Chapter Text
Belobog
Seele sighed as she set down her phone, wondering if Caelus would really pull through. It seemed unlikely, given that the last time anyone had seen him was when the IPC arrived. If he didn’t succeed, then her options were about to go from limited to nonexistent.
“Can’t this stupid princess take a hint…?” Seele mumbled, standing up from her seat and stretching her arms. Sitting around and doing nothing wouldn’t help: she had to go see Bronya. Even if the overall goal was to flirt with the Supreme Guardian, Seele was still her confidante and had to assist with daily matters. She couldn’t shirk her duties just because she wanted to maybe marry her boss.
‘Maybe today will be the day Bronya realizes,’ she thought with hope. ‘Maybe Caelus will think of something brilliant!’
‘Or he’ll fail completely.’
After disappearing among the sea of butterflies and reappearing at Qlipoth Fort, Seele had gone straight into the building, making a beeline for Bronya’s office. After giving the guards a stink-eye (they never did like her), she threw the doors open, preparing to catch Bronya, as Caelus had instructed. Instead, the office remained silent, with Bronya diligently scratching away at her paperwork while Pela assisted.
Carefully tiptoeing her way to Bronya’s desk, Seele felt her heart get lighter as the leader of Belobog looked up and gave Seele a weary smile. If only Seele had enough focus to deal with all of this technical stuff. Then, perhaps, Bronya wouldn’t be so overloaded all the time with the responsibilities of an entire planet. How had Cocolia managed?
“Seele, it’s good to see you,” Bronya said, setting aside what must have been her hundredth form. And the day had only just begun. “How have you been lately?”
“Things are looking up now that I’ve seen you, Princess,” Seele replied smoothly, leaning forward and putting on the March 7th-patented ‘Rizz’ expression. It should have worked, if Pela’s reaction was any indication. Instead, Bronya merely nodded with satisfaction as she went back to her forms.
‘Shit. Maybe I need to do more.’
“So!” Seele began, pacing around the desk as nonchalantly as she could. “Hear anything from Caelus lately?”
‘Great, now she’ll definitely know something is up!’
Bronya froze, her pen finally taking some much needed rest. Seele froze as well, quickly kneeling down and pretending to tie her shoes, which didn’t have laces. Pela froze, precariously balancing a pile of books threatening to fall from their place on the bookshelf.
“Caelus of the Astral Express?”
“Y’know, Princess, for someone so smart, you really do say the silliest things sometimes.”
“Yes, of course…” Bronya trailed off, not taking her eyes away from her paperwork. “He said he’ll be coming to the planet soon — One of those teleport beacons, or whatnot. Why don’t you greet him?”
“Won’t you come?” Seele asked. “I’ve been dying to get some time alone with you.”
“Ah, you know how it is, Seele. Work. Do give Caelus my regards.”
Seele grumbled under her breath, wondering just how the hell Bronya wasn’t picking up what she was putting down. She sighed, and walked out of the office, but not before giving Pela a pointed look. Pela nodded in response, waiting until Seele was just about to leave the room before casually stepping next to Bronya herself.
“So… What was that about?” she asked casually, just out of earshot. Seele only hoped the intelligence officer could get results.
Seele tapped her foot impatiently, standing next to the teleport beacon next to the Golden Theater. Caelus was late. According to Bronya, he was supposed to have arrived six minutes ago. Surely he hadn’t gotten into any major trouble? Seele found it hard to imagine what could stop the Express crew.
Suddenly, there was a flash, and not only had Caelus arrived, but March 7th and Dan Heng as well. Seele watched with amusement as the three tumbled to the ground in a pile of limbs, groaning in pain as they tried to untangle themselves. After offering her assistance, the trio eventually got on their feet, looking strangely enthusiastic.
“I heard there’s going to be a wedding!” March squealed, throwing her arms around Seele. “Congratulations!”
“Wh- Me?! Getting married?!” Seele asked in shock, giving Caelus a glare. “What did you do?”
“March is exaggerating,” Dan Heng explained calmly. “Caelus just told us about his master plan to make Bronya fall for you.”
“Right! What exactly was your master plan? Bronya hardly spoke to me!” Seele said, extracting herself from March’s arms.
“I didn’t do anything! All I did was message Bronya about all your good points!” Caelus defended. “Look!”
The four all crowded around Caelus as he pulled up his texts with Bronya, with Seele snatching the phone away and swiping for everyone’s benefit.
“ This was your idea of helping?!” Seele screeched, tossing the phone back at Caelus. “You’re a dumbass!”
“What?”
“Caelus, I thought you had enough practice flirting, especially with the way you act around Dan Heng,” March sighed. “Can’t you see that it looks like you’re the one into Seele?”
“At what point in your conversation did you make an effort to convince Bronya to see the good in Seele?” Dan Heng asked. “You’ve thoroughly fucked this up, I must say.”
“Shit,” Caelus said, scrolling through the messages again. “Okay, not my best plan. But this next one’s gonna work!”
“I’m going to throttle you,” Seele mumbled.
An hour later, Seele found herself in front of Serval’s workshop, with the Astral Express giving her tips by way of an earpiece. The plan was simple: Get Bronya and Seele into a neutral space where neither of them could be distracted, and clear up the misunderstanding by confessing the entire plan. It was a simple task, and Pela was on the way with Bronya.
“And remember,” March instructed. “We’ll be here to help you if you need it! You just have to speak from your heart, and tell her how you feel! Otherwise this will drag on, and we don’t need another plan from Caelus.”
“We’ll come running at the signal,” Dan Heng added. “Remember, you’re going to cross your arms.”
“Got it. Shit, she’s here — Stay on the line!”
Seele adjusted her position, making sure she was presentable as could be. Pela arrived shortly, escorting a very confused Bronya with her. To Seele’s general annoyance, Serval was also watching not so subtly from her workshop window. Would all of Belobog find out how incompetent Seele was?
“Bronya! Hi!” Seele began, pulling Bronya into a tight hug. “I’m glad you came.”
“Pela told me you needed to tell me something very important,” Bronya replied. “And that the fate of Belobog rested on it.”
Bronya merely gave Seele a look of confusion, as to both of their knowledge, Belobog was completely fine. However, the lieutenant of Wildfire would take what she could get, especially if this was her best chance to confess to Bronya. She cleared her throat, wondering where all this sweat had come from.
“Bronya,” she began. “Ever since that night at the orphanage, our relationship changed for the better. I stopped thinking of you as a stuck up Overworlder, and you realized that Underworlders weren’t exactly bad people.
“I fought with you to free Belobog from the Stellaron, and even worked with you after to help you rule this world we both love so much. And that was when I realized something I wish I had sooner: I was falling in love with you.
“I tried so hard to get you to notice, but you weren’t, and I’m running out of options, so I got Pela to bring you here now, and now I have to tell you before I explode. Bronya Rand, I love you. I love your determination, I love the way you care way too much about everyone, I love the way you gush over your stuffed bunny when you think we’re not looking, but we are. And I really think that I want us to be… Exclusive? As in, girlfriends?”
Silence fell over all the observers. Seele held her breath, awaiting some kind of reaction from Bronya, who had frozen up in shock. Pela was holding out her notebook and frantically sketching something that Seele absolutely had to see later. In Seele’s ear, the Astral Express crew wouldn’t stop gushing over the confession, which was only just now starting to get annoying.
[“SHE FUMBLED!”] Caelus was screeching, and for some reason, March was in agreement. Had she really messed it up? It all seemed fine to her, but then again, her method's lack of success was what brought them to this situation in the first place. If this didn’t work, then Seele would lose her mind.
All of the onlookers held their breath as they waited for Bronya to respond. Seele felt her soul leaving her body with each passing second, shutting out the hushed whispers of all the collected strangers.
“I thought you were interested in Caelus,” Bronya muttered, looking down at the floor. “I can’t believe I was so blind.”
“Caelus? That trash panda? The only people crazy enough to consider him romantic are March and Dan Heng,” Seele said, closing the gap between herself and Bronya. “I asked him for help because you weren’t noticing what I was doing. Clearly, that didn’t work either.”
“I— So the flowers?”
“Were for you.”
“The lunch?”
“I cried when you gave that to Pela.”
“The compliments and the gestures?”
“Were all my ways of trying to get you to notice how I felt about you,” Seele explained, taking Bronya’s hands in her own. “And now, I’m here, and I want you to know before I die of suspense.”
“Well.. This was certainly one way to do it,” Bronya chuckled nervously, looking at anything but Seele’s eyes. “I… do not know what to say. Your words are very kind, and I truly do appreciate them, but…We’re both women…”
This was it. This was the day Seele died. Bronya was about to reject her in front of everybody, and she’d be in love with someone who wasn’t even into women. What a fucking disaster. She should join the Astral Express and get as far away from Belobog as possible.
“Are women even allowed to pursue relationships?” Bronya finished, blushing furiously.
Or, perhaps, she could live on Belobog another day.
“Yes, of course!” Seele replied, almost too enthusiastically. “Who gave you the idea they can’t? Tell me who it is, I'll beat their ass!”
“My mother. She would always tell me about how women were more trouble than they were worth, and that I should find a nice husband to carry on the family,” Bronya explained. “Looking back, I think they were more words of resentment than anything, but I spent the rest of my life locking away my feelings. Especially my feelings about you.”
“I’m going to kill your mother again.”
“Seele!”
“What? She cucked me from the grave!” Seele cried. “I’m allowed to be mad!”
“We’ll get back to whatever that means later,” Bronya said. “For now, I suppose that means I can give you a proper answer.”
“I really hope it’s yes.”
And Bronya laughed in that stupidly cute way that Seele adored, and answered, “Of course it is.”
Afterword:
