You spend a peaceful life on the space station. The Express visits a few times before disappearing for good. From the occasional visitors on the station, you hear stories about how the final end of the Express and the Stellaron Hunters shakes the universe to its very core. Sometimes you wonder whether their destiny would have changed, had you stepped on that train. But those stories are no longer for you.
"They told me I had the power of choice," said the Trailblazer.
"You did," replied the Aeon.
"Then why am I being judged for this?" The Trailblazer gestured to Herta's space station, and the Express hurtling itself away, star-ward.
"You make a choice you do not regret," replied the Aeon. "It is the magistrate that sits in your heart that judges you, not any of us."
The Trailblazer turned star-ward, the Express less than the faintest glimmer on the horizon, a dying star in its own right. What IS Truth? If we shed all preconceived notions, at least for now, let's pretend that… this WASN'T the wrong decision… Why does that feel so weird and wrong to say? Why am I meant to feel bad that I chose to stay? And why…? Why does it have to be like this at all?
The Trailblazer understood the Aeon's words that the Astral Express was now condemned. By failing to join them, no matter what trials and tribulations the Express faced, it would never be enough. But why? Were none of them truly capable without the Trailblazer? Why did the fates of so many hinge upon the shoulders of one? Not only did it seem like an unfair burden to the Trailblazer, but it also almost seemed an insult to the autonomy and power of the entire Astral Express. None of them were good enough to save the Express. Only the Trailblazer. And just because the Trailblazer dared to exercise free will, multiple people were being punished…?!
The only thing I can think is… A hand drifted to a chin. Maybe I am destined to become an Aeon myself! Akivili…?
"Hmph. Boastful," the Aeon laughed at the Trailblazer's thoughts. "And not very creative or unique."
The Trailblazer only shrugged. "My point still stands. Even if my fate isn't exactly that, if I alone really am enough to decide the entire fate of the Astral Express, then clearly I either have—or am destined for—great power. And if that's the case, who's to say this is the only story I can tell? Or the only way I can tell it?" Like any good Trailblazer, this one was itching to explore uncharted territory. "Guess I'm a… bit of a contrarian."
The Trailblazer paused and gave a crooked grin. "Now I kind of want to see what happens if I stay on the space station because it's the "wrong" answer. Tell me a path I can't stride and I'll want to blaze down it all the more! Besides, what makes it so wrong anyway? What's wrong with a peaceful life on the space station? Sure, it says that Herta quickly grows bored with me, but are you seriously insinuating that nothing exciting ever happens again in my entire life? Or that the entire universe ends just because I didn't get on that train?" The Trailblazer scoffed, then paused. "Whether or not the greater story will be told has yet to be seen, but… I'll never know what could've been if I go."
The Trailblazer did not recognize the Aeon. Perhaps THEY were HooH, the Law of Equal and Opposite Exchange. Love would have its sacrifices, and there were no sacrifices without blood. In one reality, the Trailblazer went with the Astral Express, down the predetermined, predicted path. In another, the Trailblazer ran away from the train, to write a new story, and to see what happened when the path less traveled was walked.
"What was it that you said?" the Trailblazer asked, almost taunting. "Even if the end is predestined, we are the choices we make along the way." And like any good Trailblazer, would I continue to walk down this road even if I knew how it ended? Even if I knew it ended in a reel of gag credits? Of course, the answer was obvious. Even if only just to see the outcome… I am the curiosity, blazing light down a darkened path!
"I mean, I know I'm just spit-balling here," the Trailblazer continued, "but what if, say, I fell in love on this space station? What if a whole other adventure unfolded? What if there's another key to the Stellarons beyond just the Express or the Hunters?" All at once, countless futures and limitless possibilities unfolded and unfurled before the Trailblazer's eyes. Endless options of dialogue, and so few of them that truly mattered, all three often leading to the same end. Was the path really so narrow?
"Call me crazy, but I'm staying here! I'll find another off this ship, and I'll blaze my own path, my own stories! Maybe I'll miss out on what you had written for me, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make! And besides…" The Trailblaze finally faltered. "That story…" Two eyes turned star-ward one last time. "Is no longer for me…"
After a moment, though, the Trailblazer's resolve returned. "It belong to another iteration of me, but this is the path I walk! Even if it's short and stupid!" With a final look of defiance, Trailblazer turned and tail and sprinted away, down the platform, back towards Herta's space station. The Aeon hovered over the platform for a moment more, then vanished without a trace, as if the entire conversation never even happened.
AN: Of course based on the joke ending, but I wanted to get a little "meta" and argue that it still should've been a valid choice rather than the butt of a joke if we want to focus on other themes of HSR (that we are but specks in an ocean, and it's our collective journeys that matter rather than any particular individual).
Also the "meta" that if Trailblazing really means doing the unexpected and going to the uncharted, that means choosing the options the game obviously doesn't want you to.