Empty Casket - (Pre-Honkai Star Rail AU)

Warning! This is not connected to The Cloud Brawler. There's no SI and no 'true' protagonist to this story.

"I-I can't do it. Please- I can't-" A boisterous voice begged, now shivering in upset.

"He would want you there." A calm voice replied, now whispering worringly.

This exchange was the culmination of a lengthy morning to prepare to what was to come to such a somber day. It was cloudy up in the sky, but those were rainclouds. Dark, dangerous, and... mournful.

A fitting display of the weather over the stormy mood currently ripping through the blue eyes of a hurting Foxian. The Xianzhou Alliance was well accustomed to deaths. Despite the long-living nature of so many denizens, the notion of a passing soul by a battle was indeed a reason of sadness but also glory. Someone died for the Hunt, and that was the greatest notion of death one could aspire to.

Yet Baiheng felt not a reason to celebrate his passing. After all, if she had listened to him more then... then this wouldn't have happened. This funeral wouldn't have unfolded.

Baiheng was a wreck. The Foxian who used to be this beacon of bright joviality had gone silent- no, she had broken apart the moment the truth sank into her bones and mind - what would have amounted to her last decision had seen someone she knew and cared for dying because of her.

Jingliu had been close. The two always were intimate, but this whole experience broke the last hurdles of unease that had kept them apart. A couple, a loving one, but it still hurt that Liuliu had to see her like that. A pathetic husk of self-loathing as that single death had wrapped up years and years and years of not listening to his remarks, to his chiding, to his worried words.

You need to look after yourself more.

You can't rely on luck all the time.

There will be a day no one will be there to save you.

You will be the death of me, you know that, A-heng?

A sob got caught in her throat right as they entered the private room. The place for their meeting, the supposed place where the deceased would be exposed to all those that knew him to see him. But...

There was just an empty casket. He couldn't even get the honor of his body being preserved through that mistake of hers.

Some people had turned as soon as Liuliu brought her through the doors. Most didn't, almost predicting her unstable mind as of now. Because, despite her tough attitude, Baiheng was still someone that loved people and she cared for her friends.

The passing of one, albeit not as renown as the rest of the Quintet, was monumental for someone like her. And the Foxian felt the unnerving sight too much for her to look at. As the service proceeded as normal, ignoring her quietened sobs, Baiheng found her face buried by Jingliu's chest as her lover hugged her tightly.

There was no interruption through the ceremony. The empty coffin was put on a Starskiff with a few of his precious items plus some objects friends of his had offered, and then sent off into the unknown. Baiheng had not... put anything there. It was wrong, she knew that, but she couldn't let go of anything.

She just couldn't.

And as she saw the starskiff leave her sight, she felt that unsettling feeling that she was told would vanish upon the end of the ceremony... lingering.

It was as they were leaving that Jingliu commented on some guests. "Yingxing and Dan Feng were there too."

"X-Xingxing was like a brother to... him."

Liuliu nodded, appearing mournful too but being more focused on Baiheng's ever-present gloom. They retreated to Baiheng's own home. Liuliu vanished to get some snacks ready, while the Foxian sat on the couch and stared at the blank screen of the terminal. She had nothing to see but her own reflection: her eyes were bloodshot, her gaze had lost that cheerful glint that made her so dazzling and... her tail was so unkempt.

And then, the memory of old came to her weary mind, tormenting her once more.

Two centuries ago, Xianzhou Yaoqing - Foxian District

Baiheng was ten. She was young. She was bold.

As always, looking for anything wonderful within her homeship. Sure, she couldn't call herself a proper explorer since the Yaoqing was a ship that was already mapped out in its entirety, but that didn't stop her from exploring out of the simple desire of learning new places on her own. Her parents were fine with this... sorta.

"We should not be out there at this late hour, A-Heng."

"Shush now, Ruru!" The girl huffed at the fellow Foxian.

Xianru gave her a flat nervous look, flinching at her rebuttal. "I-It's just... we are going very high right now."

She grinned, nodding as this was indeed the plan - reach the highest peak of the Foxian District so they could get the best view possible over the overall area.

Xianru, or 'Ruru', was her bestest friend. They had known each other since... well, as long she could remember things. Their parents were the closest of friends, and it led to them sharing each other's cribs when they were little babies.

Where A-Heng was a bold adventurer, Ruru was was the silly boy that nagged at her all day long about 'being careful' and 'not eat yucky food out of a dare'. A rule-stickler, a bit of a wimp, but nonetheless a good friend. If there was a need for a companion during her efforts, then Ruru was her only solution and her best one at it.

He may not look like it, but the Foxian boy was extremely good at coming up with excuses if they were caught, and he never once sold her out to avoid punishment. For that, A-Heng cared much for Ruru. And as it came to today, she thought that she would have made a good impression by proving once and for all that she had the guts to be an upcoming explorer of the stars.

Finding the right elevator took a while, and then climbing through some loose panels took a bit more but... they were there, atop the tallest tower and perching over the most memorable sight. She felt her eyes wide open, her smile as big as her face and...

A-Heng slipped.

The floor was oddly wet, she hadn't taken notice of it until she found herself leaning a bit too fast forward and away from the available ground for footing. Her previous wonder turned into terror, her smile contorting in a panicked half-scream when she found her deadly descent derailed as she found someone pulling on her leg and then yanking back to safety.

She just found herself twirling around and landing her face onto his chest. They both tripped, but they didn't fall into their doom. The cold wet floor was their current source of dread, at least for Ruru as he whined about it and... then paused as he took notice of her face.

"W-What?"

Baiheng almost gasped at hearing her own voice so squeaky and trembling. It was odd for her to be frightened by anything, and yet she was clawing that tight hug, trying to keep it going out of genuine terror.

That vertigo, that nausea, that sense of... of impending death. Baiheng was scared to the core of what had almost happened. But the most important aspect of that memory was not how close to dying she had been. it was Ruru's reaction.

"I-It's alright, I got you," He muttered quietly. "I would never let you get hurt or die."

A childish hope and promise, but one that slowly melted away the painful shards of cold that had stabbed into her heart out of fear. And as she felt her world brought back to the present, brought to her miserable self sitting in her own couch...

Baiheng sobbed against her hands. Jingliu returning with food, but spending minutes to calm down her shattered lover.

AN

It seems like a concluded story. A 'dead man', five people that had different degrees of knowledge of Xianru, and one of them bearing the biggest of sin as the events that would have led to her demise have terribly changed.