Chapter Text
The train wound up the mountain like a steel serpent shedding its skin, each car a gleaming scale, clutching the cliffs with the stubborn grip of something that didn't know how to let go. Below, clouds sprawled like a pale ocean, swallowing entire valleys whole, while the jagged spines of the peaks pierced through the mist. The world outside the glass was both breathtaking and suffocating, a stage set for something that did not feel entirely human. Sae sat by the window, his stillness so complete he might have been carved from the same stone as the mountains. His reflection ghosted across the glass, sharp eyes fixed on the horizon though he wasn't seeing it at all. The scenery blurred, mountains dissolving into smears of shadow and fog; his mind had long since slipped elsewhere. It was as though he'd logged out of reality, trapped in that gray space where time didn't move forward, didn't move back as if time didn't existed at the moment.
Beside him, Lorenzo filled the silence like a brass instrument played too loudly, his voice rising and falling in dramatic bursts. The Italian's hands waved with every sentence, punctuating his rambling as if the world needed his noise to keep spinning.
Across the aisle, Kaiser leaned back with that unshakable arrogance stitched into every inch of him, Ness tucked neatly at his side like a shadow who had forgotten how to cast himself. The two humored Lorenzo's antics, their conversation a constant, buzzing current that grated against Sae's nerves. Basically arguing about something pointless Sae didn't give two shits on.
"—I'm telling you, man! if I'd been there, no other defender would've stood a chance. He would've broken his ankles, Kaiser! His ankles!"
"Oh please. You'd trip over your own legs before you got near me. Lorenzo, you're just comedy on cleats."
"Really? I remember stopping your "Kaiser impact" twice now, I could do it blindfolded too"
"Try it," Kaiser shot back smoothly, reclining with that trademark ease, the smirk practically carved into his face.
Ness giggled on cue, eyes darting between them like a predator waiting to bite. "We don't need to prove anything to clowns."
"Watch it, pipsqueak," Lorenzo barked, though his grin didn't falter. "I'll nutmeg you just for fun." Their banter ricocheted across the aisle, too bright, too brash.
Ahead of Sae and the zombie man, Loki and Charles occupied their seats. Charles—bright-eyed, restless, kept bouncing in with comments, tugging threads of attention whenever he could. Loki, poised with the quiet ease and a hand resting lightly on Charles' shoulder. Their voices wove into the noisy chorus.
"—and the stadium in Tokyo! Did you see the crowd? I swear, the noise shook the ground. Loki, tell me it was insane! You felt it too, right?"
"It was loud, yes. But you learn to breathe through it. Noise is only noise if you let it become more."
"But that's the best part!" Charles insisted as he glanced at Hugo, who was sitting on the other side. "The chao!! and oohh! this train is so awesome, where we going again? Yes! the photo shoot! do I look good?"
Behind them all, Bunny Iglesias sat like a phantom, wearing a smile that looked too soft to be trusted. He laughed when the timing demanded it, slipped a word or two into the chatter. The silence clung to him differently, less absence, more intention, as though he were saving something for later.
"Charles, you sound like a kid at his first carnival." He cooed.
"Better that than dead silent like you, Bunny." Loki chimed with no bite.
"Silence is underrated," Iglesias mused, his voice low, almost drowned out by the others. "You hear things the rest of you don't."
Hugo hummed, reading his book silently, paying the rest no attention.
Bunny's words hung for a moment, before Lorenzo's laugh broke it apart, too loud to allow silence to linger. Yes, a piece of the new gen 11 were assembled like marvel's avenger. Though Sae didn't understand why Ness and Charles were present but he didn't care either. His manager had said something about demand and what the stupid audience wants, apparently, Kaiser and Ness, Charles and Loki are popular among the fans as partners they wish to see more of.
These two were just here as cash cows. Well, all of them were.
And according to the message, fans wanted to see Sae alongside someone and that happens to be Rin. Yes, his brother is invited too in this little sightseeing trip. Speaking of his brother, he wonder where Rin is because that kid isn't in this cabin right now.
Rin's not here yet? did he get lost in the train or something... How pathetic...
This was supposed to be an honor. PIFA had handpicked them—the prodigies, the rising stars, the chosen who would shape their country's football. An international training camp in the far north for promotional reasons Sae didn't even bothered reading plus a photo shoot at the hills for advertising purposes which the older Itoshi wanted to drive out of but his manager had fallen to knees begging the male to keep up with his public identity, bowing up and down, worshipping Sae as if he were an Egyptian pharaoh, so helpless, Sae eventually gave in.
International camp they said, it sounded like a prison in disguise.
All of this was tucked into the spine of a country called Norway. Where daylight barely lingered, where forests were older than empires, where the air tasted thin and clean but pressed heavy on the chest.
It was beautiful nonetheless, at this point the Midfielder was finding beauty in everything expect his own origin, Japan.
Sae hated it, the staged smiles, the empty press conferences, now he was trapped on a mountain train, the carriage filled with too many voices that scraped like knives against porcelain, at least they had a private cabin. Not to mention this train kept going and going, clattering higher and higher as though dragging them toward something waiting in the mist. Each clatter of the tracks sounded less like progress and more like a countdown.
A hiss from the ceiling speakers. Heads turned upward in unison, pulled by some invisible wire.
The hostess's voice arrived—polite, hollow, as if it had traveled through water to reach them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now entering the highest ascent of the Flam Railway. Please remain seated as we pass through the mountain tunnels. The view on your left side will showcase the Aurlandsfjord below. For your safety, we advise you not to lean against the glass."
The voice cut out.
The static that followed didn't fade immediately, lingering a beat too long, pressing against the silence like a hand over a mouth before finally letting go.
Great, Sae and Charles were both already leaning against the window and what the fuck is "Aurlandsfjord"? Maybe falling so behind in academics was proving to be hefty for Sae. Was Rin good in academics? his brother was better at academics than he was, so maybe Rin knows what that means, God where is Rin!?
Suddenly Hugo spoke after what felt like ages of being optionally mute, "The Aurlandsfjord is a 29-kilometer-long , narrow, deep-water sea inlet in southwestern Norway."
Sae scoffed, "who asked?"
"Charles did."
Sae looked at Charles, who looked back at him.
Nobody here is normal...
Sae clicked his tongue, gaze sliding to the window. The fjord stretched like an endless abyss beneath them, dark water swallowing the last of the light. For a fleeting second, his reflection in the glass didn't seem to move with him.
He blinked twice
His own face stared back again, expression untouched, unshaken. Yet something had shifted. He couldn't name it, couldn't drag it to words. The unease pooled in his stomach like a stone swallowed.
Everything's normal, his stupid peers still chatting, passengers making noise in the other cabins and nothing was out of place yet why did it felt like time had glitched? but the feeling slipped through his fingers every time he tried to grip it. Maybe his irritation had started breaking him, now he was seeing things.
A creak of the carriage door, all heads turned and there was he, Itoshi Rin. He stood there for a moment, expressionless, eyes scanning each person, his gaze lingering and reading. Then slowly, his brows frowned like he just entered the deepest pit of hell itself, jacket messed up like he had dragged himself through missiles and bullets.
At least you found the way to the cabin safely...
Rin's gaze met Sae's as the younger Itoshi's expression became conflicted, surprised then immediately morphed into one of utter disgust while the Midfielder's remained apathetic, Rin was suppose to take a seat next to Sae, instead he walked over and sat in the corner away from everyone.
Okay that irritated Sae, just what was Rin's problem? acting like Sae is some contagious disease the younger must avoid at all costs or else he catches stage 4 cancer.
"What took you so long, Loki was considering contacting the manager about you." Hugo closed his book, eyes lingering on the last page, before glacning at Rin who was seated two seats ahead of him.
"I got strangled by the fans here, entered the wrong cabin and guess what?"
"Ohh, so you did got lost on your way here, huh?" Kaiser smirked.
"At least, I don't need a side-kick babysitting me 24/7, shitty rose!"
Sae tore his gaze away as the two Strikers kept barking at each other, scanning the carriage. Lorenzo was mid-swing joining the argument with Kaiser and his little brother Rin, hands flailing as though he was directing an orchestra nobody cared about. Kaiser rolled his eyes, while Ness sat curled at his side, nodding along as if every word Kaiser breathed was scripture.
Loki reached forward, steady hand ruffling Charles' hair in quiet warning, and the younger only laughed, buzzing with restless energy. Hugo was already shuffling in his back, looking for a second book to kill time with.
At the back, Bunny caught Sae's wandering eyes and gifted him a grin, crooked and knowing. Sae scowled, turning away with clipped speed, like slamming a door shut, his mind already sizzling thoughts.
Bastard has the audacity to grin at me, look at my way, breathe in my direction.
Even after all of that—
No... forget it!
Teal eyes shifted back to the window but the window had changed. It was white, too white. No fjords nor green, just a thick, impenetrable fog swallowed everything beyond the glass, pressing against the train until it felt like the world itself had been erased, not a single thing could be seen only a dull haze of lifeless blank.
His lips parted, but before he could speak, Charles bounced up in his seat.
"Fog! Loki! Hugo! Rin! look! it's fog!" His voice carried like a trumpet, calling out to his closest soccer peers. His hands and face slapped against the glass, leaving condensed breath. "It's like we're inside a cloud!"
Loki leaned back with a chuckle that was soft, unbothered. "Calm down, Charles. It's the mountains. Fog here is nothing unusual."
Rin glanced at the window once, and remained silent.
Hugo gazed at Charles, his expression blank as he spoke, "Fog is just a thick cloud of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air, nothing interesting. Don't be so easily distracted Charles."
"Boring ~" Charles stuck his tongue out.
Lorenzo had already pressed his face against Sae's window, leaning far too close for comfort. "Madonna mia, it's like milk!" He squinted, golden teeth flashing brighter than the subway lights. "Can't see a damn thing."
"Get off creep," Sae snapped, shoving him back with a swift movement of his arm.
Lorenzo only laughed, stumbling a little before sliding lazily into his seat. "Che freddo... relax, Itoshi. We're seatmates! don't hog up the entire window." He was aware of Sae's broody persona, they had exchanged words in matches, exhibitions and promotional meetings and every time Lorenzo couldn't help but push his buttons like how he pushes Kaiser's.
Annoying other people is not a flaw, it's a skill and for Don Lorenzo, he does it for the love of the game.
Across the aisle, Kaiser had tilted his head toward his own window. "It's on this side too," he muttered, almost sulking. "Dense as hell. I wanted the fjords, now we get shitty flying-water"
"Actually, fog is essentially a low-lying cloud that touches the ground, composed of billions of suspended liquid water droplets or ice crystals which is technically 'flying-water' in your sense but not exactly." Hugo revised an explanation no one asked for.
"More like a shroud," Bunny's voice drifted from the back, cheerful even though his words were always disturbing, that's something Sae despised. Iglesias acting everything's sunshine and rainbows all after what happened, but that's hypocritical of him when Sae's literally doing the same thing. Pretending it never happened, acting like he is clean when his core is rotten within.
Bunny's horrible rictus didn't falter, "Feels ominous. Imagine if the train just... derailed. Straight into the valley with all of us inside ~"
Ness blinked. "Don't joke about that... Die alone you masochist."
"Joke?" Bunny tilted his head. "Who said I was joking?"
"Meaningless assumptions with no possibilities of happening are either delusions or jokes" Hugo spoke, "Pick which one is yours."
"Damn."
Lorenzo chuckled shaking his head, "You're one sick, rabbit. But hey, if we crash, at least you won't have to worry about missing photo shoot tomorrow." He spoke while shoving another mouthful of caramel pop-corn, the man had been watching movies on his phone, dropping bits of food here and there, every time a chunk landed on Sae, a shove landed on Lorenzo.
The fog pressed tighter against the windows, at this point, even Rin gazed the window to get a better look, teal eyes starring into absolute white, without a word, Rin pulled out a sleep patch and leaned back in hopes of catching a short nap.
Sae's jaw locked. Something about this fog was wrong. It wasn't fog rolling with the wind, it was standing still.
And for a moment, in the hush of white, he thought he saw the shape of something moving.
Teal eyes at the glass, trying to catch it again.
Something had shifted out there. Not a bird, too large, the outline stretching unnaturally through the fog. Not an animal either, nothing should be moving on these ridges at this hour, they were too high on the hills for that. He leaned in, warmth breath fogging against the pane, willing the shape to hold still. But as his gaze sharpened, the form dissolved, swallowed whole into the nothingness.
What the hell was that... Why am I getting a bad feeling so suddenly?
It's just like that night— No... I said just forget it.
Hallucination, maybe. His mind clawing for something solid in the pitch blur. He clenched his jaw and sat back down, seething.
Around him, the others carried on. Kaiser's voice, Lorenzo's booming interjections, Rin's silence, Charles' endless bouncing, Loki's time to time words, Hugo's flipping of empty book pages, sounds filled the cabin like fizz spilling over the lip of a glass. Even Bunny looked content enough as if the male wasn't deceased inside, always throwing poetries of death and "the end" Sae didn't care, if Iglesias died, the auburn haired male would be celebrating.
Bunny was his rival, and now? Enemy is the right word.
Every time he tried to forget it, to bury it like they said. Those memories would just crawl it's way back up.
Does Rin even knows what that happened after that argument? how worse things got for Sae, ofcourse not, his little ignorant brother is blissfully unaware and Sae is honestly glad, he wouldn't want his brother to learn about that part of him...
Sae doesn't wants Rin to look at him with disgust in his eyes, not the one from rivalry, but real disgust from utter disbelief and sin.
And it made Sae wonder, was he the only one? The only unclean being among them? The only one who had sinned? His reflection in the glass felt like a confession booth, had the others hidden their crimes better, or were they still waiting for night to drag them bare?
"Hey, when do we arrive?" Charles' voice broke his spiral, shaking his seat like a child beside his mentor, Loki.
The blonde German smirked, venom sweetly placed on his tongue. "Kiddo doesn't even know the itinerary? What did you sign up for, a picnic? but hey, why would you know? you're not in the new gen 11, makes sense if they didn't told you anything." Ness covered his mouth but couldn't hide the snicker, adding a jest of his own to Charles, to which the French only pouted. He was almost used to their constant back and forth, after all Kaiser and Ness are professionals at bullying. Everyone was so done with it that they ignored it every time.
Charles frowned and turned instinctively to his savior, "Well!?"
Loki leaned back, his hand rising to his chin as though pulling memories from the air. His calmness threaded through the noise like steel, but something about this calmness was unsettling as if it was fake, who was Loki behind that smile? that's a question which remains unasnwered. "The hostess said about the time, didn't she?"
"About an hour," Hugo spoke, smoothly answering.
"An hour," Charles repeated, collapsing into his seat with despair. "That's forever."
Lorenzo groaned, "Then let's do something. The view's gone, it's boring as hell. We're not mannequins."
"Says the one build like one..." Bunny muttered loud enough for the Italian to here, who only winked in return.
Rin hummed, a sign he wasn't asleep. The younger Itoshi had realized the noise wouldn't cancel, finding something to pass time with wouldn't hurt so he took off the sleeping patch and sat straighter, wanting to see where this foolish conversation would go. Charles perked back up instantly. "We could leave the private cabin, greet the ordinary passengers! A little fanservice!" His grin widened, mischievous.
Rin scowled, "No, I barely escaped their hands, go there alone if your that desperate for attention."
"Disgusting." Kaiser didn't even look up from his phone. "I've had enough vultures. This is the first time I've had peace all month, I'm not wasting it on selfies."
"Selfies?" Lorenzo scoffed. "Come on, Kaiser. You love yourself too much not to pose."
"Shut up," Kaiser muttered. The German did not love himself.
The lights overhead flickered once, a quick tremor of shadow. Every head turned upward, the glow stuttering across their faces for a heartbeat before smoothing back into brightness. No one spoke of it. Sae could feel the tilt, the way the carriage leaned into its climb. The train groaned, its wheels biting the tracks, ascending still, climbing higher into the fog's throat. And though their voices buzzed around him, he couldn't shake it: the sense of being lifted higher, higher, not toward any destination, but toward something waiting.
They were still climbing as if the mountain had no peak.
"Hey," Lorenzo's voice broke in, amused at Sae's scowl, "you make that face any longer and your eyebrows will freeze together."
"Worry about your own face," The midfielder muttered without looking.
Lorenzo only snorted, looking toward Kaiser now. "See? He's in love with me. Pushes me away, but always thinking of me."
Kaiser roll his eyes, "Dumb skeleton, he just hates you."
From behind, Bunny let out a soft laugh, muffled but audible. "If you two don't shut up, I'll really start rooting for that crash I mentioned."
"Root all you want," Rin, fired back smoothly. "You'll still die ugly."
"Ugly but tall unlike you," Bunny countered, his grin audible even without seeing it.
"I am taller than most here."
Another flicker of light, they all caught it but no one said anything. Sae checked his watch, 2:15 pm
Each of them fell into their own little rituals within seconds: Kaiser stretching his legs arrogantly across the aisle, Ness fiddling with his phone, Rin being silent, Loki gazing somewhere beyond, Charles sketching nonsense patterns on the fogged window, Bunny humming bullshit, Hugo reading blank bullshit. Lorenzo watched his movie.
The Midfielder had nothing to do, in attempts of ignoring the others, he had scrolled to the point his mobile data went dry, even his sleeping mask was mysteriously missing now. He sat there stiff while the rest had stopped howling like hyenas.
With this crowd, he can't catch a brink of rest. When he was younger, innocent and small, Sae used to sit beside Rin during their travel with trains, chatting and holding his brother's hand the whole time.
During times like this, with nothing to busy himself with, his mind always drifted to his brother and Sae didn't knew exactly why, he had stopped questioning it at this point, he subconsciously glanced at his brother at the back, who was leaning on the window as if the fog was a movie to watch, Rin seemed entranced by it
Now vexed to the maximum point, Sae took a peak at Lorenzo's device. The movie playing was something about a demon train, Mugen train? to be honest, Sae had lost interest in Anime ages ago. A title longer than four words and he'd pass, Lorenzo a movie nerd watching the popular Demon Slayer made sense though.
Sae glanced at his wrist watch once again from pure boredom. His brows frowned, something was again very off. It's 2:30 pm.
Fifteen minutes had passed.
What?
Fifteen minutes already, didn't these idiots stopped talking like 5 seconds ago?
The second hand ticked steady, yet the last he remembered it had been barely a blink since he'd checked.
Must be broken.
No way a second ago could stretch into fifteen minutes.
A cheap trick of faulty gears, there was no world where one blink could bleed into a quarter hour.
He looked back at the glass.
The white had shifted to gray, then black, swallowing itself. The sun had set—just like that, without warning nor twilight. One heartbeat it was dim, the next gone. Darkness pressed in but the fog didn't clear. It only swirled slower, dragging itself in tendrils across the windows, a pale storm against the night.
Sae's pulse flickered at his wrist.
Sunset... already?
That quickly?
The descent into night was too fast. Something was very wrong.
"It's night!? hello!?" Charles's voice split the calm like a bullet through glass, face plastered to the window again as he gawked at the black fog outside.
Everyone turned, startled by his sudden outburst.
Charles's head whipped around, eyes wide. "I swear it was daylight a second ago. Now it's... this, how?" Sae wanted to add something to it but stayed silent, it's better if the other boy explains the sudden shift since Sae is horrible at communicating.
Ness leaned past Kaiser, squinting, "Maybe it's the fog? Makes it look darker than it really is."
"Maybe it's a tunnel. Ever thought of that?" Rin sighed, rubbing his forehead.
Lorenzo chimed, "So we're in a long-ass tunnel? Who knows, maybe half the Alps got hollowed out. Wouldn't put it past these Swiss bastards."
Loki's calm voice followed. "If it is a tunnel, it's the longest one I've ever seen."
"I have read that the longest tunnel here takes about 6 minutes to cross, how long has it been?" Hugo asked without looking away from his empty book.
All of them paused, even Charles, who'd opened his mouth to speak again, froze mid-breath. The train groaned, climbing. The tunnel, if it was a tunnel, had no end. The speed-prodigy continued speaking, explaining as if everyone like were toddlers and Loki knew the secrets of the universe. "Fog changes fast in the mountains. Don't make it a big deal—"
"Big deal?" Sae spoke in between, not caring a bit about ethics. "The sun doesn't just vanish."
Rin blinked, surprised his prideful brother decided to speak.
Loki only smiled in return, knowing better than to argue with the epitome of a brick wall. They brushed it off in fragments but the words clattered, hollow. Each of them felt it, even if no one would say it: the sun hadn't set, it had been stolen.
Bunny hadn't said anything about the sudden dark, he probably hoped for the sun to explode anyway.
"We just lost track of time probably," Hugo spoke, his voice blank, pitch-black eyes offering no comfort. "Games, training, travel, hours pass without you feeling them when your mind is occupied."
"All of us?" Sae's voice was knife-edged, his words falling heavy. "Every single one of us missed the sun setting? I was just looking out the window and that shit went down quickly"
"Someone's seeing things now~" Kaiser cooed while Ness smirked adding words to the phrase, "Don't give us the 'I had seen this coming' thing."
But Sae didn't laugh, fury was fresh in his veins. His eyes flicked back to his watch. The time glared back: 2:30. Still.
The train continued to climb. The wheels screeched against the rails, the sound gnawing into their bones. Time passed or had it really? Their watches ticked, but none of them remembered the minutes slipping away. How had the sky gone black while their eyes were open?
Iglesias's silky voice cut through the murk, smooth like a snake's skin, delicate like a butterfly's wings. "It's odd, isn't it? too quiet" His grin flashed, the kind that unsettled more than comforted.
Sae's harsh gaze darted toward him, even if the Midfielder hated the Striker's guts, it's undeniable that Bunny was right. The faint echoes of passenger chatter, luggage rolling, those little threads of life that bled into their carriage had evaporated. Gone, like someone had snuffed them out with a hand.
"Nearby passengers probably got off," Loki offered with a shrug, calm as always. "Maybe they shifted cabins, happens."
Sae's eyes snapped to him. "We didn't stop."
"Then maybe," Charles chimed in, laughter rough at the edges, "they all shifted cabins together. A little field trip, no?"
"That sounds just as ridiculous as you," Rin shot back.
Hugo flipped a page, Kaiser and Ness stayed quiet while Lorenzo hummed. The lights flickered again, longer this time, like the train was trying to breathe and failing.
A shiver ran through the cabin as the temperature dropped, suddenly like a door had kicked open to winter. It bled in slow, steady, like fingers tracing along the spine. One degree, two, three. Their breath began to mist in front of their mouths, ghosts leaking from their lungs. Sae tugged his jacket tighter without realizing. He flexed his fingers, feeling the cold bite through his skin, winters really bother him, something about the cool and snow ticks him off.
Rin on the other hand looked utterly disturbed, as if the cold was reminding him of things he didn't wish to recall.
"What the hell—" Kaiser cursed, dragging his collar up to his jaw as he slumped back. "Faulty service, heating's shit. For a luxury train, this is pathetic. PIFA's grand project and they put us in a mountain freezer."
"Complain harder, maybe the fog will warm up," Lorenzo teased, though even his chuckle sounded brittle, steam puffing like a smoker's sigh.
"Shut up, Boney."
"Perhaps it's a malfunction." Hugo spoke.
Sae barely heard them. His attention had drifted upward, to the speakers above their heads. Where was the hostess' voice reminding them of altitude, of minutes to the next station? Trains weren't meant to run on silence. He pressed his palm flat against the cold window, staring into the fog that seemed to breathe back at him. Why had the announcements stopped? was something wrong with the system? was Bunny's manifesting for a crash actually working?
Unease curled low in their stomachs, yet no one leaned into it. No one wanted to be the one to admit fear.
Sae glanced down at his watch, leather strap biting into his wrist, 2:30 PM. He lifted his phone, 11:30 PM.
What the hell is this?
Sae's grip tightened, "Hey... what time all of your phones showing?" he demanded, voice low, simmering.
Lorenzo, ever the loud one, leaned over with a grin that didn't reach his eyes. "2:00 AM...? huh? What's your phone showing, Itoshi?"
The sudden strange exchange between the prodigies caused everyone else to check their phones as well, some from anticipation, some from curiosity and some because there was nothing else to do. And when they did, it only made the tension sizzle even further.
Kaiser groaned, smacking his forehead. "10:00 PM. This is ridiculous. Is it just me, or has the world decided to rewrite the clocks!?"
Ness muttered, "9:15 PM... Strange..."
"11:20pm..." said Rin.
Charles screamed, phone held high. "00:00! what the hell!? is that even real!?"
Loki, calm but with a faint crease between his brows, checked his own. "8:45 PM. Different time zone, maybe?"
"10:30 PM for me" Hugo joined in.
Bunny, ever the shadow, tilted his phone toward Sae. "11:30 PM. Same as yours. Huh... funny coincidence, isn't it?"
Just like old times, huh, Sae? We're in sync.
Sae's fingers clenched into his lap. Of course it's him. He could feel Bunny's ghostly presence in every fiber of the carriage, that indifferent grin, the silence that spoke louder than any shout.
Always watching, always letting things happen without a care.
Sae bristled, "Why is every single phone showing a different time? Which one of us is supposed to be right, then? First the fog, then the sun, then missing passengers and now the time?"
"Relax, Itoshi," Lorenzo said with a sharp laugh, leaning in too close. "Maybe the fog got into your brain. Classic."
Bunny's voice floated from the back, "Interesting. We all see different realities, then."
"Oh! Stop it with your soap-opera right now, the internet must be down. Or there's some glitch in the train, something is fucked up." Kaiser grumbled as he pressed a hand to his forehead, the cold and lack of direction was starting to get under the German's skin.
"Glitch?!" Lorenzo shouted, leaning so close Sae had to shove him back again. "It's a goddamn train, not a spaceship! Are we seriously thinking it's—"
"—not normal?" Rin finished, voice tight, snapping like wire under tension. "Yes! Exactly that. Something's not normal." despite he was suppose to hate his brother, Rin wouldn't help but agree with Sae, something was seriously wrong.
"Unless the service is garbage," Kaiser spoke, sharp as a whip. "Wouldn't be shocking. This whole trip is a waste of time anyway."
"Human error can happen anytime, let the staff handle it" Hugo spoke bluntly.
Charles panicked despite Loki giving him reassuring shoulder squeezes. "We should call the service, call a number, anything! wait- our managers are in the other cabins, right? we can get to them!"
"And say what? That our clocks don't match? That's not service, it's a joke." Loki spoke as he leaned back against his seat even when he couldn't figure out things in his mind.
Lk - They hadn't reported bad weather... It's too early for the sun to be gone and all of us are facing Network and time issues?
Lk - I have a feeling something's not right, it's getting obvious. Nonetheless, I'll need to stay calm or the others here will scramble.
Their voices rose and collided, trying to find out what was wrong when everything seemed wrong, nothing was adding up. They still clattered in the air, one over the other, voices rising, irritation breeding like rot. Charles tried to laugh it off, Hugo kept larping to read, Loki lifted his hand in calm command but it was no use.
Sae pressed his nails into his palm until they left crescents.
This is pathetic. Trapped in a box with children pretending to be gods. And him—grinning like everything's fine. He should've burned with the rest of that night.
Bunny's smile widened, as if he'd heard the thought.
"It's just fog, I swear!" Lorenzo shouted.
"No, it's the weird clocks!" Ness shot back.
"It's Itoshi Sae!" Bunny chimed.
"Stop yelling, idiots! None of you are making sense! let's just get to our managers and be over it! we're gonna whine like babies and demand explanations like karens, amazing plan!" Kaiser threw his arms wide, teeth gritted, the irritation sparking like fire on dry leaves.
"Maybe it's... maybe it's all of us!" Charles yelled, hysteria starting to bleed through excitement, "We're seeing fog, hearing no people, flickering lights and now different times because—because something's—"
"Okay, okay, relax everyone. We stay seated and only one of us walk quietly into our Manager's cabin and settle this, don't grab attention just slip past people before they lunge at you, alright" Loki revised the plan, gesturing with his hands to calm down, his demeaner like he was babysitting everyone else. It was clear, despite his age, he was way more mature than all of them combined.
No one argued any further, Ness quickly got up to his feet, purple hair swaying as he walked out of the cramped seat, knees brushing against Kaiser's before setting free. Magenta eyes scanning the path ahead and with a smile he strode forward, each step precise like he was going to ask about what's for dinner and not some reality paradox.
Every gaze was fixed on his slow figure, some narrowed, the rest unchanging.
Then, without warning—the train lurched.
A violent, metal shrieking against itself, threw them all sideways. Sae's forehead clipped glass, stars bursting behind his eyes, Lorenzo toppled sideways, Charles collided with the seat in front of him, Loki grabbed at the overhead handle, pulling Charles with him. Hugo's book slipped from his grasp while his body fell forward. Bunny hit his head against the seat in front of him, got a nose bleed and smiled like it gave him pleasure. Rin groaned as his head bashed somewhere on the window glass, Kaiser's yelp cracked the air, and Ness lost balance crashing into the floor with a thud.
The lights flickered violently, overhead bulbs sparking once, twice, then snapping out in a violently loud spark that could have caught fire if it was even an atom bigger, plunging the carriage into darkness.
The only light came from the windows now, an eerie, ashen glow that filtered through the fog, neither moonlight nor daybreak but something in between. It painted their faces in shades of drowned blue, the kind of glow you saw in deep water just before it crushed you.
The carriage lay in stunned silence, the echoes of their fall still vibrating through iron and bone. One by one, they stirred. Breath hissed out in white ribbons. All arguments were gone, drowned in that one jolt.
Sae rose slowly, palm dragging along the back of his seat as if steadying himself against an unseen tide, eyes immediately landing on his younger brother to check whether Rin was okay or not, and fortunately, he was just fine. The others pushed to their feet—Ness clutching his arm, Kaiser scowling through clenched teeth, Rin cracking his shoulder, Charles jittering, Lorenzo shaking his head like a mutt clearing water from its ears, Hugo standing up with the support of the seats, Bunny's smile unbroken, Loki composed but watchful.
The next station was suppose to arrive in an hour, why did the train stop right now when it's only been 30 minutes?
Something in his gut told him, this train was never moving again and they're never leaving it.
Not anytime soon.