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She can hear voices from beyond the fog that clouds her mind and her consciousness. Words are being said but she doesn't know what they mean, doesn’t understand what’s happening. It's all just a hazy fuzz at the back of her mind. She wants to fall back into unconsciousness, wants to curl up and go back to the deep darkness that curls around her and inside her, so close but so far nonetheless.
The voices get louder, closer. There's an arm around her shoulders, someone pulling her up and closer to a warm body. She blinks open her eyes slowly and then squeezes them shut when the too bright light overhead makes them hurt and sends a shooting pain through her head.
Shouldn't have done that, she thinks. Shouldn't have done that.
"Wait, stop it!" someone shouts and then she’s dropping to the cold floor, the warm arm that had been wrapped around her shoulders disappearing. "She's awake."
She is awake, even though being awake is quite literally the last thing she wants to be doing right now. Everything hurts, especially her head, and a wave of nausea has her resting her head in her hands to make it stop.
There's a hand on her arm, and she glances up to meet the eyes of a pink-haired girl who’s staring at her with furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips. Her companion, a dark-haired man who had been far too close to her face earlier, has a slight frown on his face as he regards her. She offers up a small smile to ease the tense mood that seems to have settled over them. The girl immediately lightens up.
Only once her stomach has calmed down and she doesn't feel like she'll faint does move to stand up on her unsteady legs. Her mind's still a mess, every thought tangled together and she doesn't know where to begin to start unravelling it all. She'll get to doing that. Later.
"Are you alright?" the girl asks. "Do you remember your name?"
She opens her mouth to say that, yes, she's alright, and that her name is...
Her mind goes blank, and she shakes her head to clear it. She doesn't understand why everything is so fuzzy; it makes it hard to focus and to remember.
What happened? Why can't she remember anything?
"I don't know," she says, more than a little confused.
"Aww, this isn't good. Can you try harder? Try to remember your name, at least."
She tries, forcing herself to dig deep inside her mind and remember. It feels like crossing a chasm in her own head, reaching out in the dark, trying to grab hold of something, anything. Her fingers graze a memory, or a thought, and she latches onto it with desperation.
Please, she thinks dragging it towards herself. Please.
She comes away with a name and nothing else, but it's enough. For now, it's more than enough to lift the heavy burden from her chest that she hadn't even realised was there.
"Stelle," she offers, more than a little breathless. That took a lot out of her. Her head seems like a bad place to spend time. "My name's Stelle."
"Stelle?" the guy says. "Nice to meet you. I'm Dan Heng and this"—he points to the girl standing next to him—"is March 7th."
March 7th? That's her name?
Stelle wonders if Dan Heng is pulling her leg, but judging by the look on his face he's probably not.
Okay, then.
"What happened?" Stelle asks.
Maybe they'll be able to help her figure out what's happening and where she is. This place doesn't look familiar, and she has no idea how she got here, much less where here even is.
"The space station was attacked by the Antimatter Legion. We came to help with the rescue at the request of Lead Researcher Asta."
Dan Heng said a lot just now, but Stelle didn't understand most of what he said. She's just as confused, if not more, as she had been before he answered her question.
Another wave of nausea hits her, and makes her stagger backwards with a pained groan. Apparently she isn't as alright as she initially thought she was. Dan Heng reaches out and steadies her with a hand on her arm.
And that's when the burning starts. It's intense but fades as quickly as it had started, leaving her breathless. Dan Heng has backed up as well, putting some distance between the two of them. His face is carefully blank as he raises his hand to take a look. Stelle doesn't know what's happening, which is nothing new, but the gasp from March 7th tells her that it's probably not anything good.
She wonders if she somehow managed to burn his hand when he touched her. Not the best thing to do to people who are just trying to help you, but Stelle doesn't think this is her fault.
"Dan Heng," March 7th whispers, bringing up her hands to hide the smile that's threatening to overtake her face—and that looks like a good sign; she probably didn't burn him if March 7th is smiling. "Dan Heng."
"Calm down, March," Dan Heng mutters. His cheeks are red, but he looks calm and composed otherwise; unlike March who looks like she's a second away from combusting.
"Uh," Stelle says eloquently. In her defence, she's a bit preoccupied by the bright green mark that has suddenly appeared on her arm. It looks like the inside of someone's palm. Dan Heng's? She looks up at him and notes that the red on his cheeks has somehow gotten darker. "You—"
Dan Heng clears his throat. Loudly.
"You two should head back to the master control zone," he says, completely ignoring Stelle and March. "Asta and the other researchers are gathered there and probably waiting."
"Dan Heng," March whines, sounding done with her companion's antics. Stelle is just trying her best to keep up with everything that's happening. "Come on."
There’s silence following March's words. Dan Heng is staring at her, an eyebrow arched, and March is staring right back with a pout on her face. The stare-off doesn’t last long; Dan Heng’s unimpressed frown pulls a defeated sigh out of March.
"Fine," she says, with a whole lot of reluctance. "Wait! What about you? Aren't you coming with us?"
Dan Heng shakes his head. "Arlan from the Security Department lost contact in the vicinity. I need to find him first."
March nods. "Oh alright. Stay safe."
Dan Heng spares Stelle a glance, his green eyes burning into her own. Stelle catches a glimpse of his palm when he turns, notes the bright golden mark there before he leaves. That’s strange.
She didn't really get any answers. Stelle twists around her arm, staring at the mark. The colour of the mark is the same as Dan Heng's eyes, she realises belatedly. A pretty, vivid green.
And she knows, without even having to look in a mirror, that her eyes are the same colour as the mark on Dan Heng's palm.
Soulmates, her mind supplies easily and readily unlike before.
"Soulmates," Stelle whispers, staring transfixed at the mark.
She glances up to find March staring at her, a wide grin on her face and feels heat rise to her cheeks.
"Dan Heng won't admit it but I know he's been waiting for this to happen for a while now. I'm so happy for the both of you!"
Her light mood falters. Stelle wonders if it's fair to Dan Heng, to have a soulmate who doesn't remember anything about herself, about who she is and where she's from. Stelle hadn't even known what the mark on her arm was when it first appeared but Dan Heng had. He had known and he hadn't said anything else to her.
He must care, if the blush on his face earlier was anything to go by, but she can't be certain that he's enthusiastic about Stelle being his soulmate. Maybe he had wanted it to be someone else, someone who knew who they were.
"Hey, come on," March says. "Why do you look so down all of a sudden?"
Stelle shrugs, not knowing what to say. It's kinda stupid to be feeling like this, she thinks. To be worrying about what a guy she just met, and who she knows nothing about her, thinks of her. But then again, that's the whole issue isn't it—that he isn't just some random guy. Well, he is, but he's also her soulmate, and though Stelle doesn't know much of anything, she does know that she doesn't want her soulmate of all people to distance himself from her. Just thinking about Dan Heng rejecting her as his soulmate makes her heart clench.
"I don't really remember anything," she mutters, her voice quiet.
March gives her a small, sad smile. "You’re in the same boat as me, huh?"
Stelle gives her a confused look but March just shakes her head ruefully.
"Sorry, sorry." March gives a weak, self-conscious laugh. "Dan Heng won't care about that, I promise. After we're done taking care of this mess he'll want to get to know you, whether you remember who you are or not. He's a bit quiet and closed off, but he's also a good person and cares about others. Trust me."
She nods her head, assured by March’s words. It's pointless to be worrying over these things when she hasn't even talked to Dan Heng himself yet. Maybe March is right and after this is all over the two of them can talk about things and decide where to go from there.
(Or maybe she's in over her head but who knows. Not Stelle. She doesn't know a thing.)
"Come on, we should get going." March points towards an object lying on an elevated platform to the side. "Stelle, maybe you should take that. The Legion are rampaging through the space station like a pack of wolves. This trip won’t be a walk in the park. It’s better if you have something to protect yourself.” She turns back to wink at Stelle. “Just a suggestion though—you’re safe as long as you stick with me.”
The Doomsday Beast had been a pain to deal with, and Stelle is immensely glad that it's now dead.
She finds herself absentmindedly rubbing her chest, a frown on her face. It feels weird to know that there's something inside of her, something powerful and destructive. Stelle's glad that she was able to save March, but she isn't too pleased to find out that there’s something inside her body that she has no idea how to control—she doesn’t even know how ti got there in the first place. She has a lot of questions that need answering, and she's kinda hoping that someone on the space station will be able to help her figure everything out.
"Hey."
Stelle looks up to find Dan Heng at her side. She hadn't even noticed him approach, distracted as she was, but now that she knows he's here she finds her hand curling around the mark on her arm. The movement doesn't go unnoticed by Dan Heng, who's watching her closely, his green eyes fixed on her arm.
His face is carefully blank, save for the faint dusting of pink on his cheeks. Stelle isn't sure how this is going to go, but she trusts March, trusts that she must have meant it when she said that Dan Heng wouldn't care that she doesn't remember anything.
"Hey. Is everyone okay?" Stelle asks.
Dan Heng nods. "Everyone's fine. The Doomsday Beast had no temper at all thanks to you."
Stelle shrugs, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden even though she has no reason to. "It was nothing. Besides, you saved me back there as well."
They both stand there in silence, watching and waiting. Dan Heng looks like he wants to say something—he keeps opening his mouth but closes it before he gets the words out. Stelle let's him be; her own thoughts are running a mile a minute and she doesn’t know what to say.
He clears his throat and holds up his phone.
"We should exchange beacons," he says. "You know, in case of emergencies."
Stelle nods, taking out her own phone and inputting Dan Heng’s number as he recites it to her, and then she does the same.
"Himeko wants you to find her. I have other things to take care of, so I can't join you." He pauses, thinking over his words. "I hope you think over what she says."
She doesn’t know what he’s talking about , doesn’t know what Himeko wants from her, but she knows that he’s said everything he came here to say. Stelle, feeling a sudden burst of courage, reaches out a hand to grasp Dan Heng's, the one without the glove. The one with the mark. She turns it over, notes that although Dan Heng tenses up slightly he doesn't move to pull his hand away. The golden mark is there, and when Stelle places her hand over it, she finds that her palm fits perfectly to its shape.
A strange tingly feeling shoots up the length of her arm, and she moves to pull her hand away, but Dan Heng curls his fingers around hers and then they’re standing there, holding hands. The blush that rises on Dan Heng’s cheeks is no doubt reflected on her own face as well.
“I’’ll come, uh, I’ll come find you later,” he says.
“Y-yeah,” Stelle manages, still staring down at their joined hands. “Later, then.”
Dan Heng nods and when he lets go of Stelle’s hand the tingly sensation vanishes, leaving her more than a little disappointed. Dan Heng leaves as quietly as he had come. Stelle watches him, her eyes never leaving him till he rounds a corner and falls out of her view.
She draws in a deep breath. Her heart is beating a mile a minute. March was right—Dan Heng doesn't seem to care that she doesn't remember anything about herself. And, maybe, she shouldn't dwell on it too much either. Stelle still wants answers, still wants to know what happened before she woke up, and what the thing inside her body is, but she won’t let not knowing things stop her from moving forward.
Maybe things aren't going to turn out too bad, she thinks, a small smile playing on her lips.
She better go and find Himeko. The sooner she finishes, the sooner she can go and find Dan Heng.