Chapter Text
“Do you remember your first words…?”
Tongue fuzzy, as if it were felt in your mouth rather than flesh, your enunciation was slow and somewhat muffled. In the still quiet of the parlor car, your voice felt like it echoed farther than you wanted it to. You could hear more than feel the rasp of your vocal chords and took a light sip of the water you were given earlier in hopes of soothing it.
Almost imperceptible, the man who leant against the sofa’s arm where you sat furrowed his brow at your query. Embarrassment flushed your system as soon as you realised what you had asked.
“Sorry, ignore that! I was thinking out lou-ow!” In your rush to save face, you felt the telltale piercing pain of having bitten your cheek. Nursing the throbbing you winced and did not notice your companion fetching a glass of crushed ice until he lowered it into your view.
“Here, suck on some ice to keep it from swelling,” he suggested as he placed the glass next to your water on the small table in front of you.
Dan Heng.
Not risking another mishap, you nodded your thanks before popping a couple frozen pieces into your mouth. The chill was a discomfort, but it was better than the sear of pain.
Dan Heng. March 7th. Himeko. Welt Yang. Pom-Pom.
Names of the Astral Express crew filtered through your mind without your consent. Your teeth grit with the effort of silencing your brain, but all you achieved was crushing your ice cube under your molars, the crunch certainly audible judging by the raised brow Dan Heng aimed your way. You did your best to ignore the extra flare up of shame and popped another half of an ice chunk into your mouth. Myriads of thoughts came and went as you rolled the frozen soother along your cheek, but one simple question would not leave you to rest.
How did you end up in the Honkai: Star Rail universe?
Winding back a couple of hours according to your fragmented memory, the same couch you currently sat upon was where you originally woke up with cerulean eyes looming over you, March 7th’s irises turning magenta when shadowed from light. Your throat was too raw to make any noise and your fog-addled brain could hardly process what you were seeing anyways.
“They’re awake! Himeko, Mr. Yang!”
March’s excitement rang loud and clear in your ears, unfortunately pricking at your senses in the wrong way and causing you to roll over and curl inwards as you whimpered.
“Careful, March. Looks like our guest isn’t feeling too well so no need to yell for us,” the smooth drawl of Himeko’s rebuttal was like a balm on your mind. Vision still bleary from post-sleep cognition, your surroundings were a blur as you rolled back the other way to face the people around you.
“Hello, sweetie. Are you fully awake yet?”
You blinked a couple more times before slowly sitting up, the sofa cushions surprisingly comfortable.
“Um, yeah. Excuse me, but where am I?” you asked as best as your numb jaw could mouth the words.
The two oldest adults in the room exchanged glances before the man replied, “This is the Astral Express. Do you know why you’re here?”
Your brow pinched with an effort to recall why that sounded familiar, but all your brain could supply you with was droning static and what felt like the pinpricks of thoughts being siphoned from you mid process. Silence extended between everyone for a few moments too long it seemed, as the first voice you had heard interjected instead.
“Um, if you don’t know that, then tell us your name instead. I’m March 7th!”
Your vision flicked over to the pink-haired woman–March 7th as she just introduced herself. You stumbled over your words for a few blinks of the time-keeping clock screen before what you assumed was your name fell from your lips.
“Er, I think, anyways. I think that’s my name…”
A look of worry—pity or empathy—took over March 7th’s expression before it shifted back into a bright smile. “Well, that’ll be your name with us, then! What you’re called isn’t as important as who knows it!”
Her grip on your hands, what was supposed to be a friendly gesture you assumed, was the slightest bit too tight and you could feel the hidden quake that came from her bones.
Before you could ponder on the gut-wrenching familiarity of it all, the sound of rubber soles squeaking just the slightest on the pristine floor called everyone’s attention to the approaching parties. There was an expectant air about the way all three adults faced the man and woman joining your group, but the two only shook their heads.
“The Archives don’t have much related to The Remembrance and how THEY operate to begin with, but definitely nothing like this,” the man answered the unspoken question immediately. There was an underlying frustration to the way he crossed his arms and his visible fingers dug into the worn fabric of his white coat.
“I tried asking the Messenger, but she either just says ‘It’s an Aeon’s blessing, how wondrous!’ or avoids answering completely,” the woman spoke in turn with an agitated huff.
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Himeko hummed before she turned back to you. “Apologies for the delay in introducing ourselves, but we were just trying to figure some stuff out. I’m Himeko, the Navigator of the Astral Express.”
You nodded in response and gave small waves thereafter as each person introduced their own self, including the giant rabbit-like creature in red. Despite the swell of new information, it felt like you already knew all of this beforehand.
“Since you don’t know why you’re here, we’ll fill you in on what we can. Stelle, if you could, please?” Welt gestured to his companion and you turned to her in turn as she cleared her throat.
“Long story short, there are these people that help me relive memories in order to record them down and they give me compensation for it. During the last session of this, um, they gave me you,” she finished as blandly as she started despite the incredulous string of words she just spewed.
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, the Messenger kind of reached into the mirror and pulled you out before dropping you on me. Speaking of, you’re heavier than you look,” Stelle finished with a rueful sigh as she rubbed her lower back.
“Excuse me?!”
“No worries, I don’t think I have any permanent damage,” she assured you.
“Anyways!” March quickly cut in and even physically blocked Stelle from your line of sight, “we were hoping you would know what the Messenger meant when, um, that happened.”
Still more than a little miffed and put off by the Trailblazer’s comments, your mouth flapped a few times before you scowled for more than one reason. “No… Sorry, I don’t know anything about what’s happening right now.”
A mix of thoughtful hums and agitated groans spilt from the group as everyone pondered how to proceed next. Finally given some breathing space, you tried to comb through your murky thoughts and the pervasive sense of familiarity with your current space. The group quickly broke apart as Himeko had to attend to train-related procedures alongside Pom-Pom. March immediately dragged Stelle off by the ear for what you hoped was a long lecture and Welt informed Dan Heng of some other sources he would try to dig through. That left the latter to watch over you in silence as you sorted out your thoughts on the very comfortable sofa.
In the time since, you managed to scrounge up a few memories including but not limited to: you have most certainly been transferred to another universe, this world was a game you used to play, and almost all of your retained memories had to do with game content.
Your actual life was not even a sliver of the memories you could recall.
A frustrated groan ripped itself from your throat as you flopped onto your side on the sofa. You knew Dan Heng was giving you some sort of look, but you chose to ignore him and buried your face into one of the throw pillows instead.
You never did like that Messenger when you played the game.