"...Will our paths converge 'neath the sun…"
"..."
Caelus dared not move lest he incur the wrath of half the universe. For a planet watched over by the Harmony, there sure were a lot of ways to end up in a disharmonic situation– or, in this case, position.
With only an inch or so of free space for them to move around in, they held onto the inner walls of the tiny capsule they'd been shoved into for dear life as the catapult outside launched them towards the outer parts of the dreamscape.
Screw the mascots. The Soulglad company's competitions were an entirely different level of danger. No cushioning, no seats, only the hollow interior of a giant plastic ball was what kept them from the consequences of being catapulted across the venue.
He and Firefly had silently agreed to have their backs pressed against each other while their hands and feet were firmly planted against the capsule's interior, shutting down any shenanigans that might happen should there be a bump or two in the trip.
But it was merely choosing a lesser evil, as Caelus could still clearly feel the warmth of her body pressed against his, on top of the beating of her heart. His brain was still struggling to cope with the situation properly, and it didn't help that he could feel himself getting hotter as time went on. It was starting to feel like a sauna.
It must have been his mind playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn that Firefly was undergoing that exact predicament as him.
That single betraying thought was enough to lower his guard enough that he loosened his grip. When the capsule came to an abrupt spot, he gave the interior a good faceplant that it would remember.
Caelus' mistake started a domino effect. Firefly was also relying on him for support. When he went over sideways, she did so vertically, leaving him sandwiched beneath her and the steel floor of their destination even as the ball opened and disappeared.
It wasn't exactly that big of a deal, however. He was just happy to be back in the open.
Taking Firefly's outstretched hand, the Trailblazer got back on his feet as she went ahead.
Releasing a tiny bout of laughter, he followed. It was only for half a second, but the image of her beet-red face when she pulled him up would stick around for a while, as much as he'd rather it stay buried right now.
As Caelus trailed behind Firefly, he took note of the extra skip in her step compared to before, the liveliness she exuded since he'd found her again.
The Trailblazer sighed. When did I start to take notice of these?
It was a futile question. He already knew the answer. When the armored shell of the Stellaron Hunter Sam burned away to reveal her underneath, his dam of emotions collapsed, and he found himself appreciating each priceless moment with her even more than before.
It was a recent event, yet Caelus had already discovered so much. How she had a fixation on Oak Cake Rolls greater than he could have imagined, or how the way she expressed herself was a lot more livelier now, free from the burden of hiding secrets.
"Hey," Firefly said as he caught up to her, "We're at the right place, aren't we?"
"Yeah," Caelus nodded, his eyes narrowing as he took in their surroundings, "Did we miss the memo?"
There was not a single soul in the vicinity. Even the iconic mascots of the Soulglad brand were absent. Instead, a single glassy orb was situated atop the stage in the center of the area, small enough that they could hold it with both hands.
The Trailblazer did just that, only to scream pathetically as an eye popped up from inside of the crystal ball, both it and Firefly looking at him with great amusement.
He tried to ignore their elation and instead raised an eyebrow in surprise when he recognized who had just appeared, "Doctor Edward?"
Firefly tilted her head in confusion, "Who?"
"Indeed," If a floating eye could nod at him, they certainly did before swiveling around to her, "I am the embodiment of the Dreamscape Sales Store stationed at Golden Hour."
"Then does the challenge have something to do with dream bubbles?" He regarded the eye mildly suspiciously, "They didn't tell us that."
"There's been a change of plans, so to speak," "An anonymous sponsor made some last-minute changes to the school of acting specifically."
"What changes?" They asked the eyeball in unison, something that they rolled their eye at. He did not want to know why.
"Would you like to find out?" There was a dangerous glint in Doctor Edward's eyes as a dream bubble manifested out of nowhere, coming to rest at their feet, "Not to worry, you will be given pointers on how to proceed when necessary."
Caelus looked to Firefly, "On three?"
"Alright," She agreed.
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
Together, their fingers brushed the surface of the dream bubble, and they were off. Caelus was back at the endless sea of dreams, bubbles parading around him. He closed his eyes, simply waiting for what this dream would bring this time.
Once the Trailblazer felt a solid object underneath him, he opened his eyes. He thought he was momentarily back at the Astral Express, but a quick look around dispelled that notion. Golden sunlight flooded the transport's interior through the windows and a jukebox near the end of the train car.
On the opposite side, Firefly was also seated, having fallen asleep. Caelus had half a mind to go over and interrupt her beauty sleep, but he really didn't have the heart to do so.
Instead, he just bunkered down next to the sleeping beauty, playing a game or two on his phone to idly pass the time, yet he could never fully take his eye off her.
…Stellaron Hunter, huh? All that proof they'd shown him of destiny being predetermined had converged, and all fell upon the shoulders of the girl sleeping at his side.
On one hand, it infuriated and saddened him to know how bad the cards life had dealt Firefly, constantly moving forward, uncertain of a certain future. On the other, to see that she had made the best of it, constantly trying to take fate into her own hands despite the path laid out for her, was nothing short of inspiring.
With a thin smile, Caelus returned to the video game displayed on his phone. His character was at a particularly difficult stage. He'd have to manage his resources and time the ultimate abilities to perfection, or defeat would be all that–
–An unexpected variable appeared, settling right on the Trailblazer's shoulder. The game-over screen popped up, but he didn't care for that. All of his attention was now attracted to Firefly, using him as a makeshift pillow.
Any ideas of moving away were killed on the spot when he saw her sleeping face. She was at peace, and the odds were stacked against him when she looked absolutely adorable.
Crap. Now, Caelus couldn't really focus on anything else. He just accepted his fate as a cushion and looked outside the window. The radiant light pouring through only made the girl sleeping on his shoulder even more beautiful.
Wherever this train was headed, it was insanely far from his original estimates. The golden light of morning grew in intensity at noon until it was too much for his eyes to handle, and he pulled the shutters down.
What was the acting here? Doctor Edward still hadn't said anything, so they were doing something right.
As if on command, the train car rocked, disturbing their serene quiet. The sudden lurch also started to stir Firefly from her sleep, her eyelids fluttering open to reveal the still flame hidden underneath
"Caelus?" She rasped, "Was I–"
"You were sleeping," He finished it for her, "I didn't want to disturb you."
"Oh," After Firefly's eyes adjusted to the light, she took notice of the oddly shaped imprint on his shoulder and the silvery strands of hair that were still sticking to his clothes, "Um…"
She decided not to comment on it, "Where are we?"
"Beats me. This train has been moving for hours now." The Trailblazer answered, brushing those thin slivers of silver off.
Firefly shook her head, "For a school of acting, there hasn't been much–"
Her jab at the challenge they were currently participating in was cut short when an explosion ripped through the train, the screeching of metal and the sudden change in direction a telltale sign that they had been derailed.
Instinctively, Caelus held her close and shut his eyes, waiting out the ensuing carnage until all the sounds had stopped.
When it was all said and done, the two of them weren't even on the train anymore, as the locomotive was a good distance away, split into innumerable fragments from the crash.
Their only saving grace had been the Lance of the Architects. It had manifested without him thinking and instantly brought up the protective barrier the instant danger presented itself.
Caelus put a hand on the weapon's amber sheen, noticing its natural heat was far greater than normal. While it was known to him that the lance had a bit of its own will inherited from all its previous wielders, it had never appeared without him willing it to do so before.
The Trailblazer spotted a note near the lance's tip, buried in the sand.
"Firefly," He called out to her, currently checking out the wreckage with a worried look on her face. He'd have to ask her about it later.
"Hm?"
"Take a look." He gave her the paper.
Printed on it was a set of instructions from Doctor Edward. There was a surprising amount of freedom for them to do as they pleased in this challenge. All it said was that "mild" suggestions would be implanted in their heads whenever a scene needed to be acted out. They would do fine if they followed what those imprints asked.
As every story about being stranded in a desert asked, they had to find water. Even better would be an oasis, but something told Caelus that it wouldn't be so easy.
He joined in on Firefly's search of the train, looking for any food or water they could bring. Once their foraging had ended, they had a single bottle of water. With that one source of nourishment and their wits, they were off.
The sun beat down on them with the heat with relentless glee. Caelus had to take his coat off and use it to bring them some shade. The two of them huddled together underneath its meager shadow as the waves of scorching wind bore down on them.
He and Firefly were conversing back and forth to kill the time and distract themselves from the heat. It started with the mundane things, like her sweet tooth and his trash can diving, and then the topics got a bit more personal.
"You're taking this heat better than I expected," Caelus said, thinking nothing much of it.
"I've been in a situation like this before," She shrugged, though her eyes told him that she wasn't as indifferent to it as she was showing, "It brings bad memories."
"Bad memories?"
"I never did tell you the full story of what I did before joining the Stellaron Hunters, did I?" A rueful smile appeared on her face.
"To keep it short, I was created as one of Glamoth's Iron Cavalry." She told him monotonously, "We were disposable in every sense of the word. Giving our lives for a cause we never believed in."
He listened intently as Firefly recalled her story. An unending battle against a swarm of the Propagation and the scorched planet she roamed as the embers of battle started to fade away. If it weren't for their limited water supply, he would have most certainly started bawling his eyes out. "...Sorry."
"It's alright. I wanted you to know." Her hair swayed back and forth as she reassured him, then it hid her face from his view when she looked down at teh ground."
"Caelus…"
"Yes?" He turned his head to her, slightly curious about what she was thinking.
"What do you think of the Stellaron Hunters?" She questioned, kicking up a little bit of sand at their feet as she did.
"...Of me?" Her voice was reduced to nothing more than a whisper, likely intending for him not to hear it.
He gulped, "Well, If I could remember what my life was like before I woke up at Herta's Space Station, then I could probably form a full opinion for all of you…"
"Oh…"
"...Even without it, though, I can say that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for getting that Stellaron shoved inside of me. You could say I'm a bit grateful." Caelus was doing his best to be honest, but that would be the understatement of the Amber Era. Going aboard the Astral Express was the best thing that could have ever happened to him back then, and he had the Stellaron Hunters to thank for it.
"As for my opinion of you, you're amazing. You keep moving forward, even though your ending is already set in stone. I'm sure you would have made a great Nameless in another life."
He couldn't help but smirk at Firefly's reaction, "Does that answer your questions?"
"But I only asked one–" She froze, the implications of it finally coming to her.
"Only one? My ears were telling me a completely different story."
"Ah…"
Caelus didn't press any further, as doing so would only mean they would get cooked alive in the desert faster. As now, they panted heavily as their feet carried them up the steep incline of a particularly large dune.
He could see the unmistakable silhouette of a palm tree jutting out from the peak just a little more, and then they could relieve themselves of thirst, having long emptied the lone water bottle they found back at the tree.
Firefly stifled a gasp as the reality of the situation hit them. Reaching the top only showed them that they had seen a shriveled-up palm tree and a place that was once an oasis, dried up a long time ago, "It can't be…"
If there was something around for Caelus could break with his baseball bat, then he would gladly do so, "How do they expect us to succeed like this?"
"...Perhaps we were never meant to."
Caelus glanced at her as she shrunk in defeat. That was out of place for Firefly to say. Could it be the "suggestions" Doctor Edward had told them of earlier? He also felt an insatiable urge to go and cheer her up, and he couldn't find anything else to explain it.
The Trailblazer would just follow through with it, but how? The answer immediately popped up in his head in response to his summons.
Sighing, he let gravity take control and bring him down, rolling down the sand to the bottom of the dune where the empty oasis was. Firefly's panicked shriek stung his ears, but his– well, everything being invaded by sand was even worse.
Someone once told him that sand was coarse, rough, and got everywhere. That man was right.
"What were you thinking?" Firefly scolded him when she found the sorry state he was in. Both legs were a foot deep in the sand, and the stuff blocked every pore in his body.
"I needed to be sure there wasn't any water left." Caelus lied, trying to move his legs only to be met with a pain that should not be there.
"I'm sure we haven't gotten to the point of hallucinating yet," She deadpanned, only to give him a dangerous look, "Though…"
"Though what?"
Her hand took out her phone and took a picture, "You look like one of those sand mermaids I've heard of."
Sand mermaids? Was she talking about things people would do at the beach to pass the time?
Firefly giggled as she admired the photograph she had just taken before remembering that he was in a sticky situation and promptly helped pull him out.
"So what do we do now?" She asked, finding shade under the tree.
He did the same, "I don't know."
Caelus felt something wet trickle down his body, "Are you crying?"
"No," Firefly vigorously denied his accusation, "Are you?"
"Am not."
"Then what…" She trailed off as something started to fall from the sky.
"Rain!"
Within seconds, the oasis was back to full capacity, more wet than ever. The rain didn't just stop there, though. It kept pouring down on them, and even the palm tree they used as a temporary roof eventually stopped blocking the water from drenching them.
What bad luck. Or so he thought.
Caelus' eyes bulged out of their head when Firefly left the tree cover and ran around in the rain, her crisp laughter echoing through the air even as the endless downpour blotted out the sky.
The Trailblazers joined in on her, doing whatever they felt was right in the moment. Chasing each other in the rain, digging trenches just to see the water fill it up, he finally got the chance to explain to her what those "sand mermaids" were– with a live demonstration.
Firefly lamented the fact that her phone would fully succumb to all the rain if she took it out and took a picture, while he saw it as a great blessing. There was no way he was going to tell her that, though.
"Hey," With his legs firmly stuck in the wet sand like it were concrete, Firefly used him as an impromptu bed, "Did they say how long we'd be here for?"
"No…" He slowly answered. She did have a point. If that train ride alone took hours, how long would the rest of this play take?
"Assuming we'll be here for a while, we'll need many things." She wondered out loud, looking up at him as she rested her head on his sandy mermaid tail.
"Food, water," He counted those off in his head, as his fingers were currently stuck underneath the sand, "And assuming there is civilization here, we'll need cash, too."
"Right," She nodded, "If the rain is always as relentless as this, then we might have to find a home, an umbrella, too."
"Want to just sell umbrellas, then?" Caelus blurted out. It was a stupid idea, and there was no way it would work once someone took half a second to think about it, yet it sounded pretty good.
"That sounds nice." Firefly agreed, too.
They stayed in that position until they fell asleep, waking up to a new dawn that they didn't know had already come, the rain clouds still blocking the sky even as the water stopped falling. With that one dumb suggestion in mind, they moved with a purpose.
As expected, another day or so of travel led them to a city, the lights everywhere indicating that there were indeed people there, but the lack thereof any sentient being in sight proved otherwise.
Once the clouds parted and the sun returned in all its glory, the city took on an entirely new life. Citizens started leaving their homes like an army of ants coming out of the nest to repel an invader.
After a day of careful observation from Caelus and Firefly, they could only come to one conclusion. The concept of umbrellas was completely nonexistent on this planet! There were roofs and irrigation systems to combat the rain, but the idea of what was essentially a handheld canopy never occurred to those living here.
While it was so absurd that it felt like something out of a novel, it was the perfect condition for them to get started.
The issue of having zero cash was prevalent, but that was immediately taken care of when he stopped an infamous criminal on the run from the police in the streets. How, you ask? Well, all it took was a splash from the bottle of water he had been drinking from, and the devious thief was out cold.
As it turns out, the people here had a phobia of water that wasn't in any cup or container from which they could drink, so great that coming into contact with liquids like that was enough to make the body temporarily stop functioning. The universe truly held everything.
The cash he'd gotten from that happy accident was more than enough to get a place to stay for the night. But the fact of the matter was that they couldn't afford to splurge when they had no reliable source of income yet.
Caelus and Firefly were basically aliens in this world, having no credentials to even attempt to land a job that could sustain them for what was hopefully a short stay in this dream bubble.
Firefly agreed on that, so they rented a small room at a hotel for now. This came with the problem of only having one bed. She instantly shot down his suggestion of sleeping on the floor, and they compromised by having a wall of pillows to separate them. He was tempted to show her the picture he took while she was sleeping back on the train, but something told him she wouldn't like that.
An uneventful night later, they discussed how to bring this whimsical idea to life in a coffee shop, munching down on toast all the while. If they wanted to make this work, they would have to sew the canopy by hand and figure out the rest soon.
If only either of them knew how to sew. Two weeks later, after brainstorming their daily lives away and gathering the raw materials for a prototype umbrella, they were rewarded with a couple of bloody digits.
Firefly had foreseen this future and already had bandages at the ready, providing some relief to their aching fingers. Now, all that was left to deal with was suppressing their pained hissing enough that their neighbors would stop complaining.
An entire week's work later, their first umbrella was finished. The fabric was predominantly a dark grey, with the wings of a firefly spread out throughout the cloth, adorned in a firey aura.
"It's pretty good for the first one," Caelus admitted as he and Firefly admired the finished product, "It'll be a struggle to make several of these at our current pace, though."
"The others can be a plain color," She smiled proudly at their handiwork, "I just wanted the first one to be special."
"We can get started on the others tomorrow," He pointed at the moon already high in the sky, "Rest is important."
Carefully storing the umbrella away as if it were a newborn baby, they went to sleep, the wall of cushions that were once there already long gone.
Now that they were fairly adept at the work, the first batch of umbrellas was a walk in the park to make compared to the prototype.
All that was left was to actually sell them. They waited for dusk to arrive and everyone to return home from work and then pounced. The initial reception was expectedly lukewarm. Then Firefly got the idea to show its main function at work, pouring a small amount of water on it and winking at him as the passersby audibly gasped when the liquid slid right off.
The umbrellas sold out quickly after that. Rinse and repeat a couple of times over, and the recipe for success has finally finished cooking.
"I should've expected this…" Of course, problems quickly arose.
The big names in the industry quickly caught wind and did the same. With the vastly superior manpower on the side of the larger brands, their little independent business venture stood no chance to compete.
Firefly nodded her head, "Do you think we've done enough?"
"We don't know when this will all be over. I think it's best to keep going." That was what Caelus said. Truthfully, he stopped caring about the money a while ago, the passage of time was slowly becoming a blur as the two of them lived in this unknown world.
As Firefly eloquently put it, things had slowly become routine, and he soon found himself enjoying the little moments. They knew this was merely a one-off dream but found themselves enraptured in it before they could call it off.
"Alright," Her face grew determined, "I'm with you every step of the way."
A fuzzy feeling blossomed inside him when those words reached his ears, "Thank–"
"Cut!"
A voice that should not be there boomed in his head. Afterward, Caelus found himself in the sea of dreams, floating to the surface.
When the Trailblazer came to, he was lying down on the stage. Firefly was also there, rubbing at her eyes as they woke up from the dream.
An unspoken agreement was passed between their eyes, "Did we pass?"
Doctor Edward looked quite conflicted, "It's hard to say…"
"What did we do wrong?"
"You see," The doctor set his eye on the dormant dream bubble, "Those mental urges that we put are supposed to be absolute. Resisting it should be theoretically impossible."
"You're saying we broke them?" Firefly asked, poking at the bubble with her finger.
"In a way, yes," Doctor Edward moved up and down as if to convey nodding, "But to do so must be driven by a desire or emotion so strong that is nearly impossible to reach."
"But I suppose it didn't affect your acting. In fact, going off-script only enhanced your performances!"
"So…" He started, a glimmer of hope in his tone.
"Indeed, you pass!"
Mentally exhausted, the pair of participants feebly raised a fist in the air. After a minute of rest, they moved on to the next challenge. Because of the special conditions that were placed on their obstacle specifically, they were free to skip the middleman and go straight to the final boss.
"By the glorious light of Beauty! I never thought I would see your kind faces again." His complexion paled when that voice rang out in his ears.
Wait, Caelus was kidding about there being a final boss! There was no way they could take Argenti on in their current form without Firefly going ham in her armor.
She looked on at the knight with interest, "Is he a Knight of Beauty?"
He dejectedly nodded. So the red-haired contestant was him.
"I see," Firefly murmured, "Leave it to me."
Caelus' paranoia grew to unparalleled heights as he watched her stride towards Argenti. He finally understood why the Architect's Lance acted as it did back at the dream bubble. To put it simply, he was afraid of losing her again.
Yet the Trailblazer had also grown to trust her over time. Those months spent in the dream bubble were a major contributor to it.
And, as he'd hoped, his worries were for nothing. Firefly calmly explained the situation to Argenti, and the Knight of Beauty, being who he was, let them through once they'd show him proof of the Stellaron's existence in Penacony. A small crease on her face told him she'd been nervous but went forward regardless.
Caelus let Firefly go on again, his thoughts drifting back to something that had been in his pocket since the original owner had left it and the most recent addition to it.
The Trailblazer turned to Argenti, "I need your help with something…"
"...A silent desire in melody sung…"