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Dan Heng's routine when the Astral Express wasn't involved in a Stellaron sealing mission was pretty simple: he would wake up, join the others for breakfast, head into the Archive, which had also become his own personal room for his convenience, work on the Data Bank for hours, have lunch brought by the loyal conductor Pom-Pom, continue his work but would also occasionally come out to consult either miss Himeko or mister Yang for insight, precious information or random questions. He concentrated all of his work before dinner, so that he could have a proper rest and some leisure time before going to sleep.
Most of the times he would be interrupted by either March or Stelle, sometimes both together, demanding his company and for him to listen to them yapping about their latest adventures or show him their shopping hauls. Every time, he listened to them with a deadpan expression and complete silence that would make people think he wasn't interested at all and that he was annoyed by them interrupting his leisure time. In reality, he always listened to them carefully and that was the expression he always had when he was focused on something or, in this case, someone...
Dan Heng wouldn't admit that, but he always looked forward to the girls' random visit of the day, especially March's, even if they would interrupted his work. It wasn't a surprise when, on their third day back at the Luofu, he realized that neither Stelle or March visited him for that day. He felt genuinely disappointed for a moment, but then he realized they probably did something and needed some rest.
The next day he waited for them as usual, but, again, they didn't show up.
The following day, he decided to look for them by himself, to see why they were kind of ignoring him. Coincidentally, they were both walking in the hall at that exact moment, but while Stelle was walking normally, March looked like a zombie. Body slumped forward, eyes completely closed, the energy that the pink girl always showed was nowhere to be seen. This, of course, worried the Express guard.
"Is everything alright?"
"Oh, Dan Heng. Are you still awake?" said the gray haired woman
"I was waiting for you but neither of you showed up"
"Don't worry, we are in the middle of a...project. I'm sorry, but I think we'll probably visit you less than usual..."
"Fine, have a good night then."
With that, he closed the door of the Archive room, not before taking a last look at March. She was wearing less make-up than usual, her hair wasn't arranged as she always did, the fatigue she was clearly showing...
He decided to not look further than that, they would tell him when the time was right. Or, he could ask them during breakfast the next day. But it seemed that the Aeons weren't on his side for that because he overslept that morning and, when he woke up, the girls were nowhere to be seen.
Patience, he thought, I will come out of the Archive earlier and ask them directly!
The evening arrived and, as predicted, both of them were in the common room eating their dinner. March was tired again, judging from the way she ate her food with basically her eyes closed, but what actually bothered Dan Heng were the band-aids on March's fingers. He counted at least four of them, two even on the same finger!
"March!"
"Dan Heng, good evening..." she said, the exhaustion very clear in her voice
"What happened to your fingers?"
At hearing that question, it was as if she suddenly woke up. She immediately hid both her hands behind her back, not caring about the food still on the fork that could stain her clothes.
"Oh, ehm...nothing that important!" the pink girl laughed nervously "I'm learning...cooking! I'm learning how to cook! But I'm still not that good, that's why I have, well..."
Dan Heng didn't believe a single word of what she said. That would explain her bandaged hands, yes, but not the clear fatigue for three days straight. Besides, why would she clearly hide that she was learning to cook? It didn't make any sense! But most of all, he didn't like that March was straight up lying to him. He hoped she wasn't involved in anything dangerous, even though she had Stelle at her side helping her just in case. He couldn't do anything but rely on their (poor) common sense to not get into trouble. The Vidyadhara decided to not dig too much into that and he kept going with his normal schedule as always, mostly to distract himself.
Another day passed and no visit from March once again.
The next day, though, his normal routine was interrupted by some commotion just outside of the room. He opened the door and his heart skipped a beat when he saw Welt and Himeko surrounding Stelle and March, the latter showing a bandage wrapped about her head.
"I thought I could avoid those blades..."
It was enough for him to make his way through the "crowd" and interrogate March for good. She could not keep going like this.
"What happened?!"
"Oh, Dan Heng, I..."
"First the band-aids, now a head injury! And what are those blades you were talking about?! What have you gotten yourself into?!"
Instead of answering, March looked away. Dan Heng couldn't stand all of this, he hated seeing March so beat up and for a reason that was unknown to him. He hated this, especially the fact that Stelle wasn't batting an eye to this whole ordeal.
"Whatever you are doing, you need to stop it! First it's small cuts, now this...what about tomorrow?! A missing limb?"
"Stop being so dramatic! It's nothing that dangerous, I just...made a mistake. I'm getting mandatory rest tomorrow but there is no way I'm stopping now that..." she shut herself before revealing what she had been doing in the latest days.
What exactly was this secret mission and why did she need to keep him in the dark about it? He was itching to find out, even his Vidyadhara instincts were begging him to, because if she was doing all of this for him, if she was putting herself in danger for his sake...he would never forgive himself if something happened to her.
He had to intervene, he needed to stop staying cooped up in that room and passively wait for March hurting herself doing...whatever she was doing. He decided that the next day he would go out of the Express and follow them until they reached their destination. The guard joined everyone during breakfast and pretended he didn't care about them, while he was actually trying to eavesdrop and see if one of the girls would let something slip from their mouths. They didn't say a word, definitely due to his presence in the common room. After he finished, instead of going back to the Archive room, he started followed them from when they exited from the Express. They were having a conversation during the walk, but he couldn't hear a single word due to the bustling chaos of Starskiff Heaven. He thought they would go to one of the countless buildings in the area, but they actually went to one of the bridges for the starskiffs, one that was guarded by a couple of patrol guards. Dan Heng stopped on the spot, since he couldn't directly follow them inside the vehicle that took off almost immediately as soon as they boarded it. He was a little bit relieved, if the Cloud Knights were involved that meant March would be pretty much safe and what happened to her were mere accidents. But his rational mind didn't want to give him peace, because he suddenly started doubting if they were actual Cloud Knights and not impostors that were covering up to hide illegal affairs. He was tempted to go interrogate those guards to see if they were legit or not, but they would probably have reservation about him, legit or not. Even though Jing Yuan and the Luofu forgave him for his previous reincarnation's actions and let him roam freely around the main ship on the Xianzhou Alliance, there were long life species individuals that still had memories about Dan Feng, so he felt it was better to not push his luck and stayed that spot. He couldn't do anything but wait for them to come back.
Hours later, March and Stelle hopped off the same starskiff as that morning. It seemed like the pink girl was energetic and enthusiast than previous times, which was a relief to him. He hoped that meant that whatever they were doing was finally over. And yet, that routine repeated once again the next day. He even interrogated the senior Nameless as well, hoping that he would get a crumble of information from them, but while Himeko chuckled and told him to not worry about them, Welt said that he was just as in the dark as him.
At this point, Dan Heng quit. His efforts were vain and he was almost getting obsessed by finding the truth, the only thing he could do at this point was simply wait for March to show him whatever she had been doing these last days, although he didn't expect to get his first valuable clue randomly just a couple of days after.
Dan Heng had been tasked by Himeko to go to the Cloud Knights Headquarters and deliver important documents to Jing Yuan. She told him the general needed them for official records for the upcoming Wardance Ceremony, something to offically confirm the presence of the Nameless and make sure their stay would be as comfortable as possible. The Express guard didn't feel as timid as he did when he first met him, the awkwardness he usually felt in the General's presence was at an all-time low. Now there was mutual respect between each other and it seemed like Jing Yuan didn't see him anymore as a new version of his old friend but as he was now.
"It's good to see you after so much time, Dan Heng"
"The feeling is mutual...General!"
"I heard from the others that you guys had quite the adventure in Penacony. I hope things have been quiet since then"
"We all recovered, fortunately. We needed an actual break..."
"The trailblazing life is already as hard as it seems, but I'm glad you came out of it all on your feet. Stelle even told me that she dreamt about you using the Jade Abacus to summon us and help saving the planet, she also described a vivid image of you and me fighting side by side... When am I going to have this honor?"
"Luckily it was just a dream and we managed to solve the crisis with our own strength, more or less. As for fighting together..."
"Don't worry, I was just joking" he chuckled with that deep voice of him, so majestic but soothing at the same time "By the way, sorry if you are hearing strange noises. Yanqing and that kid, Yunli, have been training March since days..."
"March?! She's here?!"
The general was still smiling, but Dan Heng could see the slightest hint of panic showing on his features, as if he got caught doing something he shouldn't have done. Maybe he too was tasked to keep this secret from him and he had just made a slip up. Jing Yuan put his giant hands on Dan Heng's shoulders and started pushing him towards the starskiff that would bring him on the way back.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you again, I think you should go now!"
"No, wait, I..."
"Forget what I said, I wasn't supposed to. I hope you can forgive me!"
The Vidyadhara wasn't given more time to ask questions as he got basically forced into the vehicle that took off the moment he sat in it.
When he came back to the Express, he immediately went for his room, pondering about Jing Yuan's words. So, in the latest days, March had been training with Yanqing and this kid, Yunli, for something. The only thing for which the general's young apprentice could train someone else was how to fight with a sword. That would explain the weariness and the injuries she had gotten in the latest days and also why Stelle would accompany her every time. In the end, it looked like she wasn't actually involved in anything dangerous and that relived him a lot, at least he didn't need to worry about her coming back with even worse wounds anymore.
The only thing he couldn't explain was the reason why she wanted to learn how to fight with a sword. March was already proficient with the bow, her capabilities were almost excellent and he had always relied on them to get cover on the battlefield, same went for their fellow Nameless. So why did she want to learn how to use another weapon? Was it because she wasn't confident in her abilities anymore? Did he or one of the others make comments on how she needed to improve and, for that, she felt self conscious? If so, he needed to apologize to her, he definitely didn't mean it and was certainly something said on the spur of a moment. He went to bed trying to recall when he said something like that, but, in the end, nothing came to his mind.
Days passed and it was time to officially begin the Wardance Ceremony. The main streets of the Luofu, whether it was Starskiff Haven, Exalting Sanctum or the already chaotic Aurum Alley, were bustling of enthusiast people from all the other ships of the Alliance, short and long life species along, to celebrate the averted crisis of the Ambrosial Arbor's regrowth and the return of the Denizens of the Abundance threatening their peaceful lives. The Astral Express members were invited unanimously by all of the Six Major Commissions to thank them for the support given to the Alliance to help them fight the followers of Yaoshi and Phantylia, thus preventing another war. As special guests, they were allowed to roam freely even around zones where common citizens weren't admitted.
When they gathered just outside of the train, Dan Heng noticed that there were only him, miss Himeko and mister Yang, no trace of March and Stelle.
"Don't worry, the girls are currently busy with something. They will reach us later!" said the Navigator, sensing the confusion permeating the dark haired man (that decided to stay in his regular form to avoid attention)
"Well, it would have been very strange, if not impossible, if they didn't attend an event like this. So, where are we going?"
"I believe it's my duty to accompany you, my friends!"
That deep and majestic voice that just talked could already belong to a single person in the whole Luofu.
"General! It's a pleasure to meet you again" said Welt, giving a polite handshake to Jing Yuan
"The pleasure is mine as well, my Astral Express friends. On behalf of the other commissions, we thank you so much for joining us here. We are delighted that you accepted to partecipate at this important event, it means so much to us!"
"It would have been rude to refuse, after all you also helped us reaching the Stellaron to seal it"
"Let's hope this will be the start of a long partnership between two powerful parties. So, did you have something in particular you wanted to do?"
"If I remember correctly, you were actually tasked with a very important assignment, wasn't it?" said Himeko with a tone that felt like she needed to remind him about something she couldn't actually mention.
The Cloud Knights General, being the smart man he was, immediately picked up what the red haired woman meant, so he went next to Dan Heng and grabbed his shoulder.
"Dan Heng, you are coming with me!"
"For what, exactly?"
"There is something important I need to show you, which is why you need to come with me"
"I can, but they..."
"Miss Himeko and mister Yang will reach us as soon as possible, don't worry!"
The Vidyadhara couldn't do anything but go with him, whatever he, and apparently also the others, were scheming against him.
After some minutes of walking, they both reached a stage area where a lot of people were taking a seat or already sat waiting for whatever was about to begin. Instead of sitting in the middle of the public, Jing Yuan led him and Dan Heng to some kind of VIP area where the seats were more comfortable and there was a better view on the stage.
"Do you have any knowledge about the Wardance, Dan Heng?" Jing Yuan asked as soon as they sat
"From what I read, it's an ancient tradition where warriors would show off their combat styles and movements to the generals so that they could be chosen to become elite warriors, what today would be considered the Cloud Knights soliders"
"You are correct. Now it has become more of an artistic discipline where anyone could try their hand, even civilians and children. It is also a way to celebrate the sacrifice of our warriors throughout the centuries!"
"So, I guess you brought me to an exhibition, am I right?"
"Indeed. This year there are a lot of contenders and I'm pretty sure it's going to be quite the show!"
"I get that, but...why did you bring me here alone with you and not with the others?"
Jing Yuan didn't answer, he just smiled at him as if to say "You'll see!".
Fifteen minutes later, with the venue full of people and some others watching from the sidelines standing, a Foxian man walked towards the center of the stage, holding a fan covering half of his face.
"Welcome, friends from the Xianzhou Alliance and also from all over the universe. We apologize for the long wait but now we can finally begin the Wardance Competition!"
A round of applause erupted, at which both Dan Heng and Jing Yuan partecipated but less animately.
"For those who don't know, each contestant will face two trials: their abilities in sword dancing, which will be evaluated as any dance competition, and also in sword weilding, where they are going to face a robot dummy and will need to defeat it!"
As the host kept going with his ramble about the story behind the Wardance, Dan Heng's brain started to turn its cogs and reflect about the events of the last two weeks: March's strange behavior, her weariness, her injuries, everyone not letting him figure out what she had been doing, the fact that two swords wielders trained her.
Don't tell me... Wait, it should definitely be this! But why...
He kept thinking about this even during the exhibitions that occurred in the meantime. Even though Jing Yuan was actively following the event, he took a moment to glance at the Vidyadhara a couple of times, witnessing his realization but also to see his reaction when he would find out about this whole plan, a plan where he was involved.
After at least seven exhibitions, from actual warriors to dancers, from mediocre performances to amazing displays, it was finally time for the person many people had been waiting for.
"Now, for the next contestant... March 7th from the Astral Express, trained by master Yanqing and master Yunli. Please, come forward!"
As soon as March step foot onto the stage, Dan Heng's breath caught in his throat. Nowhere were her white shirt, her blue blouse and skirt and the belt on her thigh, no camera or bow with her. Instead, she was wearing a red and black outfit with pink accessories and thigh high white socks, everything fit on her perfectly ("She would be as beautiful even with a trash bag on her" he thought) but what struck him was her Xianzhou inspired hairstyle that gave her a different aura. She felt more like March an apprentice warrior from the Luofu than March the girl from the Astral Express.
His thoughts got interrupted when the music started. Dan Heng focused on her and her performance. First came the dancing part which went quite smoothy, in his opinion. So many times he caught her dancing on a song that the Phonograph inside the parlor car was playing, so many times she asked him to dance with her (and accepted only once), so many times he saw her teaching Stelle some dancing moves. He could see she was in her element and was doing an amazing display of her skills, he hoped that the judges would think the same.
It was the fighting part that concerned him the most, though. Luckily, March was facing a dummy and not actual person as opponent, he was worried about how would her sword wielding skills would be compared to those who trained for years with them. She definitely worked hard to be as proficient as possible and he was sure that it would pay off greatly, that didn't mean he didn't feel anxious. When the organizers activated the dummy she immediately took her fighting stance, her swords slashing through the metal were making loud sounds and, when the mannequin attacked March, she managed to dodge all of its attacks except for a couple of them, making Dan Heng instinctively almost got up to defend her, only to remind himself that she wasn't actually fighting. Jing Yuan alternated between observing the exhibition and observing the archivist's reactions with an amused face, thinking about the moment he will tell all of this to the girl when the moment would be right.
After some time, March's performance finally got to an end with the dummy falling on the ground defeated and the girl visibly sweating. Everyone applauded her, at which she responded with a thankful bow and then going back behind the stage to rest and give place to the next contender.
"I didn't win..." the pink girl sighed as she read her name on the leaderboard, definitely not on the top
"A fifth place is not a bad result, though. You got placed above people that have been training for years compared to you and you are also the first place between all of the non-Xianzhou native..." Yanqing tried to cheer her up, being satisfied about his apprentice's placement
"It has been fun, really. I don't know if I want to keep training and try for next time, though"
"You got quite the sharp skills and I still gave you an intermediate training. If you ever want, I can teach you advanced techniques..."
"I'll...think about it. Honestly, I don't want to bother you or Yunli more..."
"Yanqing! Miss March!"
They both turned around to the source of the voice. March spotted the Cloud Knights General coming in their direction followed by...
Oh, bummers! I was hoping to meet him later, not now! Is my hair fixed?! Maybe I should clean myself a little bit first! she thought in full panic mode.
"General! Is everything alright? Did you like our performance?"
"You did a great work, both you and Yunli. Why don't you two give me all the details back at the Headquarters? You need some rest and also a proper meal"
"But I'm not hungry..."
"Yes, you are. Come with me!"
The strenght difference between Yanqing and Jing Yuan was so big that trying to fight against him dragging his retainer away was basically useless. March was aware that he did it so that she and Dan Heng could talk alone and she was very thankful for that, but she couldn't avoid but feel anxious of being in his presence without anyone else. Afterall, she had avoided him for days and also kept this a secret from him, the others also told her about his attempts of digging through this. She really hoped he wasn't mad at her for this.
"D-Dan Heng..."
"March."
His poker face was making it hard for her to read his thoughts, and his eyes that were usually the mirror of his soul were simply staring at her. She needed to keep going, no matter how upset he probably was.
"So, sword dancing. What an interesting choice..." he said, breaking the silence
"Well, it seemed fun to do, so I thought...why not trying it? I asked Yanqing if he could train me and he accepted. He also brought his...ehm, friend along. They trained me hard, but at least some of the efforts paid off, I guess"
"You did well, congratulations!"
A hint of a smile could be seen on his features. March felt her face burning at that.
"Oh, ehm...thanks! Still, I didn't win in the end..."
"But you trained hard in just a small time. It's still an impressive achievement and you should be proud of that! But there is something I want to know..."
The panic came back after a small glimpse of happiness. She couldn't avoid that, though.
"Why did you hide this from me? Even involving the others..."
"Well, I...actually, I don't know how to say this, but...I kinda wanted to impress you"
It was Dan Heng's turn to be shocked now.
"I-Impress me?"
"Yea, every time I try to learn something on my own, you get interested in it as well, you observe me, sometimes even you give me advices. For once I wanted to learn something without your help! Not because I don't appreciate it, that's not what I mean! But for once I wanted to succeed in something on my own...well, kind of"
"I'm sorry, it never came into my mind how oppressive I might have looked like. I never did it because I think you are incapable of starting something you, just...I always want to make sure you are doing it as good as possible and also because I'm curious"
"Don't worry, I know it wasn't your intention! Also, I know it might sound silly but my intention was to make you a surprise and also to learn something from your birthplace to...connect better with you. I know you don't have good memories with the Luofu, due to your past, but I think that connecting with your origins might still benefit you and..."
March got interrupted by the feeling of Dan Heng's arms wrapping around her. Her brain went into override, incapable of telling a single word. She simply surrendered to the fact that Dan Heng, the man that hardly expressed emotions towards the people he cared about the most, was hugging her...almost in public! Her internal voice was screaming and the part of her that had the task of simping for him was lighting up the fireworks.
"I realized you were doing this because of me and I can't thank you enough for that. I'm sorry for not being that eloquent as you wish I would be but I want you to know that I care a lot about you and everything you do for me. You are very special to me"
March felt like she was about to cry for those words. For a moment, she felt like this was the perfect time to confess her feelings for him, her actual feelings. In the end, she dropped it, not wanting to overwhelm him too much. Maybe another time, and in a private place, on top of that.
"Still, I'm asking you to not hide anything from me, especially something like this. I know you wanted to surprise me, but I thought you were doing something dangerous because of me and I would never forgive myself if you get into risky situations for my sake"
"I promise. Really!"
"I'm glad to hear that!"
They parted from each other, looking in their eyes only to turn their gaze immediately after. A blush could be seen on both faces, almost as if they confessed their love for each other. As March thought, it would be a task for another time.
"Are you hungry? You must be, after that performance..."
As soon as he said those words, March's stomach grumbled as an answer, prompting an even stronger blush on the pink girl's face.
"Well, you got your answer. I'm going to ask the others if they want to join, I spotted them in the crowd while I was dancing. Maybe they want..."
She started walking, thinking that he would follow her, but instead she froze on the spot...because Dan Heng grabbed her by her wrist.
"Actually, you spent time with the others during these days, I was hoping I could stay alone with you, for once"
Damn, how can he be so smooth and not being aware?! her mind said
"Well, how can I not accept this invitation? But be careful, you need to offer me at least a special edition drink made for the Wardance by Dragon's Delight! I had to put it off during my training, now I'd die if I don't drink at least a cup!"
I will buy you as many as you want... his mind said
"Sure, but not too many!"
And they both went for their first date...the first of many, hopefully.