Work Text:
Dan Heng makes sure not to let the worry show on his face.
Stelle has no such qualms.
“Do you think March is ok?”
“I hope so.”
“What if we get on Amphoreus and something bad happens?”
“Nothing is going to happen.”
“What if they're all cannibals?”
“They won't be. And even if they were - both of us are more muscle than fat. We'll be fine.”
“But what if - ”
“ Stelle ,” Dan Heng says firmly, but not unkindly, laying a hand on her knee. “It will be fine. Even if by some unlucky twist of fate Amphoreus turns out to be a warzone , both you and I can hold our own.”
And he means it. He, more than anyone, knows how capable Stelle is - they’ve covered each other’s backs countless times before (he still remembers the ease with which they fought together in the damned Shackling Prison) and if the need arises he'll be glad to do so again.
Still, worrying isn’t like Stelle - it sends Dan Heng’s own anxieties swimming to the forefront of his mind. Conversations like these are pointless anyway. They should really stop fretting and focus on the task at hand.
Pom Pom’s voice crackles through the speakers, startling them both.
“Preparing for departure! Passengers, hold on and remain seated!”
“Here we go,” Stelle mutters under her breath.
“Dan Heng! Keep an eye on Stelle - if she brings another car's worth of trash onto the Express again, Pom Pom will personally ground you both!”
Dan Heng sighs, the corners of his mouth upturning.
“I'll try,” he says.
“Good! Stelle, try not to get into too much trouble. We are not bailing you out of prison again!”
Stelle salutes, even though the Conductor can't see her.
“Got it!”
“Pom Pom wishes you both the best of luck on your journey! Now sit back and relax. Car ready for detachment…”
The carriage rumbles into life as the overhead lights switch on. The airlock hatches hiss into place, signalling the end of preparation.
“3…”
Dan Heng turns his head to watch Stelle.
“2…”
She shuts her eyes. It’s a habit of hers every time they warp - Dan Heng supposes now is no different.
“1…”
Before he can overthink, he places his hand on top of her own. She doesn’t react, but her fingers curl up to clasp his palm. He’s not nearly as ashamed as he should be to say his ears heat ever so slightly.
“Departure!”
The car dispatches from the main carriages with a resounding click , and they both hurtle towards the shimmering infinity of Amphoreus.
Stop worrying. Dan Heng tells himself firmly, watching as the stars streak past like comets outside the window. Trailblazing missions are often uneventful. This might be the same.
Wishful, foolish thinking, he knows, but even Dan Heng is a slave to his own anxieties. He holds Stelle's hand a little tighter, and tries not to pay any attention to the shivers that snake like serpents down his spine.
It will be fine. Dan Heng thinks.
Everything will be fine.
Everything was not fine.
“Just one picture! That's all I'm asking.”
“We haven't even stepped foot onto Amphoreus and you already want to clog up March's storage with pictures of an Express car?” Dan Heng says incredulously. “No. Put the camera away. And besides - I've told you already that I'm not very photogenic.”
Stelle gapes at him, still holding March’s camera loosely in one hand.
“Have you seen yourself?”
“Believe it or not I have.” Dan Heng deadpans.
By his calculations, it's supposed to take them another 5 system minutes to get to Amphoreus. They've packed away all the supplies, stocked up the travel pack with first aid, and Stelle's even managed to hold herself off from getting through all the rations (he’ll turn a blind eye to those breakfast bars she'd snarfed down at the beginning of the departure).
And, of course, Stelle takes this as the perfect time to pester him with a photoshoot. She's not quite as demanding as March is, but she's certainly persistent enough for him to wish they'd never bought the stupid thing along on the journey.
But then again, he thinks with a sigh, that's not fair on March.
(And a part of Dan Heng can’t help but feel slightly touched by her efforts. His ears are heating up again and he'd rather not have that immortalised forever on film thank you very much.)
“Fine,” Stelle says with a sigh. “You're missing out though. My picture taking skills are a force to be reckoned with…even better than yours, Master Dan Heng.”
His lips curl up into a smirk.
“Oh, are they?”
She grins. “Is that a challenge?”
Wordlessly he holds out his hand for the camera, his dormant dragon of a competitive streak flaring to life. It isn't often he engages in personal challenges, but if Belobog taught anyone anything (and he'll never be able to live that nickname down if Stelle has anything to say about it) it’s that Dan Heng does like a good bit of healthy competition.
The in-carriage gravity is still switched on, so he doesn't need to worry about securing loose objects. And the nature of the inner mechanisms makes it so that the gravitational field automatically rights itself, despite the twists and turns the car might make, so that even whilst hurtling through space they're able to stand smoothly upright in the carriage.
“I have to warn you,” he says seriously. “I take pictures frequently for the Archives. I'm somewhat of an expert.”
Stelle scoffs. He swears he can see her eyes twinkle.
“Are you bragging ?”
“No,” Dan Heng says, but he's smirking and he knows it.
“Whatever. Just hurry up and take my picture, Cold Dragon Young.”
She sticks her tongue out and strikes a pose, jutting her hip out haughtily. Dan Heng snorts, but he still dutifully carries out his task, carefully fixing the settings to adjust to the dim carriage lighting.
A snap and it's done. He frowns, assessing his handiwork - Stelle's eyes normally glow in the dark and he'd forgotten to take that into account when shooting the photo.
“Lemme see,” she says, waltzing over. She winces as her eyes alight on his work. “Ouch. Hmm. That's a look. It kind of reminds me of a heliobi, if you get what I mean.”
Dan Heng rolls his eyes, holding the camera up again. Maybe if he moves back a little.
“Pose again. I'll get it right this time.”
She grins, stepping back and throwing a peace sign at him. He recognises the familiar pose from the rare sets of pictures that March’s managed to capture of him, and shoots her a look.
“What? People copy things they admire, don’t they?”
He chooses not to comment on that, but an embarrassed heat is threatening to dye his neck bright red. Dan Heng only hopes the lighting is too dim for Stelle to notice.
“Ready…”
“You're supposed to go: ‘say cheese!”,” Stelle tells him with painful enthusiasm. He rolls his eyes again.
“Say cheese,” he acquiesces.
It works at least. Her grin widens even further, eyes shining as if someone had turned the brightness up by 7. And Dan Heng belatedly realises that this - this ‘meeting Stelle halfway’ sort of strategy that he likes to employ from time to time - well it might not be so bad after all.
He looks through the camera and smiles as he aligns the shot.
“Cheese–!”
The end of her sentence is cut off by a scream.
It's the excruciating sound of metal ripping through metal, shrieking through the skeleton of the carriage, shaking and shuddering like a planetary quake. Dan Heng’s instantly slammed against the back wall, all the breath whooshing out of his lungs in an instant. An explosion sounds from somewhere in the carriage. The scraping deafens his ears, and his eyes widen as sounds and sights and blaring alarms assault him from every which way.
And then there’s a gasp of agony and a flurry of wet coughs and a gaping tear in the side of the carriage and a raging Amphoreus wind threatens to rip them both out of the car and there's golden blood everywhere and Dan Heng's finger is still on the shutter but the lenses never even managed to snap closed and suddenly it seems like he can’t breathe because–
Because Stelle stands before him with a giant spear pierced right through her abdomen.
“ Stelle! ”
She looks down at the spear-head, mouth curving into a soft ‘o’, stepping forward to remove herself with a disturbing squelch...and then promptly crumples like a ragdoll to the ground.
Dan Heng's moving on autopilot.
The first logical course of action would be to enable the emergency barriers, but Dan Heng can’t do anything but run over to Stelle, hands remarkably still as he turns her over and presses on the entrance wound. By some miracle, a few heavy crates have managed to snap free of their locks and slide in front of the tear. They shield the two of them from most of the wind.
He grabs onto Stelle and braces for impact.
With a resounding crash, the carriage lands onto hard, surface rock, sending jarring shocks that ripple throughout the entire vehicle. Dan Heng is thrown violently against the side of the car again. Another miracle - he’s managed to shield Stelle from the worst of it and he’s landed on the cushioned passenger seats on the side. He even thinks all his ribs might be intact.
Stelle groans softly in his arms and he holds onto her a little tighter. They’re alive, and the carriage is still, but there’s no telling where the threat outside might be and Stelle needs urgent medical attention. Strange pulses throb in irregular bursts from the centre of her chest, and he’s half afraid the Stellaron inside of her is preparing to detonate.
His hands are coated in blood.
Dan Heng's usually calm facade is slipping, fast, and to make matters worse, suddenly there’s an explosion from the far side of the carriage. He can only watch as the entire thing goes up in flames.
Great.
The fire is spreading like a ravenous beast, which can only mean a fuel leak has sprung up from somewhere. His mind whirring, he tries to think of the best way to exit. The regular latch has been consumed by flames, and the secondary exits are all facing the sky now, but the airlock that used to be attached to the Express is free. Dan Heng doesn’t know whether it’ll open, but he has no other choice.
“Stay with me,” he says to the unconscious girl in his arms, trying not to look at the gaping wound. They have to get out of here first.
Unfortunately that impact from earlier must have done more damage than he’d initially thought, or maybe it’s the smoke-inhalation that’s making him weak, because as he stands, he stumbles. The room spins in dizzying circles, and Dan Heng grabs onto the side of the carriage for support.
He can’t fall unconscious here. He needs to get out before the fire consumes them both. It would be easy for him to put it out with Cloudhymn magic, but he doesn’t have the strength to revert to his Vidyadhara form; and even if he had, there’s no guarantee his powers will work in a completely foreign atmosphere. He’s stuck with the worsening situation at hand.
But if there’s one thing that drives him, it’s the thought of Stelle never waking up. Now that sends ice-cold fear striking directly through his heart. It powers him to stumble out of the destroyed carriage, dragging his feet as Stelle gets ever heavier in his arms.
A part of him blames himself. If he hadn't agreed, if he hadn't taken that picture, if he hadn’t been dissatisfied with the first attempt, if, if, if. These thoughts are dangerous, but Dan Heng is on a foreign planet with a dying…friend, and a burning carriage left behind them - he’s completely vulnerable to the anxieties in his mind.
Stelle’s growing hotter in his arms, and Dan Heng isn’t sure whether that’s because of the fire or the Cancer inside of her. He walks a few more steps, barely able to take in the unfamiliar surroundings, before his legs finally give out. Shaking, he carefully sits Stelle so her back leans against a wall.
… now what?
Dan Heng reaches out for her wound again, but recoils the instant he touches her skin. It’s burning hot. The Stellaron, it must be.
And now he’s out of the carriage, and his thoughts are settling slightly, he’s realising the wound looks… smaller somehow? There’s certainly less blood leaking out of the gash, and as he presses two fingers against Stelle’s neck, he feels a steady hum where her pulse should be. Even as he watches her chest rising and falling, he can see a strange glow around the wound, which he’d previously attributed to her blood colour. Her skin seems to be knitting itself up.
He hardly dares to hope. Could it be that the Stellaron is healing the wound for her?
He needs to call for assistance. The Express’ comms are out of the question, but maybe there’s civilisation somewhere nearby.
(Later Dan Heng will realise he wasn't nearly thinking logically thanks to the pain and the shock of the crash. He should have really tried to stay with Stelle - strength in numbers after all, however wounded - but even he has his stupid moments from time to time).
He gets to his feet and stubbornly stumbles a few steps, mind set on getting help. There’s no way Stelle’s going to die here if he can help it.
He'll have to find a doctor and try to convey to them that Stelle's injured - of course the synth beacon is useless here - and maybe he can bring reinforcements with him in case the threat is still nearby, what was that attack anyway and why were they targeted and Stelle is not going to die, don’t be absurd, everything will be fine –
His legs give out again before he can even walk 10 steps.
It’s only then that he realises how pointless this really is - he barely has the strength to crawl along and sit himself up on another slab of stone. He’s concealed here, but he doesn’t have a clear view of Stelle - if he can just muster up the strength to crawl a little closer…
The darkness encroaches in, creeping into his vision as his head dips. A buzzing fills his ears, his heartbeat thumps slowly in his chest, and Dan Heng can only hope the Stellaron’s powerful enough to keep Stelle alive . Surely that isn’t too much to ask?
He only has time to appreciate the irony of the situation - asking a seed of Destruction of all things to fix this broken mess he’s made - before the dark turns into nothing and Dan Heng slips unconscious once more.
It’s cold. Bitterly cold.
And then, suddenly, a blast of warmth.
“Sorry, Dan Heng.”
Dan Heng opens his eyes a crack, to find a very disappointed gaze looking right back at him.
… okay?
“Sorry for what?” he manages to grunt out.
Stelle looks at him dejectedly. “You're awake.”
He pauses, trying to sift through his confusion. Did he fall asleep? They're not in the Archives though. He doesn't even think they're in the Express.
“How long was I–”
The reality of their situation hits him at full force.
Dan Heng’s gaze immediately travels to Stelle's stomach, relief crashing over him like a tidal wave. No wound at all. Even all of the blood has somehow disappeared. He wouldn’t be surprised if it's evaporated - a Stellaron burns white-hot after all, and the one inside Stelle must be no exception.
“Are you alright?” he asks Stelle, making to stand up. He isn't nearly as dizzy as he was before, which is a plus. “Why do you look as if you've been robbed?”
“Because I was,” Stelle says, frustration lining her words. “You woke up too quickly. I was preparing to do CPR.”
A memory surfaces to his mind - another set of circumstances, another attempt at resuscitation. When he'd tried to follow the instructions he'd read in a first aid book once, but had completely and utterly–
Oh.
He feels the tips of his ears heat. A cocktail of emotions swirls in his gut - he can't tell if it's disappointment or embarrassment or a crippling mixture of the two. Stelle's still standing there, but she's grinning smugly now and it sends the blush rising right up his neck. If he wasn't so concerned for their safety right now, he'd think of a surface-level excuse and promptly make a run for it.
“...I see.” Dan Heng says, choosing to ignore the topic completely.
“What happened anyway?”
“You passed out after the…attack.” Dan Heng says slowly. He's still getting to grips with the reality that both of them are standing here, unharmed. “The carriage set on fire but I managed to drag both of us out.”
He gestures down to the concealed spot where he'd been lying. “I tried to call for help, but clearly I overestimated my stamina.”
“Oh.” Stelle says, glancing at the ruined train car. “Well, that's not great.”
She turns to him, grinning, and it sends sparks shooting through Dan Heng's skin. “Thanks for getting me out of there though. I really owe you one.”
“That's what I'm here for, isn't it?” he replies. “But seriously, never do that again.”
She scoffs. “Not like I did it on purpose. Almost dying hurts y’know.”
“I've heard,” he says, rolling his eyes. Guilt seeps in through the cracks caused by worry (he was supposed to be protecting her), but he shoves it away for another time. That's certainly not his most pressing concern right now.
They're both alive, and that's what matters.
“At least we didn't land in an active volcano,” she muses, looking up at the dark sky. “The planet's a little gloomy though. Trust us to crash-land here right in the middle of the night.”
“Just our luck,” he agrees. “We should try contacting the Express. Though I’m not expecting a reply.”
“Already tried,” she says, holding out her phone. “Nothing.”
“As expected.”
“So, what's next?”
“Try and find civilisation I suppose,” he says. She smirks at him again and he blinks at her. “What?”
“You never did take my picture, did you?”
Some things never change, even after a stabbing, a crash-landing and a failed attempt at CPR it seems.
“ No .”
“Come on! I thought you were going to beat me, Cold Dragon Young.”
“And I thought we both agreed to never speak of that nickname again.”
“Hah, little did you know I was crossing my fingers behind my back.”
He blinks at her, fighting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. But there's fondness among the frustration too, and one day Dan Heng will force himself to acknowledge what these feelings of his truly mean.
Not today though. Today is a day for ignorance... and a little bit of good old exasperation.
“You're incredible, you know that,” he sighs.
“And I'll take that as a compliment!”
She's teasing him, he's indulging her and that's how Dan Heng knows it’s going to be ok. But still, as they walk and she lazily turns to tell him to get a move on, he's momentarily caught off guard by her shining expression.
Stelle looks at him as if he's hung up all the stars in the sky.
“Are you gonna stand there all day or are we actually going to do some Trailblazing?”
“Patience is always a virtue, Stelle,” he smiles.
Stelle look at him as if he's hung the stars up in the sky...and Dan Heng treasures that look more than anything else in the world.
“You still gotta teach me how to do CPR properly sometime, you know that right?”
“...”
“Cat got your tongue, Dan Heng?”
“...I might. Someday.”
“Whoo!”
“But not in front of March.”