Work Text:
Who are you?
What are you?
Why… are you?
I jolted awake, looking around frantically, as if I’d been reanimated. I was… on the astral express, but something was clearly wrong.
Click
The cold metal pressed against the back of my head, and an eerily familiar voice spoke up.
“Missed me, hun?”
The nonchalant, almost lazy response brought back fragmented memories… random sensations… a shared cup of coffee… soft laughter… screams, lots of screams.
“Kafka.” Not a question… nor a statement, just an observation.
The woman chuckled softly, pushing the barrel further into my skin, sending shivers down my spine. “Who, what, why? Didn’t peg you for the existential crisis type…”
She smirked. “So… what’s the problem with you, hm?”
“Yeah Cae, what’s wrong~?” I felt something tickle my neck softly, drawing the attention away from the gun. Firefly was smiling shyly at me, seemingly oblivious to my predicament.
A sarcastic voice popped up. “Maybe he loaded the wrong safe file.”
And a gruff one. “Everything isn’t a video game.”
I shook my head overwhelmed. “Why are you all here?”
No one answered me.
Not right away.
They just stared—Kafka, Firefly, Silver Wolf, even Blade, looming like a storm in the corner of the cabin. None of them blinked. None of them moved. It was like time had been paused, and I was the only one left breathing.
Then, finally, Kafka leaned down, whispering into my ear like it was a secret meant only for my nerves.
“You tell us.”
The train jolted violently. For a second, the lights flickered—and with them, the people.
Firefly was gone. So was Silver Wolf. Blade flickered like a dying hologram. Kafka remained.
Of course she did.
I stood, staggering away from her, from the gun, from the smile. My heart felt like it was beating outside my body—too fast, too loud.
"This isn’t real," I muttered, gripping the side of a seat. "This can’t be real."
Kafka shrugged and sat down leisurely, crossing her legs as if this were just a normal day. “Reality’s subjective, Trailblazer. You of all people should know that by now.”
"Where are the others?" I asked, stepping back.
"Which others?" she replied, tilting her head. "You mean March and Dan Heng? Welt? Himeko? They're still here, Caelus. Buried somewhere beneath the mess you made."
She snapped her fingers.
And suddenly, she was sitting on my lap, a small smile on her face. "You're so adorable... you know that? All mine."
The click of the gun sounded, foreshadowing what came next.
"All... mine~"
*BANG*