Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“…”

“…”

No words were spoken between the two; only the faint sounds of button mashing and sound effects from the gaming device filled the air. For a few seconds, Caelus wondered if the other person noticed him walking in. That was until he saw the Stellaron Hunter give him the side eye before resuming focusing on her game.

"…Why are you in my room?" That was a natural first reaction, right? How else was one supposed to react to some weird girl that usually hung around as a hologram physically on board the Express?

…Probably go find the others. Silver Wolf was still a wanted criminal, after all.

Regardless, she still had a dismissive and uncaring tone as she answered him. "Got bored and decided to see what this place's about in person." She paused to glance around the room. "Sweet dig, I'll give you that."

"Okay… but why are you in my room?" Caelus asked again.

"Because no one comes in here," she answered without missing a beat. "Even you. Guess you're not that lucky huh?"

Her unnecessary remark made him frown out of annoyance. Yes, he barely goes into his room that much but for good reason! "That doesn't mean you can just waltz in here like you own the place. My room or the express itself!" He grumbled. "And why are you in my bed?!"

"Cause your chair's terrible. This bed's way comfier."

"…No, I'm not dealing with this." Turning around the spot, Caelus exited his room and left his 'visitor' alone. That surely won't come back to bite him in the ass anytime soon.

Chapter Text

After several days on the nearby planet doing things (read: doing errands and getting into trouble again — thank you very much, March), Caelus finally reboarded the Express and wanted nothing more than to crash into bed. As soon as he entered his room, however—

"…"

"…"

He had thought it had been a weird dream before but nope, Silver Wolf was still in his bed playing games. Not only that, she had also redecorated his room a bit; there was now graffiti and posters plastered all over his wall and the Hunter had also brought her own consoles and hooked it up to his screen.

"…" Caelus was so taken aback that he could not find anything to say, only stare at what Silver Wolf did.

She, on the other hand, was still aloof as ever. "Shut the door, will you? You're letting the AC out."

"Yes…" Caelus dumbfoundedly muttered as he followed her command. After a couple seconds, his brain finally caught up with what he was seeing. "Hang on! Why are you here again?!"

"Got no missions lined up. Decided to chill here to pass the time," Silver Wolf answered like she hadn't pulled another B&E for fun. "It wasn't like you were using it anyway."

Caelus was this close to strangling her. "Just because I was busy, you know, helping people doesn't mean I don't care what someone like you does in here!"

"Sure, sure." Silver Wolf dismissively waved her hand as she focused on what she was doing rather than listening to Caelus. The conversation was still far from over though and he had a lot more to say.

"And what did you do to my room?!"

"Oh, those?" She glanced back at her handiwork. "Your room's nice and all but it was stale to look at. I thought I should brighten things up a bit since I'll be hanging around here."

There were so many things Caelus wanted to say: that his room didn't need redecorating, although he'd be lying; that he didn't give her permission to redecorate. The first thing that he got out was— "what do mean, ' I'll be hanging around here' ?"

"I mean exactly what I mean. When I have nothing better to do, I'll be staying here. Besides, what better place to hide out than a train that's never on one planet for too long?" Her tone left no room for arguments.

Naturally, Caelus tried to argue with her. "No, no, no. You are not staying here. Get out." It was bad enough (but ultimately harmless)  that she hung around the Express as a hologram; if the others found out Silver Wolf decided his room was a good place to crash and hide from the authorities, then he'd be in real trouble. "Come on, shoo. Scram already. Go break into a bank elsewhere." 

"Firstly, don't talk to me like I'm a child. I've spent way too much online to come even close to being considered one. And second —" Silver Wolf looked him dead in the eye. "—No."

"…Alright, that does it." He was kicking her out one way or another. 

March had to blink several times to make sure she was seeing things correctly. "Caelus?"

"What?" Lying outside his own room with a blanket and pillow was Caelus; he looked beat up which March attributed to a brief skirmish they had before returning and a look that said he was so done and just wanted to sleep.

"Why are you out here with all that?"

"…I don't want to talk about it."

Chapter Text

Hey

U there?

Caelus wanted nothing more than to just ignore the message and resume what he was doing. Unfortunately for him, that was impossible as his phone continued buzzing. He really should put it on silent.

Dont leave me on read

I know ur checking your phone

What do you want? I'm busy

The mini fridges out of drinks

Buy me some and get some snacks while ur at it

???

What mini fridge?

U have a mini fridge now btw

Had an extra from an old hideout

Now help me restock it

I'm out of credits

For once, Caelus was thankful for being broke. Why was everything getting so expensive?! He knew he shouldn't have checked out that Calyx.

However, after a few seconds of silence, the dreaded Silver Wolf is typing… appeared on screen.

Check ur account 

…

…

How did you do that so fast?

Dont questoon it

Now buy me snacks

Im getting hungry here

Cant leave my room remember?

Hey it's my room

Whatever

Same difference

Keep whatever change is left

———Silver Wolf is offline———

That status was most likely untrue but whatever frustrations he had with his new self-proclaimed roommate were temporarily muted by the amount of zeros in his bank account. With the amount Silver Wolf sent him with totally legal means, he should have enough to last him the next couple of days.

He can rant about the absurdity of his new living situation later. At the moment, he has cash to burn on junk food.

Chapter Text

"…"

"…"

"…So what exactly is this thing— ow!" Caelus flinched from the unexpected jab to his chest from the small, sort-of adorable, creation.

"That thing is Friend and would appreciate it if you don't call Friend a thing." Silver Wolf expressed emotions other than aloof superiority for the first time since she forcibly moved into his room. She quickly got over it and resumed playing her game.

Friend, meanwhile, tottered away to the corner of the room and was doing something Caelus wasn't interested in finding out quite yet. Hopefully it wasn't anything illegal.

With not much else to do, Caelus thought he should try making conversation with his new roommate. He wasn't going to lose anything from getting friendly with her. "So…" he tried thinking of a conversation starter. "What are your hobbies?" As soon as those words left his mouth, Caelus wanted to slap himself in the face.

It was such a dumb question Silver Wolf took the time to look at him incredulously. "Do I need to answer that?" She snarked at him. "Got any other stupid question you wanna ask?"

Caelus's face flushed a bit and he coughed. "I mean… besides gaming and hacking, you got any other things you like to do?"

"Hmm…" She faked a thinking face before answering with complete seriousness, "I like to break into a certain someone's bedroom and constantly annoy him."

"Oh ha ha," Caelus feigned laughter at her joke.

"Don't think there's much else to say. I do what I like and what I like is to have fun. Nothing more, nothing less." she elaborated a little more before unpausing her game.

"You're not even going to ask me anything?"

"Nope," she replied without a beat. "I know everything I want to know about you already. Now stop annoying me."

Caelus sighed at her complete disinterest to keep up the conversation but it was probably something he should get used to. She was here to stay and there was little he could do about it unless he wanted to sleep outside again. He’d rather not get embarrassed again and have March questioning how he got locked out of his room again.

Chapter Text

Everything had been going well that night; Silver Wolf had not been in the room all day— most likely committing some sort of crime with the other Stellaron Hunters somewhere. Caelus could finally go to sleep in his own bed with no issues. Had Silver Wolf been around, that was impossible; either she was playing too loudly for him to keep his eyes shut for long, or she wanted to sleep and that meant he had to sleep elsewhere.

Unfortunately, his peaceful rest only lasted for half of the night. Sometime after it (relatively) hit midnight—

BOOM!

“Wha—?!” 

Caelus shot up from his sleep upon hearing the explosion and gunfire. His initial thought was that the Express was being invaded somehow; turns out the explosion had a more mundane source but no less rage-inducing. After all, who wouldn’t be upset at being woken up in the middle of the night by their roommate’s nightly activity?

Sitting at the end of the bed was Silver Wolf, eyes glued to the TV as she was back to her usual hobby of playing games with what sounded like max volume . She didn’t seem to notice him waking up and continued playing like nothing was wrong.

Completely at the end of his rope, Caelus couldn’t hold back. “What the hell are you doing?!”

Her response to his outburst was a simple “Oh, hey.”

Caelus was pretty sure his eye twitched. He took a long deep breath to calm himself down; a calm head was needed when dealing with Silver Wolf as he quickly learned. Anything less and he’ll be sleeping outside again.

…who was he kidding, he’d probably be sleeping outside regardless if she continued playing loudly as she was.

“Any reason you’re playing at this hour?” He finally asked after a few seconds.

“Because I have nothing else to do?” She answered like it was obvious. “I had a long quest, okay? I need to destress.”

“Yeah, well your way of destressing is stressing me out,” Caelus retorted.

“Sounds like a skill issue to me.”

“…” His eye was definitely twitching now. “Silver Wolf, answer me honestly. Is there any, and I mean any , way I could get you to leave and never return?”

“Hmm… Nope.”

Whatever fight Caelus had left in him disappeared like ashes in the wind and he buried his face in his pillow to muffle his scream. He stayed like that for nearly a whole minute before weakly asking, “Can you at least turn down the volume a bit?” If he covered his head, maybe the noises would be dampened enough that he could continue sleeping.

That all depended if Silver Wolf was willing to play nice, however.

“…Sure.”

“God damn… what?” Whether it was from exhaustion or just being plain unexpected, Caelus initially didn’t realise what she had said. After taking a couple of seconds to process it and watching her actually reduce the TV’s volume, he quietly muttered, “Thank you…”

Okay… maybe this won’t be as bad as it initially was…

Chapter Text

“…”

“…”

“…This is boring.” To Caelus’s mild surprise, it was Silver Wolf who complained. He had been quote-unquote quietly reading one of the many books he bought for whatever reason. Despite usually being broke, he still got a copy of any text on the planets he visited. 

Silver Wolf was playing some online game against someone as usual and was doing so with so little effort. She had just won another match when she sighed and got Caelus’s attention. “What's the matter?"

She has never really made a fuss about anything before; there were a few choice words here and there whenever she made a mistake and failed a mission, quest, or the like, but never when she won. “It’s just… stale now,” she pouted as she sprawled out on the bed and on top of his legs.

“Can you get off me?”

“No,” she answered bluntly as always before ranting about what she was playing. "There's no challenge left and even the multiplayer is losing my interest. The only guy willing to fight me is some noob who keeps falling for the same strategy."

The gamer let out another loud sigh before going completely silent. At least Caelus could now focus on his reading… for a few seconds before he felt Silver Wolf moving around. He glanced up from his book to see her staring at him with a determined look in her eyes.

“…What?” A part of Caelus was already afraid of her answer. That answer was her slowly bringing a second controller into his line of sight with her intent being clear. “…Can I refuse?”

“No.”

Great, he’ll get his ass handed to him yet again. At least this time no one would see the results.

“…”

“…”

“…Do I want to know?” Dan Heng dryly asked as he stared at what Caelus was wearing. It was really on him for agreeing to that bet even knowing he was definitely going to lose. But what she offered in return was simply too good to pass up.

“No. No, you do not,” Caelus sighed. He could already hear Silver Wolf's hologram snickering in the corner.

Chapter Text

Caelus was already getting used to Silver Wolf making herself home in his room. She hadn't caused too much trouble, only severely embarrassed him with her antics, so that was a positive from this whole situation. Still, Caelus was still surprised how no one had caught her yet.

Maybe because the others know she does hang around the Express in a way.

Before he even walked into the parlor car, he already heard March shouting at her.

"—u can't just stroll in here and act like you own this place! You're not even here !"

Oh, March had no clue how wrong she was…

"What's she done this time?" Caelus sighed as he approached them by the seats in the middle of the car. Silver Wolf or rather, her hologram, was currently taking up all the space on the seating while playing on her phone.

“I’m just trying to sit down but this little brat’s thought it’d be funny to mess with me,” March ranted, arms crossed and stomping her feet like a little child. Silver Wolf snorted at her small tantrum, clearly amused by her reaction.

‘You don’t know half of it,’ Caelus mentally sighed as he recalled what Silver Wolf’s been doing in his room. “Just sit elsewhere. Don’t give her attention.” That was what he’s picked up from (sort of) sharing a room with her. Just let her do her thing and she won’t bother you.

However, March did not say anything and simply showed proof; she went over to the other side and was going to sit down when— “See?!” Silver Wolf had popped over and was now sitting there without taking her eyes off her screen.

“Are you sure there’s nothing we can do about her?” March cried in frustration before glaring at the hologram. “Where even are you?! Don’t you have something else to do?!”

“I am about 100 feet thataway and no,” Silver Wolf replied in her usual tone, pointing towards the Express’s quarters. Obviously, March didn’t believe that the hacker was actually onboard the train and grew angrier at her answer. 

However, in her frustration (or not, this was March after all), she forgot one tiny important detail about Silver Wolf. “…March?”

“What?”

“You do know she’s not physically there, right?” Caelus reminded her. 

“…What?”

“Don’t tell her that!”

Caelus ignored Silver Wolf and went over to their side. He tried to poke the gamer in the cheek but his finger phased through her blue, annoyed face.

“…Oh.”

“You really know how to ruin my fun, don’t you?” Silver Wolf glared at him. 

With the jig now up, Silver Wolf disappeared. A part of Caelus was aware he’d probably going to regret pointing out that little factoid about her being a hologram but for now, ruffling Silver Wolf’s feathers never felt more satisfying.

He turned to March whose face was now red from embarrassment at being played like a figure. She sheepishly scratched the back of her head while timidly begging, “So… can we forget about this?”

Forget about yet another thing to poke fun at her? There was only one answer: “No.” He was going to milk this moment for all it’s worth before he gets thoroughly humiliated by Silver Wolf later.

Chapter Text

Silver Wolf liked messing with most of the Astral Express crew. While it only got physical with Caelus (not in that manner), the hacker found it fun to annoy the others even though she wasn’t actually there.

With March, there were other incidents similar to the one Caelus had walked in on. One particularly amusing instance was Silver Wolf shutting off her room’s lights and making March bump around trying to find the light switch. Even through the thick walls of their rooms, Caelus could hear her yelling about wanting to strangle Silver Wolf followed by the sounds of something crashing.

As for Dan Heng, Silver Wolf’s way of messing with him was to make use of her skillset and mess with the database. It was usually harmless, just changing the names of the files or moving things around. There was that odd prank where a video file played when Dan opened one of the files on the various factions in the universe. It was a weird music video of a song most of them never heard before except for Welt which made sense. According to Silver Wolf, she got the video while digging through his personal files.

Why he had that video, Welt didn’t say. Caelus assumed it was from his homeworld wherever that was. The song was catchy though.

Silver Wolf’s way of messing with Himeko was a simple yet very effective one— she just moved Himeko’s coffee-brewing set to weird places. It wasn’t as fun as the others since Himeko never suspected it could have been her due to the normally logical but still false belief that Silver Wolf was not physically onboard. Still, Caelus could tell the hacker enjoyed watching Himeko grow more and more frustrated with looking for her missing belongings.

Finally, for Welt… she surprisingly never did much with him. In fact, Caelus could have sworn they were actually friendly with each other. Maybe it was due to them following the same Path but in any case, Welt and Silver Wolf usually had small but amiable conversations. The latter once admitted to Caelus she enjoyed the shows the former made.

So when it finally happened, it being Welt was the best-case scenario. What was he talking about? Well…

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

Their back and forth had been going on for a couple of minutes now. Caelus was trying to sleep while Silver Wolf wanted to play another round with him. Naturally, after what happened last time on top of being exhausted, Caelus kept refusing.

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

Caelus was on laying on his side and tried to keep his eyes shut while Silver Wolf kept shaking him. His patience was already wearing thin but then she pulled him onto his back and started shaking him but the collar.

“Come on~” she drew out as Caelus’s head weakly swung back and forth. At this point, he had no other choice but to give in to her demands. 

“Fine…” He grumbled. “But just one match… and no bets.” He was not running around in that again.

That was more than satisfactory for Silver Wolf. “Deal—”

*shuu—*

The door slid open and an equally tired-looking Welt rushed in. “Apologies for interrupting your sleep, Caelus but—” he paused upon seeing the sight before him. “…Oh.”

Caelus’s face paled at seeing him standing in the doorway. He was damn sure he locked the door upon returning; it had become a habit after having Silver Wolf be around for a while. Admittedly, he was exhausted after that last Calyx so it wasn’t out of the question if he forgot to do so this time. If that was the case, then what shitty luck did he have for Welt to have an emergency tonight of all nights.

After a moment of silence, he realised it was much much worse since Silver Wolf was right on top of him. He didn’t think Welt’s mind would go straight to that but they were still in a compromising position.

“This is… not what looks like?” That was the only thing Caelus could say for himself.

“I’ll just leave this to you then. I should deal with the problem by myself.” Welt impressively kept his composure before slowly backing out and closing the door.

Silence filled the room as the awkwardness prevented the two from saying anything immediately. When one of them finally said something, it was Silver Wolf to leave him hanging dry. “You heard him, I’ll leave this to you too.”

The hacker teleported herself out of the Express and Caelus only had one thought going through his head.

‘…I’m fucked.’

Chapter Text

The morning after, Caelus dreaded going into the Parlor Car and seeing Welt. He wondered if the old(er) man had told anyone what he saw the night before; either way, he had lots of explaining to do.

When he entered and greeted everyone, his eyes scanned the room for Welt before spotting him at the other end of the car up the steps. He made a beeline for him, passing by March who said she forgot something in her room, and only realised he didn’t know what to say upon reaching him.

In the end, it was Welt who had the first word. “Morning.”

“M—morning,” Caelus coughed out. He knew it was better to rip the bandaid off as quickly and painfully as possible; after a few seconds of building up his courage, he said, “So… about what you saw.”

Surprisingly, Welt just sighed. “Do we have to? I’d rather forget everything.”

“…Huh?” Needless to say, his reply was not what Caelus expected. “Wait, what?”

“What you do in the privacy of your own room is your business,” Welt stated with a mute expression. “While I have… questions, it’s my own fault for barging in like that.”

“…Huh?” Caelus repeated, making Welt sigh again.

“I simply hope you know what you’re doing. I don’t know how you and she got together—” “HUH?!” “—or why for that matter, but be sure to lock the door next time. Had it been anyone else, you’d be in actual trouble.”

It took a full minute before Caelus’s brain finally processed Welt’s advice. “So… you don’t care?” 

“No,” he bluntly answered before taking a sip from his mug. “I’m too tired to care after last night.”

“Oh… thank you?” Caelus had no clue whether he should be grateful or not. “Wait, what happened last night?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s all cleared up now,” Welt waved his hand in disinterest. “Just keep everything on the down-low and nobody will have any problems, alright?” He gave another piece of advice.

“Yeah, I know…” Barring Welt severely misinterpreting his and Silver Wolf’s relationship, that went way smoother than Caelus thought it’d go. Then again, Welt was usually chill and sort of friendly with Silver Wolf; he truly was the best-case scenario. Certainly better than someone like March.

Of course, it was impossible for Caelus not to have at least one issue going on.

“Hey, we’ve got another problem on our hands.” Silver Wolf’s hologram suddenly appeared beside them. She glanced at Welt for a second before turning back towards Caelus. “Come to my room.”

"It's not your—" Caelus didn't get the chance to finish as Silver Wolf disappeared just as quickly. "…Don't say anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it." The grin on Welt's face said otherwise.

In any case, Caelus made a 180 and headed back towards his room. He wondered what Silver Wolf wanted and hoped it wasn't bad.

He was sort of right; it wasn't bad.

…It was absolutely horrible.

"Mmmf! Mmf!" 

"Can you get her to shut up? I'm trying to focus here."

In the corner of the room was a bound and gagged March, struggling to get out of her bindings.

'Okay now I'm absolutely fucked.'

Chapter Text

“La-laa-laaa~” March hummed a melody as she exited her cabin, holding her forgotten item in hand. How did she forget about it? Regardless, she was about to head back to the Parlor Car and passed by Caelus’s room when she heard something coming from inside.

She found it a bit strange since she passed by him on the way and noticed his door was not completely shut. She reasoned he must have accidentally left something on and thought she should do him a favour and turn whatever it was off before heading back. March opened the door and stepped inside without a care in the world; Caelus did the same in her room so she didn’t feel bad about it.

It was only a second later her brain registered what she was seeing— on Caelus’s bed was the very same hacker-gamer that’s been terrorising her for the past couple of weeks. Silver Wolf, meanwhile, didn’t notice her at first either and continued playing her game. After a few moments, she finally saw her out of the corner of her eye and turned to stare at her.

The two had a silent staring contest for a full minute; March was trying to wrap her head around why she was there while Silver Wolf was just blankly looking at her without a single thought in her mind. Finally, the latter broke the silence— “Get her.”

“Hey, wai—!”

“Then those things—” March pointed accusingly at Silver Wolf’s four “teammates” that were playing a card game on Caelus’s bed. “—jumped me and tied me up!”

“This is your fault, you could have just ignored me and walked away,” Silver Wolf remarked without taking her eyes off the TV screen. “Now shoo already, I want to focus.”

“Why you little—!”

Caelus had to (reluctantly and) physically restrain March from strangling his roommate. “Calm down, calm down,” he chastised her like a child which may have only annoyed her more.

“Alright! Let go of me already,” She eventually relented and crossed her arms after Caelus released her. “Why is she here? In your room?” She gave him an accusatory glare, waiting for his answer.

“I… don’t really know either,” Caelus admitted with a long, exhausted sigh. He glanced at Silver Wolf out of the corner of his eye. “She decided to come by one day and now I can’t get her to leave.”

“So this entire time, you’ve been harbouring a wanted criminal in your bedroom. A wanted criminal who’s been tormenting us for the past who knows how long, and you’ve never said anything?”

“…In my defence, none of you would believe me,” he tried to say— “Ow!” —only to be flicked in the forehead by March. “What was that for?”

“Because you were being an idiot again,” March sighed. “Then again, you were already being one for getting into a relationship with her of all people.”

“Wait, hang on just a second—!”

“Was it love at first sight or something?” She further questioned him even as Caelus’s face turned red from both embarrassment and frustration. “How’d she even get aboard the Express?”

“She can teleport,” Caelus answered as if that explained everything. “And I’m not in a relationship with her.”

March only gave him a look that said “Really?”

"I'm not!"

"Sure, sure, I believe you." Sarcasm dripped out from March's voice as she glanced around the room, eyeing the decorations that were obviously by Silver Wolf. "I'm gonna go. I don't want to be around her." March turned to leave but not before blowing a raspberry at the Stellaron Hunter who blew one back.

As soon as the door shut, Caelus let out a prolonged exhausted sigh. 

"…This is your fault by the way," Silver Wolf offhandedly accused, which just made Caelus's headache grow.

"You know, I'm this close to kicking you out."

"Good luck with that."

Chapter Text

For the first time in some time, Silver Wolf hadn’t been on the Express; no hide nor hair, not even her hologram appeared. On the one hand, Caelus finally got the entire to himself as he should. It was his bedroom after all. However, it also felt weird not having to deal with her antics on a daily basis. Was he… starting to miss her? 

‘Nah, that can’t be,’ he convinced himself. Why would he ever feel anything but annoyance and frustration towards her?

At least he didn’t have to worry about the last two members of the Express discovering his deep dark secret. While it took some convincing, he got March to keep her mouth shut about their secret passenger. Welt wasn’t going to say anything so that was one blessing. Caelus knew he should not keep things hidden for too long, Dan and Himeko were bound to find out at some point, but that point was neither here nor there.

In the meantime, Caelus would be taking full advantage of her being gone and had several nights of much-needed well-rested sleep. He deserved it after having to put up with Silver Wolf’s antics the entire time. However, after waking up every morning in a row to see she had not yet returned, his not worries started to build up. Whatever she was up to, it was really taking a while. Was she gone for good? He hoped so… right?

It was the middle of the night when Caelus was stirred awake by a bright light going off in his room. “Wha…” He mumbled while rubbing his eyes. He only got adjusted to the darkness before something landed on him, causing him to yelp from pain.

“Shush…” The grungy voice of Silver Wolf silenced him as she got comfortable. “Need… sleep…”

Caelus naturally tried to get out from under her but couldn’t get his arm out before Silver Wolf was completely knocked out. How it felt like she was ten times heavier now, Caelus had no idea but he was stuck there for the night. “You’re really a pain…” He quietly grumbled to himself, not that she could hear him judging by her snoring. He still tried to pull away but after a couple minutes of struggling, gave up.

Doubting he could ever wake her up, Caelus accepted his fate and decided to settle in for the night. He’ll just deal with it in the morning…

“—up, already. Caelus, wake up.”

“Urgh… what?” Caelus groaned as he was forcibly woken up for the second time. It took him a moment to register who it was standing beside his bed.

“Himiko wants to talk to you about something,” Dan Heng told him in his usual serious and reserved tone. “Wash your face before you go, you’re drooling.” With his message delivered, the man left the bedroom.

‘What could be so important…”  Caelus mentally complained before getting out of bed… only to be reminded of Silver Wolf’s presence. The girl was still dead asleep on his arm which was completely stiff and sore by this point. Caelus let out a long sigh and facepalmed. He better come up with a good excuse for being late… Hang on a second.

“He should be here soon,” Dan Heng told Himiko who thanked him before going back to his seat and resumed eating. He was soon joined by March, who immediately asked him something in a hushed tone.

“So…? Did you see anything weird?”

“Not really,” he replied. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary for him.”

“Ah… Wait, what do you?”

He didn’t answer her and just took a sip from his drink.

Chapter Text

As Caelus took his sweet time to make himself presentable (or so she assumed), Himiko’s patience with him began wearing thin. Despite Dan Heng delivering her message, it was some time before he actually entered the Parlor Car.  Thankfully for the newest addition to the Express’s safety, he arrived just as Himiko was about to check on him in his room.

“Did no one teach you not to keep a woman waiting?” She teased him, mainly to destress herself.

“Sorry for being late, Himiko. I had to… deal with something first.” It didn’t escape her notice how embarrassed he looked. However, she ignored it for now and went straight to business.

Sometime after, Himiko noted that Caelus now had the habit of getting up later than he used to. Not only that, his arm was usually sore or stiff with him claiming “I slept on it the wrong way.” She initially thought nothing of it until she overheard an odd conversation between Caelus and Dan. 

“Hey…”

“Hmm?”

“About that thing you saw… Please keep it a secret.”

“Do I look like I’ll tell anyone? What you do is your business,” Dan said. “And if that business is—”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Himiko heard Caelus sigh before thanking Dan for staying silent about whatever the matter was. She then recalled how, for some time now, Caelus had occasionally slept in the hallways or the Parlor Car because “I locked myself out of my room.” Needless to say, her curiosity was piqued by the conversation though a part of her felt guilty at overhearing it in the first place.

Her first step was to ask Welt about it. She didn’t ask him about it outright, instead slowly leaning into the topic. “Do you know why Caelus has been acting odd lately?” She asked.

“Hmm… I do know,” he admitted but— “Unfortunately, I’ve already promised him to not say anything. Apologies, Himiko. If you want to know, you will have to learn it yourself just as all of us did."

Wait… "You mean to say everyone else already knows?"

"Apparently so." Welt had a small amused grin on his face which slightly irritated her but nonetheless, she took his advice. Her first (well, second) order of business was to check on Caelus in his room. Better to go straight to the source rather than weasel around.

She politely knocked on his door while calling his name. "Caelus? Are you inside?"

"Ju—just a minute!" She heard before the door cracked oh so slightly open, just enough to see half of Caelus’s face. She could hear the sound of the television on full blast through the crack. “Himeko? Is something wrong?”

“Not really but I’m worried about you,” she answered honestly. “You’ve been acting… odd lately, if I may be frank.”

Caelus made a nervous sound before replying, “No need to worry about that, it’s noth—” “DAMMIT!” A frustrated, distinctively-female, shout interrupted him and Himiko watched as all colour drained from his face. Before she could question it, Caelus quickly apologised before slamming his door close. Himiko couldn’t even try peeking inside as she heard the clicking of the lock prevented her from doing so.

“Just what are you hiding in there?” She muttered to herself, her resolve to get to the bottom of this mystery growing…

Chapter Text

“Hey, Caelus…”

“What?”

“When are you going to tell your mom about us?”

“Ba— Don’t say it like that!” Caelus spluttered with a bright face. “And Himeko’s not my mom.”

“Sure sure,” Silver Wolf offhandedly waved off his complaints and continued playing on his TV, making Caelus groan under his breath. “She’s the only one who doesn’t know about me, right? Any reason you’re still keeping it a secret from her?”

“...No.”

“…You’re scared of her, aren’t you?” The Stelleron Hunter snickered. “Looks like Kafka has some competition~”

The mention of the Stellaron Hunter’s own matriarch made Caelus sigh. He already had a massive headache thinking about her. “Can we not talk about her?” He sighed which made Silver Wolf snicker again.

“Alright… You want to hear what she and Blade’s been up to?” Caelus was starting to hate her stupid face and her stupid grin.

The bitter taste was just what she needed to help her think. Short of actually breaking into Caelus’s room, Himeko has done everything she could to concretely solve the mystery of his recent behaviour. Interrogating the other passengers had been a dead end— Dan said that there was nothing out of the ordinary with Caelus while March, although incredibly nervous and kept dodging the question, stayed silent but she did say something similar to Welt.

“Caelus… He’s… Uh… Sorry Himeko, but you’ll have to find out yourself.”

She then apologised and begged to be spared when Himeko discover Caelus’s secret. Either it was such a terrible secret… or March was overreacting. In any case, she was the only one on the Express who was not in the know about it. Well, except maybe also Pom-Pom. The conductor has never said anything about it yet.

If she was going to be honest with herself, Himeko felt a bit pained at being left out like that. While it was obvious Caelus wanted nobody to know— both Welt and March stated they found out themselves —being the last one in the dark hurt. What dulled it though was that she was pretty confident in what said secret was. The voice she overheard in his room made it crystal clear: Caelus had been seeing someone. If that was the case, then him wanting to keep it hidden from everyone made sense. The grin Welt had made more sense too.

Taking another calming sip of her coffee, she thought back to the voice she heard last time. The voice was definitely familiar but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. At the very least, she knew it was the voice of someone who's been on the Express. With that clue in mind, she ran through the possibilities of the mysterious woman's identity.

"It was not Asta or Herta…" Himeko was acquainted enough with them to say the voice didn't sound like either of them. Furthermore, the former wasn't the type to swear— "Both unlikely." With those two suspects in the clear, Himeko's mind wandered towards the Belobogians which thankfully was still a small pool. It was most definitely not one of the children. The rock star/mechanic that sometimes hanged about the Express seemed like a good guess but Himeko still had her doubts. Plus, Serval was around the same age as herself; if Caelus was seeing her, Himeko didn't know how she should feel. Same went with the Underworld doctor. For now, she put a pin on that and resumed down the list— "Also unlikely."

Himeko could immediately cross out the new Supreme Guardian for the same reasons as Asta. Although… Bronya did sound an awful lot like the voice. Maybe she was different behind closed doors… She put Bronya down as a "maybe". After Bronya would be that butterfly girl from the Underworld.

…Himeko put her down as a "maybe" too.

Finally, there was the intelligence officer. She and Caelus got along well enough. The former has even drunk-texted him on occasion. Himeko recalled seeing notifications blow up on Caelus's phone once when he left it on one of the tables— "Maybe."

'And then on the Luofu…' Himeko was currently aware of six that Caelus was close enough with. There were those two Foxians but they were highly unlikely. The older one was usually buried with work and already had a grown daughter while the younger one… "Very unlikely and definitely not." After them, there was the young Cloud Knight that frequently texted Caelus. Actually, have they met each other in person yet? "Maybe?" Emphasis on the question mark.

Then the slacker—  Caelus had her number saved as QQ. A pet name perhaps? March and Yang also mentioned she and Caelus had a good rapport with each other. "Hmm… Likely." And the only one so far.

Finally, the last two were high-ranking members of different Commissions on the Xianzhou Luofu. However, one was highly unlikely (and if it turned out it was, Himeko had serious questions) and the other, she had little knowledge about her to be frank. "Definitely not and highly unlikely…"

That should be everyone then, Himeko believed. Only one person in the "Likely" category, three in "Maybe" with another in "Maybe?", and the others are unlikely or definitely not. 'But why does it feel like I'm forgetting someone…' She thought while taking another sip of her coffee.

"Hey, you—" Dan Heng's rude call out, while not directed at her, still snapped Himeko out of her rumination. She turned to see him attempting to speak to Silver Wolf, or rather her holographic persona. "—stop making a mess with our database. It's tiring having to fix every time you come here."

"It'd be an easier job for you if you keep backups to restore, you know?" She shot back without a second thought which just further annoyed Dan judging from his facial expression.

"You know very well that I do keep backups. They just keep getting deleted— by you ."

"Oh, how'd you found that out? Then again, if you didn't realise it was me, you'd be dumber than a newborn," Silver Wolf smirked. What Dan said next Himeko could not hear as he leaned it and spoke much quietly. Whatever it was just made the Stellaron Hunter laugh and taunt him, “You really think a threat like that would work on me? You’ve got to do better than that !”

Dan stepped back and sigh in exasperation. “I’ve little patience for this.” He seemingly gave up and walked away while Silver Wolf shifted her attention back to her phone with a victorious smirk on her face.

“…maybe.”

Chapter Text

Beep beep!

"What now?" Caelus sighed as he took out his phone. He had been enjoying some nice alone time in his room when the sound of a new message interrupted it. 'Knew I should've put it on silent,' he cursed himself for not doing so. In any case, he couldn't just ignore it now; he opened the messaging app… and had to slap himself to make sure he was awake.

Blade: WAKE IP ALREADY!!!

"Wha…" Why was that guy of all people texting him for help? Wait, how did Blade even get his phone number in the first place?!

Beep!

Another text message.

Blade: its Silver Wolf

Okay, that explains that. He opened the chat and sent a reply.

What?

Do me a favour

Turn on my console and boot up what I was playing yestrday

Why?

Where are you?

Worried about me? Thats cute

Now hurry up. I have a good login streak going

Theres 10 min before it resets and it has a terrible opening load time

Fine…

Caelus sighed but went along with it anyway. He'd rather not upset her. He got off his bed and fired up his roommate's game console. After waiting for the start-up screen to be replaced by the main menu, he selected the first icon on the list. A minute later and Caelus understood what Silver Wolf meant. He watched as it only then just ticked up to 20%

While it was more than likely it'll finish before the ten minutes were up, it was boring to stare at the screen. So instead, he opened his phone again.

So why do you have Blade's phone?

Cause he's not using it

And my phone's ded 

Forgot to charge it last night :`(

I thought you of all people would make it a habit to leave it plugged in overnight

i do

I was just too tired last night

Caelus recalled she once again returning late the previous night. He was pretty she had broken one of his ribs when she hopped into bed with him. At least this time no one entered his room the following morning.

What are you doing anyway?

Bladie and I got sent to do some recon work

Dont blab about this to anyone btw

Or we'll break ur legs. Got it?

Message received

Good

Want any takeout? I'll be back soon.

Well that was a complete one-eighty.

Sure

K

Don't forget to login

Caelus glanced at the screen; it was just at 91%. Looking back down upon hearing a new message, he was utterly confused by the mess of letters she sent.

JaofbauIebsb ekwhYja je7jwjr

?

You okay?

There was no reply immediately, leaving Caelus to wait for the game to finish loading. After going through the start screen just in time—there was only a minute left on the clock when the login streak reward screen appeared.

It’s done

I’ll tell her

The blunt response explained the strange text earlier; Blade must’ve taken his phone back. In that case, he had nothing to worry about.

Good luck with whatever you’re doing

Should he be saying that? Oh well, too late now. He was too tired to ponder on the possible consequences of being friendly with wanted criminals/vigilantes/whatever.

Chapter Text

"Thanks for aiding me in my problems, outworlders. You were a great—" The man continued singing praises for the Trailblazers. Caelus, however, was clearly blanking out and simply waiting for the man to give them a reward, Himeko noticed.

For the past few planetary trips— although that was only accurate for their current one, Jarilo-VI —Himeko had been tagging along to keep an eye on the others— or so she told them. In reality, she was hoping that by sticking around, she might get a hint as to who Caelus's secret lover might be. They've already visited Herta's Space Station and the Xianzhou Luofu; as she had already theorised, the former was fully cleared of any suspects while the latter… well, that Qingque was still on the table.

“Come on! Just one game!” —the sight of the short girl dragging Caelus to a board game table was nothing short of amusing. Other than her, there was also the Helm Master’s daughter. 

In Belobog, meanwhile, the group has been going here and there fulfilling missions for the citizens. While up in the overworld, they’ve met with most of the people on Himeko’s list. The mechanic-rock star was pretty friendly with Caelus but it seemed completely platonic. As for that Pela girl, Caelus clearly liked to tease her— “Miss Pela~” Caelus playfully joined the kids she was giving a tour. She then hit him after the kids moved on to the next location before following after them.

Finally, the Supreme Guardian… well, they were in public so the two remained professional although Caelus still remained a bit of a gremlin. In any case, hearing more of Bronya’s voice further confirmed that it was the same or very very similar to the one Himeko heard. In any case. After running all over the overworld, the group took the cable car down to the underworld… to do menial tasks like helping Wildfire deliver packages. 

Okay, to be less childish, one of said packages was important medical supplies for the local doctor. From what she could tell, Natasha and Caelus’s relationship was also friendly and not romantic in the slightest. That then led to the last girl (as far as Himeko knew) that Caelus seemed close with.

“We’ll be back in a bit,” he informed her and March (who was with them) before he and the butterfly girl with a strange fashion sense went off to deal with some Fragmentum monsters in Rivet Town. Alone.

…It could be nothing but still.

In the meantime, she and March could take a break and drink some coffee. Well, just herself; March would rather get some of the local drinks over Himeko’s coffee. “Say, March,” the redhead said after some time being silent.

“What is it, Himeko?”

“Have you ever wondered what Caelus’s type is?”

March’s knee-jerk reaction was to spit out her drink before coughing out, “You’re way too invested in this!”

“It’s not every day that a great mystery lands on your doorstep, my dear March,” Himeko replied with a small amused grin. “It’s now a matter of pride to solve the identity of Caelus’s mysterious roommate.”

“Please don’t drag me into this, I already have a headache thinking about her…” muttered a drained March, further amusing Himeko.

Chapter Text

The mission to eliminate some Fragmentum monsters in Rivet Town was a breeze for the duo. Caelus admitted it was mostly Seele who put in the work but by the end of the day, both were still exhausted. It would be a small trek back to Boulder Town so before making their way there, Seele suggested the two take a break in one of the few safe spots in the abandoned town— the derelict workshop near the orphanage. Caelus thought it would have been better to go to the orphanage itself; he was also somewhat curious to see the inside.

Naturally, they chatted to pass the time. While Seele just aired out some things that were annoying her the last couple of days, Caelus talked more about what was confusing him for some time now. 

"So let me get this straight—" Normally, when someone says that, the other person was in trouble; not this time, however. "There's this girl that's basically been your roommate—" 

"Against my will."

"Against your will," Seele repeated after Caelus. "She may or may not be your mom?"

"One-half my mom," Caelus corrected.

"How is that possible?" How could anyone be one-fourth a parent? That doesn't make a lick of sense. Then again, she was no geographist or whatever the scientific term was. "Run everything by me again." The convoluted story intrigued Seele just as much as it gave her a headache.

Caelus recapped events leading to that revelation on the Xianzhou Luofu. How Kafka asked him to help her with Blade and the game they played— and the second question he asked her.

"Genetically speaking, you are my child. A quarter of the data that makes up your body comes from me. Of course, neither Silver Wolf, Bladie nor Sam are suited to look after a child…"

"It sounds like she was implying the others were also DNA donors, right?" Caelus asked for Seele's opinions. "I know there's a good chance she was just making it up but on the off-chance she wasn't…" Caelus's face scrunched up at the implications. For one, it'd mean all his parents were wanted criminals.

…Oh, and the girl who was being a little troll on the Express— and has been sleeping in the same bed as him for some time now —was actually his mom too.

Caelus knew that the Stellaron Hunters were also a tight-knitted group (Kafka and Blade's dynamic with one another was pretty suspicious) but he didn't expect something like this . Probably because it was just a bald-faced lie. At the very least, he and Kafka had a strong relationship prior to him waking up with amnesia on Herta's Space Station according to Blade. If he had been part of the Hunters before, that'd explain why they (Silver Wolf and Blade) were rather friendly with him though by a much lesser extent for the latter.

"Hmm… Alright, all I can say is your family tree is very complicated," Seele gave her two cents on the circumstances. Caelus's response is to give her a "You don't say?" face. "Hey, what else did you expect me to say? If you thought I'd say anything useful, you don't know me at all, Trash Boy."

"Stop calling me that. It got old fast."

"Oh look! An unopened trash can!"

"Where?!" Caelus couldn't stop himself from snapping to look at where Seele was pointing. A second later, he glowered at her for tricking him with such a stupid trick. Seele, meanwhile, was laughing at him. "I'll get you for this."

"Sure, sure," she snickered, only finding his threat hilarious.

Caelus let out a sigh before leaning back on one of the support beams holding up the tent again… only for the rusty metal pole to give way against his weight. It didn't break straight in two immediately, only bending at a sharp angle. "Uh… I think we should get outta— hey!" Seele was already one step ahead and grabbed him by the hand. The two only barely managed to get away before the pole finally snapped and the roof came loudly crashing down. "…Not my fault."

"Really?" Seele rolled her eyes at his immediate reaction. "Whatever, let's just head back." It was almost "nighttime" anyway.

Whiiiiii—

A mechanical whirling filled the air along with other foreboding sounds. Clearly, the loud crash served as a beacon that drew the remaining monsters in the area. Footsteps came from both ways they could use to retreat, making it clear they'll have to fight their way out again. "I blame you for this." Seele glared at an innocently whistling Caelus.

Sometime later…

While waiting for Caelus and Seele to return, Himeko thought chatting with Natasha was a good way to pass the time. The coffee addict listened to the doctor as she narrated her brief adventure with Caelus in search of her brother. It was a nice, heartwarming story and Himeko felt sympathy for Natasha.

At some point, Natasha brought up a small bit of info about Caelus. "He picked up his habit of calling me Nat from Seele."

"Oh, really?"

"Nobody but her calls me that. It didn't take long for Caelus to call me that too after meeting Seele," Natasha told her.

"I see…" 'Interesting…' Himeko's initial intuition was proving more and more accurate. However, before she got the chance to ask more about Seele, a loud bang as the doors burst open stopped her.

"—last time I ever go out on a mission alone with you!" A frustrated Seele shouted as she and Caelus entered the clinic arguing. Himeko glanced back to see them dishevelled and sweaty. They were also covered in dirt and messy.

"Oh, come on. It was an accident ," Caelus grumbled. "It's not like I meant to do that."

'Meant to do what?' Himeko thought, now completely focused on their argument.

"Either way, it made everything in town come after us," Seele retorted with crossed arms. Whatever it was, it led to the two getting chased out of town, Himeko presumed.

"So it turns out that place wasn't as secure as we thought. That would be on you, you know? Need I remind you, it was not only your idea in the first place, I wanted us to go to the orphanage."

'To do what?' Himeko may be mistaken but she had an idea what they were doing.

"Don't you pin this on me when you were the one being noisy! I was also the one who saved your sorry ass before, during, and after!"

"Alright, that's enough. Settle your dispute some other time; you two are disturbing my patients." Much to Himeko's disappointment, Natasha intervened in the argument. "I take it you two were successful in your mission?" 

"Yes." Both meekly said after being scolded which satisfied Natasha. "Now then, Seele, I wish to talk with you in private. Come with me."

As Seele followed Natasha to another room, she glanced back to see Caelus childishly blowing a raspberry. Naturally, she blew one back in response before yelping as Natasha dragged her away.

"At least everything's over with…" Caelus sighed to himself before turning to Himeko. "When are we heading back to the Express… why are you smiling like that?"

"No reason~"

"…Should I be worried?"

"Maybe," giggled Himeko.

Chapter Text

"So… what's this about you having a girlfriend on Jarilo-VI?"

"One, that's just a dumb rumour. Two, how did you even hear about that?"

"Don't worry too much about that," Silver Wolf dismissively replied as she focused her attention back on the television.

Caelus let out an exasperated sigh and just resumed scrolling through his phone. "…Kafka said you might be my mom."

"…What the fu—?!"

"Himeko, don't you think you're getting a bit too invested in this?" Welt asked with slight concern as he watched the redhead write in a notebook about recent events and her own thoughts on the matter. That much wasn’t odd, but the photos in front of her of Caelus and the various women he hangs out with were questionable.

Himeko's response was to just innocently smile and say she had no idea what he was talking about. Sighing, Welt decided to just leave her to her own devices and focus on his own things. He still needed to sort through his hard drive after Silver Wolf messed things up for "fun". He also needed to figure out the password the hacker used to lock some of his personal folders. Despite being her (second) favourite on the Express, she didn't hold much back in her pranks. At least it was rather minuscule compared to how much she messes with Dan Heng and especially March.

As he headed into the quarters cabin, Welt heard the sound of another door down the hall opening and closing. Turning the corner, he saw Caelus walking down and waving upon seeing him. “Oh… hey, Mr Yang."

"Greetings, Caelus. How've you been?"

"You know… fine considering you-know-who." He sighed. "She's in a weird mood at the moment so be careful what you say if she's in the Parlor." 

"Duly noted." Welt knew enough not to disturb an irritated girl; he was already exhausted as is and wasn’t interested in getting pranked again. “I do wonder, is there any particular reason you let her have free reign in your quarters?”

His question seemed to perplex Caelus, who brought his hand to his chin in a thinking pose. “Hmm… I don’t think so,” he said after a moment. “But… maybe it’s because of my past. She’s never mentioned it but there is a good chance we knew each other before March and Dan Heng found me in the Station, right?”

Welt would say it was less likely they didn’t know each other in some way. It was clearly a friendly relationship they had judging from her current standing with him, but unless she or Caelus brought it up in a conversation, the true nature of it will forever remain a mystery. Telling him that, Caelus nodded before saying goodbye and resumed heading for the Parlour Car. ‘Whatever happens, I pray the best for you…’

If things turned sour with Silver Wolf, Welt feared the level of havoc she’d cause for the Express…

“Wha… what is all this?”

“Oh, Caelus? There’s no need to worry about this. Would you like some coffee?”

Caelus’s only response was to slowly back away from Himiko and out of the Parlour Car. The memory of what he saw was quickly wiped from his mind as he returned back to his room despite Silver Wolf’s current temper.

Chapter Text

Himeko was close to cracking the case, she was sure of it. After pouring over all the evidence, she was confident that Caelus’s secret girlfriend was none other than Seele. Admittedly, her judgement was coloured by the two’s argument all that while back but since then they were pretty friendly with each other— maybe a bit too friendly. Seele occasionally came onboard the Express when they stopped by Jarilo-VI with Himeko keeping a close eye on their interactions.

There wasn't really much to say if she was being honest, but Himeko had sunk in too much effort (i.e. meticulously analysing each of Caelus’s relationships) to back out now.

This particular day, however, Caelus was out running an errand— saying something about restocking before heading down to the planet below. Dan Heng was busy reorganising the database again, March was in her room, and Welt was doing Welt things; that left Himeko to entertain Seele for the time being… along with Pom-Pom.

In any case, Himeko found chatting with Seele interesting; the Wildfire member was definitely rough around the edges but clearly had a good heart. They talked about the general going-ons in Belobog but Himeko was slowly nudging the conversation towards a particular direction. “If I may ask, Seele, what do people think of us on the Express?” She asked after taking a sip from her coffee.

“I’m pretty sure nearly everyone likes you guys.” Seele offhandedly answered with a shrug. It was not surprising to hear considering they did save the planet. “Even if someone has a problem with you rolling in and saving us, I doubt they’d say it aloud unless they’ve had a few too many drinks at the bar.” 

It was nice to know that people feel grateful for their assistance, Himeko thought. While she won’t deny they had their own stake in the fight (being stuck there until the Stellaron crisis was resolved), she still knew they would have lent a hand either way. “And what about you, Seele? What do you think about us?”

Seele raised an eyebrow at that, most likely confused as to why Himeko bothered asking that in the first place. “You guys are good; what more is there to say? I’m lucky that I can call you my friends. Even Trash Boy with his weird fascination with scrounging through garbage.”

The compliment (as well as the nickname Seele had for Caelus) put a smile on Himeko’s face and she took another short sip from her cup. Seele followed suit, drinking her soda she brought with her (somehow… Himeko didn't think she had any functional pockets). Himeko thought she should wait till Seele stopped but decided now was the most opportune time with her guard down. “So… how long have you and Caelus been seeing each other?”

“—Pffft!” As expected, Seele choked on and spat out her drink at the sudden question. Her face turned red as she stuttered out, “The— The hell you talking about?!”

“Oh? Was I mistaken in think you you two were—”

“Yes! Very much so!” Seele angrily cut her off. After a moment, she took a deep breath and apologised. “Sorry, I… Caelus and I are just friends, nothing more. Everyone's been asking me the same thing ever since that mission a while back; even Nat went on about being careful when doing those sorts of things and believe me, I did not need to hear ‘the talk’ from her again,” she sighed. Himeko couldn't help but chuckle at Seele’s exasperation. She could tell Seele wasn't lying so that meant it was back to the drawing board for no— “Why are you asking me about this anyway? I thought that Silver girl or whatever her name was has been on this train before.”

“...Do you mean Silver Wolf?”

Ding!

Caelus checked his phone upon hearing the notification— a new message from Silver Wolf. ‘What does she want me to get now?’ He already stocked up the fridge at their last stop…

gl when u get back

?

What do you mean?

That Seele chick snitched

Your mom knows now

Ill be off on a mission for a few days

Bye~

Wait!

———Silver Wolf is offline———

Caelus stood there frozen for what seemed to be forever as various scenarios ran through his head— potential outcomes, punishments, and everything in between filled his mind.

“Caelus? Are you okay? You're looking kind of pale there…” He heard March worriedly asking as she tapped his shoulder.

“...March, Dan Heng?”

“Yeah…?” “Hmm?”

“...Remember me,” Caelus solemnly said with closed eyes. “Oh, and delete my browsing history when we get back.”

Chapter Text

“Come on, Caelus. It won’t be that bad.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“…No,” March admitted with a nervous laugh. “But Himeko is not going to murder you for dating a criminal.”

Caelus opened his mouth to say he and Silver Wolf were not together but Dan stepped in and intervened. “Delaying the inevitable will only make things worse. It’s better that we— as in you —return as soon as possible.”

“Alright, alright…” The amnesiac man sighed in resignation. He knew he was right but still rightfully feared what Himeko had in store for him.

To Caelus’s surprise, things were calm when the trio returned to the Express. Pom-Pom was cleaning as usual, Seele and Welt were discussing something at one the tables (though both shot Caelus looks of pity when they walked in), and Himeko… she was calmly sipping her coffee at her table opposite to theirs.

“Ah, welcome back you three,” she greeted them like normal. “I take it you were successful in your mission?”

“It went well,” Dan answered and discussed the details with Himeko. 

While she was distracted, the other two went to talk with Welt and Seele— the latter speaking first. “It was an honour knowing you, Caelus. I hoped to have seen you grow more but I’m afraid that is impossible now.”

“Please don’t say that; I already have a pit in my stomach over all this,” Caelus grumbled before glaring at Seele. “How and why did you tell Himeko about… you know.”

“There’s no need to hide her name. We all know who you’re talking about,” March said while rolling her eyes.

“In my defence, you didn’t tell me it was supposed to be a secret,” Seele argued albeit weakly. “I thought everyone here already knew you and your mom were sleeping together.”

“WHAT?! What is she talking about?!” “Oh? I didn’t know you were interested in that sort of thing, Caelus.”

“Don’t say it like that! And stop airing out all my dirty laundry!” Caelus cried. If Himeko wasn’t going to kill him, embarrassment would surely finish the job. “And Silver Wolf and I are not sleeping together.”

“But you two are literally sleeping together,” Dan Heng added from the other table which made Himeko giggle.

“SHUT UP! No one asked you, Dan Heng!” Caelus’s childish retort only made him roll his eyes before resuming talking with Himeko.

March, however, was still trying to process what Seele said. “Can we step back a bit? What did she mean Silver Wolf is your mom?” She scrutinised Caelus’s appearance before loudly noting something. “I mean… I guess your hair colours look the same? But she doesn't look old enough to—”

He was wrong; it wasn't embarrassment that would kill him, it was himself.

“She’s not my mom,” Caelus cut her off, not wanting to hear another word about it.

“What about that Kafka woman then?” He didn't know if Seele was being serious or not but her question earned him another inquisitive look from March and an amused one from Welt. Caelus only let out a long sigh before asking them to drop the topic about his parentage. Fortunately, or unfortunately for Caelus, it was also then that Himeko and Dan Heng finished their discussion.

Time to face the music…

Himeko first congratulated them on a job well done. That was nice but only made Caelus’s stomach sink further. After that, she told them to celebrate such a thing, she'd treat them to something at the next stop. ‘If I live that long,’ Caelus pessimistically thought. And finally— “Now then, can all of you leave the car for a second? Caelus and I have something to discuss too.”

…Damn it.

Caelus hoped the others would raise some concerns but those traitors did nothing to save him from his fate. In fact, they all had already accepted it— “As I said before, it was an honour travelling the stars alongside you, Caelus, however brief it was,” Welt mournfully said before leaving, followed by Dan telling him he’d delete Caelus’s browsing history as he had asked.

“Er… sorry about this. Good luck,” Seele apologised before leaving too. 

As for March, she actually asked if she could stay. “Caelus has stuck with me through everything so I should do the same, right?” She told them but Caelus had the feeling it was also to get a form of catharsis for everything. She must be eager to see someone get the short end of the stick after all the pranks Silver Wolf pulled on her— especially him for sort of protecting the Stellaron Hunter this entire time.

“Are you sure?” Himeko asked with a hint of amusement in her voice. “Do as you wish then. Now… Caelus, dear—” Caelus audibly gulped at being addressed as such. The countless possibilities ran through his mind once again only to be stopped a second later when Himeko spoke again. “Firstly, I’d like to congratulate you on finding someone. That someone being a known and wanted criminal is concerning, but I'm happy for you nonetheless.”

“…What?” “What?!” Both he and March had the same reaction. For a brief moment, Caelus thought he was off the hook but he quickly found out what happens when one celebrates too soon.

“But you must know, there are things that you must keep mind of in a relationship. I don't know how careful Silver Wolf is—” No. “—but it's also up to you to take precautions.” Not this!

March was also seeing where this was going and quickly made herself scarce. “Actually, I think I shouldn't be here for this. Good luck, Caelus!” She quickly said before dashing out, leaving both the mortified Caelus and thoroughly amused Himeko behind.

“There she goes,” the redhead woman tut-tutted before turning back towards Caelus. “Where were we? Oh right, protection. As I was saying, as your relationship moves forward, you must always—”

…Where was that lance of his?

Bing!

How’d it go?

I muted when she started going on about protection

…

I hate you so much

K

Anyway, make sure to keep the fridge stocked

So so much

Chapter Text

Bing!

Without much thought, Caelus took out his phone and checked his messages. He thought it was the Astral Express group but to his mild surprise, it was Silver Wolf. What surprised his more though was what the text actually was.

Word of advice

Stay away from Firefly

???

Why?

Wait, are you in Penacony too?

That woman too

I heard some things from Kafka

There are tons of red flags around her

???

Are you talking about Acheron?

How does Kafka know her?!

She knew someone who knew that lightning chick

Whatever. Baseline is, dont go near those two even with a ten-foot pool

You’ll just get burned

Or shocked

Probbaly both

…

Are you jealous?

—Silver Wolf is offline—

…Yeah, she was definitely jealous. Caelus shook his head in equal parts amusement and exasperation. He wondered why she felt that way though; it was not like they were dating despite what basically everyone else thinks. In any case, he returned to what he was doing before and went along his way.

Ding!

At the sound of a new message, Firefly took out her phone to check who it was. She took a moment to admire her new wallpaper before shaking her head in embarrassment. She opened the app and—

Just a heads-up

That trash boy can get weird from time to time

Best you keep your distance from him

Especially considering the mission

Firefly knew immediately who she was talking about and responded in kind.

Why?

I mean, he can get a bit crazy from time to time

But I don’t mind that

Im just saying

Elio said there will be a time we’d have to fight him

And the others on the Astral Express

Save yourself the heartbreak and dont get too close

You do know how much of a hypocrite you’re being, right?

Don’t think I haven’t heard you’ve been crashing on the Express

That’s different

How so?!

I need a good reason and I’ll step back

But seeing as you can’t give me one, I’ll just keep doing what I want

And we just stay out of each others way

Fine

But dont say I didnt warn you

And make sure that Acheron girl stays away from him too

I feel shes more dangerous than both of us

That we can agree on

Now, I have somewhere to be

Talk to you later, SW

Firefly put away her phone and shook her head. She didn’t really know why Silver Wolf was acting the way she was but Firefly wrote it off as the gamer thinking of the mission. It was rare for her to do that but once in a blue moon… In any case, Firefly resumed on her way to meet up with Caelus. There were still lots of places in the Dreamscape she wanted to see with him.

Chapter Text

Ding!

Hey

Hey

Hey

Hey

Hey

Dont leave me on read

What?

Stop spamming me

Silver Wolf has sent you a location

Come here

I need to talk to you about something

?

Sure

But what for?

——Silver Wolf is offline——

After coming up with an excuse to give the others, Caelus headed to meet with Silver Wolf. He naturally wondered what the hacker could possibly want to talk about; nothing happened recently that would prompt any sort of deep conversation the way she seemed to imply it’d be. Well… unless she was still upset he continued to hang out with Firefly. That may be why.

In any case, Caelus soon arrived at the designated location and… it was an arcade. Why was he not surprised? Entering the establishment, he kept an eye out for the short gamer. It shouldn't be that hard finding her; she stood out in a crowd thanks to her getup— so long as that crowd isn't too tall, of course. The arcade was not that big but was chuck full of machines that filled the room with lights and sounds. However, it seemed to be a slow day as there weren’t that many in the store. It wasn’t that surprising— people had better things to do than visit an arcade while vacationing in the Dreamscape.

It did not take long before he found her in a secluded corner of the arcade. The Stellaron Hunter was in the middle of playing a shooter game, completely focused on the screen as she expertly aimed and took out the virtual enemies with the gun controller like an expert. Seeing her so concentrated stopped Caelus from disturbing her; he just stood a bit behind and waited for her to finish playing. If what she wanted to talk about was so important, she wouldn’t have chosen here to meet up where she could get easily distracted.

He watched her play for a bit until finally, she finished the stage and returned the controller to its slot. A long exhausted sigh escaped Silver Wolf as her shoulders dropped. “…Come on,” she suddenly said, spinning around and grabbing Caelus’s arm before dragging him away.

“Uh… where are we going? I thought you wanted to—”

“Just follow along.” A brief glare stopped any form of resistance (not that he was in the first place) and Caelus let the smaller girl lead him on.

A couple of hours later, Caelus felt his legs were about to give out. Silver Wolf practically dragged him all over the Dreamscape, wanting to check the place out because “I didn't have time to do so before.” However, she was mostly quiet throughout their tour— only speaking up when she wanted to buy something for herself. It was clear as day that something was bothering her yet even when he asked, she only told him they'll talk later.

It was now later and they were back outside the arcade, but she was still not saying anything— only licking the (formally sentient) ice cream she bought. She had also gotten him a cone but he barely touched it. Not because he was unnerved by the idea of eating a conscious piece of dessert— he already devoured multiple cones despite their pleas —but due to his worry.

“…If you're not going to eat that, I’ll take it for myself,” the bored voice snapped Caelus out of his stupor, making him aware how long he had been staring at her. “What's up with you? Got something on your mind?”

“I should be the one asking that,” he retorted. “You dragged me all over and have still yet to tell me why you called me here in the first place.”

“I was bored. Do I really need a reason beyond that?” Silver Wolf scoffed while crossing her arms in a pout. “It’s not like you had anything to do anyway.”

Caelus was going to ask how could she possibly know that before remembering she had bugged his phone and had access to his call logs and messages. “You could have asked first, you know.”

“Asking is overrated.”

‘Like asking if you want to move in with me?’ He rolled his eyes before getting a swift kick to the ankle. “Ow! Why?!”

“I know what you're thinking,” she simply answered and tossed the last bit of the cone into her mouth. “Anyway, finish that quickly. I wanna play a bit more before heading back.”

Now, it was Caelus's turn to let out a tired sigh as he accepted his fate. At least he got ice cream out of it.

Later…

Ding!

‘March texted me…’

Hey!

Where were you all day?

Why you wanna know?

Well, I was gonna ask you to help me buy some more souvenirs

But you weren't responding to my texts or calls

Huh?

Oh, it was probably Silver Wolf’s fault

Erk

Her?

Wait, why her fault?

She dragged me out earlier

Probably didn't want me to be distracted

Really?

What did you two do?

Took a walk around the Golden Hour

Bought some stuff, even got ice cream

Then she made me play with her at the arcade

Why?

…

So you went on a date?

What?! No!

…

…

…

…

Oh shit 

Chapter Text

Really?

What?

Stop beating around the bush and just say what your problem is

Else, stop disturbing me

I'm playing atm

You were that jealous?

?

Oh that

How'd you hear about it?

You’re such a hypocrite, you know that?

Telling me to stay away yet making Caelus take you out on a date 

It wasn't a date

We were just hanging out

Suuurrreee

Don't you have anything better to do than bug me about this?

Be a good little firefly and buzz off

Whatever

Elio is preparing our next scripts

Be ready

—-— Sam is offline —-—

The room had felt empty for a while now, Silver Wolf had to admit as she put down her phone. That trash racoon, as that Belobog girl had so eloquently nicknamed him, had been on Penacony for a while now and had not returned in days.

Not that she missed him, they just hung out and went on a not date the other day.

At least she was free to play as loud as she wanted (at least until the guy the crew left behind knocked on the door and told her to turn it down). And it wasn't like she was alone, she had her team with her who were playing cards again. The mini-fridge was also fully stocked so really, it was the perfect setting for her.

…Yet, she felt something was missing.

*shuu—*

To her surprise, the door suddenly slid open and in came a yawning Caelus. He only gave her a brief “hey” and asked to turn down the volume. The sleepy Trailblazer then got into his bed (after shooing away her team) and swiftly fell asleep. 

Silver Wolf wondered why he returned to sleep here before remembering sleeping in a pool of memoria might not have been the most comfortable. ‘Whatever.’ She shrugged as she turned the volume. Before she resumed playing, she unconsciously glanced back at her roommate… to see he had grabbed Friend and hugged them in his sleep. She had to do a double take at the sight. More oddly, Friend seemed fine with the arrangement and just lay there in comfort.

‘…No snacks for you later.’ She decided with a huff as she returned to her game. This time though, it felt… more right… somehow…

Chapter Text

Caelus was exhausted. The whole plot with Sunday had been resolved but there was still much more to be done. That was left in the hands of others though— he wanted to just relax and unwind. While the Dreamscape was great and all, nothing beats the warm comfy bed of his room aboard the Express. He would have preferred it to be completely silent, but he took what he could get. He had already gotten used to Silver Wolf’s playing anyway; all he could do was hug the doll-like Friend and try sleeping despite the noise.

As he was drifting off, he was vaguely aware that his roommate won her match from the victory music playing. He initially assumed she was going to jump straight into another round only for the sound to cut out completely. The TV was shut off too, his room turning pitch black as the only bright source of light powered down.

“Move,” her unamused voice ordered before Caelus felt Friend get yanked out of his hug much to the tiny being’s protests.

“What are you…?” He grumbled before something took Friend’s place and he felt something pressing into his chest. Some part of Caelus’s mind wanted to make a snarky comment about Silver Wolf’s behaviour, but he ultimately refrained from doing so. He just wanted to sleep. “Good night.”

“…night.” The tiniest voice replied as Caelus finally drifted into dreamland...

“—ke up already.”

“Five more minutes…” Caelus unconsciously grumbled at Dan Heng’s attempt to wake him up. There was no dry reply at first, making Caelus believe he had silently slipped out since he got a response.

That was until— “Himeko is telling some visitors about you—”

“I’M UP!”

“Ahh—!”

Caelus shooting up had the unforeseen consequence of Silver Wolf being woken up as well. He would have apologized had she not responded with a surprisingly strong flick to his forehead. “Ow! Hey!”

Meanwhile, Dan Heng only watched the two’s interaction with his usual face. “Good morning. Now get dressed; Welt needs our help with something.” With that, he turned around and exited the bedroom.

“Remind me to mess with his room lights later…” Silver Wolf grumbled as she laid back down and pulled the blanket over her head. “And turn off our lights when you leave.”

“Yeah yeah…” yawned Caelus as he got out of bed and began preparing himself for the day. But as he was leaving, he glanced back. “And it's my lights.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” The dismissive reply made him roll his eyes as he flipped the light switch, shrouding their room in darkness. Caelus had taken his time preparing earlier, figuring whatever he was needed for wasn't that big of an emergency with how normal Dan Heng acted. Unfortunately, he quickly came to regret it when he stepped into the Parlor Car.

“—re out who he was seeing. I thought I got it right with Seele but I was off the mark.” Caelus froze when he heard Himeko sigh. His eyes shot towards the tables to see her having coffee with Natasha and Bronya; the sight made his heart sink into his stomach.

“I told you.”

“...Shut up, Dan Heng.”