Chapter Text
Dan Heng
Staring at the entrance to the mermoria world now, Dan Heng braced himself for the inevitable trouble that would follow. He was not naïve enough to think otherwise. Stelle was missing, and the memokeeper who'd kidnapped her had ties to March. March, who now lay comatose in a layer of ice back on the Astral Express.
He'd realize much, much later that no amount of pre-planning and trailblazing experience could have prepared him for this.
After entering the mermoria world, Dan Heng discovered that it was a mirror image of Amphroeus. Navigating this world was difficult, not because he didn't know where he was going but the opposite. Having grown accustomed to this world, inverting the directions now felt incredibly strange.
Ohkema was harder to navigate than the road between the capital city and the Grove. After all, it was far easier to get spun around in the maze of city streets than the one winding road between towns.
If our room was on the right, then left and keep left, here it would be…
Dan Heng took a left to the main bath area, then a right and kept right, landing him at a familiar doorway. He pushed the doors open, revealing the space that he and Stelle had made into a second home. Except just like everything else, this room was a mirror of reality. The bath where he and Stelle had relaxed together after a hard day was now on the left side, whereas the bed they had spent countless nights snuggled together was on the right.
Using the pain in his heart as fuel, he started to search the room. This was a world built on mermoria; therefore, logic would suggest that finding traces of Stelle’s mermoria would lead to her. At least, that’s what he had to go on for now until he found a clue to the contrary. It was why he came here first. What better place to start looking for mermoria of Stelle than in the room they’d spent so much time in?
“Dan Heng?”
Summoning his spear, Dan Heng whipped around to face the threat, his spear tip aimed at…
A chimera. A familiar chimera.
Recognition struck him, prompting him to lower his spear. “Bubbles?”
The blue chimera emitted an excited squeak as it scampered toward him. “It really is you!” Like a cat, it slammed its head against his leg, rubbing up against him. “I’ve missed you.”
With a fond smile, Dan Heng knelt to stroke Bubble’s soft fur on its head, something he was only able to do because it was missing its trademark straw hat. Of all the trouble he could have run into, the familiar companion was a welcome sight.
Until the gears in his mind started turning, forcing sentimentality to take a backseat to reason. “How… could you have missed me? You shouldn’t remember me.”
With a cute tilt of its head, it looked up at Dan Heng. “Huh?”
“Amphroeus cycle restarted,” Dan Heng explained, something uncomfortable settling in his gut. “You… shouldn’t exist.”
“Bubbles exists in her memories.” A new voice, a familiar pitch yet too sultry to match, rang out in the room. Dan Heng looked up just in time to see a red jellyfish floating in the air. “And this place… it’s just memories.”
Anger boiled beneath his skin as he summoned his spear once again. “You.”
“Now now,” the voice purred. “You wouldn’t want to scare the other ‘child’, would you?”
Before Dan Heng could ask what she meant, the floor beneath him began to quake. He braced his hand on the ground for balance.
Meanwhile, Bubbles quickly took shelter behind him. “Uh oh. Here it comes.”
“What are you—”
The doors suddenly burst open, a baby dromas barreling toward them with all the finesse of a bowling ball toward the last two pins. “PAPAAAAAA!”
With a squeak, Bubbles scrambled out from behind Dan Heng, taking shelter elsewhere. Dan Heng, on the other hand, barely had time to stand before the purple bowling ball knocked him down, sending him toppling over the reckless dromas.
“I missed you!”
Dan Heng sighed. Honestly, he couldn’t say he was surprised at this greeting. Junior had been placed under Stelle's charge when they were still an egg. After hatching, it had imprinted upon Stelle. That careless abandon was a trait Dan Heng wished it hadn’t adopted from Stelle. But that was probably too much to ask.
Slowly, he pushed himself off the dromas and onto his haunches. “Junior, we’ve talked about how to properly enter a building.”
“Rules are meant to be broken!”
“No.”
It giggled, wagging its tail like an excitable puppy. “Sorry,” it eventually said. “But when I learned Papa was here, I got excited.”
“Next time, be more careful,” Dan Heng gently chastised.
“And don’t take me out in the process!” Bubbles cried from the side. “This isn’t Seal Slammers.”
Junior ducked its head. “Sorry.”
"Wait," Dan Heng began, Junior's words finally registering in his mind, "who told you I was here?”
“A floating creature told me my Papa was here. It also told me to stop crying over Mama.” Its eyes, glittering with excitement one second, turned completely watery in the next. “I miss Mama so much.”
Having spent as much time with this dromas as he had—Stelle was quite the busy woman and couldn’t constantly watch Junior; hence, Dan Heng would get babysitting duty here and there—his heartstrings tugged in sympathy. He reached his arms out, awkwardly wrapping them around the crying dromas. “I miss her, too.”
In the next moment, Junior snuggled up against him. While they were a little too big to sit in Dan Heng’s lap, they certainly tried. “Do you know where she is, Papa?” Junior asked. “The creature said I couldn’t see her.”
"Do you know what kind of creature it was?" Dan Heng asked.
"Um... it looked like an upside-down flower with long strings attached to it."
Immediately, an image came to mind, one Dan Heng didn't like one bit. “I’m going to go find her,” he assured. “And bring her back.”
“Can I come?” Junior asked. Pleaded, really. “I want to help find Mama. I promise I’ve gotten better at hide and seek!”
Dan Heng’s lips pursed, his pitying expression tainted with bitterness. “This isn’t like hide and seek like we used to play. It’s a lot harder… and a lot more dangerous.”
Bubbles puffed out their chest. “Danger is my middle name!”
“Really?” Junior asked, head tilting in curiosity. “I don’t have a middle name. Papa, why don’t I have a middle name?”
“It’s a figure of speech,” Dan Heng explained.
Junior’s head ducked in embarrassment. “Oh…”
As the two creatures continued bantering back and forth, Dan Heng tried to calm the chaos in his mind. On one hand, these two creatures shouldn’t know him. The Amphoreus cycle had restarted, meaning that everything had reset, including memories. The fact that Evernight seemed to know what was going on yet wasn’t elaborating also caused his hackles to rise. Yet, Evernight also mentioned these creatures being connected to Stelle’s memories. If Stelle’s memories had contributed to the appearance of these two at all, then that proved Dan Heng was on the right track. Seeing as these two were, in fact, traces of Stelle's mermoria Dan Heng was searching for, he wondered if they would be key to discovering Stelle’s location within this mermoria world.
Then, there was a part of him that warred against all logic. A soft spot in his heart that didn’t want to send these two away, that didn’t want to be alone, that craved companionship. He hadn’t truly traveled alone ever since boarding the Astral Express, and a broken part of his heart that resembled a sad little boy in chains begged him not to go it alone again.
A spark in his chest flared, reminding him of one last component that would tip the scales of his decision. Earth’s coreflame called out for all life on Amphoreus and here in this mermoria world. He’d promised Terravox that he would use the power of the permenance to bring these creatures to the stars, to remember these creatures that were discarded by the equations of the scepter.
All in all, there was only one choice to make. “Alright.” Dan Heng relented, standing to his feet. “You can stay by my side.”
Only after explaining everything to them again, in far more detail this time, did they begin the search. First, in here, turning the room upside down in search of any hint of mermoria.
From there, they split up, searching every corner of the bathhouse. Only once the long day had come to an end did they meet up at the garden in the heroes’ baths.
Dan Heng would have questioned if they’d had any luck, but the despondent way they walked into the garden was answer enough.
“Did Papa find her?” Junior asked, hope sparking in their eyes.
Dan Heng shook his head. “But it’s too early to give up yet. This is likely to be a long journey, and as I said, finding her won’t be easy.”
“We can’t give up!” Bubbles chimed in. “We just need a plan, just like in Seal Slammers. We have a great lineup, but now we need a strategy. Assistance wouldn’t hurt, either. Dan Heng should use the power of Georios to ask the other chimeras and the plants for help.”
Dan Heng frowned. Admittedly, he’d taken on the coreflame rather quickly. He hadn’t the time to research nor experiment with these new powers. Other than burning like a candleflame in his chest—was this what Stelle felt like when she complained about her stellearon?—he didn’t know what other advantages it offered. “I don’t… know how to use it.”
Both Bubbles and Junior tilted their head in perfect synchronization. Their confusion was so loud that Dan Heng couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
“Georios can speak to all the earth,” Bubbles said. “Everything is interconnected, like a bundle of nerves in a body. All you have to do is connect yourself to the ground and become its brain. You’ll be able to feel everything from the plants to the animals.”
“Wow,” Junior commented. “You know a lot.”
“I spent a lot of time at the Grove being studied,” Bubbles remarked. “They didn’t know what to do with me. I used to eavesdrop a lot.”
Dan Heng looked at his hands, then at the dirt beneath his feet. Connect to the earth like the brain connecting to the nervous system, Bubbles had said. Was it really that easy?
Taking a knee, Dan Heng splayed his hand out against the grass. Letting his eyes drift shut, he pushed his mind out into the ground beneath—
Pain shot up his arm and through his head like lightning, an overwhelming headache slamming into him full force as his body processed the sudden onslaught of information. Each plant’s root system dug into the ground, sprawling out like nerves beneath skin. Each branch that reached up into the sky acted like the whiskers of a cat, allowing him to perceive the area around each living thing in this garden. And each animal, from the littlest bug to the likes of Junior and Bubbles, stood out to him as an appendage, a sensor which he could reach out to and control.
Can you hear me? Bubble’s voice rang through his head.
Hi, Papa! Junior’s voice rang out in unison.
With a gasp, Dan Heng retracted his hand from the ground. Instantly, the overwhelming onslaught of information ceased, but his mind had yet to fully recover.
“Did you feel it?” Bubbles asked.
“Could you hear me Papa?” Junior asked, far more excitedly. “I could feel you! You felt so warm, just like Mama.”
Dan Heng inhaled sharply, trying to clear his mind. “Yeah,” he answered, realizing it was the answer to both their questions.
“So?” Bubbles asked. “Did you feel any trace of Stelle?”
“Did you find Mama?”
At that, Dan Heng shook his head. “I couldn’t feel anything. Not even a trace.”
Two sets of disappointed tails hit the ground, one making far more of an impact than the other.
Slowly, Dan Heng stood. Looking up at the sky, he took a deep breath, holding it a moment before slowly exhaling. They needed a plan. This world was huge, and while he was a proud trailblazer, exploring it for any traces of Stelle would take ages.
“Alright.” Coming to a decision, he looked down at his two companions. “Here’s our current plan. We should start our search in every area Stelle and I have traveled together. But that said, if we are going on a journey, we will need supplies. The city of Ohkema would be the best place to find them.”
“I can pull them on a sleigh!” Junior proudly proclaimed, rocking back and forth from two legs to the others. “I’ve been practicing with Mama so I don’t let my troupe down.”
“Then let’s go to the city,” Dan Heng said. “We’ll gather items and search for clues while we’re at it. But that should wait until morning.”
“Can I sleep in bed with you, Papa?” Junior asked. “I liked being next to Mama.”
“Me too!” Bubbles said.
Dan Heng relented. Maybe a little too easily. Yet, strangely, the two warm presences in the bed did settle him. He wasn’t alone. He’d cherish that companionship while it lasted.
Come morning, the trio split up. Junior went to gather their sled and harness. Bubbles was in charge of food, asking the other chimeras for assistance in loading up traveling crates. That left Dan Heng to collect all other things he would need, such as clothes or cooking utensils.
As he surveyed the abandoned ghost town that was once a bustling city, Dan Heng easily slipped into the lingering melancholy. Shop fronts were in tatters, ransacked likely during the evacuation, but one ravaged store in particular caught his eye.
Absently, Dan Heng reached for his ring finger, once again feeling the absence of a metal band. He’d been without his ring for far too long. While it was a needless item, Dan Heng stepped into the wreckage of the jewelry shop where he and Stelle had bought rings seemingly forever ago.
Looking through the cracked glass of the display cases, he found his ring first. Carefully, he reached for it, only to pause. Rings came in all different sizes. The problem was he couldn’t remember his nor Stelle’s. It hadn't been necessary at the time, seeing as those rings were just a social protection.
Regret lingered in his heart. That information was necessary now.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the ring of sizer bands that saleswoman had used to measure their fingers. One by one, he began sliding the rings over his finger, trying to find the right size. Once he did, he looked at the number before searching through the broken drawers, ones that came off their hinges if he slid them too far.
When he spotted his ring, the correct size marked on the velvet next to it, a warm wave of relief slid like a balm over his heart. Roughly, he stripped off his glove so he could slide the ring on, squeezing his hand into a fist and relishing the way the cold metal bit into his skin.
Phainon had once said that a ring was a little momento to carry your lover with you wherever you went. Dan Heng had been too naive to understand at the time. Now that it was too late, he understood better than he would have ever liked.
“Your stellaron,” he murmured, looking at the gold lightning through the black ring. “It reminds me of you.”
“And the waves remind me of you.”
Her voice seemed to ring in his head, in his heart. A bitter smile tugged up the corners of his lips. “I wish I could remember what size your ring was.”
“Why don’t you find out?”
A ghost of a hand appeared before him, translucent and glowing faintly of gold. Entranced, he clung tighter to the sizer rings. His gaze was locked on that hand, bare for once instead of gloved, showing off her short nails, one of which was chipped on the edge. Entranced, Dan Heng took hold of her fingers, ones covered in calluses that she’d worked so hard to earn. The calluses forged by fighting at his side.
He made a guess as to the size. Then a second. Then a third... that fit perfectly.
Sliding the ring off her finger, he looked at the size. “It’s—”
Gone. She was gone.
Blinking, Dan Heng snapped from his trance. Stelle. Was she… was she just—
“Papa!”
Dan Heng looked up to see Junior pulling a sled down the street, one laden with boxes and topped with a certain blue chimera.
“Did you find everything?” Junior asked, slowing to a stop before the stall.
“Almost.” Dan Heng had to find the ring. Her ring.
And when he yanked open the next drawer, it sat there staring him in the face. He snatched it from the velvet, staring at the size next to the ring. Her size.
Because he was holding her ring.
Emotion tightened his chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Hey! That looks like Mama’s!”
“Was that really important?” Bubbles questioned.
“Yes.” Dan Heng held the ring tightly in his grasp, terrified that it could disappear at any second. “Because she’ll need it when we find her.”
Stelle
The ice was suffocating, and the cold clawed to the very bone. Even the stellaron in her chest seemed to have gone dormant in favor of letting the cold ravage her body. Lashes of ice burned into the skin up her left arm, and icicles repeatedly needled her fingers. Her head was pounding, but more than anything, all she wanted to do was sleep. To close her eyes and hope that when she woke, everything would be different. She wanted out of the ice, out of Belobog, away from the stellaron monster who threw ice like blades that would stab through her chest.
Her eyes shut for just a moment, just a short little moment. It was fine. But she had to open them again. She had to.
She. Had. To.
Her eyelids felt like weighted sandpaper as she finally managed to pry her eyes open again. A little warning bell, one so quiet she barely heard it, was ringing in the back of her head that if she closed her eyes again, she might never reopen them. And she had to. Because she had to get back to Dan Heng.
Dan Heng… her husband.
Her left hand twitched. Her ring. That’s right, she was missing her ring. It had been her biggest panic after having set Era Nova into motion. She’d lost it. ‘It’ being a mere figment of the scepter’s calculations, but a very important one.
Finally gathering her strength, Stelle looked down at her arm as though she could prove herself wrong, that she would see her ring. Instead, she could only see red drip, drip, drip down her arm, over her glove, and splatter on the frosty icicles her prison was constructed of. How… how did that happen?
Memories slowly started creeping back to her. Sunday. He’d tried to save her using tuning. But did he really have to throw thorned vines at her in an attempt to pull her from the ice? What an ass. She was going to beat him senseless for that brainchild.
Something warm bloomed in her chest. Warm. Oh, how wonderful. She reached for it, feeling the spark of a stellaron finally come to life inside her. Beat his ass, it chimed, craving the violence, craving the destruction.
Being deprived of warmth and desperate for its return, Stelle blindly fed it what it wanted. “I’ll… I’ll kick his ass,” she murmured. “But it will have to wait until after… after I destroy this prison, and beat the crap out of… whoever the hell trapped me here.”
The stellaron flared a little brighter.
“Yeah,” Stelle said, continuing to stoke it like a fire and relishing in the effects. “Let’s… let’s get the bat. It needs to be something to bash into these… these things.”
Yes, it taunted, warmth inching out from her chest and throughout her body. Smash, break, destroy.
Stelle called forth her bat. It, too, was chilled to the touch. Uncomfortably so. Yet, she forced herself to cling to it. “Let’s… let’s do this.”
Let's, the stellaron purred. Let me out, and let me feed on the destruction.
For a second, she was tempted to cave to this demand as well, but a new little warning bell went off in her skull. If she listened to the stellaron, she would end up like Cololia, the same woman who’d trapped her in the ice first, who’d stabbed her to death.
“I can’t die,” Stelle argued through gritted teeth. “Not again. I can’t…”
I’ll save you. All you have to do—
“No,” Stelle countered, only to falter immediately afterward. “Because…”
Trust me, it coaxed. Have I not kept you alive all this time?
Temptation felt warm. And in this cold, that warmth was all she wanted at any cost.
No... she couldn't pay any cost. A memory serged forth, one that brought a certain pressure building in her chest. More, more, more, until a silver cane tapped her skull, bringing it all to a stop.
“No,” she countered. “I’ve been your host. And Mr. Yang… he’d be upset if he had to fix me again because of my own stupidity. So be a good little guest, and behave.”
The stellaron flashed, angry and tempestuous. I’m your only hope, yet you think you're in a position to bargain with me?
Stelle snarled, tightening her grip on her bat. “No,” she insisted. “The only one who can get me out now… is me.”
And with that, she slammed the butt end of the bat into an icicle, watching it shatter from being too cold.
“And you—” Stelle slammed the bat into another icicle. “—will just have to feed—” another icicle. “—on my destruction—” yet another. “—of this prison!”
With each inch of freedom she gained, she swung out harder, the ice shattering one piece at a time.
“You don’t have a choice, after all,” Stelle continued, feeling the warmth burn in her chest as she fueled the stellaron. “As long as something breaks, you’ll be forced to keep me alive.”
The stellaron laughed at her. Chaos child, think of all the damage we could do together.
“I have a family hoping I never cave to that path,” she countered. “And I don’t want to disappoint them.”
Oh, but what a joy it would be to watch you once again break family bonds.
At that, Stelle froze, unease floating in her gut.
My master is even looking this way. All you’d have to do is follow me, and together, we can tread down a path that would lead beyond your wildest dreams.
She snarled. “Looking this way, huh? Well—” She threw her middle finger up in the air. “How’s that for a show?”
The stellaron was silent.
“And I have a better idea. How about I force you down a different path, whether you like it or not.”
Who says I’ll go willingly?
“Because what could be more tempting than destroying the very thing your master is trying to create? Isn't self-destruction also a type of destruction?"
In response, the heat in her chest shot out a spark that ignited her skin, the flames engulfing her, suffocating her, swallowing her whole. A scream tore from her throat as pain overwhelmed her for one, three, five, ten excruciating seconds.
And then as suddenly as it came, it stopped.
She collapsed to her knees, gasping for air yet somehow only inhaling smoke thick enough to choke.
That’s your warning, it chastised. Now, show me what sort of destruction you are capable of, or your body will pay the price.
“You want destruction?” Stelle reached for her bat. “Fine. I’ll show you destruction, you little muddle fudger. Now, do me a favor… and shut the hell up.”
It did. Though whether it was because it listened to her or because it just wanted to be a little shit, she didn’t know.
Stelle had to admit she didn’t exactly have the strength to stand. Her knees were weak, and even though the stellaron still raged in her chest, there was a lingering cold that had taken up residence in her bones and simply refused to leave. At least those flames had chased away that bone-chilling cold. On the contrary, it felt like she was holding each wound on her arm up to a fire. She looked down, only to see all the little wounds from Sunday's thorns had been cauterized. The stellaron wasn’t entirely unhelpful, was it?
All that was left was for her to take off her glove, one soaked in blood thanks to her wounds dripping for only aeons-knew-how-long. She wasn’t usually squeamish at blood, but feeling the cold liquid squish with each movement of her hand was just gross.
With her right hand, she squeezed out the blood of her glove, watching red droplets collide with the stone floor.
Wait, stone floor?
She looked up, finally taking in her surroundings. She was in the bathhouse on Amphoreus, next to the chilled baths. Turning around, she noticed the half-melted ice wall behind her.
Had the stellaron burnt her out of that? Maybe that little stinker wasn't as bad as she thought.
As she struggled to gather her strength, she studied this former ice prison of hers. It was kinda hauntingly pretty. At one point, it might have even been a sculpture considering the decorative way icicles sprang out from the top, almost like a crown resting on top of a throne.
Normally, she would love to sit on a throne, pretend she was queen of the world. Maybe Dan Heng could be by her side as king. No, a knight in shining armor? Her pet dragon maybe?
Meh, schematics.
Finally finding her footing, she stood, only to stumble away from the bath like a drunkard who had one too many of Phagusa’s brews. But where to go? Her sentimental heart begged her to find her and Dan Heng’s room, to curl up under the covers until her prince charming awakened her from her nightmare like she could always count on him to do. He’d shake her back into reality and hold her like he was her shield and fortress. In his strong arms, she always felt so safe.
But then her brain decided to kick in. The queen who actually owned that ice throne, one with pink hair that looked suspiciously like March, would surely follow her if Stelle went that way.
Hence, Stelle stumbled out toward Okhema city itself.
Was she delusional, or was she getting spun around? Nothing was where it should be, and it was really pissing her off.
“Little stellaron.”
The voice sent chills down her spine. She’d just escaped the ice; she didn’t want to go back. She couldn’t go back.
Stellaron-infused determination buzzing through her, Stelle ran. Blindly. Aimlessly. Her only goal was to escape the ice and the person connected to it.
What was this doppleganger’s name again? Stelle couldn’t remember and she didnt' really care right now. Similar features was all they shared, but Stelle knew for certain that this wannabe emo was not her friend. Not her traveling companion. And above all, certainly not her sister.
Stelle kept going, searching for an idea, a place to hide, a knight in shining armor—
Holy Akivili, she’d been kidding. And yet, there he was: her knight in glimmering gold gauntlets.
Her heart screamed, out of pain, out of relief, out of fangirling born from her love. This man before her wasn’t the same man she’d married. Something about him had changed, yet this striking figure kneeling in the rubble had changed less than the psychopath wearing March’s face.
Although her mind had shut down, her feet needed no prompting to march forward toward this man who was digging through the wreckage of a jewelry stand.
“Dan Heng.”
He didn’t lift his head.
“Dan Heng!”
Again, no response.
Save me.
Yet, no matter how close she got, no matter how many times she called his name, he didn’t seem to notice her.
Hope was dying like embers in the rain. How… he was right in front of her! How could he not…
The mermoria.
Ice flared in her veins once again, rendering all the work she’d done to get warm useless.
She stood before him now, waving her hand in front of his eyes as though to grab his attention. She even reached out to tap his shoulder, only for her hand to go through his shoulder.
Her hope was one step away from shattering. No... honestly, she didn't even know how she was holding together at this point.
All she could do was examine him from afar. Her mind had shut down, her only focus on this man before her. He had horns on his head again, but they were nothing like the blue ones of his Vidyadhara form. Regardless, they suited him all the same, crowning him like the regal dragon he was. His gauntlets were no longer leather but gold-plated metal that now matched Mydei’s. It had turned his right hand into a dragon's claw. Lastly, the tail lingering behind him was no longer a hallucination, a ghost of a figure that she’d only seen a couple times in the past when he’d failed to conceal it.
If only she could tell him how dashing he looked. Her Dearest. Her Moon.
“What are you looking for?" she asked, studying each drawer he yanked open.
Only for the answer to come right away as he grabbed a ring and slid it on his finger. A pang of longing shot through her heart as she grabbed her left hand, the one that was missing the ring he’d bought for her.
“Your stellaron,” he murmured, staring at his hand. “It reminds me of you.”
She clawed at her chest, where that aeonforsaken cancer of all worlds lay cranky and dormant. But that was all forgotten as she started to wonder if her ring was in all this mess. And if it was here, where was it? She wanted it—no, needed it. That little piece of metal that no longer was a social protection but was a physical reminder of the bond between them. The memories, the promises… all were wrapped up in that little ring.
“And the waves remind me of you,” she muttered, thinking of her own ring. There was no way he could hear her, but that didn’t matter. She could picture that ring in perfect clarity. More than once had she simply stared down at it, admiring the gemstone that matched his eyes, admiring the engraving that mimicked the waves he wielded when he summoned his full power, admiring the fact he’d given it to her with a weighty vow to protect her.
He scoffed under his breath. “I wish I could remember what size your ring was.”
“Why don’t you find out?” She extended her hand, preparing herself for the disappointment of being ignored, but she’d be slacking in her duties as his wife if she didn’t tease him behind his back when she was a specter.
So when he reached out, taking her fingertips in his hand, she almost fainted. Honestly, she was surprised she managed to keep standing considering her mind took a three-second vacation and her vision went completely black.
“Found you.”
Oh… that blackness wasn’t because she was on the verge of fainting. It was because this total tool wearing her friend’s face had a hand over her eyes.
Dread filled her gut faster than the waves could crash down upon Scalegorge Waterscape should Dan Heng demand it. “Please,” Stelle begged, her voice tiny and weak and absolutely pathetic. “Just… wait one moment.”
“And why would I do that?”
Stelle felt a ring slide onto her finger, but it just didn’t feel right. Before she could even figure out what was wrong with it, it disappeared. “Because, March would care.”
“March—” Evernight froze.
Stelle waited, perfectly still. Between Dan Heng sliding on a second ring and Evernight’s touch over her eyes, Stelle felt powerless to move a muscle.
Evernight scoffed, her hand twitching against Stelle’s face, but she didn’t move.
Dan Heng slid one last ring on her finger. This one. This had to be her ring. It fit the way it was supposed to.
So why did it disappear again?
No! Give it back!
But before Stelle could utter a word, ice shot up around them. Stelle startled at the sound, duckign for cover and clawing at her chest, the same spot Cocolia had stabbed her once before. It had both hurt so bad, yet not at all. It was—
A dream. It was just a dream. She was still in one piece; there was nothing through her chest; she wasn't dying or falling. She was just cold.
To the bone.
Dammit!
“Only for March.” And then Evernight finally pulled her hand away from Stelle’s face.
Stelle blinked, eyes protesting the strange light refracting in the new ice cave.
“Didn’t you like the dream I made for you?” Evernight taunted. “It was perfect: you and the Astral Express crew traveling together for all eternity.”
“That wasn’t them,” Stelle spat, her voice surprisingly shaky as she tried to feign confidence. “Not even close.”
“Is that why you went and searched out the real thing?”
“There is no version you could make that would ever substitute.”
Evernight’s smile was cold, but in her gaze, there was something sinister. “We’ll see about that, March’s little stellaron friend.”
And with a swish of her hand, Stelle was once again encased in ice.
March
March existed in ice. She’d been born from it, and now, she’d returned to it. But ice was not such a bad thing to be. It could be beautiful, it could be quiet, it could be dazzling, it could be deadly. And as March was learning, it could be patient. In the battle against herself, March had no choice but to become ice.
And shatter.
Part of her, she’d hidden away long ago, safely out of Evernight’s grasp. The other part of her was what she allowed Evernight to have, to “protect” if it could be called that. Honestly, if March could have just hidden in her camera and gotten away from this crazy mirror of herself, she would have, but that wasn't an option with the way Evernight was obsessed with keeping March in her grasp.
Now, in the worst way possible, she understood why Fu Xuan had failed to help her, and why every road she’d ever traversed to regain her memories was a dead end. And if this was the result? She could gladly surrender her memories! Even if it made her sad and disappointed, she could live with it because she had her companions—no, her family. And they didn’t care where she came from or what her past looked like. They accepted her anyway.
Fear constantly challenged her: could they accept this if they knew the truth? She was having a hard time accepting it herself.
But she couldn’t listen to those voices. Not now. Regardless of the answer, her family needed her. Even if they disowned her, she would protect them from… well… herself.
“Hey.” March didn’t know what kind of world this was other than one she wanted to leave as fast as humanly possible. Problem was she hadn’t found the way out yet. Heck, she could barely escape the little treasure box her other self had put her in. “Let go of her!”
Humming, Evernight looked down at the little treasure box in her hand. Or, more specifically, the March that was hanging out of it like a doll propped up in a toy chest. “Did you say something?”
“Stelle hates ice,” March protested.
Evernight tilted her head, confused. “In your memories, she finds it beautiful.”
“Are we even thinking of the same memories? Because in my memories, she was stabbed.”
“I’m looking at her thoughts on your ice.”
“Yeah, but there’s a difference between it fighting for you and fighting you! Duh! Don’t you realize that?”
Okay, maybe it was a little stupid to taunt the giant that could push her back in the box, slam the lid closed, and be done with it. March was definitely testing the limits that Evernight allowed. But that was her sister on the line!
Her sister who was dating her brother, but March had already had plenty of time to throw her hissy fit over not being able to see their romance in person. She was totally over it. Totally. Completely. And she most definitely wasn’t going to yell at them when she finally got to meet up with them again.
Absolutely not.
“March,” Evernight warned, clearly growing on edge. “If she’d stayed in that dream, she never would have been put in ice in the first place. The danger has yet to pass, so I can’t exactly let her run free. I need time to prepare a new dream for her, and the more you distract my attention, the longer it will take.”
"Wow. Were you expecting her to stay still?”
“For her own good, yes.”
“If you want her to do something for ‘her own good’,” March bemoaned. “You have to spell it out to her like she’s five.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You would have known that had you actually looked through my memories, by the way.”
Evernight sneered at March. It was disturbing to have yourself hate… well, yourself.
A little figure tapped at her back, right between her shoulder blades.
Shutter Speed!
“Fine. Keep working on that ‘perfect Stelle dream',” March lamented, slowly slipping back into the box. Now wasn’t the time to push her luck with Evernight. She’d since accomplished her goal: send out a memosprite to go find that little dromas. Junior was its name, if she remembered correctly from the images Stelle had taken of it. (Which, of course it was named Junior. Stelle would name something after herself and be all too proud of it. March loved her sister; she really did... but Stelle was such an idiot at times. But that’s okay. Apparently, every family had to have that one 'special' sibling, and Stelle made sure to fill the role!)
March would be sure to give Shutter Speed a hug later. It had done a good job in fulfilling March’s wish to ensure Dan Heng had some company. The little dromas only existed because Evernight had pulled it out of the demiurge when fishing for Stelle-connected memories, so March thought it would be a shame if the little creature was forgotten, abandoned. Stelle would hate that. And Dan Heng, though he wouldn’t admit it, would hate to be alone. So this was two birds with one stone!
March gave herself a little pat on the back for that brilliant plan.
Before she could completely hide in the box and reward her lovely little memosprite for a job well done, she heard an explosion.
“Huh?” She popped out of the box like a jack-in-the-box, practically slinging herself over the side. Only to see that Stelle had busted out of her ice prison and was running like her pants were on fire.
“How?” Evernight grumbled.
“How?” March repeated incredulously. “You trapped a feral raccoon with a bomb in her chest in the one thing she hates and you’re asking how?”
“I’ve accounted for all of that.”
For all the memories that Evernight had stolen and studied, this supposed mastermind was missing so many important details! March could have called Stelle’s jailbreak a mile away. Actually, if March thought about it, she was surprised Stelle had taken so long. “Clearly, you missed something. So, what was it? Maybe the time she’d previously broken out of prison before? Or maybe the other time she'd broken out of prison?”
And in a snap, the lid of her box shut, March being shoved back into it and slamming into the bottom of her own plush prison.
“Good luck catching that,” March sassed. And for good measure, she stuck her tongue out.
However, it didn’t last long before three glowing creatures appeared around her.
Oh! Her three memosprites had all returned. Considering all her free time, March had finally had enough of being alone and figured out how to make them. If her alter ego had a collection of them, then why couldn't she?
ISO had been the first one she’d created. March’s second attempt resulted in Shutter Speed, who’d gone on that mission to send Junior Dan Heng’s way. Then there was Aperture, whom March had sent out to help bridge the gap between Sunday’s harmony powers and Stelle’s first dream-prison.March had thought for sure Sunday, being the big, bad boss he was, would have won that fight. How frustrating that plan hadn’t just gone to hell but backfired in March’s face! Ugh. Sorry, Stelle! I didn’t think Evernight would trap you in ice.
“I can feel that, you know,” Evernight’s voice sounded hollow as it resonated through the box. “Your regret.”
Oh, right. Even though they were two separate entities, there was still some strange bond between them, as though they still resided in the same body and mind. They just existed in different sections within it. Because they were one and the same despite being two different beings—ugh, March's head hurt just thinking about it!—some of her thoughts and emotions traveled over to Evernight. However, March didn’t know what was scarier: that Evernight could feel March’s emotions, or that March could feel the void where Evernight's emotions should be. “I didn’t know you could feel anything,” she retorted.
“I can feel you,” Evernight said. “It’s… all I can feel.”
“Then you can commiserate with me. It will be good for you.”
Evernight went silent. Slowly, the air in the box changed. March tapped ISO, pointing to the top of the box.
With a bounce in the air that meant it understood March’s command, it tested the top of the box. When it returned to her side, it bounced twice. Evernight’s hold on the lid had slipped.
March had learned that Evernight couldn’t keep a tight lid on her box all the time. If her focus had to be elsewhere, then the latch on the lid would loosen. It was in those moments March could test her luck again. She just had to be careful not to overdo it lest Evernight pay more attention to the box even at the risk of everything else.
Looking to all three of her memosprites, March shrugged, then pointed at her eyes. Go watch what’s going on.
They all bounced twice, then floated upwards. Together, the trio cracked the lid open enough for March to see what was happening.
And what was happening was Stelle had been caught.
“Found you.” Evernight said.
“Please,” Stelle begged in a voice that didn’t sound like her confident self at all. March’s heart may already be broken into pieces, but this only worsened the damage. “Just… wait one moment.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because, March would care.”
Dang right she cared! She cared a lot! There was no one in the whole universe who cared more about her friends than she did. And even though she was so beyond mad at the universe in general for refusing to let her watch her friends get together, she wasn’t going to let Evernight come between them now!
“March—”
March didn’t let Evernight finish that sentence. With all her might, she leaped out of the box, grabbing hold of Evernight’s mouth to silence her.
With the two personalities in this body focused on each other, their combined physical body froze.
“Listen to me,” March warned, her voice surprisingly firm. Luckily for her, she was even able to be intimidating since she’d managed to escape the confines of her box entirely, allowing her to match Evernight’s size for once. Although, March knew it wouldn’t last long before Evernight shrunk her again like a potion in a fairytale. “You are going to let them have this moment. Those are my friends, and I missed watching them get into a relationship thanks to you!”
Slowly, Evernight’s expression turned melancholy.
In the pit of her stomach, March felt a deep ache, a loneliness that gnawed away at her. It took March way too long to realize that this was one of Evernight's exceedingly rare emotions she was feeling.
It actually hurt.
But not as much as watching her friends suffer! March would stay strong.
With a sigh, Evernight conceded. “Fine. But you will go back in your box the moment it’s over, or I’ll ruin it.”
Evernight didn’t mean it. Not this time. Her words were too soft, not nearly confident enough. It was a bluff.
But March knew to play nice. No need to get into Evernight’s… if the positive was “good graces”, then would “bad graces” be the opposite? Oh, whatever. No need to do anything that would make March lose the non-existent privileges she had.
“Deal.”
Red jellyfish tenticles flew out of the treasure box to wrap around March, yet instead of dragging her in, Evernight allowed March control over the physical body they inhabited. By then, March got a front row seat to watching a kneeling Dan Heng slide a ring on Stelle’s hand.
Even if this was not at all the proposal scene she wanted for her friends, March still felt like she could scream in excitement. Despite being made under duress and delusion, this moment still meant something to Stelle, who was shedding a tear against the hand March had over her eyes, and Dan Heng, who was clinging to Stelle’s hand after having found the right size of ring to slide on her finger.
But in the blink of an eye, the scene disappeared as the jellyfish tentacles yanked March back inside the box. The lid slammed shut, plunging her into the oppressive darkness.
March bit her lip. Five seconds, she got to see her friends. Five whole seconds! And then, she was in the box again. She rolled onto her side, her three jellyfish hovering around her as if to say she wasn’t alone.
Three jellyfish. Just like the three of them. Not for the first time did March wonder if it would ever be the three of them again.
Please, she mentally begged. Hold on, you two. I’ll find a way to get everyone out of here.