Undying Love (Honkai Star Rail: Dan Heng x Fem! OC)

Chap. Five: Just... Die

"Mirage, is he a friend?" March asked, glancing between me and the man that I had hoped would have died of old age before we ever crossed paths again.

"Yes," he said right as I shook my head, an awkward pause falling between the three of us.

"Uhh... Yeah, so we're just going to leave now," March chuckled nervously as she slipped her hand into mine, tugging the both of us away from the seaweed-green haired male who stood in our path.

March, I could kiss you, I thought to myself, sighing in relief at her ability to read the situation.

"No, wait! Mirage, where have you been? Sasha and I have been worried sick!" the maggot in human skin lied through his filthy, manwhore teeth. Wait-

I thought that her name was Ruby.

My eyes narrowed as he seemed to catch his own mistake - too late. "I-I mean, Ruby and I! Sasha is her sister, and she was also worried after hearing about how you suddenly disappeared," he scrambled to amend, yet the damage was already done.

There were multiple women.

I suppose that I wasn't surprised. The way that he acted with Ruby was experienced, as if he was used to how to treat a woman. I simply chalked it up to love doing mysterious things, since he had never said sweet words to me, but everything made sense now.

How the hell did I ever get attached to this man?

Time?

Inexperience?

We had known each other for eight years, fought together on the same battlefield for five, ever since we were both recruited into the Spatial Mercenary group when I was 14 and he was 16. Maybe I had mistaken my admiration for him as an older brother figure as love. It wasn't the kind of butterflies-in-my stomach, roses and pink tinted lenses kind of love, but he was the only person whom I felt comfortable entrusting my back to on the battlefield. I thought that the slight nervousness that appeared when we made eye contact as I grew older was some form of attraction, and I had allowed myself to fool myself with that delusion.

Even more puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

The first time I had taken a hit in his place was when I was 17, and we were on our first joint mission together. His eyebrows flew to his hairline when my wounds healed before his very eyes, and the veteran mercenaries teased him for not knowing about my "special abilities". He quickly rushed to my side, asking me if I was okay, a gesture that no one else had bothered to make. It was that moment when I began to see him as someone special, as someone who saw me as something more than a fighting meat shield.

I was 18 when a female mercenary teased me about who I had a crush on in our company. Years of practice kept my poker face intact as I coldly rejected all possibilities that I liked anyone... but my eyes still flickered over to him. Our eyes met for just a moment, a butterfly's wingbeat, and I assumed that he didn't notice when he turned back to his friends.

He began to act more affectionately after the birthday of my 19th year, gifting me little things like my favorite snacks or pretty flowers. They were followed with the usual joking and brotherly words, but I was genuinely happy. My puppy crush actually seemed like it might lead to something...more. Something that I had never had in my entire life.

He fucking took advantage of that.

I began to take even more hits in his place, a need to protect his mortal body moving mine before I could even think. His words of appreciation and worry were all that I needed to keep going, to keep fighting and complete this mission so that I could get him back safely. I had long since given up on my own safety, my immortality a permanent shield that kept me fighting; only he mattered. His life was transient, something that would end far before mine did, and I wanted to do everything I could in order to extend it as far as possible.

He began to never leave my side on the battlefield, an action that I thought was a gesture of trust for us to watch each other's backs. He had become known as the Untouchable Man, coming back from each battle without a single scratch, and I gained the title of Blood-Soaked Phoenix when I returned from each battle bathed in the blood of me and my enemies. It was around then that Ruby entered our lives; a young medic girl whom he had saved from a stray Legion soldier. The speed in which they fell in love and distanced themselves from me was saddening, but inevitable in my eyes. I was an existence separate from them, their lifespans like that of a mayfly before a mythical beast.

Everything else is history, as they say.

I waited for the feeling of betrayal and despair to wash over me, for the realization that I was always just a tool for his own fame to crush my spirit, but nothing came. I was just... relieved. I no longer had any possible attachments to my old life, and the man in front of me was reduced to a stranger.

He was dead to me.

I couldn't... even remember his name anymore.

"Sorry, mister, but you might be mistaking her for someone else. Please leave us alone before I have to resort to more drastic means," March warned him, her eyebrows furrowed as she held an arm in front of me as if to protect me from him.

Aeons, she's so cute.

"No, you leave us alone. Who the hell do you think you are? She's my friend, and I've never seen your face in my life. Get out of my way so that we can talk in peace," he scowled, reaching out to grab her shoulder and shove her out of the wave.

Oh hell no.

I grabbed his wrist in a vise grip, his face contorted in pain as mine remained completely neutral. I slowly walked forward, forcing him to his knees as I twisted his arm behind his back.

"M-Mirage, what're you doing?! It's me-" he protested, but a girly shriek of agony escaped his lips before he could say anything else as I applied just a fraction more pressure. Only 3 years of being protected by me, and he lost absolutely all of his pain tolerance. How pathetic.

Camera flashes flickered over the crowd that began to form, a few familiar faces snickering as they presumably sent the humiliating pictures to their friends. The man whom I held at my mercy had no future at that point. No one would hire him after this pathetic display, and those who did wouldn't pay much. Without money and prestige, Ruby and Sasha wouldn't stay with him unless they truly loved him - which I seriously doubted. With that realization, a thought passed through my head.

Why don't I just kill him?

He had no future, so dying must be better, right? I could get rid of one of my regrets, and he could escape from this mortal coil.

Isn't that a mercy?

I began to pull backwards, his awkwardly bent arm twisting in an unnatural angle as his screams of pain gradually intensified. With a satisfying crack, his arm completely broke, and I let go of it as he flopped to the ground. He became strangely quiet, silent cries wracking his body as he cradled his broken arm.

One down.

Grabbing the back of his head by his hair, I propped him up on his knees so that I could grab his other arm. Planting a foot on the small of his back, a quick yank backwards rid him of his other arm.

Two down.

He fell forward, both arms useless as he could do nothing but sob uncontrollably.

Aeons damn it... He's really pissing me off.

No mercenary worth his salt would allow his enemy to see such a pathetic state. The sound of his crying awakened unpleasant memories that I shoved away before they could fully come into focus.

He should just shut up forever.

Placing the heel of a boot over the back of his neck, I silently thanked Himeko for giving me boots with relatively thin heels. They were quite useful in getting the job done.

"U-uh, Mirage? I think that's enough..." March stammered nervously behind me, and I looked back to see her pale face and trembling lips staring at us. Kafka's words echoed in my mind as I hesitated to show her my ugly side... but I shook them away. If she couldn't handle something as small as this, we could never travel together for long. With a small smile, I gestured for her to close her eyes and cover her ears before turning back to the maggot writhing beneath my foot.

He should just... die.