The passenger car of the Astral Express looked like something from a fever dream of luxury travel, all plush seating and warm lighting that somehow managed to feel both elegant and lived-in. Alex followed Himeko through the space, still moving carefully as if sudden movements might shatter whatever spell was keeping them here instead of floating frozen in the vacuum of space.
"March! Dan Heng!" Himeko called. "We have a guest."
A girl with cotton-candy pink hair bounded into view, camera in hand and smile bright enough to power a small star. Alex's breath caught—they'd guided March 7th through countless battles, watched her enthusiastic commentary during exploration sequences, but seeing her in person was like meeting a hurricane that had decided to take human form.
"Oh my gosh, you're awake!" March practically vibrated with excitement, raising her camera. "Can I take your picture? This is such a momentous occasion! The first rescued space-drifter in—how long has it been since we found someone just floating around, Dan Heng?"
"Seventeen months," came a calm voice from behind her. "And I believe most people prefer to be asked before being photographed."
Alex turned toward the speaker and immediately understood why Dan Heng was everyone's favorite character. There was something magnetic about his stillness, like he was the calm center around which everything else spun. His pale green eyes studied Alex with an intensity that felt almost clinical, but not unkind.
"Sorry!" March lowered her camera sheepishly. "I get excited about new people. We don't get many visitors out here in the cosmic middle of nowhere." She bounced on her toes. "I'm March 7th! And this is Dan Heng, our guard and resident repository of extremely specific historical knowledge."
"Archivist," Dan Heng corrected mildly. "And you're being dramatic again."
"I'm being friendly! There's a difference!" March turned back to Alex, eyes sparkling. "So what's your name? Where are you from? How did you end up floating in space? Are you from one of the outer rim colonies? Do you have any exciting stories about space pirates?"
The rapid-fire questions made Alex's head spin. In the game, March's dialogue had been energetic but contained within neat text boxes. In person, her enthusiasm was like being caught in a friendly tornado.
"I'm Alex," they managed. "Alex Chen. And I'm... this is going to sound insane."
"Oh, we love insane," March said cheerfully. "Dan Heng's got about seventeen different conspiracy theories about ancient civilizations, and don't get me started on Welt's stories about interdimensional travel."
Alex's head snapped up. "Welt's here?"
"You know Welt?" Dan Heng asked, his tone sharpening slightly.
"I... it's complicated." Alex rubbed their temples, feeling a headache building behind their eyes. "This is all complicated."
Himeko settled into one of the plush chairs, gesturing for the others to do the same. "Why don't you start from the beginning? Take your time."
Alex looked around at the three faces watching them with varying degrees of curiosity and concern. In the game, they'd been pixels and voice lines, programmed responses to player choices. Here, they were real people with real expressions and real interest in Alex's impossible situation.
"I'm from Earth," Alex began slowly. "But not... not the Earth you might know. I was a college student studying astrophysics. I was playing this game called Honkai: Star Rail, and you were all characters in it."
March's eyes went wide. "We're video game characters? That's so cool! Are we the good guys? Please tell me we're the good guys."
"March," Dan Heng said quietly.
"What? It's a valid question!"
Alex couldn't help smiling despite everything. "Yeah, you're the good guys. You travel around the galaxy helping people and solving mysteries and fighting monsters."
"That sounds exactly like what we do," Himeko observed. "Interesting."
"But then there was this aurora," Alex continued. "This impossible aurora over my college campus, and music that sounded like... like a train whistle from another dimension. And when I woke up, I was here."
The car fell silent except for the gentle rhythm of the Express moving through space. Alex watched their faces, trying to gauge their reactions. March looked fascinated, Dan Heng appeared thoughtful, and Himeko wore the expression of someone fitting puzzle pieces together in her mind.
"Interdimensional displacement," Dan Heng said finally. "There are precedents in the historical records, though they're extremely rare."
"Is that what happened to Welt?" March asked.
"Similar circumstances," Dan Heng confirmed. "Though his situation was more... controlled."
"Where is Welt?" Alex asked. "I'd like to meet him."
"He's in his workshop," Himeko said. "He tends to lose track of time when he's working on his projects. We'll introduce you later." She leaned forward slightly. "In the meantime, you must have questions about where you are."
Alex laughed, a sound with more hysteria than humor. "I have about a million questions. Starting with how any of this is possible and ending with whether I've completely lost my mind."
"Well, the mind thing is easy to check," March said brightly. "Crazy people usually don't worry about being crazy. And as for how it's possible..." She gestured toward the windows where nebulae painted the darkness in impossible colors. "Look around! The universe is way weirder than most people think."
"March has a point," Dan Heng said. "The cosmos operates according to laws that most civilizations don't fully understand. Aeon influence, Stellaron phenomena, paths that connect disparate realities—there are forces at work that make interdimensional travel theoretically possible."
Alex stared at him. In the game, Dan Heng had been the reliable one, the voice of reason who provided exposition when needed. Hearing him casually discuss cosmic forces as if they were natural phenomena made the whole situation feel both more real and more impossible.
"So you believe me?" Alex asked. "Just like that?"
"I've seen stranger things," Himeko said simply. "And Welt's presence on our crew proves that people can cross between realities under the right circumstances." She smiled warmly. "Besides, you have an honest face."
"Plus, if you're making it up, you're really committed to the bit," March added. "I respect that in a person."
Despite everything—the impossible situation, the uncertainty about their future, the growing suspicion that they might never see their own world again—Alex felt something warm unfurl in their chest. These people, these characters who had become real, were treating them with kindness and acceptance that felt genuine.
"Thank you," Alex said quietly. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't found me."
"Probably frozen to death in the vacuum of space," March said cheerfully, then immediately looked mortified. "Sorry! That was supposed to stay in my head!"
"It's okay," Alex said, laughing for real this time. "You're not wrong."
"The important thing is that you're safe now," Himeko said. "The Express has room for one more passenger, and we can use all the help we can get." She stood, brushing invisible lint from her coat. "Speaking of which, would you like the full tour? March gives an excellent introduction to life aboard the Express."
"Can I really take pictures this time?" March asked hopefully.
Alex looked around at their faces—eager, kind, accepting. In their old life, they'd been drifting through college without much direction, playing games to escape the uncertainty of their future. Now they were on a magical train traveling through space with characters who had become real people, about to embark on adventures they'd only dreamed of.
It should have been terrifying. Instead, it felt like coming home.
"Sure," Alex said. "You can take pictures."
March's delighted squeal probably echoed through half the train.