Chapter Text
The sound of a crying infant broke through the room, interrupting the sleepy spell that Stelle was under. She groaned as she moved to get out of bed, only for a hand to reach out to her shoulder, letting her know to stay put. She rolled over anyways, watching as Dan Heng got out of bed instead and made his way over to the nearby crib.
"Has it been 2 hours yet?"
"I don't even know at this point."
You would think that the two resident insomniacs of the Astral Express would have gotten used to their new sleep schedule revolving around their daughter, but after years of sleeping together to chase away the nightmares, they had gotten complacent.
Stelle sat up and unbuttoned her nightshirt as Dan Heng crawled back into bed with Nova in his arms, handing her off to her mother for her regularly scheduled feeding.
"You sure do love your routine, huh?" Stelle asked quietly despite knowing the 2 month old couldn't answer. "It's like you can tell time already."
"I wouldn't be surprised at this point," Dan Heng agreed. "She's gonna end up being too smart for her own good."
"Just like her father."
"Be quiet."
Stelle chuckled. She had worried that her relationship with Dan Heng would become too different after Nova was born, but her worries were unfounded. Sure, things had changed, but they had become better.
"What time is it?" she asked after a while. Nova had finished by this point, so Stelle propped her up on her shoulder to burp.
"Almost 5 in the morning."
Stelle groaned. "Do you think Himeko will let us skip this morning's navigation meeting?"
"I'd be more worried about Pom-Pom," Dan Heng replied. "You know how they are about skipping breakfast."
Stelle weighed out the options in her head. Maybe if they got Nova back down soon enough, they could get an extra couple hours of sleep before breakfast. She didn't dare to anger the Conductor.
Luckily, it seemed that Nova heard her pleading thoughts and was settled back to sleep. Stelle quietly handed her back to Dan Heng, who quietly walked back over to the crib to put her down. Afterwards, he crawled back into bed with Stelle, and after a quick fist bump to commemorate getting the baby back to sleep without a fuss, he pulled her against him, her back to his chest. It didn't take long for them to fall back asleep,
They woke up again an hour later, not to Nova, but to a quiet pinging from Stelle's phone. Stelle rolled over to grab her phone, the screen lit up by a call from…. Asta?
"Hello?" she asked as she answered.
"There you are," a voice that was definitely not Asta answered. "I have been trying to reach you for three days. Why have you been ignoring my calls?"
"Hi, Herta," Stelle groaned. "I was not aware you have been calling me." Truth be told, she had blocked the Genius about 3 months ago, not wanting to even entertain the idea of being a test subject while taking care of her baby. Of course she had told Herta that she would be unable to do Simulated Universe testing for a while, but she didn't want to take any chances.
"I will forgive you for now, but you need to get to the Space Station as soon as you can," the Genius went on to say.
Stelle took a deep breath. "Madam Herta, you do know that I just had a baby and am unable to do any guinea-pig-work right now, correct?"
"I am aware," Herta retorted, "that you had the baby 2 months ago, which is plenty of time-" A voice that sounded like Asta sounded in the background, which caused Herta to pause her comment and sigh before continuing. "This has nothing to do with that. Just come to the Space Station as soon as the Express is able to."
And then she hung up.
Stelle dropped her phone to the side and groaned. Dan Heng took the opportunity to wrap his arm around her, causing her to relax a little under his touch.
"What did Herta want?" he asked.
"I don't know. She just wants us to go to the Station as soon as possible."
He hummed in acknowledgement. "I'm sure Himeko would be more than happy to make a detour, especially if it's urgent."
"I just hope she's not trying to rope me into a new experiment."
Before Dan Heng could respond, Nova made her presence known to them once again. Dan Heng took a deep breath before getting out of bed to attend to her, Stelle following behind him.
"Hmm," Himeko hummed, processing the information presented to her. "Did she give any information besides that?"
"Nope," Stelle responded. "She was just as cryptic as ever."
"Hmm." The navigator sat quietly for a moment. "Well, luckily, we don't have anywhere pressing to be for a while. Our trip back to Amphoreus isn't for another few weeks, after all. So I think we are more than able to make a stop at the Space Station."
"Thanks, Himeko."
After some more discussion, Pom-Pom went to make the announcement for takeoff. As it was still early, Sunday and March were probably still asleep, so before the Express could warp, those two needed to be awake. Stelle sat on one of the couches in the Parlor Car, a wave of anxiety overcoming her as she flopped backwards. Just what was Herta trying to do?
"You okay?"
She looked up as Dan Heng sat next to her, Nova in his arms. The baby was awake and smiling, which did help some of Stelle's anxiety recede.
"I haven't been off the Express in 4 months," she started. "This is not how I wanted to come back to Trailblazing." She reached a hand up to her baby, running it through the dark hair coming in that matched Dan Heng's. "But also…. is it wrong to say I'm dreading taking Nova off the train?"
"No," Dan Heng responded. "I am, too."
"Maybe I should've told Herta to wait another couple of months."
"I doubt she would've appreciated that."
Stelle chuckled at that.
Just then, the door leading to the Passenger Cabin opened, revealing Sunday and March. March looked half asleep still, and Sunday wasn't any better. Stelle shared a knowing look with her husband.
"Late night?" Stelle teased.
March tried to stifle a yawn, but it quickly failed. "I was up late editing those pictures of Nova I took last week. They turned out great if I do say so myself."
"They really did," Sunday agreed. "I think you will be quite pleased with them."
Well, she wasn't going to argue with- wait.
"You were watching her edit last night?" Dan Heng asked.
At that, both March and Sunday seemed to jolt awake, a mean blush spreading across both their cheeks.
"We were just…. hanging out! Yeah, he couldn't sleep so I offered to keep him company!"
"Yes, we were just keeping each other company, that's all. Then I went back to bed after a while."
"Anyways, let's go get ready for the warp jump! Come on, Sunday!"
The two then went to settle on the opposite couch. They made a point to sit on opposite ends, not looking at each other.
"They know they aren't fooling anyone, right?" Stelle whispered to Dan Heng.
"As long as they both are happy, then it doesn't really matter, does it?"
"Yeah. Doesn't mean we can't tease the shit out of them."
"Oh, definitely not."
Asta and Arlan were the first people to greet Stelle, Dan Heng, and March when they arrived. The lead researcher immediately ran up to Stelle, who had Nova in a sling.
"Oh my aeons, is that Nova? She's gorgeous!"
Stelle beamed as she grabbed Dan Heng's hand, lacing their fingers together. "Thank you. We think so, too."
"You got the gift I sent, right?" Asta asked.
"You mean the 2 million credit mobile for her crib?" Dan Heng responded, referring to the crystal mobile of stars and moons that hung above Nova's crib. "We did, but you didn't have to do that."
"That's what I said," Arlan chimed in. "But once Lady Asta has something on her mind, nothing can stop her."
"You make me sound worse than I am."
"Do I need to tell them about-"
"Ahem."
The group turned to see one of Herta's puppets approaching them.
"Sorry to interrupt your little reunion, but I am on a tight schedule today, so if we could get a move on?"
"Madam Herta, don't you have something you want to say to Dan Heng and Stelle?" Asta insisted.
The puppet glared at Asta but relented. Turning to the couple, she sighed. "Congratulations on the offspring. Now let's go."
Stelle heard March chuckle from behind her. Dan Heng rolled his eyes besides her. Stelle herself sighed. That was probably the most they were gonna get out of the Genius.
The trio followed Herta through the reception area, then through the med bay to a closed off room in the back. Stelle recognized it as one of the rooms where they took care of the most critical patients. She gave them the run-down on the situation on the way.
"Back to the topic at hand. A few months ago, the terminal where we keep the Scepter data from the Amphoreus simulation started getting infested with memoria. Analyzing it, I found traces of an energy similar to how Amphoreus was when it was first getting reborn. Like a lost memory wanted to reform."
The trio stiffened.
"Was it…. Irontomb?" Dan Heng asked.
"No. And we don't need to worry about that happening now that Nanook is gone. Luckily, I was able to find the source of the memory in the Path Space. Someone who got left behind in the chaos."
"But how?" March asked. "I thought everyone was already back on Amphoreus."
"It was the one who purposely stayed behind to make sure that Irontomb never resurfaced. Now that the threat of that happening is zero, it seems her soul is ready to come back to the present."
Stelle couldn't believe what she was hearing. There was only one person who that could be.
"I called you here because she needs one final push to wake up. Little One, I think you are the one who can do that."
The door opened, revealing a familiar head of pink hair unconscious among the medical machines.
"Cyrene?"