Chapter Text
His ears were ringing. He was aching all over and disoriented from the crash. That wasn’t important right now. Stelle needs to be somewhere safer. Somewhere that isn’t their battered and burning express car. He let out a grunt of frustration over how his strength was failing him in this moment. His body was screaming, every fiber of his being signalling to stop everything he was doing and to recuperate. He ignored it all, focusing on getting a decent hold on Stelle’s unconscious form. A task that should’ve been easy, made into a challenge by his own uncooperative body and the blood that’s been seeping through Stelle’s clothes. Her blood. Dan Heng squeezed his eyes tightly. There was so much of it. That damned… whatever it was that struck their car ended up heavily injuring Stelle. Her body was covered in so many cuts and the huge gash from where Stelle took the brunt of that shot just kept on oozing blood that made his hold on her slip every other movement. He needed to figure out how to get them out without exacerbating her wounds.
“Stelle, please we need to go,” a desperate attempt to speak to his companion. Dan Heng knew he wouldn’t be getting an answer, but for once he felt like he needed to keep talking, if only to get a grip on his discordant emotions.
After struggling to get down from the pile of rubble their express car was situated on, he could finally lay Stelle down. Her breathing was labored, weak whimpers escaping her. She’s still alive. She’ll be okay. Stelle will bounce back from this just like she always does. He just needed to stem the bleeding. He has never wished so badly in his life that his cloud hymn magic could heal. He’ll have to make do with traditional care. Dan Heng winced at the pained gurgle Stelle let out at the pressure he applied. His eyes burned, voice quivering as he whispered a string of apologies to his companion.
Dan Heng tried to comfort her, to distract her from the pain.
He could hear her breathing getting more and more shallow.
“We just need to stop the bleeding, Stelle.”
The pool of blood was spreading out further on the floor.
“I’ll go back to the car and see if we can salvage any medical supplies once the bleeding slows down.”
Stelle’s face was pale. So pale.
“Then I’ll look for someone to help us.”
He didn’t want to leave her, but he’d need to for Stelle to have any chance against her wounds.
“I’m sure we can find somewhere to stay too. Let me be the one to figure out our arrangements.”
Dan Heng looked up, his teary gaze met by one that was glazed over and distant.
Stelle wasn’t breathing. Her body felt so cold.
Bringing up shaky hands to cup her face, he couldn’t believe it.
Caressing Stelle’s cheeks, he spoke softly, “...Stelle?” Dan Heng’s world was zeroing in on this moment. He couldn’t see or hear anything else. It was just himself and Stelle’s unresponsive form.
A thick viscous tar is pouring out from the cracks of his heart encroaching on the new hollowness in his chest. It slowly crawls through him, reaching up and tightening his throat.
Dan Heng felt like he couldn’t breathe.
One more time. He needs to try one more time. But no matter how much he called out her name, she wouldn’t respond.
Stelle…died? A choked sob escapes him. Fresh tears spilling over as he gathered her up in an embrace. Not even an hour ago she was happily listing out the outrageous plans she had once they officially began their excursion. Now she was covered in blood and dirt, surrounded by rubble. She wasn’t even able to speak any last words. Dan Heng let out an agonized scream. He couldn’t even keep her safe until they landed. What was he gonna tell the rest of the crew? How was he even gonna get them back to the Astral Express?
Dan Heng doesn’t know how long he stays wrapped around Stelle, but he can’t ignore how much his body aches anymore. All the adrenaline dissipated and his strength has truly seeped out of him. As he moves to settle her back down, he assesses the extent of the mess. Stelle’s cheeks had blood smeared on them that was beginning to flake. Spots where his tears fell diluted the red, creating a morbid pattern. He could feel the areas where blood has become flaky and crusty on them, and the sickly tackiness of places where it hadn’t completely dried yet. His heart was in his throat. Stelle didn’t deserve any of this. Even though he feels so ragged, Dan Heng musters up as much strength as he can to summon cloud hymn magic. The least he could do is clean them up.
He directs the water to Stelle’s face, gingerly wiping away the grime. It makes Dan Heng’s stomach lurch seeing the state she’s in. He goes at a sluggish pace, still unsure of how to proceed going forward. At some point he’ll need to tell the crew. He hasn’t even checked if their comms work. There’s so much he needs to do. Things that need him to scout the land they’ve found themselves in, but he can’t just leave Stelle to rot here either. No. He doesn’t want to think about that yet. Cleaning. He needs to focus on cleaning.
After some careful manoeuvring, Dan Heng gets them to a point of being almost presentable, if only their clothes weren’t as disheveled and damaged. He leaves a soft kiss on Stelle’s forehead, willing himself not to cry again.
Just as he moved to finally settle down and give himself a break, Dan Heng heard cracks from above. There was no time to drag Stelle away. Instead he used the last of his energy to move her with cloud hymn magic.
Then his world sank into darkness.
Aeons above, his head was pounding. He could feel how some of his hair was matted down with blood. He’ll clean that up later. More importantly, he felt like he was being shaken. Did a local get attracted by their crash site and come to check for survivors?
“...Sorry, Dan Heng.”
That voice.
Impossible. There was no way. Was he still unconscious? Maybe dreaming? But the insistent throb of his head could definitely attest against that. Dan Heng swears this must be some cruel hallucination. A trick that his mind is playing out of sheer denial of what he knows he witnessed. If this is its attempt to soothe him, it’s failing spectacularly. He feels like he’s going to spiral if he doesn’t do something. But what.
He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know.
What can he do except maybe…
“...Sorry for what?”
Dan Heng slowly cracks his eyes open. His vision adjusting to show him Stelle’s face so close to his own that he had an idea of what she was planning to do. There she was. Situated next to himself. Jolting back just barely, and exclaiming in surprise. A sheepish grin resting on her beautiful face.
It felt wrong to just accept what was right in front of him. He couldn’t understand how it was possible but… he wanted to be selfish. So very selfish. Dan Heng couldn’t help but feel the weight of guilt bearing down on his conscience. He was also afraid. What if whatever miracle that brought Stelle back just shatters apart the moment he tries to bring up her death? It was a poor way to reason himself out of talking to Stelle about it, but he needs to understand before he tries anything that might pose a risk to her life. If this was his chance, he needs to take it. Until then, he’ll work with a cover story to tell Stelle and he’ll have to live with the guilt gnawing at him, in the meantime.
He groaned, “Ugh... How long were we out for?” He brings his hand up against his head to clean his wound and hair, “You passed out when our car got hit. I blacked out too, but not before dragging you out. It's a good thing we were in the car, or we would've been crushed to pieces.”
He suggests attempting to contact the rest of the crew, but as expected, their comms don’t reach the Express. His eyes soften at Stelle’s message. She still somehow finds it in herself to be so endearingly silly. Hunger huh… Hopefully, he can find an edible fruit around for her. It’s a small relief that they can somehow still receive messages from each other, at least from a short distance. But the relief is short-lived when he notices Stelle’s perplexed expression.
“I thought I heard something…”
Her words put him on high alert. He draws his weapon and beckons her to follow him.
What they find is a hallway that seemed to lead out of the building they found themselves in. Their walk through the halls baffled Dan Heng. That pink creature seemed to be warping the state of the entire area. Making impossible things possible. The phenomenon was indeed hard to explain but… could it be the key to helping Stelle? He needs to take note of this.