Kael didn't understand why Amber reacted the way she did.
Because in her memories, after he died, he never appeared again.
This world didn't hold a single trace of him.
So Amber hallucinated every day… imagining that he was right beside her.
Kael stared at her, frozen, the ache in his chest so sharp he could barely breathe.
She had lived like this for years, surviving with nothing but illusions…
Amber let out a soft, self-mocking laugh. "Ever since Cecilia told me you were just something I made up… I haven't seen you for a long time…"
Her voice was faint, drifting through the quiet room.
She could barely catch her breath, yet she still murmured on and on.
A habit carved by years... whenever she saw one of her illusions, she would start talking to it, sharing her life without thinking.
"I know you're not the real Anders…"
"Anders left me a long time ago…"
"But I still want to see you. If I don't, I'm scared I'll forget his face someday… and then I won't be able to find him…"
"I wonder if Anders ever waited for me…"
"Am I too slow…? What if I never catch up to him…"
Kael leaned in close. His voice trembled. "I've been waiting for you this entire time."
Amber's dull, lifeless eyes widened. She stared at him, stunned.
"Anders?"
"Yes. It's really me."
A smile bloomed across her exhausted face, bright and warm, like the girl she had been so many years ago.
Tears glimmered in her eyes.
"You finally came, Anders. I'm about to die… Did you come to pick me up?"
Kael sank to his knees beside her bed. His hands clutched hers—thin, weak, as dry as twigs.
"Yes… I came to take you home."
Tears dripped from his chin, soaking into the blanket one drop at a time.
"I've always been with you. I never left."
"When Cecilia got sick, when she went to Sumeru, when she got married—I was there. I saw everything. You raised our daughter so well…"
"I'm sorry I made you carry all of that alone…"
Amber's lips curved into a soft, blissful smile. "Really?"
"It's such a shame I couldn't see you all those years… but now that you're here to take me, that means… we don't have to be apart anymore, right?"
"That's right. We'll stay together forever."
Amber's consciousness wavered. She forced herself to keep speaking.
"When I got sick… Cecilia didn't want me to come back to Mondstadt… but I was scared you wouldn't find me… so I insisted on returning…"
"See? I'm smart, aren't I…? I knew you'd come back for me…"
In this moment, Amber wasn't the woman who had raised her daughter alone, nor the mother standing at the edge of middle age.
With Kael in front of her, she became that cheerful girl again.
Her love for him had never moved past that point. It never faded, never changed.
Kael's voice broke. "Yeah… our Amber has always been the smartest…"
"Hehe…"
She let out two soft laughs.
"Anders… I'm a little tired… I'll sleep for a bit… When you leave… remember to take me with you…"
"I don't want… to be alone… anymore…"
Kael lowered his head and pressed a gentle kiss to her hand.
"Okay. I'll stay with you, always."
[The fifth mental fragment has been recovered.]
The last fragment rested in the dying Amber.
No family or friends were beside her. She lay alone in her tiny room in Mondstadt.
Surrounded by memories of the home she and Kael once shared, she clung to the thought of him… and slowly slipped toward death.
That loneliness tore a deep hole in her mind.
After Kael arrived, that final gap finally closed.
Amber fell asleep wearing a faint smile.
And she never woke up again.
Kael knelt at her bedside, head bowed, holding her hand.
He felt the warmth drain from her skin, bit by bit, until it faded into cold.
[Host, the mental fragments have been recovered. You may now return to the real world.]
Kael didn't move. His entire body stiffened like stone.
Time passed in silence. Still no response.
The System tried again.
[Host, please confirm whether you… Detecting critical collapse in mental state!!! Initiating forced removal of negative emotions!!!]