CHASING WORLDS | honkai star rail

iii.

[name] stared with wide eyes at the space station. she had no idea what a space station was, but it amazed her nonetheless. the archon, entranced by herta's space station, was completely oblivious to the looks she was receiving from march and himeko. the red-haired woman laughed softly.

"i'll leave her to you, march." with that, himeko walked towards pom-pom. march sighed and turned to the starstruck archon.

"come on, [name]. you can admire the space station later. for now, we have to save it." hearing no response, the pinkette walked closer, resting a hand on the archon's shoulder. "[name]?"

"huh? o-oh! yes, let us go and rescue those researchers from their fate." march stared at [name], blinking in confusion. the archon huffed. "i, [name] de fontaine-"

"yeah, yeah. let's go." march grabbed [name]'s wrist, effectively cutting her off, and began dragging her out of the train. dan heng followed behind, his brows creased in slight confusion.

the three (two, since [name] could hardly fight) nameless fought through waves of the anti-matter legion, rescuing researchers as they did so. [name] mostly sat back, occasionally hitting an enemy from behind with a pipe she found.

it wasn't long before they found a girl passed out. she had shoulder-length gray hair. march grinned.

"dan heng, why don't you try cpr?"

"me? why?"

"'cause you know how to do it!"

"so do you."

"w-well..."

dan heng sighed and leaned down, preparing to start cpr, only for the girl to startle awake, eyes wide.

"where...who..." she muttered, examining the faces around her.

"i'm march 7th, this is dan heng, and this is [name]. you're on herta space station," march explained gently, smiling at the gray-haired girl.

"i see..." it was clear the girl had no idea what herta space station was. "i'm stelle."

"what a pretty name!" march exclaimed, grinning before turning serious. "we should get you to safety."

"i can fight...i just don't have a weapon."

"there's a baseball bat right over there," [name] stated, pointing to the black baseball bat leaning against the wall.

stelle looked over and got to her feet moving the pick up the baseball bat. and thus began the fight back to safety. the archon, watching as they fought, frowned. she knew she wasn't the best fighter, and the others understood. yet she couldn't help but feel useless.

useless like not being able to do anything about the prophecy. useless like when poisson flooded. useless like when she was put on trial for being a false archon. tears welled in her heterochromic eyes and she found herself wanting to sob. she chewed her lip, withholding any noises and quietly following after the other three. march glanced back, noting the watery look the archon's eyes had. once they reached where the researchers were, march gently grabbed the archon's hand and tugged her to the side.

"are you okay?" the pinkette asked.

[name] nodded. "i'm fine."

"you look like you're about to cry."

"i do not."

"[name], your eyes are watery."

"allergies."

"we're in space."

"w-well...i-i'm not about to cry! i just have something in my eyes."

"you're literally crying right now, [name]. what happened?"

"i-i'm crying?" [name] brought a hand up, gently brushing her fingers against her cheeks. there were indeed tears, causing the archon to frown.

"so what's wrong?" march asked again, tone soft. "you don't seem like the type to cry."

the [color]-haired woman remained silent for a few moments. "i..."

march looked at her expectantly, causing the archon's breath to hitch in her throat. as tempting as it was to confide in someone, she refused. forcing a laugh, her lips tugged into a fake smile, one she had practiced so frequently with her people.

"nothing's wrong! i'm alright. perhaps a little startled by the intensity of the fights!"

march deadpanned with a sigh. "sorry for worrying."

"no need to apologize! in fact, i find your concern rather sweet. but i digress! we have more important matters to tend to." with that, the archon walked off towards stelle. "stelle, are you going to join the astral express?"

"the astral express?" the gray-haired girl questioned curiously. "what's that?"

"we're a group that travels the stars and deals with stellaron crises," march answered, as if she'd had to explain multiple times before. "and considering your...situation, it's probably for the best that you travel with us."

"you mean the stellaron?"

"yes."

"well, i don't think it'd be a bad idea," [name] piped in.

stelle thought for a moment before nodding. "i think i'll go with you guys."

"i, [name] de fontaine, hereby declare that you are now a part of the astral express!"

"can you tone down the theatrics? sorry, stelle. she's always like this."

"i am not!"

"yes you are," dan heng muttered, looking tired.

"w-well-!" march slapped a hand over the archon's mouth. stelle watched in amusement as the pinkette suddenly ripped her hand away, a look of disgust on her face.

"did you just lick my hand?!"

"no! why would someone such as i ever do a disgusting thing like that?"

"[name]-!"

himeko laughed softly, interrupting the bickering, a smile on her face. "it seems you're enjoying yourselves."

"himeko, where did you come from?!"

the redhead ignored march's question. "we have much bigger problems."

the group turned to look out the window of the space station. there was a large white and blue/purple beast.

"the doomsday beast," march breathed.