule?"

"Because you are a child who shouldn't be playing with games all day" said Keith with a sagely nod.

"For the last time, I will be 17 in 3 months" shouted Silverwolf in indignation.

"Now you are the liar" said Keith with an accusing stare that made Silverwolf's face turn red with anger. "Anyway, you will restore the balance of the world."

"Such a grandiose sentence only to say you will force her to run through that madness you call running circuit because you feel lonely" pointed out Stelle, with a frown realizing there was no more junk food in her bag of chips.

But she shrugged, and took out another.

"I will deal with you later" said Keith, looking at Silverwolf again. "But if you exercised for 40 hours, you might be tempted to repeat the same, and you still broke our Contract so you need to be punished. So instead of 40, you will run for double that time. After all, you need to learn your lesson."

"Good luck chibi-san" Stelle didn't fail to deliver another commentary that made Silverwold rage.

Or would it have, had Silverwolf not been dead inside.

"Well, Ruan Mei already declared the number of hours you can safely play" said Kafka with a small smirk.

"As if that was truthful" replied Stelle with a scoff. "She will say that growing horns is normal if Keith asks her to and bribes her with a few bottles of blood."

"Be careful with what you say" retorted Keith with a pointed look towards Stelle. "Or I will sic her on you."

Ruan Mei, even if her usual occupation was quite different, acted the part of the medic inside the group, after all she was the best biologist in the world.

She was the best at identifying the problem a person had, but she had no idea of how to solve it in the majority of the cases.

The usually blank-faced woman turned into a ravenous beast who thirsted for knowledge when Keith was near.

How could she not? Keith was the best subject to study in the whole universe, and the more she knew about him, the more interested she was.

What was that foreign thing she hadn't been able to detect? She still had no idea, but all it meant was that there was something else for her to discover.

How could such a powerful soul be unheard of? She had experimented with the rest of Emanators previously, and she knew that Keith's abnormalities were too strange to belong to one.

What kind of being was Keith? She didn't think he was an Emanator, as the 'signal' his soul emitted didn't belong to any known Path.

But how could a Path be unheard of? Paths were exactly that, roads a person took to approach the origin, what use was there in an empty Path?

None, which led her to think that Keith was not an Emanator.

But then...what was he?

There was no way that kind of soul belonged to anything unrelated to an Aeon, his soul was too strong to be nothing else but an Emanator and yet, he wasn't one. So Ruan Mei, after countless nights in which she had to fake being asleep so Kafka wouldn't forcibly put her to sleep, finally reached a conclusion.

She didn't know.

And after centuries, or even millennia of studying anything related to Aeons, finding such a concrete thing as Keith's soul and not knowing anything only meant one thing.

She was getting closer. She knew the futility of her goal, understanding Aeons as a mortal was just impossible, and she thought that she might need to get to know absolutely everything in the world until the last piece of unknown remaining would be the knowledge she craved so much.

She wasn't an expert in souls, after all, her field of study was biology, but how could she ignore such knowledge when the best clue she had was in front of her but she was unable to learn anything?

That was the first moment Ruan Mei used the Genius Society as a means to get knowledge. She learned the most basic things before she realized something that in her haste she had missed.

Now, Keith's soul was affecting the body, didn't that mean that she could still use all she had studied for centuries?

So her journey as Keith's 'private nurse' started. She was witnessing the evolution of a powerful soul that she had no doubt was closer to Aeons than to Emanator themselves, she couldn't miss a single day, and if that required faking some medical checks about the pretty unimportant people around, she lost no time doing it.

And thus, the alliance medic-asshole, Ruan Mei-Keith, was born.

Putting Ruan Mei's words in doubt was going against the best biologist in the universe, so....

"And like this, smol girl's punishment was decided" said Stelle with a nod, making Silverwolf glare at her.

"Keith" said Kafka, looking at the smirking purple-eyes man who looked at her curiously. "Stelle grabbed a few films on the planet we just went to, and she wanted to do a cinema session."

"Again?" asked Keith looking at Stelle with exasperation. "Do you like films so much?"

"How could I not?" asked Stelle with a shrug. "They are great. Are you coming or not?"

"I wanted to trai-"

"Are you coming or not?" repeated Stelle with a straight face.

"I-"

"Are you coming or not?" repeated Stelle with a straight face.

"-"

"Are you coming or not?" repeated Stelle with a straight face.

"NO!"

"Are you coming or not?" repeated Stelle with a straight face.

"Okay"

And thus, a movie session was held.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I brought popcorn" Keith entered Stelle's room, which had the biggest TV around in front of a big sofa.

"Is anyone else going to come?" asked Kafka, takin out her boots and sitting on the sofa.

"Smol girl is still depressed, but she might come later" replied Stelle, closing the door and the curtains so the room would be in the most absolute of darkness.

"Trash-can girl, let me separate the drinks before closing the curtains" said Keith, hurrying at knowing Stelle might as well not wait at all.

"You should have done it earlier" replied the impatient Stelle, but opened the curtains a bit. "Your eyes are freaky enough to allow you to see in the dark."

"Well, nothing I can do" replied Keith, putting a canned soda of mango flavour in front of Kafka.

It was her favourite after all.

"And yet, you are the only one able to identify which drink is yours even in the darkness" continued Stelle, waiting for Keith to finish. "You damn mole."

Keith stopped in place, with a hand extended toward Kafka to give her the gummies she liked so much, with a blank expression on his face Kafka had never seen before.

'What is this...' thought Keith, not able to understand what was happening inside of him.

Being able to understand how others felt, even if just at a superficial level, gave him enough emotional intelligence to understand what he felt in most cases.

Until now, because there was a dark maelstrom inside him he didn't know how to manage.

"Keith?" asked Kafka, looking at Keith's abnormally empty face.

"U-Uhm" Keith stuttered a bit, but gave Kafka her food.

'I....will need to think about that later' thought Keith, but smiled.

They didn't have that much time to see movies, even if Stelle was always insisting on it, so it wouldn't do for him to mess this opportunity with his own problems.

"Is teacher going to come?" he asked trying to change the topic.

"So, can I close the curtains now?" asked Stelle, ignoring the stupid question.

"Yes, you have your popcorns, your soda, your gummies, your chips and that disgusting liquid you call refreshment" said Keith, pointing at all the things Stelle was going to consume in a few hours.

"It's broccoli and radish-flavoured carbonated drink" explained Stelle with a frown. "Show some respect, you pleb."

"Shut up and sit down" said the fed-up Kafka with her usual calm voice, knowing that once they started, these 2 wouldn't end. "We need to depart for a mission tomorrow, and we need to sleep for a while."

""Sleeping is for losers""

Stelle and Keith looked at each other in surprise, but frowned soon after.

"Just sit down" said Kafka with a sigh.

"Of course, I wouldn't be such a child to start arguing with someone whose hobby is to look through trash and ends up smelling worse than a dog's piss" said the mature Keith, sitting next to Kafka. "But if she insisted, I would say that indeed sleeping is for losers, but only for those who can go without sleep for 3 days before falling asleep while standing."

"It was only one time" grumbled Stelle, sitting on Kafka's other side.

This was not the first time they had watched films together, and the 3 of them knew that letting Keith sit next to Stelle was nothing but disaster, so Kafka was in the middle of the sofa.

"What is the film about?" asked Keith while Stelle introduced the film to the player.

Kafka gave the case of the film to Keith, who read it.

"Oh, my husband, how cruel can fate be! Oh, for you to leave me with no money, no house and no love to let our children grow in peace! Oh, Destiny, how thankful I am to you, because you sent a young rich president ro my house! Oh, Mister Kim Lee Heuk, please take me and- what the hell is this?" asked Keith with an Excalibur face, realizing that this was one of those movies about a 'rich and dominant' CEO of a company that took a shine to an average woman with nothing to her favour apart from her gentle nature hidden by a tangle of thorns, that he would slowly uncover while ditching his life-long fiancée in search of true love, giving up all his hard work for a successful life.

"The movie we will see" said Stelle, sitting on Kafka's other side. "But I don't think the movie is about that, probably the case is different than what the movie is about."

Tum tutum tuuum tum tum

"I hope so" said Keith looking at the big TV from which a certain noise he identified was leaving. "Because dear sweet gift of Aeons to this world, this, in case you didn't know, is a Porn Film."

Stelle looked at the scene depicted in the movie with a mouth open in astonishment.

"Well, it's already in" she shrugged, not wanting to get up.

"It's in indeed" commented Kafka with a grin looking at the TV.

"...what is happening" sighed Keith, standing up. "Stelle, do you have another film, or can I leave?"

"Why? Don't want to watch this?" asked Stelle, while rummaging through a bag near the end of the sofa. "Here."

"I hope this is also not a porn film" sighed Keith, taking the case and looking at it, feeling a part of him die. "Stelle, I understand you couldn't have expected that other to be porn, but why does this one go about exactly that?"

"....who knows?" asked Stelle with a shrug.

"Goddammit" muttered Keith, taking out the porn movie and putting it inside the case depicting such a scene.

"Why so angry?" asked Kafka with a smirk. "Don't you have...urges?"

"Like you do?" asked Keith back with a calm face, ignoring Kafka's sudden blank expression and Stelle's amused one. "Do I need to remind you of what I caught you doing? Granted, it was through a wall, but that...passion, was quite peculiar."

"Oh, didn't know about that" said Stelle, looking with a smirk at the expressionless Kafka. "Looks like if we talk about urges, you are indeed the best one to talk."

"But to answer your question" continued Keith, sighing in relief seeing that for now, the film wasn't about 'coitus'. Even if the only thing on the screen was the studios who made the film. "I do get urges, despite doing my utmost to avoid getting them."

"Why?" asked curiously Stelle, ignoring Kafka whose expression was slowly returning to a normal one, even if anger could still be seen in it.

"You see, my body is quite strong" said Keith sitting in his place, not before sending a glance in Kafka's direction to see if she was still pissed. "And when I get the urge, it doesn't go away that easily."

"...that must suck" said Stelle, but her smirk took away all honesty her comment might have. "Even more when you are surrounded by beautiful-"

"Gorillas" ended Keith without a hint of hesitation. "That's all you all are."

"...repeat that" said Stelle with a dark face.

"Did I stutter?" asked Keith with a raised eyebrow. "If I gave you a free day, you would come smelling like shit. If I gave Silverwolf a free day, we all know what would happen. I wouldn't trust Ruan Mei not to introduce a measuring device through my asshole, and Kafka...wait a minute, what about you?"

"...I would prefer you to consider me as a gorilla than as a woman" replied Kafka with a dark face, still pissed about that comment about her 'urge'.

"Wait wait wait" said Keith, not wanting to believe that the probably most insane one was the only one without strange addictions or hobbies. "What would you do in a free day?"

"She would probably listen to that boring music all day" added Stelle, seeing that the movie still hadn't started. "And rampage around if there were hostiles near."

"Or prepare more of those weird eye contacts she has" added Keith with a nod to himself.

"Wait, she uses eye contact?" asked a shocked Stelle, looking at Kafka. "So those pink pupils are not your true eyes?"

"You looked into too many trash cans even your brain has turned into it" scoffed Keith. "Do you think that kind of eyes can be natural? No, she is just as chuuni as Silverwolf."

"Will you shut up at some point without dying of loneliness?" asked Kafka in a frigid voice.

"Welp, maybe" nodded Keith. "It's just that I still don't understand why you use them, your eyes are beautiful without those."

"....I'm going to puke, too much sugar" said Stelle with a grimace. "Maybe if I leave you 2 alone you will re-enact that movie from before."

"I don't want to go to jail, no thanks" Keith shook his head with a righteous expression.

"Once again you prove how stupid you are. She should be in her early twenties, why are you still on with that?" asked Stelle.

"...are you?" asked Keith, looking at Kafka. "...this is awkward, did that many years pass?"

Looking back, all the years Keith had spent here passed in a flash for him.

There was always something to do, always a new planet to visit, a new mission to fulfil, something to learn, something to train in.

"Hey Kafka, how many years has it been since we arrived here?" asked a confused Keith.

"I don't know, didn't keep the count" replied Kafka sending a glance in Keith's direction. "But you gave me 5 birthday presents."

"....oh" said Keith very eloquently.

"Yes, now shut up, the movie is more important" replied Stelle, all her attention in the film. "Isn't it interesting, not knowing what the movie is about? It could be anything, from zombies to romance."

"Yes, and is that uncertainty what gives you a 'high'" muttered Keith. "I swear, you can't enter a casino."

-------------------------------------------------------

"...how did this happen" muttered Kafka with a sigh.

The movie wasn't even half in, yet Stelle's head was on her right shoulder while Keith's was on her left one.

"So much for the movie" sighed Kafka. "They fight all the time, and yet they are the same in so many areas I could swear they are twins."

She knew Keith was training every second she could, as the now purpled-eyed man liked moving his body too much, and he was getting restless.

It wasn't the first time she had seen him with that vacant expression, even if this was the first time he realized it. There wasn't a pattern, but Kafka had been paying attention to Keith for a long while.

She knew that Elio couldn't see her future which meant that in the future she would somehow get closer to Keith. It didn't have to be any kind of sexual or romantic relationship, as Blade's future had also been hidden, but the fact remained, so she tried to understand Keith better.

There wasn't much more to know, she had been with Keith for 7 years, as she had indeed kept count of it, and Keith wasn't an overly complex person. He was in fact Kafka's longest acquaintance, and even if she didn't want to admit it, the closest one to her.

So she had quickly detected Keith's changes, consisting of vacant expressions, nostalgic gazes, and absent looks.

She knew Keith had lost all his memories, and that in his past life he had been related to the famous Astral Express, was he recovering some of his memories?

She didn't think so, but it was true that maybe Keith was starting to recover, and she didn't know what to think about it.

Even if they often bickered, they both knew the other cared for them, so Kafka wanted Keith to recover his memories.

What she didn't want was for him to leave her life, even if she herself wasn't so sure of the reason, but if he disappeared, Kafka knew a big part of her life would be empty.

'Maybe...I should start writing to that Himeko' mused Kafka, sensing Keith's head on her shoulder.

Because she might need to help him.

She didn't overlook the possibility that Keith recovering his past memories might not be good, as was proven by the restlessness that usually took hold of him after these episodes.

Kafka knew Keith still hadn't realized it, but he usually got frantic to move his body or 'train' as he put it after he got lost in his thoughts like he had been before the movie started.

Kafka understood how the human mind worked, she was an expert at manipulating it, be it through hypnosis or simply persuading them to do or reveal what they wouldn't have in normal circumstances, so she understood that Keith could only move his body to drown that feeling of restlessness in the intense mental activity that fighting required, and she knew Blade noticed the same, but what rattled her was that these episodes had started after Keith obtained his body.

Had something happened to his soul? Had he seen something? What had he experienced while his body was being formed?

She didn't know the answer, but she would get ready to help him, just as his mere presence in her empty life helped her, and on that note, Kafka thought about the girl resting on her right side, but with a grimace this time, as Stelle was drooling all over her white shirt.

'Thank whoever is up there that is not an asshole that I took off my jacket' thought Kafka, because it didn't matter who it was, she would make those who dirtied her precious jackets suffer.

Stelle was a simple girl with a very complex personality. It seemed contradictory, but it was not.

Stelle said what she thought, acted on her ideas and didn't bother hiding anything, all this meant that it was easy to understand her and how she thought. On the other hand, she was a person whose biggest hobby was to look around in trash cans, which was admittedly hard to understand, but it was this mix of simplicity and complexity that allowed her to get closer to Kafka in a way only Keith had been able to.

Kafka wasn't a person who cared too much about putting a name to things, but maybe her relationship with Stelle could be defined as...best friends, maybe?

They were also companions, as Elio said that Stelle would play a pivotal role in the future of the universe, almost as important as Keith if not more.

Keith was plan A, he could break Destiny with his mere presence, while Stelle was the one who would thread through the still unobscured future, but even with that, Kafka didn't know how both Stelle's and Keith's paths interacted with each other.

But she didn't mind that much.

As long as she had both by her side, everything would be fine.