Souls in Teyvat

"I surrender" said a sweating Keith, seeing a black blade with red cracks pointing at his face.

"You already lost, there is no need for you to surrender" replied his opponent, the immortal man known as Blade.

"That's also true" nodded Keith, who saw the blade being lowered.

"You are improving" pointed out Blade. "You have the basics down, and your body does the rest, but you are still green."

"I realized that" nodded a sweaty Keith with a deep sigh. "I can only react to what is in front of me, I'm still not able to look ahead."

"A fatal flaw that you will only overcome with training" replied Blade, sheathing his sword. "It's impossible for you to stay weak, not with a body that won't stop growing stronger, and you are smart enough to have a good potential. But you will require a lot of training, and we don't have that much time. But once again, training is not what you came for here today."

"...."

Blade, seeing Keith's expression, only turned away to leave.

He had seen enough distress in his life what Keith wanted to do coming here.

Keith, now alone, sat on the ground panting. Nightmares were increasing in frequency, as did the feeling of incongruence, so fighting against Blade was the best way to dispel a bit of the anxiousness that accompanied it. Physical activity was always a good option to calm yourself down, and he was also getting stronger at the same time.

Of course, he knew his limits, Blade would always be a step, or a few of them, ahead of his.

Not only did Blade have a body stronger than his own, but the immortal man was also a genius with hundreds of years of experience.

Keith knew his own body was just starting to grow, but he didn't consider himself a genius, at least he hadn't been made aware that he possessed that spark that differentiated him from the rest of the swordsmen as Blade did, but now that the battle had ended, that feeling came back, so he quickly left the training room to have a shower, expecting it to help a little.

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"Hmmm hmmm hmm" Keith hummed while cooking his own lunch, as was customary in this place. "Do you want something teacher?"

"I told you I don't eat" replied the gloomy man, sitting at a nearby table.

They were in a secret location, hiding from the powerful IPC and similar 'Intergalactic Police' organizations, so hiring a cook was just condemning them to a life of secrecy.

In the end, everyone cooked their own food, even if there were a few exceptions.

Silverwolf always tried to get something for free, Firefly had no clue what a pan was, and Blade didn't even eat.

In the end, Keith, Stelle and Kafka were the ones who ended up cooking for the rest of most days, even if it was only because Firefly was too cute to be left hungry.

But ultimately, Keith was the one who cooked the most.

There was something in the routine actions that cooking required that put him at ease, maybe because for once, he felt in control of what he was doing. It all started when he had been looking for recipes for different dangos, and he tried making one himself.

Which gave birth to an abomination even Kafka escaped from.

Keith hated losing, at least in something he felt he could do better, he knew that beating Blade was just a pipe dream, so he kept trying, and much to his surprise, he liked it, so he turned into the cook of the station.

Which gave him the right to boss Silverwolf around, if the girl wanted to eat, she would need to pay.

"Hmm?" Keith turned his head looking at the open door, as he had heard steps. "Oh, right. Weren't Kafka and Stelle supposed to come back today?"

"As I said, I needed to get that!"

"Stelle, you revealed our presence at the worst possible moment" replied Kafka's calm voice, approaching the kitchen.

"But I had to!" argued Stelle. "It was a golden trashcan! Golden, I say!"

"You walked in the middle of a meeting between the 2 most powerful mafias in Florana" replied Kafka, as calm as she had been, but Keith knew better.

"Golden I say! Firefly, support me on this!"

"...."

"Traitor."

"Stelle" Kafka's voice sounded again, but with a tinge of 'something' that Keith identified with her Spirit Wisper, the power to make others obey her will. "For the next 10 days, you will puke every time you look into a trashcan."

"Nooooo!"

'As lively as always' thought Keith with a fond smile.

3 women entered the kitchen, and looked at Keith with surprise.

"What are you doing here?" asked a curious Firefly.

"Keith!" but Stelle had other plans. "Help me!"

"From what I've heard, you earned it" replied Keith, crushing Stelle's hopes. "And little girl, I'm cooking, as your still-working eyes can probably see."

"It's 4 in the morning" said Kafka, who nonetheless sat on a chair in front of Keith. "And even Bladie is here."

"I already told you not to call me that" replied Blade with an emotionless voice. "I am making time before I leave for my next task."

"I fail to see how the hour affects what I'm doing here" replied Keith, alluding to Kafka's accusation and turning around to keep making his 'lunch'. "Want me to-"

"Yes! Please!" said Stelle, happily sitting next to Kafka. "Hello Bladie!"

And Blade wisely ignored Stelle, because getting into a back-and-forth with the energetic grey-haired girl was exhausting.

"Are you sure?" asked Firefly shyly. "I always feel bad for eating what the rest cook."

"Don't worry, we all know how utterly hopeless you are in the kitchen" said Keith with a reassuring smile. "At least you are better than-"

"Doughnuts please."

A silver-haired girl with a drill-shaped ponytail interrupted Keith, and sat on the chair next to Firefly.

"...yes, you are better than this leech" replied Keith with a deadpan look that Silverwolf masterfully ignored. "What the hell are you up to anyways?"

"Stelle woke me up" replied Silverwolf, scrolling through her phone.

"Silverwolf, the Master Gamer of this universe" Keith slowly said, making Silverwolf look warily at him. "How long has it been since you have slept?"

"... a few hours" replied Silverwolf with a blank expression.

"Then you must be losing too many neurons, because you forgot I can detect lies" said Keith, making Silverwolf pale. "Stelle didn't wake you up."

"...."

"...."

A pair of purple eyes collided with a pair of grey ones, but Silverwolf quickly looked away with nervousness.

"Sigh, never mind, just sit" Keith tiredly sighed, making Silverwolf look at him with surprise. "Just leave your phone while we eat."

"Aren't you being awfully comprehensive?" asked Stelle, looking at Keith with a raised eyebrow. "You would have blackmailed her to a week without games."

"I'm in a good mood today" replied Keith. "Stelle, you like spicy food right?"

"Of course" nodded Stelle, drooling a bit.

"Silverwolf likes salty food, Firefly likes sour food" said Keith without looking back, but both women nodded. "And Kafka likes sweet food."

"She? Sweet?" asked Stelle with a scoff. "Are you sure she doesn't like bitterness?"

"'There is enough bitterness in our lives to seek even more in our food'" cited Keith, making all of the 4 women raise their eyebrows. "Sounds like something she would say."

"...yeah" muttered Stelle, looking at Kafka. "Eerily similar to what she would say..."

"Hmmmm" Silverowlf, probably the smartest one, hummed in thought, looking at Kafka and Keith.

And Firefly, as unused to interacting with other people as she was, looked confusedly at the rest.

"How long have you known each other?" asked the white-haired girl.

"I met Stelle 4 years ago" replied Keith, turning around a thick steak of meat that emitted a mouth-watering smell. "Silverwolf arrived 3 years ago, Blade came here a month later than Silverwolf, and I have met Kafka for... 6 years, I guess? And our last member, at least for now, arrived here a month ago, which is you."

Firefly nodded, a bit happy that Keith also mentioned her, even if she had been the one to ask. It had been a nice detail whose only purpose was to tell Firefly she was also a part of them.

"6 years is a lot of time" said Stelle, with her eyes set on what Keith was cooking.

"Heh, she was a squirt at that time" smirked Keith, glancing at Kafka's small smile, the same she always had to hide what she thought.

"Was she something other than a bitter woman at some point?" asked Silverwolf with half-lidded eyes, glancing at the purple-haired woman.

"Silverwolf, you will feel dizzy w-"

"Sorry sorry sorry" Silverwolf, realizing what Kafka was about to do, immediately backpedalled.

She had already tasted Kafka's punishment, and they were dreadful and extremely cruel, to say the least.

Falling asleep every time she looked at a digital screen had wasted a whole month of her life, and this time the punishment sounded even worse.

"Now that I think about it, she hasn't changed that much" said Keith, turning around, and putting Kafka's dish in front of her. "Maybe eating some sweets will make her smile sometimes, not the mask she usually puts on."

"If I could eat that, I would smile a lot" pointed out Stelle, looking at the honey steak, that looked nothing short of a masterpiece.

"I'm afraid you will have to wait for a while then" replied Kafka with her same small smile, but took her fork and knife, ready to eat what she knew was going to be a delicious meal.

"Expected it" shrugged Keith, and turned around once again.

"Mine now, please!" said Stelle, slowly extending her hand towards Kafka's plate. "Ouch!"

Kafka slapped Stelle's hand away, and kept calmly eating.

"Unfair" complained Silverwolf looking at Keith's back. "Why is the meanest one the first to eat?"

"Someone has favourites" commented Stelle, caressing her hurt hand and looking at Keith with narrowed eyes.

"That's why Firefly will be the second" said Keith casually. "But Kafka was the first because she is the one who would have left the first, using some obscure reason to do so."

"That is also true" nodded a convinced Stelle. "'The past and the future are so similar to each other. I'm indifferent towards them, and as such, I don't see the need to eat now.' Or some shit like that."

"Don't talk about shit when your dish is going to be meatballs" said Keith, but had to agree. "But yes, that is why I fed her like I would feed a capricious cat that would leave when she sees fit to do so."

"So you are bribing me to stay?" asked Kafka, ignoring Stelle's disgusted expression at comparing her food with shit.

"Obviously" replied Keith, turning around again. "Lemon chicken for the shy girl."

"Thank you" said Firefly with a small smile, receiving her dish.

"How can you like sour food to begin with?" asked Stelle, looking at Firefly curiously. "I can picture you licking a lollipop."

"Sour and bitter is the only thing she can taste" replied Keith without turning around.

"....shit" muttered Stelle, but received a reassuring smile from Firefly. "And how do you know that? Are you cheating?"

"What are you on about?" asked an exasperated Keith. "There are too many wrong things in that sentence for me to retort to. But to answer your question, I asked her. We are part of the same team, group, faction or whatever we are, it's only normal I would try to know the rest."

"...."

"What a waste of space" smirked Silverwolf, looking at the ashamed Stelle. "Looks like someone didn't think the rest were worth their time."

"If I don't want to hear that from someone, it's you" countered Stelle with a frown, and stood up.

"But I was upfront about not caring" retorted Silverwolf with a smug smile that no one else understood, but also stood up.

"Calm down" said Kafka with an authoritative tinge in her voice no one dared to ignore.

"We are eating together for the first time in a long while" added Keith. "Keep it down please, and remember your food is still in my hands."

Both Stelle and Silverwolf sat back down, and looked at Keith, waiting for their meal.

For a minute, all that was heard in the kitchen was Keith cooking, and both Kafka and Firefly eating, but it was undeniable that a calm atmosphere was created, and they enjoyed it a lot.

They were part of a terrorist organization, and each one had their goals and schedules, and yet, right now they were all seated around the same table, eating together and sharing their time, which was a gift only a few of them were able to appreciate, mainly Firefly, Keith, Blade and Kafka, because they knew how rare this was, and knew this might be the last time they do.

Firefly was on borrowed time, and despite Ruan Mei's relentless search for a cure, it was not something a medic or a doctor could heal, as it involved Firefly's fate that had been determined in exchange for power.

Blade was seeking death, and even if he wouldn't go anywhere soon, he would still depart at some point.

Kafka lived with death chasing her, and she had been the first one to deliver it to a lot of people, so she knew more than anyone else how frail and volatile life was.

And Keith knew, and maybe sensed, that things would change soon. He would have gotten into a discussion with Stelle a few times already had he been the energetic prankster he had been in the past, and even if only Blade knew for now, he was scared of his own changes.

A meeting like this, where 6 people would eat and laugh with each other, might not be repeated again.

"Your food" said Keith, giving Stelle and Silverwolf their respective meals. "And for you."

Keith walked out of the area he had cooked, and gave the silent man who had been content with listening to the others bicker a dish of fried rice.

"A recipe I learned belonged to a famous restaurant in the Xuanzhou" informed Keith, making Blade frown. "Just eat it, wasting food is not good."

And Blade, much to his dismay, tasted it.

It was obviously not the same flavour he had been used to, Keith was not good enough at cooking to even approach the original flavour, but the memories came back altogether.

Memories of the High-Cloud Quintet, the heroes of the Xianzhou, eating together after a gruelling fight, relieved to see that their friends had survived.

"Ho hoo, the suicidal man is emotional" smirked Stelle, looking at Blade's blank expression. "Hey!"

"Hmm, delicious" muttered Keith, snatching a spicy meatball from Stelle's plate. "The cook must be extremely talented. And probably smart and handsome too."

"Mine" frowned Stelle, picking up her plate and moving it away from the thief.

"Then shut up and eat" said Keith, sitting in front of the bar where the 4 women were sitting with a smile.

The perfect meal, with perfect people.