Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Caelus's POV

“Seriously, it's not here,” Caelus mutters to himself as he scavenges around in boxes left beside a collapsed house one of the Snow Plains on Jarilo-VI – and really the only one among the many he's heard there is on the planet that at least Caelus has traveled so far.

He accepted a request from someone he barely remembers the name of at the moment to find an item that was left somewhere in the snowy area, and supposedly in this general direction. But hey, at least he's found some stuff that he could take back to the Express! Possibly.

Or at least for his own keepsake, or even give to any of the other crew members, once he cleans off the snow that fell through the cracks if the crate boxes and whatever remaining grime is left on the small trinkets.

Though he notices something in the corner of his eye, finally acknowledging a small seemingly golden glint on the ground, but is distracted by a sudden echoing, sarcastic voice around him, startling him. Caelus glanced around quickly, before realizing it was a notification from his phone – particularly the sound notification he set to a certain Genius’s contact, being as bothersome as the woman herself.

He materializes his phone out of his sub-space inventory, turning the screen on and seeing that the most recent notification among several (mostly from other games and whatnot) is indeed a message from Herta. He sighs, a puff of fog encircling the breath and briefly fogging his phone screen as he unlocks it and opens the contact.

~

Simulated Universe Obsessed (Herta💫) (→Caelus)

Herta💫:
Hey

Got a minute?

Need you and that dragon friend of yours to look at a new curio for me
^(14:22)

Caelus🎇:
Why do we need to look at a curio?

Isnt that what ur researchers are supposed to do?
^(14:23)

Herta💫: They haven't found anything

A.K.A., they're incompetent

And unfortunately, you're the only one I can look to in order to figure out if this thing still works

Don't worry, I've at least made sure it's safe, and you two can talk to Asta about compensation
^(14:23)

Caelus🎇:
*sigh*

Do I have a choice in this?
^(14:24)

Herta💫:
Nope
^(14:24)

Caelus🎇:
…Fine.

Ill be there in a few minutes
^(14:24)

Herta💫:
[Automatic reply] Hi, I'm currently unavailable, and I won't be contacting you later
^(14:24)

~

Just great. He's not being forced to research a curio because apparently she can't figure it out herself, and neither can her researchers. And Dan Heng is also being dragged into it for whatever reason.

Why does that woman have to be so cryptic all the time? She didn't even explain what she’s found out already, other than that it was fine to interact with.

Caelus sighs as his head falls forward, top of his phone hitting his forehead. At least it's not a Simulated Universe update that she wants him to test. For now.

He looks back at his phone screen, exiting the contact and tapping on Dan Heng's, relaying Herta's request to him and saying he'll let him know when he's done with his current mission before heading to the Space Station, as long as the archivist was okay with it — which he did say it was fine.

With that, Caelus returns his phone to his inventory, resuming his current task of scavenging through the snow and boxes.

“Finally. What took you so long?” An impatient, slightly robotic voice asks once the source of it notices the raven-haired and grey-haired men enter her office, holding something in her hand.

“Sorry, you caught me while I was in the middle of a miss—” Caelus started to explain as he and Dan Heng approached the puppet at the Simulated Universe device thing, the latter individual remaining a step behind.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Herta huffed, cutting him off from explaining. “Anyway, here. Just find out what you can about it, then bring it back. And preferably make sure you don't break it. This thing's rather fragile.” The puppet held up two plush dolls, one in her grasp and the other dangling in front, clearly attached together at the hand.

Caelus raised a brow, observing the so-called curio. They were simple, both had white skin and black hair, with multicoloured beady eyes, one a light-brown, and the other a dark-blue, and without a mouth. The one in Herta's grasp had a dark-grey shirt that had short sleeves and dark-blue pants, its fabric hair reaching mid-back. The doll dangling by the hand had neck-length hair, and it had a light-grey long-sleeved shirt and light-blue pants.

Admittedly, a bit of an odd one, and outside of the Space Station, no-one would think it was a curio, but definitely not the weirdest one he's seen.

“So… What's it do?” Caelus questioned suspiciously, looking up at the puppet's unexpressive face.

“That's what I need you two to figure out,” Herta replied, but the tone she used behind the blankness of it had a hint of “that should've been obvious.”

“And why did you ask for us, specifically?” Dan Heng interjected quizzically, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I already explained to Caelus. Now come take this and shoo,” the puppet commanded, sounding annoyed and completely refusing to explain further. Caelus had an inkling there was more to it than just that, but knowing how the Genius is, she probably wasn't going to explain anyway.

Caelus sighed again, defeatedly going up the few steps toward the puppet and taking the doll from her hand before returning to his companion. She probably went back offline the moment Caelus took the curio, which would mean they wouldn't be able to ask any further questions. So they exit the office, heading toward the exit of the Master Control Zone.

“So how are we supposed to research this thing?” Caelus questioned, scrutinizing the dolls as he held both in both of his hands. Despite his time in the Simulated Universe, he's never quite figured out how to gather information about them, since if they're in the Simulation, they've already been researched, data in the index she has.

“There's certain tools and such the researchers use to properly investigate curios, and more scientific ways that I'm sure would fly over your head if I were to try to explain them,” Dan Heng mostly monotonously explained, though with a hint of knowing tease toward the end – of which Caelus huffed, turning his gaze toward the raven-haired.

“Just how stupid do you think I am?” Caelus pouted dramatically with a furrow in his brows, obviously more in jest because even he, himself, knows that it probably would unless it were getting explained to him with a visual representation.

Dan Heng hummed as a faint fondness found its way into his gaze toward the grey-haired man, said individual only noticing it briefly before the former turned toward the doll, pulling the grey-haired to the side once he realized they were stopped outside the Control Zone doors.

“Let me take a look at it,” Dan Heng requested, holding out a hand. Caelus obliges, one hand letting go and falling back down to his side as the other turns to hand him the curio, of which he takes into both hands once Caelus lets go of the other doll.

Dan Heng proceeded to analyze the dolls carefully, turning it over several times and taking close mental notes of its all-around appearance. There wasn't any tag that he's seen other dolls like this in the same materials have when they're being sold, and the dolls are practically spotlessly clean, and flawlessly made and sewn together.

Dan Heng hums in observant focus as he comes to a conclusion with its appearance, before looking up at the other man. “Let's go.”

Caelus silently nodded, letting Dan Heng continue toward the doors, passing them once they automatically opened, the Stellaron vessel following close behind as Dan Heng explained the next steps.

“Oh, welcome back, passengers!” Pom-Pom greeted happily upon seeing the duo return to the Parlor Car via the space anchors.

Dan Heng gave a polite nod in response, Caelus waving slightly as his eyes shut and took a deep breath to relieve the brief dizziness.

“Pom-Pom was just about to look for you two to remind you that dinner is almost ready! Didn't know you two were out,” Pom-Pom stated as they glance between the both of them before turning around toward the Party Car and waddling away.

“We'll be there in a minute,” Caelus called out before stepping forward a bit, regaining his balance, before sighing with disappointment.

“It's fine, Caelus. We can always look more into it tomorrow. I'm sure Madam Herta would understand,” Dan Heng reassured suddenly yet gently, approaching the grey-haired's side.

Caelus glanced toward him, a small smile appearing on his face. “Yeah, I know. Just kinda hoped we'd be able to find out more about it than just that it has some kind of weird, special fluff filling we know nothing about,” he responded, sounding a little regretful that he tried to hide behind a smile.

“Mm.” Dan Heng half-nodded, his stoic expression hiding what he might be thinking. “Nonetheless, we should head to dinner and get some rest.”

“Yeah, sure,” the other man agreed, glancing toward the ground briefly before looking up with a more bright expression as he thought about the food, realizing how hungry he is. Dan Heng's gaze softened slightly seeing the happier expression, but turned away and continued down the train car to the Party Car with Caelus following.

After dinner, Caelus retired to his room that resides above the Party Car as it got later into the night calculated on the Astral Express's clock, Pom-Pom having started going through the motions of lights-out throughout the train before they went back to their room themself — wherever it may be.

He stayed up on his phone for a bit longer until he started to get tired, which he then finally went through his (considerably short) bedtime routine and changed into his pajamas, before climbing into his bed and eventually fell asleep.

~~~~

And he woke up to a ringing in his ears, stirring his consciousness awake quickly, coming to notice the ringing was more of a patterned beeping, irritating to his ears and waking brain. A hand began patting around to search for wherever the sound was coming from, struggling to find it.

Begrudgingly, he sat up with a groan, back feeling a bit uncomfortable as he leaned forward, rubbing his eyes to force the sleepiness away before he looked around to find the source of the sound.

There was an alarm clock on the bookshelf beside where he was laying, and he quickly reached over to grab it, searching for the button to switch off the bothersome sound before he grumpily put it back.

He let out a long, heavy sigh as he brought his legs up halfway and rested his arms on his knees, rubbing his eyes again in hopes to rid of the fog that came from being startled awake, before yawning, stretching his arms out above him, falling back down onto the mattress, blearily blinking his eyes open.

Wait. Alarm?

He quickly turned back around, staring at the alarm clock that read 06:02, his brain finally piecing together the unfamiliar, yet familiar surroundings.

How?... His brows furrow slightly, glancing around his surroundings in concern, lips slightly parting as he felt his pulse quicken slightly.

It takes him a while to realize how wrong everything feels in his body.

His body weight feels slightly heavier than what he recalls, chest feeling empty, like something’s missing that he can't quite put his finger on what, yet heavy like it's being weighed down by something that doesn't seem quite physical. His head feels like it's slightly spinning, and body seems considerably colder than how he normally is when he's visited the Archives (given he hardly ever has even a slight craving for warmth like he does now), and his clothes feeling almost suffocatingly tight. Glancing down at his hand that was subconsciously wrapped around his knees protectively, legs covered by a light-green, thin blanket that he knows belongs to Dan Heng, he notices his hand is barely bigger, yet fingers are noticeably slimmer, fingertips and palm calloused. Bringing up his other hand, it's the same.

“What?..” He mumbles under his breath, eyes widening at his voice sounding completely different; deeper, tone practically an opposite to how he's heard his voice before. He slowly brings a hand to his throat, staring down at the blanket blankly as he realizes he's wearing a turtleneck, covering the skin of his neck.

He's too lost in his thoughts to pay attention to what almost would feel like something even more coldly growing on his forehead, ears and tailbone, with something ghostingly-faint touching his shoulders and back, a weird sensation across different parts of his body he ignored.

It all felt so wrong. Felt nothing like the body he's grown used to, even if he's practically 2-and-something years old since he woke up without prior memories. But he has no idea what's happening right now, and it's starting to stress him out.

He didn't act like this when he woke up for the first time, from what he remembers, so everything being weird and memory-less, he had no idea how to react then. But now? A drastic and complete difference like this suddenly, when he has a past and himself to remember? He doesn't know what to do.

But freaking out won't help, now will it? He reminds himself, blinking a few times as he comes back to reality before they remains closed, deeply inhaling through his nose, before briefly holding the breath and exhaling it through his mouth slowly and shakily, his deathly grip on the sheet covering his legs as they were held up to his chest loosening slightly, along with whatever third limb is wrapped around his ankles to the middle of his shins.

He repeated the breathing exercises a couple more times, calming down his racing heart, before his breaths pause, eyes shooting open in another wave of realization.

Third limb?

His brows furrow again as he slowly, cautiously, lifts the blanket from over his legs, head tilting to the side to glance at what's wrapped around him. He freezes when he sees it.

A scaly, azure tail with a furry spine and fluffy end is curled around him to wrap itself around his lower legs.

“What the hell is happening?” Caelus mutters to himself, dropping the blanket to the side as he looks up toward the Archives’ door. He should go back to his own room and see if he can figure out what's happening…

So, carefully using his hands to unwrap the tail, the feeling shooting through his body at the sensations alerting him that the tail does indeed “belong” to him – though unsure how to control it, he stands up slowly, a bit unsteady. But holding onto the railing next to him, he quickly gets a grasp of the different weight, taking cautious steps toward the exit of the Archives while keeping a hand out against something to help him keep his balance.

Quickly getting a hang of it, he exits the Archives, the door softly hissing open and closed once he went through it, quietly making way toward the Party Car.

~~~

Outside the door to his own room, thankfully no-one awake at this hour, Caelus debates on whether he should knock or not. It is technically his room.

Coming to a decision quickly, he holds the button down on the small indent of the metal door, cautiously sliding the door open to take a peek inside, the bathroom wall blocking clear sight of bed. And so he proceeds to slowly open the door further, it closing swiftly behind him, causing Caelus to flinch slightly from it being a bit louder than he wanted it to be.

Sharply exhaling, he returns his attention to the bed, tiptoeing far enough to peek at the bed in the dim room – the blue illumination from his monitors serving as his light, not that he apparently needs it that much, his eyes adjusting and able to see better than usual in the dark. But that's beside the point.

There is in fact someone in the bed, and he's found himself staring at the body he clearly recognizes as himself lying on his side, curled up protectively and sleeping soundly. This honestly isn't the first time he feels like he's stood by staring at himself sleeping, but the weird out-of-body experience is still baffling, and still makes him uneasy, and more so because now, it's so much clearer. His fists unconsciously curl up into fists by his side.

“Hey, wake up,” Caelus whispers with strain, desperately trying to ignore the difference in his voice. Seeing that his own body didn't react, he moved closer. “Wake up.”

Honestly, he's hoping that if his own body wakes up, he'll actually wake up from whatever is happening as if it were all a dream, but he has no idea if it actually is or not. It certainly feels real, but unbelievable. He calls out to the body again; no reaction.

Caelus shuffles closer to the bed, now directly next to it. He carefully reaches out a hand and gently pokes his shoulder. He sees himself stir slightly. Caelus calls out again, more firmer this time, and poking his shoulder again with slightly more force.

He sees his own body shift, brows furrowing as they let out a hummed groan sound. Caelus could feel his chest tighten, this whole situation not any less weirder. “Wake up!” He spoke more hurriedly, poking the sleeping body's shoulder again. He gets his hand swatted at, causing him to retract his hand quickly as the body that was sleeping a moment ago sighs softly.

He watches his own eyes slowly open, dull and dreary golden eyes behind the eyelids, and watching his body yawn as his eyes close, a watery tear forming at the corner of one eye, before they blinked a few times, and widening once they seemed to register the individual standing before it. Caelus’s body shot up suddenly, staring at him in confusion and disbelief.

“Hey…” Caelus mumbled shyly, brows frowning slightly, a frown lining his lips in uncertainty. He feels like he's talking to himself right now, while his mind is in a completely different body.

“W-... Wha–?” His body choked out, golden eyes scanning the person in front of them, before they looked at their own hands, pulling their legs out from under the covers all in a rush, before scanning the surroundings, then at Caelus.

“Uhmm…” Caelus wasn't sure what to do right now at all.

“What.”

“Dan Heng…?” Caelus finally murmured out, seeing himself frown further in deepening confusion, before shaking their head quickly and squeezing their eyes shut as if trying to will everything away like it were a dream, hands reaching up to tangle in the tousled grey hair.

“Hey, relax, it’s just m-... Caelus,” he crooned gently, moving to sit on the bed beside who he assumes in Dan Heng in his body. It’s weird trying to comfort someone that looks like himself and the voice he’s speaking being not his own, but he tried to not think about that.

“This isn’t happening,” Caelus heard his voice repeatedly utter quietly. He hesitated on hugging the other man, worried about how he’d react. He wasn’t exactly sure what to say right now, and Dan Heng already isn’t a very touchy person – so if he saw himself hugging him, that’d probably not go over well, Caelus figured.

“It’s okay, Dan Heng, it’s just Caelus. You’re in my room. I think… Well, not so much think, but we switched bodies, somehow. You’re okay, promise,” Caelus proceeded to explain softly, looking at his own body with concern and trying to keep his hands in his lap, and aware of where “his” tail is, hoping to keep it still off the bed. And now that he thinks about it, he probably looks like Dan Heng’s Vidyadhara form, but he’s not exactly sure how to control that. Not that it’s helping Dan Heng’s state, either.

He noticed his head twitch to the side a bit, assumingly so Dan Heng could look at him from the side. “Huh?...”

Caelus hummed, his gaze softening as he waited for the other to take his time to relax. Dan Heng let out a shaky breath, hands lowering as he raised his head, eyes narrowing with a stressed and uncertain look on his face. “Yeah. I- I don’t really know what happened. I kinda just woke up in your room and in your body, apparently,” Caelus proceeded to explain, averted his gaze toward the floor, vacantly staring at the tail that remained idle off the edge of the bed, the end of the tail laid out slightly on the floor.

They sat in awkward, tense silence for a while, before Dan Heng spoke up in Caelus’ voice hesitantly, clearing his throat in the middle of speaking; “We… We switched… bodies?”

Caelus looked back up to the other, seeing the weary and chary look on his face. He nodded slowly, lips scrunching up to the side. It wasn’t ‘till that moment Caelus realized that his canines felt like they had unusual length, jaw opening slightly as his lips remain closed, tongue investigating the lengthened and sharped canines – the top row longer than the bottom row, which were still slightly longer than how Caelus remembers his own being.

“What?” Dan Heng questions with a raised brow, having noticed the sudden interested look on Caelus’s face, who turns to him with a neutral expression and seeing the faint grimaced look on the other’s face. Right.

“Uh, not important,” he answers instead, shaking his head to get his thoughts back on track. “Are you okay?”

Dan Heng nodded slowly, almost hesitantly, a numb look on his face. Caelus isn’t really used to seeing himself with such an inexpressive face, but it hardly phases him, frankly. Though, he isn’t exactly sure if he believes Dan Heng, but he doesn’t push.

“What time is it?” Dan Heng murmurs, glancing around before seeming to fixate on the corner of the room that displays his trophies and trinkets from his adventures, his weapon display in the center of the raised section.

“Uhm..” Caelus turns to the lit monitors in the other corner, getting up and walking over to them so he can read the tiny numbers in the corner (why are they so small on the lock screen anyway?), before reading it out loud: “Seven thirteen.” It’s seriously been an hour already?

“Oh.”

Caelus hummed questioningly as he turned around, seeing the empty look in Dan Heng’s eyes that were casted downward slightly. Caelus felt like his heartstrings were being pulled, seeing the almost disassociating look on his own face, and knowing that in his body somehow is Dan Heng.

Wait…

Caelus groaned once it finally dawned on him, face falling into his hands, pretending to ignore how different his face felt. “What happened?” He heard his own voice ask, cloth shuffling and the metal bed frame just barely creaking under what sounded like swift movement. “Herta.” Was all he said in explanation.

“Herta? What does–... Oh.” Dan Heng sighed, exasperated.

Caelus sighed as well, hands falling back down to his sides as he lifted his head, seeing the other sitting at the edge of the bed, socked feet placed on the ground, yet seeming almost hesitant to try to get up.

“Yeah. Her and her stupid curios,” Caelus deadpans, before approaching the other man again, holding a hand out. “Do you want help?”

Dan Heng hums, staring at the other's hand as if warily, before shaking his head. Caelus narrows his eyes slightly, but lowers his hand anyway, proceeding to watch as the other slowly pushes himself up carefully, seeming to keep his balance after the initial tremble in his legs. Dan Heng let out a breath in relief once he stood up fully.

“This is going to be so weird…” Caelus mumbled, averting his gaze once deciding that Dan Heng was fine.

Dan Heng hummed in agreement. “We’re going to have to tell the others, since I doubt either of us will be able to get into contact with her until later,” he then noted, earning a long, annoyed exhale from Caelus as he tries to run a hand through the raven-black hair, but is blocked by the dragon horns protruding from his forehead. So he pulls his hand back out to cross his arms over his chest with a faint huff, unaware of his tail swaying slightly.

After a beat of silence; “Er… You can… touch my horns, if you want…” Dan Heng suddenly blurted out in a low murmur bashfully, brings his hands up to his upper arms as if to cradle himself while keeping his gaze on anything but Caelus, who turned back to him in surprise.

“N-no, that… That seems weird when I’m in your body,” Caelus admits, unfolding his arms to bring a hand to lightly scratch the back of his head, taking into account that his hair seems longer than it should, but already knew the reason for it. “Anyways… What now?”

“I suppose we should… get ready for the day, I guess,” Dan Heng answered as clearly as he could, yet Caelus could still hear the anxiety in his voice.

“Yeah, I guess…”

Here’s hoping that this curio’s effect is easily reversible. Otherwise, he might actually throttle Herta – or one of her puppets, at least. Though, he might do that anyway. Quite possibly.

Chapter Text

Dan Heng's POV

“Dan Heng!” March called out as the doors to the Archives slid open and closed behind her, the man in question who resides in the room was sitting at his desk on the opposite side of the door, reading a book, and completely unstartled by March's barge into the room – having heard her skipping footsteps approaching the room from the direction of the Parlor Car.

“Yes?” He responded, not looking up from his book as his companion approached his side.

“I need your thoughts on which of these photos is better,” she inquired, showing the raven-haired her phone that had a photo pulled up of the “tree” where Origami Birds from Penacony are perched on the Radiant Feldspar ship's large winged bird statue on the end of the cockpit, their colours consisting of coral-pink and white with the dark silhouettes of numerous tall city buildings in a dark indigo, the sky a light-lavender purple as it faded to a dark-blue with clouds, then an almost black above dotted with white specks that resembled stars, of which a small pod of cornflower-blue flying whales created by memoria was flying upward and away from the ship as if leading it, before her thumb hovering over the screen swipes to the right, showing the same photo but with colours a little darker with a little more contrast, the pinks of the Origami Birds standing out more against the slightly deeper blues and giving the memoria whales a slight more noticeable glow to them, then another of the same view but brighter with warmer tones, the Origami Birds standing out against the dark-blues but not as much against the lavender sky, and the memoria-whales standing out much more against the dark-blues and a more noticeable almost glow to them. “I'd ask Caelus so you can focus on being in your isolation, but he's out right now.”

Dan Heng decided to ignore his companion's comment, lowering his book as he closed it with his thumb remaining on the page he was on and directing his gaze to the phone screen, carefully observing the photos as the pink-haired girl swiped between the three photos slowly.

“Third one. It seems like what you're trying to focus more on are the whales, and they're much more prominent here, and the pink from the Origami birds in the foreground don't pop as much until getting to the darker blues up here,” he eventually explains thoughtfully once March had paused on said photo in the fourth scroll back. He did notice the symbolic note to the photo, but overall decided to not elaborate on that.

“Hmm… Yeah, you're right! Thanks!” March smiled, straightening as she looked more closely at her phone screen, flipping between the two edited photos again and quickly, before settling on the one Dan Heng chose with a nod.

Dan Heng hummed in response, reopening his book as March sauntered out of the room. The former was about to continue reading, before he heard a vibration in the air around him, of which he quickly recognized as a notification from his phone.

With a faint sigh, he placed the book open page down on the desk, pulling his phone out of his sub-space inventory as he straightened his position in the chair. Turning the screen on, he sees a notification from Caelus, unaware of his stoic expression softening slightly. He unlocks his phone, opening the contact.

~

Caelus✩ (→Dan Heng)

Caelus✩:
Hey

U busy?
^(14:27)

Dan Heng:
No, why?
^(14:27)

Caelus✩:
Herta msged me about me and u researching a curio for her…

She said the curio’s safe and her researchers are apparently “incompetent” in her words

Theyre just doing their best

Like damn

They arent *that* bad!

And actually i didnt ask why she couldnt do it herself

I shouldve
^(14:28)

Dan Heng:
I see.

If she really does need us to do this, then I'm okay with assisting.

Should I meet you at the Space Station?
^(14:28)

Caelus✩:
Ah im in the middle of a mission rn

Ill come get u once im done
^(14:29)

Dan Heng:
Alright. I'll see you then.
^(14:29)

~

Dan Heng hums quietly to himself, taking in the information from his companion thoughtfully. He found it to be a bit odd and suspicious, a faint inkling that there's more to Herta's intent than just “researchers being unable to,” especially since he knows that the Space Station does in fact have fairly good researchers that are perfectly qualified. And there's also the fact that she can research them herself.

But, at the same time, he's well aware of how picky and busy the #83rd Genius can be. But that didn't stop the suspicion, still finding it quite strange she asked specifically for him and Caelus, rather than any of her other acquaintances.

There has to be more to it than that, shouldn't there?

Nonetheless, he can't get any answers until they go and see Herta, so not much point speculating until then.

Turning his phone off and setting it on the desk as he grabs a bookmark out from a drawer next to him within said desk, he inserts it into the book before he closes out, standing from his chair to walk over and view the terminal in the wall connected to the data banks, looking for the curio researching entry he inputted, in order to refresh himself on the information.

Eventually, after about 30-ish minutes, give or take, Caelus had come back to the Astral Express to meet up with Dan Heng like he'd said he would, and departed to the Space Station after alerting Himeko briefly about Herta's request.

And once getting to Herta's office, Caelus had done most of the talking as he had more interactions with the Genius, who was aloof as ever, lacking elaboration on what they needed to look for or what she already knew. Needless to say, her behaviour only increased Dan Heng's skepticism, but he decided to not voice it too much.

But he proceeded to investigate the curio dolls with Caelus's assistance, and without much of a guide in particular of what they should look for, Dan Heng went with basic physical analysing before trying to figure out the “paranormal” attributes. Which they found that the dolls’ inner stuffing had some kind of abnormal energy to it that, at the time, they didn't have the tools to investigate further – limited by the researchers.

They spent the rest of the day looking into the curio, but had to come to a pause due to the time for the dinner meeting in the Astral Express approaching. They returned the curio to Herta's office, before returning to the Express for the meeting and dinner.

After dinner, Dan Heng returned to the Archives, even before it were the scheduled bed-time for the crew members, even if March wanted him to stay up longer hanging out with her, Caelus, and Sunday (who, considerably, also likes his solitude).

And not that Dan Heng doesn't enjoy their company – in fact, he much prefers it. But that's not something he'd outright say, and would rather show it through actions, as it's typically more subtle.

So he spent the rest of the night making some minor edits in the data banks before going through his bedtime routine, then read on his futon on the water-projected floor until he fell asleep.

~~~~

He wasn't aware when he fell asleep, but it had been a dreamless sleep, and had slowly been returning to consciousness to faint, muffled murmuring that had slowly been growing louder and less muffled.

Then his brain started becoming slightly more aware when he felt something against his shoulder.

“Hey, wake up,” the voice said firmly with a poke to his shoulder, drowsy consciousness failing to comprehend the familiarity of the voice.

Dan Heng curled closer into himself, aware of how warm and comfortable he felt, yet not thinking much of it.

“Wake up!” The voice called with more urgency, a stronger poke to his shoulder. Without much thinking, Dan Heng sleepily swatted at whatever force was poking him, before sighing softly, a little annoyed having to be roused awake.

His eyes slowly blink open, vision blurry from sleep, and whatever somewhat-familiar figure was standing in the corner of his vision illuminated by purpleish-blue light he noticed, but for some reason, it didn't set him on alert like it should've, eyes squeezing shut as he yawned, paying little mind to the tear that formed and fell from the corner of his eye that had too much water in.

He opens his eyes again, blinking a few times to clear up his drowsily-blurry vision before shifting his gaze to whoever was standing on the side, seeing someone he thought he shouldn't be able to anymore.

His brain immediately was sent into alert as a sense of dread washed over him, eyes blinking wide open as he sat up just as quickly, the figure he saw for a second gone and now staring at who he recognizes as himself.

“Hey…” The voice he finally realizes is his own mumbled shyly, face unusually expressive with coyness and guilt.

Dan Heng scanned his own body in its true Vidyadhara form that he could only see clearly from whatever light is behind himself plus the faint glow of turquoise eyes and translucent dark-cyan horns, mixed signals being sent to his brain on how to react. “W-... Wha?–” He stammered forcefully, taken aback by the vast difference in the sound of his voice.

He immediately looks down at his hands, before scrambling to get his legs out from the covers, wearing a loose, white t-shirt and black sweatpants, the limbs he controls he isn't sure who they belong to, but they most certainly aren't his.

He looks around the room, finding the source of the blue-purple light being some kind of monitors in the corner to his right, and in a room he recognizes but can't process why as his sight fixates on the person standing beside him. “What.”

“Dan Heng…?” They addressed quietly and hesitantly, worry tracing their voice. Just hearing what should be his voice calling out his name like that only stressed him out further.

He shook his head furiously as he squeezed his eyes shut, bringing legs closer to himself as he tangled his fingers into hair that he could tell didn't belong to him but did so just in hopes to keep himself grounded somehow, desperately trying to wake up from whatever this is, or just hoping that the person beside him goes away as if a figment of his imagination, at the very least.

“Hey, relax, it's just m-... Caelus,” the aforementioned person said in a gentle voice that sounded as if trying to comfort, the edge of the bed dipping like it would under someone's weight, making their presence all the more real.

Dan Heng exhaled shakily as he tried to remind himself that whatever is happening isn't, body subconsciously tensing tight as he becomes increasingly aware of how he physically feels.

His chest feels like it's burning intensely, overloading his senses as it faintly felt like it were thrumming energy like a beating heart, yet the abnormal nature of it making it seem almost too hard to breathe, his entire being unusually warm but not to the point of sweating (somehow), while pieces of himself felt like they were missing entirely and feeling all too exposed, and increasingly uncomfortable in this skin — worse than he once did in his true appearance. His thoughts were a complete mess, making him all the more dizzy and disoriented than moments ago, and more of a struggle than it should be to sort out.

“—st Caelus. You're in my room. I think… Well, not so much think, but we switched bodies, somehow. You're okay, promise,” Dan Heng's own gentle voice bleeded through his reeling mind, a part of his brain triggering enough to focus more on the words than the sound of the voice, getting him to open his eyes and turn his head slightly to glance at himself from the side.

He tried to ignore the way his chest twisted uncomfortably at the angle he saw himself in with this lighting. “Huh?...”

The other hummed quietly as his expression seemed to relax slightly, patient honesty in his eyes – not unlike how Caelus would look at Dan Heng, if putting aside the factor of the different face. Dan Heng let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, body loosening slightly as his hands fell onto his knees, head lifting slightly as he attempted to swallow back his emotions.

“Yeah. I- I don’t really know what happened. I kinda just woke up in your room and in your body, apparently,” Caelus explained as he turned away, Dan Heng doing the same to the other side as he carefully thought over what the other had said, trying to find some kind of logic behind it to give himself some sense of direction.

“We–…” He cleared his throat, still a little thrown off at the words he’s speaking are in a voice that isn’t his, “–We switched… bodies?” He brings his gaze back to the other just as he did, watching him nod slowly.

And proceeding to watch as his own face light up in a weird way that it almost made Dan Heng feel a bit uncomfortable seeing his own face being so expressive like this. “What?” He questions anyway, raising a brow while attempting to hide his emotions from being shown as he’s used to (and he couldn’t be sure if he was straight-faced or not, but he doubted it).

“Uh, not important,” Caelus responds with a shake of his head, before gently asking; “Are you okay?”

Dan Heng hesitated for a moment, forcing his facial muscles to relax before slowly nodding. Perhaps currently, a bit of a lie, but he’ll be fine eventually, he believes, turning away to properly scan the room that appears darker than how he remembers it being before. “What time is it?” He asks more quietly than he intended, gaze pausing at the yellow-lit corner of the room where Caelus’s trinkets and trophies are located, yet focusing on nothing in particular.

He barely even notices his own body move away and walk through his line of sight. He only comes back to reality mostly when he hears his own voice again. “Seven thirteen.”

His gaze falls slightly. “Oh.” He figured it were still morning (at least on the time in the Astral Express), but hearing that it was only the seventh hour was a bit disheartening.

He then hears a muffled groan, pulling his attention to the other and, on instinct, swiftly moved to sit on the edge of his bed in immediate concern of the throaty noise as the other hide his face in his hands, about to stand up, but the faint tremble when he started to apply weight to his legs to stand without caution from the altered body weight he was used to told him otherwise. “What happened?” He asked.

“Herta,” Caelus said flatly and muffled through hands blocking his mouth, making Dan Heng raise a brow again in confusion. “Herta? What does–...” He started, before the realization then dawned on him as he recalled the previous day with Herta’s request. “Oh,” he sighs out with exasperation.

Caelus then sighed as well, his hands falling back down to his sides. “Yeah, her and her stupid curios,” he continued in the same tone, before approaching Dan Heng’s side and holding out a hand. “Do you want help?”

He hums, glancing down at his own calloused hand with uncertainty, before replying silently with a shake of his head, oblivious to the look the other gave him as he started to slowly stand, keeping a hand on the bed as he slowly rose to his feet – legs trembling slightly underneath him, but didn’t take long to discern the change of weight, thanks to their similar builds, but took him a moment to relearn his balance, subconsciously holding his breath. Once he came to his feet all the way steadily, he let out the breath quickly.

“This is going to be so weird…” He barely heard Caelus mumble, Dan Heng humming in agreement, glancing at the other for a brief moment as he looked away.

And for as long as this lasts, entirely unpleasant. “We’re going to have to tell the others, since I doubt either of us will be able to get into contact with her until later,” Dan Heng mentions, getting a drawn out sigh from the other, watching as he attempted to run a hand through the raven-black bangs with had a purplish-blue shimmer to it from the monitors’ lights, seeing him pause as his hand came into contact with one of the translucent horns.

And knowing Caelus, and from where his gaze had been for at least the first day or two after revealing his true appearance to the whole crew after the Luofu crisis, Dan Heng figured that, since he can’t really stop him anymore given the current situation and knowing the Trailblazer, he’d likely want to see how his Vidyadhara horns feel like. “...You can touch my horns, if you want…” He permitted quietly, glancing away as he brought his hands up to place on his upper arms as if he could cover the exposed skin on his arms in the awkward air, which was noticeably colder than the temperature of his blood.

Which… Isn’t the cause of that—

“N-No, that… That seems weird when I’m in your body,” his own voice broke through his thoughts, watching in the corner of his eye the other unfold his arms and reach a hand to the back of his head before lowering both hands back to his sides. “Anyways… What now?”

Dan Heng lowered his arms down to his sides as well. “I suppose we should… get ready for the day I guess,” he answered, unintentionally allowing more emotion through his voice than he meant to. Something he's definitely going to need to get used to until they get this figured out.

“Yeah, I guess…” Caelus sighed softly, his gaze lowering slightly. Dan Heng noticed his hands slowly curl into a fist, before his attention shifts toward the door. “I'll go then.”

Dan Heng nodded, carefully watching his own figure head toward the room's door, the door hissing open, but he paused before going through. “Should I turn the lights on for you?” Caelus asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“...Sure.”

Caelus nodded, flipping the light switch that turned on the room's overhead lights before exiting the room, door sliding closed behind him.

Dan Heng sighed, looking around once more, before hearing a tiny sound in the direction of the bathroom. He whipped his head toward the direction of it, brows furrowing slightly as his gaze carefully scanned the corner in between Caelus's (work desk) and the bathroom, coming to realize his hearing now isn't heightened anymore.

He slowly stepped past the bed to be able to see the corner entirely, spotting something light-grey just barely moving in the corner, making him all the more cautious until he moved far enough to see the corner entirely, seeing a little catcake, its shell light-grey with details that resemble a trashcan, the cat within a dark-grey casually sleeping. Dan Heng paused, staring with confusion.

Since when did Caelus bring this onto the train? He can't exactly recall, memories on smaller details before the last few days or so temporarily too fuzzy to remember clearly. But at the same time, he shouldn't really be that surprised.

Sighing with a slight shake of his head, he turns toward the closet, deciding he'll just leave the catcake be – it's not exactly his problem, or at least the least of his current concerns.

Right. The Stellaron.

Dan Heng had been too distracted to think about the Stellaron in Caelus's chest, and his cloudhymm in his own body. There's no possible way that this can turn out well, if the fact that Caelus being in Dan Heng’s Vidyadhara form was any indicator.

In the middle of changing out of Caelus's pajamas, he noticed a golden mark on his chest, among the several faint scars across his abdomen from past battles. His worry grew, all the more concerned about the possible consequences that can come from this, since he's a dragon, rather than a receptacle for a quite literal star.

He'll have to talk to Caelus and the Crew about this.

And speaking of… He's gonna have to figure out how to teach him how to at the very least know how to not use the cloudhymm, lest he accidentally drowns the whole Express.

Tossing on the black leather trench coat – that was laying on the ottoman at the foot of Caelus's bed – over a new white t-shirt, and putting on the black finger-less gloves before closing the coat, and he was about to dart out of Caelus's room, but almost bumps into March when he opens the door.

“Oh! You're awake!” She exclaims as Dan Heng backed up quickly enough to not run into her, noticing her assessing gaze before raising a brow. “Why is your jacket zipped up?”

“Uhm. Because,” he replied thoughtlessly, not exactly having any response ready.

“Uh huh. Whatever, anyways, good morning! Don't forget what you promised me today.” March turned around and went down the spiral set of stairs before Dan Heng could respond, having no idea what she was even talking about.

Her and Caelus's business. Not his, he shrugged. He proceeds to pass through the doorway, making quick succession down the stairs toward the exit of the Party Car, unintentionally catching up to March.

“You're up and going earlier than usual,” March remarks suspiciously as Dan Heng practically sped-walked past her, before slowing when she started speaking.

“Not right now, March,” he replies quickly, passing through the Party Car doors as they open, but not quite automatically closing behind him

“What do you mean ‘not right now?’ What's going on?” March continued to question, following Dan Heng, who she – reasonably – believes is Caelus.

“I'll explain later,” Dan Heng responds, entering the Parlor Car where Pom-Pom is sweeping while gentle, casual tunes play from the phonograph – presumably a disk Caelus got from Jarilo-VI.

“No, you tell me what’s going on now. You and Dan Heng are both acting off!” The pink-haired exclaimed, grabbing Dan Heng’s sleeve to stop him from moving as she stopped. After a moment, Dan Heng slowly glances toward March, who had a displeased look on her face.

“Passengers… is everything okay?” Pom-Pom interrupted, waddling up toward the two of them with their broom still in their paw, their big blue eyes looking between them.

“Caelus is refusing to tell me what could’ve happened this morning already that he and Dan Heng are acting different,” March informs, yet keeping his gaze on Dan Heng, who equally kept his gaze on her, unimpressed.

“Huh? But Passenger Caelus looks fine—?”

“Caelus and I switched bodies. And as I said, him and I will elaborate on this later. Now I need to go talk to him, so can you please let go, March?” Dan Heng deadpanned, managing to get his expression to appear blank, even as the other Trailblazer and Conductor both looked at him perplexed.

“But that doesn’t make any sense…” March murmured, even as she let go of Dan Heng’s sleeve, hand limply dropping back down to her side as Dan Heng huffed, a little exasperated at her response despite of what he just said.

Then the door to the Passenger Cabin hissed open, all three of them directing their directions to it, of which Caelus in Dan Heng’s body had frozen in the doorway of, hair and the top half of his shirt and coat wet, the latter’s left sleeve slightly damp. “What happened?!” March exclaimed, concerned but a noticeable glint of amusement as if trying not to laugh.

“Uhhmm…” The man in question stared blankly, apparently not expecting there to be three people in the next car over to see his current state, while Dan Heng sighed heavily, already having a feeling of what possibly occurred.

“I’ll be right back March…” Dan Heng said quietly as he walks past the bunny conductor, approaching Caelus.

“Don’t tell me you used cloudhymm in the Express again…” Pom-Pom worried, sounding defeated as their ears drooped, corners of their lips lowering.

That was one time, Dan Heng thought critically, but overall ignored it as Caelus gave a small, shy smile, while March was trying to stifle her giggling. “Let’s go,” Dan Heng ushers, pushing Caelus back through the connection section of the train cars, going back into the Passenger Car as the doors slide closed behind them. “Okay, okay! Jeez!”

“What’d you do?” He then questioned accusingly once the doors closed, noticing that the other’s zippers on the turtleneck were not up all the way, but decided not to address it as he glances toward the noticeable glisten of light reflecting off of something very obviously wet on the wall beside the door that’s securely locked as it leads to outside (which is particularly the middle of nowhere, as they’re currently in space), trailing down to the middle of the walkway’s tile floor.

“It was not on purpose, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Caelus defended, pulling off the white coat and tossing it halfway onto his shoulder before crossing his arms over his chest, tail behind him swaying slightly yet quick enough to signal as if offended.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Dan Heng rebutes casually, returning his gaze to the other briefly before continuing to analyze the wet spots on the floor and wall.

Caelus sighed softly, tail stilling – mostly. “I was trying to open my inventory because there was a random vibration-like feeling around me, and I know your phone is on vibration with notifications because for some reason, you hate to express yourself creatively—,” Caelus started to explain with unnecessary amounts of details (likely an influence from March, knowing those two), before pausing as if noticing something. “Don’t give me that face, you know what I mean.”

“What face?” Dan Heng schools the face he hadn’t realized had made way for a different expression back to what he hopes is a blank look.

“Uh, the offended look you give when you’re called out. Just because you have my face doesn’t mean you can hide it better. It’s still you, you know,” Caelus answered before letting out a huff at then end, hands raising to place on his hips.

Dan Heng glared at the other. “Whatever, that’s not the point,” He dismissed, deciding to not signify a response to his companion as he looks away again. “So, you attempted to open my inventory, but managed to use cloudhymm instead, is that what I’m getting from this?”

Caelus hesitated, a guilty yet faintly amused look on his face as his hands lowered. “Yeah…”

Dan Heng sighed again, shaking his head, turning around to the cabinets on the opposite wall, approaching it and crouching down to open one of the drawers and grabbing out a couple towels, tossing one of them to Caelus, who catches it and began drying himself off with it, as Dan Heng went to the water mess on the floor, beginning to dry it.

“What happened in here?” A familiar, older masculine voice questioned curiously, earning both of the boys’ attention, seeing Himeko and Welt in the walkway glancing at the both of them.

“Nothing to be worried about,” Dan Heng responded casually, resuming to dry the water, as Caelus groaned into the towel, clearly embarrassed, tail coiling around a leg.

“We’ll just leave you two be,” Himeko said with what sounded like a hint of a tease in her words, leading a concerned and confused Welt out of the Passenger Cabin.

Not going to be able to hear the others’ footsteps is going to be annoying…

“Yeah sure, I’ll just let everyone know I guess,” Caelus complained quietly, moving the towel away from his face as he reached a hand back to move the damp long hair over his shoulder to dry easily. “Your hair’s incredibly soft, Dan Heng, what the hell?” He then suddenly blurts, causing the man in question to freeze as he had gotten to the baseboard.

“Thanks…” He mumbled out, heat creeping up his neck as he resumed drying thoroughly.

“Anyways, I’m gonna go change… Again.” Caelus sighed softly, heading into the Archives as he continued to dry his hair (or very possibly just running his hand through it, Dan Heng didn’t really look).

~~~~~

“Damn it,” Dan Heng cursed under his breath, leaning against the wall trying to reach for the last spot of water that’s already starting to dry on a higher spot of the wall he can’t quite reach, even if he’s standing on his toes.

A door the softly hisses open behind him. “Do you want help?” He heard his own voice ask. Dan Heng lets out a resigned sigh, falling flat onto his feet as he hesitated on answering.

Though his lack of answer likely was enough of an asnwer for Caelus, based on his faint footsteps approaching him with the slide of the Archives’ door closing. “Allow me, friend,” he teased, sounding all too delighted about this (and sounding so wrong spoken in his voice).

Dan Heng begrudgingly stepped to the side as Caelus took his position, getting the last spot of water slightly more easily with the towel that he had tossed to him earlier, before turning around to Dan Heng with what he could assume is a triumphant look on his face – or something to that degree – his tail’s side-to-side motion slow yet in larger increments compared to before. “For once, I get to be taller than you.”

Dan Heng scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Barely. Besides, this is still your body.”

What a way to get that smug look to fall (as his tail also drooped). “Oh come on, let me have this!” He whined.

“Please stop sounding so emotional in my voice.”

“Stop sounding so stoic in mine.”

Dan Heng glared at the other, unimpressed as he slowly blinked. “Whatever. I need to talk to you about something,” he decides to mention after a moment, unfolding his arms.

“The cloudhymm?” Caelus then inquires, expression turning attentive.

“Yes. And the Stellaron.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I was actually about to come to you to talk about hat after I remembered it was a thing,” Caelus states, hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck as his hair was nudged slightly at the motion.

“Mhm. If this effect lasts any longer than necessary, I’m going to have to guide you on the basics of how to use cloudhymm. However, I’m more worried about how this all may affect the Stellaron,” Dan Heng informs, glancing toward the window as he spoke.

“We should probably ask the others about that then, shouldn’t we? I don’t really know too much about it. Besides, I think if something were going wrong with it, it’d probably be pretty noticeable. Especially since you’re usually so damn cold — temperature-wise.” Caelus paused, following Dan Heng’s gaze to the window before fixating on him again. “And speaking of, how are you doing?”

“Fine,” Dan Heng replies automatically, and too quickly – if the other’s silence was any indicator.

“Uh-huh… Okay. Should we go and tell the others? Especially since I’m sure breakfast is almost done,” Caelus suggests, Dan Heng returning his gaze to him before nodding.

“Hand me your towel.” Dan Heng reaches out his hand, desperately trying to ignore the difference between his own and the one he controls as Caelus hands him the towel, the former quickly walking past the latter to the next car over on the other end to put the towels in the laundry.

He truly didn’t want to stay like this any longer. It felt too uncomfortable and wrong, plus the factor of being too warm internally than what he’s used to. He faintly had his doubts that Herta would actually tell them how to undo this, at least not immediately, because his previous suspicions were likely correct – she most likely knew what the curio did, but simply refused to tell them just so she can observe what it can actually do. “Incompetent researchers,” unbelievable.