(*cough*)

"Ugh, what a pain..."

A food vendor stood idly by her stand with a bored look as people passed by. The day had dragged on slowly, the woman selling food to people passing by every now and then.

She'd had no real customers for some time, none who actually bought enough food to make her actually work.

The woman typically complained about having too many customers, but now she was wishing she was knees deep in orders and rushing to cook.

She began to doze off, struggling to keep her eyes open, but a loud thud snapped her back to reality as she fumbled to sit up, "Wh— how can I— HUH?!"

There was a man standing in front of her, eerily silent with a rather frightening aura as he withdrew his hand from the stand to reveal a thick 🍑 wad of credits.

The woman blinked, then glanced at him warily. It wasn't his stature or his unusual silence that made the situation super bizarre, though.

It was mainly the bucket he had over his head.

The food vendor stared at the man.
The man remained completely silent.

"Uh... can I help you?"

Wordlessly, the bucket donning man pointed to the surplus of buns that still had left to leave the steamer.

"Oh, do you want some?" the woman murmured before nodding with a smile, "How many."

The man was silent for a long moment, before mumbling something that the woman couldn't quite her.

"I'm sorry, what was that."

"All of them."

"Of course, I'll get right—!" the woman paused, before a bewildered look settled on her face, "WHAT?!"

All of them? This man wanted all of them?!
There had to be at least fifty—

The man nodded, the bucket shaking on his head a little before he held up two fingers, "Times two."

Times— WHAT?!

The woman smiled nervously, "Ah, is that all...?"

"...everything else you have prepared."

WHAT THE HELL WAS THIS MAN GONNA DO WITH ALL THAT FOOD, HUH?!

The vendor didn't question it out loud, rushing to complete the order while the bucket man waited patiently in silence. As she was working, she caught a glimpse of a 🚚ing sword at his side and squeaked.

It'd been decades since she'd last completed such a large order in such a short amount of times, but lookie here. She'd gone and done it again.

The man didn't speak as she finished up the order, and watched warily as he wandered off with the obscene amount of food precariously piled up in his arms.

"What a strange guy... what was the bucket for?"

The bucket donning man wandered for a bit, making a bun hid random turns down different streets before finally stopping at a little table in the perfect spot to watch starskiffs fly about.

Seated at the table was y/n, her face smooshed against the table as she contemplated a number of things. She turned her head to glance at the man wearing the bucket, and her eyes immediately lit up.

"Sweet! You got it all!"

"Eating this much is foolish idea."

"You're not Mr. Yang, so your statement is irrelevant." Y/n made grabby hands, "Give it here, I'm starving!"

Y/n and Blade had run into each other earlier, and initially planned on just going their separate ways, except that Ten Lords Commission Judge spotted them both.

They had no choice but to double team her then skedaddle as fast as they could. Y/n was pretty sure this dude and Kafka were supposed to have left the Luofu by now but, according to Blade, he still had some business to attend to.

With the Ten Lords Commission now after BOTH of them, and potentially others, they opted to just stick together for a little bit.

Blade really seemed to have a problem with her face, he started tweaking really badly when y/n called him old, so she put a bucket on his head and that seemed to do the trick.

"You saw Caelus?"

Blade nodded, it was a little difficult to take him seriously with that bucket on his head so y/n nearly choked on the bun she was eating *or maybe that was because it was still scalding hot*, "Kafka called him for assistance. He didn't seem happy to be there, but her requests were met with very little resistance."

Y/n clicked her tongue, "Ugh, typical Caelus. I don't blame him for bending over backwards for Miss Himeko and Mr. Yang, but Kafka? Good grief..."

The man wearing the bucket was quiet as y/n continued eating, noticeably more irritable than before.

"You two are very alike."

Y/n's face went blank as she glanced up.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

Blade decided not to speak, and despite the bucket over his head, he could imagine the look on the trailblazer's face.

Disbelief, annoyance, and disappointment all mixed into one dumbfounded look. He recalled seeing it before.

He could hear y/n lean back in her seat with a huff, "Alike, huh? What makes Caelus and I so alike?"

The Stellaron Hunter remained silent.

'Ugh. He makes a statement then refuses to elaborate. What a pain.' y/n thought irritably, 'Fine, then!'

As they both sat, the silence filled with the hustle and bustle of Central Starskiff Haven and starskiffs darting by, y/n began to relax a little bit.

Ever since waking up and running around playing cat and mouse with that Judge, y/n's memories once concealed in a golden haze had cleared slightly.

Still hazy, but not like before.

"Caelus does seem to be wary of Kafka, but I've seen how he looks at her. Behind the mistrust, out of pocket comments, and how he tends to view the Stellaron Hunters as a whole..." y/n exhaled quietly, a small smile settling in her face, "I can tell he does care for her in his own weird way. He wants to keep her at arm's length, but will quickly clear that distance if he believes that his help really is needed."

The woman picked up another steamed bun and shoved the whole thing into her mouth, cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"I wouldn't call it hopelessly devoted... but he's hopelessly devoted. Same way I am and always have been to friends old and new."

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

"Put a lid on it, old coot."
Y/n immediately covered her mouth.
Shoot, that one came out instinctively.

Blade didn't seem at all bothered by the comment, but still reached out and—WHAT THE HELL?!

"Hey! That's mine! Stop!"

Y/n wasn't quick enough as Blade took a steamed bun, lifted the bucket on his head just a little bit, and ate it.

"Ah... no..." y/n slumped over in misery.
It was just one, she had plenty left, but still-!

"So you remember?"

"No 💩 I remember..."

"Hm." Blade crossed his arms.

Y/n turned her head a little bit to look at him with a frown, face still resting on the table. She couldn't see his face with that damned bucket over his head, but that mattered very little to her.

She knew why he seemed to familiar now. The bickering was more one sided now...

'Can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the witty comebacks that'd occasionally make me shed a tear or two.' y/n thought before pushing some of the food closer to Blade, "Here... you must be hungry. Eat as much as you'd like. I can't finish it all anyways."

Y/n shifted her seat so she was facing away from Blade, picking up a berry pheasant skewer and nibbling on it as she looked out at the sky.

It was a long moment before she heard the bucket being lifted and set on the ground, followed by that familiar laughing crunch from a songlotus cake.

The two exchanged no words, only ate in silence.

After they ate, Blade put the bucket right back on his head and the two went their separate ways without speaking another word to one another.

'I don't know where I should go... should I return to the Express? Or go to my Mother?' y/n wondered, 'I... I don't think I should see her. It may be for the best if she believes that I'm still dead. I've already been cruel enough with leaving her behind so many times.'

...

'No, I should find Jing Yuan first. He could help me clear up that situation with the Judge first so I can see my mother safely.' y/n decided before looking up with a thoughtful look, 'Where to find him, though...'

"Miss Y/n?"

The trailblazer jolted and looked back in alarm, ready to make a run for it, but stopped at the sight of Shiwen.

The Cloud Knight seemed surprised. Rightfully so, considering he was very sure that the woman looking at him had become stricken with mara and died.

But here she was, looking just as bewildered.

"Shiwen?" y/n mumbled in a tone of mild disbelief and the Cloud Knight gasped, looking shocked.

"You remember!"

"Huh? What?"

Before y/n could ask him wtf he meant, the Cloud Knight rushed over and gave her a big hug. Y/n stood there awkwardly, taking a moment to awkwardly pat his back as he began crying.

As fuzzy as everything still was, y/n did remember his face. He'd been there when her and Caelus were attempting to infiltrate the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, she remembered that. But she also remembered him as a pen pushed at the Seat of Divine Foresight. Specifically the one who most often walked in when she was in the middle of chasing Jing Yuan around about something.

'Huh. That information came back to me naturally.' she noted as Shiwen stepped back with teary eyes. "You... look well." Y/n couldn't hold back a smile, "I'm a damn good chiropractor, aren't I?"

"You got jokes now, huh? Not the time!" Shiwen said sharply, "You don't just die and come back, do you know how much mental anguish I went through when I found out what happened!?"

"You seem fine."

"No, I'm not, I'm actually about to cry-"

"You're gonna have to cry later, I need to know where the General is at." y/n mumbled, glancing over her shoulder, "I've got a Judge from the Ten Lords Commission on my 🍑 and I think I may actually end up dead if she catches me."

"Oh, he's resting up at the Alchemy Commission." Shiwen replied before glancing over to where y/n was scanning her surroundings, "You're saying a Judge is chasing you?"

"Mhm." y/n nodded once.

"Mm... come with me. I can probably find something to help you hide." Shiwen murmured with a nod, "But you'll owe me one!"

Y/n usually didn't like the idea of owing people anything. Last time she owed someone something, she owed Herta 2.3 billion credits for breaking something.

Despite that, she nodded with a warm smile.
"Alright, I'm counting on you, Shiwen."

. 　。　　⋆　　•　 　ﾟ　　。 .　.　.　。 .　。
⋆　　　。　　 ⋆。　 ඞ 。　 . • .  .   ⁎ 。　. 　。　.　　⋆. 　　。 .　 .　　 .  ⋆.   。.   ⁎ 。•　 　ﾟ　　。

"What the actual 🚚."

Caelus stared down at the unconscious Vidyadhara sprawled out on the ground, a little startled.

He'd decided to accompany Bailu and Dan Heng to Scalegorge Waterscape as they resealed the arbor. The little High Elder trusted him enough for him to serve as a body guard.

As they were preparing to head back, however, it became very clear that some of the Vidyadhara of the Luofu weren't too pleased by Dan Heng's return and slightly extended stay.

It seemed that now that the General was out of commission for the time being and the troublesome cockroach finally kicked the bucket, they decided that they were going to make their move.

"Great job, Caelus! Quick and efficient as usual!" Baili exclaimed eagerly, her tail wagging behind her.

"How come they just appeared out of nowhere like that?" Caelus demanded, "I didn't notice until they were right up on Bailu." he pursed his lips and wiped blood away from where one of the Vidyadhara's weapons had just barely cut across his throat, "They were quick too..."

"It's possible that they used cloudhymn to create mist to use as a smokescreen." Dan Heng murmured as he gave the fallen Vidyadhara a little nudge, just to be sure that they were out cold, "Seems like some people have grown tired of my presence."

"If that's the case, how come they aimed for Bailu too?" Caelus questioned with a tilt of his head.

"We can figure that out, just focus on keeping Bailu safe." Dan Heng instructed, "We should leave, now. Quickly!"

They began to make haste, Caelus getting real damn lucky and swatting at air just to hit an invisible assassin within the mist. Him and Dan Heng made quick work of the assassins, Bailu pitching in to heal them and occasionally gets some hits of their own.

They had little difficulty, doing just fine in protecting Bailu until Caelus took a pause to rub at an eyelash that was pricking his eye ball.

"Damn." he mumbled, "Another eyelash?"

As he rubbed at his eye, the mist shifted as one of the assassins made their move. Bailu spotted them first, shouting a frantic, "Mister, look out!"

Dan Heng was slow to react, as was Caelus who was still rubbing the eyelash from his eye, but there was a splash of blood as the assassin's knife went flying. Along with the hand holding it.

The Vidyadhara skidded to a halt, clutching their hand and screaming, though their screams were muffled by stone as they were grabbed by the back of their head and had their face slammed into the ground.

The one who'd done it was y/n.

...

"WHAT THE-?!" Caelus demanded but y/n was already moving again, this time going after another one of the assassins hiding in the mist.

Dan Heng and Caelus were idle, not the best decision, but not exactly surprising considering the very same friend they'd said their supposed final goodbyes to was right here kicking 🍑.

"You filthy little... stay out of the way!" one of the assassins snapped, charging at y/n from behind only for her to duck right under their attack and gut check them.

Caelus just barely managed to duck in time as the assassin was slammed into a pillar, glancing back at y/n as she beat the brakes off of the remaining adversaries.

When all the assassins nearby had been taken care of, laid out on the ground and unresponsive, y/n stopped to rub the back of her neck awkwardly.

She caught sight of the dumbfounded Caelus and smiled nervously, "Aha... hey there, Caelus."

He scowled, "You stabbed Mr. Yang."

"What."

"YOU STABBED MR. YANG! DUMB🍑!"

Y/n yelled when Caelus punched her on the top of her head, crouching and clutching the spot where he'd smacked her skull only for him to drag her into a hug.

She blinked owlishly, awkwardly returning Caelus's embrace as he silently kept a tight hold on her.

"I knew you weren't dead." he mumbled, "You're too stubborn to die, I knew that. But..." he sniffled a bit, and y/n managed to turn her head enough to see tears streaming down his face, "You really 🚚ing scared me."

"Couldn't die even if I wanted to." y/n replied quietly, "Which I don't, of course. Death is nowhere near as fun as I'd imagined, so I'm not going there for good anytime soon." She glanced down at Bailu, "Oh. It's the kid."

The tiny Vidyadhara scowled up at her, "I told you not to call me that! ...but you get pass since you really saved our behinds just now."

Y/n chuckled a little, turning her gaze to Dan Heng next as Caelus clung into her and got his damn tears all over her clothes. The two kind stared at one another, y/n's eyes widening a bit.

"Oh." she mumbled before rubbing her eyes.

She looked at Dan Feng again. No... this was Dan Heng. But weren't they the same person? Of course not. But they were both her friends. Dan Feng was gone now, and she had Dan Heng. Y/n knew that.

Yet she still hesitated to call him by name.

In her little moment of conflict, Dan Heng took the first step for her and tugged her from *a very displeased* Caelus's grasp to hug her instead.

"Dan—" y/n began but her friend shushed her.

"Shut up. You don't get to talk after pulling a stunt like that." he said sharply and y/n grimaced a bit.

"Yeah, okay. Fair enough."

(He didn't come home. Now he must suffer)