#the light of another world (caelus)

[transformiing]

CAELUS WORLDBUILDING...

HISTORY OF CAELUS

Caelus was created when a forgotten sixth member of The Guiding Hand was exiled eons ago. This being became, merged with, or created (the details are unclear) Caelus and the life-giving core within, and bestowed The Creatrix, a conduit to that core, to the first Praetor of the colony.

CAELIAN BIOLOGY

Caelian biology closely mirrors that of Cybertronians' with very few marked differences. The creation of a new Caelian, however, is an entirely separate process from the methods previously seen on Cybertron; instead of being sparked from hot spots or forged cold from The Matrix, Caelians have evolved a more "organic" creation method. Further notes on the conception and birthing of Caelians are difficult to acquire, as they are very secretive about this process and do not like to share it with outsiders.

CAELIAN CULTURE

The Caelians are a pious race as a whole; it is difficult to find a member of the people who is not religious (or at least respectful of religion) to some degree.

The Praetor is considered a demigod-like figure to the people of Caelus, both figurehead and ruler, religious symbol and political leader—though despite being revered and venerated, they are expected to give their whole beings to service of the people.

[sirxaibs]

Caelus X Reader Honkai Star Rail

“Another Me in Another World”

Masterlist

pov you come from a timeline where you and caelus loved each other. Though now thrown into this world you don’t remember anything.

:0

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ The moment the warp settled, a shiver laced down Caelus’ spine.

They stood at the edge of a crumbling city floating in a pocket of broken time what Herta dubbed a “dimensional fault zone,” where history bent like glass under pressure. Fractured towers loomed above, suspended by unseen strings. The air crackled, distorted. But none of it compared to the static in his chest. She was here. He didn’t know how he knew only that the moment he stepped off the Express, his heart started pounding like it remembered something he didn’t. Then he saw her. She was standing alone at the edge of a fractured platform, long coat fluttering behind her like a shadow. Mask half lowered, a Stellaron Hunter insignia stitched boldly across her sleeve. And when her gaze met his sharp, unreadable his world tipped on its axis.

“…You,” Caelus breathed.

You didn’t blink. “So you’re the Express’s precious Trailblazer.” His title sounded foreign in your mouth, like it didn’t belong like you didn’t want it to. But your fingers twitched slightly at your side, as if muscle memory betrayed you. Behind Caelus, March and Dan Heng tensed. “Careful,” Dan Heng said lowly, “she’s one of Kafka’s.”

But Caelus stepped forward anyway. You didn’t move. Not when he stopped a few feet away. Not when he tilted his head, searching your eyes for something you didn’t even know you’d lost.

“There’s something familiar about you,” he said softly.

Your lips curved into something like a smirk but it didn’t reach your eyes. “I hear that a lot before people try to shoot me.”

“I’m not going to shoot you.”

“And I’m not going to hesitate if you become a threat,” you replied coolly, though something in your voice faltered at the end. Just a little.

A pause stretched between you.

Then he said it, almost like a confession to the wind “I’ve seen you before. In dreams.”

The expression you wore froze. You didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Your throat tightened, because you’d seen him too every night since you woke up in Elio’s care, with a name you barely remembered and a void where your past should’ve been. A silver haired boy with amber eyes, reaching for you just as you disappeared. And now he was here, real and breathing and looking at you like he knew your soul.

“I don’t know you,” you said, a bit too quickly.

“Maybe not,” Caelus said, a small smile tugging at the edge of his lips, “but I think… I loved you, once.”

Your heart missed a beat. Behind your back, your fingers curled into a fist and you backed up. You hated the way his words made your chest ache. Hated the way the cold mask you wore suddenly felt too heavy. Because if what he said was true if you had loved him once then fate had played a cruel trick and you didn’t know if you had the strength to undo it.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ The world returned in fragments like shards of a broken mirror pressed too close to your eyes. At first, there was only the hum. Low, metallic, steady. Then light. Blinding. Cold. You gasped. Air surged into your lungs like you hadn’t breathed in centuries. You jolted upright with a strangled sound, hand instinctively reaching out for something someone.

But there was only silence. You blinked furiously, vision adjusting to the sterile, glass panelled room around you. Pale walls. A console blinking with unreadable data. You were lying on a bed no, a containment pod, cracked slightly down the side. It smelled like ozone and dust.

“Easy little one.” A voice. Calm, smooth, a touch amused. You turned sharply.

Kafka stood at the foot of the pod, arms crossed, one brow slightly arched. She looked completely unbothered, as if this was routine. As if you were routine. You stared at her like she might be part of the dream.

“Who…?” Your voice rasped out, raw. “Where…?”

“Questions already?” Kafka mused.

You opened your mouth to retort and froze. You didn’t know your name. No, wait you did. Barely. It floated to the surface like a whisper. You clutched it like a lifeline. “…My name is…” You hesitated. “I think it’s [Y/N].”

Kafka nodded slowly, like she was testing the shape of your name against the air. “It suits you.”

You sat there, stunned. Trembling slightly. “What… happened to me?”

She shrugged, a glint in her violet eyes. “A warp event. Something… untraceable. We found you drifting between coordinates with a fractured signal and half a heartbeat. Elio said you’d be important.”

“Elio…?”

“You’ll meet him eventually. For now, it’s just us.” You looked down at your hands. They felt wrong. Or maybe the world did.

“I don’t remember anything,” you whispered.

“No,” Kafka said. “But your instincts remain intact. That’s the part that matters.” You flinched when she stepped closer, but she only placed a hand on your shoulder gentle, grounding. Her smile softened, just slightly.

“Listen to me. You were meant for something greater. A fate rewritten by stars too scared of your potential. Elio saw it. And I do too.”

You stared up at her, desperate, haunted. “Then why do I feel like I’m… missing something?”

Kafka tilted her head, curious. “Missing someone, you mean?” Your breath caught. Because for all the blanks in your memory, there was one thing one constant you couldn’t explain away. Amber eyes, filled with light. A boy smiling at you like you were his entire world. Reaching for your hand as everything around you crumbled.

“I don’t know who he is,” you whispered. “But I see him when I sleep.” Kafka didn’t answer right away.

Then, softly “Maybe one day, you’ll remember. Maybe one day, he’ll find you.” You never remembered the moment you met him. There was no clean origin, no first conversation etched in time just the feeling. Like gravity had shifted in your chest. Like your soul had turned its head toward someone and said, “There you are.”

Even in the days after waking, long before Elio whispered of fate and purpose, you carried that strange ache. It sat beneath your ribs, subtle but persistent. As if your heart had memorized a rhythm it could no longer hear and still beat along with it anyway. And always, him. A boy reaching for you through dreams. Sometimes smiling. Sometimes calling your name. Sometimes standing still at the edge of a world collapsing in gold. You never saw his full face, not really. It shifted with every dream like your memory was afraid to settle. But the feeling stayed the same. Safety. Sadness. Love.

Kafka called it a side effect of a damaged warp phantom memories stitched together by a soul that had jumped too many coordinates, too fast. Elio said nothing. He only looked at you, eyes unreadable, and murmured “Even in broken timelines, some threads find each other again.”

You didn’t know what that meant. Not then. But now standing in this fractured city, staring into Caelus’s eyes you do. Because it’s not a coincidence. Not a trick of dreams or Stellaron interference. It’s older than memory. Deeper than fate. A bond written somewhere before the stars. You and Caelus are mirror souls two halves born in the same cosmic breath, scattered by a universe that didn’t know how to hold you.

Maybe you boarded the Astral Express, once. Maybe you stood beside him, laughed with him, loved him. Maybe you were torn from that path by a warp gone wrong, or a choice you never knew you made. But your souls remember. They reach for each other still in dreams, in battles, in silences where your fingers almost twitch toward his before you stop yourself.

You were meant to walk together. But the universe split you. Now, you’re on opposite sides of a war you don’t fully understand. But the bond? It hasn’t faded. It can’t. Because no matter how much memory was taken, how many times your paths diverged. You are still drawn to him. Still tethered by something ancient and unfinished.

And when Caelus whispered, “I think I loved you, once,” your soul didn’t hesitate. It whispered back “You still do.”

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

At first, you didn’t speak to anyone. You woke, you trained, you followed instructions. No questions. No smiles. No attachments. That was how it started. The other Stellaron Hunters didn’t mind. Blade said nothing, as usual. Silver Wolf barely looked up from her screens. Sam never came close enough for conversation, and Kafka was always watching.

She never pushed, never pried. Just watched, like she already knew the storm inside you and was waiting for the clouds to shift. But it was her, in the end, who pulled you into the rhythm of this strange place. It started with a game.

“You’re watching me again,” you muttered one evening, eyes fixed on the holographic wall map you’d been pretending to study for the last ten minutes.

Kafka leaned in the doorway, arms crossed. “I do that.”

You turned, half expecting mockery in her eyes. Instead, there was something softer faint amusement, edged with quiet interest.

“I’m not broken,” you said flatly. “You don’t have to treat me like I’ll crack open.”

“I never said you were,” she replied, and then, after a pause, “But you are still unfinished.”

“Unfinished?”

Kafka stepped forward, her coat trailing behind her like a slow moving shadow. “You remember fragments. Dreams. Pieces of another life. You haven’t decided yet who you want to be in this one.”

You clenched your jaw. “Maybe I already have.”

“Have you?” she asked, too gently.

You didn’t answer.

Later that night, she left something outside your room.A data pad. A short file. A simulation: sparring tactics against hypothetical enemies. Paired drills. On a whim, you ran the simulation. when you did, it loaded a preset with Kafka’s movement patterns coded as the partner. Every step she made was measured, confident. Every time you moved, the code adapted like she was anticipating you. Like she already knew how you fought. You didn’t sleep that night. Not because of fear or anxiety, but because you became entranced

From then on, things shifted.

You stopped avoiding the others in the corridors. Started nodding back when Silver Wolf greeted you with a lazy two finger wave. Listened when Blade offered one word advice during training. Responded when Kafka teased you, even if it was just with a dry, “Don’t push your luck.”

You began asking questions quiet ones, when no one was around.

“What’s Sam’s story?”

“Why does Blade meditate with his blade drawn?”

“Does Silver Wolf ever lose in those games?”

And every time, Kafka answered. Not always directly. Sometimes with riddles, sometimes with little smiles that said, You’ll figure it out. But she answered. More than that she listened. When you told her about the dreams again, she didn’t tell you to ignore them.

She only asked, “Do you want to remember?”

You did. Even if it hurt.

Weeks passed.

Your coat bore the Hunter insignia now. You walked with purpose in the base’s dim halls. You learned their methods how to dismantle systems, how to fight in sync with someone you weren’t sure you trusted, how to exist beside people who had no need for sentiment, but somehow left space for it anyway. Kafka didn’t change much.

But you started to see the way she lingered when Blade was injured. The way she glanced at Silver Wolf with a sisterly fondness when she thought no one noticed. The way she always made sure you got the missions that aligned with your strengths.

“Why do you help me?” you asked once, after a particularly clean victory where the two of you fought side by side, flawless.

Kafka didn’t miss a beat. “Because I remember what it feels like to be lost. And because Elio says you’re important.”

You scoffed. “You always follow Elio’s predictions?”

Kafka’s lips curved. “Only when I agree with them.” despite yourself, you smiled back.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ Kafka’s voice was calm over the comms.

“Quick in, quick out. Eyes open, [Y/N]. The relay’s still broadcasting faint traces of encrypted Express data. Elio wants to know why.” You crouched behind a collapsed support beam, hand tightening on your weapon. Your breath fogged slightly in the cold air. The station’s artificial gravity pulsed irregularly, like the heartbeat of something half dead.

“I don’t like it here,” you murmured. “Too quiet.”

“You’ll get used to that,” Kafka replied. “Most haunted places start that way.”

The door groaned as it opened rusted metal, reluctant hinges. You stepped inside, Kafka at your back, the hallway stretching before you like the throat of a dying star. The walls were scorched. Burned out terminals flickered and fizzed with leftover sparks. Bits of fabric clung to jagged debris passenger coats, maybe. You stepped over a half buried nameplate that read T78–Celestial Relay: Astral Express Docking Site.

You froze. Astral Express. The words rang in your head like a forgotten lullaby.

“Something wrong?” Kafka asked.

You stared at the nameplate, unsure what to say. “I… I think I’ve been here before.”

Kafka didn’t answer right away. She simply stepped beside you, gaze trailing over the ruined corridor. “Maybe you have.”

You pressed your hand against the wall, fingers brushing a faded imprint someone had drawn stars here once. The paint had nearly chipped away, but you could still make out the rough lines of a train and what looked like… a tiny figure standing at its edge. Your heart clenched. And then A whisper. Soft. Unmistakable.

“–[Y/N], you coming? We don’t leave people behind–”

You whipped around. No one was there. The hallway behind you remained empty, Kafka standing still as a statue beside the doorway.

“What did you hear?” she asked quietly.

You blinked. “That voice. I… I knew it.”

Kafka turned to face you, her expression unreadable. “What did it sound like?”

“Warm,” you whispered, before you could stop yourself. “He called my name like it meant something. Like I was his… crew.”

A slow beat of silence passed. Kafka stepped forward and reached up gently pressed two fingers to your temple. Not unkind. Not forceful. Just enough pressure to draw your attention.

“That’s not just a memory,” she murmured. “That’s a tether.” Your breath hitched.

“I don’t understand.”

“You will,” Kafka said. “Elio predicted this. A place would wake the memories. A name. A sound. You weren’t meant to forget it all. The universe just… paused you. Stalled the connection.”

You turned toward the hallway again. In the distance, barely audible, came another voice. Fainter this time. Familiar.

“Don’t wander off again, [Y/N]…”

Your lips parted. You could see it, just for a second flashing gold windows, March’s laughter, the faint hum of the Astral Express engine purring beneath your feet. It faded as quickly as it came.

“I… was with them,” you said softly, gripping your sleeve. “Before. Before all this. I can feel it.” Kafka studied you with something like pride.

“You’re remembering who you were. The question now is who do you want to be?”

You didn’t answer. Not yet. Instead, you turned back down the hall and whispered, like a promise only the stars could hear,

“I’ll find you.”

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ The first time he saw her, it was in a dream. She stood at the edge of a broken platform, surrounded by stardust. Hair swaying in a nonexistent wind, face turned away, just slightly. The light around her bent like it knew her. Soft, reverent.

She didn’t speak. Caelus woke with his chest aching. At first, he chalked it up to warp sickness. Another leftover hallucination, maybe Stellaron residue playing tricks on his head. It wasn’t new. Flashes of unfamiliar places, déjà vu that made no sense. The usual.

But this was different. Because the girl didn’t fade. She kept showing up. Not just in dreams now, but in thoughts. In echoes. In odd moments where he’d catch his reflection in a terminal screen and think She’s looking for me. He missed her. This random girl.

Without knowing her name. Without knowing if she was real. He missed her. Like his soul had once been stitched to hers, and something some event, some warping twist of fate had torn it in half.

“Hey,” March’s voice snapped him out of it, “you okay?”

He blinked. Realized he’d been staring out the train’s window for who knows how long. The stars looked endless tonight. Cold. Unreachable.

“Yeah,” he lied. “Just thinking.”

“About what?” she teased, leaning in. “Don’t tell me you’re finally getting poetic about the stars. Welt’s going to cry.”

He tried to smile. “Nothing important.”

But even then, he heard it.

A whisper, not quite sound, threading through his mind like a thread through fabric:

“Caelus…”

The way she said it wasn’t scared. Or urgent. It was warm. Familiar.

Intimate.

He rubbed at his temple. “It’s happening again.”

March sobered. “The dreams?”

He nodded. “She’s… everywhere. But I don’t know her.”

“You’re sure she’s not someone we met on another planet?”

“I know I’ve never met her,” Caelus murmured. “But it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like I’ve always known her. Like I’m forgetting something I should never have forgotten.”

March frowned, stepping a little closer. “What does she look like?”

“I don’t know. Her face is always in light. Or in motion. Or…” He sighed. “She’s always just out of reach.”

March crossed her arms. “Sounds like a cosmic love story.”

“Or a curse,” he muttered.

He meant it.

Because it hurt, missing someone you didn’t even know. It made no sense, but she had become a presence an ache under his ribs, a name he didn’t know how to speak.

That night, the dream changed. He was on the Express but not this one. The colors were warmer. The crew felt familiar, yet different. And there she was finally facing him. This time no blur and no haze.

She smiled, soft and sad. Like she knew something he didn’t. Like she’d watched him from afar for a long, long time.

He took a step forward. She held out her hand.

The sound of shattering glass. Light tore across the dream like lightning. Her image cracked, distorted, fell apart.

He screamed her name Except he didn’t know it. He woke up gasping.

He stood in the hallway outside the passenger car now, gripping the rail, heart pounding. The stars outside flickered like they were trying to whisper something back.

“I don’t know who you are,” he murmured, voice rough. “But I think I’m supposed to.”

Though he felt he had loved her once. that love got lost between the stars. But it was finding its way back. He could feel it.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

The moment hung between you like a heartbeat suspended in air fragile, trembling, too afraid to fall.

You didn’t speak.

Couldn’t.

Because if you did, something would break.

Maybe it was the persona you’d built. Maybe it was the invisible wall that Elio insisted you keep between yourself and the rest of the galaxy. Or maybe… it was the feeling you’d been running from since the day you woke up in Kafka’s care:

The ache of knowing someone you’d never met.

Of longing for something you never had.

Of being seen when you had no memory of who you were supposed to be.

And Caelus saw you.

Not the mask. Not the weapon. You.

He stood there, closer than he should have, amber eyes gentler than any soldier’s had a right to be, and you hated how your resolve cracked around the edges just by looking at him.

“I don’t want to fight you,” he said, voice barely above the whine of static in the air. “I just… want to understand.”

Your mouth opened then shut again.

The wind shifted between the broken towers, pulling at your coat. You turned away first. Because if you kept looking at him, you weren’t sure you’d be able to hold your ground.

“I don’t care what you dreamed,” you said finally, trying to sound cold. Detached. “Whatever you think we were… I’m not that girl anymore.”

“I know,” he murmured, and that was somehow worse.

Because he meant it. And he still looked at you like that.

Like he was remembering you, even if you’d forgotten yourself.

Before you could respond, Kafka’s voice crackled in your earpiece.

“Darling. We’ve got what we need. Time to disappear.”

You inhaled sharply through your nose, nodding to nothing. for a second, just before you moved, your hand twitched again reaching out, purely instinct. But then you turned.

You vanished into the fractured skyline, not even a ripple left in your wake. Caelus didn’t follow. He just watched you go, a strange, hollow kind of sorrow nesting in his chest.

“She didn’t try to kill us,” March 7th said flatly.

“Progress,” Dan Heng deadpanned.

Caelus didn’t laugh.

He sat in silence, watching the universe drift past the train’s window. His reflection stared back at him, eyes tired and heart somewhere lightyears behind.

She didn’t remember him.

But her fingers had twitched when she said his name. Like muscle memory. Like muscle memory aching to reach out.

She was the one he’d been dreaming of. The one who didn’t board the Express. The one who was never supposed to walk the path she was on. The one fate had twisted away from him.

Later, after the brief standoff after Kafka led you away with a smile and a smug wave, and after Himeko called the mission a partial success Caelus sat alone in the Express observatory.

He stared out at the stars, but they felt different now.

You were real. And you knew him.

Not just knew of him. You knew him. The way your eyes lingered. The subtle way your fingers twitched when his voice hit the air. The way your name still escaped him but your presence didn’t.

“You okay?” March leaned in from behind, holding a cup of cocoa.

He didn’t turn. Just nodded. “I met her.”

March blinked. “Her?”

“…The one from the dreams.”

Her brows shot up. “Wait, seriously? That’s the girl?”

He nodded again. “She’s with Kafka.”

March made a face. “Of course she is. That explains the cool and mysterious aura coming from your weird head.”

“I don’t think she remembers me fully,” he said softly. “But she said my name.”

“hmmmm this feels kinda crazy,” March said, sitting beside him. “This is like some weird soulmate thing.”

Caelus glanced at her. “Is that even possible?”

She smirked. “With us? Anything’s possible.”

He turned back to the stars.

Somewhere out there, on another ship, or in another world, she had stood beside him. He knew it.

And even if time or fate had pulled them apart he was going to find his way back.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

It was stupid.

Dangerous.

Kafka had already noticed.

“You’ve been requesting missions in Express protected zones a lot lately,” she said one evening, her tone lazy, her gaze razor sharp. “Coincidence?”

You didn’t answer. Just kept cleaning your gear with surgical precision.

“…You saw him again, didn’t you?”

You paused, hand tightening on the cloth.

Kafka smiled like a cat who’d just cornered a bird. “I knew it.”

You didn’t look up. “It’s nothing.”

“Sweetheart, if it were nothing, your hands wouldn’t be shaking.”

They weren’t until she said it.

You shoved the cloth into your bag and stood. “Give me a mission.”

“Where to?”

You hesitated.

“Doesn’t matter,” you lied. “Anywhere near the Express.”

Kafka didn’t tease you. She just tilted her head, watching you like you were a story she already knew the ending to.

“Alright,” she said, voice soft. “Just try not to break his heart too fast.”

You rolled your eyes but your chest twisted. Because you didn’t want to break anything. You just… wanted to see him again.

Even if it was across a battlefield. Even if it was a few glances stolen between chaos. Even if it meant pretending you didn’t feel like the universe was holding its breath every time your paths aligned.

‼️‼️‼️

“Trailblazer, are you sure you need to scout that sector again?” Himeko asked, not unkindly.

“Yes,” Caelus said immediately. “I have a feeling.”

Dan Heng raised a brow. “A feeling.”

“Yeah.”

March grinned. “It’s her, isn’t it?”

Caelus didn’t deny it.

He didn’t know what he was expecting maybe another cold stare, another few seconds of standing too close without touching. But every time he caught a whisper of your presence on a planet, his heart pulled like a compass needle snapping to true north.

lately? You’d been showing up a lot. He started waiting on rooftops after missions, lingering longer than necessary. Hoping. Searching.

One time, he swore he caught your silhouette vanishing behind the smoke of a blown power core. Another, he spotted a shimmer in a crowd just a flicker of your coat as you disappeared into a ship.

You never stayed. you were always there.

You crouched at the edge of a ruined dome, watching the Express land below like a ghost too afraid to knock on the door.

Your comm buzzed.

Kafka: “You just gonna stare again, or say hi this time?”

You didn’t answer. Because you didn’t know how to explain it. That this wasn’t love…. at most you don’t know what that word even meant

He felt like It was gravity. He was the center of something you couldn’t name, and every time you stepped close, the past stirred in your bones like a song you once knew.

And still, you stayed. Watching him laugh with March. Watching him glance over his shoulder, like he felt you nearby. Watching him wait.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

The stars above the shattered dome flickered like dying embers dim, faraway, forgotten. The observatory was dead, a relic from a time when people still believed the cosmos could be mapped, understood, controlled.

Now, it was just quiet. A perfect place to hide. You didn’t know why you were here. Not really. The coordinates had come through a scrambled data trail supposedly a scouting point for a Hunter op. But Kafka had said nothing. She’d just smiled when she saw the file and said, “Go.”

So you went. You didn’t expect him to be there too. But the moment you stepped through the cracked threshold, you knew. The air changed. Like the world itself paused to take a breath.

And then you saw him.

Caelus stood by the remnants of a collapsed telescope, bathed in soft starlight filtering through the fractured glass above. His coat rustled quietly as he turned.

His eyes widened.

“…You.”

You didn’t move. You should’ve run. Should’ve vanished like you always did. your boots felt rooted to the floor, and your chest was tight with something you didn’t have a name for.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” you said, voice low.

“I know,” he replied. “But I hoped you would be.”

That stopped you cold.

“…Why?”

“Because I can’t keep pretending you’re just a dream.”

Your heart stuttered.

He took a slow step forward. You didn’t stop him.

“You keep showing up,” he said, quietly. “And every time, I think maybe it’s just a trick. Just my mind trying to make sense of something it can’t remember. But then I see you. And I know.”

You swallowed hard.

“There’s a reason we remember each other,” he went on. “Even if we don’t know how.”

You looked away. “You don’t know who I am.”

“I don’t have to,” he said. “Because when I see you I feel peace. Like the galaxy makes sense for a second.”

That… hurt. Because you didn’t just feel peace when you saw him. You felt everything else. Hope. Ache. Fear. That sharp, impossible longing like something inside you was trying to claw its way out just to reach him.

“I shouldn’t be here,” you whispered.

“well that shouldn’t feeling kinda doesn’t apply here,” Caelus said again, gentler.

Silence stretched between you fragile, sacred. Then, softly, he asked, “Can I come closer?”

You nodded.

He stepped toward you, slow and careful, until there was only a breath between you. For a moment, neither of you moved. Then gently, so gently his hand reached out and hovered near yours. Not touching. Just waiting.

And your fingers… trembled.

You didn’t take his hand.

But you didn’t pull away either. It was the closest you’d been. Not physically emotionally. Soulfully. And for the first time since you woke up with no memories, you didn’t feel lost.

You felt… found.

It just hovered there between you, caught in some invisible tension neither of you had the words to sever. Caelus stayed still too, though you could tell he wanted to say something his eyes kept flicking to your expression, like he was trying to read stars in a language he used to know.

Then, very softly, he chuckled.

You blinked.

“What?” you asked warily.

“I just…” He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, expression going a little sheepish. “I was trying to think of something poetic to say. You know, something like, ‘Even across galaxies, I’d find you,’ or ‘Your eyes remind me of starlight before a warp jump.’” He paused. “But that would be cringe, right?”

You stared at him.

And then against your own instincts you laughed. It was small, quiet, almost disbelieving, but it escaped you anyway. “That’s so cringe.”

“I knew it!” he grinned, victorious. “See? March would’ve roasted me for it too.”

Your lips twitched. “You really are a dork,” you muttered.

“I prefer charmingly knight super cool amazing, thank you very much,” Caelus said, placing a dramatic hand to his heart. “Besides, you were about two seconds away from touching my hand. I saw the twitch. Don’t lie.”

You rolled your eyes, but something in your chest… eased. He noticed. And that dumb little smile of his softened into something quieter.

“I’m not trying to pressure you,” he said. “I just wanted to see you. Talk.”

You didn’t answer right away. The truth was you didn’t know who you were now. Not completely. But sitting here, with the moonlight dusting your boots and this ridiculous boy talking about bad pickup lines in the middle of a ruined observatory. You didn’t feel like a Stellaron Hunter. You didn’t feel like a traitor or a mistake. You felt… normal. For the first time in forever.

Your fingers inched just slightly toward his. Barely enough to count. But Caelus noticed. He grinned.

“So,” he said, voice light again, “should I keep going with the pickup lines, or have I impressed you enough for one night?”

You exhaled slowly.

“…Let’s just sit.”

He nodded. “I’m good at that. Sitting. Part of my best skills.”

You shook your head, but you didn’t pull away when he finally sat beside you close, not touching.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

Caelus couldn’t stop smiling.

It wasn’t his usual half grin or smug little smirk it was a real smile. One of those stupid, giddy ones that made his face hurt and had absolutely no business existing after a trip to a dead observatory.

But here he was. Practically skipping down the corridor of the Express like a guy who’d just gotten a love confession and a puppy all in one day.

He didn’t get what was happening. But he felt it. That weight in his chest that had been following him since the warp it was lighter now. Not gone, but gentler. Like seeing you made the ache less unbearable.

Even if you’d only laughed once. Even if your hand had hovered, not held. Even if you still looked like you were ready to vanish at the first sign of a threat.

It didn’t matter. He’d seen the crack in the mask. He’d seen you.

“Okay, you’re smiling. That’s never a good sign,” a voice called.

Caelus turned just as March 7th leaned dramatically over the back of the lounge couch, a mock suspicious look in her eyes. “Did you get hit on the head, or are you in love?”

“What?” Caelus blinked, then coughed. “Neither!”

“That was the most unconvincing response I’ve ever heard in my life,” March grinned.

“Didn’t even try to lie properly,” Dan Heng muttered from behind his book, not looking up.

“Oh my god.” March gasped and pointed at him. “You’re blushing. Are you blushing?!”

“I am not blushing,” Caelus said, very obviously blushing.

“You totally are!” she squealed. “You went somewhere, didn’t you? You did the secret meeting thing. The ‘forbidden connection across enemy lines’ thing. Like star crossed lovers in a trashy space novel!”

“I just… I ran into her,” Caelus muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “We talked. That’s all.”

March narrowed her eyes. “Define ‘talked.’”

“…There were words.”

“Ooooh. There were feelings,” March declared. “Dan Heng, he’s so doomed.”

Dan Heng sighed without looking up. “I’ll alert the press.”

At the front of the Express, Himeko sipped her coffee until she tilted her head toward Welt with a smirk. “I think the kids are gossiping again.”

Welt glanced up from the terminal, raising an eyebrow. “Should we be concerned?”

“Well, considering our dear Trailblazer seems to be falling for a Stellaron Hunter, I’d say yes,” she said with a knowing smile. “But also… not yet. Let them feel something. They’ve earned it.”

Back near the lounge, Caelus flopped onto the couch beside March and groaned into a pillow.

“I didn’t mean to like her,” he mumbled.

“That’s how it always starts,” March said with faux dramatic flair. “You ‘accidentally’ develop feelings for the mysterious, emotionally complicated girl who may or may not be working for a morally grey space cult.”

“She laughed at one of my dumb jokes,” Caelus admitted, muffled.

March gasped again. “She laughed?! Oh, it’s over for you. You’re done. Pack it up. Go write her name on your locker and doodle hearts in your journal.”

“I don’t have a locker.”

“its a metaphor you stupid hoe,” she said solemnly.

And as the Express continued its course through the stars, the crew kept teasing, bickering, and beneath it all watching over each other. Even if they didn’t say it, they all felt it.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

This sector was too close to the Express’s patrol route, and Kafka had given you a very specific order to avoid unnecessary contact with the crew for your own good, allegedly. But “allegedly” didn’t stop your feet from wandering. And it sure didn’t stop him.

Because Caelus was already there, poking his head around a half crushed console like he was looking for snacks and not violating multiple interdimensional boundaries.

“Psst,” he whispered, ducking behind a pillar like a badly disguised spy.

You stared at him, deadpan. “You followed me.”

“I think the term stumbled across you like fate intended,” he said, peeking out again with a hopeful smile.

You folded your arms. “You almost got spotted by Silver Wolf’s scouts. If I hadn’t looped their surveillance…”

“Okay, so maybe I’m not great at stealth,” Caelus admitted, sheepish. “But I am great at being incredibly charming in the face of mortal peril.”

You opened your mouth to tell him off but then he crouched, balancing on one leg with his arms out like a chicken, and made a dramatic caw noise.

“See? You can’t stay mad at this level of grace.”

You stared. Then pinched the bridge of your nose. And yet… your lips twitched. Damn it.

He grinned wider, clearly catching it. “There it is! The tiniest smile. I knew I could break through that scary, cool Hunter persona.”

“I’m not scary,” you muttered.

“You’re terrifying. In a hot way.”

You rolled your eyes, turning away to hide the heat rushing to your cheeks. “You’re a really weird guy.”

“And yet you keep meeting me,” he said, stepping closer now. “Isn’t that funny?”

It wasn’t funny. It was frustrating. It was dangerous. Every second spent with him risked blowing your cover, ruining your mission. Staying away from the people that hindered the stellarons hunters wishes

But every time he smiled at you like that like you were the only real thing left in the galaxy. You forgot what side you were on.

“Caelus…” you started, voice wavering.

“Yeah?”

“Why do you do this?” Your eyes locked with his. “Why do you keep chasing me when we’re supposed to be enemies?”

He hesitated, surprised by the weight in your voice.

Then he shrugged, quietly this time. “Because even when I close my eyes, I still see you. And I think… if I stop chasing that, I’ll regret it forever.”

Something in your chest cracked open. The longing. The ache. The static in your blood. It surged all at once.

You didn’t think. Didn’t plan. You just grabbed his collar and kissed him. Hard. The impact startled him his hands flying to steady you, your fingers curled in his jacket like you’d fall apart if you let go. It was clumsy, fierce, desperate.

You felt his breath hitch. Felt his fingers tighten. Though suddenly. The static surged. Your knees gave out and the world tilted. You collapsed into his arms, your consciousness slipping like smoke.

“Whoa! Wait!” Caelus caught you before you hit the ground, wide eyed. “Okay, not how I imagined our first kiss going hey, are you okay? Are you? Oh god, did I break you?!”

He knelt, cradling you gently, brushing hair from your face as your breathing steadied but your eyes stayed shut.

“…You kissed me,” he whispered, stunned.

Then, more softly.

“…Please wake up so I can tell you how i really feel”

A few moments pass and you’re still completely knocked out.

“She’s not waking up. She’s not waking up. She’s not okay okay it’s fine, I’ve definitely… totally… handled something like this before…”

He hadn’t. Caelus was not fine. You were unconscious in his arms, and he had no idea why. He was racing back toward the Express through dimensional shrapnel and twisted corridors like he was running from the universe itself. Every few seconds, he glanced down to make sure you were still breathing.

You were. Shallow, but steady. Thank every star in the sky.

“I mean, you kiss a girl, and she immediately collapses that’s gotta be a record, right?” he muttered, mostly to keep from screaming. “Cool, Caelus. Real smooth. She finally kisses you and the stellaron hunter gets beaten by a kiss. note to tell Dan heng to use that on blade later”

His foot snagged on a floating stone, and he nearly tumbled. He tightened his hold, shielding your head.

“Sorry, sorry gotcha,” he said softly, eyes flicking to your face. “You don’t look hurt. You just… fainted? Did I do something wrong? Was it the hair? Be honest, you hate the hair, don’t you?”

No answer. Just the soft, steady rise and fall of your chest.

The Express came into view. Warm lights. Familiar hum. A tether back to sanity. He bolted inside, panting. “Emergency! Kind of! I mean, not me okay, yes me, but mostly her!”

March’s head whipped up from the couch. “Is that?!”

Dan Heng appeared instantly at the sound of frantic footsteps, and Himeko turned from the navigation console.

“What happened?” she asked sharply, crossing the room. “Isnt she that girl youre always talking about?”

“I I don’t know! I mean, I do, but I don’t she’s the girl from the dimensional fault. She kissed me long story and then she just collapsed.”

“You kissed the enemy?” March asked, voice pitched somewhere between scandalized and amazed. “Oh my, Caelus!”

“She kissed me!” he hissed, glancing down at you. “And then passed out, which is not how kisses usually go right? That’s not normal?”

Welt Yang stepped in, grave and composed as always. “Where exactly did this happen?”

“Fragmented zone, a relay station near the collapsed ruins. She was fine then not. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You made the right choice,” Himeko said gently, already checking your pulse.

“She’s… she’s okay, right?” Caelus asked, voice cracking as he dropped to his knees beside you.

Welt nodded slowly. “Stable vitals. No external trauma. But her energy readings are odd.”

“Odd how?” Caelus asked.

March peeked over Welt’s shoulder. “Like Stellaron odd? Trailblazer odd? Or, like, cute girl with dangerous secrets odd?”

Welt exhaled. “Yes.”

Caelus swallowed hard. He looked at your face again. Still so still.

“Hey,” he murmured, taking your hand carefully. “You can’t just… leave me hanging like that. You can’t kiss me and ghost me in the same breath. That’s rude.”

March elbowed Dan Heng. “Yo i love the guy but has he ever been serious”

“I don’t think so,” Dan Heng replied dryly.

“I’m serious,” Caelus said, voice softer now. “You gotta wake up soon. I don’t care who you are. Or what you think you have to be. I just… I want to know you. The real you.”

Your fingers didn’t twitch.

But your heartbeat, quietly, began to quicken. The cabin of the Astral Express felt too quiet. You were still unconscious, resting in the medbay with March standing guard just in case you woke up and decided to, you know, unleash chaos. Dan Heng was nearby, arms crossed, calm but clearly on edge.

And Himeko… was doing something no one expected.

“She’s calling Kafka?” March whispered, wide eyed. “That’s… wow. That’s like dialing a volcano and asking it politely not to erupt.”

“I’m not asking,” Himeko said smoothly, tone neutral as she tapped into the comms. “I’m informing. She’s going to want to know her operative’s alive and on board. I’d prefer that information come from us than from, say… a surveillance drone.”

“Or a giant explosion,” Caelus mumbled from where he slumped against the wall.

March shot him a look. “You really kissed her, huh?”

“She kissed me,” he repeated, quietly now. “And then she collapsed. Not exactly the grand romantic moment I imagined.”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘cursed,’” March offered helpfully.

Before he could spiral further, Welt Yang appeared beside him and nodded toward the back car. “Walk with me?”

Caelus didn’t argue. They ended up on the observation deck, stars stretched out endlessly through the glass windows. The silence was nice. Heavy, but nice.

“You’ve been quiet,” Welt said after a while.

“Trying not to panic,” Caelus admitted. “Not doing a great job.”

Welt studied him with the patience of someone who’d seen too many wars and too many versions of the same story. “You’re allowed to panic. But you’re also allowed to hope.”

Caelus leaned his head against the window, watching a comet streak by. “She was… cold. Distant. But when she looked at me, it felt like someone lit up the whole room. Like a puzzle piece finally clicked, even if it didn’t make sense.”

“And the kiss?”

“Unplanned. Very… wow. And then terrifying.”

Welt chuckled quietly. “Feelings can do that. Especially when they come from somewhere deeper than memory.”

“You think she’s really?”

“I think the universe has a way of trying again when it gets something wrong,” Welt said gently. “You two… may have been pulled apart by something beyond your control. That doesn’t mean you can’t find your way back.”

Caelus swallowed the knot in his throat.

“I just what if she wakes up and remembers who she is, and it means she leaves? Or worse, tries to finish what she started?”

“Then you face that moment with the same bravery you faced her now. With heart.”

Caelus looked up at him.

“…You’re good at this.”

Welt smiled, faint but kind. “I’ve had practice.”

The silence stretched between them comfortably this time. Then March’s voice crackled over the intercom.

“Uh, guys? So… Kafka responded. She’s coming. ETA fifteen minutes.”

Caelus stiffened.

Welt simply exhaled. “Well. Time to prepare for company.”

“And by company,” Caelus muttered, “you mean the scariest lady who might murder me for smooching her agent.”

“She might also say ‘thanks,’” Welt mused.

“…That would be a miracle.”

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

She came with the wind. No ship announced her arrival. No screeching engines or blaring alarms warned the crew. Just a sudden, eerie stillness like the Express itself recognized the presence walking its halls and chose to hold its breath.

Caelus stood in the medbay doorway, arms crossed tight against his chest, heart hammering like it still hadn’t caught up to the kiss or the collapse that followed.

You hadn’t stirred. Not once. He didn’t know what terrified him more the silence from your body… or the way he wasnt sure what everything meant

Then she appeared. Kafka stepped through the door like a queen entering her court graceful, confident, her long coat fluttering gently with her stride. Eyes sharp and knowing. Expression unreadable, but tinged with something… fond. Like she’d expected this.

“Well,” she murmured, surveying the scene. “You’re earlier than I thought, Caelus.”

He blinked. “You… expected this?”

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, her gaze fell on you, lying still and pale on the cot, a faint glimmer of light pulsing beneath your skin where your mask once was.

Kafka smiled softly.

She walked closer and crouched beside you, brushing a gloved hand over your forehead in a rare moment of gentleness. “She always did overdo things when emotions were involved. Even across timelines, some things stay the same.”

Caelus stepped forward, jaw tight. “What happened to her?”

Kafka tilted her head. “She remembered you. More than she was supposed to. More than her mind this version of her was ready to accept.”

“What do you mean, ‘this version’?” Caelus asked slowly, dreading the answer.

Kafka looked up at him. “She’s not from here. Not exactly.”

Silence. Dan Heng, March, Welt, and Himeko stood nearby, tension bleeding into the room like fog.

“She’s a splinter,” Kafka continued. “A fracture of someone that once existed in a timeline that was… erased. In that version of the world, she boarded the Express. Just like you. She was one of yours.”

“…Ours?” Caelus echoed.

“You were happy,” Kafka said with a smile. “Close. Devoted. She loved you, Caelus. More than duty, more than fear. Enough to leap across timelines when fate collapsed around her.”

His breath caught. Kafka rose, brushing imaginary dust from her gloves. “Elio found her adrift. Not quite nothing, not quite whole. And I well, I’ve always had a soft spot for lost causes.”

March folded her arms. “So… you knew she didn’t belong with the Stellaron Hunters?”

“She belonged where her heart led her,” Kafka replied coolly. “We never forced her to stay. She chose to remain. But I knew the day would come when the two of you would meet again. Some things are inevitable.”

Himeko narrowed her gaze. “Then why bring her in at all?”

Kafka looked at her. Smiled. “Because sometimes, a storm needs a place to land.”

“…That’s not an answer,” Dan Heng said.

“No,” Kafka replied, unbothered. “It isn’t.”

She turned back toward Caelus then. Her tone gentled. “She found you again. Against all odds. And even without memories, her soul still remembered.”

Caelus swallowed. His voice felt hoarse. “So what now?”

“Now?” Kafka took a step toward him, something unreadable in her eyes. “Now you wait. Be patient. She’s strong. Stubborn. She’ll come back to you.”

Then, a pause deliberate and teasing. She leaned closer. “And be good, Caelus.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Be. Good,” she repeated with a sly smile. “Or I’ll steal her back.”

He flushed. “she came to me, you know.”

Kafka’s grin widened. “Soulmates do that. No matter the odds. No matter the sides.”

He stared at her. She softened. Just a fraction.

“Even when she was one of us,” she said quietly, “she still looked at the stars and dreamed of you. You’d think that kind of devotion would die between timelines, but… it doesn’t.”

Caelus’s chest ached.

“She loved you then,” Kafka whispered. “And if you’re lucky, she’ll love you again.”

Her gaze turned thoughtful.

“Opposing sides don’t mean much to the heart. What matters is how hard you’re willing to love, even when the universe tries to tear you apart.” Then she brushed past him, heading toward the door.

“Wait,” Caelus said. “Are you just going to leave her?”

Kafka smiled over her shoulder. “She’s exactly where she needs to be.” And with that, she was gone. Silence returned. Caelus stood there for a moment, eyes on your still form. Then, quietly, Welt stepped to his side again.

“Well,” he said gently, “you heard the woman.”

Caelus exhaled shakily. “Yeah…”

“She’ll come back.”

Caelus nodded. “Yeah.” And when she does, he thought, I’m not letting go again.

ଘ(੭ ᐛ )━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ It starts with light. Soft, golden, and endless. You’re weightless, drifting. Not through space through memory. Through pieces of yourself you didn’t know were missing. At first, the visions are disjointed, blurred at the edges. Like film caught between frames. A laugh. Your own. It’s bright, full of something warm. Something forgotten. You’re standing in the Astral Express kitchen, sleeves rolled up, flour on your cheek. March 7th is beside you, wielding a spoon like a sword. Across the counter, Caelus is dramatically pretending to faint as he eats a cookie you baked.

“It’s so good,” he gasps, flopping over a chair like a dying man. “I’m ascending Himeko, if I die, bury me with ten of these.”

You hit him with a dish towel. “Eat like a normal person.”

“I am! This is how Trailblazers eat. enjoying every second of this. Very cool.” You’re smiling so wide it hurts. The scene melts.

FLASH.

You and Dan Heng are leaning over a terminal together. He’s explaining star coordinates, but your attention keeps drifting. Not because you’re bored but because you’re waiting. Waiting for that familiar, goofy voice behind you. Sure enough.

“You’re cheating on me with star maps again?” Caelus says, mock offended.

“Jealous of numbers?” you tease, turning to him.

“I’m jealous of anything that takes your attention for more than thirty seconds.” Dan Heng clears his throat, but you swear he’s hiding a smile.

FLASH

It’s night. Or what passes for night on the train. You and Caelus are sitting on the edge by the door, legs dangling over the edge. Your heads are tilted toward the stars, shoulders touching.

No words. Just the sound of the universe breathing between you.

“I think I found home,” he whispers.

You blink. Look at him.

He doesn’t turn to you, but his hand finds yours in the dark.

“I think,” he continues, voice quieter now, “it’s not a place. I think it’s a person.”

“did you read that in a romance book?”

“shhhhh, you’re crazy you’re thinking too much. close your eyes and just embrace it”

You squeeze his hand back.

FLASH.

Battle. You’re bleeding. Something had gone wrong on a mission fight with a Fragmentum creature. You’re cornered, dizzy, staggering but then Caelus is there. Always.

He pulls you back against him, shielding your body with his own, teeth gritted, eyes wild with fear.

“I got you,” he pants. “Stay with me, okay? Just don’t go.”

You look up at him.

You smile.

“Like I’d leave you, dummy.”

FLASH.

You’re in the observation car, curled on one of the long benches. The stars are streaming by, casting the room in slow, celestial motion. Caelus walks in with two mugs and stops in his tracks when he sees you. You feign sleep. He sits beside you anyway. Then, softly, with that grin you’ve always hated because it makes your heart ache.

“I don’t know what I did in the past to deserve you,” he says, voice like a secret, “but I’d do it again. A thousand times.” Your heart clenches. Because something inside you remembers.

FLASH.

That ruined city. The fault zone. His face. You hear his voice again.

“I’ve seen you before. In dreams.”

“I think… I loved you, once.”

And for the first time, your consciousness stirs. The dreams fracture. Like mirrors catching too much light. The voice calling you back isn’t Kafka’s. It’s his.

Caelus.

You try to reach. To swim toward the sound. But something holds you back like the universe hasn’t decided if you’re ready to wake. Then, one final whisper reaches you. Not a memory. Not a dream. Just a feeling, laced in the warmth of amber eyes.

“Come back to me.”

You move.

There was no light when you first stirred just warmth. A soft hum beneath you. A scent in the air like metal and tea. And someone breathing. Slow, steady, near. Your eyelids fluttered open, lashes blinking against the low glow of the Astral Express’s medical bay. Everything felt strangely quiet thick, like sound and time had been layered under water. You blinked again. Once. Twice.

Then you saw him.

Slouched in a chair beside the bed, head tucked in his arms, was him. Caelus. He looked so much softer like this. Asleep, or maybe just resting his eyes. Hair slightly mussed, coat slipping off one shoulder, mouth slightly open like he had passed out mid thought. Your heart gave a small, traitorous flutter.

You whispered, “…Caelus?”

His head jerked up so fast you thought he might give himself whiplash. His amber eyes locked onto yours in an instant, and something shattered across his face. He bolted upright, nearly tripping over the chair in his scramble to get to your side.

“Hey hey! You’re awake! You’re actually awake! Not, like, fake half awake. Awake awake.” His hands hovered awkwardly over you, unsure if he was allowed to touch. “I Himeko said it could take a week, or a month, or uh, anyway, it’s been three days, and I’ve been sitting here the whole time and” You reached up and gently touched his wrist.

“I think…” you murmured, voice hoarse but steady, “I think I love you.” He froze like you’d physically unplugged his brain.

“W what?”

Your body ached, your throat still burned, and your thoughts swam like drifting stars but the feeling in your chest was real. Unmistakable. A tether that led back to him, no matter the timeline. You sat up slowly he instantly reached out to help you, like you might fall apart again and when you moved forward to hug him, his arms instinctively opened.

“Waitwaitwait!” He pulled back with sudden panic, palms bracing your shoulders like a human seatbelt. “Are you gonna kiss me again? Because the last time you did that, you passed out in my arms and scared me half to death. Not that it was a bad kiss honestly, it was amazing, I’m still recovering but I don’t want you to, like, die on me again. My heart can’t take it.” You stared at him. Then laughed. Softly. Genuinely.

Even now when he was clearly shaken, clearly not over what happened he was still him. A little weird. A little dramatic. A little too honest. It calmed you. Grounded you. You leaned in again slower this time and pressed your forehead against his.

“I’m not yours,” you said quietly. “Not the one you have ever met

He nodded, eyes dimming slightly. “Yeah. I figured.”

“But you…” You closed your eyes. “You’re not my Caelus either.”

A breath passed between you. And then, you whispered, “But I think… you’re still my home.”

His breath caught. He didn’t say anything at first. Just stared at you, that chaotic, sincere expression melting into something gentler. Something he hadn’t let himself hope for.

Then, his hand brushed the side of your cheek tentative, reverent. And he smiled.

“…You really know how to knock a guy off his feet, huh?”

You leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering shut.

“You’ve been doing it to me since before I even knew your name.”

[tinirainboom]

HSR Fanfiction Project: My Tiny Light ~

Good morning, afternoon or evening! Context:

From the start of the version in Penacony, when i saw Aventurine I knew it was very special (apart from another 2d crush on the list haha) it came to my mind, an isekai reader x Aventurine, fanfic. While the story of Penacony progressed with the Trailblazer missions, in my mind I was slowly polishing my idea of this fanfic and with Aventurine's backstory it was largely the final touch of writing this fanfic for fun. I feel like there should be more readers x character being from our world (isekai) so... Here i'm! Trying to sastiface my dear fantasy hehe ⁄⁠(⁠⁄⁠ ⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠ω⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠ ⁠⁄⁠)⁠⁄

｡˚ੈ ~☪~⋆✩~☪~⋆✩~☪~⋆✩~☪~ ੈ⋆｡˚

Here is the synopsis of the fanfic (project) My tiny light:

This story begins with our dear reader leaving his house in a fit of rage and going far away when he gets to the subway, until someone pushes him silently from behind on purpose onto the subway tracks so that he "dies." Although his life takes a 360° turn, without any kind of transition after a situation that should have been traumatic, the reader wakes up in the first moment of the Trailblazer's life in a canonical way, just like in the video game.

When he closes his eyes after seeing Kafka leave with Silver Wolf, he hears a mysterious voice that tells to the reader in his mind "Your time here is temporary, your mission is to help the trailblazer on his journey with your knowledge. Good luck little ghost."

｡˚ੈ ~☪~⋆✩~☪~⋆✩~☪~⋆✩~☪~ ੈ⋆｡˚

Ok… i was thinking the trailblazer be Stelle body, because I always write the reader like a female, but you can read it like it was Caelus body if you want. So… I have a big existential doubt, I don't know if I should make the ship polygamy (Aventurine x Reader x Ratio) or just monogamy (Aventurine x reader), it's just that they are my two favorite characters and ¡I can't decide! (╥﹏╥)

pd: I didn't forgot my ror fanfic! 😅 I have the script of the 2 chapter but my studies, they take up a lot of my time, I will probably upload it during the winter holidays after the exams. so don't despair!

♡Well have a good day, afternoon or night♡

~Reiko Yukimura~

[aventurineswife]

(Here you go! I hope it's satisfactory. Please keep your expectations low as I am terrible at coming up with scenes that are remotely profound/emotional. Also, please ignore any errors you come across here :P)

(thanks again for letting me do this o(*￣︶￣*)o ☆)

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Phainon enters the chambers of the three outlanders he had come to call his friends, his steps revealing nothing of his drawing presence yet echoing the years of rigorous training that honed his body and combat prowess to the very max. This set of prowess naturally includes being able to conceal his presence unless he deliberately allows himself to be known to the people within the vicinity. And if your flitting eyes are anything to go by, it is a concrete testament to the implicit trust he places on you and your two other companions. 

“Hey.” He greets you, his lips quirk into a ghost of a smile, except it exudes only a fraction of his usual radiance. “I… I came here as soon as Mem told us everything.”

You spare a cursory glance at the sleeping form of Caelus from where you sit beside him on his resting spot, his body angled in a way that faces away from you. “Dan Heng supplied as well, I take it?”

He nods, solemnity shrouding over his sunny countenance. 

“Is that why you've come here? You want to check up on him?” You meet his doleful eyes with a placating smile. 

He nods the second time, the gloom alleviating ever so slightly. 

“This little troublemaker is fine. He hasn't exactly woken up yet, but…” You will yourself to take another look at the gray-haired trash enthusiast, whose face never fails to light up at the sight of trash bins and trash cans, whose eccentricity befuddles even the brightest of minds. How can you ever reconcile the image of this peaceful face with the one that was soaked in crimson that day you three crashed into this world? 

“But…?” Phainon urges subtly, occupying the minuscule space on the kline bed alongside you and Caelus right at the very edge. 

“But.. I know he'll come around. He's as stubborn as a cockroach.” You stifle a giggle. “And as pesky as one, too.”

An airy chortle hauls you out of your momentary trance, and your gaze drifts over to the Chrysos Heir, the despondency that overflowed from his countenance now diminishing significantly as he regains his familiar jaunty glow. 

“You must have a lot of faith in him.” He inclines his head towards you. “Dan Heng seemed a bit more frantic than usual following this event. Even with Oronyx's Coreflame retrieved, this… revelation of the Trailblazer's fate makes the outcome feel less like a victory.”

His statement leaves no room for rebuttals. It is the truth, and any attempts to impugn it is merely a reflection of pure denial. When Caelus returned from the trial of Time unscathed, there was a brief period where you and Dan Heng felt awash with relief. Unfortunately, the joyous occasion bore a transient lifespan, seeing as the warm atmosphere instantly became doused in cold water the moment Mem recounted what Oronyx said to them. 

You feel a translucent layer of mist pervading your vision, an obstacle that you will yourself to overcome by rapidly blinking away the all-familiar sting in your eyes. 

“It's better to count our blessings. What's important is that we've obtained the Coreflame, and that he's back in one piece.” Your hand subconsciously searches for Caelus’ arm, the cold sensation of his crumpled outerwear chilling your inner pessimism into silence. You fail to consider that your touch alone may be enough to stir him awake. 

Caelus groans, his body turning around towards you with eyes languidly fluttering open. A sense of urgency rushes through your system as you lean down and delicately place a hand on his head, caressing his messy gray locks with a special kind of tenderness one would reserve for people whom they regard as dearly close. 

“Shh, shh… everything's okay,” you whisper, squeezing his arm with your other hand and brushing away a fallen strand from his eyes. “Go back to sleep.”

Phainon observes the scene with softened eyes, feeling a tug at his heart at the domestic scene before him. He quells the urge to coo when the valiant and formidable Trailblazer he knows—has even seen engage in combat firsthand—complies with your words and drifts back into an ocean of deep slumber, looking like he had his consciousness swept away by a running stream into an open shore where his dreams are treated with utmost care. 

“He's lucky to have you.” He gives you an approving nod paired with a beaming smile that incinerates the bad thoughts festering in your head. Yet, beneath that exuberance, an almost imperceptible speck of envy and sorrow slip through the cracks, flashing like blinking dots that strings together a plea for help. A yearning for the same kind of treatment bestowed to the Trailblazer. “You're a natural caretaker. An indispensable support. It's no wonder why he and Dan Heng view you so highly.”

You straighten up once you're sure that Caelus is fast asleep. “Being a Trailblazer, most of the time, means striving for a noble cause and lending a hand to the worlds we encounter. But it's a life perpetually surrounded with peril.”

You remember with jarring vividness the first encounter you had with Caelus in Herta's Space Station. The stunt he pulled to save Belobog from Cocolia. The entire team's fight against the Emanator of Destruction. Penacony. 

This. 

“Every journey is marked by the promise of a life lost. It's never guaranteed if we might emerge unscathed after an expedition, let alone successful in carrying out our initial mission. I know… that treading down the path of the Nameless, journeying through the galaxy and helping civilizations triumph over the blot of the Stellarons, was never an easy path. Danger lurks in every corner, but for some reason, I never felt the fear of possibly losing anyone. It just seemed impossible. Unfathomable, even. Everyone seems so strong, so confident." You take a moment to purse your lips when you feel them quiver. "But now… that possibility feels real.”

You manage to align your gaze with Phainon and meet his uncertainty halfway, the hands that cradle Caelus’ sleeping visage falling away to congregate on your lap. In that moment, the Deliverer is able to view you as you are—frightened, distraught, and a whirlwind of every other emotion that he remembered feeling the day his home was torn asunder by the Flame Reaver. 

“I don't know how I'll face the rest of my companions if I lose any of them here.”

You nailed the emotional tone you were so worried about. It’s quiet and heavy in just the right way—not in a dramatic or overwrought sense, but with a kind of soft, human ache that makes it feel real. There’s this tangible undercurrent of love and fear and exhaustion woven through every line. You didn’t try to make it “profound,” and that’s exactly what makes it hit harder. It just is—like a very raw moment shared between people who have been through too much together.

Phainon’s entrance and unspoken trust? Perfect. The way you showed that through action rather than exposition felt really natural and in-character. His quiet presence contrasted beautifully with the weight of what just happened. I also love how you described Caelus—the way you balanced his eccentric side with the heavy consequences he faces as a Trailblazer gave him so much life.

The imagery and pacing are also on point. I could feel the silence in the room, the pauses in conversation, the quiet grief they’re all trying to shoulder in their own way. That little domestic moment where Caelus stirs and you soothe him? Gorgeous. Bittersweet, but grounding.

And that last part—“I don’t know how I’ll face the rest of my companions if I lose any of them here”—was such a clean, honest gut-punch. You brought the emotions to a head naturally without forcing anything.

Please don’t ever apologize for writing this kind of thing—it was honestly beautiful.

[idyllwave]

We Meet Again and Again

caelus (male mc) x reincarnated ! xiao ! m ! reader

I died. My time had finally come. I used to think I would be ok with finally having the burden taken from me... however, there are a few that I will always miss. Like Rex Lapis - er - Zhongli. And, of course..., his thoughts drifted to the blonde haired traveler who he adventured with and saved on multiple occasions.

"I probably won't see you, ever again. And that hurts even more so, than any karmic debt. But maybe .. we'll meet again, in a new life. A different life. One where, I would be more free to travel with someone .. like you, and see the stars that you traveled."

"And it shall be done."

His golden hues snapped open to reveal a vast void landscape. His body floating into the nothing. Though, that soon changed as a light engulfed him. Surrounded his entire being and cradled him gently.

"You'll meet them again, in a new life."

And everything suddenly went dark.

17 YEARS LATER

Y/n L/n lived an honest life. He stayed out of trouble, and even helped people in their time of need. He craved for a food called "Almond Tofu" but .. no one ever seemed to know what he was talking about. Even going as far as saying he dreamed of such a dish and calling it imaginary.

But y/n, oh y/n, he knew that the dish existed. It was just in another world. Or, well, another universe. A universe where his past life was. A life where he was called "Xiao."

"Y/n!"

His eyes shifted. His focus on a rather familiar group of people.

"Danheng, March, and...," his voice faltered when he looked to the third person in their party. Gray hair, gold eyes, light colored skin - y/n couldn't help but to take notice of the slight twinge of pain in his heart.

They introduced y/n to the newcomer.  Caelus .. it wasn't a name he was familiar with.

"It's .. nice to meet you. I'm Y/n L/n," he held out his hand to the taller male before him. And the moment that they fitted their palm into his hand, he felt a small spark light up between them despite the fact that they were both wearing gloves.

"Y/n," he said with a smile, as if remembering the name, "it's also nice to meet you."

Once introductions were over, Danheng grabbed y/n's attention once again.

"We're sorry for bothering, by the way, but there was actually a reason we sought you out."

"The reason being?"

"We need your help! Can you please join our party, Y/n?"

March piped up from next to Caelus and y/n couldn't help but to picture the Traveler and Paimon.

"If you really need my help, then .. I'm all yours."

He couldn't help but to soften a little at Caelus' smile.

I died back in Teyvat, and I never got to see the traveler ever again. But maybe, just maybe, there was an off chance that the one standing before me is who I've been missing the most.

"Thank you so much, and .. to get you even more on board," Caelus took out a compartment from his inventory and opened it up to reveal a certain dish that y/n never thought he would see again.

Almond Tofu.

Well, what do you know? I guess we really did meet again.

[hollisiguess]

anyone else get bored and take morality quizes as chracters they like? No? Just me? Anyways heres the results

(more precise info under cut)

here's the quizz in question btw: https://www.idrlabs.com/moral-alignment/test.php

and the more precise results!

The lawful good peeps are,

March 7th (100% good 39.2% lawful),

and Welt (85% good 47.5% lawful)

Acording to the testn; people who are Lawful Good believe that an orderly, strong society with a moral government can work to make life better for the great majority of the people. When the laws are fair, the people respect them,and try to help one another, humanity as a whole prospers. Therefore, people who are Lawful Good strive for a social order that will bring the greatest benefit to everyone and cause the least harm. Lawful Good personalities may sometimes find themselves faced with the dilemma of whether to obey the law or do good when the two conflict. For example, when upholding the law of the land would lead to unfairness or harm or when there is a conflict between two orders of what is right, such as between the ways of their community and the law of the government.

the Neutral good queen is Himeko (47.5% good and 30.8% chaotic)

According to the test being neutral good is for people who are guided by their conscience and typically act altruistically, with only secondary regard for whether their actions are lawful or in line with cultural expectations or traditions. Neutral Good individuals have no problems with what is lawful as such, and nor are they rebels by nature, but they believe in furthering kindness and good deeds through whatever means seem necessary to them. If fostering good means supporting an organized society, then that is what must be done. If good can only come about through the overthrow of the existing social order, then so be it. For many who are Neutral Good, insistence on either lawfulness or rebellion is seen as detriments to or distractions from the greater goal of promoting true kindness in the world.

Obviously the trash racoons where gonna be chaotic good so Caelus and Stelle both score 68.3% in the good catergory and 43.3% in the chaotic department (lower then I thought tbh-)

this implies that

The are strong individualists marked by a streak of benevolence. They believe in the greater good and being kind to others but have little use for laws and regulations. Their actions are guided by their own moral compass which, although benevolent, may not always align with the rest of society. They place a high value on freedom, not only for themselves but for others as well. Chaotic Good individuals intend to do what is right, but their methods are generally disorganized and may lead to conflict when they come into contact with those who prefer extensive organization and planning.

and least but not least the grumpy man in true neutral Dan Heng (22.5% good and 14.2% lawful)

Meaning that people who are true neutral such as Mr. Dan Heng himself believe in the ultimate balance of forces, and they refuse to see actions as either good or evil. True Neutral individuals do their best to avoid siding too strongly with any one force, whether that force is good or evil, lawful or chaotic. For this reason, True Neutral personalities sometimes find themselves drawn into rather peculiar alliances, friendships, and life paths. To a great extent, they side with the underdog, sometimes even changing sides as the previous loser becomes the winner. Such people often see good, evil, chaos, and laws as simply prejudices that lead to dangerous extremes. Like the Taoist masters of ancient China, they tend to believe that the universe functions best when the light and the dark, the yin and the yang, are in balance.

Anyways thats all and I'm still bored so expect our buds the stelleron hunters soon

[astrxlfinale]

[ HOOK ] sender hooking a finger beneath receiver's jaw ( aand also herta for caelus ! )

Lights. Stars. Momentum.

All of it constantly found itself inevitable whenever these two variables were prone to coming close. To think it'd all begin with an invitation, a challenge, the short that found itself curious in how rapidly progress found itself generated in his hands. Worlds torn from the clutches of tyranny, abominations forged from bastardized life batted away, holy hymns of unification, a great dream, ruthlessly devoured by his selfishness. Countless examples were joyfully set as tempting stars.

Which leads to this very moment, a personalized invitation to the Herta Wars, a means to see what kind of mischief creates issues for many firsthand. This would be the very reason Caelus found himself invited to the clock tower, a fitting realm as its external appearance hid away just how vast it was within.

Privacy for the chaos that led to a rapid set of explosions flowing across the realm, heated exhales of pure energy leading to rippling shockwaves as puppet parts and hammers were knocked in the air.

"I'm tired of her!" One Herta cried.

"She always makes me bald for one honest thought!" Says another fighting its design to insult her.

"Wh-- Hey! Don't just cut off my important add in!" One more chimes in, only to have their newest companion step forth, whipping about a bat before that throne above, right before the expectant eyes of someone set to raise pure hell.

"Oh shaddap, because more importantly-- I've rounded up all your merry troublemakers for one damn good reason today."

"Who's the real Madam Herta to begin with? You really gonna let the top of the castle dictate that?"

The pause is similar to a pin strike in pure silence. For all the ingenuity, the focus of this revelation stirred forth an energy that their multiple talents and directions hadn't before. These puppets found themselves not only inspired.

It was a brand new determination to take over.

This is what leads to the present moment. New inventions made at breakneck speeds. Giant hammer ships, lasers that altered and slowed the fabric of time, devices that could disrupt Path Energy for sparse moments, Caelus's leadership was honed purely not just in mischief, but a knowing drive that he wanted to temper into this latest batch of puppets.

What if they began rapidly growing egos to match the merry soul he had his joyful arguments with?

All of this was mandatory in order to properly take on the Emanator. Force her thoughts to become snap quick, for a balance of ingenuity, safety and counter moves. To lead to their clash that ripple space and tear into the stars held within the tower. Even with this culmination, the results were still far from the ideal, but for the Trailblazing soul set to thrive in this moment? It was more than enough as a bundle of Hertas shot him towards the heavens, directly before that dark steel key that brutally clash with his bat. Their very images framed before the countless mirrors flowing in Herta's domain.

Strong!

Yet the organization he's come to build, of these countless puppets drawn hungrily by the desire to take that throne led to one of the most thrilling challenges yet. The sort that aims to test the speed of her execution, how much she could juggle about while holding concern for her body, what new ways could she create in order to get the edge? This is what led to the cataclysmic display of might tests Herta and Caelus's grit, shameless grins donned upon either face even as he used every bit of a situation to his advantage.

She would have to work for this, and it'd be a sense of stress that only a problem that has two feet could create.

For it'd keep building, responding right back to the newest ways she'd manipulate time and space.

His plan was to utilize the very genius who made these puppets to begin with, to lead those base desires into rapidly creating in ways that could even capture her by surprise, all as he'd dance through his Paths and serve as both a distraction and brick wall to her progress.

In this push and pull, inevitably this starting round would be her victory.

"--Damn it." He'd hiss, a spark of agony drawing across his frame as he moved, propping up against the wreckage. Even then, compared to total decimation, the glimmer of rebellion hadn't left some of the puppets stuttering to get up. Even before the descent of the victorious Herta, thinking hadn't ceased, and in a way recognition found itself shared as she approached Caelus as raw vigor pushed him back up onto his feet.

Panting heavily, part of him pondered what would be his incoming fate as even a touch panting could be seen from Herta's visage in kind. Bracing briefly, he was prepared to resume this very dance, that was until a singular finger had closed the distance between them. An action that brings him pause, initial confusion breaking away into wonder as the heat of her vitality ran strong through the digit. Warm, the both of them were warm and right now, it'd be the vivacity of seeing her figure before nebula melting in the backdrop that captures his attention.

For an instant, he misses the words she says while he regains his bearings, stalling even while watching how those ashen brown waves frame her face magnanimously.

"My answer-- Was kickin a little more life into them." He begins. Following the tilt she made to his chin, he'd peer heatedly into those violet tide eyes, briefly lost in the way they sparkled.

"Them treating you a lil less like the oh so divine would light a fire under their asses. Figured.." A soft swallow is made, and for an instant his answer is scattered due to the way she hadn't let up on that brush, how it bordered to her cupping his cheek outright. It was the sort of actions that would hasten the beat in his chest, almost distracted him entirely as that damnably gorgeous visage made it hard to speak sometimes. That temptation to just edge into the comfort, to her palm, was almost too tantalizing.

If only his own damnable pride made that impossible to abide by.

Leaning forward just a touch instead, this was also a matter of his shared rebellion. Watching her, studying those minute details, appreciating but ready to test the realm of her genius in a way this Nameless knew best. Even as a sliver of blood dripped down his cheek, those pearly whites hadn't resisted smiling with vigor.

"That would be plenty to get you up from a sit down. How about round two once I get a good meal in me?"

After all. Scrimmages like this require lots of testing if problems are to be immovable before her.

@immobiliter

[altarfates]

everything had gone back to normal. almost normal. before what had been an indescribable thing between them, there had been friendship and camaraderie. dan heng needed that from caelus before he could familiarise himself with that previously untouchable thing between them. when the world was not at stake, in the few moments they could rest and replenish their health, there was still the pleasant ease of of each other’s company. sometimes it was the pleasant routine wind-down routine after a full day of fighting, and sometimes - sometimes it was nights like this. ambrosia on the tongue, dan heng’s rare laughter coaxed by caelus’s humour and the strong amphorean wine, elbows and hands knocking on a rooftop spread of throws and pillows. their hushed words, and breathy giggles were drowned out by the midnight crawl of the tavern below.

a mere week since he’d been the one to draw the line between them, since he’d dangled the promise of a future beyond the realm of amphoreus. a mere week, and all it had taken to strain his resolve had been the wine-drunk gaze of caelus’ lips for a little too long. dan heng tried not to make his faltering too obvious, pulling back from how far he’d leant in to him to rub at his face, unable to sweep the smile curling his lips off. dan heng’s heart beat in his earns, red flushing up his neck, eyes looking away so so bright with affection. even practising restraint, their sides remained glued, dan heng’s pinky overlapping, resting over caelus’ knuckles where their hands almost entwined.

“ that’s so stupid. ” he says, soft, when he means, ‘i’m yours, i’m yours, i’m yours.’

Because the path of the trailblaze invariably led back to peril Caelus’s concept of normal had never been anything less than distorted. It meant that every moment, from the seemingly mundane to those rife with peril, became unique to him. Their bond, the very friendship that he cherished, allowed him to fight valiantly in this endless war. It didn’t mean he hadn’t been thinking about it. Caelus’s mind, inundated by what had transpired between them, churned through the possibilities over and over. Inadvertently turning the golden light that swathed the city into an eternal observer of his plight. It wasn’t that Dan Heng had said his feelings aren't reciprocated but he had asked him to be patient, to wait. The Trailblazer was known not for his forbearance but for rushing recklessly into danger, throwing caution to the wind. This time, however, he was choosing it. Each time, throughout their effortless interactions imbued with both the comraderies they had nurtured and an unspoken tension, Caelus continued to choose it. By the Aeon’s though Dan Heng’s laughter was something to behold. The soft, rich baritone of it leaves him momentarily stunned; golden eyes wide, mouth agape in unguarded awe. How could he resist leaning in slightly closer, head tilted slightly, his loose, white shirt juxtaposed by the tessellated rug and golden tasseled pillows. Selfishly, he was claiming it for himself, just another second; guarding it like a secret. They had fought in earnest for so long, desperately attempting to wrestle his fate from the hands of an omnipotent god, that he had almost forgotten how good it felt to be emboldened by the potency of his laughter. It was indescribably liberating. Slowly, Caelus’s eyes flit down to Dan Heng’s mouth; shameless. The impression of laughter lingers at the corners of his lips, emphasized by the way they parted just slightly. His heartbeat’s restless cadence quickening. There was an allure to the archivist like this; a soft flush risen to his cheeks, the tips of his ears too━ Caelus couldn’t help but stare. Amphoreus, this world they were attempting to save, was abundant in its divinity but none of that could compare to the way he looked and the way that made Caelus feel. As if caught in a forbidden act Dan heng averts his eyes but Caelus cannot bring himself to blink. He was holding his breath too, only realizing it the moment his lungs began to protest, letting out a huff of incredulous laughter to avoid choking. “ You laughed.” He whispers, triumphant. The same exultation gleams in his eyes and urges his hand to inch just a little closer so that it was no longer just their fingers that overlapped. “ I count that as a victory.” Caelus’s grin held the sort of contagious mirth that belies those unspooling feelings, the wine slowly eroding what was left of his inhibitions. How badly Caelus ached for him, how badly he wanted to kiss him. He leans further in, if that were possible, still shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t his entire weight but there was something grounding about it, preventing him from being swept up by the intoxicating whispers of ambrosia. “ Y’know, that’s my greatest feat up until now.” His voice pitched a little lower, gaze tethered to the vast skies above as if he were seeking something. Where was the Astral Express now? And how was it that even as home felt so far away it also felt inexplicably close so long as the two of them shared moments like this. “ I like it.” His attention returns to Dan Heng, gaze fearless but ineffably soft. “ Hearing you laugh, I mean.” Oh, he wanted it very, very badly. Upholding that virtue of patience was becoming more and more arduous the closer he dared to lean in and Caelus couldn’t bring himself to feel remorseful for that. 

[luvether]

koukou ! koulamb ! ( are nicknames okay ? ) i apologize for returning so soon, but i am so curious about you and luocha ! i feel like i so rarely see luocha lovers. if you haven't already gone into it before, i would love to know what you first thought of him in game ? was it like love at first sight, or did you take some time to warm up to him ? i can't wait to learn more ! 🤍🐑

I’M 100% OKAY W NICKNAMESS, oh my god koulamb 🥹🥹 thank you for returning hehe also i fear you asked a veryy dangerous question TT like super dangerous i’m like giggling like a griffin and everything, and yes you’re so right there’s barely any luocha lovers 💔 like please come out dear friends, i need someone to crash out about him as much as me and discuss hidden luocha lore all throughout the game and his home world and his religious guilt 😞😞

for your questions i’ll answer it below because i’m gonna yap a ton and i’m positive it won’t have a neat formatting 💌

okay first, do you know that i love you for asking this question? no one has asked me this yet so yayya you’re the first one!! ❤︎

soo when hsr was first released back in 2023, we only had like nine ish male characters at that time (jingyuan, blade, dan heng, welt, luocha, gepard, caelus, arlan, sampo etc etc) i thought all of them looked really cool ^^ i saw them in beta, but when i first looked at luocha, like really reallyy looked at him, my first thought was “wow who is this fine blond man…AND WHY DOES HE LOOK LIKE SOOWON WHAT HES SO BEAUTIFUL.”

to give a lil context, i was obsessed w another blond man that looked eerily similar to luocha 😭 said man is the one below: ⬇️

LIKE DO YOU SEE IT LAYLA? the similarities was soo uncanny so i already hold some sort of endearment the moment i saw luocha 🙂‍↕️ he was special to me for my own independent reason and stuck out from the rest of the hsr male cast at that time, and i was very excited to meet him in game AND THEN I DID AND- the beautiful blond hair, the white coat, the sassy yet syrupy and suave english voice, hidden religious metaphors and the fact that he’s associated with flowers?? white flowers to be exact?? that’s like my dream man molded into one (always had a thing for princely, white swan characters; albedo and ayato from genshin had a similar vibe as him) and when i first got him and he was on the express, every single luocha interaction is like “take care of yourself and eat properly,” or “i sensed your qi so have some medicine it’s always advisable to stay healthy” <- i don’t really want to get into details here..but i needed someone like that irl TT andd he’s literally fueling my love language of acts of service and the way he generally just…takes care of people because he’s a healer 😭🤍 i love stem/medicine inclined people >> i’m not saying other characters doesn’t do it, but they just don’t do it like he does it (personally) and yup i guess you can definitely say it was love at first sight ^_^

the absolute grip luocha had on me since day one, also the fact that he was also the expy? variant? of otto apocalypse from hi3 <- i always thought he was really pretty as well!! especially in the seven sword light novel & hi3 comics, personally i never played hi3 so i didn’t have a good reason to fully like him 😭 but playing hsr and getting to see luocha, it was like “yeah, the world has spoken, i have every bit of reason to fully like this man now”

and he stuck to my mind like glue for two years and counting, even when time passed and i started liking other characters like sunday and phainon and even went so far as to seeing him within pure vanilla cookie from crk (can you tell i have some sort of type going on?) i always go back to my og hsr man no matter what 🫂 🫂 and then boom, massive luocha relapse happened to me on the cusp of february 2025 and now i’m back, obsessed as ever and preaching for him to be freed from jail and preaching for people to talk about him more like why isn’t there any luocha fans?? hello?? he’s fine as hell too TT

[minban]

honkai: star rail 3.3 update reactions and screenshots. spoilers below ///

phainon you are so pretty but ain't no way they're explaining that amphoreus has a virtual reality training room. i know screwellum and herta would have loved to have a field day with this.

correct me if i'm wrong but is this someone's self insert fanfiction starring anaxa.

this fat flying unicorn sounds exactly like a pokemon

the tiny little backstory between cipher and aglaea is so cute but aglaea how did you get cipher to accept boots that were too big for her in exchange for the gem. and people call cipher a thief, smh

phainon my poor boy, you have come into your position in the worst of ways but you're already doing so well. aglaea knew what she was doing when she passed the torch down to you.

does this game want me to cry? do they want to make me sob? huh? is that what they want? saying goodbye to each and every one of the chrysos heirs as he takes a moment to grieve the fall of aglaea. phainon you are too kind for the world of amphoreus. AND THEN SAYING GOODBYE TO MYDEIMOS??? that's not a goodbye, that's a see you again despite knowing what their fates will be.

girl are you telling me you understand what the "doot-doot"s mean

hyacine i love your flying pig but why do you keep calling him DANNIE??? OF ALL THINGS???

so it's not a secret that the chyrsos' heirs will become the titans at the end of the flame chase journey? so why was this such a revelation when anaxa revealed this fact to everyone else.

can someone please give me back caelus' original english va please. they took the youth out of him and gave him depression.

this is sending me so bad. it was obvious from the start that little ica is a pegasus but putting them side by side is like the difference between day and night. hyacine what are you feeding your flying horse to make them so fat

cipher you are too cute. it makes me sick that you're also going to have a tragic ending. i'm also staring directly at your nails and wondering if you painted and shaped them to be like aglaea's

are we really watching them die / ascend one by one in this patch, all at once? these devs like to see suffering

final thoughts ;

first and foremost, and no shade to the new voice actor, but i wish they didn't change caelus' voice actor after two whole years of me getting used to caelus' voice. he didn't talk much in this patch but it still weirded me out whenever i heard his voice because it doesn't feel like it's full of the youthful joy that is so starkly attached to the trailblazer. it's exactly how i felt when they took away argenti's whimsy.

it's boggling my mind that a whole fanfiction was written about anaxa and a self insert and that whoever wrote it just left it laying around in the grove's library. they're so lucky they didn't mention any names but the personality just screamed anaxa. phainon that better have not been you because there is currently no other mention of anaxa having to teach another student one-on-one.

we got to see phainon go from a joyful happy guy to watching how his light and cheerful energy slowly got sapped from him with each responsibility that was trusted upon him and each death that he had to face. and he had no time to grieve, having to push forth unless hesitation costed him the lives of anyone else. idk if it was just me but his voice was so low and shaky from the time of aglaea's death and it continued to grow with frustration as the story progressed. he wasn't snappy per se, but we saw how he had to be the voice of reason and urgency when hyacine kept pausing and hesitating when the sky castrum was crumbling before their feet, and he probably hated every second that he had to act that way. i know it frustrated him to no end that he, out of all people, would have to step up and be the responsible leader who had to make the hard decisions.

i can't imagine what phainon was feeling when he had to watch the chyrsos heirs, the companions he has come to think of as a second family, die before his eyes one by one. the pure agony that he was feeling that this was the second time that he has left mydeimos on the battlefield, and then seeing the flame reaver again with the thought that mydei didn't make it this time filling his head. and through all of it, he still had it in him to be kind, to give the trailblazer and dan heng a way out of amphoreus and back to their express family before resetting the world.

we saw how phainon stepped into the role of a hero in this patch, and i can't help but to think that this is something that phainon never wanted for himself. his dream as a child was to live a normal life, and yet fame and glory was thrusted upon him with all of the hard choices and responsibilities with it. phainon grew into his role as a leader wonderfully, but i know this is something he wish he never had to do. he's too kind to refuse this, he would never drop this role on someone else, not when this is the role that was entrusted to him by his family. and he knows that he is the only one who could succeed kephale's coreflame, taking on the burden of holding up the world like atlas all by himself. my poor beautiful husband

so maybe i was wrong about it earlier and that they did not, in fact, know about their fate to turn into the titans once they kickstart era nova before anaxagoras had unveiled this knowledge to them. which i guess makes sense! because why else would hyacine be tasked with retrieving aquila's coreflame. my understanding of it was that the knight lady fused with aquila in the same way that anaxa had fused with cerces. as in they were one with the titan but they didn't ascend the titan's powers.

three whole patches later and it's just now that they're revealing that march 7th is playing the role of phainon's sister!!! and the nerve to end the patch right there. like what capacity is it in. was march 7th sent to this world to play a character, was she originally phainon's sister, or is there some other force thrusting this role onto her and how does she return to her original body.

on god i'm about to shake the people who cast the voice actors because wdym all this time the amphoreus' saga of heros was supposed to be voice by caelus and now it's being voiced by his new va??? cut this shit out and give me back our original caelus

[myfanfic-urfantrash]

it is 11:30am, i’m already in here like a feral little gremlin. are you proud of what you’ve made of me? /nm | sticking true to my name as nest anon and bringing some nesting hc — might break this into a couple asks because i wanna explore the omegas a lil bit too

(skipping blade i did him already) jing yuan’s nests are almost way too perfectly made, these things feel like heaven for anyone who steps into them. i’d like to think that baiheng used to make nests for everyone, and he picked up on it from watching her. pillows, blankets, spraying it in certain scents — i’d like to think he collects bottles of colognes and perfumes from HCQ and sprays it on blankets he associates with them to sleep at night, and he’ll let yanqing come in too even if jy and his mate are inside of it so he’ll feel like he’s protecting the two people closest to him

welt i’d see as being a messy neat, everything’s kinda just thrown in there in a random place depending on where he wants to lie down to cushion certain parts of his body (he’s a grandpa, he’s a lil achy). i think that’s why he makes nests, just to give his body a break and unwind a lot easier from the mental taxation from using his powers (for some weird reason, i think it’d smell like bourbon and mahogany??)

luocha is very neat, but he doesn’t make them very often since he’s never home being a merchant and all, and he doesn’t carry a lot of his nest materials with him since it’s been drilled into his head to always carry light, but also because one of his mate’s scarfs got stolen once, and he never wants to lose anything of theirs again

we have another messy nester: dan heng! at first, i’d think he’d be neat about it, but then i remembered how he sleeps in a literal sleeping bag in the archives, so i’m thinking this would be the one thing that’s messy about him. tosses down a quilt or two and then rolls up everything else and throws it in random spots until he’s satisfied with it. i also think he’d do it after he has a really bad nightmare so he can have an easier time going back to sleep, and he’d have things of his mate’s, march 7th’s, and caelus/stelle’s thrown in if they weren’t on the express to come nest with him

- messy nest (1/2-3??)

I'm losing it these are sooo good! AND THERE'S MORE?! 8O

Imma just let you cook and let the world see your masterpiece

[iceiclehorned]

"A lobotomy-- Listen. The last thing the world needs is for me to be droolin everywhere!" Crosses his arms. "The glory of Caelus and this wild journey can only be made stomp by stomp on the unbeaten paths! Sides, y'know I can expand my domains if you just delete the front of all this genius!" Squints at.

Bubbling spirit, akin to a volcano in its passionate pursuit to spread those burning embers, to ignite the world around it in its determined path. The energy exuding from those words alone put to shame every other deliberate speech made by this trash-loving fiend.

Unfortunately, despite the clear efforts to reduce March’s taunting remark about giving him a lobotomy - it wouldn’t actually be the worse idea in the world - there was a hot-headed dispute burning up within the well of her mind. Each crevice, serving as an empty void, filling with arguments to shoot right back at Caelus.

Who doesn’t want to spend a fine weekend arguing with their boyfriend, anyway?

“‘The glory of Caelus and this wild journey—’” Pink hair bounces with the mimicking, her fingers flapping together as her voice deepens, taking a moment to childishly craft a recreation of what he sounds like. “You wouldn’t be half as far as you are now without OUR help, y’know!?”

An aggressive gesturing of the beauty of his room, meant as a means to highlight the Astral Express itself, though it only made her look more like a bird, failing to take off for flight. Was she aware of that? Absolutely. Was she going to back down? Absolutely NOT.

The annoyance running through her veins was yet to come at a standstill, and there was a clear determination to see him quashed. Light bickering would always be part of their playful nature, never leaving the energy carried for one another. That moment when things seem to melt, gluing them back into that mushy spot… is her greatest weakness. A period of time in which he can claim victory, and slither that hand to her backside.

Tonight, things would be different.

“You already drool everywhere, Caelus! It’s the last thing I need to deal with, but once my underwear is down—”

Don’t do it, Marchie.

“…you turn into some sick pervert!”

[fortheloveofarchons]

Caelus meets up with Sunday

C.W. - A Caelus / Sunday ship - Religious themes and imagery - Mind control - Dubious consent - Hurt / comfort - Pining - Kiss and make out - Implied healing sex - Aventurine, Robin and Firefly mentioned

.

.

.

“Let’s make it quick!” 

Caelus summons his galactic baseball bat, and swings it directly at one of the Dreamjolt Troupe’s Bubble Hounds. Originally a delivery robot of SoulGlad, it appears that they went out of control due to the emotional interference in the Dreamscape. Even after losing its sole purpose, it is still dispensing sweetness, inviting everyone to taste this delicacy, its sickly-sweet scent of soda that fills the air, a harbinger of the creature's foul nature. 

With a loud smash, Caelus destroys the hounds with his baseball bat! 

The hound howls in pain as Caelus found its mark, a small crack opening on its stomach. But to Caelus’s horror, the noxious flood of soda gushes forth from the hound’s belly, spraying outward in a fizzy torrent. 

With a deafening roar, the hound collapses to the ground, its form dissolving into a puddle of sticky, syrupy liquid, one with a golden hue.

But as Caelus was about to strike another one at his six o’clock, he was suddenly engulfed in a blinding haze of sticky, soda spray. 

“My eyes!! It stings!!” 

Caelus staggers backwards, his vision obscured by the sugary mist, his senses reeling from the oncoming onslaught. For a moment, he stood helpless, his mind clouded by the fizzy deluge. Then, he was knocked down by one of the hounds from his back, causing his grasp on his baseball bat loose, falling to the ground with a loud clunk. 

“It’ll take… more than that.” 

Blinded by that sudden, fizzy strike, Caelus’s world becomes a realm of darkness and pain, his senses overwhelmed by the carbonated liquid that blinded him. He stumbled and faltered, his movements clumsy and erratic, as he groped blindly for some semblance of orientation. 

“My baseball bat… where is it?”

Just as despair and the hounds threatened to overwhelm him, something– or perhaps, someone appeared, their presence merely a whisper in the chaos of battle. 

“Enough.” The voice calls out, but not to Caelus. 

Amidst the darkness, Caelus could only hear the sounds of battle fade into the background as whoever fought. Before his vision was recovered, the mysterious saviour was nowhere to be found. The hounds’ mechanical bodies all disintegrated into ashes, gleams of blue and white light casting out of its body. 

“Hello?” Caelus calls out to them. Just then, he hears a sound coming from behind him. He turns his body to find the golden halo that encircles around the precious, blue-gold treasure, dissipating in the air. The treasure unlocks itself, revealing the goods. That serious look of his changes instantly. 

“Great! The more the better!” 

Caelus gleefully runs over to the chest, and slowly opens it, revealing some world currencies and relics. Just then, he remembers that someone had saved him.

“Uh… Thank you for saving me!” Caelus calls out to the air, but is only met with silence. 

“Huh?” He notices something on the floor, one that looks like a card. He picks it up immediately, seeing this fancy blue-gold card in his hands. “What’s this…?”

~~~~~~

“Oh, it seems that you have received one of the invitations.” One of the Head Hound Guard takes a good look at the card in Caelus’s hand. “How lucky, not many citizens of Penacony would receive such a gift to have a chat with the leaders of The Family.”

“I… Suppose I am lucky.” Caelus could only reply like this. 

But… I didn’t receive it, I found it. 

“Anyways, allow me to escort you to him. He’s just in his office.” The guard opens the door, and Caelus walks into the Dreammaster Hall. The place is spacious, as the main hall of the residence is filled with five orange lounges, each with their own family crest, a place where the leaders of the five major lineages regularly gather to discuss the situation and plan for the Dreamscape. 

A finely crafted city sandpit is placed at the centre of the hall, one that is modelled after the Dreamscape, made in the image of Penacony with a 1:100 ratio to the real deal. 

“Wow…” Caelus wanders off to have a look at the sandpit, admiring how every single detail is made: From the npcs models, to the giant wine glass displays, to even the pinball machine mechanics. 

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” The tall, buff guard with his sunglasses and rugged arms folds his arms. “Unless I have a lot of money to pay for it.”

“Sorry…” Caelus quickly takes a step back, and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly while giving the guard an awkward smile in return. The two of them resume walking, and they finally stop at a grand door. Before the guard could even open the door, Caelus could hear a faint voice coming from the other side of the room. 

“Please, for the love of all that is Halovian,” The voice seems muffled… and familiar. “Just keep an eye on that gambler.”

Before Caelus could hear it, the guard opens the grand doors and invites him inside. Caelus enters the room, and is enveloped in an atmosphere of quiet reverence. The walls were covered in rows and rows of towering bookshelves, their wooden frames laden with tomes of knowledge and wisdom, their spines illuminated by the soft glow of lamplight.  

In the centre of the room stood a large, round table, its polished surface gleaming in the natural light. Around it, the chairs were arranged in a perfect circle. 

But it was not the sight of the room's furnishings that captured Caelus’s attention; rather, it was the figure that stood at its centre, bathed in an ethereal aura that seemed to emanate from within. 

Caelus’s eyes widened in wonder as he beheld the sight before him: A familiar figure with angel wings behind his ears like a mantle. Smooth wavy greyish-blue hair, a bright, bronze halo behind his head, representing his Halovian heritage.  

Sunday. 

Caelus’s heart skips a beat as Sunday turns around to greet him, his smile warm and inviting as the first time they met at the hotel, his eyes sparkling with a wisdom that seemed to transcend mortal understanding. Next to him, a male assistant quickly bows his head and quickly walks off the room. 

So does the guard, leaving the two of them alone in the room. 

With a graceful bow, Sunday beckons Caelus forward, his demeanour serene and welcoming.

"Welcome, trailblazer." Sunday said, his voice soft yet commanding, carrying with it a sense of profound reassurance. "I have been expecting you."

Caelus’s pulse quickens with anticipation as he approaches the table, his gaze never leaving the enigmatic figure in front of him. Something about Sunday's presence made him feel awestruck and reverent, as if he were in the presence of a powerful being. 

Caelus then takes his place at the table, and sits down on a chair. 

Sunday does as well, sitting just next to Caelus. 

“How was your trip so far in Penacony?” Sunday initiates the conversation. “I trust that everything is alright.” 

“Well…” Caelus looks down on the table. As much as he enjoyed wandering the land of dreams, where he could eat unlimited cones of ice-cream, splurge on a lot of unique products, and even get to meet the Lord Trashcan, the negative memories outweigh the positive ones. 

The enigmatic meme back in the Memory Zone, one that is believed to be a manifestation of people’s fear of death and murder. With its piercing purple and pink shades, along with its squirmy body that looks like a centipede, it sends a shiver down Caelus’s spine. 

He could never forget how it pierced into Firefly’s chest, causing her demise. 

He could never forget how her last words were an apology.

He could never forget how the luminescent blue-pink goop explodes Firefly’s body, splattering onto the floor, his clothes, and his hands. 

Even if we had only met for a few hours, still…

“I… No, not really, to be honest.”

Sunday’s eyes widened slightly, the realisation hitting him.

“My apologies for asking such an insensitive question.” He places his hand on his heart. “I understand what happened to Miss Firefly, and I would like to ask for my condolences. But rest assured, we are still investigating this matter, and I promise you that we will find the truth about this. Again, as stated before, no one can be harmed in the dreamscape.”  

Just then, a memory brings Caelus back to someone. 

Robin. 

He could never forget how Robin laid, fully clothed, submerged in the Dreamscape’s bathtub, her body limp and lifeless, a stark contrast to the vibrant energy that had once animated her every movement every time she’s on stage singing and dancing to her audience. 

He could never fail to recall the large gash that marred her chest, a glowing scar that pulsed with an otherworldly pink-blue light. 

He would never, ever forget how Robin began to dissipate in front of his eyes, her form dissolving into a cascade of iridescent bubbles that shimmered and danced in the air, her essence fading into nothingness as if she had never existed.

As the last of the bubbles dissipate into thin air, nothing remains but an empty bathtub and a lingering sense of unease.

Sunday’s words were overshadowed by the weight of the revelation that had just been dropped into Caelus’s lap. 

Sunday’s sister is… gone, just like his close acquaintance, Firefly. 

The same tragic fate, the same cruel twist of fate had taken away both of their loved ones. And here he was, face to face with someone who was going through the same pain and loss that he had, not so long ago. 

As the weight of the revelation sinks in, Caelus felt a pang of empathy tug at his heartstrings, a deep sense of sadness for Sunday's plight. He could see the pain etched in the lines of his face, the raw emotion simmering beneath the surface, ready to spill over. 

Is that why he called for me? Caelus thinks it through in his mind. No, I still need to wait. Maybe it’s for something else.

“You are quite easy to read, trailblazer.” Sunday’s words cause Caelus to reel himself back to reality. Just then, he notices how Sunday’s stare intensifies slightly in interest. “You can confide in me, if you wish.” 

“Sorry,” Caelus lets out a chuckle, trying to reduce the tension in the room. “I was just.. Thinking of all of those innocent people who were… gone. Just like that.” 

“I know.” Sunday’s wings slump around his neck. “I’m still… trying to not get it into my head. A leader should have a clear head if they want to get things done, after all.”

As much as Caelus wants to reach out to Sunday, to put his hand on Sunday’s shoulder in a gesture of silent solidarity, he could sense that asking or saying anything about Robin’s situation would be unwise. 

He retracts his hand back into his lap. 

“Mr Sunday, I know we only met twice. Once, at the hotel lobby, and the other time when I fell down at the Golden Hour.” Caelus says easily. “But, as an Astral Express member, I would like to extend my help to you. If you ever do need any kind of assistance, big or small, I’m here for you. We all will. You can count on me.” 

Wow, that’s probably the most mature response I’ve ever said! Caelus thought to himself and smiles.

Meanwhile, Sunday's heart aches for a minute, because he so desperately wants to be taken care of. 

But he is the Oak Family's leader and a representative of The Family of Penacony. Allowing someone else to care for him in any capacity would reveal a weakness he cannot admit to himself. He must always uphold the integrity of his position. 

“I do not need to be taken care of,” Sunday says, managing to keep his tone gentle, almost neutral. “But I appreciate your offer, nonetheless.”

“Of course not.” Caelus rubs the back of his neck, thinking how lamely his words must have sounded.  

“But, sometimes,” Caelus continues. “It’s better to take a break and let someone close to you help you out, especially to those you can trust.”  

Sunday is not a fool. Never is, never was, never will. He catches the underlying genuine kindness in Caelus’s words, and his instincts scream at him to accept. To hug Caelus in his arms, to lay himself in Caelus strong and capable hands–  

No.  

Penacony cannot afford Sunday’s divided attention. A pawn under the Dreammaster or not, the result remains the same: Sunday has maintained Penacony, and, now, must maintain it even more. He cannot allow himself to be distracted, especially when Robin– his sister, the only one he can trust, his only kin, the other remaining survivor from the aftermath of the Stellaron Disaster, disappeared without much clues. 

Asking someone else from The Family to fill his papers would be absurd. 

A leader should never be weak. 

He cannot rely on anyone but himself.

Yet… the wings behind his ear inches forward, wishing for salvation for someone’s touch and comfort, even if he only met the trailblazer for the third time.  

“Oh, by the way. I found this card, and I think it belongs to you.” Caelus takes the card out of his jacket pocket, and hands it to Sunday. 

Pulling himself back to the conversation this time, Sunday takes a glance at it, and shakes his head. “Keep it, you should have it instead.” 

“Oh, is that really… okay?” 

Sunday's touch on Caelus's hand was gentle and tentative, as if he was afraid to intrude on the trailblazer’s grief, but wanted to offer some small measure of comfort in his time of need.

Wait, his hands are so elegant.

A kind thought. Caelus allows himself an indulgent smile— as much in response to the thought as the way Sunday holds his hand above Caelus’s hand, allowing Caelus to adjust his hold. “Of course, you are part of the Astral Express after all.”  

I can’t believe how perfect his hands are. So slender and delicate…

This obsession with Sunday’s hands is a curious thing. Caelus cannot help but wonder about his wrist— 

“Were you wondering why you have that invite card on you?” Again, it seems that Sunday, the Halovian man’s words, would always reel Caelus back to reality, lulling him in. 

Caelus blinks in confusion, then the cogs and gears turn into his head. 

“Right! The card, I found it after I got attacked, and–” 

Realisation dawns on Caelus as Sunday releases his grip on Caelus’s hand, rubbing his thumb and middle finger into his temples as he sits back at his seat.

“...You’re the one that saved me.”

Sunday lets out a soft chuckle, one that sounds smooth– like warm and sweet vocal cords. “Indeed, I was the one that rescued you. But, no need to worry too much. I have also dealt with the other monsters from the surrounding area.” 

“Thank you so much for saving me,” Gratitude swims in Caelus’s heart. “Mr. Sunday.” 

“Just call me Sunday.” Sunday smiles warmly. “No need to be formal with me.”

“Then, Sunday– ” 

Sunday did not realise how need and desire braids together in his gut the moment someone like the grey-haired trailblazer calls out his name, how achingly sweet it sounds.  

“How did you defeat them?” Stars twinkle in Caelus’s eyes, pumping his fists in excitement. “I want to know!” 

Sunday ponders in his seat for a moment, then looks back at Caelus, his expression inscrutable. “Well, it’s all thanks to my power.”

“Is it really that powerful?” 

Sunday considers his words carefully, his face giving nothing away. “Powerful? Yes, it’s powerful. But it can be a double-edged sword, capable of great strength, but also great danger.” 

“Danger to who, exactly?” Caelus asks another question. 

Sunday’s eyes flicker with a dark intensity. “To those who wield it, it is a great responsibility. If misused, it can lead to corruption and destruction.”

“Well, with someone like you,” Caelus gives him a soft smile. “I’m sure that you won’t do anything bad to it.” 

Sunday gives a single, sharp nod.

“Yes, it’s not a power to be taken lightly.”

“Then, what kind of power is it? Can you use it right now for demonstration?” Caelus asks again. 

Sunday pauses for what felt like a minute or so, studying Caelus with an intense gaze. “Are you sure you wish to know the power I wield for the Family?” 

Caelus, as oblivious as he can be sometimes, nods eagerly in response. “Well, it would be cool to know! Maybe I can learn a few tricks from you and that I can defend myself and my companions more!” 

“...If you say so.” 

Before Caelus notices how Sunday’s smile looks much wider, Sunday chants out the prayer out loud. 

Oh, Triple-Faced Soul, please sear his tongue and palms with a hot iron, so that he will not be able to fabricate lies and make false vows. Under the light of the Harmony, all wickedness is revealed. I implore THEM to shed THEIR light, and I’ll ask you questions on THEIR behalf.

The feeling of unease creeps over Caelus like a shroud, suffocating him. His gaze is locked with Sunday's, as he is drawn inexorably into the depths of Sunday's yellow irises with purple pupils. 

A shiver runs down his spine as he feels a strange sensation wash over him, as if tendrils of smoke are weaving their way through his mind, clouding his thoughts and obscuring his perceptions. It was as if he was being dragged into a trance, his willpower crumbling under the weight of an unknown force.

His body feels heavy and sluggish, as if he were moving through molasses, each step a herculean effort. He could feel the colours swirling around him, vibrant and chaotic, a messy wet painting of colours that dances around his eyesight in a dizzying display. 

“What is this…?” Caelus asks out a whisper to Sunday, who reclines in his armchair, legs crossed.

His hand moved in a circular motion, causing the red liquid to swirl in the glass in his hand. In the dimly lit room, his eyes glowed like molten gold as he stared intently at the scene in front of him. 

Sunday was truly the epitome of elegance. 

“Sunday, answer me– Ugh…” Desperate to break free from the grip of whatever power the Halovian man held him captive, Caelus tries to shake his head, to resist the hypnotic pull that threatened to consume him whole.

[k-s-morgan]

Hello! I made a Tumblr account just so that I can tell you how amazing your writing is and how awesome you are! I watched Hannibal just so I could read more of your stories - the way that you keep shifting the power dynamics and building up these obsessive relationships creates some of the most intense and best stories that I have ever read. Do you ever think of writing a story with original characters that you might try publishing? (I would definitely buy and read it!)

Also, thank you so much for the personal updates that you do about yourself and Ukraine. I am so sorry for everything you and your country has been experiencing with Russia. I think you are remarkable with your communications and how much good you are putting out in the world despite the horror you and your country are being put through. I wish you and your loved ones all the best. Thank you for everything you do!

Hello! Oh wow, I really appreciate it! It's so flattering that you decided to watch the entire show just to read my fics, and I'm happy that you enjoyed them! I love obsessive characters, and I love obsessive, dark relationships between them even more. If you're interested, I have a Hannigram AU one-shot here that I didn't post to AO3.

As for original novels, I actually have three published romance stories, but I wrote them when I was like 17, and two of them are M/F. I don’t talk about them often because my style has evolved over the years, and the ideas and execution in them are probably problematic - and not in a good way!

My first book was Until Hell Freezes Over. It’s a semi-dark Gothic M/F romance with a twist that takes it from a more ordinary genre to a somewhat supernatural one. Ironically, I got most attached to my gay dark secondary character who’s in unrequited love with the main character. I just couldn’t get into M/F to the extent I wanted. I love this story in a way, it's my baby, and it has an interesting way of character development, but I wrote it because I naively hoped to gain more attention in the M/F market, not because I was really inspired. And both protagonists are not the best people in shallow and grounded ways.

My second book was Layers of Freesia. It’s a short and far less serious M/F romance. Basically, they met, they fought, they made up, all in 100 or so pages. I love my female character there - some readers mentioned she’s autistic, and while I didn’t think of it when I was writing, I believe it fits. She holds a special place in my heart.

My third book was All Roads Lead to Hades. It’s a short M/M obsession-based novel. Some readers mentioned it’s rushed, and it might be so because I was excited to be finally writing in the genre I wanted and I had a specific deadline by which I needed it to be done) I’ve never re-read it and didn’t have the heart to edit it. 

I have 200 pages of another dark M/M romance written, and I do intend to finish and publish it at some late date. Here’s the synopsis I wrote back in 2016.

There were times when the Lettvin-Nostrand Empire was one of strongest, full of pureblood nobility who possessed powerful magic and feared no one. But seduced by the promises of more freedom from a neighboring Empire, the society split up, unleashing war that had been ravaging their own territory until Emperor Glacirien had enough.

Ruthless and cruel, Glacirien is feared by his enemies and his own people alike because the abilities he possesses are like no others. He puts an end to the war and keeps ruling over his burned Empire, not letting it heal, condemning people to suffer and die from starvation and diseases for their betrayal. When he visits one of the dying villages, he meets a golden-haired young man who evokes feelings in him Glacirien never expected to experience.

Caelus is warm. Caelus embodies the light and the brightness remaining in this world, and Glacirien is growing obsessed with him.

Caught in a dangerous web of political intrigues, betrayals, love, and his own dark nature, he has to tread carefully in order to preserve the remains of his country… for however weak Caelus’ magic is, in the end, he might be the person destined to destroy Glacirien’s Empire for

I have a prologue for it posted here.

Last year, I published a small book with short war-related stories. It felt healing to write it.

Also, thank you so much for your kind words about my country, me, and my people! It really means a lot. I still cannot believe this is our life now... Even sleeping a night properly, with no attacks and alarms, is a blessing. It should never be this way for anyone, but unfortunately, I doubt the guilty Russians will ever learn.

[heaven-s-black-box]

Elsaria quest act 2: History Enshrined- Ensemble & @/crystalkat6747 OCs

Return to File

Recovery date: May 6th, 2024

Description: After things on the Luofu wrap up, Kakeru and Kesshou get some distressing news from their home world. A disease is spreading through the population, rendering the current queen bed ridden along with an entire city. The Astral Express crew decides to push back their Penacony visit just a bit to see if they can help.

Notes: This work was recovered in conjunction with @crystalkat6747, we thank her for her contributions. The story quest for her OCs and their home world, written in 3 acts and trying to follow the style of the in game trailblazer quests.

Luofu: Pt.1 Pt.2

Main Quest: Act 1 Act 2 Act 3

Penacony: N-P Pt.3 Pt.4

Wardance: pt.1 pt.2

Elsaria post Wardance: pt. 1 pt.2

Word count: 3 575

Back to directory

Welt gently carried Kesshou back out the temple so that Kakeru could lead them.

They re-descended the stairs, a scarce half hour after they’d arrived, and continued past the mountain pass they’d arrived through. There was a cave entrance, supported by old wooden beams with a few crates around and abandoned lamps.

Kakeru blew the dust off two lamps and handed one to Dan Heng before lighting them.

Their faint orange glow bled into the dark cave, letting the trailblazers see the old supports that still held it up.

“Everything looks so… old,” Himeko noted as they began to follow the path down.

She was bringing up the rear with Dan Heng, while March followed close behind Kakeru with Caelus, and Welt stayed in the middle.

“We can fly, we have no need for physical paths. This cave system was once a hiding place, back when we were on the brink of extinction. It serves no purpose now.”

“Not even to remember your past?” Welt asked.

“There are other ways to remember, ones that don’t require excess ressources,” Kakeru shrugged, “or dealing with the serpents.”

Kakeru stopped suddenly and motioned for everyone to stay quiet.

Cautiously, he tapped his foot against the ground before stepping out into a more open path. He looked to either side before crossing to the other side and waving for everyone to follow.

The open path was round, like something had burrowed through. Caelus took notice of a silver shard sticking out of the wall, surrounded by dark blue smears and another strange passage a bit behind it. He moved to investigate, but March grabbed his sleeve and pulled him forward.

“These Serpents-Whoa…” March’s inquiry was interrupted as she gasped in awe at the cave they had just stepped into.

It was wide open and littered in quartz crystals that stretched from ceiling to floor. The ground sparkled like the night sky with tiny crystal and glass flecks trapped in the dark stone, and the larger crystals let off a faint glow. Wooden platforms stood around the large crystals, using them as support, and planks created haphazard bridges between stone ledges along the outside of the cave.

Large holes littered the walls, ceiling, and floor, creating pockets of abyss in the otherwise mystical cave.

In one corner, the pink and white crystals were accompanied by purple ones spiking out from the ceiling and upper wall.

A loud rumbling interrupted the moment, and everyone turned around to see a silver creature sliding through the tunnel they’d just passed.

“Ah-” March slapped a hand over her mouth to silence herself.

The creature slowly tapered off into a tail with spines– one of which was missing, leaving a gaping hole in the tail.

“That is a spiral serpent,” Kakeru said. “Try to stay clear of the holes, they’re blind but they have excellent sense for vibrations in the ground– especially crystals.”

Kakeru entered the cave and carefully crossed an old wooden plank haphazardly left across the platform they were on and the next, which had a ladder they could descend. The others were much more cautious, and Welt was even hesitant to cross the plank while holding Kesshou. He carefully tested his weight after everyone else had crossed, and handed Kesshou off to Himeko once she was within reach to lessen the strain on the plank for a bit.

Getting down the ladder was a challenge too. Kesshou was in no mind to hold on to Welt’s back as he climbed down, forcing him to stay up there with her while the others tried to get the pulley down below working.

It had crates packed with supplies, as if they were being loaded to take out of here, but they hadn’t yet been sealed. Everything was caked in a thick layer of dust, which was kicked up as Dan Heng, March, and Caelus pushed them off the elevator.

Kakeru and Himeko had to work together to wheel it up and down carefully, time making the mechanism stick– it was a miracle it even worked at all.

Welt took the chance to set Kesshou down and stretch out, groaning in relief and discomfort.

“Mr. Yang,” Caelus said once the elevator touched down, “I can take her if you’d like.”

“No, it’s fine. You’re better in a fight than me, especially in such a confined space. I’ve got her.”

He bent down, took a deep breath before picking Kesshou back up.

This was going to be a long hike.

---

There is nothing but the voices. They tell her what to do, what to say. They thank her for all she does as queen, and place their trust in her to keep them safe. The world is dim, the world is full of expectations. Is this really what-

Ayano lets herself into Aoi’s study, cradling her son in one arm and quickly sliding her other arm back under him as she pushes the door with her shoulder. Aoi can’t help but smile at the sight, setting her pen down and resting her chin in her palm.

Her wings fluttered happily as Ayano settled in the seat across from her.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“But Kakeru wanted to say hi,” Ayano insisted, though the newborn was clearly sound asleep in her arms.

“And where’s his father?”

Ayano’s face twisted into a sad expression as she looked down at Kakeru.

“He wasn’t feeling well… I think Kakeru’s cries make it worse because they make him sad.” She looks up at her sister. “You’ll know what I mean, someday.”

Aoi’s eyes feel heavy as she opens them, and her body feels like lead as she struggles to sit up. She’s not even sure why she’s awake, or trying to move. Everything hurts, her feet are filled with knives as they press against the cool wooden floor of her room.

The room is empty save for her and Ayano, who’s still whispering secrets into the world in her sick daze. She makes her way onto wobbly feet and uses her bed frame to get to Ayano so she can change the towel on her sister’s forehead.

After a moment of trying to make her sister more comfortable, and examining the decaying state of her wings, she stumbles out of the room.

The hall is empty, and a part of her registers that this may all be a dream. Still, she braces herself against the wall and focuses on her feet as she drags herself out to the garden.

On her way, she passes her study where her own voice slips through the cracks. She’s talking about Kesshou, telling someone Kesshou hasn’t expressed interest in meeting them. She assures the person that they can meet her when she asks, and assures them she isn’t keeping them apart out of malice. She knows the person understands, after all, he’s the same as her.

When she reaches the stairs, she’s forced to slide down the wall so she can sit and scoot down them. It reminds her of when she and Ayano were younger and they would race around, scooting down the stairs so they wouldn’t fall.

She can’t see the main floor clearly through the railing, but she can hear voices. Just like in her study.

Ayano is laughing with her husband, and it’s cut short followed by an exaggerated grossed out sound from Kakeru. Aoi tries to move faster, to catch a glimpse of the happy family once more, but no one is there when she reaches the bottom.

Getting to the garden is a chore, she has to cross open room to get there, and it pains her legs to support all her weight, but she makes it. She collapses against the palace wall outside, and drags herself across the stone veranda to sit on the stairs, ignoring the tearing sound of her nightgown.

Aoi slumps against the post by the stairs and lets out a tired sigh. Her eyes start to fall shut as the gentle breeze brings her the scent of flowers and cools her heavy sweat. It glides off her wings and plays with her hair making it tickle her skin.

It’s nice.

This is a nice dream.

---

Kakeru comes back from checking the paths ahead to find Kesshou sitting up on her own. He’s by her side in seconds, asking what happened and pushing to know if the Express Crew had given her something. Welt insisted she’d woken up on her own and asked to be let down and that they’d only given her water and a snack bar from his pack at her request.

Kesshou’s breathing was strained, heavy enough that her wings shuddered with every breath, and her eyes were lidded. She seemed a little dazed but conscious.

“You’re better?” Kakeru asked under his breath, more to himself than anyone else.

“I feel like crud, like I’ve been thrown off a cliff.”

“But you’re awake, and moving. Which is good. Maybe Qlipoth has sent a blessing?”

Welt cleared his throat from beside Kesshou.

“As sweet as this is, she still needs a doctor. We should get going, and I would feel better carrying her.”

“I can walk, Mr. Yang,” Kesshou insisted before breaking into a small coughing fit. “See?”

Without waiting for an answer, Kesshou pushed herself off the crate bed and into the small space between her and Kakeru. Kakeru moved back to give her space, but kept his arms out for her. It was a good thing too, because her legs buckled beneath her and she stumbled forward. Her legs were like those of a fawn, forcing her to keep shifting her weight around and steady herself with Kakeru’s outstretched arms and the supportive hand Welt hovered out behind her.

Once her legs stopped shaking, she tried to ease into a step only for the shift in weight to be way too much. Her leg gave out once she was centered on it, and Welt and Kakeru grabbed onto her and eased her back onto the crates.

“Your highness,” Welt let his question hang in the air, unspoken.

A childish pout formed on Kesshou’s face. “Yes, yes. I see your point.”

She stared at the floor, swaying slightly from dizziness as she settled back down while Kakeru filled everyone else in on what was up ahead.

“The path I was planning to take is gone, looks like a cave in. So we have two other options, the slightly longer path or the slightly more dangerous path.”

“Dangerous, sounds like fun,” Caelus piped up, getting elbowed by Dan Heng.

“Danegerous, how?”

���Well, dangerous might not be the right word, perhaps just unpleasant. There’s a small passage through a baby serpent’s path. It smells, and it will be cramped… and it might come back and there will be nowhere to run, but it’s twice as fast as the other path.”

“Maybe we should take the longer path then,” Dan Heng said, “Kesshou seems to be doing better anyways.”

“Aside from not being able to walk, I do feel much better.”

Kakeru gnawed on his lower lip for a moment. He looked down at Kesshou who was dozing off again, starting to slump in on herself. She was doing well enough to take the longer path, even if that would defeat the purpose of this underground trek, but he would prefer to get her to a doctor soon. Welt was right, she did need a doctor; maybe they could use her fast recovery to find a cure or vaccine.

“I can take her through the faster passage,” Kakeru decided.

“Hang on,” Himeko tried to calm him, “give us a second to discuss. Welt?”

“Coming.”

He carefully held Kesshou up and shifted her to Kakeru’s shoulder to join his group.

“Alright, what do we think?”

“Small stinky spaces, sounds like my bathroom.”

Everyone gave Caelus an incredulous look before moving on with nothing to say to that.

“Mr. Yang, you’re smart, do you think Kesshou can take the long road?”

His brow furrowed in thought. “I don’t know. Her sudden recovery could be good, maybe taking her back is a bad idea, or maybe she’s about to get way worse. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know until we make a decision.”

“So we just… have to guess what the right choice is?”

“It does seem that way.”

“I think we should take the quicker path,” Dan Heng decided.

“I want to take the longer path, I mean, she got better begging away from the palace, right? What if something there is making everyone sick?”

“But the first person to get sick was a farmer?” Caelus pointed out.

“I don’t know, maybe something in the palace made it worse?”

“Caelus, what about you? What do you think?”

“This is complicated, what do you and Himeko think?”

The two older members of the Express crew look at each other for a moment before putting in their two cents. Himeko agreed with March, at least with the route they should take– if they could spare the time they shouldn’t risk their lives anymore than they needed to– while Welt agreed with Dan Heng.

“Let’s take the quicker path. Even if Kesshou doesn’t need a doctor right now, her people need her.”

“Then I’ll let Kakeru know.”

Kakeru wasn’t lying about how small the path was, everyone had to duck to walk through it– the diameter was a head shorter than March. Both Ali hid their wings to save space, and Caelus put his coat over Kesshou’s head to try and soften any accidental blows she would receive from the ceiling while he carried her on his back.

It was dark, and the gray stones made it seem like their flashlights weren’t lighting anything up. Unlike the massive cave they’d previously been in, there were no crystals in this one. Up could be down and they could be thrown into space and they wouldn't be able to tell.

March was dragging one hand along the wall and holding onto her bow with the other.

She yelped as suddenly the wall beneath her hand vanished, and Himeko had to stop her from falling. Himeko’s light turned to find another hole, this one rougher and more natural. They hurried to catch up with everyone else, only for the ground to start shaking.

“What’s going on?” Dan Heng asked.

Caelus helped Welt stay steady so he didn’t fall on Kesshou.

“Oh no… Back! Back! Back! Get out of here!” Kakeru yelled, turning round and urging everyone back the way they’d come.

The rumbling got worse, nearly knocking them off their feet. They kept falling into the walls and stumbling over newly freed stones.

“In here!” March called, ducking into the cave she and Himeko had nearly fallen into earlier.

Kakeru jumped in after them just in time as a juvenile spiral serpent rushed by.

Everyone took quick labored breaths to try and calm down, finally stretching out in the taller cave. Welt eased Kesshou onto her feet, letting her brace herself against the wall so he could rest. She handed Caelus back his jacket, then wobbled on the uneven terrain to Kakeru’s side.

“Are you okay?” She asked, watching his back rise and fall rapidly where he was doubled over.

“F-fine,” he breathed out. Even with the increased oxygen capacity granted by his wings, the stale air down here was making it hard to breathe. “You seem to be doing better.”

Kesshou nodded, though it was so dark he barely caught it. “I wonder… but it doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense?”

Kesshou hummed, turning away from him and looking down the dark tunnel. “We should keep going. I think I can walk, at least for a bit, if we keep going this way.”

“Does this path lead out?”

“Who knows,” Kakeru sighed, “but we’re grasping at straws anyways. If we have to back track, we back track. Unless you guys want to go back through the smaller tunnel?”

“I’ll take this tunnel, thanks,” March said.

“If there’s a chance this tunnel will lead us out, I think we should try it.”

“I agree with March and Dan Heng, Welt?”

“No objections here.”

“I wonder what monsters we’ll find this way,” Caelus mussed.

The group had to walk in a single file line. This tunnel may be taller but it was barely wide enough for one person to shimmy past another. Thankfully though, it wasn’t long before Himeko felt a gentle breeze, and the stale air was filled with the scent of damp grass.

She stepped out into–

“What is this place?”

Everyone took deep breaths of the fresh air as they stepped out.

“This is…” Kesshou trailed off for a moment, “the old palace.”

“Old palace?”

“Yes, this was the capital prior to our near extinction at the hands of the antimatter legion. Now it’s just a bunch of ruins, it seems we found an old evacuation path.”

“It looks kind of nice like this,” March mussed.

She was right.

They’d come out in what looked like a kitchen. A tree branch had broken through a window, and the floor was cracked and overgrown. Any bits of wood were rotten and moldy, while most of the stone was covered in patches of moss. Some metal pots and pans were left out, giving the visitors a glimpse of what had happened.

Everyone had left suddenly. Some of the pots had a thick layer of mold, some were melted with blast marks around, and they were all rusty as hell.

Caelus stepped further into the room and heard a crunch under his foot. He looked down to find an overgrown skeleton beneath his boot, which he quickly stepped off of and around.

When he looked up, he caught a glimpse of dark blue ducking away.

He looked back and noticed March was watching him while everyone else seemed to be resting. As soon as their eyes met, she carefully approached him.

“What was that?” she whispered once she was close enough.

“No idea.”

“We want to find out?” She asked, already stepping through the blown out wall.

Caelus followed her into the overgrown city. They were just guessing where they were going, but they’d barely gotten away from the palace when they heard a twig snap.

The trailblazers whipped around, weapons drawn, only for March to feel a cool blade at her neck. She glanced down at it, her heart sinking as she recognized the gold veins on the blade.

“Don’t, move,” Blade said. Caelus tensed up at his voice, not being able to look back and check on March. “Lower your weapons, and leave.”

“We’ll just come back with the others,” March huffed, wincing as she regretted her words. Now was not the time to be snarky.

He, surprisingly, took it well as he let out a dry laugh. “I’ll already be gone.”

March lowered her bow and watched Caelus drop his bat to the ground, then she did the same. The blade at her neck pulled away, and she heard his footsteps retreat. As soon as they couldn’t feel his presence anymore, they grabbed their weapons and went back to the group.

“We have a problem!” March yelled as soon as her foot met the crumpled wall. “Blade’s here.”

“The stelleron hunter?” Kakeru asked, brows furrowed in confusion.”

“Wasn’t he heavily injured after his fight with Jingliu on the Luofu? Caelus, you said Kafka had him resting.”

“He was, I don’t know why he’s here.”

“We need to get back to the palace…” Kesshou said, pushing herself back to her feet, “actually, I have somewhere else I’d like you to go. Skystead, it’s another one of our cities and the current acting capital. If the Stelleron hunters really are here, then they need to know.”

“But you can’t go because you’re infected.”

Kesshou nodded. “Exactly.”

“Can you mark the path on our map?”

“Yes, unfortunately it’s almost entirely back the way we came.”

“Well then, we should get going.”

---

The palace was both suffocatingly full and entirely too empty.

Blade found it all too easy to slip through the courtyard and through the palace into the master bedroom. He’d rushed into the room quickly, not wanting to be in the open hall any longer than he had, only to finally be caught.

He reached for his sword as Jing Yuan reached for his guan dao, but they both stopped before drawing them.

Jing Yuan let go first and turned back to Aoi. He took one of her hands in his and removed the cloth from her forehead, dunking it in the water and wringing it in one hand to refresh it.

Blade let go of his sword hilt and watched Jing Yuan cautiously as he crept over to Ayano. He sat facing Jing Yuan, and watched him until a weak cough snapped him from his defensive daze.

“Bl-a-de?” Ayano croaked.

He looked down to find her glassy eyes staring up at him, and a weak smile pulled at her lips. Without thinking, he reached up to brush some of her hair from her face then cup her cheek.

“I’m here.”

“You… worried…”

Blade let out a soft hum before placing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Sleep,” he whispered against her burning skin. “He needs you to get better.” He rested his forehead against the cot beside her head and wrapped an arm around her in some semblance of a hug.

[almea]

I've got random 2.2 thoughts because I had such a good time with it.

I'm so glad I didn't try to power through the rest of the story before going to sleep last night because the boss fight was so hype that I don't know if I would have been able to fall asleep after it. I will never get over slamming the Express into the boss, and Stelle looks SO PRETTY in the animation when you use it. I loved Robin and the rest of the crew having a line the first five times you activate it. Himeko's line fucking took me out. Hoyo… truly knows what my weaknesses are.

I heard you still have the Express's help in the Echo of War version of the fight but you don't get the animation of Stelle and Clockie summoning it and that's just. A crime. I'm pretty sure they still show Dan Heng in the Echo of War Phantylia fight, so why don't we get Stelle and Clockie? Like, I guess??? It could be weird if you're using Destruction or Preservation Stelle in the fight and then it's the Harmony version in the animation, but it would be the same situation as using 4 star Dan Heng against Phantylia. I'm just so sad I'll never get to see it again in the game.

I loved the whole part where Stelle's trapped in the Order's dream because I was just like. What is happening? This is feels so abrupt and I'm so disoriented and, bitch, I know the boss has two more phases and there were cutscenes in the trailer that still haven't happened yet. And then as soon as Topaz was like "Everyone has agreed to work together to help Penacony" I was like. Yeah. No. This is 100% a dream lmao.

I think it's incredibly sweet that Stelle's dream was a world where everyone would work together and be happy though.

Also, I don't know if this was just an audio glitch, but when I went back to the train, the music was reset to the default song, so I was like. Um???

When Black Swan said the card she gave Stelle was an empty light cone, there was a moment where I thought she would use it make a light cone using Stelle's memories and I was so disappointed that didn't happen. I really want a light cone with Stelle in it one day...

Harmony Stelle's animations are so good, I'm in love with her. There's so much personality and sass to them!! I'm surprised Stelle and Caelus's ultimate animations are almost exactly the same except for one part because their other ultimate animations look very different from each other while conveying the same thing. It's probably my bias speaking, but I feel like, aside from that really cool knee slide only Caelus has, the rest of the dance looks like it was animated a little more with Stelle in mind than Caelus.

I love Harmony Stelle so much that I'm going to start building break DPSs for her. And Ruan Mei lmao. I've been sitting on Ruan Mei for ages as I farmed relics for other characters. I was already planning to build Xueyi eventually because I used a trial version in one of the combat events and she was very fun and now I have another reason to do it.

I'm thrilled that Stelle got to talk and say cool shit in the cutscenes. I love her and she's so precious and I love that she gets to be cool!!! I always want Stelle to talk more.

Dan Heng's interactions with Boothill are so funny. He's just like. I don't want this man to ever speak for the rest of his life, I will murder him if he claims to be a Nameless again.

I was like. This close to crying when Dan Heng said his companions are once-in-a-lifetime treasures. My fucking heart, man.

All the Nameless stuff makes me so emotional and I'm not even entirely sure why. There's something about the way they present it that always has me dead on the ground. Like, the fact that the Astral Express has been around for so, so, so much longer than the current crew and they will continue to visit worlds that were visited and loved by their predecessors. The way the Nameless who left the Express still held it so close to their hearts. I love the reverence they have for the past Nameless. Stelle kneeling in front Mikhail after she received his hat was so beautiful.

I cried over Misha getting his memories back, and how only the other trailblazers were able to see him. The 2.0 explanation that only honest people with childlike innocence could see Clockie was very funny and I had thought it was a Stellaron thing since Stelle being able to see weird things related to Stellarons is an established thing, but the fact it's actually that you need to share the same spirit of trailblazing that Mikhail had is so uggggghhhhh.

Acheron finding Tiernan and helping him find peace and move on was soooo sweet. Now that we very concretely know the final fates of two of the three Nameless that stayed on Penacony, I'm curious whether we'll eventually get a more concrete ending for Razalina since I think her fate was still a little ambiguous.

I fucking LOVE bookends, so Acheron repeating what she told Stelle during their first meeting being one of the last things that happened in 2.2 and asking her the same questions she asked at the beginning... Those were personal attacks on me.

I'm still not 100% clear on the meaning behind Acheron's red text. I know it's related to red being the colour of existence (I think that's what she said) but I don't know what it's supposed to mean in the context of the red text. My first thought was that the red text is her breaking through the Order's dream's influence, but I don't remember if that fits with all her red text. And her red text appears when she's talking to Tiernan too, and I don't think that was part of a dream.

So I really don't know. Maybe her red text isn't that deep and everyone freaked out when they saw it for no reason lmao.

I have no idea what Sparkle was up to. I thought her buttons would do something during the last boss fight, but no? That doesn't seem to be it? I guess the Charmony Festival technically didn't start yet, so it's might be setup for something in 2.3. Either that or it's more of her red herring imagery.