Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Natasha glanced between the two teens with a puzzled look on her face. Seele's alter ego glared at Sunny with her crimson eyes. He twiddled with his thumbs, whistling a disharmonious tune as he looked everywhere except for Seele.

"You sneaky bastard… where were you hiding?"

He coughed into his fist.

"I was taking a long nap in a… friend's room? Yeah, a friend."

Sunny wasn't really sure what his relationship with Sparkle really was, so he decided that this was the safest term to use when referring to her.

Natasha suddenly interjected into their conversation, not understanding anything that they were talking about.

"So… do you two mind explaining how you know each other?"

Sunny sighed.

"Ran into her when she was a Sleeper. Found her mincing up Fallen Demons like it was just a warm-up."

Natasha sent a stern look to the girl in question.

"Is that so?"

The other Seele huffed as she averted her eyes. It seemed that Natasha wasn't very amused by the ridiculous act of fighting Nightmare Creatures two ranks above her.

Trying to change the subject, Seele's Flaw asked:

"How did you even end up on Belobog? Isn't that too much of a coincidence?"

Sunny shrugged.

"I just took a train ride, and here I am. As for whether or not this is a coincidence… didn't I tell you earlier? Fate happens to do some strange things to people, and I just so happen to be it's favorite."

He grinned.

"I won't be able to leave this place until the the crisis on this planet is solved. It looks like you're pretty lucky."

Sunny had promised to save Seele's homeworld. Although he had expected it to happen far into the future, when he had more power than he had now, he didn't have much of a choice now. Saving Belobog would allow him to leave the planet while also fulfilling his end of the deal he made with Seele, so that was what he was going to do. Even if he had to do it alone.

Fortunately, he had quite the scythe in front of him. Two weapons were better than one… he felt like he got the saying wrong.

Seele blinked, her red eyes turning back to purple. She looked at Sunny in confusion.

"But I didn't find you."

Sunny awkwardly smiled.

"Yeah… I just wanted to get some sleep. I wasn't too worried about whether or not you succeeded in finding me or not."

A moment of silence passed between the embarrassed Sunny, the confused Natasha, and the indignant Seele.

He yelped when he saw white sparks dance in her hands — signaling the summoning of a Memory.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let's not get too hasty now. I'm literally offering my services to you! The past is the past, don't you think?"

Natasha's eyes flickered between the two of them as she said:

"…Maybe you two should go talk outside. I don't want you two to come to blows inside the clinic — I still have patients to tend to."

Sunny and Seele stared at each other. The two of them got up, exiting the clinic without looking away from the other. They stood in front of the clinic, the streets of Boulder Town still relatively empty outside of the occasional group of kids playing around.

After a moment, Sunny smirked.

"Partially summoning a Memory in order to get out of a conversation without providing an explanation? When did you come up with that?"

Seele scowled.

"Stop flattering me. Besides, the whole point of a secret organization is to be… secret."

Sunny agreed with that statement. Still, he hadn't thought that Seele was that crafty. Using the threat of an imminent fight breaking out, she had managed to get some privacy with him without Natasha asking any questions. If she had asked Sunny directly… he would have to answer her truthfully.

The two of them took a seat on the steps in front of the clinic. Seele spoke first:

"Was it really just luck that you ended up here? You didn't… track me down or anything, right?"

Sunny scoffed.

"I wouldn't be able to track you from the Dream Realm into the Waking World. And no, it's not really luck. As I said earlier, it's fate."

She frowned in confusion.

"What does that even mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds. I have an Attribute that causes unlikely things to happen around me, which is all orchestrated by fate. It's a concept that was woven into the very fabric of existence."

Sunny wasn't quite sure who had told him this, but he believed it to be true.

He paused for a second, a grim chuckle escaping his lips.

"If you really think about it, we are all fate's slave. Me, you, Natasha, and every single living thing in these accursed worlds of ours. We might simply be doing fate's bidding, having no will of our own."

"It makes me want to crush it. But that too might simply be what fate wants me to do."

He shifted his attention back to Seele, who was sending him a strange look.

Sunny snorted.

"What? I told you that I was going to take over both worlds. As far as I'm concerned, fate is a part of those worlds."

Fate was something that was a constant threat to Sunny. The every description of [Fate's Chosen] told him that the trials that he would face would only become worse as time went on. It wouldn't be enough to simply escape it's machinations… he would have to destroy the very concept of it.

Seele shook her head.

"At this point, I'm not really surprised that a madman like you would want do something like that. It's just… the thought that everything I've ever done was decided by something else really pisses me off."

She suddenly snarled.

"…She won't stop asking me to go kill it with her."

Sunny blinked as he tilted his head. He assumed that she was referring to her Flaw.

"Yeah… maybe you should wait on that. It's not something you could do as an Awakened."

How strong would one need to be to defeat fate? Sacred? Divine? Something beyond even that?

Either way, that seemed like a far-off goal currently. He had more pressing matters to worry about, including, yet not limited to: solving the Stellaron crisis on Jarilo-VI, searching for a Nightmare Seed, figuring out how to achieve the second step of Shadow Dance, obtaining more of this magical coins, and securing Natasha's hand in marriage.

Now that he thought about it…

"This might be a strange question to ask, but is Natasha single?"

Sunny was confident that Seele would assist him, as she was his subordinate.

"Two words: Off. Limits."

"…Huh?"

Seele's eyes practically screamed murder. She jabbed a finger into Sunny's chest.

"You won't be trying anything with Nat. If you say anything even remotely flirty with her, I'll cut it off."

Sunny gaped in astonishment. He guessed what 'it' was supposed to be, and he wasn't very amused by such a thing.

"Wait a second, aren't you being a little unreasonable? I mean, I'm not hitting on you or anything. I understand if you don't want to help me or anything, but why would you want to actively stop me?"

Seele opened her mouth. However, nothing came out, causing a look of realization to come over her face. She scowled at him for a second, before saying:

"…Can you protect her?"

Sunny stared at her.

"Hell no."

Seele nodded.

"Then I guess it's okay… wait, what?"

Sunny smiled at her.

"Thanks for snapping me out of it. I was so infatuated that I forgot about something: I can't possibly be in a relationship with someone I need to protect."

Seele groaned in frustration.

"Can you just explain normally for a second?"

Sunny shrugged.

"Unlikely things happen around me. Something horrible could happen right now, killing everyone in Belobog. If that happened, it would be unlikely for me to survive it. Which is why I will."

A melancholic sigh escaped him.

"I can't think of a single person I've spent a decent amount of time with that wasn't in danger whenever I'm around them. The only reason they were able to survive was because they're strong enough to do so. The same can't be said for Natasha, who is much better at keeping others alive compared to herself."

Sunny was starting to realize that this Attribute was starting to become more of a hassle than his Flaw.

"I'm not strong enough to protect another person. I could hardly protect myself."

***

'…Isn't that kind of sad?'

She had simply wanted to dissuade him from pursuing Natasha — who was like an older sister to her. Seele was willing to accept it as long as Sunny kept her safe, but it turns out that such a thing was impossible in the first place!

It wasn't even a Flaw. How could a mere Attribute cause such a large amount of ruin to those around him?

[Fitting for someone who reeks of death.]

'You keep saying that. How does somebody even smell like death of all things?'

[He is the opposite of us. While we cause a death that completely erases a beings existence, he embodies the true concept of death… although, it doesn't seem to be complete.]

Seele wasn't quite sure what any of that was supposed to mean.

Either way, she was curious about what Sunny was going to do now that he gave up on Natasha.

[Maybe he wouldn't have if you hadn't said anything.]

…It wasn't Seele's fault! If he had decided that it would be better to not go after Nat, then that was his own decision.

[Besides, it's much more convenient this way.]

Seele paused.

'What do you mean?'

Her Flaw didn't answer. A feeling of unease rose within Seele.

She looked towards Sunny.

"So… what are you going to do now?"

He stared at Seele for a moment.

"I guess… I have a very specific preference for women."

Seele blinked. She had been thinking about what they were going to do about saving the Underworld — not that she knew what the problem was, but he had seemed to have an idea.

But… if this was the direction in which the conversation was heading, who was she to try to redirect it? Seele was a teenage girl as well, so she was naturally interested in these kinds of things.

'Yeah, everything else could wait for later…'

"Uh… what are these… preferences?"

Sunny stared at her for a bit.

"Girls that can make me fear for my life."

Seele blinked a couple times.

"…Dude, do you need help?"

He looked at her in confusion.

"I don't think so. Why?"

She shook her head.

"Nevermind. So… you wanna… give out any names?"

Maybe Seele was getting a little too invested into this.

[You definitely are.]

'Shut up.'

Sunny shrugged.

"First of all, there's you. I guess that includes your Flaw too, if she can be considered a seperate person."

Seele blanked out for a moment.

[…Isn't he forward?]

She looked at his unbothered expression. He tilted his head in confusion at her long-lasting silence.

Had he…

Did he just admit that Seele was his type?