Chapter Text
"He who overcomes others is strong, but he who overcomes himself is mightier still."
- Tao Te Ching
She could feel it writhing under her skin.
It gnawed.
She could feel it warp her steel into twisted shapes, armor melting into a cold shell.
It consumed.
She could feel the dark-hued flame of Propagation burn fireflies to ash, leaving naught but buzzing corpse flies that sought to ravage carrion flesh.
It devoured.
Like how it devoured her empire. Her world. Her comrades.
And now… herself—
Firefly snapped awake. She would have leapt out of bed if it wasn’t for the heavy down covers keeping her anchored.
Twin sunsets darted around the dark room, finding random pieces of furniture she used to remind herself where she was.
She was on the Astral Express. She was sleeping with Caelus. They had survived Sunday. Survived Sparkle. Survived the prophecy.
There was no Propagation. She was safe. She was safe. She was safe.
Firefly’s wandering gaze finally settled on the alarm clock as her breathing started to slow.
4:36. She had gotten two and a half of her usual three required hours of sleep, though with how fast her heart was still racing probably meant she was not getting the rest of it.
She wasn’t supposed to be able to ‘dream,’ but ever since Robin had adjusted her brainwaves to allow her to access Penacony, she had started getting this awful… feeling whenever she slept.
Admitting defeat against the battle for sleep, Firefly glanced over the still snoring form of her other half. She probably had a better chance at making Aha cry than waking him up, so she quietly slipped out of bed, padding around the floor with her feet until she found her slippers. Then she shuffled to the bathroom with a yawn.
Ten minutes later she was creeping through the dim yet now familiar cars of the Astral Express in workout clothes, pausing only once to admire the stars passing by the window. Eventually she entered a much more spacious car.
This was the ’Everything Else Car,’ as the crew affectionately called it. Basically the equivalent to the Express’s garage. There was a treadmill shoved into a corner that Himeko apparently used like twice a month. Wolfie had dumped her medical pod (for emergencies) along with a lot of SAM's maintenance equipment on the other side of the room with which Welt was quickly getting acquainted. And then of course there was the mountain of ‘interesting doodads’ that Caelus always said he was going to sort through but (predictably) never did.
Firefly was here for none of that, and instead paced toward the purposefully clear center of the car. She launched into a few stretches then, once satisfied, ignited one of her teal-green plasma swords.
Her first slash painted the dim room with a green glow. Then she continued her measured advance against her imaginary targets until she limbered up enough to start increasing her pace. She gave herself ten more minutes of practice swings before it was time for a water break, then ignited her second sword in her off hand.
She didn’t know how long she stood there practicing forms, but she only came to a stop when the lights she had not bothered to turn on flickered to life roughly an hour before she knew the rest of the Express’s automated daylights were supposed to turn on.
“You’re here early,” Dan Heng said, making his way into the room with his spear in hand.
“Not that early,” Firefly countered a little lamely, putting a pause to her movements so that Dan Heng could claim the spot she left.
She had easily dethroned the archivist as the Express’s earliest riser, but such a thing did give them a unique opportunity that Firefly was more than happy to oblige given Caelus never woke up before 9 (on non-mission days).
Firefly redid her ponytail as Dan Heng started on his own set forms. If she paid enough attention, she could kinda pick out a move or two that was very similar to the Stellaron Hunter’s Mara-struck swordsman, though she wasn’t going to even pretend to understand how those arts varied between sword and spear.
Eventually, his polearm slowed to a stop.
“I am ready,” he said simply.
Firefly took the cue with a nod, then stepped back onto the field.
As soon as her blades ignited, Dan Heng sprang straight into an overhead strike from standing.
The spar had begun.
“Tricks today?” Firefly observed as she caught his spear between her swords.
“The Guard must always be ready to strike!” Dan Heng declared as he pressed down on her guard, “First hit or ring out!”
“You’re on!”
Sparks flew as her heated blades of plasma met the tempered jade of his spear.
They had decided to avoid using the warp drive to reach the Xianzhou, opting to take the scenic one-week trip instead to conserve their fuel stores. As such, this was the fifth morning spar that had taken place between the newest Express member and the data archivist.
And she had yet to win a single one.
Firefly was no slouch in combat, but most of her life had been spent fighting monsters, and even when she did have the chance to fight a sentient opponent, well… Supernova Overload kind of rendered any martial prowess moot.
Today, it seemed like Dan Heng had decided to pull out all the stops as he withdrew only to immediately re-advance on her with repeated low jabs from his spear. Given this was how she lost the second spar, Firefly immediately disengaged, turning right to let the rest of the flurry hit empty space.
Dan Heng, of course, was better than that and soon his spear was following her with a wide sweep. She ducked, letting the spear pass overhead before she tried to capitalize.
She was thoroughly shoulder checked by Dan Heng’s closed guard, buying the spearman about two paces of space. Much to her chagrin, it was more than enough to reestablish his spear’s reach.
Their exchanges continued for another five minutes, each with Firefly trying to capitalize on brief openings that were just as quickly closed by the martial Xianzhou warrior. By minute six, a sheen of sweat layered her skin as Dan Heng once again pressed the offensive.
Firefly bit her lip. No wonder Blade found this man so hard to kill.
She was admittedly a bit more winded than usual, but she supposed it made sense given it had been a few days since Caelus helped her replenish her energy. It was hardly a bad thing for a spar, quite the opposite actually, but it did introduce a few tactics that were normally off the table of Glamothian combat doctrine if she wanted to win.
Such as chucking her swords right at Dan Heng’s face.
Of course, the spear easily batted the first then the second blade away, the deactivated hilts clattering to the ground as Dan Heng aimed a more reflexive strike toward her torso.
In exactly the way she wanted.
She sidestepped, grabbing the haft of the spear before it could retreat and pulling forward with all her super soldier might.
Then, to her muted horror, Dan Heng was quick to let his weapon go, shifting seamlessly into a hand-to-hand stance of his own.
As Firefly pulled the now loose spear much farther behind her than she intended, only one thought crossed her mind at her apparent mistake.
Shit.
She was able to block Dan Heng’s first fist. She was not able to block the second, third, and ultimately the fourth blow that sent her stumbling out of the ring.
“Ow ow ow,” Firefly muttered as she landed on her rump, quickly finding the hand that had put her there offering to help her up.
“Good thinking,” Dan Heng said, as he pulled her to standing, “Next time pull away instead of toward. You might get better results.”
“I could, you know, also not forget that my opponent obviously knows how to fight with his hands,” Firefly muttered as she picked up her swords.
Dan Heng chuckled, retrieving his spear. “True. Again?”
Firefly’s swords hissed back on, serving as her answer.
They sparred until the Express’s daytime ambient lights faded in to herald morning. By the time of match seven, both of them were covered in sweat, though Firefly was the one panting.
Just as Dan Heng broke her guard to bring the match to a close, a spinning black object intercepted the spear at its zenith.
A black-barreled bat clattered to the floor as Caelus, still in his PJs, sauntered into the car.
“You done bullying my girlfriend?” Caelus said between a yawn.
“This is hardly bullying,” Dan Heng said, giving Firefly a brief nod.
Her muscles burning, Firefly exited the ring with grace. Though she did slap Caelus on the bum, both for interrupting the bout and to wake him up a bit.
“Have fun, boys.”
She giggled as Dan Heng brought the spear down on Caelus’s widened expression from her sneak attack. The former Stellaron Hunter caught it on his crossed forearms with ease, though scowled.
“Pay attention,” Dan Heng chided.
“I just got my ass slapped,” Caelus grunted, “That’s hardly a fair shot.”
Despite his grumbling, Caelus easily forced the spear off him with enough time for his bat to rematerialize in his hand.
Firefly kicked back and watched as Caelus opened up with his signature brand of overwhelming offense, forcing Dan Heng on defense by default. When Dan Heng wisely put space between them, Caelus didn’t pursue.
He instead swung his bat around in his grip, holding it behind his back with the barrel pointed upward as if it was a sword.
Dan Heng’s lips parted in recognition, and for good reason seeing Caelus take up a stance that mirrored the Mara-struck Hunter.
“He taught you Xianzhou arts?”
“If you can call beating me into a pulp teaching,” Caelus said dryly, “But yeah, I know kungfu. Kinda.”
Dan Heng’s expression suddenly steeled, “Then let me test the extent of ‘kinda.’”
Then the Guard lunged with far more fervor than he ever did with her.
Caelus’s wilder form had indeed changed, becoming something recognizably structured even if it was far from the mechanical precision of Dan Heng’s spear.
The other glaring departure were the obnoxiously loud kung fu noises Caelus kept making every time he swung his bat. It was only when Firefly saw Dan Heng’s practiced expression falter into a grimace for a mere second did she realize the shape of Caelus’s strategy.
He was going to preempt Dan Heng with a form that he knew bothered him, then annoy him into giving him the win.
It was a strategy so Kafka-esque, yet had the whimsical veneer of the Trailblaze sloppily glued over it so convincingly that only Firefly really knew what she was seeing.
Soon enough, Caelus’s 9:30AM psyop started bearing fruit when Dan Heng started striking when he should have blocked. Caelus didn’t capitalize immediately, letting the errors settle one by one.
Then, as if a switch had flicked, Caelus’s whole aura changed.
With one incredibly loud “YATTA!” Caelus basically took a full two-handed baseball swing at Dan Heng’s piercing strike. Not expecting such a blow, the jade weapon went straight upward and over Dan Heng’s head. Caelus rode his bat’s momentum, spinning with the bludgeon until it landed next to Dan Heng’s exposed neck.
“And that’s the game—“
He was cut off when Dan Heng lunged, planting a fist into his sternum while his hand closed around his throat as he forced the baseballer to the ground.
“Dan Heng!” Firefly shouted. She stopped just shy of jumping into the fray when the guard snapped out of whatever headspace he had ended up in.
Dan Heng breathed in sharply as he released the galactic baseballer.
“Ok, yeah,” a sprawled Caelus muttered to the air, “That’s on me for playing up your mortal arch-nemesis bit.”
“The weakness is mine,” Dan Heng corrected breathlessly, “You played your strategy well.”
The door to the Everything Else Car slid open as Firefly sighed with relief, revealing the Express archer.
“Hey you battle nuts,” March basically shouted, “You’re late for breakfast! Again!”
Firefly frowned. She hadn’t factored in enough time to freshen up, it seemed.
“Five minutes,” Caelus muttered from the ground.
“Make it two,” March quipped, “It’s arrival day and Ms. Himeko has announcements before she meets with Xianzhou customs for pre-clearance!”
And so the three quickly wrapped up the spar, tidied up the space to dodge any more maternal wrath just in case today was the treadmill day, and hastily shuffled into the Party Car to answer the Navigator’s summons.
Shush's piping hot breakfast spread was already set out on the bar, along with the very last of the Oak Cake Rolls the Reverie sent with them as one last parting gift.
The rest of the crew had already assembled for Pajama Assembly, but between Firefly and Dan Heng's workout clothes and Himeko already presumably dressed for her early meeting it was less 'Pajama' and more 'Anything Goes' that morning.
"Good morning, everyone," Himeko greeted as Firefly not-so-conspicuously grabbed a plate and shimmied toward the last surviving cake roll at the end of the bar, "Productive workout, I assume?"
"Quite," Dan Heng said briefly as usual.
As it did every morning, small talk reigned as the crew ate. Then, Himeko cleared her throat toward the end of the meal.
"As you all know, we will be arriving at the Xianzhou Luofu later today," the Navigator said, "It'll be late afternoon for us, but pretty early morning locally. So take a nap if you need."
Given Caelus was still yawning even after throwing down with the Express Guard, Firefly figured she knew exactly where he'd be this afternoon.
"Second," Himeko continued, "Caelus, March, Dan Heng -- can you handle Firefly's chores for today? Both Welt and I have some matters to sort out with her."
"Of the bureaucratic growing pain sort," Welt assured behind his (Shush-made) coffee, "You're not missing out."
"Gee." March said, "It's not like we've been doing just fine the past year and a half."
Himeko chuckled, "Don't let the conductor hear that. I'm sure Pom-Pom can find you more to do."
March very promptly shut up.
"Third and finally," said Himeko, "As you can tell by the length of this trip, we are conserving fuel. We'll brief once the War Dance is over, but Welt, the Conductor, and I are debating some ideal candidates for our next stop."
Firefly actually knew exactly what their next stop was (well, at least the name) thanks to what little she knew of the next script, but she kept her mouth zipped tight.
The meal wrapped up without much more preamble. The juniors departed to complete chores before disembarkation while Welt went back to prepare whatever he had for Firefly in his room.
"Sorry for the delay," Himeko said as she slid a folder to the newest trailblazer, "And pardon the paper. Herta calls me old-fashioned."
Firefly flipped it open to find a few printed forms with her personal information filled out, all under the name of...
"Ms. Firefly Samuel," Firefly read, looking at the Navigator curiously.
"Of all of your prior aliases that Silver Wolf provided, it was the most robust to build a profile out of," Himeko explained, "Even if the name isn't the most... creative."
"No, it's fine. Great even," Firefly assured, "How'd you get it processed with the IPC so fast?"
"Don't underestimate us Nameless," Himeko said with a smile, "Or where we Nameless can end up, as I told Ms. Jade."
Firefly then found another Express pass pin being slid her direction.
"This is your official Express pass. All of your ID info is there if anyone asks or needs to scan it," she said, "Caelus and the others have all been through it before, but they'll show you how to use it to get past Xianzhou customs. They shouldn't bat an eye."
The Navigator then hummed to herself, "That being said, it isn't ironclad. I would still exercise a sense of... plausible deniability if you need to use the full extent of SAM. It would make my life a bit easier if I have to... legally go to bat for you, no Caelus pun intended."
"Of course," Firefly said as her fingers curled around the gold-red pin. It looked almost exactly like the decorative placeholder Caelus had given her a week ago, but was just a bit heavier.
"Speaking of SAM, is this, er, also fireproof?" Firefly asked.
"Should be, if Caelus's still-working pass is anything to go by," Himeko said between a sip of coffee, "Pom-Pom makes them, so I can't give you the specifics."
Firefly tucked the pin away as Himeko finished her coffee.
"Now, I have to get you four pre-clearance," Himeko said, "I would hurry over to Welt's. He's been excited to finally show you what he's been working on all week."
Firefly nodded, bidding brief farewell as Shush hurried over and began busily clearing the table for Himeko's meeting.
She could easily navigate the halls of the Express now, not that there was much to navigate given it was a train.
"Top of the mornin' Ms. Fly."
"Good morning, Mr. Boothill."
The space cowboy tipped his hat as he sauntered past her toward the Party Car she had just left. She had honestly sometimes forgotten that he was a temporary passenger on the train with how much he kept to himself.
Nonetheless, she arrived to Welt's room just to see that the "Where's Mr. Yang?" whiteboard was occupied with neat script in dry-erase marker.
The Everything Else Car.
And so Firefly continued onward on her journey across the train cars.
Caelus stepped into the hall from the utility room carrying several empty trashcans and their empty laundry basket.
His golden eyes met hers and he smiled, "Having fun?"
"Off to see Mr. Yang," Firefly said, pecking his cheek as he passed by, "You're probably having more fun on trash disposal."
Caelus snickered, "Nah. Express trash got boring by my second week."
He disappeared down the hall just as Firefly crossed the threshold into the Everything Else Car.
"Ah, Firefly," came Mr. Yang's voice amidst the rapid sound of typing somewhere behind the now fully deployed maintenance equipment, "You made it just in time. Data is just about finished compiling."
Firefly weaved in between diagnostic data screens, finding Welt not alone but accompanied by a familiar hologram kicking her feet on a short data server.
The transformer device that held SAM spun lazily while it was held suspended in a glass container connected to the main console. Its soft blinking told Firefly that there was indeed an upload process going on.
"Yo," Silver Wolf greeted casually, "Got a level up for you. Or a side-grade depending on how you look at it."
"Already?" Firefly asked.
Firefly knew the two were cooking something with how often they were colluding over SAM's schematics over the past week. Though, again, she hadn't expected any products this quickly.
"Old timer here is sharp. Real sharp," Silver Wolf muttered as she hopped off her perch, "Dude speed-ran learning your 'code'."
Firefly tilted her head teasingly, "Faster than you?"
Silver Wolf averted her gaze to hide a begrudging scowl, "Basically any-percented it just enough to figure out what we wanted to do. Ultra nerd."
Welt chuckled, eyes again glowing with the same artificial shade of orange they did when he was summoning helicopters and machine guns.
"Let's just say I have... some help."
He then closed the data connection as the transfer completed. Silver Wolf swiped her transformer as its container hissed open and tossed it to its pilot.
"Time to beta," said the hacker, "You know how this works."
Firefly did indeed know how it worked, so she kicked off her sneakers and stepped onto the maintenance platform.
The transformer flashed her shade of teal as she willed a slow-boot activation sequence, both so she could establish the wire connection to her diagnostics and to avoid searing the clothes off her back with the violent thermic reaction associated with a flash-boot activation.
That would be an awkward walk back to her room for sure.
SAM slowly enclosed around her, taking about thirty seconds before she was encased in her signature metal war machine.
"Nothing feels different," Firefly reported.
Or read differently from any of her usual self status reports, for that matter.
"That's because it shouldn't," Silver Wolf said as she watched the rapid data feed over Welt's shoulder, "We're making sure whatever we did didn't grief the rest of your build."
Firefly remained still. For the next minute or so there was some quiet murmuring from her tech support team, Silver Wolf occasionally pointing to something here or there on the screen and Welt highlighting or altering it in turn.
"Alright, you should be getting a new operating option now," Welt said after a moment.
A prompt did appear in her mind's eye. A prompt to activate… Fun-Sized Mode.
Without further ado, Firefly proceeded with the prompt.
She felt SAM parse the recently uploaded data and in a flash of light... found herself once again outside her armor?
"Huh?"
It was only when she raised her hand to tuck some errant hair behind her ear and came face-to-face with the familiar shade of Glamothian metal did she realize what had happened.
"Nice!" Silver Wolf cheered, high-fiving Welt as Firefly observed SAM's gauntlets on her arms. A matching pair of greaves also adorned her legs up to her knees, as well as an armored cuirass that fit snugly over her upper torso.
"How does it feel?" Welt asked.
Firefly gave an experimental few jabs. Whatever configuration they had put her armor in was surprisingly well balanced, the chest piece was designed to give her full range of motion with her shoulders.
"Good," Firefly said, "Might need to get used to the legs, though."
"We'll see what we can do," Welt said, "Can you go ahead and go into background mode?"
Firefly signaled her armor disappear but not functionally deactivate. The armor disappeared, but her transformer did not separate from her body — the state she was in most during missions.
"Uh-huh, everything still looks good," Welt said, "Right gauntlet."
Firefly followed Welt's instructions, going through a sequence to individually activate each part separately. She found she was easily able to summon any part of SAM's modular configuration mid-swing or mid-kick.
"There you go! Plausible deniability," Silver Wolf said when the test was over, "Delivered by yours truly."
"You should be flight capable. Expect about 20 to 25% of the output from full deployment," Welt said, "But yes, this should certainly help you not get arrested."
Firefly chuckled to herself as she closed her gauntleted hand into a fist.
It was hard to believe these days that SAM used to be inseparable from her body. The whole transformer was due to Silver Wolf's effort to make SAM a system that could be modified in the first place, Glamothian protocol (crappy DRM as the hacker put it) be damned.
"Thanks guys," Firefly said, fully deactivating as the transformer appeared in her hand, "Really."
"Now we just have to teach you how to breakdance," Silver Wolf said, earning a chuckle from Welt as whatever reference she made went over the pilot's head.
"We'll try and iron out any remaining hiccups before you depart this afternoon," said Welt as he took back the transformer.
Silver Wolf then leveled a much more sober look at Firefly.
“We cool now? About the espresso depresso thing?”
Ah. She was just starting to wonder why Wolfie was pitching in so much on her own accord.
Firefly raised her eyebrow, “And not the bomb thing?”
Silver Wolf rolled her eyes, “I told you I’m not saying sorry for that.”
Firefly sighed. She’d take what she could get, and she was getting a pretty good upgrade either way.
“Yeah. We’re even.”
“Good. Now buzz off back to PDA land," Silver Wolf said, shooing her away, "We've got nerd work, and I'm supposed to be on the clock with the damn cat."
Firefly exchanged one last nod of gratitude with Mr. Yang before she snuck back out of the car.
By the time she rendezvoused with the others, all the chores for the morning had already been completed. She had finished packing the night prior (and had forced Caelus to do the same), so the couple took up Himeko's suggestion for the afternoon.
Nap time. For Caelus, at least. Firefly got a much-needed energy transfer and instead reviewed her Xianzhou to-do list. It was nowhere near as extensive as her Penacony one, but there were definitely some things she wanted to see. And eat.
Like Tuskpir Wraps... as long as they weren't actually made of Tuskpirs, of course.
"All crew, 30 minutes to arrival! All crew, 30 minutes to arrival!"
At the sound of the conductor's voice, Firefly poked her other half once, then twice, then—
“I heard ‘em,” Caelus groaned, turning over, “Five… minutes.”
Firefly just rolled her eyes and slid out of bed. There was an incredibly important task at hand and she only had thirty minutes to do it.
Figuring out what looked good with her bodysuit.
They were in the real world now. And being in the real world meant she couldn’t just ignore SAM’s thousand-plus-degree cabin when it came to her wardrobe. Clothes weren’t just going to appear on her body when SAM deactivated like it did in the dream, and that meant she was back to the heatproof bodysuit if she was going to survive using her mech with dignity.
She slipped into her form-fitting, teal-on-white Glamothian bodysuit and started trying on various cheap clothing items. Eventually she settled with a simple grey sweatshirt.
“Caelus…” she said to her now half-awake boyfriend as she turned in the mirror, “Does this make me look big?”
His response was immediate.
“According to March 7th, I am legally not allowed to answer that question. For my safety, I’m supposed to say you look good in anything.”
Firefly turned around with a pout, because she had asked him this plenty of times before and had received plenty of straightforward answers.
“Cae.”
“I don’t make the ‘girl rules’,” the baseballer said as he facetiously retreated into the bathroom, “My male, uneducated hands are tied.”
Firefly rolled her eyes, grabbed two other equally expendable garments, and went to find said rulemaker herself.
She found March 7th in the midst of pushing two suitcases twice the size of her one roller bag out of her room.
“Firefly!” March greeted with a slight pant, “What’s up?”
“You broke my boyfriend so now you’re going to take his place,” Firefly deadpanned, raising the two other garments so they could be compared with what she currently wore, “Which one.”
March’s ensuing frown very clearly told Firefly she didn’t agree with any of them.
“What’s with the bodysuit? You didn’t wear that in Penacony.”
Firefly lightly sighed, giving the archer the expedited rundown of why her wardrobe was confined to the mechanical realities of SAM. To which March nodded in sage-like solemnity.
“Ooh. That’s rough.”
Not as rough as when entire garrisons went to battle bare underneath their armor because there weren’t enough resources to keep repairing their bodysuits… but hey, the thought counted.
March 7th tapped her chin, then seemingly came to a decision.
“Wait here!”
Firefly did as she was told, standing at the door of March’s room as the girl audibly rummaged around inside. She swore she heard one or two things crash to the floor before the pink-haired girl reappeared.
“Here, try this!”
March handed her a dark leather, cropped bomber jacket with a furred collar. The Trailblaze symbol was displayed proudly on its back and suddenly Firefly was immediately reminded of the level of fashion diva she was dealing with.
No wonder Caelus was suddenly housebroken.
“You just… have this on hand?” Firefly murmured in slight disbelief.
“It’s actually a hand-me-down from Himeko, back when I was new and trying to figure out a good look,” March said, “Even has a digital storage tag installed so you won’t have to ever worry about losing it!”
Firefly threw off her sweatshirt and donned the jacket. It was a lot comfier than it looked.
March hummed in thought, “…Could use a belt or something to make the silhouette pop out more, but still much better.”
She flashed Firefly her phone screen and she had to agree with that assessment. Still, she had to ask.
“Are you sure I can take this from you?”
“Please, I’ve worn that thing maybe once? Too stuffy for me, but that’s a plus for you with all the ELS business, right?” March assured, trying once again to get her luggage in motion, “But, if you wanna pay me back, a little help would be nice.”
Firefly chuckled, helping March get both large suitcases full of ‘essentials’ to the Parlor Car before running back to Caelus’s— er, their room— to find her other half similarly pulling their luggage through the door.
“See,” Caelus said as he saw the new fit, “That’s a lot better than I could’ve done.”
Firefly flicked him on the nose, “You could have just said as much.”
Caelus grinned, “Yeah, but I had to pack toiletries.”
Firefly couldn’t knock the acceptable discretion of time management, so she quickly dipped into the room to grab her phone and other daily necessities, found that her new jacket had more than enough pockets to avoid the use of the dreaded pocketbook (yippee!), and quickly rejoined Caelus at the stairs.
“No, you cannot carry my luggage,” Firefly said as she grabbed the suitcase handle from under his grip.
Caelus huffed a quiet laugh, “Figured.”
They entered the Parlor Car to the sight of a less-than-happy conductor complaining to their Navigator, who was at a window controlling the Express’s descent with one of her many holographic screens.
“Did he really have to jump out of the emergency airlock?!” Pom-Pom fumed, “I’m the conductor of the Astral Express! Bob the Touslehead left me a whole handbook on how to get fugitives past customs.”
Himeko chuckled, “I’m sure that’s just his way of being polite.”
Firefly made a note to ask the conductor about that handbook in the future. Could be... useful.
Caelus, meanwhile, exchanged a glance with Dan Heng, “Boothill?”
Dan Heng sighed, “Boothill.”
Firefly abandoned her bag to glue herself to the nearest window as the Express descended gently into the Xianzhou worldship’s artificial atmosphere. Two starskiffs pulled up along both sides of the train as stars gave way to an aurora-tinged blue sky.
"Reading you loud and clear, Kestrel-1" the Navigator said as she responded to whatever hails were coming through her earpiece, "We're in your hands."
"Kestrel..." Dan Heng mused, "That's the name of Lady Yukong's personal skiff unit."
"Guess we're still kinda a big deal," March said, "We were personally invited, after all."
“Make sure you have everything. Including extra credits for transportation,” Himeko gently reminded, “We won’t be in orbit so there won’t be any access to Anchors.”
As March ran back to her room to grab a few more credit chits, Welt handed Firefly her transformer.
“Let me know if anything misbehaves,” he said, “Silver Wolf said to blame it on me if anything happened.”
Firefly rolled her eyes as she slid her device into a front pocket of her new jacket, “Classic.”
“Seriously though,” Welt said, “I know you’re trained in field maintenance, but I’m just a phone call away.”
And Wolfie was usually a single warp hole away at all times. She really was in good hands.
"Alright crew!" Pom-Pom announced, "Those here for the Xianzhou War Dance, prepare to disembark!"
All the juniors stood almost at attention as the small conductor looked them up and down, his gaze eventually settling on... March's luggage.
"It's all essentials. I swear!" March immediately defended, "We're going to be here a few weeks right?"
"Two to three," Himeko chimed, "We'll keep you posted depending on the timeline."
Pom-Pom's non-verbal look of 'really' abated. Somewhat.
"As you know, this is our newest member's first official expedition," Pom-Pom said, looking at Firefly, "Be good seniors! Not that I think she'll need much guidance."
Firefly felt Caelus nudge her side, "Hear that? I'm a senior."
For the sake of looking respectful in front of the conductor, Firefly didn't roll her eyes. She might kick the smug raccoon in the shin later though. When he didn't expect it. In the name of 'alertness training.'
Guided by their escorts, the train eventually came to a stop alongside a docking station.
"As much as I believe that trailblazing is meant to be enjoyable, please do remember that we're technically here on ceremony," Himeko said as the juniors shuffled toward the now-open exit, "So don't go overboard."
"Please," Caelus waved her off, "When have I ever gone overboard?"
It seemed like the time for 'alertness training' had come sooner than expected and the crew shared a laugh at Caelus's bruised shin's expense.
"Have fun, everyone," Himeko said once they were all off the train, "Remember to send some pictures."
They waved goodbye to their Navigator, then followed the pathway off the station platform and into the busy spaceport proper. A Xianzhou representative stood waiting near the checkpoint.
"Four delegates from the Astral Express, yes?" she said smartly upon seeing the group, "I just need to see your IDs and you're good to go."
Dan Heng led, letting the woman scan his Express pass. Then March. Then Caelus—
The representative paused when Caelus's picture flickered on screen. Both Dan Heng and March averted their eyes from an absolutely terrible, open-mouthed, almost tongue-out psycho smile. To her credit, the woman proceeded unfazed past the initial shock and finished processing the smug-looking Trailblazer's credentials.
"Is that why you told me not to smile?" Firefly whispered to March.
"Yeah," March confirmed, "For someone who hates Fools, he's quite a big one himself."
Firefly sighed, "Oh, I know."
The woman dispelled the awful picture, "Ms. Samuels?"
"Samuel," Firefly corrected politely as she presented her pass and watched as said not-smiling picture appeared. She still held her breath despite herself, but a couple seconds later it flickered out without preamble.
"Apologies, you're all set," the woman said with a bow, "Enjoy your time on the Xianzhou, honored guests."
Dan Heng thanked her in his native tongue and the four were on their way.
“Just got a text from Yanqing,” Caelus said as he typed away on his phone, “The General sent him to meet us in Starskiff Haven.”
Dan Heng nodded. Firefly strayed a little closer to Caelus as the crowds grew; this many people just made her a little nervous.
"Hey... so," Firefly whispered to Caelus.
Caelus followed her gaze toward the screens bearing Kafka's and Blade's faces.
"Don't worry about it," Caelus said quietly, "The Xianzhou is saltier about letting them get away than about collecting on the bounty."
"And that makes it better... how?"
"'Cause they're not looking for you," Caelus said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "No need to be a Worry-Fly."
Firefly sighed. She'd decide whether or not she would be a Worry-Fly, thank you very much.
"How did you deal with this last time?"
Caelus chuckled a bit darkly.
"I didn't. Because, you know, I didn't remember?"
Ah. Right. Oops.
They were on a peripheral docking station located a bit farther out from Starskiff Haven for vessels that were too large to dock at the Jetty proper. As such, they followed Dan Heng until they reached the shuttle line.
One crowded skiff ride later, they were stepping onto the jetty leading to Central Starskiff Haven.
"Phew..." March muttered, slumping onto one of her large bags as they reached a bit of open space on the docks, "That made me wish we just snuck through the shipping corridor again."
"I'm not surprised we didn't get an escort from the station," Dan Heng said, his eyes scanning the sheer size of the crowd, "They must not be able to spare the personnel with the influx of travelers for the festival."
"Hey, we skipped customs. I'll take it," Caelus muttered, shielding his eyes while checking his phone. "Yanqing is already at the Loom."
Firefly blinked, "The... Loom?"
Dan Heng simply pointed a ways off the dock, toward a giant rolling Loom that was obviously the jetty's centerpiece.
"Oh."
Firefly snapped a picture of the giant loom as they made their way over.
"There you are!" a boyish voice called out to them, "Everyone, this way!"
Firefly turned to the voice and paused.
Kafka had said the lieutenant of the Xianzhou Luofu was young, but Firefly hadn't thought she meant this young. The blonde warrior robed in blue who had been sent to meet them wouldn't have looked out of place in a classroom if it wasn't for the two swords sheathed behind his waist.
Then again, this was the Luofu. There was a non-zero chance this Yanqing was like hundreds of years old.
"Hey everyone," Yanqing greeted with a smile as they approached, "Hope getting in wasn't too much trouble."
"Huh," March murmured, "They say kids grow up really fast, but did you get a little bit taller than before?"
Dan Heng sighed, "We've only been away for a few months."
Caelus, on the other hand, forewent words entirely, stepping forward to squeeze the boy's cheek.
"Caelus!" Yanqing protested, "What are you doing?"
"Sorry," Caelus half apologized, "After our previous adventures, I've become suspicious of whoever greets us first."
A pair of sunsets glared at him dryly, "Suspicious enough to forget all human decency?"
Caelus shrugged, "Last time we were here, the first person who greeted us was a skinwalker Lord Ravager."
March shuddered, "Can you, like... not put it like that? Ever again?"
"And then, in Penacony, we got roofied by a weird goldish lady pretending to be a scam artist," Caelus continued, "So I rest my case."
Yanqing shook his head, "I get it. Better safe than sorry."
"No, no, no," Firefly protested, "Don't encourage him!"
March suddenly snapped back to the conversation, "Oh! This is Firefly. She's our newest member who joined us in Penacony!"
Yanqing held out his hand, which Firefly took. "Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Firefly. You've definitely made some great friends."
"Likewise," Firefly said, manners on autopilot, "I've heard a lot about you."
A kinda half-lie, she realized. She had heard a lot about him, just not from the Express.
Luckily for her, Yanqing left introductions at that as Dan Heng re-entered the conversation.
"I was a bit worried that holding the War Dance right after the Ambrosial Arbor crisis might be too soon, but seeing the bustling Starskiff Haven, I understand why Jing Yuan chose this timing."
March grumbled slightly as she pulled one of her bags out of the way of a passerby, "I think it can afford to be a little less bustling."
"March," Caelus said, "I mean this as your best friend, but that's literally a you problem."
Dan Heng restrained March from whatever retaliation she had in mind over her self-inflicted misery with a simple hand on her collar.
"Hey! Stay out of it!"
"No."
Once March was defused, Yanqing brought them up to speed. Security was indeed strained pretty thin, but the General still believed that now was the best time to promote unity and stability after the crisis. The Zhuming and Yaoqing also had sent their respective entourages.
Firefly wasn't stupid. The Zhuming and Yaoqing weren't here to celebrate, they were here to assess. Dan Heng seemed to be on the same line of thought as his neutral expression faltered into a frown for the briefest of moments.
"So," March said after Yanqing's explanation, "Where are we going next? Please, please, please say the hotel."
"Ah. I'm sorry for talking your ear off," Yanqing said, "The General wants to catch up with you at the Palace of Astrum, but I don't suppose stopping by the hotel first is unreasonable."
"Yes!" March said with a fist pump.
Caelus rolled his eyes, "I can't wait to tell Ms. Himeko we kept the Arbiter General waiting over your luggage—"
He was interrupted by the sound of a guttural roar tearing across the docks. And not a ship roar, a bestial howl that suddenly had every Cloud Knight visibly on the move.
"All units, assemble quickly!" One of them yelled, many blue uniforms rushing against a current of civilians obviously fleeing something, "Get ready to protect civilians!"
Yanqing sighed, one of his azure swords coming cleanly out of its sheath in the same breath.
"This is what I get for mentioning security," he muttered, "Excuse me."
"We'll go with you," Dan Heng said, spear already materializing in hand, "March, stay with the luggage."
Yanqing didn't dally, simply nodding as he dashed off toward the commotion with Dan Heng close behind. Caelus exchanged a brief look with Firefly.
She gave her answer with the metal gauntlet that suddenly closed over her fist.
"You heard Dan Heng, March," Caelus said as they started to follow, "Stay with Mt. Luggage!"
"Will you just drop it already!?" March almost screamed.
They joined Yanqing and Dan Heng at the perimeter of a defensive formation set up by the Cloud Knights, waiting as the last of the scrambling civilians cleared the area.
The threat was obvious: five large beast-like creatures that reminded Firefly of werewolves from some of the movies she and Caelus watched. Broken chains rattled at their wrists as they lashed out at the Cloud Knights that had been the first responders.
"Borisin?" Yanqing muttered under his breath, "Here?"
He brought his sword up into a lunging stance, blade held close to his face. Two more swords crystallized above him, held tensely at ready in the air.
"Protect the civilians," Yanqing barked. "We'll deal with them."
"Hey, so," Caelus said, swinging his bat around, "Kill or cap—."
"Kill." "Kill."
It was telling that both Yanqing and Dan Heng said that at the same time.
Caelus's bat disappeared, replaced instead with his spear. His hat also appeared in his other hand.
"Can do."
"Caelus, we'll take the two on the right," Dan Heng said after scanning the field for a moment, "Firefly, take the left. We'll leave the two furthest back to you, Yanqing."
Everyone nodded. Then, once the very last civilian ran past them, they moved.
It was over fast. Almost anti-climatically so.
The two smaller blades of blue sang through the air, immediately grabbing the Borisin's attention as their wielder sprinted forth.
Caelus capitalized on the distraction and rocketed forward with a controlled burst of flame, slamming the harmony hat in the face of the rightmost Borisin. He continued charging past in a fiery line, driving his lance through the other as Dan Heng's Cloudpiercer stabbed the hat-impaired beast the baseballer had left behind, forcing it to the ground with a grunt.
Yanqing had reached his targets just as Firefly jumped hers. She ducked under a wild strike of sharp claws, delivering a burning uppercut that likely shattered every bone in the creature's snouted head. When it did not get up again, she turned to aid their host just to see him withdrawing his blade from the chest of the second-to-last foe.
The last remaining wolf, harried by the lieutenant's flying swords and now finding itself alone, beat a hasty retreat on all fours. It evaded several flying sword strikes as it neared the end of the dock.
Firefly was about to doff her jacket to activate the rest of modular mode to pursue when a barefoot girl suddenly sprang into view. She grabbed a few of Yanqing's missed swords, then threw them with ferocious speed.
The beast was slammed into the ground as the blue sword pinned it through the right shoulder, then a second found its left. Then the girl hefted an incredibly large greatsword from... somewhere and hurled that with equal destructive force.
Firefly scowled as the resulting impact shook the earth and scattered a dust cloud. So much for keeping the engagement clean.
By the time the cloud finally cleared, Firefly only caught a glimpse of the new girl bounding off what was left of that side of the docks.
"Wait!" Yanqing yelled after her, "My sword...!"
Firefly glanced at Yanqing's empty sheaths and the girl's disappearing figure in the distance. Before she could vault the damaged guardrail to go after the apparent thief, Yanqing spoke.
"Hold on, Ms. Firefly! There's no need," Yanqing said, "I appreciate it but let's just... let's just get down to business first."
Firefly spared one last glance at the fleeing girl before she eventually nodded, dematerializing her gauntlets.
Duty first was a constant, it seemed. Not that she disagreed.
Firefly and Yanqing quickly regrouped with the other two. The defensive perimeter had softened a bit, with emergency response personnel attending to the wounded.
"I'm sorry," Yanqing said, "But I'm afraid we'll have to put our plans on hold for now. I need to find out what's going on."
Caelus chuckled, "March is going to be so sad she has to sit with her luggage around for another thirty minutes."
"Caelus," Firefly warned.
"Right. Sorry—."
For the second time in the past ten minutes, Caelus was interrupted by a roar. This time by the Borisin that Dan Heng had stabbed as it flailed back into feral consciousness.
Firefly watched as it brought its claws down on a surprised paramedic and moved.
She didn't summon gauntlets. She didn't summon her sword. Instead her muscle memory defaulted straight to combustion.
Wisps of fire, a shade of teal green instead of hot orange, suddenly flared around her arms as she pushed off the platform, cracking the pavement as she crossed the few meters in a blur.
She didn't punch it, instead grabbing it by the snout and forcing it against a nearby railing. Its entire head and upper torso suddenly ignited as the Glamothian channeled a lethal amount of thermal energy straight into its body.
Firefly waited two full seconds with her grip closed firmly against carbonized flesh before she stood back, letting out an uneasy breath as the charred corpse slumped unmoving against the railing.
"Fly," she heard Caelus.
Firefly turned toward the voice of her boyfriend only to find the faint but chaotic outline of her combustion-fueled wings being swept along with the breeze.
It was a not-so-subtle reminder that SAM didn't make her fire, after all. Only honed it.
It was also a not-so-subtle reminder that those wings were made of fire and were now brushing dangerously close to the jacket she had gotten no less than two hours prior.
"Oh, shoot."
Firefly reflexively reined it in, quickly pulling off her jacket to inspect for any damage. So preoccupied was she that she didn't notice that the Cloud Knights were picking up their weapons again until she looked up and found the glaives not pointed at the dead Borisin... but at her.
"Ma'am, you're being detained under suspicion of Mara contamination."
Firefly blinked numbly at the weapon in front of her. Lucky for her, that was all she had time to do when the familiar blue robe of their lieutenant host suddenly came into view.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Yanqing said, his hand taking the two closest spears and forcing them down, "Hold on there."
Caelus was suddenly at her side, noticeably with his bat back in his hand.
"Explain yourselves. Now." Yanqing ordered sternly, "Fire isn't mara, and she meets no overt criteria for occult corruption."
The two soldiers looked at each other uneasily, then motioned toward one of the paramedics— the very same one she had just saved— who brought the lieutenant a chain of glowing beads.
Firefly didn't know what they did, but by the depth of Dan Heng's sudden scowl she knew it wasn't good.
Yanqing turned the beads around in his hand for a moment. Then his expression soured to the same degree as the Express guard's as he let out a resigned sigh.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Firefly, but if we weren't going to the Astrum Palace before, we certainly are now..."
Caelus's grip tightened around his bat. Firefly placed her own hand over his.
"It's probably just a misunderstanding, Cae," she whispered, even if she herself didn't sound very convincing.
Caelus's unabating gold glare remained affixed on the closest Cloud Knight for another second and a half before he let out a long sigh and his bat disappeared.
"Looks like I'm getting myself a new Xianzhou trash can."
Firefly giggled as Yanqing shooed off the remaining guards.
She had a feeling that by the time the War Dance was over, he'd be owed more than one.