Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

List of things I could beat in a fight:

1. Antimatter legion Eliminators
2. Annimatter Legon Reavers
3. Antomoter Leg Baries
4. Anymotto…nothing what’s a motto with you haHA Doomsday Beasts
5. A CHILD

—

Dan Heng stares at the note on his phone in disbelief for about a minute, before he exits out and moves to delete it. Except he can’t find the delete button anywhere. Not by holding his thumb down over the thumbnail of the note, not by swiping at it, not even by clicking the three dots that are at the note’s top right hand corner. He has all the other options available, just not the ‘delete’ one.

He cross-references it with the other notes he has on his phone, and finds that it’s just that single note that he can’t get rid of.

There’s a possibility his phone might’ve been hacked, but he doesn’t recall ever going anywhere that would warrant his phone reducing into such a state. It could be the Stellaron Hunter hacker, but this seems like child’s play in comparison to the types of things she usually does. Besides, she has no reason to get unnecessarily involved with him, anything that isn’t a challenge to her is of no interest.

Well…whatever. It doesn’t matter. He has no real attachment to his phone anyways. The Express’ data bank can’t be manually altered from it, and it’s only used to access the information that is already public domain. Navigation is not something he’s hard pressed for, though it does alleviate the issue of having to talk to others.

Whatever happens to his phone, happens. He can always get a new one.

Deciding not to pay it anymore heed, he clicks it off and tucks it back into his back pocket.

He’s halfway out of the archives and into the hall when his phone vibrates, and he’s pulling it out again. He fully expects there to be a text that concerns him once he powers it on, but he finds that it’s just a notification from his notes app.

An app that doesn’t usually, if ever, give notifications.

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in, and sighs. Before he opens it.

—

List of things that I canNOT beat in a fight:

1. A child
2. They bite
3. Why are their teeth so sharp
4. GodDAMN this mark is deep
5. I am bleeding
6. Also wdym paper beats rock that’s ridickuloud

—

Dan Heng brings the screen closer to his face in a way that is reminiscent of Welt to make sure that he’s not hallucinating. Whoever’s writing this sounds like a complete idiot, because there is no way in this entire sea of stars that Dan Heng is the one who wrote this.

He tries one more time to find the delete button for the note, even goes as far as to see if he can just select the whole block of text and manually delete the paragraph, but it’s no use. He can only add to the note. He can’t do anything else to entries that are not his own.

“Last one to breakfast is a moldy piece of toast!” March shouts as she rushes past him in a flurry, slapping his back and jolting him forward while readjusting her choker with her free hand. She’s out of the express’ sleeping compartment and into the connecting car before he can even straighten himself fully, and he’s left to sigh after her.

When he enters the main parlor car, he’s greeted by the rest of the express sitting together at the other end of it, quiet clinking of plates and glasses along with loud voices carrying over to where he stands. He slowly makes his way over, mentally doing a headcount and frowning when he realizes that he’s short one person.

“Dan Heng,” Welt greets, subtly pushing the cup of coffee Himeko had poured for him closer to the seat that Dan Heng would occupy. “How’d you sleep?”

Himeko pulls out Dan Heng’s chair for him with a smile, but he doesn’t take it, just stops behind it with a furrow between his brows.

“Where’s Caelus?” Dan Heng asks.

“He went to Jarilo-VI for something. He didn’t really elaborate, and just left in a hurry,” Himeko answers. She even takes the liberty of bringing Dan Heng’s portion of breakfast that had been placed in the middle closer to his seat. “If you want to see him, he did say he would primarily be in the Underground today.”

“Pom-Pom wonders what he left for,” Pom-Pom says, tapping a paw against their chin. “He left so early, the night cycle on the Express hadn’t even finished yet.”

Dan Heng frowns.

“Should we go looking for him?” March asks, looking up from where she’s drenched her pancakes in a blanket of syrup. Most vegetables she won’t eat, but a sea of synthetic sugar she will. “I had some plans today, but if you want to, I can come with you.”

Dan Heng sighs. “No it’s okay. I was just wondering. He can do whatever he likes.” And then he sits down, nodding at Himeko when he picks up his pair of utensils. He doesn’t mind that Welt’s all but given him his cup of coffee, he’s going to drink it anyways.

And if he doesn’t flinch while chugging down Himeko’s hand-brewed sludge when both Welt and March go pale in the face, then that’s all the more power to him.

A new note appears just as Dan Heng’s getting ready to sleep.

—

20 trachandz

—

And then more is added once Dan Heng is properly settled into his futon.

—

20 trachcandz

What do you mean I’m wrong? How am I wrong? I literally counted three times! How are you gonna look at me and tell me that I’m wrong?? Are you so serious right now??? This is my passion, my hobby, the light in my darkest days, my own subject within the Intelligentsia Guild, the only thing I have going for m

—

And then it cuts off. Dan Heng raises an eyebrow at it, roving his eyes over the worlds several times before he gives up on trying to decipher the meaning of them. Whoever’s doing this to his phone must have a lot of internal thoughts they want to convey, whether or not to Dan Heng specifically is none of his business.

“Track…ands?” Dan Heng enunciates quietly, trying to make out the word that seems like it had been haphazardly typed in a rush. “Trach…caz?”

No. No he can’t make it out. And at this point, he’s not going to try. It’s not going to be worth it in the long run. He places his phone beside him—on top of his most recent read—and curls up underneath his blanket.

The notes don’t stop, but there’s no consistency to them. They come in random intervals, in random lengths, about random subjects. Most of them are incomplete thoughts, comparable to random scribbles on a sticky note, other times coherent sentences but with no context. There are no discernible clues as to who or where this person—if it even is a person—lives. There’s no telling what kind of schedule they have either. There isn’t a single period of time where no notes have been written that indicated this is when they slept or worked.

After the first five notes, he’d brought his phone to Himeko and Pom-Pom, but neither of them knew what to do about it. Himeko couldn’t trace the note back to anyone, but at least she had confirmed that his phone hadn’t been hacked. Pom-Pom was…less useful than that.

Well if it can’t be solved, then it’s whatever to him. It’s not like it posed much of an inconvenience other than the occasional vibration, notifying him of a new note. He’s read all of them, but they never stick in his mind longer than necessary.

Other than really, really thinking that the person writing all this is either a really bad prankster with no taste in humor, or they’re actually that much of an idiot.

He’s banking on the latter.

???? A rocket-propelled AI-powered automatic gear shifting wheelchair for the cheap price of only 45,499,800 credits??? They gave me a whole 200 credit discount

A steal

Waiting for the #link to drop so I can #purchase

—

Dan Heng squints at the screen in disbelief.

This person cannot be serious.

“Something on your mind?” Caelus asks, blinking owlishly as he swings his bat over his shoulder. “Credit for your thoughts?”

Dan Heng sighs, before tucking his phone away. This particular note had come a couple of hours ago, only he hadn’t gotten the time to look at it because Caelus had invited them to complete some exercises with the Silvermane guards at Captain Dunn’s insistence. Dan Heng couldn’t refuse, because he was the one who offered his services whenever Carlus asked, but it’s not like he really wanted to refuse in the first place.

“I don’t know,” March says from over his shoulder. She’s trembling, no doubt stretched thin on her tip-toes as she peers over his shoulder. “I couldn’t see what was on his phone.”

“Quick Dan Heng, pull your phone out again. Totally not so March can discreetly see what dirty secrets you’re hiding so we can start baseless rumors about you across the galaxy.” Caelus winks dramatically over Dan Heng’s shoulder, but his face remains comically stoic. “I got you March.”

“Your jokes are terrible,” March says flatly.

“I’m a comedian.”

Despite how terrible their banter is, the three of them make a formidable team, if Dunn’s guards who stare at them in awe at how quickly they defeated their formation and drills are of any proof. They are especially better now that Caelus treads two paths, wielding both his curio bat and preservation lance.

“Don’t answer my questions for me March,” Dan Heng says, crossing his arms.

“Well you weren’t going to be honest.” March steps out beside him to place a judgemental hand on her hip, before she grins, as if she was imparting good will upon him. “So I might as well do it for you! Like a Dan Heng whisperer.”

“You’re not capable of whispering though,” Caelus says, raising an eyebrow.

Dan Heng snorts, looking away when March glares at him. “There’s nothing particularly important on my mind. It doesn’t matter.”

“See that’s what I mean!” March points an accusing finger at him. “No honesty.”

Dan Heng tilts his head. “Leave me out of this.”

“He hates us,” Caelus concludes.

“Hates you maybe.” March crosses her arms with a smirk. “I’m the Dan Heng whisperer.”

“Dan Heng can-never-speak-at-a-normal-volume, you mean.”

“Yeah.”

Dan Heng sighs.

—

Where’s the link

—

One hour.

—

So...no link?

—

Two hours.

—

Link??

—

Three hours.

—

Lonk??
All the IPA does is LIE

—

And when Dan Heng’s going to bed.

—

No link.
I got scammed.
I’m so sad lmao
Lmfaoooooo

—

Dan Heng resists the urge to snort. Of course they got scammed. He’s just surprised it took them this long to figure out, if they would’ve figured it out at all if the link really had been sent at a reasonable time. He’s not usually the outwardly sympathetic type, but it’d be a bit sad to lose 45 million credits over a product that doesn’t actually exist.

Not to his knowledge anyway.

“I might have found another theory for you, Dan Heng,” Himeko says as soon as she’s entered the archives.

Dan Heng looks up from where he had been standing hunched over the terminal, initially only settling for greeting her over his shoulder. But he turns towards her, widening his eyes slightly. Just in time for his phone to vibrate again.

He would’ve elected to ignore it, if Himeko didn’t smile and look at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to open up the new note on his phone. He raises an eyebrow at her. “What’s the theory?”

Himeko chuckles lightly, bringing a hand up to her mouth to suppress her giggles. “Oh no, we have plenty of time for that. You’re not going to check the new note?”

“I can check it any time, what you have to say is more important.”

“Oh, but check it.”

Dan Heng purses his lips, but he obeys. He pulls up the notes app on his phone, and after he’s finished examining it, he hands his phone over to Himeko. She gingerly takes it from him, skimming through the whole note.

—

The last mf crane was hiding outSIDE the door this is an OUTEAGE
PASS 1234567-7654321-123

—

“None of these notes are very personal,” Himeko observes. Her thumb pauses over a certain section of the notes, eyes seemingly dancing with amusement. “It’d be hard to determine who this person might be with what information they’ve written down alone.”

Dan Heng sighs. “Yes, but I’ve already brushed it off. It doesn’t matter to me unless they do something that threatens the safety of the express.”

Himeko shoots him a quick smile, before nodding and handing him back his phone. When Dan Heng looks down at it, he notices that she had stopped at where they were scammed by the IPA. Well, that is one of the more coherent ones.

And the most amusing.

“Have you ever heard of the concept of soulmates?” Himeko asks.

Another buzz.

—

Xeno…hydro

Storage
Control

—

“I have,” Dan Heng says. He…may have had one in the past, characters scrawled across his arms that would fade before reappearing again once that other person had written more. But, that’s not something that he can remember, not clearly at least. This life and that life are different, even though the ghosts of that life keep chasing him through this one.

“Perhaps this is another one of those connections,” Himeko offers. “But take my words with a grain of salt. After discussing with Mr. Welt, this seems like a plausible theory, but it’s not something we’ve confirmed. Only you have that ability.”

Dan Heng frowns. “Then it really serves no purpose. I have no need to pursue a soulmate. Besides, they could be light-years away.”

“We never know, the Express makes many stops. Maybe we’ll stumble across them one day,” Himeko says.

Dan Heng crosses his arms. “Then I’ll worry about it when that happens. It’s not a concern of mine right now.”

Himeko nods. “Of course, you do whatever you deem is fit. It all comes down to you and the other person writing these notes in the end, if this really is your soulmate.”

Dan Heng feels another vibration.

—

It’s literally just a ghost

A big ghost

Why is it so huge

I could fight it

—

“Thank you,” Dan Heng says, tipping his head slightly at Himeko in gratitude. She did keep researching information for him, after all, even going as far as consulting Mr. Welt.

“Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with, I can ask around more for you.”

“That’ll be unnecessary.” Dan Heng shakes his head and turns back towards his terminal. Caelus had brought back some more data about Jarilo-VI’s Fragmentum enemies last night, noting that they’re moving in a different pattern now that the Stellaron’s been sealed.

If there was any pattern in the first place.

Either way, Dan Heng still has to archive it.

“Then I’ll leave you to it.”

Mid crabs
I’m gonna puke
10,000 credits and I still can’t win
Rigged

—

Oh my aeons it’s me
I’M THE PROBLEM
Still a handsome face though

—

those bubbles are so disorienting
Gotta log those memories before I forget

Floating away from the station after an air lock malfunction

Dan Heng sits up in his futon, hearing footsteps echoing softly across the plush carpet just as they enter the express’ sleeping compartment. It must be Caelus, because March had already turned in for the night, and Mr. Welt and Himeko had both retreated to their rooms about an hour ago. Seeing as it’s currently 2 am on the clock Pom-Pom had programmed to mimic a day’s cycle on the express, Caelus is the only deducible answer by process of elimination.

Dan Heng angles his head slightly towards the door, propping one of his arms up on his knee while he uses the other to brace himself. He fully expects Caelus to continue walking until he reaches his own room two more doors down, so he’s surprised when he hears Caelus stop in front of his door for a few seconds. He doesn’t walk off, and it piques Dan Heng’s interest enough for him to get up and pull his shoes on.

When he presses the panel to open the door, he catches Caelus just as he’s about to leave.

“Dan Heng.” Caelus blinks in surprise. “What’re you still doing up?”

“Did you need something?” Dan Heng hedges, crossing his arms.

“Er, it can wait until morning. I just realized the time when I looked at my phone just now,” Caelus says, holding up his phone and shaking it. It automatically awakens, sensing movement, and Dan Heng can make out their trio of wanted posters as his background, with the addition of Welt and Himeko’s. Caelus must’ve asked Gepard to draw them at some point.

“I’m awake now.” Dan Heng moves aside and motions for Caelus to follow him in. The door automatically closes behind Caelus once he steps inside, and Dan Heng instinctively goes to stand by the bookshelf. “So what did you need?”

“If there is a particular pattern Fragmentum monsters move in, and if a deviation from that means anything.” Caelus pulls up something on his phone, swiping his thumb across the screen, before he shows it to Dan Heng.

It seems to be a paper schematic of a district, drawn over with red circles and lines, with some notes scribbled beside it. Judging by the amount of places Caelus visits these days, as well as some of the layout that he himself recognizes, this must be Backwater Pass. The scribbles on the side don’t look like Caelus’ handwriting, so it must be from one of the Silvermane Guards.

“Anything in particular I should be focusing on?” Dan Heng asks, pulling out his own phone. “Send it to me.”

“Gepard says that they’re congregating somewhere in the plains,” Caelus says as Dan Heng waits for the notification. “Which is odd because they’ve only ever been focused on expanding in any direction possible. The Underground’s monster activities haven’t changed, but the Overworld’s monsters are thinning in some places, and amassing in others.”

Dan Heng zooms in on the notes scribbled on the side while walking towards the terminal. Most of those notes are just observations, along with some statistics of how many monsters have been either defeated or scouted in some areas.

Essentially, Belobog’s infected city spaces have seen a decrease in monster activity, while the front and back doors have increased. Judging by the notes, the guards aren’t vain enough to believe that the decrease in monster activities is because they’ve been slowly weeding them out. The Fragmentum doesn’t yield that easily just because an accompanying Stellaron has been sealed.

“I’ll see what I can find,” Dan Heng says. “I’ll let you know at breakfast.”

Caelus frowns. “You should just sleep, I don’t need it that urgently.”

Dan Heng shakes his head. “I have nothing else to do anyways.” He stares at Caelus for a few more seconds, before he continues, “Anything else?”

Caelus scratches at the back of his neck. “Anything else…?” He asks, trailing off in confusion. “Uh, I guess I picked up some unsent letters today?”

Dan Heng pauses, raising an eyebrow. “From the ground?”

“No, I pulled them out of the mailbox.”

Pulled them out of the—. “That might be the reason why they’re unsent,” Dan Heng says, trying not to sound judgemental.

“They were just sticking out of the slot, I couldn’t just leave them there.”

“Push them back in.”

“That never occurred to me.” And Caelus looks so shameless about his answer too, no sense of remorse. If there’s one thing Dan Heng’s learned about his time with Caelus, it’s that the other man seldom resolves to common sense. He has a sense of justice, but Dan Heng can’t tell how skewed it is to the common eye.

Dan Heng doesn’t mind because it’s not his place to judge, and he simply doesn’t care most of the time. Sometimes it’s amusing, but other times, especially times like these, he really does wonder what’s going on in Caelus’ head. His stoic expression—outside of the cheeky smirks Caelus adopts whenever he’s said something he deems funny—does little to reveal any of his thoughts either.

“Maybe it should next time,” Dan Heng says.

Caelus grins.

Dan Heng stares at him for a few more seconds, before he turns away.

760/1000 SMASHED
That achievement will be MINE
Just a few more barrels

—

Amber starlight?

—

Remember to waive destruction of public property ticket

“You know you can always just say ‘no’ to those requests,” March’s muffled voice sounds from outside Dan Heng’s room. Usually, he pays it no mind, but his concentration has just been broken, so this eavesdropping is entirely against his will. “I don’t think you’ve slept more than four hours a single night this past week.”

“Now why would I do that?” Caelus asks. “Besides, it’s not like I’m not getting compensated. I need these funds for my game.”

“Getting cheated is what you’re doing,” March grumbles.

Caelus doesn’t answer, but Dan Heng’s trained ears can pick up the little notes of laughter that March’s answer elicits. Laughter that imparts Caelus’ indifference to the amount that is rewarded of him whenever he completes another’s request, as long as he gets something in return.

By a skewed sense of justice, Dan Heng didn’t mean that Caelus was a force of chaos to be reckoned with. Well, he is by the rest of the Express’ standards, but his skewed sense of justice means that he can and will do anything, especially if there’s compensation involved.

His nose is stuck into everyone’s business, involuntarily or not. But he’s never said ‘no’.

Now whether or not that’s idiotic, is entirely up to Caelus. Dan Heng has no opinion.

No opinion that matters, anyway.

WOOOOOOO FIVE STAR AND ITS MY HUSBAND NANOOK
THE 30K CREDIT DROP WAS SO WORTH
I’m never going to financially recover from this

—

Dan Heng realizes the slight upward tick at the corner of his lips too late, because he hears March’s sharp intake of breath from across the parlor car. Before she lets out a long ‘ooooooooooOOOO’ in a rising crescendo. Dan Heng sighs, mentally and physically, before tucking his phone away as March scrabbles towards him.

“Pom-Pom just swept!” Pom-Pom chides, waving their arms in the air.

“Sorry Pom-Pom!” March shouts as she slams herself into the seat beside Dan Heng’s. She slings her arm onto the back of the seat behind him, but because she’s short, her arm is just comically trying its best to keep its grip on top of the couch. “So who’s got you smiling like—”

“No one,” Dan Heng cuts her off, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to completely shut her out.

March stays silent for a few more seconds. “So who’s got you smiling like that?” Before trying again, still as obnoxiously teasing as the first time.

“Dan Heng’s smiling?” Caelus’ urgent voice suddenly sounds. There’s muffled pounding, accompanied by more of indignant shouts from Pom-Pom, before a sudden slide of rubber against carpet forces Dan Heng to open his eyes. He looks up to see Caelus standing over him, breathing heavily with a crazed expression as he fumbles to pull out his phone. “Where? When? Can you do it again? I can make so much credit from this.”

“But answer my question first!” March leans further into him in anticipation.

Dan Heng sighs in exasperation, bringing his hand up to his face. “What time is it?”

“What, do you only smile during specific periods of the day or something?” Caelus asks, not being discreet at all about how he’s trying to find the perfect angle to capture Dan Heng’s profile.

“You’re too close, Caelus,” Welt suddenly says from where he’s sitting across from them. Dan Heng’s not even going to hope for salvation from him. “You have to stand back a little and angle your camera. Make sure to not take it at eye level either. Your angle is too stiff if you’re aiming for a more candid photo. Here, let me help you.”

See?

“I couldn’t find anything about the monster patterns,” Dan Heng says.

“Oh, it’s okay then.” Caelus gives him a thumbs up as he hands his phone over to Welt, who immediately goes on a whole rant about why this specific angle would be best, in order to contrast the lighting and make the angles of Dan Heng’s face more pronounced. Most of which Dan Heng doesn’t care about.

“What about my question?” March whines, shaking Dan Heng’s shoulder.

“Don’t move the subject,” Welt instructs baldly.

Dan Heng’s lip twitches as he tilts his head according to Welt’s instructions. As Caelus always says, ‘If you can’t beat the player, play the game’. “I don’t know for sure.”

“Dan Heng!”

“I really don’t, I’m not lying.”

“Booo, you’re no fun.”

Dan Heng really does smile then. “I never said I was.”

“Quick, he's smiling! Shoot it, Mr. Welt! It’s never gonna happen again!” Caelus shouts.

“I know I know.”

Her name
I’ll save her
Remember her name
What the hell was it?!

Oh…

—

It was…a memorial

—

Heh, I can win this auction easy

Oh,
That’s so funny

“I can’t say I know much about it, but if you need any help while you’re down there, I’m only a single message away,” Himeko says to Caelus, just as Dan Heng walks into the main parlor car. He’d only meant to retrieve his dinner, long after everyone’s already had their meals, so he’s surprised to find that both Himeko and Caelus are still here.

Himeko, because she’s usually in her office by now.

And Caelus, because this is the first time he’s come back early in about a week. It seems as if he’s engaging further into the investigation on the Fragmentum on Jarilo-VI. With how much time he’s already poured into it, he’s probably going to see it through to the end. Not that that’s unexpected.

“Oh Dan Heng, your dinner’s right here,” Himeko says, pointing at the perfectly wrapped take-out bag on the table. “Your initial order was accidentally spilled and knocked over, so I asked Caelus to bring you something else.”

“It’s stone-grilled olm,” Caelus says, holding up a peace sign. “It’s popular at the Goethe Hotel, and I don’t think you got to try it last time.”

Dan Heng didn’t, given that his appetite isn’t large in the first place. “Mm,” Dan Heng nods. “Should I reimburse you?”

“I already did,” Himeko says with a smile.

Dan Heng goes to pick up his meal, while Himeko and Caelus return to their quiet conversation. As expected, they’re talking about the anomaly happening with the monsters surrounding Belobog, and Dan Heng can’t help but slow down his movements just a tad so he can eavesdrop a little more. Which is unlike him.

“I think I’ll be out tomorrow, they seem like they’re on the move,” Caelus says.

“Okay, we’ll always be tracking your movements on the Express, so if you need anything, we’ll know right away if the signal wavers,” Himeko reassures. “Though it’s a little odd as to what the monsters are doing, it’s not something that we haven’t seen. Perhaps they’re mimicking something from the past, with the unconscious thought that they’ll be able to expand this way.”

Caelus hums, and he brings a hand up to his lips in thought from the corner of Dan Heng’s eye. He’s doing it again, pinching at his bottom lip with his fingers when most people would worry at it with their teeth. It’s nothing significant, just a small little quirk that Dan Heng’s noticed and can’t seem to forget.

“Should I come to help?” Dan Heng offers.

Caelus blinks at him in surprise. Himeko, on the other hand, smiles. “You want to?”

“I have no other activities that are pressing at the moment,” Dan Heng says. “If you need the extra hand, I’ll help.”

Caelus opens his mouth, but Himeko interrupts him before he can get a word out.

“I think that’d be ideal,” Himeko says. “Perhaps Dan Heng could offer some of his own insights after he’s seen what’s happening out there himself. It’d be more fruitful than having a second hand account.”

Caelus nods at Dan Heng. “If you’re okay with it.”

“I am.”

Caelus perks up. “Alright!”

“No dumpster diving,” Dan Hang adds.

Caelus’ face quickly falls. “Actually I think I’ll just go alone.”

Dan Heng huffs, while Himeko chuckles lightly.

That’s…a hard decision
But if it's to keep her safe, then maybe his idea will be better

—

OKA IMA THAGLAH 40 PITY I NEED 21980 GEMS TO MAKE IT
Im never gonna make it
I hate this game
IX COME HOME BABY DADDY HAS NOTHING TO OFFER YOU BUT ILY <333

“Caelus!” Dan Heng shouts, momentarily dropping his spear and letting it fizzle into glowing blue particles. They dissipate into the air as he spreads his arms out to act as a net. Caelus immediately crashes into him, throwing the two of them backwards onto the ground. Dan Heng just barely manages to keep the two of them semi-upright, kneeling behind Caelus as the other struggles to even sit up.

Truth be told, he hadn’t been expecting this heavy of a fight to break out.

“They’re not letting up,” Caelus grunts. Dan Heng helps with pulling him up to his feet. Silvermane guards rush around them, charging at the horde of Fragmentum monsters that had gathered at the doors of the restricted zone.

Dan Heng grits his teeth, quickly darting his eyes around. There’s a lot, but it’s not something they can’t handle. The Silvermane guards have worked with less before. It’s just the problem of the Fragmentum’s monsters movesets being different, moving faster than what the rest of them are used to. It makes no sense either, there’s nothing to expedite the strength of the Fragmentum now that the Stellaron’s gone.

“Well it doesn’t matter,” Caelus says. Dan Heng doesn’t need to see the look on his face to know that the other is grinning, canines on full display as he leans forward on his toes, preparing to propel himself forward.

Caelus’ air shifts about himself whenever he’s in battle, more belligerent and raw. Where he displays stoic sarcasm anywhere else, there’s only unfiltered manic when he’s on the field—movements dominating and deceptively chaotic, yet precise. Destructive.

Dan Heng subconsciously summons his spear in tandem, watching as the bat in Caelus’ hand dissolves, slowly being replaced by a lance engulfed in fiery red.

“We’ll beat them back, tenfold,” Caelus promises, before he rushes off, Dan Heng right on his heels.

It’s hard not to when Caelus is like this, inspiring the people on his side to follow right after him. Dan Heng, as much as he protests, is no exception.

Chapter Text

“What do you think?” Pela asks, lifting her head to meet Dan Heng’s gaze.

Caelus, Dan Heng, March, Gepard, and Pela are all circled around a makeshift table formed from several stacks of crates. While it doesn’t look like it was something put together in a hurry, it certainly doesn’t feel like it’ll be permanent either. Perhaps it’s because Belobog’s military hadn’t foreseen needing to camp extensively in the restricted zone again, especially not after it seems like they’ve just been granted some breathing room now that the Stellaron’s been sealed.

“My observations are the same as yours,” Dan Heng says, crossing his arms. “They’re mobilizing in some form of military formation.”

“It’s the most organized they’ve ever been with no higher order in command,” Gepard says. He points down at the diagram that Pela has drawn in front of her. “This is a battle strategy that focuses more on defense rather than offense. It’s similar to how the Silvermane defends, but with the way the monsters are positioned, it’s forcing us to attack them in a claw formation.”

“It’s a deviation from how outwardly hostile they usually are, but I’m sure Caelus has already informed you of that.” Pela brings a contemplative hand up to her chin, her glasses flashing with the flickering light of the flame lantern. It’s gotten quite dark. “Like we’re the ones attacking them, rather than the other way around.”

“I didn’t know they could be that coordinated.” March blinks owlishly. “I didn’t know the Fragmentum had a brain.”

“That’d make one of you,” Dan Heng remarks.

March shoots him an offended look. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“It’s mimicry,” Dan Heng continues, ignoring March. “Most of the Fragmentum monsters we’ve faced are nearly identical to the Silvermane guards, it’s no surprise that they’ve started copying your battle formations too. As to why, I would say it’s due to an externality. The Fragmentum is reminiscent of a disease which spreads. The monsters and distortions it creates can be considered as both a propagator, as well as a defense mechanism.”

“Could it be trying to defend itself now that the Stellaron’s been sealed?” Gepard asks. “It sees us now as foreign invaders?”

Dan Heng presses his lips into a thin line, tipping his head down. “It’s a theory.”

“It makes the most sense though,” March says, shrugging her shoulders. “You guys said that you haven’t gone out looking for a fight unless it’s within the infected spaces right? Maybe the Fragmentum saw it as a threat, and that’s why they’ve been retreating.”

Pela nods. “The formation they’re mimicking isn’t one that’s used by our military though. It’s tighter, as if they’re going to be swarmed. Fragmentum attacks this past era have been pretty loose in terms of density, so while we do form a wall in defense, we space our soldiers out based on current conditions. We give ourselves maneuverability.” She holds out her hand, closing it into a fist. “They act as if they’ve already been closed in.”

Dan Heng furrows his eyebrows, before he looks down at the only person who’s been sitting this entire time. Caelus sits on one of the crates beside him, leaning against the wall with his head hung between his shoulders. “Caelus?”

Caelus doesn’t respond. He tries again, but Caelus doesn’t so much as budge. He hasn't spoken a single word since the last battle ended, and they were gathered here for a debrief.

March is immediately shoving Dan Heng aside to get to him. Dan Heng lets her, but he makes sure that he still has a good view of him. “What’s wrong with him?”

Gepard kneels down beside Caelus, placing a gentle hand on his arm to shake him lightly. “Caelus, are you okay?” Caelus still doesn’t move, and Gepard crowds further into his space to look directly at Caelus’ face. “His eyes are closed, but his breathing is steady.” He looks up at March, who’s hovering over Caelus in concern. “I think he’s fallen asleep.”

“Eh, really?!” March exclaims. She takes a step back when Gepard gingerly maneuvers Caelus into his arms, carrying him bridal style and tucking Caelus’ head against his shoulder. “I guess those short hours of sleep are finally catching up to him.”

“I’ll take him back to one of our tents,” Gepard says.

“I can take him back to the Express,” Dan Heng offers instead. It’s not the first time Dan Heng’s carried Caelus on his back. Taking him back to the express at this time wouldn’t be an inconvenience.

But Gepard shakes his head, smiling at Dan Heng and March. “You guys have already done enough. You should get some rest too, whether it’s on the express or in the camps.”

“No shot we’re leaving Caelus behind,” March argues, placing a hand on her hip. Dan Heng nods once in agreement. “Lead the way Captain!”

“Thank you for your help,” Pela adds before they go. She smiles at them, losing the serious undertones that are demanded of her as an intelligence officer. “I won’t be able to come back here tomorrow, but you can text me if you need me.”

“I’ll stay for a bit longer,” Dan Heng says to March. “Maybe we can come up with a reasonable strategy to combat the Fragmentum’s behavior before Pela has to leave.”

“Okay,” March sings as she waves at him, practically hopping after Gepard as he walks towards the camps. “Don’t stay up too late, you saw what happened to Caelus.”

“I always sleep at a reasonable time.”

“So never then.” March rolls her eyes. “Don’t be mad when I get to rub an ‘I told you so!’ in your face!”

Dan Heng hums dismissively, before focusing his attention back on Pela. “Are you still able to continue?”

Pela nods.

—

“So what do you think about Caelus?” Pela asks just as she’s packing up all her materials in order to return to the administrative district. One look at Dan Heng’s phone tells him that it’s closing in at midnight. Pela had said that there was an incoming blizzard too, so while they did discuss some contingencies, nothing else has been set besides just playing it by ear.

“Caelus?” Dan Heng asks.

Pela nods.

Dan Heng ruminates over it for a few seconds, not because he doesn’t already have an opinion, but because he’s trying to find the right words.

“He’s eccentric, which is most likely why it’s easy to get along with him. He’s a dependable ally, which in turn makes him a formidable adversary. I didn’t think he would be that important when we picked him up at first, but I’m starting to realize what Himeko saw in him at first glance.” Dan Heng lets out a silent breath and lowers his eyes, watching as the flickering flame dances within the lamp. The only beacon of light left in this dark nightscape. “He has the makings of a leader, and if he asks, I would…follow him if he needed me to.”

“O-oh,” Pela stammers, quickly picking up her rolled up maps and diagrams, hugging them closer to her chest. When Dan Heng looks down at her, he sees that her face is flushed down to her neck, quickly darting her eyes around at everything except Dan Heng himself. “Oh I meant, wh-what you th-thought of his current con-condition. He’s been, uhm, overworked, late-lately.”

Dan Heng purses his lips. “Oh.”

Pela frantically pushes up her glasses with a trembling hand, staring intensely down at her feet. “I didn’t—are the two of you perhaps—no Cae-Caelus never mentioned—,” Pela hazards a glance up at him, before jumping in fright and shuffling away from him in a flurry when Dan Heng meets her gaze.

Dan Heng furrows his eyebrows.

“Are you, do you maybe, towards him…errr, he, to you, uh.”

“I don’t understand,” Dan Heng enunciates slowly. Because he really doesn’t, not with the way she keeps stuttering, uttering incomplete sentences.

“N-nevermind!” Pela exclaims. She quickly moves to pick up her belongings, before nodding her head at Dan Heng without really meeting his eyes. “Th-thank you again for your help! D-don’t hesitate if you need anything! B-bye!”

And then she’s off, leaving Dan Heng to stare quizzically after her.

What have your weakest done?

How have your strongest fared?

What have you done?

You’re all the same. You will go no further.

Your naive ideals will never be realized.

But I’ll tell you, how this will all end.

—

“Caelus.”

It’s early. Too early. Enough that the permanent mist in the air that afflicts this planet bites even harder at his exposed skin. Dan Heng had only managed to get about five hours of sleep last night, and while he doesn’t need that much, he still would’ve preferred more than less. But the sound of shuffling from the cot beside him had roused him, by someone who definitely shouldn’t be up yet.

Dan Heng calls out to the figure heading for one of the Space Anchors, stepping towards them until they’re toe to toe. “You’re up early.”

Caelus nods. “Yeah.” Before lowering his gaze, absentmindedly bringing a hand up to his neck. There’s a lock of hair that falls into Caelus’ eyes from the movement, catching a wayward snowflake. “I had a, bad dream I guess. So I thought I’d go back to Belobog to ask for some information.”

Dan Heng crosses his arms, tilting his head. “About your dream?”

Caelus’ hand pauses. “Yeah.”

Dan Heng frowns, directing his gaze to the Space Anchor behind Caelus. While they are convenient, they’re usually used in moderation. None of them follow the Path of the Trailblaze, and while they are Trailblazers, using them brazenly takes a physical toll, which worsens with distance. Belobog is a considerable distance from the restricted zone, far enough away from urban sprawl that going back and forth would be a waste of time if the reason for going back isn’t pressing.

Caelus is an anomaly. Body strong enough to house a Stellaron, and able to travel between Space Anchors at his will.

“Will you make it back before they wake up for the briefing?” Dan Heng asks.

“Of course, this quest is time-gated, I have about two more parts to this,” Caelus says, finally lowering his hand. Dan Heng frowns in confusion. Time-gated? “I’m just going to ask Uldan something about my lance.”

“Your lance?”

“I saw it in my dream.” Caelus purses his lips. “Or nightmare, more accurately.”

“Like, when we were in the Underground?” Dan Heng asks, his frown deepening. “When you were resonating with the Stellaron.”

“Something like that, except I don’t think it’s the Stellaron this time.”

“And your theory is,” Dan Heng drawls. “Your lance.”

Caelus nods. “It wasn’t mine to begin with, and I saw…well it’s just a theory.” He moves away, towards the space anchor. “Anyway, I’ll be back. Don’t wait up for me.”

Belobog is a safe zone, there would be no need for accompaniment, no need for a guard to be plastered to Caelus’ side. Even then, Caelus can handle himself, which is why whenever he goes off on missions, he usually goes alone. March only tags along because she wants to, not because she needs to. But—

“Would you like me to go with you?”

Caelus stops in his tracks, regarding Dan Heng with a slack-jawed expression. “If you want?”

Dan Heng nods. His body, while not as sturdy as Caelus’, is sturdier than most. “Let’s go.”

“The blizzard is traveling fast. I’d say we have a couple more hours before it travels far enough to start afflicting us,” Gepard says. “It will steer towards Everwinter Hill, but we should expect the corridor to be impacted. It’ll last a couple of days at most.”

“What about the monsters?” March asks.

“They’re prowling, our automatons observed that they’re currently gathered in the plains beyond the corridor.” There’s a stretch of land between the crest of Everwinter Hill and the Corridor of Fading Echoes, and based on the density of monsters the Silvermane’s automatons have been about to detect, it’s where they’ve made an ‘outpost’. “We can expect them to use the blizzard as a cover for a siege.”

“A siege captain?” One of the Silvermane guards asks. “Were they not acting on the defensive just yesterday?”

“Based on the data the automatons sent back to us this morning, they’ve been following the direction of the storm,” another guard, Lieutenant Orlov if Dan Heng isn’t mistaken, says. “They’ve been moving at the same speed, and since we know that these monsters don’t usually take the stealth route in favor of just brute forcing their way forward, we can infer that they’re planning to attack while our defenses are pulled back due to the storm.”

“That’s very,” March murmurs, imperceptible as the rest of the guards continue their briefing.

“Organized,” Dan Heng finishes for her.

March looks at him gravely. “It’s usually Lord Ravagers who are able to coordinate something like this. Other than that, it’s attack on sight and destroy at will. But there’s no longer a reason for a Lord to be here now that the Stellaron’s sealed.”

Dan Heng hums his agreement. “The eternal freeze has definitely lessened in magnitude, but not enough to be welcoming just yet.” Dan Heng slides eyes towards Caelus, who’s staring at the soldiers discussing intently.

Uldan didn’t really have much to add to what they already knew about Allisa Rand, his speech slightly slurring when they met him, as an old man desperately fighting off the dregs of sleep that still clung onto him. A short recount of whatever history could be dug up from 700 hundred years ago, most of which were buried underneath the snow. Belobog’s first supreme guardian, an impenetrable shield.

But that’s all that’s known, because the citizens of Belobog will never know that she was the one who unwittingly imprisoned them.

‘Did that help?’ Dan Heng had asked when they left.

Caelus had only looked down at the heavy lance in his hands. ‘Enough.’

“You’re right, it’s highly unlikely that it’s a Lord Ravager,” Dan Heng says. “Caelus has another theory.”

“Caelus?” March asks, leaning forward to peer at the man in question. “What did he tell you that he didn’t tell me?”

“He only told me because we left together, and when we came back you guys were already in another meeting,” Dan Heng explains. “It’s all just conjecture, but rather than the Fragmentum trying to protect itself, it’s more like it’s trying to re-stabilize. The Fragmentum here has already rooted itself well past Jarilo-VI’s surface, but without the Stellaron, it can’t grow much further.”

“So, what, it’s trying to get rid of us to give itself more leg room?” March asks, scrunching her face up in bewilderment.

“Not exactly.”

“We’ll stand guard,” Gepard suddenly announces, and his voice booms loud enough that it draws all of their attention towards him. “With the blizzard, there’s no doubt that they’ll swarm the corridor, and defending our zone during a storm is always more arduous. However, most of the troops from Backwater Pass have been withdrawn due to the Fragmentum receding there, so we have more manpower. I believe we’ll be prepared.”

The guards that have gathered around nod their assent.

Gepard turns towards their trio. “Is there anything you guys would like to add?”

“I’m good!” March grins, saluting Gepard.

Caelus shakes his head, and Dan Heng tips his head.

“Thank you for aiding us with this once again,” Gepard smiles. “Know that you don’t have to fight as if you have Belobog’s future on your shoulders as you have before. This is primarily our fight. Lady Bronya appreciates the help, but she would be upset if her own army couldn’t carve a path towards their own future without crutches.”

“We do this because we want to,” Caelus says, smiling lightly at Gepard. “Don’t worry about it.”

Gepard huffs, the smile on his lips broadening, before he shakes his head.

Dan Heng loses both March and Caelus when the horde finally swarms them in all their entirety at the corridor, emboldened by the beginning wisps of a storm that threatens to surge at any moment. For now there’s only the bitter frost that clings to his skin when he swings his spear at another shadewalker; the streaks of snow that blur past his vision from the wind’s rising velocity as his spear clashes with its axe. The force of the blow is enough to rattle his arms.

There are other guards that fight around him, taking down small groups of winged spawns and shadewalkers, of both the ice and flame variety. There are even some frigid automatons that he sees scuttling about, firing ice spears at anything it can target. It seems that Gepard is the one primarily taking care of those, erupting ice wall after ice wall to protect his soldiers before they dissolve after serving its purpose.

Dan Heng’s eyes are starting to dry out too quickly, faster than he can blink.

He grits his teeth and tilts his spear, letting the shadewalker’s axe veer off to the side before he spins his spear around and pierces the blade right through its head. It takes a few more stabs to the chest before it falls completely, and Dan Heng can move on to the other monsters that were starting to swarm a nearby squad of silvermane gunners.

He runs his spear through a frostspawn, the weakest of the bunch, before launching his spear at a nearby imaginary weaver’s back, immediately bolting after it. His spear pierces right through its chest, nearly impaling the guard that it had cornered, if not for Dan Heng’s precise aim. Instead, it pierces the brick wall right above the guard’s head, but it startles him enough that he slips and falls on his behind.

Dan Heng grabs at his spear, holding his hand out for the guard to take as he lets the weapon shatter and reappear in his hand. Whole and pointedly not stuck in a wall. 

“Th-thanks,” the guard stammers, grabbing Dan Heng’s hand to use as a counterweight to pull himself up. “Look out!”

Dan Heng whips around just in time to block a lethal swing of an axe, barreling straight for his head. The guard behind him is quick to shoot it in the face. The shadewalker stumbles back, but Dan Heng is quick to chase after it.

“Go help the others!” Dan Heng orders, watching as another gunner to his left is cornered by a weaver. The guy he just saved can take care of it. 

Except he doesn’t make it another step forward before a familiar voice suddenly sounds itself into his ear, even though the closest person to him is now far enough away that they would have to shout at each other in order to be heard. Unsettling with its vacancy, a phantom trying to chase after its own amusement.

But it’s not the voice that makes him freeze, it's the words.

“What have your weakest done?”

Dan Heng’s breath catches, hesitating just long enough for the sharp end of the shadewalker’s axe to nearly slice him in two. It’s March’s ice arrow that hits and explodes against the flaming weapon that drives it just enough off course, sending it crashing into the stone pavement by his feet.

“Dan Heng!” March shouts.

Dan Heng immediately stabs his spear into the shadewalker’s chest, deep enough that his weapons pierces through to the other side. He rips it out, and the shadewalker is disintegrating before their knees can even hit the ground.

“How have your strongest fared?”

He frantically turns around the battlefield, trying to pinpoint the exact direction that the voice is coming from. Another ice arrow explodes beside him, and he brings an arm up to shield his eyes when another Fragmentum creature dissolves to his feet.

“Dan Heng pay attention!” Dan Heng flinches when March slams up against his back, plastering herself to him as the two of them slowly circle around in place. Dan Heng more so he can continue his scouting, and March so she can protect his blindspots. “What are you looking for?!”

“What have you done?” The voice is low, velvety in its timbre. Not grating, yet chilling all the same. Cutting, like a heavy blade that is slowly being raised high into the heavens, before it ultimately bears down on them with a public execution. It alone determines their final moments. “You’re all the same.”

“Can’t you hear it?” Dan Heng asks, almost desperate in the way his breathing grows heavier. He grits his teeth, and pierces his spear right through another frostspawn that comes flying at them. “Someone’s speaking!”

“I can’t hear anything but the white noise and growls that these monsters are making!” March shouts, firing off another round of arrows. Dan Heng can feel as she shifts against his back. “Maybe Gepard’s shouting some orders!”

“No,” Dan Heng counters. One more sweep across the battlefield. Gepard is too busy fighting off a horde of shadewalkers, surrounded by his own platoon. March freezes another enemy, and they quickly spin around so Dan Heng can run it through and shatter it with his spear. “No that’s not Gepard’s voice!”

“You will go no further.” To his left. In the direction of the Fragmentum. Deeper in. Past the corridor of fading echoes. “Your ideals will never be realized.”

“That’s,” Dan Heng trails off, his vision shaking as he widens his eyes in the direction of the voice. So crisp and clear as day, yet muddled in the frost.

A hulking figure stands in the distance, shadows more pronounced as more snow settles over them, obscuring their vision. They raise their weapon over their shoulder, the blaze of their weapon fizzling out as it's eaten up by something that glows a darker shade.

“Retreat!” Gepard shouts. “Gather everyone and retreat back to the doors! Our field of vision is no longer safe enough to differentiate between friend and foe! Fall back!”

“But I’ll tell you, how this will all end.”

Dan Heng takes off in the direction of the shadow, ignoring March’s shout of his name after him. He barely dodges another swipe of an axe, and swings his spear out just to hear it clang and crack against solid ice. He swings his body around in a kick just for good measure, feeling the base of his heel throb as the shadewalker is thrown to the ground. Not defeated, but Dan Heng has no time for that.

He steadies himself and throws his spear in the direction of the shadow.

—

“Total destruction,” Caelus says impassively, voice dripping not with malice, but with indifference. Before he swings his bat at the decaying shadow.

Only he doesn’t get to swing his bat all the way forward, when a spear is running itself through the decaying shadow’s sternum in his stead, and the skin of his forearm is slapping against someone’s palm as they catch him mid-swing. It screams, and Caelus widens his eyes, watching as it melts and fades, the accompanying spear clattering onto the frostbitten ground in tandem.

Caelus’ hair whips against his face from the biting wind, and it’s only now that he realizes just how bad the storm’s gotten. He gasps, and the hand on his arm tightens, forcing him to look in the owner’s direction. Piercing eyes, glaring at him past the blades of snow that cut at them.

It takes a second too long for Caelus to recognize who it is.

“We’re retreating,” Dan Heng grits, his voice drowned out by the beginnings of the blizzard.

He doesn’t even give Caelus the chance to acknowledge what he’s said before he’s dragging the both of them back to base. Caelus’ feet trip over themselves in Dan Heng’s haste, but Dan Heng doesn’t let up, refusing to let him go as they run past the shadows that reach out to them from behind the unrelenting sheets of snow. Or maybe that’s just Caelus’ imagination, submerged in the screams and cries of the undead.

He drops his bat, the particles brushing against his cheeks as it de-materializes in midair.

They make it just in time for the doors of the restricted zone to be slammed shut and locked up tightly behind them. There’s no banging on the doors, because they had essentially wiped out the enemy’s front line before retreating, but there will no doubt be more so long as the storm persists.

But the Silvermane’s restricted zone has held for this long, no doubt facing numerous attacks of this exact caliber if not worse, so Dan Heng isn’t worried that their defenses will fail.

Dan Heng is only slightly out of breath, Caelus’ wrist sitting heavy in his grasp. Caelus is panting beside him, breathing irregularly as he quickly swipes and taps away at his phone with a single hand. He’s erratic in his movements, frenzied from the corner of Dan Heng’s eye.

Dan Heng tightens his grip on Caelus’ wrist. “Cae–”

“Dan Heng! Caelus!” March shouts, interrupting him as she runs towards them.

Dan Heng can also hear Gepard shouting orders in the background, quickly drowned out as Dan Heng’s attention steadily hones in, until Caelus is the only thing he can focus on. On the way Caelus’ thumb finally stalls over his phone, on the way Caelus’ eyes are blown wide—and have been ever since Dan Heng pulled him away, on the way Caelus grits his teeth and inhales sharply one last time.

Before he falls.

“Caelus!” March shouts again, only this time in a panic.

Dan Heng thinks he hears himself calling Caelus’ name too, caught in the back of his throat, but he’s too busy darting forward to catch Caelus before the other can crumple to the ground. He wraps the other protectively in his arms, cushioning Caelus’ fall until they land with Dan Heng on his knees and Caelus’ head tucked into the crook of his elbow, pressing his face into Dan Heng’s stomach.

He’s freezing.

March is immediately on her knees across from him, placing a hand on Caelus’ shoulder and demanding what had happened from Dan Heng. Dan Heng shakes his head, frantically checking over Caelus’ body as more guards swarm them. One of them orders a medic to be summoned.

No visible injuries, no bleeding, but that’s all Dan Heng can confirm before a medic is taking Caelus away, leaving Dan Heng where he kneels with his hands spread out in front of him.

What did he do? He didn’t even know what could’ve happened to Caelus, too busy focusing on the battle and the implications of what he’d heard to focus solely on protecting. It’s just like that last time, when he’d done all he could, but Caelus had still fallen only to be reborn in flames.

He’s the Express’ guard, what was he even—

A gloved hand gently places itself into his, and he flinches. March is quick to wrap her other hand around his, not daring to move away even when Dan Heng is poised to attack on reflex. “You’re fine,” March reassures with conviction. “He’ll be fine. He has to be. This isn’t like last time.”

When he fell with ice bursting out of his chest, and they were all in a panic to reach him before they could lose him to the unforgiving cold.

Dan Heng swallows, nodding as March gingerly relinquishes her hold on him.

“Let’s go meet up with Gepard, and then we’re going to see Caelus right after.” It’s not a suggestion. March would fight every guard here if need be in order to reach Caelus’ tent.

“Okay.”

March nods, expression hard-set. “Okay.”

March pushes herself up, but Dan Heng takes it upon himself to pick up Caelus’ dropped phone. It landed on its face, so for Caelus’ sake, Dan Heng can only pray that the screen isn’t cracked. But when he flips the screen over, he stalls with what he sees, one knee bent in preparation to raise himself back up to his feet.

The words ‘total destruction’ stare back at him in Caelus’ notes app, right underneath the block of lines that Dan Heng had heard him repeat during the battle. Mocking Dan Heng from beneath a cracked screen, hardly legible from underneath all the fractures.

The same block of text that had appeared in his own notes just this morning.

So when his phone vibrates in his pocket, he already knows what will be written.

Chapter Text

“Exhaustion? Again?” March asks. Caelus smiles sheepishly at her, and she sighs in exasperated relief, slapping her palm against her forehead. “Well at least it’s not anything too serious.”

Dan Heng digs his fingers into the meat of his arm from where they’re crossed, standing at the edge of Caelus’ cot. It hasn’t been too long since Dan Heng pulled Caelus out of the storm, the other having woken up about an hour after he fainted. And now that Caelus has gotten that momentary reprieve, the bags that hang underneath his eyes seem more pronounced.

“If you were that tired, why didn’t you sleep in?” March frowns, placing a hand on her hip. “Instead you and Dan Heng decided to go out at the crack of dawn. What did you go out for anyway?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Caelus answers. “And we went to go ask someone about my lance, but he didn’t—”

“You couldn’t sleep?” Dan Heng interrupts.

Caelus sighs, dropping his head back down onto the pillow. “No, there were too many voices.”

“Voices?” March asks. “Like from ghosts? I know the Fragmentum can create distortions, but I don’t think I heard any voices last night.”

“I don’t think it’s from distortions.” Caelus purses his lips, before propping himself up on his elbows. “Anyway, can you guys go get Gepard? I think I’ve finally figured out how to solve this whole monster problem. If he agrees, we can probably finish this by tonight.”

“March,” Dan Heng says before either of them can say anything else. “You go, I have to talk to Caelus about something.”

“Me?”

“Him?” March darts her eyes between the two of them, and Dan Heng silently pleads with her with his eyes.

He rarely asks her for favors, being someone who prefers solving his problems on his own, so he hopes she can understand just how much he’s asking of her this time around.

It works. “Okay,” she acquiesces, but not without curiosity. “I’ll be right back.”

It’s only after she leaves the tent that Caelus speaks up.

“Well, now that we’re alone.” Caelus levels him with a sultry gaze, which is ineffective given how terrible he looks at the moment, laden with exhaustion. “Whatcha need?”

Dan Heng stares at him for a few seconds, before pulling out the phone Caelus had dropped. Caelus widens his eyes at it, quickly pushing himself up to snatch it out of Dan Heng’s hand.

“You’re joking,” Caelus whines, drawing Dan Heng closer to his side as he tilts his phone to further inspect it. He peels at the edge of his screen, trying his best to dig his nail underneath the protector. “Please just let it be the screen protector, please just let it be the screen protector. I didn’t even get to back up my games yet.”

“You dropped it when you collapsed.”

Caelus clicks his tongue. “Really? I’ve gotten folded by a doomsday beast and fisted by a literal mech, but dropping it is what does it in?” Caelus finishes peeling off the screen protector, and he sighs in relief when his phone screen remains unblemished. He hugs it to his chest. “I’m never letting this out of my sight ever again.”

Dan Heng hesitates. “About your nightmare, I have some questions.”

“Oh yeah, just let me get this out of my sight.” Caelus tucks his phone into his pocket. “What about it?”

“Do you remember exactly what happened?”

“Oh.” Caelus lowers his eyes. “I don’t think it was meant to be a nightmare, most of them were just overwhelming feelings. First of triumph, and then of horror I guess. And it got too much. I woke up with the need to summon my lance, so I did. I think that’s when I woke you up.”

Dan Heng nods. “And the voices?”

Caelus huffs out a breath of amusement. “You want to know early?”

“Humor me.”

“Okay. It’ll be our little secret.” Caelus winks and brings a finger up to his lips. He doesn’t mean it obviously, if he’s just going to repeat what he’s about to say once March comes back with Gepard. “I can hear the Fragmentum monsters.”

Dan Heng watches as the smile on Caelus’ face strains, pale skin pulled tight over his features.

“I’ve only heard them once, when I was with Gepard and Serval, and that was Cocolia’s shadow. It’s the same thing this time, but it’s both a never-ending plea and a never-ending threat.” Caelus palms at his eye, chuckling wryly. “I can’t focus on anything else.”

Dan Heng frowns, and moves closer to Caelus, until his knees accidentally hit the edge of the cot. Without thinking better of it, he sits down, until his thigh is pressed beside Caelus’ from how small the cot is. It’s made for a single person, not even wide enough to comfortably turn in. “Even now?”

“I’m pretty lucid, but if you’re asking if I can still hear it. I can.” Caelus looks up, and then he inhales sharply, staring at Dan Heng with wide eyes. As if just realizing how close the two of them have gotten to each other.

“And what you were saying back when we were fighting?” Dan Heng presses.

“What I was saying?” Caelus questions. “When we were—oh. That was,” Caelus inhales deeply, before sighing. “It was, what I felt I was supposed to be saying. The monsters were saying their own pieces, but I was—,” Caelus grabs at his shirt, and Dan Heng’s eyes track the moment, watching as Caelus squeezes his fingers over his heart, over his Stellaron,”—I was, I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing. It just felt like I was reliving a memory, I just—”

“Okay.” Dan Heng doesn’t need to hear anything else, and from the tension lines he can see stretching across Caelus’ face, Caelus doesn’t need to further explain either. He can gleam enough from context clues. “Does this always happen?”

“Not really. My working theory is that it’s because I have Alisa Rand’s lance, so the memories that surround it are more potent. As for the Stellaron,” Caelus smiles at him, but Dan Heng frowns. Because it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe it’s like Peppy, I just have to train it more in order to have it listen to me. Have you ever seen a Stellaron playing fetch?”

Dan Heng refuses to believe it’s the soulmate bond, because he’d been receiving the notes for too long just for it to start affecting him now. Maybe it’s the confirmation, the confirmation that bubbles his awareness of Caelus to the surface.

He’s always been aware of Caelus, subconsciously relaxing when he catches the other in the corner of his eye, but he’d always attribute that to Caelus being the least present, always going off on his own adventures and never asking anyone to accompany him. Anyone is free to tag along, but contrary to Dan Heng’s self-imposed solitude, Caelus’ solitude is due to him being a free spirit. The nights that Caelus comes to bring him his own data to record in the data bank are always a silent relief.

“How do I help you?” Dan Heng asks quietly. They’re too close. He can see the flecks of amber that swim in Caelus’ eyes, the slight upward curl of his eyelashes, the shadows that are smudged underneath his eyes.

Dan Heng doesn’t need a soulmate. The confirmation that Caelus is his soulmate means nothing to him.

But Dan Heng needs Caelus, and that’s something he never wants to acknowledge for fear of it bringing ruin to the both of them.

Caelus gapes at him. “Help me?”

“Mn.”

“I mean, I don’t really know how you can? They’re just voices. Besides,” Caelus rubs at his neck abashedly. “You brought me back from the storm right? That’s plenty of help already.”

Dan Heng ruminates over it for a few seconds, scrunching his face up in thought. He can feel Caelus’ eyes boring into him while he does, but Dan Heng doesn’t dare to meet his eyes. “Then just listen to my voice.”

“What?”

“Listen to my voice,” Dan Heng repeats. “Just focus on mine, to keep you grounded.”

“You,” Caelus starts in bewilderment, slowly hunching his shoulders up. “But you barely talk. Are you, are you going to start shouting chicken at me from across the battlefield now?” And because he’s a particularly cheeky individual, Caelus starts laughing, a full body shudder that wobbles the cot. “Are you going to scream at random intervals? Like I’ll be fighting a legion member and mid-swing I’ll just hear you shout ‘Die!’? Actually that’s a great idea, every enemy there will take psychic damage. Automatic W.”

Dan Heng wants to flick him. So he does.

“Ow!” Caelus cries out, cut off mid-laugh. He rubs at his forehead. “I hope it cost you a praise of high morals to do that. The audacity.”

“I’m being serious.”

“Me too,” Caelus pouts. “You could be the new protagonist. Just start shouting your attacks, but only you. March would love it.”

Dan Heng rolls his eyes, listening to the tail ends of Caelus’ giggles. He moves to push himself up, giving Caelus back the space he had taken. He doesn’t feel necessarily foolish that Caelus had turned his offer of help into a joke, too used to Caelus’ antics by now. He doesn’t, because he knows.

A hand quickly snatches at his wrist, tethering him before he could distance himself. When he meets Caelus’ eyes, they’re shining, bright and full of mirth, like the crackling of the flames that dance in their lanterns. But his expression is soft as he regards Dan Heng. “Thank you. The voices weren’t as loud when I was talking to you, so if you can keep helping me, I would appreciate it.”

He knows that Caelus is someone who is considerate, despite his irreverence. He considers any and everything, weighing how much something means to him, before deciding to toss the whole scale out. Because everything means something to him, evident by the way he keeps digging through the trash, even though everyone protests against it.

Dan Heng feels the corner of his lips tugging upwards. “I’m the Express’ guard, you are a passenger. You don’t need to ask.”

Caelus’ expression unexpectedly turns wry, his smile humorless. Dan Heng frowns, but Caelus snaps his eyes shut before Dan Heng can address it, broadening his grin as if his sudden lapse in attitude had never occurred.

“But if you could still shout your attacks that’d be great. It’d really get my engine revving. Get it, because of the Engine of Creation?”

The opportunity to question him is gone before he can take it.

The Express’ guard huh. My…guard.

…for how long

—

March returns by announcing her presence with a loud, “I hope you’re decent!” And then she’s flinging open the flap, Gepard following after her in confusion.

Dan Heng sighs, and Caelus releases him gently. “Your imagination is just…”

March shrugs. “I’m a young, vibrant, imaginative girl with many hobbies.”

Dan Heng scowls.

“In any case,” Gepard coughs awkwardly, stepping out from behind March. “You wanted to see me, Caelus?”

Caelus nods, swinging his legs off the cot to stand. Dan Heng shifts closer to him in concern, but Caelus places a reassuring hand on his shoulder while keeping his gaze locked on Gepard. “Do you remember when you and Serval went to the Underground to discuss negotiations with Wildfire? Cocolia’s shadow was the strongest monster we saw in those mines.”

Gepard’s face hardens. “I do. Are you suggesting this horde has something to do with that again?”

“Yeah.” Caelus steps forward, using the hand he has on Dan Heng’s shoulder to guide him back a few steps before letting go altogether. This tent is really small. “But it’s not Cocolia this time. I think the Fragmentum is mimicking what happened in the past, back when the legion was attacking.”

“So you’re saying,” Gepard furrows his eyebrows.

—

“Did that help?” Dan Heng had asked when they left Uldan’s. Standing side by side in the cold, where there was hardly another soul walking the streets with how dark and early it was.

Caelus had only looked down at the heavy lance in his hands. “Enough.”

“So what’s your theory?” Dan Heng prompted.

“I think we’re roleplaying.” Caelus’ tone was impassive, but his lips curved up slightly when he held his lance out before them, facing up towards the sky. It glowed a fiery red, warming the air around them, before dissolving into particles that fluttered into the air, until the weapon in Caelus’ hands was no longer the symbol of preservation, but his bat.

Dan Heng raised an eyebrow.

“Alisa Rand defended Belobog 700 years ago and lived to tell the tale, but she couldn’t do it on her own. Cocolia said it herself that she made a wish to the Stellaron, but the one she had made that wish to is already sealed.”

Role-playing. Wishing upon a Stellaron. The nightmare that Caelus had—the one that Dan Heng didn’t know the full details of, only that Caelus had seen his lance in it. The Fragmentum’s tendency to record data only to mimic what they’ve observed and absorbed.

“They’re defending against us,” Dan Heng said. The pattern that he couldn’t see when Caelus had first brought up the issue with him a few days ago. But for this level of desperation, for these tactics that the Fragmentum has been displaying, it’s unlikely that they were defending themselves against the corruption. “We’re the Antimatter Legion to them.”

“And I’m both their enemy, and their Stellaron,” Caelus concludes.

—

“With the rotation of the gear bridge to block off the only remaining path towards Belobog from this region, we’ll station Lieutenant Orlov and his men there as well.” Gepard says.

They’re standing in front of the restricted zone’s doors, with Gepard’s own platoon surrounding them.

“Captain Dunn’s already been notified that we’ll be drawing our enemies in. Caelus, do you think it will work?”

Caelus nods. “I can hear her, she’s close enough.”

With any luck, Alisa Rand’s shadow will come in with the first wave. It’s dangerous to keep the doors open for long, so once Caelus can see that the shadow’s made her way in, they’re going to close it again. The area they stand in is moderately snowing right now, but it belies the storm that rages beyond those doors. The only reason their doors aren’t currently being hounded by monsters is because of the first wave they cleared just a couple hours ago.

“We’ll be closing the doors on your call,” Gepard informs him. “But this situation is dangerous, so if I feel like too many monsters are streaming in, I’ll be closing those doors at my own discretion. Belobog’s citizens and my men’s safety comes first, above all else.”

Caelus nods. “Of course.”

“Ah I can’t wait to faceplant into my bed after this,” March exhales, drawing her bow at the ready. “I’m not made for sleeping in cots.”

“Your endurance still needs work then,” Dan Heng comments from Caelus’ other side.

March clicks her tongue. “Not everyone can have standards that are six feet underground like you. I respect myself.”

Dan Heng crosses his arms, hugging his spear in the crook of his elbow. “Hm.”

“Open the doors!”

“You’ll ground me?” Caelus asks quietly, watching as two Silvermane guards stand at the ready by the doors. March will be tasked with protecting them, so they’re not wiped out when either Caelus or Gepard gives the command to close them again.

Beside him, Dan Heng grunts in affirmation.

Caelus clenches his fist, listening to the creaking grinds of metal as the two guards pull at the locks. Before he unclenches them and summons his lance in a burst of blue particles, the air surrounding them immediately heating up as the weapon smolders when he readies it. He had taken up this lance in the name of preservation for Belobog, and he will uphold it.

‘You will know my wrath, stepping into my territory with your foolish ideologies,’ the vengeful voice from beyond the doors rasps. Alisa Rand in her rancorous desperation to protect her home.

‘You will not stand beyond the final sunset of this planet,’ the cold voice that slithers within him threatens. The Stellaron that he has yet to understand, even if Herta had said it was stable so long as his body was housing it.

“You will be protected,” the gentle voice beside him promises, pulling Caelus out of a war he had not taken part in, but finds himself living within it nonetheless.

Dan Heng. So far yet too close, no matter where Caelus goes. Flitting across the edges of Caelus’ vision one second, and standing right in the center of it the next, until his presence swallows Caelus whole.

“I swear it.”

—

The Stellaron was giving him memories of the past, the connection between the one inside him and the one they had sealed away establishing itself when they had resonated during their stay here. Memories is a loose term though. It’s more like the data it itself had recorded, separate from the data that the Fragmentum records.

There aren’t too many monsters who make their way past the doors when it’s first opened, so the words ‘total destruction’ is the only lasting phrase that loops in his head with every winged-spawn and shadewalker that his lance pierces through. It’s not the Stellaron who's talking, but rather what it had seen, projecting itself through Caelus. The only reason why he’s still ‘stable’ at the moment is because Dan Heng never strays too far from his side.

True to his word, he talks more than usual, asking Caelus quick questions whenever they get close enough, whenever Caelus finds himself sinking deeper and deeper into words that don’t belong to him. A quick brush of fingers against his own, a pat to his back, a steadying hand.

The Silvermane can hold their own, so Caelus focuses on casting his shield between himself and Dan Heng. Caelus is used to either fighting on his own or with the three of them as a trio. Even in the simulated universe, Herta grants him a four man team. So fighting with just Dan Heng is an experience he barely gets.

But it’s easy. With Caelus drawing all of the monsters towards himself and shielding them, granting Dan Heng all the freedom he needs to put all his focus into offense. Dan Heng is a seasoned fighter, more so than Caelus is as he is now, so Caelus puts all his trust into him as they clear out their own section of monsters with structured ease.

It’s easy, and it remains easy, until the voices inside him stop.

‘I will never fall to the likes of you.’ And the grating whispers are back.

Caelus gasps, yanking his lance out of a shadewalker just as a blade of ice comes slicing at him from across the battlefield. He pulls away just in time for the blade to fly past his neck, barely missing him before embedding itself into another shadewalker that had gotten caught in the crossfire. It falls with a hissing garble, falling to its knees and disintegrating.

‘Help me save them!’

“Gepard!” Caelus shouts.

“Close the doors!” Gepard commands.

And Caelus rushes for those doors, where he knows a Guardian Shadow will be waiting. Because it was the one who had thrown that icicle at him. Because to it, he is both their salvation and their doom. Both the Stellaron who will grant their will with betrayal, and the Lord Ravager who will force its hand to make that wish to begin with.

“Out of the way!” Caelus shouts. The guards are quick to scramble away from the doors.

“Go get 'em!” March rushes after them in Gepard’s direction, shooting a final translucent arrow at Caelus to grant him a shield.

With a shout, he leaps into the air, letting the lance in his hands dissolve into his signature bat, before bearing down on the Guardian Shadow. It blocks him with their staff, throwing him back with darkened clouds coalescing over the small radius above them. He has to sidestep three individual strikes of lighting before he can get close enough to the shadow again, swinging his bat until it clashes with its staff.

Goosebumps raise along his skin as sparks crackle around them. He grits his teeth, and pushes forward, the staff of the Guardian Shadow’s unyielding while his own weapon shakes with the exertion of pushing the shadow back.

‘You vile…get out of my way!’

The shadow’s staff sparks again, snapping at the exposed skin of Caelus’ arms, and Caelus retaliates by charging up his bat.

‘Your efforts will be futile.’

Caelus veers the staff off to the side, twisting his body around as the shadow falls forward from the momentum, and nearly twists his ankle to stop himself from spinning out too far behind the shadow. Homerun, he thinks, the fabric of its cape flapping in the air once, before he swings his bat with all his might.

‘There is nothing else I wish for but this.’

The shadow is flung forward, and Caelus chases after it, intent on inflicting enough wounds to destroy it before anyone else gets the chance to, belligerent on his path of war. With a growl that only Caelus can hear, the shadow rights itself in the air, swinging its staff out at Caelus.

‘Everything you’ve ever known will know nothing else but the destruction.’

He feels his joints locking up from the spell of retribution that it casts on him, his muscles screaming as he forces himself to move. But he won’t rest. He won’t stop. Not until everything here is—

“Ethereal Dream!” Dan Heng.

Thunder rumbles up ahead as he skids to a stop in front of the shadow, putting the rest of his momentum into the twist of his body to swing his bat out, and is simultaneously struck by several bolts of lightning as soon as his bat makes impact.

The shadow screams, flung back even further, and Caelus falls to his knees with a muffled cry, dropping his bat. It clatters to the ground, bouncing once, before the weapon loses its glow and is shattered. Stored away for another battle. He breathes heavily, clutching at one of his trembling arms from the electric shocks that had coursed through him.

He’s never disobeyed one of the Guardian Shadow’s demands. The simulated universe had not prepared him for how much its retribution would hurt.

But at the very least, he’s done all that was asked of him.

“They’re all gathered! Take them down!” Gepard shouts across the battlefield.

Which was leading the shadow into March’s range of attack.

Caelus shakily pushes himself up, summoning his lance to use as a crutch as he meets the Guardian’s eyes. It’s leaning forward, the air sparking around it as it screams incoherent words at him.

“Now!”

Screaming, begging, demanding with the same voice. It’s not a ghost. It’s not her spirit. It’s just a projection of what the Fragmentum had seen during those days long since passed, of a war that it could hardly take a part in due to its juvenile spread. This shadow, and the one back in the mines, are nothing more than mere creations.

“Duck and cover everyone!” March shouts, her voice a distant whisper against the wind, against those harsh whispers that shred his consciousness to pieces through his ears.

Caelus watches as the guardian shadow flies at him, staff in hand as ‘she’ threatens retribution. In a galaxy that has forsaken them, ‘she’ is one of Jarilo-VI’s last dregs of salvation. ‘She’ can build and preserve the last remnants of their home, so long as ‘she’ is given the chance. The Stellaron inside him, the one that’s living through old memories, sympathizes with ‘her’ sentiment, but not in the way that sympathy is supposed to be given.

It’s uncaring of what will happen, because this is all about survival and propagation. Stellarons are considered the cancers of the world, but they are also seeds. Strewn across the galaxy like the flower seeds that are thrown across the dirt, watered and fed through parasitism, until they are able to grow and ensnare the galaxy in its roots, enveloped by the Fragmentum.

‘Help me save this world.’ Alisa had wished.

‘This world shall be engulfed.’ The Stellaron had granted.

This time too. Caelus readies his lance, preparing to meet the guardian’s strike head-on. You can rest.

“Caelus!” Someone shouts, and it breaks Caelus out of his trance.

There’s a tug at the back of his jacket, and his nose just barely misses the downward swing of the Guardian Shadow’s staff, pulling him back until he’s falling over into someone’s arms. Another hand grasps at the handle of his lance, flipping them around until the other is kneeling over Caelus on the ground, holding Caelus’ lance above them to use as a shield while cradling Caelus’ head to their chest protectively. Caelus is given just a quarter of a second to recognize that it’s—Dan Heng.

Before the bombardment of ice starts.

Dan Heng grunts when one of March’s ice bunnies smashes against Caelus’ lance. Distantly, Caelus thinks he hears the Guardian’s screams, but all that he can focus on is Dan Heng. Dan Heng, who had kept his promise to him, or else he would’ve gotten buried under March’s glacial storm.

Caelus' breathing stops, subconsciously reaching out towards Dan Heng as the world comes crashing down around them, a crystalized barrage of shards that threatens to tear them apart. There are no clear skies on this part of Jarilo-VI, the blanket of mist that shrouds this planet immutable in its conquest. But the light that diffuses past them is enough, enough for Caelus to really see for the first time just exactly who it is that he’s looking at.

Like he’s looking at him for the first time again.

Dan Heng can’t protect them both from March’s Glacial Cascade, not even if he wields Caelus’ lance. It’s not his weapon. It’s not his path.

The skin of Dan Heng’s neck is cold, a sharp juxtaposition to the magma of his hands, but it’s this shock that brings him back to reality. He quickly wraps his arm around Dan Heng’s neck to pull the other close, catching a brief glimpse of the determination that reflects back at him from Dan Heng’s own widening eyes.

The protector and the protected, but neither can tell who is who.

Caelus grabs at his lance, covering Dan Heng’s hand with his own. Before he casts Ever-burning Amber to shield the two of them, and they both huddle their faces into the other’s shoulder to ride out the rest of March’s attack.

It’s quick to end, the pounding and shattering of glacial avatars dying abruptly.

When it does, Caelus lifts his head, taking in their surroundings. Save for the Silvermane guards that are gathering their bearings, shards of six-phased ice that litter the ground, and March in the distance holding her bow at the ready while she surveys the battlefield with Gepard beside her, there’s not a single monster left. Even the Guardian Shadow that had been close to reaching Caelus before Dan Heng had pulled him away is gone.

They’re all gone.

“Caelus?”

And so are the voices that had plagued him this entire week on Jarilo-VI.

Caelus grins at Dan Heng. Belatedly, he realizes that they’re still too close. Caelus still has a single arm wrapped around Dan Heng’s neck, and their hands are still entwined over the handle of Caelus’ lance. But he doesn’t care. Because this will be another quest done, another decaying root dug up. He’s expecting those stellar jades to show up in his wallet any moment now.

“I can’t hear them,” Caelus breathes. He squeezes Dan Heng’s hand, and Dan Heng doesn’t so much as flinch, either being indulgent for Caelus or he’s genuinely unbothered by it. “We did it.”

Dan Heng blinks at the realization, before he smiles, the curve of his lips infinitesimal but his features soft. Caelus doesn’t know what compels him to do it, but he sees the way Dan Heng leans forward imperceptibly, the action negligible if Caelus wasn’t so focused on him. So he leans the rest of the way forward, meeting Dan Heng in the middle as he knocks their foreheads together, laughter bubbling easily from his lips.

Dan Heng’s response is barely heard over the sound of Caelus’ happiness. “Yeah, yeah we did.”

“The monster patterns are back to normal,” Pela confirms. “Even with the storm, the patrol automatons were able to record that monster levels have fallen back to what they were before. Comparing the data reveals that even their movements, with a few deviations that still need to be observed, are largely the same.”

“So,” March prompts, “aimless again now that the Stellaron’s gone?”

Pela nods with a smile. “Bronya didn’t have time to come thank you personally today, but she invites you for lunch the next time you’re able to stop by. Serval too, since she’s sad that she had to miss all the action while in the Underground.”

March’s face brightens. “Wo—!”

“Wow!” Caelus exclaims, shoving March out of the way with a palm to her face. March levels Caelus with the most offended look. Dan Heng fights off the urge to snort. “Two free meals? When are they free? I just leveled up one of my traces and I’m broke again.”

“Didn’t you have over 100k credits in your account?” March accuses.

“You have no idea how much leveling up a trace costs,” Caelus quips. “You saw me back in that battle? I have to pay to be this strong. I’m f2p.”

“What.”

“Forced to pay.”

“What in the actual—”

Dan Heng tunes them out, turning towards Pela with a flat expression. “Caelus will take his compensation the usual way.”

“Ah.” Pela nods, pulling out her phone. “A direct deposit then.”

“How much are you giving him?” Dan Heng asks, just as Caelus starts explaining the intricacies of level ups and relic farming to March, with March interrupting every few seconds.

“50k.” Pela turns her phone around to show him the numbers. “Bronya already approved the amount.”

Dan Heng nods. ”That’s pretty generous.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” March weeps.

“Then let me start from the beginning,” Caelus says, rubbing his hands together conspiratorially.

Dan Heng does his best to ignore both.

—

Dan Heng’s out in the parlor car today. A rare occurrence, but with the presence of someone who seldom leaves the archives of his own volition, that makes up everyone who’s currently lounging there. Pom-Pom sweeping, Himeko looking over documents, Caelus gaming while lying down beside Dan Heng, March probably shopping on Caelus’ other side, Welt fiddling with the Omni-synthesizer, and Dan Heng—uncharacteristically—reading on his phone.

Reading the final note that Caelus had typed before leaving Jarilo-VI to continue their journey after his short sidequest.

—

…for how long

—

‘I'm the Express’ guard,’ but the words had been twisted, unable to be properly conveyed as they were then. ‘I’ll be your guard,’ is what he couldn’t say, is what he’d meant to say.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t have his suspicions from the beginning. Caelus isn’t exactly tight-lipped about his conquests, the retellings given freely so long as one of them asked—more often than not that person being March. There were context clues, too many of them to not form a correlation. It’s just that it wasn’t something he properly considered, always pushing those thoughts to the backburner.

His thumbs hover over the keyboard.

—

For as long as you need me. For as long as you want me to.

—

It’ll be the first time Dan Heng’s ever typed something back.

And the reaction to it is immediate, with the quizzical noise that Caelus lets out. Dan Heng glances at Caelus, the top of the other’s head nearly brushing against Dan Heng’s thigh. He sees the way that Caelus’ fingers stall, the way his eyes widen, holding the phone over his face as he blinks rapidly.

And then he speaks. “Guys I think my phone’s haunted.”

It’s unbidden, but the corners of Dan Heng’s lips curl up, and he’s forced to cover his mouth with his phone as he turns away.

“Please be serious.” March rolls her eyes.

“No I’m so serious right now.” Caelus nudges her with his foot, the movement jostling him enough that he bumps his head against Dan Heng’s thigh. “What’s your theory, who do you think is haunting it right now? It can’t be Alisa because you smoked her.”

“Maybe someone hacked it?” March suggests.

“Why would anyone hack my notes app? I can’t even remember the context of half the things I write,” Caelus says. “Alright place your bets, my conspiracy theory is that it’s the ghost of my long lost lover.” And unknowingly, he’s not that far off the mark.

March deadpans at him, and from where Himeko is seated across from them, Dan Heng can see her shooting Dan Heng a smirk of amusement. The little sparkle in her eye, betraying all the maturity that she usually displays, reminiscent of a teenage girl absorbing all the gossip she can behind a curtain of silence.

“10,000 credits if I’m right,” Caellus adds.

“I’m not even going to humor you.”

“15,000 credits.”

“20,” Dan Heng suddenly says, startling both Caelus and March. Dan Heng leans over Caelus, bracing himself on a single hand that he places beside Caelus’ shoulder, until his fingertips are brushing the fabric of Caelus’ jacket. He thinks he’s still smiling. “Himeko can tell you when I win.”

Caelus gapes at him. “That’s not how you gamble.”

“I’m not gambling.” Just give him some time to adjust, some time to learn and accept. He’s been alone since before boarding the express, and he would’ve been content in staying alone, living alongside others but not really living with them. The Astral Express, and everyone who is currently inhabiting it, snuck up on him.

He’s someone who prides himself on being quick, able to sense an attack just before it hits him.

But they’re not attacking him.

“What the—then just tell me?” Caelus pouts. “I was just trying to earn some money.”

And Caelus isn’t someone Dan Heng needs to defend against. Dan Heng smirks. “For 20,000 credits?”

Caelus immediately snaps a picture of his face. “Done. This pic is easy money.”

A huff of amusement, one that ascends into soft and quiet laughter. Beneath him, Caelus grins brightly, letting his phone fall to his chest. “Give me some time,” Dan Heng murmurs, shortening the distance between them as he lowers his head, and he thinks that this is the longest he’s ever kept a smile on his face in a single instance. “And I’ll tell you.”

Because Caelus has given Dan Heng enough of himself to picture who he is right now, who he might shape up to be. Sharp-witted and resourceful, temperate and reliable. Quiet in his musings, vocal with his unconventionalism. Never staying in one place for too long, always moving forward. And Dan Heng would follow him, undecipherable notes and all.

Caelus smiles crookedly at him. Impish. “Promise?”

Because between the words.

Ah, Caelus thinks as he stares up at Dan Heng, ethereal with a halo of the overhead parlor lights shining down on him, it’s jade. That’s the color.

There is the sound of your voice.

And with his voice quiet, as if Dan Heng is sharing a secret that he wants no one else but Caelus to be privy to, “Promise.”

And I will follow it back to you.