Work Text:
“You and I are each other’s destiny…”
…
“What did you mean by that?”
—-
Beep, beep…
Another text, who was it this time? Stelle opened her phone in the parlor car and got met with a message from an unknown sender.
‘Again..?’
Anonymous: “Stelle, come to the Divination Commission alone. I'll send you the coordinates
Don't tell anyone
- Sincerely Yours, Kafka”
Stelle was confused, how was Kafka still in the Luofu???? She had to make sure.
TrashCanLover: “You say you're Kafka? Where's the proof?”
She waited a few seconds until she got a new notification. ‘Oh my god, she’s hot…’ Stelle’s cheeks became as red as Luka’s hair as she looked away from her phone. Kafka sent a… very interesting selfie to say the least. ‘Fucking hell, why did she have to send me this now… I can't react to Kafka's picture like this, get it together, Stelle…’
Anonymous: “[attached picture] Is that enough?”
Himeko looked at Stelle, she was puzzled but decided against questioning the trailblazer here and there. She let it go for this time.
Stelle took a deep breath and looked at the new notifications.
Anonymous: “Bladie's mara symptoms are getting serious, I can't leave before he recovers
But you know, the bounty on his head has not been canceled yet, he is still the top wanted criminal on the Xianzhou
I need you Stelle, come find me”
Oh… Kafka wants to protect Blade and Stelle was the only one Kafka could trust… After a few seconds of hesitation, Stelle responded to the strange woman.
TrashCanLover: “Where are you? Send me your coordinates”
As soon as she sent this message, the coordinates were sent to them.
Anonymous: “You'll be here, I'll wait”
The Stellaron hunter’s confidence never failed to make Stelle’s heart skip a beat.
March has been staring at Stelle from the back of the Parlor Car, she planned to come over earlier until Stelle started to act weird. You guessed it, Stelle was way too obvious with her reactions. March decided to walk over to her best friend now that she stopped acting as weird in front of her phone.
“Now, now, what's up with you?”, March asked, questioning Stelle’s sanity.
“Kafka texted me”, Stelle answered.
“Oh, right! This was who you were blushing about! I knew it!”, the pink-haired girl exclaimed.
“You must be seeing things, March.”, responded Stelle as she failed to keep her usually smug composure.
“Keep telling yourself that. What did she text you about?”
”She needed my help.”
”Hmmmm….”, March suspiciously looked at Stelle. “And why would she ask you?”
”No clue, I should ask Himeko for advice.”, Stelle replied as she tried to recover from that selfie Kafka sent.
”Yeah, I don’t trust her. I don’t know what you see in her, Stelle but… I’m not here to judge.”, March responded.
”Why does it sound like I’m going on a date with her now?”, Stelle raised an eyebrow.
”Isn’t it a date though? She didn’t ask me for help as far as I’m concerned.”, March replied, smirking at the trailblazer, oh for once was she able to come back at her teasing tyrant.
Stelle facepalmed to hide her blush, she could not let March see her in ‘such a sorry state’... Was she using a sentence Kafka used? She was a lost cause…
”Forget it.. I have to go soon, I'll go talk to Himeko ”, Stelle ran away from the conversation. March noticed, of course, she knows her best friend better than anyone else. She decided to opt out of teasing her now and doing it after she comes back from the urgent mission.
Stelle goes over to Himeko and shows the conversation to her, including the selfie, of course.
”Really? So she’s still on the Xianzhou.” Himeko was pretty surprised by those news.
”What do you think I should do, Himeko?” Stelle responded, still clueless about what to do, she wants to go but she’s wondering if it’s a good idea, ‘as hot… it’s not the moment Stelle…’ as she can be, you still aren’t sure about helping her.
”Me? I’d suggest you go yourself. Even if you don’t want any more dealings with her. It’s best to say to her in person… Reading this message, it seems like she may really need your help. As a passenger of the Express, I don’t want anything to do with the Stellaron Hunters. But… she does have a deep connection with you, Stelle. Based on her actions so far, it seems like she had no ill will towards you. If it were me seeking help from someone in a time of crisis, I’d sure hope they showed up in person. So, Stelle, do as you see fit. I don’t think Kafka intends to do you harm.” The nameless left Stelle speechless, she was right. She had to meet her in person at least.. It was urgent, after all…
That was it, she had to go… Himeko said it herself, she wanted nothing to do with Stellaron Hunters and yet, she felt like the gray-haired lady should still see Kafka…. The red-haired woman definitely knew what she was talking about to be so relaxed about the idea that Stelle goes to the Xianzhou to help a wanted criminal…
Stelle travelled to the coordinates, she was met with the Stellaron Hunter waiting for her arrival outside of your average house in the Xianzhou, the trailblazer walked up to her.
”I knew you would come.” Kafka said with a very perplexing smile forming on her lips.
Stelle's cheeks started to burn, this woman's confidence will never cease to make her heart skip a beat. Kafka laughed to herself as she witnessed that reaction from her favorite astral expresser, she didn't want to point it out though, she exactly knew how her former partner felt, they spent a lot of time together after all.
Kafka cut to the chase and explained her predicament: Stelle was the only person she could count on as of for now, it was a pretty dire situation for her.
The huntress then offered to play one round of One truth, One lie with Stelle, explaining that both Silver Wolf and her would play it to kill boredom.
"I'll start, what do you think about me? I started it off easy, try it out. If you tell the truth, you have to lie.", Kafka said as she glanced at the nameless in front of her, patiently waiting for her answer.
Stelle attempted, in vain, to hide her feelings. 'Huh? What do I think about Kafka?Why does she want to know that?!', she thought to herself. "You're hiding your feelings well~", Kafka intentionally teased the other, knowing that she was, in fact, panicking about her question.
The trailblazer thought about what to do for a few minutes before giving Kafka her answer, gaining her composure back in the process. "I like you.", Stelle uttered as her face was increasingly becoming redder.
Kafka smiled to herself. "A pretty easy game, don't you think? Your turn now. Ask me a question."
'I have so many questions to ask her, I don't know where to start…'
"What is my connection to you?", Stelle asked.
Kafka paused for a few seconds before giving her answer.
"One day, Elio handed you over to me. He said that things continue to transpire according to future possibilities he foresaw, you could eventually change me, and I would change you. In other words, you and I are each other’s destiny."
Stelle was in deep thought as soon as she heard that, but it could very much be a lie, she came up with another question. Stelle's thought process got suddenly interrupted by Kafka speaking.
"Take care of those cloud knights, will you? I need someone to distract them while I'm taking care of Bladie."
Stelle listened to her.
Kafka was taking care of Blade’s mara in the meantime. As Stelle was guarding Kafka's back, the huntress' last sentences kept on replaying over and over again like her favorite song she would put on loop. “You and I are each other's destiny” was echoing in the depths of her mind, even heart like a song that won't go away. She needed answers, she wanted answers.
Kafka was perfectly aware of that fact and smiled to herself as she was taking care of her companion. It was all written in Elio's script, after all. She however knew that now was not the time to tell the entire truth, at least, if she wanted the best outcome for the entire universe.
Stelle came back to her favorite Stellaron Hunter after finishing the job, she yearned to ask her more questions.
One plus one equals two, right?
“Wrong. Very clever. But was it worth sacrificing a question to determine whether the last answer was true or false? Tough to say.
So what Kafka said was true… Stelle had so many questions to ask, yet would the stellaron hunter respond to them? Hard to say.
“What did you mean by that?”
“The game's over, Stelle, I see your eyes are looking for more answers but you can't know, that's part of the rules.” It's not like she could tell the trailblazer anything, Elio warned Kafka about responding to any of her questions outside of the game. As much as she yearned to tell her old lover what it exactly meant and about how much she wanted her too, she just… couldn't.
It wasn't the time yet, not today, not tomorrow…
Stelle was visibly torn apart as she was yearning for more answers. Kafka could see it, she however had to keep her composure, she couldn't give herself away, for the sake of the script.
Will it ever be the right time to reunite?