Chapter Text
“Greetings everyone, and welcome to the Dream express! The only train ride which takes you on an entire tour of the Dream Realm Theme Park!” The loudspeakers blared Rain’s words, convoluted sounds tinny as they reached the passengers in the open-side carriages behind. “In addition to a free meal as we travel, there will also be running commentary about the history and current spectacles to see here, so buckle up and we will be setting off in a few short moments!”
Her balance whipped from one side to the other, rocking her entire body. A pale breeze grazed through the conductor’s cabin through the open slots in the carriage, ruffling her ponytail and the whistle loosely dangling from her neck.
The speaker clicked against the brass as Rain slotted it back into its place on the wall. Her arm snaked around the slightly rusted handrail on the side as she tossed an inquisitive look at the others.
Ready to roll?
Their two firemen, Ray and Fleur, had already been shoveling marbles of coal into the firebox for a good quarter-of-an-hour, their aprons and shirts already stained black by the dust as the flames happily crackled at being fed such flammable items.
Fleur, who was also the train’s main engineer, leaned back on her shovel and gave Rain a sweaty thumbs up, then wiped her brow, smearing more coal dust along her face in the process. Her auburn hair was tied in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, a delicate headband embroidered with leaves and vines kept the remaining strands from blocking her view.
Tossing another handful of coals into the glowing fire, Ray nodded absentmindedly when he caught Rain’s eye. His headband- matching to Fleur’s - was bound loosely around his neck, vaguely shielding his mouth from the clouds of coal dust which seemed to permanently simmer around the lacquered metal surrounding the firebox.
Their driver - and most amazing person Rain knew - Tamar, hummed at the sign, turned around and pulled at the chord by her head. The shrill tinkle of the bell echoed around the station.
Pulling the speaker back out towards her mouth, Rain grinned widely as her voice cackled throughout the train carriages, “Alrighty, prepare to start moving! Please keep all of your personal belongings close to you, keep all items and limbs inside of the train and parents, and make sure to keep a close eye on your children. Do not leave your seats until your guide, me, has given you explicit permission to do so, and if anything seems to be off with the train, strange sounds on the rail, loose screws rattling, please do not try and fix it yourself and let a member of our crew know so we can fix it.” The train violently jerked into motion, thick plumes of smoke trailed high up into the sky. The chuffing of the rails started off slow, then started speeding up. “Now, without further ado, let’s enjoy the view and let the tour begin! Please feel free to admire the landscapes we will be passing, and you’ll be hearing from me when there’s a particular landmark we feel deserves to have its story told.”
“Sappy.” Ray coughed quietly, slamming the hatch to the firebox closed with more force that was likely needed.
“Oi, I never wrote that script! I have no control over what I say here?!” Rain snapped back, stuffing the speaker back into its slot.
At the same time, Tamar peaked up from the front, “stop chatting. and hold on to something.”
A pregnant pause. Tamar huffed in slight amusement. “Anyways,” she chuckled, “I mean, we’re going up the hill, prepare to fall into the firebox and die a miserable death I guess…”
Ray had no answer to that apparently, so by the time they left the cool maw of the station, Ray had slipped onto the handrail adjacent to where Rain was swinging about, next to Fleur, who was poorly concealing her smirk by pretending to look out of the window. Shame on her was the fact that they had seen this entire view about a thousand times before; neatly lined poplar trees stretched up vertically into the opal skies, crowds milled on the square below, thinly veiled by faint wisps of smoke that stubbornly clung onto the grounds from the stands and cigarettes. Tall walls and old, medieval looking houses hedged their view in for now, their colorful facades displaying Dream Realm merchandise and various other services that some visitors may find useful in the behemothic swath of land that was encapsulated by the enterprise.
Steadily, the angle of their carriage began to rise, tracks rattled and Rain snickered quietly when a few anxious shrieks echoed through the passenger carriages. She couldn’t really blame them. As they rose, the train tracks rustled high in the sky with only flimsy metal poles Rain suspected would never hold them if they tipped to the side. Practically, they were inside of a fifteen-ton trail of boxes on wheels being propelled forwards by steam, twenty metres above the ground and rising, with nearly nothing to stop gravity from flicking them over the edge on a whim. Rain knew how dangerous this was, and she did not doubt her superiors knew this was a practical death trap. But, she assumed, nothing catastrophic had ever occurred involving the Dream express, so there was no point in spending large wads of cash fixing something that worked just fine.
They crested the walls of Bastion, sunlight bounding off of the lacquered forest carriages and frolicking between tall pikes of pine trees that surrounded one of the main hubs in the park. A flock of stirlings swooped low over the evergreens, moving like a wave of pure darkness in the sky. Wood and metal scaffolding created another barrier between their view and the outside world, connecting the train tracks to their locations of interest.
Rain quietly whistled as blinding light grasped at her face, threatening to burn holes through her eyelids.
Stupid sun, shining stupidly right into the carriage at that stupidly horizontal angle-
“Raiin,” Tamar grumbled, “put the barrier between the Sun and I please. I can’t see.”
Scoffing, Rain peeled her sight into a squint to stumble over the three steps it took to get to the blinds and pulled at the chord, which let out a zipping noise as the strips of wood snapped up. Sunlight still threatened to spill past the gaps of the imperfect blinds, but at least. now, it wasn’t actively throttling out their ability to see.
“Is there anything else I can do for you, your highness?” She bowed mockingly next to the conductor, blinking up innocently at the enterprise-issued hat and the deep red- and rose striped vest with the golden pocket watch neatly tucked in the breast pocket. Amused eyes met her own, Tamar’s head not moving as she watched Rain tilt her head questioningly. A faint dusting of pink threatened her freckled, acne scarred tan cheeks before she averted her gaze back onto the tracks.
“Perhaps if you were to kiss me-“ she teasingly began, though that blush of hers deepened exponentially.
Unfortunately, Ray chose that moment to groan loudly, “Oh my god, just shut up will you!” His voice muffled half way through, an indicator that he had buried his face into his hands.
Twisting over to face him with ice clawing up her back, Rain pierced him with a daggerlike gaze.
“And what do you have to say about this? Huh? I’m relatively sure you’re just jealous that we can flirt while that Corsai-“
Once more, Ray interrupted her, this time, with a violent choke and flaming ears. “Shut up! Shut up!” He accusingly pointed a finger at Tamar’s set back and Rain, and then flew up in the air in a surrendering fashion. “Fine! Do what you want, I don't care.”
Smug once more, Rain took a step and leaned forwards to brush Tamar’s cheek with a light peck of her lips before moving back to her station and slinging her arm back through the handrail.
-
“ETA of our first stop is about three minutes, get ready to start shovelling coal you retards! And Rain, honey, get ready to give speech number two. “ Tamar cheered from the front with a bit more volume than was necessary, eliciting a resigned huff from Fleur and a stark complaint from Ray.
Slowly, the train came to a halt in front of a cracked landscape of elevated platforms and ropes and what Rain knew to be ropes painted as chains hanging between the islands, which were somewhere between a metre and a size that allowed whole structures to be built on top of them.
The cold metal of the speaker pressed against her lips as Rain began reciting her well-settled lines, hearing as her words blared down the entirety of the train. “Welcome to our first stop of this magical tour: The Chained Isles.” Her speech droned on, empty words filled with enthusiasm as she prattled on about the lore of the place and the various pit stops one could take while clambering through the climbing course. A restaurant here, a secret puzzle in a miniature shipwreck with hidden merch there, a luxury hotel room in an ivory tower in the middle, the list went on.
When her lines ran dry, she quickly announced that the food trolley would be dispatched down the line once they had set off again, giving them a few more minutes before Tamar gave the signal to do just that.
The next twenty odd minutes were spent quietly listening in on Ray and Fleur bickering with hushed voices, sending the occasional side eye to the door connecting them with the rest of the train. It wasn’t until their passenger attendant, June, peeked his head in asking if anyone wanted any leftovers from the food trolley that their aggressive whispering stopped.
Now, the thing to know about June, the Corsair, was that he was creepily good at reading people, that was partially why he was placed in the role of passenger attendant. The one exception to this universal fact was Ray, who, in Rain’s very humble opinion, was a book, ripped open so wide that pages start falling out while in proximity with June.
The rest of the crew had running bets if the Corsair was willingly ignoring the bright glowing signs lined with blinking lamps above Ray’s head, or if he was genuinely stunted at his behaviour.
Rain herself did not know, but it was hilarious to watch. (Her bet was on his obliviousness)
“Yeah, what’s left?” Fleur answered over the chuff chuff chuff of the train, innocence coating her words in a way that made it clear it was hiding ulterior moves. With her back still turned to them, Tamar audibly choked down laughter. Furrowing her brows, Rain observed Fleur as she wriggled her eyebrows discreetly when she caught her eye. Rain turned to Ray, with flaming ears and mouth a thin line on his face. Then, she turned back to Fleur, knowing glint flaming up in her chest.
“Uuh…” The Corsair’s words tapered off as he vanished out of sight for a split second, returning with narrowed eyes. “A couple of packets of bon-bons, a slice of cake, a hotdog, a few blueberry muffins… What are you laughing about?”
Tamar’s shoulders were shaking, still fully turned away from them. “Nothing.” The words were clearly choked out of her neck, her back hunched. June turned to Rain.
“What are you hiding?”
Pinned under the dangerous gaze of the Corsair, she unconsciously wriggled in her skin, gaze jumping from the nondescript ceiling to the weld between walls back to June. “Yeah, nothing.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Fleur piqued up, also not fully able to wipe the grin off of her face. “ Rain and Tamar’ll share a muffin, I’ll have the hotdog and Ray here,” she aggressively slapped him across the back, making him yelp and stumble forward with the rattling of the carriage “he would like a slice of yo-“
“Cake please!” He panickedly muttered, leaning on the wall to avoid being joustled too much by the train. “Thank you, Fleur, but I can speak for myself.”
“Sure… I’ll get it for you…” with a suspicious gaze over his shoulders before closing the door behind him, the pressure in the room skyrocketed.
“Fleur.” Ray began, acid fury and humiliation leaving from every heaving breath he took. “Talk to him on my behalf one more time, and I’ll shove you into the firebox personally.”
“Ouch.” Rain heard her mutter, “what a terrible threat. I’m shivering in my boots.”
Ray looked just about ready to throttle her. Fortunately, June returned before violence could break out.
“Here are your stuff… cake, hotdog, muffin- are you sure you don’t want two?”
“Nah, we’re good.” Rain said with a smile that probably didn’t look very convincing.
“…as you wish.”
And with the food alleviated from his arms, the Corsair vanished.
“I’ll kill you.” Ray hissed under his breath, stomping back next to Fleur with the sponge cake in one hand and a hotdog being throttled by the other.
“Wow, Ray. No need to be so violent.” Rain commented as she plucked off the wrapping of the muffin, taking a deep bite into the fluffy interior, savouring the delicious pop of sour blueberry. For a second, she hung, suspended by the divine taste crumbling on her tongue, eyes slipping shut as she let her tastebuds bathe in such magnificence. Then, through the fog of bliss, Tamar’s voice piqued up.
“Hey, Rain! That muffin’s for both of us!” And the moment was broken. Sweetness soured in a blink, and the omnipresent rattling of the tracks slammed into her hearing in full force. That delicate warmth slipped down her throat with the bite of muffin and curled around her heart, squeezing, threatening to pop.
“Oh, sure thing, honey.” She dipped the last word into emphasis, tossing a smirk at Ray (who had returned to Fleur’s side and was still redder than a glowing coal) as she returned to Tamar’s side, holding up the muffin. “Here you go, my beloved.”
“Thanks sweatheart.” Their fingers brushed and sparks jolted up her arm. Coughing, she pulled away slightly too quickly, heat pressing against her cheeks. Similarly, Tamar turned away while nibbling at the edge of the muffin, unable to hide the pink ears.
Pressure started building up in Rain’s throat, the urge to say something profound twisting around her vocal chords as the silence between crew members mounted in length.
“Well…”
Fleur huffed. Her cheeks grew even hotter.
“How long until we get to the next stop again?” Rain finally settled on, disappointment instantly yelling thousands of more fitting lines to say than that now that the words had escaped her.
Tamar’s free hand brushed down to her watch, flicking it open with one fluid motion, leaning on her post by her elbows as she munched away at what little crumbs were left of the muffin.
“ ‘bout ten minutes, we still have time.” Her shoulders slumped, she pocketed the golden device. “So, baby, what do we think of the weather today?” So they were slipping back into mocking Ray for his inability to flirt. Right. The coils around her heart squeezed again.
“Ah, my dearest, most loved human being on this earth, I do believe the weather looks nearly as good as you, if I do say so myself.” Her voice rose to a mock posh accent, Rain pulled her eyebrows up to imitate the facial expressions of many of their more rich, flaunty guests.
A giggle escaped Tamar at that moment, she snapped over to stare at her with an incredulous gasp, lips upturned into that silly grin Rain found oh-so endearing.
Yes, those lines had blurred for her a long time ago. Now, it was just a gambling game to see how far they could go before one snapped, either in discomfort or an admission of love, depending on Tamar’s feelings towards Rain. They had being doing this dance for over two years by now; a pet name here, a light brush of lips-on-cheek there, but Rain could not lie to herself that she wanted more.
“Ah, of course milady, “she tossed her braid to the side, tone switching to match Rain, “what other lovely words would you have the courage to utter to a lonesome young woman like me?” Taking her eyes off of the tracks for a moment to lean over the dashboard, arm flung over her face, nearly batting off her hat as her think lashed blinked innocently up at her.
“Many things, oh, so many things petal.”
“You’re too much of a gentlewoman! What would I do without you?” Tamar snickered and returned to her former position, gaze slipping back forward out of duty.
This game was a gamble, and Rain was about to bet all of her money. All or nothing. Her arm snuck around Tamar’s waist as she pulled the taller woman flush against her, hand gripping her hip firmly, confidently. “You would never have to be without me, ever. I will follow you to the end of the world if it means we stay together.” Sweetness spread over her tongue, her entire body buzzed like panicked bees.
Tamar went very, very silent.
Rain found her windpipe was strung shut, heart pumping blood around her body at twice the usual speed.
…
“I- “ the ashen blonde’s eyes were still set firmly onto the horizon, skin that was formerly tan now glowed in an incandescent crimson. Her mouth opened, then closed. Her throat bobbed, and her knuckles were paler than bone where they clutched the gears.
Rain’s heart dropped, a sudden feeling that crashed painfully against all other organs on its way down to the deepest pits of sudden, icy dread.
“I’m so sorry I-“ she hastily detached herself from Tamar, who let it happen.
Ray whistled. “Nice job, Rainbow.” He sarcastically commented.
“Get back to shovelling coal.” Tamar’s bowstring taut voice commanded, thinner than usual, lacking the presence of being fully committed.
Rain returned to her spot, her heart left on the dashboard next to Tamar, replaced by shame. Grinding her teeth to scare away the tears that threatened to swell up in her eyes. She turned away, back to the rest of the crew.
She heard scoffing, then shuffling as Ray and Fleur grabbed their shovels and started muttering between themselves. The predominant word Rain picked up was ‘idiots’.
-
They passed the hollow mountains, the nightmare desert and the forgotten shore in complete silence, barely acknowledging each other. Rain’s speeches fell a bit flat, and even she could hear it, her voice shaking slightly. Every time the train stopped, she could feel Tamar’s eyes boring a hole through the back of her skull. The one time she turned around, their eyes locked, and Rain choked on her words.
Now, shoulders hunched, head downcast and shame staining her cheeks red, she counted the rattling of the tracks as they prepared for the break at Ravenheart, the other large hub of business in the park apart from Bastion. Her hands were sore from fidgeting with her whistle, with her suspenders, with the hem of her sleeves. Rain yearned for the sweet feeling of a stationary floor and the privacy of the bathroom to be able to sink to her knees and have a good mental crisis in peace while keeping the shambles of her dignity intact. It was already bad enough that both Ray and Fleur saw that, but what Tanar must think of her dragged those icy claws of shame down her insides just a bit more.
About half an hour of keeping up. She could do this.
The Corsair had returned to poke his head through the door again, commenting on the passengers’ unrest (not really that surprising, it had been the better part of two hours by now). He didn’t question the choking silence in the cabin.
Twenty minutes…
The tracks began bending to the left, the iron screeched warningly. They really did need oiling at some point. Maybe Rain could file a complaint to her superiors.
Tamar coughed, tense.
“Rain… uuh, I- I’m sorry?”
Silence, her shoulders shook.
“Look. I should have said something, you don’t need to feel bad it’s my fault I should have stopped you from feeling like I didn’t want- “
Her voice cut off. The hairs on the back of Rain’s neck stood on edge, electricity bouncing through the air.
“Tamar?”
She fully turned to face the ashen blonde’s back, back taut, like a deer in headlights.
Then, with a screech that would haunt her worst nightmares, the world tilted.
No, not the world. The train, it came in two violent jolts. Sound was cut off from Rain’s perception as her eyes widened, for a second, the cabin was not tethered to gravity.
Below her, a waterfall of molten coal spilt from the firebox, shooting stars of incinerating heat burst from the stream, and Rain lost sight of Ray and Fleur.
Now the ceiling was the floor, and Rain hung like a fish biting down on bait from the handrail, floating in an ocean burning ice. Her core muscles clenched to prevent the terror from spilling out of her torso, yet it clawed desperately at her throat. She could not breathe.
Rain never felt the impact, her consciousness being wrenched from her body before her nerves ever caught up.