Another Place, Another Time

Chapter I

A/N I'm sorry if the chapters are short, I apologize, first time writing. Not going to lie I'm really nervous. Also, please don't take any of the scientific stuff(like cryogenic sleep) I say as the truth, I barely know anything about science. I assumed.

Deep in the icy plains of Siberia, the immortal and the Herrscher were silently awaiting humanity's return, in the cryogenic sleep that they induced on themselves, much like Dr Mei's creation. It was not a fun feeling, Hua deduced – being trapped in her own sleeping body, her mind is forever wondering. Sleep was a necessity for her body, even though Herrschers never need sleep, throughout the seemingly eternal and never ending wait, Hua developed a way to occupy herself, and that was to view and reflect on Jingwei and her own memories, on what they both done wrong, to see the merit in their decisions and to learn from their mistakes. Around halfway through the wait, Jingwei's memories started to peel away from Hua's mind, and Hua, in sheer desperation for something to do, tried to link both of their minds together using her powers, and after decades of careful experimenting, it worked.

But there was one thing that had gone wrong, and that was; instead of inviting Jingwei's mind into Hua's, the opposite happened. Hua had somehow managed to break into Jingwei's mindscape – instead of the horrible blankness of Hua's mind, Jingwei's mental landscape was an exact replica of Mount Taixuan, in the peaceful yet limited years the 14th Herrscher let humanity have before she resets the world. Hua stayed in Jingwei's mind for a decade at a time, then returns to her own body, as if to coax the manufactured vessel into believing that it was not just a soulless husk.

In the years of staying in Jingwei's mind, Hua managed to read all of the ancient texts that she never managed or bothered to consult prior to the Reset; as well as keeping her skills in shape. Cryogenic sleep may preserve the mortal shell, but it has no effect on the mind – it was one of the major problems of it, because there is no way, nor anything to prevent the mind from deteriorating and inevitably die, mortals could not be put into it, in some ways, it was more of a death sentence for them than a painless death from the Reset.

The feeling of being trapped in your own mind was a feeling that Kiana Kaslana, or rather K-423, had known too well, and she was the one who pleaded with the whole world on her deathbed, to not have anyone, save for the immortal MANTIS, put into them.

But before Kevin Kaslana could arrive on time to be put to sleep, the Herrscher of the End preemptively triggered the Reset, Hua and Jingwei debated and deduced many times on what could have caused this after their daily spar and exercise, but to no avail. In the end, they couldn't come up with a good reason. For they could only guess and assume based on what they really know about the Honkai and the Herrschers, which to no surprise, was extremely limited; as humanity only assumes the bad with Honkai, there weren't much reliable information for them to use in Jingwei's own mindscape Schicksal Data Storage.

By the time of Hua's 147th return to her own body, the sleep ended, and she felt all parts of her body, sore and tingling for action as she opened her crimson eyes for the first time in...ages-

"It has been three thousand, three hundred and fifty-three years, Hua," an all too familiar voice sounded next to her, as the doors of the tank were opened.

"Wha- ah! You antique! Stop jump scaring me!" Hua said indignantly, but accepted the cold hand extended to her and stood up, subconsciously summoning her weapons in their cases.

Jingwei silently retracted her hand, burying it back into her spotless robes, "If my intuition is correct, then we're three decades behind humanity's awakening, we should be going."

'Direction?' Hua thought hesitantly, testing if the mind link still works now they're fully functioning in their body.

A small smile graced Jingwei's face, before her voice sounded in Hua's mind, "South-west, we're currently at the north-east tip of Russia, if the landscape didn't change."

Instantly brightening, Hua flashed a grin too big for her face, "Yatta!" she yelled in her joy, accidentally losing her balance, toppling into Jingwei, "It worked!"

Jingwei sighed as she tried to pry Hua off, "You weren't this clingy in my mindscape, Hua," she said as Hua finally let go of her robes.

"Not my fault you don't let anyone touch you, you old grandma," Hua pouted like a petulant child, "it has been what? Centuries?"

"Three millennia."

"Whatever, we should get going. How much time left? My sentient, walking grandfather clock?" Hua scoffed, yet internally she cursed, 'Damn it, should have said millennia,'

Jingwei ignored the last sentence and Hua's thoughts, looked up at the sky, "6 hours."

Hua nodded, and then willed her weapon case to hover on the snow-covered ground, before hopping on it herself, "Come on, antique, we don't have all day."

She watched with underlying jealousy as her Celestial counterpart gracefully stepped onto the case, why is she always so graceful! Whether in terms of eating, reading, running, jumping, hell, even her fighting is graceful!

The Herrscher's wild thoughts were interrupted by a calm yet amused voice, "Hua, stop broadcasting your thoughts to me, I thought you were the Herrscher of Sentience?"

Hua turned around to be met with the usual stoic face that Jingwei carried, except that this time, there was a small tilt to her lips – wait, is that antique teasing her? "Shut up! This is new! Okay? You're not afraid I'll chuck you off?" Hua yelled, face tinged red, even though the case started to propel forward at incredible speed.

Jingwei stopped smiling, her face resuming the usual emotionless mask, she knew that was just an empty threat, Hua knew it too, which was probably why she's now keeping her head low, polishing her weapons.

A/N So uh...hope that was okay, I know it's short, I'm not used to writing so much, also, I know close to zero things about cryogenic sleep, I only know vague bits and I just assumed the rest. And wahhhh why is Fu Hua's part so hard to write I can't get her personality right.

Word count: 987