He Who Feels Guilt [Honkai: Star Rail]

Narrator's Pov.

Very early in the morning, Bronya walked across the streets of Boulder City, she had just returned alongside Seele from visiting the orphanage in Rivet Town, the girl from Wildfire had to leave and do her usual patrol before going to the Overworld with them...but Bronya had already decided, she would go to the Overworld and confront her mother.

Seele alreay had the letter she intented her companions to receive, Seele fortunately understood her situation, but she still wasn't sure if the trailblazers would let her do something so...reckless, but she was determined to voice all her worries and thoughts directly to her mother.

"Morning bird, aren't you?"

Bronya flinched slightly, she looked to the side, seeing Ryan approaching, while eating Ice cream.

"Ryan? What are you doing up early?" She asked a bit curious and slightly nervous.

"Didn't sleep, was busy preparing something...this 'Ice Cream' is very good, never tried it before, want some?" He asked offering the Ice cream to Bronya who simply shook her head.

"No thank you..." She avoided looking at him directly. "You have some ice cream on your cheek"

"Uhm?" He quickly cleaned his cheek. "There...where are you going? Clearly not to the hotel"

"I just thought of walking around...to clear my head before going back to the Overworld with all of you..." She let out a short sigh.

"I'm sorry for lying...but I have to speak with my mother..."

"...no you're not, you're going to leave now, aren't you?" He asked making her flinch slightly.

"How did you-...oh..." She looked slightly to the floor. "Is this going to be like in those novels, where you'll try to stop me?"

"Bronya...if I want to stop you, I can do it whenever I want, but I'll let you explain yourself before deciding on what to do" he explained and started to slowly walk. "Let's go to the furnace core, I want to check on Svarog and Clara anyway."

Bronya looked at him walk and she let out a sigh...maybe she could convince him to not stop her? He could probably understand like Seele, he was a soldier, or at least, that's what she understood by the way he knew how she felt about her guilt for not being able to help those under her or always protect those behind her, the way she doubted her orders, he seemed to be particularly familiar with that.

"Tell me Ryan...you were a soldier, weren't you? What rank were you exactly? I sincerely doubt you were a simple and common one" she looked towards Ryan while she followed him.

"I...had a rank that I doubt exists here, I was a kind of special forces I suppose...I served directly under the Emperor of the place where I lived" he let out a short sigh rybbing his forehead. "I was even chosen as the leader of a small group..."

"That high? ...you must be a very important person"

"Not that much, the Emperor simply chose me for that because I won a tournament...I had originally tried that to see where my strength was at, I didn't know that the Emperor would be watching the fights" he frowned lightly but quickly returned to his calm expression.

"So...you didn't choose to be a soldier? You weren't given a choice?" She asked slightly curious.

"I was given a choice...I could accept or reject the Emperor's offer, and I accepted" he made a small pause. "I suppose that my surname also picked the Emperor's interest..."

"You have a surname?"

"Chevalier...my name is Ryan Chevalier, I'm the last member of that family, the Chevalier's are a noble family that held huge political power...my parents were even part pf the council before they were assassinated." He explained making Bronya flinch slightly.

"Your parents...were assassinated? Sorry for making you remember that" she looked to the side but he shook his head.

"Don't worry...I don't have a single memory of them, I was a baby when they died, they saved me by putting me in a casket, I...never really cared for them, I don't even know their names" he spoke makikg the girl look at him in silence. "Sorry...that sounded a bit cold, didn't it?"

"Yes...I thought you were more of the caring type" she laughed nervously.

"Hmmm...don't let that ruin that image of me, it'll be better if you stick to that"

"What do you think I should do about my mother?" she asked a bit worried.

"You...won't like that answer, Bronya, I know you want to help her and save her, but we don't know what she's capable of...I promised you to help you save her, but if things go wrong..." He let out a short sigh before stopping and looking at her. "At least I'll make her death quick..."

Bronya flinched a bit at his words, she drove a hand to her chest thinking carefully about what he had just said... something felt wrong about his words.

"Ryan...tell me something" she looked directly at him. "Have you lied at any point in the short time we met?"

"....No"

"How can I be sure that you're not lying right now?" She asked frowning lightly.

"Where is this coming from, Bronya?"

"I...just want to be sure, I suppose, I don't really know you yet..." She wanted to keep talking but Ryan stopped her.

"Don't overthink it Bronya, I'm here to help, in whatever way seems the best" he smiled lightly towards her.

"...is there any proof for that?"

Ryan stood in silence before starting to search something inside of his kimono. "Here"

The boy pulled 5 papers from the inside of his kimono, these seemed like ordinary papers but had a magical circle drawn on each of them, he grabbed one of them and offered it to Bronya.

"Take it"

"Uh? A drawing?" She grabbed the paper looking at the circle drawn on it.

"It's a glyph...very hard to make, and takes a lot of time, didn't sleep to make these few" he sighed and put the others on his kimono. "That one has...a sleep effect, if you throw it at someone and say 'Teine' it lets out a cloud of sleeping smoke"

"How is this proof?" She asked slightly curious.

"You can use it if you can't change Cocolia's mind, throw it at her and activate it, she shouldn't be able to resist it without prior knowledge, she'll fall asleep...we would stop her without killikg her." he spoke making Bronya look at the paper.

Bronya stood in silence while looking at the paper in her hand. "Could I...really use this against mother if something bad happens?..."

"Three of them are for healing, one is for a barrier, and the one you're holding is to sleep someone....is this enough?"

"...it's a bit reassuring..." She folded the paper. "Thank you..."

"Don't worry, let's continue" he spoke before starting to walk. "And be sure to stay away before it activates...the cloud is quite big."

"Yes, I'll try to not get caught too" she nodded her head following him.

"...sorry Bronya"

...

Ryan silently sat on his knees over a small cushion, a table in front of him with another cushion on the other side, he looked around he empty room he was in, he was currently waiting for the Queen of the Ice Spirits to get to the room so they could negotiate.

"Don't make a fuss...she doesn't...she doesn't know I'm alive does she? Mr.Teo and Miss Orly never found her after I died...would she...recognize me? I doubt it...I hope she's happy I'm alive"

He smiled softly as he jumped a bit on the cushion...he was excited, and clearly happy, his eyes scanning the room looking at the door from time to time with little patience, as much as he wanted to look professional, he couldn't...the doors of the room opened and he immediately fixated his eyes on the person walking inside.

The girl had a long dark blue hair that reached below her waist, a pair of cold and inexpressive red eyes and a fair almost pale skin, she wore a white Kimono with blue edges and a pair of sandals, the girl looked at him and silently walked to the table, the doors closed behind her and she silently sat on her knees on the cushion, facing Ryan.

The boy simply had his eyes fixated on the girl with a blush on his cheeks, he quickly covered the lower half of his face trying to calm himself down, the girl simply looked at him narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Have we...met before?" She asked making Ryan smile lightly.

He quickly uncovered his mouth smiling. "Perla, it's me, Ryan! I knew you wouldn't fully recognize me, Miss Orly revived me by turning me into a Moon Spirit"

She flinched lightly, her eyes lighting up for a second before turning cold again. "I see...I had heard that a Chevalier appeared on the Island, should've guessed it was you, not even death will keep you away from me..."

Ryan's smile immediately disappeared as she spoke, he looked slightly to the floor, noticing the cold tone of her voice made all his excitement go away...she clearly wasn't happy of seeing him.

"She's...still affected by that..."

"But no matter, state your business, my Guards have told me you came in the name of the Emperor of this Island" she spoke again making him nod lightly.

"Yes, Your majesty...the Emperor wants you to stop your attack on the nearby villages and the blizzard your people rose up is stopping merchants to take their usual routes, we've also received complaints about your people attacking any adventurers or person in general who approaches your illegally growing territory" Ryan spoke in a more professional tone as he looked directly at her.

"There's nothing to discuss, I'm only doing what is the best for my people, those villages are inside my territory, according to the agreement I had with the Emperor, any and all intruders in my territory are dealt with however I see fit, you should be grateful that I don't crucify and sacrifice like the one before me..." She closed her eyes making a small pause before looking again at Ryan. "The expansion of this Territory is just the start, Chevalier, your Emperor is not who he seems to be-" she was quickly cut off by Ryan.

"We're not here to talk about the Emperor, Perla, you're killing innocent people!"

"And why do you care?" She asked making him flinch. "You care about innocent people dying? Should I remind you what happened at Roclis? Should I remind you what you did that night?"

"...that's no excuse for what you're doing...the Emperor won't take any violent decision if you stop now, stop the hostilities, stop illegally expanding your territory and put down the blizzard" Ryan looked directly at her eyes, almost as of he was begging.

"You've always been bad with words" she stood up and turned around. "Go back to your Emperor and tell him you failed, he can bring as many humans as he wants"

"Perla, please stop! What happened to you?" He stood up looking at the girl.

"...leave this place, I've been forgiving, but the grace of Binkori is running out" she spoke making the boy immediately frown.

"Binkori...Is that it?! Is the god of Ice Spirits behind this?!" He asked angrily. "Are you following one of the gods?! Why?!"

"Who are you to complain?!" She immediately turned around looking at him. "You're a Chevalier! Nothing will change that, you might be a Moon Spirit now but the mark in your face is still there isn't it?!"

Ryan simply looked at he floor, unable to say anything else, Perla silently returned to her cold demeanor and turned around, walking towards the doors that silently opened, she was stopped by Ryan, who had walked to her grabbing her hand.

"Perla...please don't do this..." He begged as he tightly held her hand. "I...I love you..."

The girl simply freed herself from the grip. "You should've stayed dead, Ace Chevalier"

She silently walked out of the room, letting the doors close, leaving Ryan alone, the boy simply stumbled lightly, weakly sitting on the ground, driving both hands to his head gripping his hair tightly.

"Why...why did you have to say no..."

...

Ryan and Bronya walked across the gate of the Robot settlement, seeing in the distance how Clara was fixing Svarog's outer carcass, she apparently hadn't slept all night...Ryan approached alongside Bronya and he spoke.

"Svarog, Clara" Ryan spoke taking the attention of both of them.

"Uh? Mr.Ryan? Is it morning already?" She quickly rubbed her eyes and looked at him.

"Clara...you spent all night fixing Svarog?" Bronya asked slightly worried.

"Yeah...but it's okay, it's not the first time I spend all night busy, besides, Svarog will be helping all of you so I have to make sure he's completely functional." She smiled making Bronya looked a her slightly surprised.

"Svarog...will be helping us?"

"Indeed, my primary mission now is to 'Save Jarilo-VI', therefore, I'll take action in the fight that decides the destiny of the planet." The robot spoke looking towards the two of them.

"Svarog...is that a bunny on your stomach?" The boy asked looking at the white bunny drawing that was on Svarog's stomach.

"There were few materials fitting for my reparations...Clara had to use the metal plates she used to test her drawing." Svarog explained making Clara blush lightly. "She insisted on cleaning the drawings...but I disagreed."

"I...see" Bronya smiled a bit nervous and looked at Clara. "You should sleep, Clara, a girl your age needs all the sleep one can get."

"I know...but I still want to make sure Mr.Svarog is completely ready, I already fixed his repulsor blast, I only need time to finish replacing all the damaged carcass" she explained letting out a small yawn. "But why are you two here? You won't be leaving yet, will you?"

"I'm leaving early Clara, they will join me later" Bronya smiled lightly.

"Hmmmm...I see" she looked towards Bronya slightly worried. "I can tell Perkins to guide you through the furnace core up to the surface"

"I'd appreciate that, Clara"

"I'll go get him then, Mr.Svarog, don't move too much, I haven't secured all the replacements yet" she looked towards the robot before walking away.

As the girl left to get the small robot, Bronya walked a bit away looking towards the road she'd be taking to get out of the surface, Ryan walked towards her standing at her side.

"Are you nervous?" Ryan asked to Bronya.

"I'm...not sure, but I know what I have to do, I have my duties as both a Silvermane Guard and as Cocolia's daughter...if things go wrong, I already arranged Seele to give you and the others a letter" she spoie and Ryan simply let out a short sigh. "I know what you're about to say...this is reckless and dumb, but I can't forget what Madam Cocolia did for me...she took me in, she instructed me, raised me, taught me everything I know...I just can't give up on her this easily..."

"She loves you... I'm sure of that, Bronya, if she'll listen someone, it might be you, but remember, she's not fully herself, she could be...clouded, so keep your guard up...and don't forget about the glyph"

"I know...I'll remember it" she nodded her head. "Before...you asked me if I would allow redemption for those who I was ordered to take down...if I should allow them try, I still don't know the answer to that...but tell me, would you allow them?"

Ryan kept himself silent for a few seconds "...I-"

"We're here, Miss Bronya"

Clara approached the two of them with Perkins at her side, the robot walked towards Bronya and stood at her side.

"Hello, I've been requested to be your guide through the furnace core towards the Overworld." The robot spoke an almost excited tone.

"Perkins can take you to the Overworld... he'll come back in his own after you get there" Clara spoke making Bronya nod her head.

"Thank you again Clara" she smiled to the girl. "I'll be taking my leave..."

"Good luck Bronya" Ryan looked towards the girl who simply nodded her head.

Without saying anything else, Bronya turned around and walked away, Perkins soon walking alongside her, Ryan and Clara walked towards the still kneeling Svarog, and the little girl quickly started to pull off some of the cracked carcass around Svarog's arm, apparently getting ready to replace it.

"You're doing better, the bunny suits you" Ryan smiled lightly. "Are you sure you haven't received much damage?"

"All my internal modules are perfect, including the ones holding information about the Architect machine era, Geomarrow Development Group era, and the Record of Clara crafting miniature magnetic drill rigs." He spoke and the little girl let out a small yelp blushing.

"Can I see that last one?" Ryan asked with a little smile.

"Initiating Transmission..." His eye glowed lightly.

"M-Mr.Svarog!"

★ ★ ★

A/N: That's today's chapter, sorry for the late update but I'm a bit sick, Winter has come and I don't have sweaters.

But anyways, hope you enjoyed!