a/n:

boboiboy belongs to monsta, honkai star rail belongs to hoyoverse. i suggest you to check out the animation first for the best experience.

also, english is my second language, so forgive me if there are any grammatical mistakes. btw, lowercase-only intended.

happy feasting!


in the luxurious ballroom, taufan leans on the wall, surrounded by the elites who are trying to talk to him. one asking about his life as the sole crown prince of windara, another one asking about his love lifeーit is rumored that taufan is going to be betrothed, but judging from his reaction, looks like it is really just a rumorー, and so on. he does not really care though, as he just nods and dons his polite, yet unnatural smile.

ah, so bothersome. taufan did not come here to mingle with some random, bootlicking elites. no, he came here for a different reason.

while he did come here to the banquet as the envoy from windara, it is not the entire reason. as windaran royalty, he inherited the telepathic ability. having such power, taufan loves using it to watching people's memories. call him creepy, yet he never tells anyone about the memories he saw without the owner's consent. for him, witnessing memories is such a delightful feast.

and to satiate his growing curiosity of people's experience, what place is better than a banquet?

yet here, taufan has yet to find such people with precious memories. the memories he witnessed were too bland, too ordinary to his liking.

taufan wants more.

his gaze suddenly catches on a fleeting black and crimson silhouette that passed before his eyes. his unentertained face finally brightened, taufan smirks after realizing the silhouette's identity.

it is halilintar, one of the infamous galaxy rangers. the intergalactic faction that are famous for their deeds in the galaxy, hunting down the evil-doers and taking revenge against them. almost all of their actions are driven by vengeance, yearning for the justice to be righteously held in the galaxy. and halilintar is one of, if not the most famous galaxy rangers out there.

oh, the rumors and gossips spreading halilintar's deeds. rather than ranger, he is more akin to a hunter, or even an assassin. once, he invaded the dark circusーthe infamous power sphere thief, jugglenaut's lairーand leaving no trace of life behind. he is just like the flash of lightningーblink, and you will miss him.

taufan excuses himself from the flock of people, his eyes looking for the said ranger. he could just float from the above or send his butterfly illusions to search for the ranger, but eh. where's the fun in that? taufan is a joyseeker, it is his nature to having fun.

and there is he. sitting on a chair, his cold, blank gaze stares at the sight of people dancing in the center of the ballroom. his attire is a bit out of place, a simple black-crimson cloak and a same color cap. for a fierce and ruthless galaxy ranger, he surely looks a bit too relaxed. is he currently not on a mission? eh, taufan does not really care. all he care is to peek at the ranger's abundant memories.

taufan licks his lips as he slowly walks towards halilintar. he could not stop imagining the sweet, flavorful memories he will taste from the loner ranger. ah, from the dark, empty eyes those crimson eyes emanate, the zephyr prince is too eager to uncover the silent past. what makes the most ruthless ranger to be so dejected and depressed, even in the middle of party like this? it must be something special. something delicious.

galaxy rangers are always on the hunt. but tonight, the ranger is not the only one who hunts.

"excuse me, are you waiting for someone?" taufan stands in front of halilintar, a polite smile is donned on his face.

halilintar looked up. his dark, crimson eyes glaring at taufan intimidatingly. "who are you?" he asks with a hoarse voice, as if he had not talk for decades. his tone is flat with a hint of suspicion.

taufan is not backing out even a little. "well, since we are in a ballroom, should we know each other by dancing?" he offers his hand to the man in black and red.

the ranger stares at the prince's hand, his suspicion remains the same. it took a minute or so before he surprisingly takes taufan's hand, accepting the offer. even taufan looks a bit catch off guard, but still, his smile never fades.

"have you ever danced before?" taufan gently guides them to the center of the ballroom, their hands intertwined.

halilintar shakes his head slowly, his gaze slowly returns to the original emptiness. "it's been a long time since the last i danced. i barely even remember."

taufan circles the ranger, until they are standing face to face with each other. "don't worry, just follow my lead. i promise i'll be gentle." taufan whispers right at the ranger's ear, putting halilintar's other hand on his shoulder before putting his other hand at halilintar's waist. the ranger does not give any response, his face emotionless.

but do not worry, soon taufan will change that.

the orchestra begins to play, the slow, romantic violin melody fills the ballroom. taufan gently leads halilintar with airy, light steps, swaying and spinning slowly. halilintar follows with a slightly stiff move, yet elegance radiated from him.

"that's it... you're doing great," taufan smirks as he circles behind the ranger. then, the prince gently traces the ranger's torso, from his waist up to his shoulders, and finally giving slight taps. "don't be so tense, relax. just follow my lead."

both men continue their dance, the music gradually picks up the pace. "my name is taufan, the crown prince of windara." the said prince spins the ranger once, then lead them to sway in the middle of the ballroom. taufan observes halilintar's face, which still looks gloomy and emotionless. his smirk widens, changing into a smug smile.

they do not realize they became the spotlight in the banquet. all guests' eyes literally glued on the pair. the audiences are watching the intriguing tango, spinning graciously right in the center of the ballroom, fighting for the control of the dance, captivating every single living beings in the banquet. the blue morpho butterflies suddenly appear and swarm around the pair, adding the touch of elegance and mystique between the two men.

taufan does not care about the butterflies, since those are just mere illusions created by him. he sways halilintar to the left, then right, and slightly twirling him so the prince stands right behind the cloaked man. taufan observes the ranger's featuresーmasculine figure that slightly taller than him; tan, yet unblemished skin; matted strands of auburn and a streak of white hair; thin, rosy, yet flaky lips; large, slightly pointy nose; defined eyebrows; and last, a pair of sharp yet empty ruby eyes.

he looks even more captivating from closer.

taufan slowly reaches halilintar's chin, asserting his control over the dance. he is the one who initiates the dance, of course he is the one in control. the ranger's eyes widen a bit, caught off guard from the sensual gesture. slowly, the hand creeps to halilintar's cheek, before the prince abruptly takes the ranger's hand and gives a sensual kiss on it.

mixture of surprise and caution painted clearly on his face, halilintar immediately retreats his hand.

"surprised?" taufan chuckles from seeing halilintar's mixed reactions as he immediately grabs the ranger's hand, not letting him go. "had no one ever treat you, like that?"

the bait is not taken. halilintar still does not say anything, despite his ruby eyes gains a glimmer of life. taufan is clearly enjoying toying with halilintar in his arms; as the prince spins and releases the noble ranger, fooling him with the illusion of gaining control.

not for more than three seconds, the crimson bolt is caught back in the hurricane's arms, his torso is dipped intimately.

yet halilintar's face still does not show anything other than that reserved, nonchalant expression. as if he is on the other plane, other dimension. this evokes taufan's curiosity even more; no one has ever this distracted while dancing with the crown prince of windaraーthe royalty! no one even dares to ignore him. however, this ranger...

taufan lets out a taunting chuckle. he will not be defeated here so easily.

he will show who is in the control.

he will uncover those buried memories.

he will soon have the feast.


azure eyes meet crimson eyes. taufan gazes even deeper, infiltrating the ranger's layers of consciousness. this is the method he usually uses to harvest memories, by invading people's head and diving into their realm of consciousness. there, he usually witnesses the person's moments, from the dearest joy to the mournful sorrow. he will savor those memories down, enjoying those like full-course meal.

as he dives down deep into halilintar's realm of consciousness, taufan begins to take another form. a form which is more vigorous, loose and unrestrained, his illusion form. his mahogany hair slowly turns into cobalt blue, his royal attire slowly morphs into marble white and cobalt blue cloak with a touch of golden yellow, cloudy scarf grows from the collar. the storm begins to form in his eyes, azure butterfly illusions flutter around him, the signs that he is using his full power.

the tempest has come.

with this form, taufan is now able to safely and easily scavenging for memories. not that he is not able to do it with his usual form, it is just a pre-caution to prevent what will happen if he is in contact with the ranger's cured memories. definitely not the safest one to taste.

the surroundings has blurred. the magnificent ballroom, the smell of luxurious champagne, the gawking audiences, almost everything left his senses. only the melodic orchestra still flowing in his ears, giving him the rhythm to keep up the dancing show in the waking world.

then, the prince notices something odd. halilintar's realm of consciousness is unusually deep. normally, it would not take that long to reach the base floor of the dimension. yet, the only thing taufan sees are just pitch-black darkness. but instead of confusion or fear, growing arrogance growing on taufan's face, shown by his growing smirk. the ranger is definitely not an ordinary person.

halilintar is truly his special feast. how lucky.

yet, how perplexed is the prince when he finally reaches the deep, only to find that there is nothing except him and the silhouette of the ranger. the fading smirk, the growing frown, all is the sign of how taufan can not believe his eyes. he unleashed his full power, only to find there is nothing here. not even a single glimpse of memory, only to find the abyss surrounding both of them.

no, there must be something here. there is no way that ruthless galaxy ranger with hundreds of body count does not own any memories.

andーoh, taufan is right. at least the said culprit is here alongside him.

"trying to dig into your head, yet it seems you did not serve anything for me..." the awakened prince floats slowly to the ranger. halilintar only stands there, with the same blank, emotionless face in the waking world.

"for now, let's just continue our dance, shall we?"

taufan takes his position, grabbing halilintar's shoulders with both hands and gently pushing him to the center. the butterfly illusions swarming around them become more agitated, circling like a storm. taufan is trying to pry, digging to reach the missing memories. halilintar, still passive as always, holds onto taufan's torso, letting himself to be dominated. the dance continues, the tension is rising, taufan's steps become quicker, yet halilintar is still able to keep up with his nimble moves.

taufan switches his grip to halilintar's hand, another holds the ranger's torso. they sway and spin, both in the ballroom and the empty realm. the music tempo is rising, the notes become firmer and assertive. the prince is still smiling, the ranger is still being reticent. once again, taufan dips halilintar's torso, closing the gap between their face. there, taufan could see the ranger's parting lips.

"halilintar, of the infamous galaxy rangers. am i correct?" the prince asks with a knowing smile.

all of sudden, taufan pulls halilintar's body and continue spinning. the said ranger is still unresponsive, only following the tempest's lead.

"you're famous, i hope you're aware of that," taufan speaks again as he leads the ranger in their dance. "you eliminated so many criminals before tapops were able to catch them... not that they're competent, anyway."

taufan keeps his smile, waiting for the reaction. as expected, halilintar does not response, not even a flinch. as they are spinning, taufan sways halilintar in steady manner. he continues to bait the ranger's memories.

"let me recount... bora ra, jugglenaut, vargoba..." speaks taufan as he releases halilintar from his arms. "they were wanted by tapops alive, yet they always found dead... your name is included in the wanted list because of that, you know."

failed to gain any reaction, taufan only stares at halilintar who is twirling with both arms open before he comes back to the prince's arms. taufan does not feel worry, though. soon or later, he will get what he wants.

"as i said, it doesn't look like tapops is reliable at all," taufan continues, his chin is up. "remember when a tapops' squad named kokotaim almost died because of the battle against vargoba? they're all underages. how dare tapops' higher-ups sent them to a suicide mission? they were not supposed to make it out alive, i've heard."

the prince chuckles, smirking before he continues.

"you saved them, didn't you, my dear ranger? by slicing through vargoba's neck right in front of the kids and traumatized them for life."

hearing taufan's sarcastic remark, halilintar's breath hitches a bit, but not enough for taufan's amusement. regardless of the truth, it seems the realm around them starts to rumble, meaning that halilintar's consciousness is slowly being disturbed. taufan brings them to spinning again, hand in hand while still holding each other's torso.

taufan's smirk rises again. the victory is in his hands.

"being famous and popular, yet no one knows what do you look like." taufan states, once again releases the ranger from his arms, the azure butterflies swarming around the prince. "they said you come and go just like the thunder, blink and you'll be gone. no wonder people said you are such an enigma."

but not for me, because soon i will take you down myself.

"which is interesting," the prince still continues his monologue. they walk towards each other slowly, the tension rising in the air. taufan raises his chin, looking at the taller ranger with a sneer. halilintar is still keeping his calm composure, not taunted by the prince.

"galaxy rangers are not invited to this banquet."

simultaneously, they grab each other's torso, halilintar's leg is hooking around taufan's waist as the latter dips the former. looking at halilintar's aloof face, taufan gains a sense of winning the control, adding to his amusement.

"i could just tell the guards that there's a fugitive here," suddenly, taufan pulls back, making halilintar stumbles a little. taufan lets out a chuckle, just a few more bait and he will get those juicy memories.

"... but i won't, thanks to the kindness from my deepest heart." a butterfly slowly flutters to the ranger's nose, before immediately fly away. still, halilintar is unperturbed by the tease. he ignores taufan's statement, not even a hint of panic on his face.

"the banquet only invites the royalty from all the galaxy," taufan leads both of them to spin, their steps competitive, just like knights in battle. "rimbara, windara, baraju, quabaq..." he pierces through halilintar's sanguine eyes while keeping both of them spinning and swaying.

"even the long lost planet... gur'latan."

with the last word emitted from the prince's mouth, halilintar's eyes suddenly widen. his pupil narrowing, clearly shows that he is in shock.

taufan lets out a daunting laugh, satisfied from the response. the realm rumbles even more, the surface they dance on becomes more unstable. "that's it! do you think it's not weird? we have lost contact with gur'latan, ever since retak'ka successfully invaded and colonialized the planet... but, do you know what is even weirder?"

as the music reaches its climax, taufan relishes the look on the ranger's face for a few moments. the look of fear, yet somehow halilintar manages to keep his nonchalant composure.

"retak'ka is already dead," taufan answers his own question with an astounding smile. "but strangely, his body was found burnt, yet no trace of fire was found."

taufan's eyes squints, his condescending smile grows even wider.

"so, what have you done, o' the crown prince of gur'latan?"

a moment of silent. taufan has dropped the bait. it is now the time to reap what he sow.

"do you... really want to know?" finally, halilintar lets out a response, his eye flashes.

that, is when taufan's smug face freezes, soon pales into terror.


wrong.

taufan was dead wrong.

it was a sore mistake.

it is a sore, fatal mistake!

as the realm shatters from total darkness into intimidating, bloody crimson, taufan feels his head is grabbed harshly by the frantic, deranged ranger. his glare is sharp like a sword, anger is reflected clearly in halilintar's eyes as he manhandles taufan with his almighty strength.

terror has taken control of taufan, his former arrogance vanishes into the air. the music has become distorted, the elegant melody soon replaced by the brash sound of stringed instruments. his butterfly illusions are escaping in panic, unstably flailing and fleeing as thunder begins to strike the realm. taufan wants to scream, yet he feels his shoulders are grabbed by force, then a hand tears his throat, ripping it open.

since he is in his illusion form, taufan only disperses into butterflies before reintegrates again. yet, halilintar once again grasps taufan's arms, pulling and yanking as frail butterfly wings are shredded off from the broken limbs. taufan's arms crumble into butterflies again, yet the violent ranger continues his assault to taufan's torso, stabbing with bare hands.

butterfly wings scatter in the air as taufan is being torn and shredded. he reforms again, yet halilintar keeps mauling his body as he takes control of the dance. even when taufan has not yet recovers, halilintar still yanks and shreds taufan's butterfly, forcing them to reintegrate as taufan. the ranger jerks the prince around harshly, forcefully spinning and swaying his mauled body. taufan's mouth gapes wide, his eyes wide open, his face shrouded by shock and fear. even though taufan's current body in halilintar's consciousness realm is a mere form of illusion, his actions still terrifies him.

what the hell happened to the ranger? why suddenly the intimate, elegant dance became a nightmare?

as taufan thinks about it, suddenly his body is slammed hard to the ground by the dreadful ranger, only to scatters into fleeing butterflies.

no, taufan can not stay here anymore. forget about memory feast, the appetite is long gone. he should leave before he becomes the feast instead!

with his incomplete body, taufan tries to flee, darts off to the waking realm up there. however, storms and thunders are roaring and raging, bolt of lightnings almost strike the prince. he dodges, yet halilintar is catching up on him with his lightning speed. taufan's body is trembling, fear has enveloped him completely.

what went wrong? taufan contemplates in panic. he was sure he can handle thisーall he needed to do is just take a peek and done! why suddenly things took a drastic turn into a dreadful horror?

taufan was blinded by his arrogance, until he could not see the danger right in front of him.

it is far too late now. he could not go back.

he could not escape.

as he tries to swarm to the above, he halts. something glimpses right in front of his eyes, so sudden. as the thing morphs, taufan realizes it is the most thing he has searched in this banquetーin his life, even.

taufan sees a young, black-red man cradles a slightly older, red-haired woman with the most gruesome wound he ever seen in his entire life. her right arm is missing, fresh blood dripping from the open wound. her right eye dangling from the socket, a gaping hole right at her cheek.

"hali..." the half-corpse woman whispers. "take... voltra..."

"i can't, kira'na!" the man shouts, his shoulders tremble. "this powerーit's too dangerous for me"

"better you take it rather than that ape!" the woman who was called kira'na grasps halilintar's shoulder, streaks of red-white electricity stream forth, zapping through the smaller, young man.

taufan watches it. he watches the younger halilintar being electrocuted, receives the voltra power from the empress kira'na, his older sister. the princethe windara prince's eyes dilated when he sees the soon-to-be galaxy ranger screaming while holding onto his sister body. it is full of agony and sorrow, both from the lightning power electrocuting him and the loss of his beloved.

taufan is at the loss of words. his vocal cords suddenly goes mute, unable to produce a single sound. his eyes are open wide, dread and horror reflected clearly in his azure irises. he tries to get away, but his legs are not giving in. he is stuck, unable to move.

suddenly, the electrocuted halilintar approaches taufan with a slow, steady steps. his body are charred, yet red electricity still buzzing all around his body. the tempest prince can only be frozen in his place, even when halilintar's burned hands begin to caressing his body.

it hurts. it hurts so bad. taufan feels a streak of thunder zaps through his body. it burns his nerves, the extreme pain numbing his illusional body. the thunder flows out from the ranger's hand, trailing down from the prince's thigh, then up, up to his torso, to his chest...

no. taufan cannot endure this any longer. no, even as he extends his hand, using all of his remaining strength, he cannot budge from halilintar's tight, powerful embrace. the ranger's hand takes a detour, exploring the prince's neck, torso, then down to hisー

no. no, no no NO NO NO! TAUFAN NEEDS TO RUN AWAY!

taufan tries to scream, but no sound coming out from his mouth. his face full of dread, his eyes filled with despair, as halilintar brings him down, sinking to the bottom of the abyss, to the end of his existenceー


"hah!"

taufan gasps for the air as his body is cradled by halilintar in an intimate dip. his head feels dizzy, his breaths erratic. it feels like he wakes up from a nightmare.

a nightmare...

the prince looks around while staying still in his position. he is back in the ballroom, all the audiences are silent as they all focus on him and the damned ranger. his clothes are also back to the original cobalt blue royal attire.

he is safe. god, was not he almost devoured by the ranger's distorted consciousness? no, what even was that?

who isーno, what is this damned ranger actually?

taufan contemplates as he looks up to halilintar's sharp stare. his face is stoic as ever, not a single hint of emotion reflected. suddenly, the ranger's face reaches to the prince's ear, whispering so softly.

"satisfied already, my dear prince?" halilintar chuckles, his voice raspy and deep. he then touches taufan's chin. "i must warn you, curiosity kills the cat.

"or should i say... curiosity kills the butterfly?" halilintar retreats his head back, sinister smirk donned on his face as he tilts taufan's chin upwards.

taufan pushes halilintar immediately, then he strides away from the ballroom. the crowd's gaze are onto him, watching the prince's move with unnerving silence. his face red, mixed from anger and embarassment from the humiliation.

how could he, the cyclone crown prince of windara, the most skillful in the ballroom, being dominated by a wandering ranger?

"i enjoyed our engagement tonight. can we do this again sometime, my dear little butterfly?"

taufan instictively turns back. the ranger has gone from the ballroom.