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XXX
I got you now
Fall into me
And I'll catch you darlin'
- Fall Into Me, Forest Blakk
XXX
He had waited until everyone left except for them.
Because from the moment he had laid eyes on her, he'd known that she was close to breaking.
Himeko had filled him on what had happened. Everything that he had missed. It tore at him, that he hadn't been able to be there for her. To be there to help her through it all.
Stelle was strong, he knew. Everyone knew that. It was one of the things that all of them liked about her, that drew people to her like moths to flames. But even the strongest had their moments.
Even the strongest of all could break.
So when their discussions with Black Swan and Boothill ended, when all of them had split to their separate ways, leaving them alone, he approached Stelle, standing away from the crowd with a distant look in her eye. Himeko’s knowing gaze that flicked between him and Stelle, accompanied by a hint of concern before she departed had told him all that he already suspected.
All that he already knew.
Her citrine eyes were devoid of the usual light, of its usual humour and spark of emotion.
“Stelle,” his voice was a quiet murmur, of soft water sliding against rocks bordering a gentle stream. “Do you want to take a walk?”
A flicker of emotion passed through her impassive face as she nodded, turning away from the railing and the sight of the crowd of people below. Stelle slipped her hand into his, a well-worn private gesture of affection and familiarity between the two of them. Automatically, he tightened his grip on hers, twining their fingers together as she matched his steps as they left the hotel together, under Boothill’s raised eyebrow that melted into realization and March’s relief at the sight.
“No wonder he was willing to go that far,” Boothill murmured with dawning comprehension, a missing puzzle piece falling into place. Of why the apathetic man had been willing to call on the Xianzhou Alliance to come.
Beside him, March exhaled softly as she watched her friends leave, relief filling her. Relief that Stelle would eventually be fine. Dan Heng would help her, she knew.
He was the only one who could right now, after all.
There were no words as Dan Heng and Stelle navigated through the hallways and corridors, leaving the hotel for the streets. No words as they wandered and passed by a sea of sights that would usually garner exclamations or glances of curiosity from her. The only hint of anything was the way she squeezed his hand, the occasional way her breath stuttered as she struggled with her emotions and her thoughts within.
The way her gaze occasionally flickered to him, holding an unusual fragility that spoke volumes about how she truly felt.
“How much did Himeko tell you?” she finally asked, breaking the silence between them.
They had found a rooftop overlooking the Golden Hour to settle at, cacooning them in their own personal world in the realm of dreams. The endless night, dotted with hundreds of stars illuminated the dwellings above along with the lights from Penacony’s buildings, born out of countless dreams and thousands of sacrifices.
Her voice trembled ever so slightly, the barest hint of emotion that she’d let herself show.
“Everything,” was his quiet response.
At his answer, Stelle closed her eyes.
But that second was all that he needed – to tug her close, to close the remaining distance between them in a hug as her breath shuttered, her repressed emotions hurtling through the surface as she finally let it all go, let all her emotions go.
While she broke in his arms, and he shielded her from the rest of the world.
His heart ached as Stelle buried her head into his chest, her hands clutching to the fabric of his shirt as tears spilled from her eyes and sobs burst out, echoing in the night, in this cacoon of two, of theirs.
Because despite how others saw her, fearless and bold and strong, there was this side of her too. The one that ached for others and wanted to take their suffering by her own.
Dan Heng tightened his arms around her, moving a hand to stroke her hair as she clung to him, never wanting to let go. They lay there, entwined as his gentle motions eventually soothed the pain, calmed her tears as he wiped them away.
“I don’t know how to feel,” Stelle’s voice was hoarse from crying, muffled as her hands tightened their grip on his shirt. “Firefly helped us, but she also lied about everything in the beginning.” A small, tentative pause echoed between them. “And the whole thing with Sunday and Robin...”
“Was there really no other way?” Her voice was small as her eyes met his, remnants of her crying streaking down her face. As the question she had wanted to ask finally left the confines of the cage.
After all, all Sunday had wanted to do was to take away pain and suffering from the people. All Robin had wanted to do was to spread Harmony to the helpless and defend the weak.
So how had it all ended up like this?
But people were complex and nothing was ever as simple as it seemed on the surface. Just like how the supposedly simple invitation to the Planet of Festivities had been a part of a plan beyond their comprehension, spanning over much of the fabric of time until their arrival. Until they had untangled the truth from the lies, weaved through space and history, reality and dreams to find the core of it all.
“I don’t know,” Dan Heng said after a long moment. He didn’t want to lie to her or give her any false expectations, false hope. “Maybe. But we were short on time, Stelle, and our hands were tied.”
Gently thumbing the curve of her delicate jaw, he cupped her face, meeting her eyes with his so that she could see the conviction and honesty in his gaze.
“There’s only so much we can do, Stelle, you know that. I know that,” Dan Heng murmured, stroking her cheek. “All we can do is our best with what we have.”
Citrine eyes closed. Her body trembled as a quiet breath left her lips, as she allowed herself to fall into him, into them. Placed her heart into his hands.
"Hold me?"
His arms tightened their grip around her waist. A whisper of a vow brushed against her ear as light as a feather.
"Always."