Author's Note: Hello and welcome to the result of this random burst of inspiration. If you are familiar with any of my previous works, nice to see you again and welcome back, and if you're a new reader, nice to meet you. I generally try to not waste people's time before a chapter, so expect the majority of the Author's Notes to be at the bottom of every chapter, including this one. So until then, I hope you have a good time.

Summary: Welt Yang died during the 2nd Eruption, and Otto Apocalypse came out of the experience as a changed man, determined to start living in the present rather than the past for the first time in over 500 years. With Anti-Entropy in disarray after the loss of their sovereign, Otto began taking steps to bridge the gap between the two rival organizations, the linchpin of which becomes a potential arranged marriage between Raiden Mei, the daughter of one of Anti-Entropy's most influential figures, and Adam Ferryman, the Captain of the Hyperion. AU (duh)

Disclaimer: I don't own Honkai Impact 3rd or anything else within this story. I'm just a humble nerd who is borrowing Mihoyo's toybox.

Prologue: The Offer

The first time she heard his name was late at night when she overheard a conversation in her father's study. It hadn't been her intention to eavesdrop, but she'd heard her own name being brought up just as she was returning to her room after having gone to fetch a cold glass of water and had allowed her curiosity to get the better of her. It wasn't uncommon for her father to be working late, nor was it unusual for one of his associates to visit their home at any given time to discuss something with him, but why were they talking about her? And why did her father sound so upset?

"... never been so insulted... the audacity... do that to Mei..."

Upon hearing her name being brought up, Mei came to a stop just as she was about to turn the corner. Were they talking about something that involved her somehow? She had been taught growing up that it was rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversations but against her better judgment she found herself rooted to the spot, trying to make out what was being discussed behind the ornate door that stood just ajar enough for her to hear them.

"... have to know that I am not advocating for this lightly, Ryoma," that was Dr. Einstein's voice.

"And yet you still are," came her father's uncharacteristically snappy reply. He hadn't raised his voice, but he didn't need to. Mei could practically hear how her father narrowed his eyes dangerously towards her honorary aunt just from the tone of his voice. "And I can't help but wonder why, Liserl? You were part of the original group that defected from Schicksal in 1955 because you found their methods too unethical. What reason could you possibly have for wanting to buddy up with them now?"

In the silence that followed that statement, Mei felt her heartbeat quicken as her mind worked overtime to understand what she had just heard, with limited success. She of course knew that Schicksal was one of the two organizations leading humanity's fight against the global menace known as the "Honkai", but she didn't know much more than what was on the surface and even less understood what relevance her name could hold for a conversation revolving around them.

"Ryoma," Aunt Liserl finally spoke up with a voice that indicated that she was choosing her words very carefully. "Anti-Entropy is not what it once was, and with these new allegations made against you, I'm afraid that there is only so much we can do to protect your name. Schicksal has far more resources at their disposal, and Otto has promised that as soon as we open negotiations with them, he will send one of his best agents to investigate where these allegations originate from."

"And to make that happen you want me to offer up my daughter to... to be sold off to one of Apocalypse's lackeys?"

As her father's last words began to sink in, it slowly dawned on Mei how she fit into their conversation, and a feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach. As the heiress to one of the most profitable and influential companies in the world, the possibility that she would have to marry for other reasons than love had always existed in her periphery. In fact, this wasn't even the first time she had received a marriage proposal from someone, but something about the way this conversation was going made her feel like it couldn't just be ignored like all the others. Never before had someone who was supposedly on her father's side advocated for a match.

"Do not put words in my mouth, Ryoma. The behavior of a fool doesn't suit you," came her honorary aunt's callous reply. "As I said, while the initial offer certainly makes it clear that marriage is the desired outcome, it never actually states that they have to marry. It only stipulates that your daughter will spend a year as an exchange student at St. Freya Academy, where her... intended was recently appointed as a combat instructor. During this time, she will be living with him in his apartment, which is located on the campus grounds, and it specifically states that unless she herself feels compelled to she doesn't have to participate in the Valkyrie Program, so whether or not she will be attending his classes is in her own hands. There is nothing in the offer that can even be misinterpreted as an obligation for her to be anything more than a roommate to her intended for a year, and what happens after that will be up to them."

A few tense seconds passed, during which even the drop of a needle against a soft pillow would've been deafening. Mei didn't know if she wanted to feel relieved that despite the nature of the offer it didn't actually demand that she marry whoever her "intended" was, or worried about who this guy was whom she would have to spend a year sharing living space with if her father was convinced to accept the offer. She was only 16, and if her "intended" had been appointed as an instructor at this St. Freya Academy, then he would have to be at least a few years older than her...

"Your words sound sweet, but do not take me for a fool," her father's voice cut through the silence. "If there is no obligation for her to marry him, why do you still refer to him as her intended?"

As soon as her mind registered what her father had said, Mei felt a cold chill travel down her spine. Was there something that her honorary aunt wasn't telling them? She never would've picked up on that little detail herself, but now that her father had pointed it out she couldn't help but fear that Aunt Liserl was hiding something, some insidious part of the contract that they wouldn't look twice upon until she involuntarily triggered it and found herself tied down to an old man for the rest of her life...

Aunt Liserl let out a tired sigh.

"I won't lie to you," she began in a guarded tone, probably worried that Ryoma wasn't going to like whatever she was about to tell him. "I don't think that her intended would be a bad match for her, and it would be beneficial to mending some bridges I had previously believed we had burned. However," she raised her voice slightly before Ryoma could voice his outrage. "I would never ask you or her to make that sacrifice just to put us in a better position, no matter the potential gain. But I think it is at least worth considering since it doesn't demand anything from her beyond a year as an exchange student in one of the best academies in the world. Really, she could do a lot worse on both those fronts."

In the silence that followed, Mei was amazed that neither of the two people inside the office could hear the frantic beating of her heart. While she wanted to trust her Aunt Liserl when she said that her intended could potentially be a good match for her, the very thought of being herded like an animal towards marrying someone whom she hadn't chosen herself still left a sour taste in her mouth. She had thought she had made peace with the idea that she might have to marry out of obligation rather than desire or love a long time ago, but now that it was actually being discussed, without her input nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel repulsed by the very thought of it.

"You're digging yourself deeper here, Einstein," her father eventually broke the silence again with a threatening tone that Mei had never heard him use before. For a few seconds, he let that statement hang in the air as if waiting to see if Aunt Liserl would retract her statement, but when she didn't he let out a tired sigh and Mei could practically see in her mind how he fell back against the backrest of his office chair. "But I'll admit that you're not making a bad case. Tell me, who is this mysterious man who has you so wrapped around his finger that you would advocate for selling my daughter to him?"

Just hearing the words spoken by her father sent another wave of shivers down Mei's spine where she was standing just outside his office, but she could tell from the tone of his voice that he was just trying to get a rise out of her honorary aunt at this point. If he could get her to lose her temper, that meant that he was in control of the conversation and would be able to more easily direct it towards his desired outcome. Unfortunately for him, and Mei, the famed scientist didn't rise to the bait.

"Adam Ferryman."

If the indignant coughing and cursing was anything to go by, Raiden Ryoma had just choked on whatever drink he had retrieved from his "secret" storage cabinet to deal with this unpleasant conversation.

"I thought you said her intended was a combat instructor?!"

Even from where she was standing, Mei could make out the hint of smugness that tinted her Aunt Liserl's voice when she answered her father's indignant question. She knew that she had won that round.

"He is actually, as of this past Friday," she said as if she was commenting on the weather. "Otto made the executive decision to reassign him because he figured that you would prefer for your daughter to have some semblance of normalcy and live on a campus rather than at a battleship for the duration of the agreement."

An animalistic growl escaped from the office, and it took a moment for Mei to realize that it was her father who was trying not to lose his temper again.

"Bastard is already acting as if we've accepted the offer," he spat with contempt.

"Well, are you going to decline it?" Aunt Liserl challenged him without missing a beat. "I'm serious, Ryoma. Anti-Entropy won't be able to protect you, or Mei, from the fallout of the most recent allegations. Whatever else he may be, Otto is offering to help you prove your innocence and all he's asking in return is for Mei to spend a year at his academy, an institution that, mind you, has a higher standing in the world than Senba High does. And I pray it won't come to it, but if you were to lose the case against you despite his interference, at least Mei will have someone to take care of her and help her manage your assets in your absence."

As if the possibility of being shipped off to live with some random guy she had never met before for a year wasn't bad enough, Mei could've sworn that her heart stopped beating for a second from the new turn of the conversation. Was her father in trouble with the law? Why was this the first she was hearing of this?

"Are you saying that you and Frederica would leave her to her fate if I were to be arrested for those ridiculous charges?"

Aunt Liserl let out an exasperated sigh.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to," she said with the voice of an adult who was speaking to a kid. "Of course we wouldn't just leave her out to dry, but neither of us is in a position to commit to supporting her as a parent would. Don't look at me like that Ryoma, you know it's true. And besides, neither of us know the first thing about raising a kid, much less a teenager. Adam may not be much older than her, but he will be available to be there for her on short notice pretty much around the clock, and he will be able to understand her better than Dr. Tesla and I ever could."

Once more, silence fell within the office, as her father seemed to actually consider the offer for the first time. This gave Mei some space to try and process everything she had heard in the last few minutes, but she found that she just couldn't move past the fact that they were discussing her future, and it didn't sound as if she had any say in it. The logical part of her mind was trying to convince her that it wasn't like that, that her father probably would at least ask her for her opinion before he actually accepted the offer, but she was so emotionally shaken from everything she had learned that the more paranoid part of her psyche couldn't help but expect the worst.

Adam Ferryman... That was the name of her so-called "intended". Somehow, having a name to associate him with just made the idea of having to marry him feel even worse. It made the possibility of being shipped off to live with him feel more real somehow. She wasn't just being shipped off to some faceless or nameless hypothetical, but to a real person.

So lost was she in her jumbled thoughts that she almost missed it when her father spoke up again.

"What does Frederica think about this?" he asked. "I thought she hated Ferryman for... you know."

No, Mei did in fact not know. Of course, she had known Frederica Nikola Tesla for as long as she could remember, but she had never heard the name "Adam Ferryman" before in her life so she had no idea what they were talking about. Did he have some sort of history with her Aunt Frederica? Now that she thought about it, it was odd that Aunt Liserl had come here to make her case for why they should accept this offer without the redhead in toe. As much as they bickered amongst themselves, it was rare to see one without the other if there was something important going on.

"She doesn't. Not really, at least," Aunt Liserl said with a flippant voice. "I think she wants to hate him, but can't find it in herself to do so. But she certainly doesn't hold any love for the boy, hence why she isn't here to support my stance on this matter. She has promised to not kick up a fuss about it, but she's not too happy about it either."

A muffled "Hmm" was the only response her father deemed fit to give to that piece of information and, as silly as it might sound, that response more than anything she had heard that night got under Mei's skin. It let her know that her father was in deep thought about something and given the context of the conversation the only thing that could be on his mind would be whether or not it was worth accepting the offer that he, that they, had been presented with.

Whereas before it had upset her that they would be discussing something like this behind her back, now she was actually fearful that she would have to go live with this stranger, this Adam Ferryman, for a year and leave all her friends and her life here in Nagazora City behind.

"Do you think it would be possible to postpone a final decision until we know more about how the legal case pans out?"

Postpone, the word echoed within her mind. Not outright denial. She felt her throat constrict painfully and make it hard for her to breathe properly as it dawned on her that it was a very real possibility that her father would actually accept the offer.

"Well, I don't think that Otto would deny you if you requested it," Aunt Liserl replied slowly. "But why would you? You're an intelligent man Ryoma, so just be honest with yourself. If you honestly believed you could make it out of this mess without Otto's help, you wouldn't be contemplating the offer in the first place. All postponing it would accomplish is changing up the board so Schicksal has to get you out of jail rather than prevent you from ending up there."

The tension that hung in the air between the two old friends could be felt even where Mei was standing outside the office door, and it did nothing to ease the painful chill that was now spreading from her chest to the rest of her body. Her eyes were wide with horror at what she was hearing and she had to cover her mouth with her hand for fear that her shaky breaths would give her away. She wanted to scream, to deny that this was really happening, but she couldn't. And so she just stood there, shivering from a cold that had nothing to do with the room's temperature, and waited with bated breath for her father to respond.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, an exhausted sigh reached her ears.

"You're right," Mei had never heard her father sound as defeated as he did at that moment. "You're right, of course. It's just... she's my daughter. She deserves to be allowed to make her own decisions in regards to who she is to spend her life with."

"There's no need to be melodramatic," Aunt Liserl chided him. "As I said, unless Mei herself decides to pursue something more with Adam, their association doesn't have to go beyond that of a teacher and an exchange student who lived together for a year. Nobody is taking that decision away from her. All you're really doing is introducing her to someone whom she might end up spending her life with, but that's not much different than introducing her to the child of a close friend or allowing her to attend a boarding school where she would have to share a dorm room with someone else."

Slowly, as to not make any unnecessary sound, Mei was starting to back away from the doorway. She couldn't take any more of this, she had to get away! Her mind was spinning from everything she had just learned and it wasn't until she heard the "Plonk!" from when her now empty glass dropped to the floor that she realized that she was shaking.

As if the sound had snapped her out of whatever trance had taken ahold of her when she'd first heard her name being brought up by her father, she quickly turned on her heels and ran all the way back to her room, no longer caring about if she was making too much noise. The Raiden Estate had always felt extremely spacious considering it only housed two people, but never before had it felt as empty or suffocating as it did during the short minute it took for Mei to race up the stairs to the second floor and dive into her bedroom.

Then, as soon as she had locked the door behind her, she sank to the floor and hiccuped as she tried to catch her breath, though if it was from the short run or her emotional turmoil she didn't know. Her mind was spinning and as she reached out and hugged her knees to her chest in a vain attempt to comfort herself, she noticed that her body was still shaking.

In the span of a few minutes, Mei's entire world had been turned upside down. When she had woken up earlier and left to quell her parched throat, she thought she had known who she was and how her life was going to go. She had been Raiden Mei, the top student, and the most popular girl at Senba High School. She had been Raiden Mei, the heiress who would one day inherit one of the world's most influential and prestigious companies. Now... she was Raiden Mei, the girl who would be shipped off to live with some guy she had never met before... actually, would she even be Raiden Mei much longer? Or would she be... Mei Ferryman?

'Ferryman... what a ridiculous name,' she thought bitterly.

A/N: As this is just a prologue, I feel like that is a good place to end it. Usually, I prefer to keep chapter lengths at 7k+ words, Author's Notes not included, but this is just meant to set the stage for the story and to see if anyone is actually interested in reading this dumb idea I've had for like a year now. So if you are, please let me know by following, favoriting, and reviewing the story so I'll know I'm not just talking to myself when posting these chapters.

Now, before anyone points it out, it is by design that Mei is being a bit melodramatic and kind of making a chicken out of a feather here. She is only 16, and she was extremely emotional from everything she had learned so I don't think it's unreasonable for her to be a bit all over the place, nor do I think it should be held against her. The same goes for Ryoma and looking at it from his perspective he might actually have it worse, as he pretty much regards it as making a deal with the devil.

On the other end of the spectrum, I picked the name "Adam Ferryman" to represent that he is kind of an amalgamation of various iterations of the Captain we know, and the player character from A Post Honkai Odyssey. So no, he isn't the same guy, but as the actual Captain doesn't have an official portrait I just end up seeing Adam's face when thinking about these scenes. The name "Ferryman" comes from the "Captain" that was present in the Yae Kasumi event. I would've loved to pay homage to The Day You Vanished With The Stars, but "Adam Assassin" didn't quite have the same ring to it.

That's about all for this prologue. As usual, I will respond to reviews through PMs but might address recurring questions in a future AN if a lot of people ask the same thing. For now, I hope you enjoyed this short read and prays you don't think too badly of me. My writing is a bit rusty. xD