KafCae

KafCae

KafCae is the HET ship between Kafka and Caelus from the Honkai: Star Rail fandom.

Canon
At the start of the game, Kafka activates Caelus's reservoir and seals Stellaron within her body. When Caelus awoke, the first person she saw and also recognized was Kafka, a reference to a past they had together that he did not remember. Caelus may have the option of asking Kafka who she is, which shocks Kafka into thinking that Caelus will remember her. Kafka tells her people will love her, treat her like family and that she has a long way to go; This is the future that Elio foresaw. Whether Caelus accepts this future or not, Kafka will say his response is endearing, telling him that the strong-willed version of Caelus is "the friend I like". Kafka also commented that Caelus would be able to remember her before anyone saw her. Kafka leaves, even though Caelus doesn't want her to go. Kafka's last words to him were that when faced with an opportunity to choose, don't choose, he will regret it.

Fanon
KafCae captured interest from their first interaction, noting their shared history and how Caelus seemed to care about Kafka and how Kafka was always thinking for Caelus. But it is one of those ships that is not very popular for both characters, there are also quite a few people who love this ship.

Familial
Kafka and Caelus are also often understood as a mother-child relationship, as Kafka technically created Caelus early in the game, and her words of concern can be seen as a mother's guidance. Those with this interpretation prefer to mention Caelus' possibility of abandonment due to the figure of her mother, the only person he remembers, leaving him.

On May 28, 2023, a Kafka companion mission dialogue was leaked on Twitter, in which Kafka told Trailblzer that she was genetically their mother.[1] This dialogue was in fact Kafka lying, although this was not made clear until hours later. The leak caused much havoc to KafCae shippers, as their ship was deemed problematic during that time. The leaker received some backlash for leaking the initial dialogue without context, seemingly making KafCae look bad.[2] [3]