Honkai Star Rail (READER)

Dan Heng - Dear Lunae

It was a promise to himself to never return to that forsaken ground.  A symbol of sin was the weight he carried. Forever cast from that space was the punishment he so rightly deserved, and yet here he was. Treading upon uneven ground that shook below his uncertain trek. 

He saw fragments of you in everything, from the color of your eyes in the flora, to the painful expression of your dismissal. Time was not a friend to his fractured memory, retaining only bits and pieces of you that he held onto dearly. 

"Dan Heng, was it?" 

Shaken from his thoughts he nods, not daring to utter a word to the youth. Her brown hair, swept into parted pigtails sway gently in the breeze. The wind that touches him can all but send a shiver down his spine. His heart stops for a moment, as the image of your soft white sleeves press to his cheek. 

"You alright there?" 

"Our friend seems to be deep in thought." Luocha smiles, though his kindly expression does not reach his discerning eyes. Snidely turning to Dan Heng and stealing corrupt glances, trying to place where he'd seen this figure before. 

Emptied streets of the people he once guarded, hiding in fear of a man he'd hoped to have forgotten. His heart began to race upon thinking back to those days. 

Sitting idly in the cloud chambers, you waved your hand gently through the smoke seeped into the room. Your outfit had been tailored to match his, per your request. Rightfully so, he could not bring his eyes off you, smiling bashfully to himself as he watched from beside you. 

As your gaze reached his, the world brightened. The stars he watched from his window could never encompass the vibrance he saw every time he stared towards you. 

Even now, his heart refused to see the sky the same. Searching for your regal presence in every artificial cloud, designed by him in times past, just for you. 

"So, Dan Feng-" Luocha began, covering his mouth slyly. Turning angrily, Luocha grinned, "My apologies. Slip of the tongue." 

"Watch yourself." He replied, causing the young girl to shiver at his tone. From what little they knew about the silently grimacing man; he seemed like one not to be trifled with. 

Stepping further along their journey towards the divination hall, they were stopped by the sight of a woman being cornered by Mara-struck soldiers. A sight that the cold dragon young had not witnessed in quite a while. Their deformed ambrosial armor coated in extended golden fungus that mocked him. Broken visions of your own visage under such duress came to mind. 

Coated in flames, the battle pressed on endlessly. He searched for you in a maddening urgency, praying that the familiar sight of your form still righteously conquering the battlefield would offer him solace. To imagine you being struck down by the Mara enraged him, though he kept his composure upon remembering, it was you after all. Never one to submit to the wicked, that passion would keep you alive. 

Flying quickly past hordes of enemies that he easily swept off the battlefront, he finally noted you down below. Watching as you lay waste to such pitiful allies that could no longer remember who they once were, you mercifully struck them down. Not willing to allow harm to come to you, Dan Heng descended to your side. 

"Are you alright?"  You asked, quickly incapacitating a soldier just before they could stab him. 

"Yes." He responded. He was just glad you were alright. 

After the harrowing events of that battle, the night was tense with regret. The battered cries of those who could no longer be saved echoed in your mind. Dan Heng watched helplessly as it slowly overtook you. Fearing the day that you too would gaze at him with decrepit and yet striking eyes.