A/N: This can be treated as a pseudo-sequel to my previous Star Rail fic As You Are - there are references to it, but nothing that's going to ruin the experience if you're only reading this one. Just know that they exist in the same space.

Gift of the Present:

Stelle strode into the archives without waiting for a response to her knock. If Dan Heng was going to make the poor decision to say over and over that the archives were still a public space despite claiming it as his own room then he needed to occasionally suffer the consequences.

He glanced over at her as she entered, and appeared ever-so-slightly pained when she sprawled out on his bed, but he didn't voice a single word of complaint, which in Stelle's books was a win.

Normally she was more patient and respectful of his space, but today had been a weird day in so many ways and she sort of needed somewhere to decompress. It wasn't as if she thought anyone else on the Express would judge her, but Dan Heng had the calmest personality and might have some personal insights that she would feel just a tiny bit guilty about turning to March 7th for.

"I saw Kafka today," Stelle announced to the archive ceiling.

Dan Heng lowered his book.

"Kafka, the Stellaron Hunter?"

"The one and only." She sat up, gazing towards the false-water floor. "She wanted my help. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"Not so ridiculous that you ignored her."

Stelle laughed. "Yeah okay, you got me there. But listen! It was so out of the blue! She spent all this time leading as around by the nose, lured us into a fight, and then casual as anything she messaged me asking for a favour? How could I not be curious?"

"Hm." Neither agreement or disagreement, simply acknowledgement. "Well, was your curiosity rewarded?"

Was it? All the questions bubbling away inside of her and she'd only been allowed to ask two of them. Curiosity only led to more questions it seemed.

"Yes and no?"

She shifted to face Dan Heng.

"If our encounters on the Luofu were all I knew about Kafka, I probably could've ignored her message. She said plenty of leading things, but she could've been lying through her teeth the whole time. But no. Kafka's voice is the very first thing I have memories of, just before I first encountered you and March. That blank space doesn't bother me the way I think it bothers March, but if the person who potentially holds answers to those mysteries asks to talk, well, I had to go."

Understanding that this wasn't a conversation he could split his attention on, Dan Heng settled himself on the floor across from her - chairs would just be in the way in this room, so they were well-accustomed to floor chats.

"She wasn't going to tell me anything for free of course, that's not her style. She insisted on playing truth and lies. One truth, one lie, no confirming which is which."

"She was toying with you."

Stelle waved her hand in a so-so motion. "More like… an observational test? The questions I had to answer in return were so mundane - she was definitely just seeing if I would follow the rules or not."

That had surprised her at the time, but the longer she spent away from Kafka the less odd it seemed. The questions themselves were still curious - it was impossible to guess if she truly cared for the answers or if she was hoping for anything in particular - but the lack of information collecting made sense. There was no reason to put Stelle more on edge when she was already asking for her help.

"I asked her about myself, and about our relationship. Honestly, I would've believed either answer she gave me. You remember all the jokes I made back in Belobog about literally just having been born-"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"-so if the truth of the matter was that I really did spawn into existence for the first time that day on the Space Station, well, it wouldn't bother me that much. Aside from the whole 'literally being created to house a Stellaron for unknown future purposes' part. That would be a bit irritating, but if we're all getting led along by Elio either way then a pawn is still a pawn. Not that I believe all that stuff about Elio completely, but still."

Dan Heng sighed, which was her cue to pull her thoughts back on track.

"Is that what she told you?"

"The Stellaron vessel thing? More or less. She said my body was accidentally created by an Aeon, and that I don't have memories from before the Space Station because my body didn't have a soul before then. It's crazy, but not the craziest thing I've ever heard."

She grinned suddenly. "I got some unexpected interference in the game though, so I know that that was the lie."

"The two of you weren't alone?"

In the same way she'd feel bad talking about her memories with March, Stelle wasn't stoked about the idea of admitting to Dan Heng's face that the favour Kafka had asked of her involved helping Blade. Her gaze darted away from his without permission, which unfortunately was as good as a confession.

"Blade."

Reluctantly, she nodded.

Dan Heng rarely grew angry, and this was no exception. His mood had dipped a little at the reminder that Blade was still so close by, but he wouldn't berate her for meeting with him. If she was foolish enough to bring him onto the Express, well, that would be a bad time all around, for Blade and Dan Heng both. Then he'd probably get mad, and Stelle would undoubtedly deserve it.

"He said that he remembered me. That I used to follow Kafka around, that I went on missions with her. That Kafka… probably went to great lengths to keep me safe up until now."

In the moment she'd really brushed right over the part of his confirmation that involved Blade actually having met her before - or at least seen her in passing from time to time. Sitting face to face with someone else who had their own history with Blade really shone a spotlight on how different their experiences with him were.

Guess that was just how it went when one person reminded you of your trauma and another was a random acquaintance of a co-worker.

"Dan Heng, do you think… that I might be a Stellaron Hunter too?"

"It's not impossible."

Nothing was impossible at this stage. Kafka said that they were each other's destinies, and that Elio introduced them, but that didn't mean she was a Stellaron Hunter. On the flip side, there being five 'known' Stellaron Hunters didn't mean there were only five of them.

"Would it matter?"

Stelle blinked. Dan Heng watched her calmly.

"Being a Stellaron Hunter." He repeated. "Would it matter?"

Would it?

As she was right now, if someone told her it was true…

"I like being here, on the Astral Express. You, March 7th, Welt, Himeko, Pom-Pom… It's like a family. Maybe I haven't known you guys for a super long time, but it's comforting here. If someone told me things about my past, and we all accepted that it was true, well… Those would just be facts. You know? Like reading a history book."

"I understand what you mean."

Given his own… everything, Stelle knew he truly meant that.

"But if my actual memories were returned to me instead… I have no idea how I would feel then. It's not like I would suddenly hate you guys, that wouldn't make any sense. But what if it made me want to leave?"

Stelle wasn't lying when she said she loved the Express. She didn't need anything else to compare it to to know that she enjoyed being here, with these people, exploring the universe.

"The Astral Express is a home for as long as you need it, and will always welcome you."

That sounded like a Himeko-ism. Hearing Dan Heng say it with a straight face was a little hilarious. But it was an earnest expression of acceptance and welcome - he wasn't one to say that sort of thing just for fun. The gravity with which he said it spoke volumes - Himeko must have said the same thing to him before.

"This is frustrating." Stelle heaved an exaggerated sigh, flopping back onto the bed. "Why couldn't Kafka just erase herself from my memory too? Then I wouldn't care about any of this!"

"The past has a way of following you around even when you'd rather leave it behind."

Wise words from a man who knew that particular truth all too well.

"All you can do, then, is strive to make sure that the person you are now, and the person you will be tomorrow, is someone that you're happy to be. You can't change the past, but you can choose how you move forward."

"I'm sorry, is this a payback pep-talk?!"

Dan Heng chuckled softly at her feigned indignation.

"If I am still the same Dan Heng in your eyes after everything you now know, and March 7th will still be March no matter what we may find in the future, then it is only fair that you will always be the Stelle I see before me. Even if you are secretly a Stellaron Hunter."

Stelle always knew Dan Heng has a sense of humour, throwing in that Stellaron Hunter jab at the end without batting an eye. She got to her knees, shuffling towards him with a menacing grin.

"What are you doing?"

She grabbed his wrist and tugged him forward. "If you wanna end this pep-talk properly you have to get on the bed. It's a rule now."

"What are you even…?" Dan Heng sighed, moving only because he knew she would keep tugging until he fell on his face if he refused. "There isn't room for two people."

"Don't care."

Trying to fit two people into Dan Heng's little sleep corner was definitely a challenge - he wasn't lying when he protested. But Stelle was committed - she wasn't backing down without a fight, and she wasn't afraid of being a little squished. Dan Heng allowed himself to be poked and prodded and squished only because it was the path of least resistance and would lead to the quickest end-point.

"Maybe this does kinda suck," she eventually admitted with a wry smile, when the two of them were lying down pressed between two walls, books piled up near her head.

Dan Heng's long-suffering exhale brushed past her hair. "I warned you."

Stelle might have shrugged if there wasn't a real danger of the motion ending with her shoulder smacking into Dan Heng's jaw. He might forgive many things, but that would invite retaliation for sure.

"But it's not the worst thing in the world. Just a few minutes."

Just being near someone could be a form of comfort. She suspected they had both learned that from March, and were now enacting that same thing on each other.

Companionship without expectation.

It was nice.

Warmth and friendship and family. Stelle didn't know if she'd had something like this in the before-times. What mattered was that she had it now.

(When she shifted, she banged several parts of her body against the wall simultaneously. The sound startled her more than the sensation. It wasn't even funny, but she burst into laughter, rolling away from the wall and into what passed for Dan Heng's space.

He grunted at the impact, batting at her with his non-trapped hand, but it only made her laugh harder.

She laughed so much that March threw open the door, summoned from her room next door to uncover what mysterious thing was happening in the most boring room of the Express - the archives.

When she caught sight of them - Dan Heng visibly contemplating his life choices, Stelle shaking in uncontrollable laughter, the both of them a helpless pile of tangled limbs on the floor - March let out a triumphant giggle of her own, snapping her fingers and pulling out her ever-present camera to document the rare occurrence.

Stelle was 'banned' from the archives for a week after that. It was worth it.)