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The way Dan Heng spoke about Xianzhou Luofu left Caelus wondering what really happened to him.
That was really all there was to it. Just a small spark of curiosity that left him thinking more about the mysterious man. After all, Dan Heng had been no short of calm and collected ever since Caelus first met him. Stiff as he was, he would never show emotion even in the most dire of situations; not when they were cornered by the Doomsday Beast, and not when they had been falsely arrested by the Supreme Guardian. Suppose that’s where he got his reputation of being incredibly stoic, even if that reputation stemmed from a dramatization by March.
But that moment on the Astral Express… Short as it might have been, something special was there. Caelus was sure of it.
The fact was, all he heard from Himeko and Mr Yang had implied that Dan Heng was a wanted man on any Xianzhou aircraft, hence why he stepped out of visiting the world at all. And if that wasn’t enough proof, he even voted against visiting the Xianzhou Luofu at all (even though March had made the winning vote to go there anyways).
And yet, despite all those hints of his distaste of that world, for amoment on the bridge as he explained the ship’s architecture, Dan Heng’s voice had slightly wavered. Out of sadness or happiness, Caelus had no clue. But he was certain there was something else Dan Heng wanted to say. Something he was hiding about the Xianzhou Luofu, something he wouldn’t mention to anyone.
Which has thus led to … the ash-haired trailblazer standing right in front of the archives’ room.
This is silly , Caelus thought to himself. I can’t stay here forever, Welt and March are waiting for me back on the surface. Even though I gave them the reason for forgetting something on the Astral Express, sooner or later, Himeko is gonna find out that I’m playing hooky, and the last thing I need is to make her angry.
Caelus let out a sigh. Well, I’ve come this far. Might as well try something. He knocked on the door.
Silence.
Not again… Has Dan Heng fallen asleep AGAIN?
If Caelus wasn’t on the Astral Express, perhaps he would have swung at the door with his bat to break it down, or stabbed at the door controls with his spear until it budged. … Or maybe swing and stab at the door at the same time at the door just to get it opened.
But given that Pom Pom was in the next carriage over, it was clear that such an act would send him out of the train and vacuum ejected into the cold crevasse of space. Caelus wisely decided that it would be better if he stepped away from destruction at that moment.
Though now that he gave the impulsive idea some thought, he realized there was no need for him to rush in talking with Dan Heng. In fact, one could argue that there really wasn’t any need for Caelus to talk with him at all. The only thing binding him to that door and his mission was his own curiosity about the young man in question, and even that could be snuffed out in an instant if he just left the Astral Express and went to explore the Xianzhou Luofu instead.
Yet Caelus refused to budge. Once his curiosity had been piqued, it was hard for him to dismiss it until he confronted it himself. He knocked on the door again.
Silence once more.
Caelus was incredibly tempted to shake his head. There really was no point in continuing this song and dance. It seemed like he was gonna have to save his questions for when he came back from his expedition.
… Which could take a while, if his experience of Jarilo-VI meant anything.
Maybe just one last try. He knocked again, the hardest he could, hoping it was loud enough to wake Dan Heng up. Really, how much sleep does a guy need-?!
“I heard you the first time.” Was the response to Caelus’ incessant knocking. And that was almost enough to send Caelus crumbling into dust. Almost.
“You know, it would have been nicer if you said something then…” He mumbled instead.
“I didn’t think you’d keep knocking on my door this long.” Dan Heng reasoned. “Haven’t you left with Mr Yang and March, anyway?”
Caelus tilted his head. “How did you know it was me knocking on your door?”
“Oh, that’s simple; only you would do something that silly.”
This guy-!
Maybe Caelus will smash the hell out of the train door after all. Though his course of action was (thankfully) halted by Dan Heng speaking once more. “Anyways, what are you doing here?”
Ah, there it was. The whole reason why Caelus had returned to the train in the first place. “Right… uh…”
Oh how lovely. Right after I finally got his attention, I don’t even know what to say. Good job, Caelus. Absolutely stellar.
There was an awkward silence between them. Probably an expected one too. Who would expect two introverts to open up to conversation quickly? Maybe I should have asked March for advice-
“Do you want to come in?”
Caelus hurried stood up from his hunched position. “Oh, no no no, I don’t need anything from the archives!” He waved his hands in front of his face. “You don’t have to… come out if you don’t want to…”
“Then what are you here for?”
The trailblazer let out a disappointed sigh. “I… I guess I had a … question?”
“You guess ?”
“Hey, you’re not making this easy for me either!”
“I already did, didn’t I? By offering you to come in?” The more he spoke, the louder Dan Heng’s voice became. He was probably right behind the door by now. “If it’s a question that got you staying back on the express, it must be important, right?”
It is important, but…
Caelus shook his uncertainty away. Just go for it. What’s the worse he’s gonna say? “I … wanted to ask you about the Xianzhou Luofu.”
From behind the door, Caelus swore he could hear the whirring sounds of the archives. It was only pierced by Dan Heng’s cold and monotonous reply. “What about it?”
There’s that emotionless tone again. Hallmark of a stoic Dan Heng, but Caelus knew there could be a way to shift it. “When you were talking about it on the bridge, before we left, I just wanted to ask…” The words naturally found their way to his lips. “Why would you speak about that ship so fondly, even if you’re not getting on it?”
“ … I don’t see why this will help with your mission.”
“Y-You’re right, it won’t…” Caelus wavered, pressing a hand against the door. “But it’s just… you’ve never seemed so keen about a place until now, and you’re not even boarding the ship itself! Isn’t that just a waste?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
This guy is so stubborn! “You know what I’m talking about, Dan Heng. I can hear it in your voice. I could hear it then too.” His voice was getting louder, but in his one-tracked mind, he couldn’t quite tell. All he focused on was to get Dan Heng to open up even a little. “You’ve never shown that much emotion, and now you did. Am I wrong to suspect that something is up?”
“Even if you did, it’s not your responsibility to speak to me about it.” Dan Heng’s replies sliced through the thick air between them like a butter knife, one jab after another. “And I am not that emotionless. You sound just like March.”
“I just… I just want to know more about you.” Caelus unknowingly mumbled. “I get to speak to March way more than with you, and even if I don’t know you that well, I don’t want our relationship to just…”
Fall apart. Like with that woman from the space station. The woman who left me alone for a reason I can’t understand.
The woman who abandoned me.
Caelus couldn’t tell if he had said all those words in his head or out loud, but he did suspect the latter as soon as Dan Heng spoke again. Slowly, this time. More of a reassurance than a retort.
“Just because I’m not following you to the Luofu doesn’t mean I’m abandoning you, Caelus.”
He was right. Of course he was right. In the midst of all the thoughts running rampant through his head, Caelus lost track of what he really wanted to ask and spiraled into his inner feelings again. He had a bad habit of doing that, comparing his current situations with the day he woke up at the station. He was just lucky that no situation had caused him to say those things out loud.
Not until now, anyway.
No point staying here anymore. He decided. By now, Dan Heng must be confused at his outburst, and aeon forbid, he certainly won’t talk to him about the Luofu. He might as well leave before Himeko actually finds him. “I’m gonna go now.”
He was just about to step away from the door when he heard a soft mumble behind him.
“Don’t talk about the Aeon of Abundance on the Luofu.”
Caelus whipped his head around. “What?”
“The Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi. The people on the Luofu hate that Aeon.” The archivist continued. “And don’t talk about lengthening your lifespan, or anything else like that.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story, I’ll spare you most of the details, but the short answer is Yaoshi cursed them years ago to never age.” His voice was solemn, and grim, but not in the same way as his stoic voice was. “Why do you think the Xianzhou Luofu are allied with Lan the Hunt?”
“ … Because Lan is also enemies with Yaoshi.”
Was that a chuckle from Dan Heng? A chuckle ? “Correct. I see you remember your archives.”
Caelus must be dreaming now. Maybe Pom-Pom found them and chucked them into space and this was a hyper-dream. Even so, something inside him was beaming.
He got Dan Heng to chuckle . That’s gotta mean something, even if it was in his dreams. He wanted to do it again.
“So wait… If you were from the Xianzhou Luofu-”
“Who said that I was?”
“Didn’t you tell me you were born on a beautiful ship? Isn’t the Xianzhou Luofu that ship?”
“I didn’t say what ship it was.”
“We’re not doing this song and dance again, Dan Heng. You did mean the Xianzhou Luofu, right?”
“I believe I have the right to remain silent if I wished.”
“Hey, what’s going on here?!”
Shoot! Cover blown! Down the hallway, the cute sounds of Pom-Pom’s feet seemed to get closer to him. Caelus rightfully decided that now was the time to get out of there before he gets busted . “I’m expecting an answer when I get back, Dan Heng! Bye!!”
He didn’t have the time to hear his reply, instead forming a hypothesis in his mind. So… Dan Heng can never age huh…
It wasn’t an answer to his initial question. But it was something. Caelus was happy with just something. He sped out of the express and back to where March and Welt were waiting for him.