Nihilistic Delusions

A dull click was the only sound that resided in this underground realm, for just a moment. 

Mond released himself from MF’s back just in time to see the hammer hit the empty slot, yet a hole still formed in Rose’s skull. A hole from which all the basalt black smoke of Hell was freed, filling the room in an instant.

The rush of smoke not only blinded Mond. but combined with the enraged whistle to deafen him as well. For a horrible time, his whole world existed in a stormcloud of metallic explosion and thick ashy darkness. 

But Sonne, wherever around he was, could be heard clearly, “Nothing like a dance with death to make anything seem possible, she knows that more than any of us.”

As suddenly as it had come, the smoke cleared and Mond's eyes adjusted to the red light once again. Number Nine was no longer on its tracks as it had been before, now only Roses knelt there, revolver lying loose in her hand. Her hair was stained grey in the spot the barrel had pointed, like a single star in the inky black sky. 

And she was breathing, a single rusty bullet still nuzzled in its chamber.

Behind her, smoldering in a heap of twisted metal and melting wire, Number Nine burned, no longer the skeletal embodiment of demise from before, but simply a train. It let out one last weak electronic whistle, before fading into the death of final reality.

Vertigo spit into the flames, raising up her middle finger, “Screw you choo choo.”

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Mond ran over to Roses, who knelt silently, unmoving besides the steady rise and fall of her breath. “Holy crap Roses you killed that fricker! That was the most insane thing I've ever seen and I just rode on a guy going like a hundred bazillion miles an hour-” he stopped his raving when he saw the tears streaming down her otherwise undisturbed face.

The two locked eyes silently, she noticed just how clear his were, like innocent, untainted glass.

 Then Mond knelt down, extending a hand to her, and a smile accompanied the tears.

Sonne went right to the mechanical corpse however, right to the control booth. MF recovered from the ordeal in time to see him disappear into the flames, and pull out a burnt, bloodied body from the wreckage.

With every inch the body drew closer, the indigo twilight dust of the underground world darkened to dirty grey. Every laborious drag across the gravel floor pulls them into the reality of the situation.

Roses had stood up, tucked away her gun, and brushed away the intensity of before. But the moment she saw that body, something strong and visceral screeched out of her. The aura of refinement and boldness she maintained, collapsing into disgust and regret.

“Oh-... Oh God. Is that-” one nervous foot in front of the other, she made her way to the others. Mond followed close behind, quietly. A decaying body was bad, sure, but something told him it would take more than just an old corpse to scare Roses like this.

MF folded over with his hands on his knees, glaring down at the floor. “Oh man… Hell dude…”

Vertigo seemed fairly composed compared to the others, but she had an odd tic going on, shaking her head slightly and rubbing her ears, like there was a fly buzzing around them.

Even Sonne seemed downcast, disturbed by the body. Mond forced himself to look closer at the subject of their distress, and noticed strange symbols carved all about the flesh, edged with black char like they had been seared in a single instant.

“So this is why Mahou ran off, he knew him better than any of us. He must have seen something in those files that tipped him off” Sonne's deep voice moaned out, almost in a mumble. Who was he to these people? Mond didn’t feel it was right to ask now, but he would get his answer, a horrible one.

A Violent Static crackle erupted from all around, shredding the mournful silence with visceral electronic tones. “A-a-a-... Attention passengers! Your next stop is-” A woman's voice blared from sirens that surrounded the junction. A voice that quickly was murdered and taken place by a meek, shy, voice. One filled with an indescribable malice under the thin paleness of its tone, “Your truth”.

Roses shot up from her knees, throwing her face to the sky, night hair flying wildly, “Oyster! I'm so sorry… I told you I would follow you I-” Her face lit up red, but no tears seemed to emerge.

The audio interrupted, clicking in again with a harsh buzz like a fork on ceramic. “Nothing drops adrenaline like cold hard death doesn’t it? It’s pretty ironic all things considered, right Sonne?” 

Sonne's face stayed fixed on the body, a cocktail of anger and sadness turning him a greenish pale. “But it’s only an outside perspective, when I died, It was exhilarating I'm sure.”

MF tried to stand up straight, but began to topple, losing his footing inch by inch. Mond positioned himself to help, expecting to be turned down. But MF looked up in a pitiful desperation he could never before have imagined in the man.

Compressed mechanical sounds echoed behind the recording as Oysters voice carried on, “It’s a shame Roses will be later to the party than us, I'm sure she’s gone and found her family again by now.” Those tears finally managed to find their way out of her eyes, pouring in silent streams, “It’s funny… I almost want to be happy for her, I'm sure she was happy for me when I left.”

Roses mouthed the words, “I was” before being cut off in rigid static, “but I could never have brought myself to leave you all behind, my responsibility to you is too great.”

Mond tried to hold up MF, who practically melted under his own weight, “Dude what’s happening?” Mond tried to make himself heard under the cruel audio, but MF just shook his head, horrified, like a desperate child. A look in such a strong man, that chilled Mond’s every nerve.

Somewhere down the path they came, a machine blazed to life, discharging light and erratic sound through the dissipating mist. The blue-magenta walls faded to brown, the world constricted around them.

The smoldering metal corpse of Number Nine blazed stronger, smoke filling the tunnel as it returned to the steel side of the watch, and a distant hum became louder. “Chugga Chugga, Choo Choo, Clang Clang, Gnash Gnash Sonne” Oysters voice hummed over the mechanical chorus. “We’ll all fly, way up high, all you gotta’ do it die, you told me that before, didn’t you?”.

Rose's distraught face glared up at the old man. He seemed like a statue, holding the body, his face covered by a frozen waterfall of long grey hair. “What did… Sonne-” Roses shook violently, “What did you tell Oyster before he left.” Silence from the old man and audio both, just the creeping hum that got louder and closer, Mond felt his grip loosen.

“Um.. guys, I-” Mond's fists crackled, not from the dying lighting contained inside, but the aching joints of his fingers as they pulled apart. “What did you tell him Otto!” Roses shouted at the old man, who looked up at the name, silent, clearly insulted. But the sadness in his eyes overpowered the offense, and he remained still.

Mond struggled to hold up MF’s huge frame and keep his ever weakening hands from releasing the blitzing death that charged in the distance, fighting the oncoming tide of reality that washed over the underground. “Roses, Vertigo, all of you! We need to get out right now I cant keep-”

Brilliant white explosions lined the walls along the tracks, wires and metal boxes bursting with energized spirit. Vertigo simply stared down the livewire blaze, Roses verbally tore into the silent old man she’d called Otto. 

Mond’s panicked face looked down again at MF, setting him down softly on the tracks. The audio cut in one last time, “Fantasy is waiting my friends, I promise it will only hurt a moment, I’ll see you there”.