Chapter Text
As far as Stelle was concerned she was just aboard the express.
They had been in the stages of preparing for the jump to Amphoreus and settling in their newest addition to the crew when all of a sudden the world went dark.
“Aghh!”
The gray haired woman shrieked as she landed onto a floor that was very much not the express.
“Oh, shit!”
“What the fu-”
“Huh??? Ow!!”
Various voices of confusion sounded around her, some familiar, others much more foreign.
She groaned in pain before everything went black again.
—
The trailblazer awoke with ringing ears as her eyes adjusted to the light that illuminated her surroundings.
Disoriented, Stelle looked around her in caution.
Much to the Nameless’ relief, she spotted her fellow crew members around her, all in similar levels of confusion.
Dan Heng and March 7th lay beside her both with a hand to their heads and groaning with dulled pain.
Looking to her left, she spotted Welt, Himeko and Sunday looking around the room from where they were sitting on the floor, Welt with a hand on his cane for support.
‘...Yeah, I'm definitely dreaming”
“Mr Yang? Himeko?” Stelle called out, catching their attention.
“Stelle, you're up!” Himeko breathed a sigh of relief, standing up to move closer while golden eyes scanned the space they had woken up in.
The figures to the far side near the wall were unfamiliar to her, but none seemed to have
regained consciousness yet so she pushed that concern to the back of her mind for now.
Stelle pushed herself up on shaking legs, standing to face Himeko.
“..Where are we?”
She had to blink a few times to regain her bearings.
“This isn't one of Penacony's dreams again is it?” Stelle smiled almost dumbly, rubbing her eyes as if waking up from a long nap.
The navigator leveled her with an amused stare for her comment as soon as she reached her.
“I think we both know the answer to that, Stelle.”
‘Okay, so maybe not a dream. Sunny boy wouldn't do that to us anyway!”
Stelle huffed a sigh, before turning her head to look at Dan Heng and March 7th still laying on the floor.
“Uhhh, what about those two? Should we help them up?”
Himeko smiled, patting the gray haired girl on the shoulder before speaking kindly.
“That would probably be a good idea,” she spoke, walking closer to where the two were.
“I can get March and you Dan Heng? Let's get everyone up and about before we discuss what's going on”
“On it, Himeko!” Stelle clapped her hands together, crouching down to shake Dan Heng and snake a hand under his arm to pull him into sitting.
He answered with a groggy blink of his eyes before speaking.
“Stelle?” He murmured with confusion evident in his tone. “Where are we? What's going on?”
“Don't ask me!” She huffed, yanking him up onto his feet. “We'll talk with Himeko and Mr Yang once March is up.”
Dan Heng swayed a little but quickly gained his balance, turning to see Himeko already standing with March.
The pink haired girl leaned slightly into the older woman's side with a hand to her head, clearly still dazed from the fall and subsequent waking up.
“Now that everyone's on their feet, let's see if we can get out of here.” Himeko paused in her words as she led the younger of the crew forward to where Welt and Sunday stood in conversation. “..Wherever here is”
“March, Dan Heng” Welt called out, his cane clinking against the floor as he turned to face the approaching group. “Thank Aeons, you two are finally up. We were just starting to get worried.” The relief clear in his voice matched the small smile on his face.
March bounced forward, all drowsiness forgotten. “Mr Yang! Do you know where we are?”
From next to the brown haired man a familiar voice spoke up with a nod of his head. “This seems to be some sort of memory made by remembrance, possibly the doing of a memokeeper”
Stelle turned her gaze on Sunday, the newest edition to their Astral Express. “What someone from the garden of recollection may want with us I'm not sure about, but it may have something to do with those people over there”
The winged man nodded his head to where that unfamiliar group of people lay, still seemingly unconscious.
“Should we wake them up?” Dan Heng spoke up from next to Stelle. “If they're here with us it might help to see if they have any knowledge”
“What if they're aggressive though?” March piped up to which Stelle answered with a smirk.
“They will be no match for the Almighty Galactic Baseballer and her trusty bat!” She declared dramatically.
Himeko chuckled while Dan Heng rolled his eyes.
“Alright, Stelle” The red haired woman stifled a laugh. “How about you and Dan Heng go and wake them up, keep safe though”
Stelle giggled with an “Okay, Himeko!” while Dan Heng nodded with a sigh at his friends' antics, moving to follow her to where the foreign group was.
The duo cautiously walked towards the far wall, stopping a few metres away to take in the sight.
Eight people lay in the group in front of them, all unconscious apart from one green haired man at the back.
Stelle shrieked when she met his cold gaze.
“You're awake!”
The man raised an eyebrow but caution was clear in his expression.
“Who are you people? Why was I brought here?” His eyes narrowed, observing the two before him as his hands reached for a weapon he didn't have.
“Ah! We are of the Astral Express and as for why we are here… we don't actually know…” Stelle chuckled sheepishly upon seeing his guarded expression. “We were kind of hoping you would know..”
“And why should I believe you?”
Dan Heng answered before Stelle could spew whatever nonsense she was no doubt thinking of.
“You have no reason to, but nothing good is going to come out of doubting each other when nobody knows what we were brought here for.” He turned blue eyes onto the people who still lay unconscious. “Would you be able to wake your companions up so we can figure out a course of action?”
The man huffed but obliged, seemingly seeing reason in Dan Heng's argument.
First he tapped the woman who lay nearest to him, her gold hair somehow perfectly in place despite crash landing onto a hard floor.
She startled slightly, eyes shooting open as she turned to look at the offender.
“Anaxagoras?” she uttered, a tinge of distaste and confusion laced in her voice.
Her eyes were dull and face almost expressionless.
“Where are we?” Golden eyes scanned her sleeping companions before turning on Anaxa.
“We don't know, Goldweaver,” he shot back. “now if you could wake up your Chrysos heirs so we can make some sense of whatever's going on”
She locked eyes with Stelle but didn't pay any attention to them for the time being, instead she turned to wake up the sleeping child next to her with a whisper.
“Teacher, you need to get up.”
“Hmmm… Agy?” The red haired girl murmured, groggily. “Where…”
Aglaea shook her head, helping the girl into a sitting position. “I don't know. Right now we should focus on waking everyone up and discussing our options.”
Her golden eyes landed on Stelle and Dan Heng again, seeming to properly register their appearance now.
“You two.. don't look to be of Amphoreus. What are your goals with us?” Aglaea questioned apprehensively.
Dan Heng startled slightly at her words. “Amphoreus..?” he muttered before shaking his head and answering. “We are just as confused as you, we came over hoping your group had some knowledge about why we were brought here”
Aglaea nodded at his answer as the red haired girl woke the rest of the group up.
“If you can be trusted, then there is no harm in trying to figure a plan out” She casted one more glance on the waking group before turning to the trailblazers with a hard stare. “However, if any malice is sensed I will not hesitate to protect my companions.”
Dan Heng smiled slightly. “Likewise, Miss..”
“Aglaea, the Dressmaster of Okhema”
Stelle piped up for the first time since Aglaeas awakening.
“Stelle, of the Astral Express. And this is my companion Dan Heng”
She spoke with a smile and wave. Eyes scanning the now awake foreigners.
Dan Heng turned his head and called the remaining members of the crew over. Before facing the blonde woman again.
“Do you know why we may have been brought here, Lady Aglaea?”
The Dressmaker answered with a shake of her head. “There may be people willing to trap the Chrysos heirs but why you and your companions would be dragged into it aswell is beyond my knowledge”
Stelle tilted her head in question. “Chrysos heirs?”
Aglaea blinked in confusion before the pieces seemed to slot in her head. “You… are from beyond the sky, correct? Chrysos heirs are a group of golden blooded heros on Amphoreus. We can explain in detail after we get our bearings with the current situation, guests from afar”
Dan Heng simply nodded as the remaining people walked over. Welt, Himeko, Sunday and March joined the gathering group.
“I trust everything is okay, Dan Heng and Stelle?” Welt questioned the Trailblazer, eyes scanning over the Chrysos heirs in question.
“Unfortunately, none of us have any idea of the reason behind our summoning here. However we do know this space is made of some form of memory, we haven't made any progress on a form of exit, though”
Anaxa spoke up from where he leaned against the wall.
“A memory? How interesting. Well sitting here, mopping will do nobody good” He pushed his body off from the wall stepping closer to where the group of Nameless stood. “Perhaps introductions would help us familiarise ourselfs?”
“I didn't take you as one for social interactions, Blasphemer”
“Spare me the tounge, Woman. I'm merely trying to make sense of our predicament.” Anaxa spat back, before clicking his tounge and looking at the Nameless.
“Well, guests from beyond the sky?”
“Introductions would be good, yes” Himeko smiled before scanning the appearances of each unfamiliar person.
“I am Himeko, Navigator of the Astral Express and a Nameless”
“Welt Yang, member of the Express”
“March 7th!, also a member of the Express”
“Dan Heng.”
“Galactic Baseballer!” Stelle called out wich earned her a flat look from Dan Heng.
“Ughh, fine. Stelle of the Astral Express”
“Sunday, a passenger of the Express”
A new voice spoke up as a White haired man stepped forward.
“Sorry for the interpretation, but what exactly is the Astral Express?” he rubbed the back of his head, blue eyes glinting with a sheepish expression.
Welt seemed to startle slightly at his appearance, eyes widening just a fraction but he regained his composure so quickly Stelle almost thought she imagined it.
“Ah, the express is a train that traverses between worlds. Anyone can board regardless of agenda or intentions.” Welt coughed, hand tightening on his cane. “We were just about to set off on our journey to Amphoreus before we got transported here.”
“Between worlds…?” the man murmured to himself in disbelief before blinking and meeting Stelle's eyes.
“Ah, right! My name is Phainon of Aedes Elysia!” he smiled so brightly it was almost blinding.
“Mydeimos, crown prince of Kremnos. Just call me ‘Mydei’” A tall, blonde, tattooed man spoke up from next to Phainon.
“We are Tribbie!”
“I am Castorice.”
“My name is Hyacine, and this is my good friend and assistant, the little pegasus Ica!”
“Call me Cipher.”
“Anaxagoras”
“Aglaea, the Dressmaster of Okhema”
Himeko smiled at the people before her. “I hope we can all be comrades in this situation and find a solution soon.”
Welt nodded in agreement. “We all have our duties to attend to and I imagine Pom-Pom will be quite distressed to see everyone has disappeared.”
“Oh that won't be a problem!” A voice sounded from behind him making everyone startle and turn to the cause.
Blonde hair flowed off the person's shoulders and their blue eyes held a sparkle in them. “Time passes differently here, after all!” They spoke with a small giggle in their voice, unsettling the Chrysos heirs.
“Who are you?”
Someone's alarmed voice rang out but it was impossible to tell who with the impressive scream March let out.
“I'm the person who gathered you all here!” They tucked a strand of hair behind their pointed ears. “I'm not here to hurt you, no I just need you to watch some… memories.”
Their expression turned serious suddenly, catching everyone off guard. “I know it's unbecoming of me to kidnap you but I did what's necessary for the universe.”
Stelle narrowed her eyes on the perpetrator. “But who are you?”
“Merely a Remembrance pathstrider if you will!” The blonde's cheerful, teasing tone slipped back into their voice as if flipping a switch. “You can call me, Connie”
Anaxa scoffed. “And why should we do what you say?”
“Well it's not like you have much choice.” They waved their hand, creating two doors on the walls. “I wish no harm but this needs to be done. Barely 10 minutes will have passed in your worlds by the time this all ends anyway.”
“This room is for what I need to show you” Connie gestured to the left door and it swung open showing a room with a large television on the wall and many seats around.
“This room is for your basic needs, sleep, privacy, relaxation blah blah” They then waved their hand to the right door and it again swung open revealing a corridor leading to fourteen separate bedrooms.
With another wave of a hand a rather large kitchen appeared between the two doors, they cast another gaze on the group. “Himeko, Phainon and Stelle are under no circumstances allowed to cook”
Stelle gasped in offence. “What! Why me!”
To that Connie merely gave them a glance before speaking again. “Viewing will begin in an hour, so don't kill each other, don't try and kill me because, trust me, you won't get very far.” They paused considering their words. “Well maybe apart from Welt, but still don't do it. Food is unlimited, perks of being in a literal memory I guess.”
With that they disappeared in a burst of blue fire leaving the group to process everything that just happened.
“So.. uh. Popcorn anyone?”
“Not the time, Stelle!”
—