Chapter Text
Stelle never tired of looking at the stars, tracing them in the glass for shapes. She liked to imagine a narwhal or something else swimming in the stars alongside the path of the Astral Express. It was better than trying to sleep and sort through fragmented dreams of visions she couldn’t quite understand. It was at night when Kafka’s words haunted her.
Who was Stelle to her? What choice did Stelle have to make in the future that was so important?
There were too many mysteries in her past, two many blanked-out spaces and closed boxes, seas of gray fog where something used to be.
Stelle didn’t like to think about that too much. Instead, she’d rather look at the stars. She would sit in one of the comfy arm-chairs by the window with a mug of hot chocolate, courtesy of Pom-Pom’s hospitality and would listen to Himeko’s jukebox to songs that felt like a word on the tip of her tongue. Familiar and foreign at the same time.
And no one had to see when she was contemplative. Instead, she could be March’s equally-zany friend, hiding in closets and diving into dumpsters headfirst with no sign of inborn sorrow or introspection.
Her thoughts turned to her traveling companions. Since waking up, she’d felt an instant connection to her rescuers and comrades, the Astral Express—especially Dan Heng. Maybe that was why Welt had answered her question with such a sympathetic expression, with knowing eyes that seemed far older than his appearance suggested.
“Dan Heng is a lonely child. He may appear distant and cold, but his heart is kind. Perhaps, he’s the way he is today because he spent so much time on the run. We don’t know what he’s running from. He once told me that he didn’t know either. All he knew was that something was chasing him and that he had to run.”
He was more like her and March than Stelle had initially thought. Who knew that memory loss was such a prevalent problem among the Astral Express crew?
Someone should get that checked out, Stelle thought.
CRASH.
Her train of thought was derailed by the sound from Dan Heng’s room. Before she knew it, Stelle had leapt to her feet and she was running for the door.
“We won’t let anyone hurt Dan Heng,” Welt had assured her.
Neither will I.
Stelle threw open the door. “Dan Heng?”
Books were askew on the floor, and Dan Heng was at the epicenter of it, sitting up in his bed with messy hair and wild eyes.
“Are you okay?” Stelle took a step forward, but found herself hesitating. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t like impulse control was her forte or anything.
“Huh?” He looked to her, but she could tell he wasn’t all there, at least not yet. “Stelle?”
He shook his head. Icy clarity returned as he schooled his features. “Sorry. I was working late and knocked over a shelf.”
And happened to fall conveniently into your bed?
Stelle tilted her head and lifted her eyebrows, an otherwise deadpan movement.
“Never mind. I’ll be fine.” Dan Heng stood up. “You should go back to bed.”
“I couldn’t sleep anyway.” Stelle shrugged and continued toward him. “I can at least help.”
He pressed his lips together into a thin line. “Fine.”
Stelle knelt down and began picking up the books that had scattered to the ground. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”
“I said I’m fine.” Dan Heng stopped, closing his eyes. He exhaled sharply. “I apologize. I’m a little. . . shaken. By the accident.”
“Right.” Accident my—
Stelle found her hand brushing over his as she reached for a book. He pulled his hand—and the book—away as quickly as it had happened.
“I wonder if bad dreams are just part of all the warps and jumps through space,” Stelle pondered aloud.
“What do you mean?” Dan Heng regarded her suspiciously.
“I have terrible dreams too,” Stelle confessed. She handed the stack she gathered up to him. “Most of the time I’d rather be up stargazing instead.”
“I see.” Something shifted in his eyes, although his expression was otherwise stoic. “Thank you, by the way. For helping with the books.”
“It’s no problem.” Stelle waved her hand dismissively. “It’s what a cosmic-knight of the wild west is supposed to do, right?”
“Right.” He looked extremely unsure as to that point. “Well, I need to get back to work. Goodnight.”
“Okay. Goodnight!” Stelle made sure to close the door behind her. Still, she couldn’t help but look back at least once and hope that the mysterious boy would someday share his secrets with her.
Until then, all there was left to do was look to the stars and dream.