Ice Cold Heart | A 'Honkai: Star Rail' Fanfiction

Chapter 13 - In From the Cold

(Image Credit: Chaos Language Sheet from NieR: Automata )

Jing Yuan and Dan Heng waited patiently at a tea shop at the Aurum Alley. The text message he received and the conversation with Dan Heng afterwards were all related to the Astral Express and their arrival. The general looked proudly at his friend. Yes, friend. He considered Dan Heng for himself as his own person, not just the tragic reincarnation of his old friend. "New life. Are you excited?" Dan Heng continued to drink his tea but nodded slowly in agreement. Jing Yuan was already used to his silent demeanor when not working, so he decided to just leave him be.

A set of footsteps could be heard approaching the duo and the tall figure's shadows soon cast over the sitting pair. "Astral Expressers?" Jing Yuan asked and stood up to enthusiastically shake the hand of the red haired woman, the famous Himeko. "That's us. So nice of you to personally meet us, General Jing Yuan." Himeko was met by a playfully dismissive gaze. "Please, just Jing Yuan is fine."

The individuals all turned their gaze to Dan Heng, who already stood up and was respectfully waiting for his turn to meet his new, handler. Yep, in his own mind, he thought of Himeko as just his next handler. Living his entire early life imprisoned had negatively warped the young man's perception of family, but Himeko knew of the entire situation and was already prepared when it came to confronting Dan Heng. "I'm Himeko, Dan Heng. Your friend here already told me all about your troublesome life, so I thought I'd clear up our arrangement here."

Since the conversation pretty much had nothing to do with him, Jing Yuan got to thinking about the secret case he's been working on–the Sanctus one–and how to approach it. The rest of the Xianzhou don't know and with the traitors hidden around, the Xianzhou is not allowed to know. This case has to be handled with utmost secrecy to ensure the Sanctus never sees them coming, but also, keeping it secret has the consequence that they lack resources and manpower to deal with the Sanctus. This paradoxical situation is what makes dealing with the enemy taxing on Jing Yuan especially, given that he has countless other important duties on top of this one.

"...You're free to disembark whenever. In IPC records and for legal safekeeping, however, all identification relating to you will be under the Astral Express records. I'm sure Jing Yuan here made that clear, given your troublesome past." The sound of Himeko's voice speaking his name definitely snapped him out of all thoughts. "Yes, yes we had that conversation. I'm sure he understands." He replies, and then turns his attention to Dan Heng, whose face is as expressionless as usual, but his eyes paint excitement and fear for the future. "Well, Dan Heng, ready to go?" The young man stared at Jing Yuan for a few moments for he really had something he wanted to say. Finally finding the courage inside him to ask, he says "Just, one more thing. Was Y/N ever imprisoned?"

Yes. The answer was yes. But Jing Yuan didn't say that, he didn't want to, and he needed not to. Through this one question alone, Jing Yuan made the connection that the two bonded over in prison, but likely didn't know or introduce each other. For the sake of complicated history and to prevent any further drama, he decides to abscond the truth. "I can't exactly disclose that kind of information."

"Well, then..." Yes. Dan Heng knew the answer was yes. The voice was distinct enough, but he also understood where Jing Yuan was coming from and decided not to push him further. He changes his attention fully to Himeko. "I'm ready to go now..."

One last glance around the Xianzhou Luofu. Exiled for eternity. From his own home. Sure, he doesn't remember much, but it still pained him inside. The only other thing he would have wished for?

Was to say goodbye to the one friend he reconnected with from his past life.

.

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