"I didn't think you'd accept my offer."
"We're still stuck at where to go next," Caelus replied, "Extended stays are fun for the Nameless, not so much for the Astral Express itself."
"But is this considered a stay for you?" Firefly asked, swatting another flying bug away with her fan.
He shrugged, "As long as there's a Space Anchor, I can make it back in time."
It was at everyone's suggestion that Caelus went along with Firefly's invitation to this planet, which is well-known for its island resorts. March reportedly wanted to go with him but was abruptly stopped by Dan Heng, who only looked at him with a stare he couldn't decipher. What was up with them?
Firefly being hunted down as a Stellaron Hunter meant they couldn't go to the resorts this planet was famous for. As an alternative, they hiked up a large mountain, breaking past the cloud cover to reach its peak, a breathtaking sight.
A weird thing the Trailblazer noticed was that there were clouds far above them, even though they'd passed a whole bunch of them earlier, and even before that, they had already traversed through the fog.
Once they were done admiring the view, Firefly spread a picnic blanket and brought out an entire basket of food she'd been hiding in her bag.
Didn't think I'd go with her? This preparation spoke otherwise, and he made his thoughts clear to her with a deadpan stare. She looked away, a guilty smile on her face.
Caelus wasn't one to be shown up so easily. He'd also brought his own food, some Deep Fried Rock Crab from Belobog, a jug of water as well as another containing the Luofu's Immortal's Delight, and the Oak Cake Rolls he knew Firefly was fond of.
The poor things never stood a chance. The Trailblazer contentedly rubbed at his tummy, completely full, while Firefly swallowed down the last of the cake rolls. All in all, a pretty good meal.
"By the way," Firefly wiped the remaining crumbs off her mouth with a handkerchief, "Did you ever ask Doctor Edward what our original script was supposed to be like?"
"I didn't, why?" The thought certainly crossed his mind, but he never had time to act on it.
"Supposedly, I was supposed to disagree with you, and we would go our separate ways. It ends with the two characters meeting each other again, but their worlds are now so different that nothing came of it."
That's surprisingly tragic. "I don't think I could have gone with the original script. Not if that meant leaving you."
Firefly opened her mouth as if to speak her mind but was interrupted when something drizzled onto her face. It was raining, "I didn't bring an umbrella…"
"Don't worry," Caelus pulled one out, "I brought one."
The downpour quickly grew powerful, figuring there was no time to save the blanket. He unfurled the umbrella's ribs and held Firefly close.
"This umbrella is…" Her eyes caught a familiar winged pattern.
"Yeah." In his spare time, the Trailblazer had gone to the Astral Express' Omni Synthesizer and recreated that prototype umbrella they'd made together in the dream bubble.
The problem with using this one was that it was intended only to shield one person from the rain. They were practically glued to each other to minimize which body parts got wet.
"Can I say something?" Firefly looked up at him, their noses almost touching.
"Go ahead."
"...I don't think I could have handled the script either. Just thinking about it makes me sad." Her breath tickled his nose. She trapped him by wrapping her arms around his neck.
"I liked those days, sitting at a coffee shop, wondering how we would live our lives."
Me too.
"Even if it would go on for the rest of our lives, I wouldn't mind selling umbrellas on the street if it was with you."
Neither would I.
"I love you."
Firefly pressed forward, closing the distance and catching his lips with her own. Caelus stood his ground, his arms snaking around her hips as he too, leaned into the kiss.
They parted for air, gasping for as much air in the shortest amount of time. In that small moment, he steeled his resolve, "I love you too."
Caelus and Firefly were stranded in the wilderness amidst the pouring rain, their picnic completely ruined. The downpour wasn't a problem. A single puff of flame from either of them would be enough to secure a small space. No, they simply didn't care.
With the final footnote in place, the story ends.
Not with a bang but rather in blissful silence.
-Line Break-
AN:
Who would've foreseen that the little snippets of Hoyoverse songs I'd put at the end of every chapter in Their Place in The Stars would be the catalyst for this? No one, probably.
A little bit of trivia: The original concept for these one-shots was to fulfill two conditions. One was that the character to be featured would join the Astral Express, and the second was that it would be a romance.
That didn't work out. Romance only works once there's enough build-up to root for two characters getting together, and it would have felt like a cop-out to me if this were only one chapter.
Even the first condition was something I found hard to do. Hence only Unseen, Unknown, Untold, my first one-shot, was the one to meet that condition. Ten months after that first story, I finally fulfilled the second condition through this one.
It feels nice to come full circle after so long, but saying there weren't any hiccups would be a lie.
This epilogue (Which I didn't plan on adding) and the previous two chapters were all written on the same day. Forcing myself to publish this right as Firefly's banner ends is the best and worst thing I could've done.
I'm too biased against myself to tell if the quality suffered due to this, though. Whether you liked this story or hated it, constructive criticism would be appreciated.
Until next time.