Work Text:
The sound of tides crashing against the beach soothed the ache in the depths of his heart. Wind blew his long dark hair and ivory robes like a gentle caress. The sea crooning in his ears, a mother's warm and loving arms hugging her children after a long and tiring day outside.
“When will you come home?” the life giver, the all encompassing mother asked with the song of the waves.
“I can’t. Not yet.”
The dragon that had left it's home whispered. He had long left the ocean behind to travel among the stars. Years passed by unnoticed, shackles of time loose among the crews of the astral train, with no sun nor moon to tell them the passing of days and months. But time still haunted them, inevitable just like every mortal's end.
Now, the dragon was the last member of the Astral Express.
No, not the last. He still had Caelus and Pom-Pom with him.
Dan Heng embraced the still body within his arms tightly, nuzzling his cheek to the soft gray hair of his beloved. More than his longing for the sea, his longing for his bride easily drowned everything else under. Hundred of years passed may had passed, yet his love for Caelus had never lost it's depth. His love was similar to the never ending sea, barely contained within his body and never running out.
Even if Dan Heng had never saw the beautiful color of gold that he loved so much in hundreds of years, sealed behind the eyelids that had never opened again.
Dan Heng still remembered like it was yesterday the Astral Express crew fought against the Destruction itself. A war that broke and reshape the cosmos itself. Alliances of planets and spaceships working together to stop the end of the universe. All centered on the last remaining train of Akivili. They had followed the path of Trailblazers, reconnecting the worlds with the star rails that Akivili left behind.
His sky, his treasure, was the center of it all. His light gathered everyone to join hands with him, following the trail he left behind.
Bearing the gazes of every Aeon, Caelus blazed ahead all of them. He kept going forward, like a shooting star, against the Destruction itself. Even when his weapons broke one by one, Caelus never backed down. Caelus continued to shine brightly, out of his reach. Just like how the sea would never be able to reach the sky.
Tragically similar to how stars burned brightly before it’s destruction, so did Caelus sheared an awe-inspiring sight within the hearts of many before he fell.
With their source gone, the Stellarons also disappeared. Caelus fulfilled his promise, ensuring the erasure of Fragmentums caused by the Stellarons. But that also meant the end of the Stellaron that supported his life.
Dan Heng had caught the falling Caelus. Bailu, Natasha, and many other healers tried their best to bring his sky back to them. They managed to recover Caelus’ body, but not his consciousness.
Not even Yaoshi themselves could bring back the dead, they said. But Caelus wasn’t dead. Even when he’s no longer breathing and his heart no longer beat, his body never rotted. It’s like he was forever frozen in time, or cursed with hundred years of sleep, just like in children fairytale.
He remembered the many meetings and arguments after that victory. Of how there were two sides among the giant alliances; to find a way to bring Caelus back to life or to let Caelus had his well deserved eternal rest. The Xianzhou, understandably with their past history, were unwilling to let the other side find a way to bring Caelus back to life. Jing Yuan had especially looked at Bailu and Dan Heng, his eyes had tinge of exhausted wariness.
“Will the history repeat itself?” Jing Yuan had asked him in private, after the meeting was over with a sour note.
Dan Heng couldn’t answer him at that time. But at least he knew better than to bet on the Plague Author.
Still, the Astral Express never gave up. They continued their trailblazing journey, uncovering new worlds and keep trying to find a new source of power to wake Caelus up. Even when years passed by without any new clues. Even when Himeko's red hair turned to white, when they had to part ways with Welt when they found a way to return their dear friend home instead, or when March found out the truth of her identity.
Even when, one by one, their Astral Express family of six become five, then four, and now…just three.
Dan Heng left the sea behind his back and returned to his chosen home. Just like always, their precious conductor greet them at the door with a big smile.
“Welcome back, you two! Got anything interesting?”
Dan Heng shook his head, his arms were full with Caelus, so Dan Heng used his tail to take out a small souvenir he got for the small conductor. “Unfortunately, nothing. The sea was beautiful though, so I got photos for you and March's collection.”
Pom-Pom took March's camera from Dan Heng's tail and let out a happy sound as they looked at the multitudes of photos immortalized within it's data. “Pom-Pom will help printing these later! You get better and better at taking photos, Dan Heng! Pom-Pom is sure March would be proud of you.”
Dan Heng smiled. He could easily imagine how March would grin teasingly at him and say. “I would never beat her superior photography senses though.”
Pom-Pom nodded, because they both know how March took pride in her photography skills. “Then, take a rest passengers! We will warp in thirty minutes! Next destination : the newly discovered world named Auldrant!”
Pom-Pom quickly walked away, preparing for the warp. After they lost their Navigator, Pom-Pom had to work double. But just like Dan Heng, Pom-Pom had also gotten better at navigating the vast expense of cosmos.
Because even when it’s just the three of them now, both of them still couldn’t let go of their wish to see Caelus opened his eyes again. They bore the unfulfilled wishes of the other crews, and they couldn’t stop now. They didn’t want to stop either.
Dan Heng walked inside the empty longue car and gently put Caelus down on the sofa where he always sat everytime they do warp jump. They always included him in their expedition too. Usually it’s Dan Heng who would carry Caelus in his arms since if needed, he didn’t really need his hands to fight. But sometimes they took turns, carrying Caelus on their back or arms.
“Look, Caelus! That food looks so tasty! Can you smell it? Maybe we should ask for a recipe so we can cook one for Caelus when he wakes up later.”
“Ah, it’s too bad that there’s no trash cans in this world. Caelus would be disappointed. Let’s find something unique to tell him later.”
“The coffee in this world tasted excellent… why all of you are looking at me like that, hmm? Caelus likes it when I made his coffee with plenty of sugar and milk.”
Dan Heng knelt in front of Caelus, holding his hands. Himeko’s jacket covered Caelus’ shoulders. Welt left behind his scarf. March tied one of her pink and blue ribbons on Caelus' left wrist.
The coffee cup left behind on the table by Pom-Pom, always refilled with fresh coffee each morning. The newspaper on the sofa, weighted by a small mecha robot from Welt's hometown. March's wall of memories, continued to be updated even today.
“We're with you, even when we’re no longer here.”
“And both Pom-Pom and I are still here.” Dan Heng leaned his forehead to their joined hands on Caelus’ lap. “We will stay with you, forever.”
He still remembered a very precious memory.
The day when Caelus and him were wedded, witnessed by his dear Astral Express family. It’s a simple ceremony, the Astral Express had tried their best to follow the ancient Vidyadhara’s wedding ritual. Dan Heng preferred this compared to go back to Luofu and having a genuine ceremony there. Just them and the people precious to them was enough for both of them.
“Hey, Dan Heng?” Caelus had asked him, when they’re laying down on their shared bed. “Why do you include ‘forever' in your wedding vow? Don’t the people of Xianzhou detest ‘forever'?”
“The Vidyadhara wasn’t originally from Xianzhou. While we both detested the Abomination of Abundance, Permanence itself was the way of life we inherited from our forefather, the Aeon Long. To us, ‘forever' wasn’t a bad thing, but each of us have our own definition for what is permanence.”
“What is Permanence to you, then?” Caelus had smiled teasingly at him that time.
The familiar ache of longing and yearning for his bride was like the sea tides, drowning him under the surface with memories of happier times. How he wished he could once again turn back the hands of time. He would fight against the Destruction again if it meant he could return to the time where everyone he loved were smiling and alive.
But time had always only moved forward, no matter how Dan Heng wished to return it back.
Change was inevitable. Eternal and forever didn’t exist.
Yet…
Dan Heng raised his head to look at Caelus’ face. He pulled Caelus’ limp hand to his cheek and nuzzled the back of his hand.
“Etching my vow into my scales, I promise you this. Forever I will love only you. Even when someday I will return to the sea and my memories will be wiped away by the tides, Dan Heng is forever only yours. Just like how you are only Dan Heng's.” Dan Heng tightened his hold on Caelus’ hand, his voice whispering the vow he had once said in their wedding day. “My bride, you are my sky. Just like how the moon never leaving the sky even in daylight, I will never leave you.”
Dan Heng smiled at Caelus. Even through all the pain of separation, this love would forever shone true.
“This is my Permanence, Caelus.” Dan Heng stood up and hugged Caelus tightly in his arms. His long hair like a veil that covered Caelus from the world, his tail wrapping around Caelus’ waist, wagging slightly from how dear the person in his embrace was. “My treasure, Bǎo bèi…”
Forever he would travel among the stars, searching for a miracle. For a chance to awaken his treasure, the one he had given his dragon's heart to.
For Dan Heng had devoted his heart to only one person; in the past, now, and to the endless future.