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Sleep came easy after boarding the Express again. Flick the lights off, flop into bed, then hopefully pass out peacefully, that was Caelus' plan.
Unfortunately, that's never how things work after repressing the trauma from being stuck in a void for… how long was it again?
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He was back, floating, in that cold, dark void. Frost crept up his arms and legs as his own memories dripped slowly from his body in the form of a gold liquid, similar to the blood of a Chrysos Heir. It didn't hurt. He didn't even feel anything except for the cold… and the overwhelming dread that he was starting to forget something of dire importance.
The minutes melded into each other as Caelus drifted in the nothingness. Suddenly, something whispered in his mind, a thought that made the Stellaron in him sink like a heart would.
What if they left already?
No, they'd never. Caelus was a valuable member of the crew. Himeko and Mr. Yang wouldn't have ever given him a room if he wasn't…
Maybe a walking bomb was too much to handle.
But, the crew had assured him that they didn't see him like that…
Maybe the trouble you seem to bring on every mission got them fed up with you.
He did seem to bring trouble to whatever place the Astral Express went to…
Your family wouldn’t come back for you.
Maybe they wouldn't… Caelus didn't like that thought.
He failed to realize the liquid gold running down his face in place of his tears, making his memories slip away faster and faster as his body sank into the mind-devouring abyss.
His thoughts kept spiralling, and all he could do was agree to each and every doubt that chipped at the marble that was his mind. It made his Stellaron burn, his throat tighten, and his body seemed to be unable to physically handle the sharp contrast between the cold surroundings and his burning insides. This transferred into an unbearable pain that prickled across his whole body like fire, making him scream like he was dying.
That was all he could feel now, pain, sorrow, loneliness… He felt his body start shutting down and all he could do was cry for home, for his family, the Express, to save him… However, they slipped from his memory through the golden liquid as his body finally let his consciousness slip away from this dream.
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Caelus shot up from bed in a cold sweat, tears still running down his face, and gasping for air. His eyes darted around the darkness… he couldn't be in the void still, right?
His mind started racing again, filled with dread at the thought that they left him for good… He had to get out of here. He needed to find his family. He needed to find them, whoever they were.
In his panic, he tripped over things he couldn't see and bumped into stuff at full speed, adding pain, and more panic to his reeling mind.
By the fourth time he tripped, he was too tired, too disoriented from the dream to search for the door or the light switch. So, he decided to just curl up where he was and hope someone would save him from this place, wherever he was, and from his cruel thoughts.
Caelus’ head snaps up when he hears the door slide open, eyes blurry with tears, finding a vaguely familiar, tall silhouette at the door with jagged horns and a teal tail. Finally, his mind quieted down just a little as the figure – Dan Heng, Caelus remembered his name was – ran closer, he seemed worried.
Dan Heng immediately kneels down to Caelus' level, seeing his state, Dan Heng decides to pull Caelus into a firm hug, his tail wraps around Caelus' waist. Caelus' tears immediately spill over faster as he wraps his limbs around the dragon, mumbling incoherently into his shoulder.
“Shh, you're okay, Caelus, you're safe here,” The dragon reassuringly whispers into the star’s ear. The star just presses his face deeper into the dragon’s shoulder. They stay like that for a while, with Dan Heng whispering quiet reassurances to Caelus until he falls asleep again from his exhaustion.
Dan Heng sighs and carefully picks Caelus up to tuck him back in bed. They slept together like they always did before they crashed in Amphoreus, and this time there was no doubt in his mind that his family would never leave.