HSR AO3 Cross-posted Works

To Be By My Side

Caelus hadn't been seen in days, and still no sign of him. As days went by, morale dropped amongst the Astral Express crew, their efforts of contacting him fruitless. It was like a bad dream, a nightmare. How could a nightmare occur in the wonderful dreamscape? Though their entire reason for being here revolved around that, the question still lingered. Though they wanted to deny it, the possibility that death had taken him was real.

Though Acheron knew that wasn't the case.

She would ascend the last set of stairs before his figure came into view. Distant skies would only help brighten the mood, as his grey hair would blow in the wind.

She approached him, her steps loud and audible, but he did not move.

On the rooftop he stood, holding a familiar photo. A photo that Firefly had dropped just after her death. She saw that his amber eyes held a dull color, something unlike him.

The shared smiles and laughter between them seemed to phase into obscurity as the moment was dim and tense.

But she saw another photo beside the one of him and Firefly, one of a girl she did not know of.

She stood over him for some time, winds blowing the only sound that reached the senses.

"Caelus."

She would state his name, but he would not move, leaning against the railing that separated him from an impending doom below.

"..."

He wouldn't reply, but she'd notice that his lips quivered. He was in a vulnerable state, she recognized that. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder, but to her surprise, she was met with a hand tearing her off of him.

He looked over his shoulder at her, his grip on the two photos in his right hand growing firmer.

"What."

He would finally reply, letting go of her hand hastily as he turned his head to look back at the scenery in front of him. Penacony in its most beautiful form. Lights for as far as the eye could see.

She would look down at her hand, fingertips brushing against her palm until she sighed, and looked at him with a concerned expression.

"Caelus, we've all been worried about you."

She would say, her voice soft and her expression matching that.

He hung his head lower, he knew that he had worried his friends, but his grief was something he didn't want to affect the others.

"..."

When he didn't reply, Acheron knew to change the subject. Perhaps something that would help her understand just why he left so abruptly.

"Who is that?"

She pointed towards the girl in the second photo he held, she had purple hair and violet eyes. She looked similar to Acheron herself, though she seemed much younger.

"..."

Caelus would look at the photo in his hands, sniffling. He had an arm around the mysterious girl's waist, and the two held up peace signs.

Acheron inferred that the two must've been very close, but she wanted to know why he would hold a photo of her next to his photo of Firefly, someone who is now deceased.

Caelus would turn his head slightly to look at Acheron, his lips quivering yet again.

"Can I trust you?"

He would question, to which she nodded, giving him a reassuring expression.

"Of course you can."

She replied, reaching an open palm to touch him, but pulling away at the last moment.