On the third day after Akivili’s fall, Chara saw Dolly holding a cup in the dining car.
There was a small piece of transparent crystal on her right index finger.
Chara asked her what was wrong.
Dolly looked down and said she didn’t know, maybe she was just too tired lately?
On the fourth day, the crystal had spread to her entire finger.
Until the fifth day…
Isee checked her with an instrument three times, and the results were the same every time.
Those crystals were growing from inside Dolly’s body, fusing with her flesh and blood, making it impossible to tell where the skin ended and the crystal began.
She didn’t even feel any pain, saying the crystals felt warm to the touch.
“Can it be cured?”
“Damn it…
I can’t find its source, and I can’t find a way to stop it.”
Dolly sat by the window, looking at her already semi-transparent hand.
Her expression was very calm, as if she had known this would happen long ago.
“It’s fine.
I can feel Him calling me…”
When she said this, Isee and Chara didn’t know what expression to make…
A few more days passed.
The crystal spread to her forearm and shoulder.
The left half of her body began to emit a faint light, like a stone slowly turning into glass.
Her footsteps were slower than before when she walked, but she still walked on her own, not letting anyone support her.
She called Chara and Isee to the Parlor Car.
She sat in her usual chair.
Half of her body was already semi-transparent, the light of the crystal flowing slowly beneath her skin.
“Isee.”
“…”
“From today on, I pass the position of Navigator to you.”
“Dolly…” Chara wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Dolly.
“I have already confirmed with the train.
The train chose Isee, not me.”
Isee was silent for a moment.
“Understood.”
“One more thing.” Dolly turned her head to look at Chara.
“You will help him, right?”
Chara nodded.
“Then that’s all.”
…
That night, Dolly walked into the Parlor Car alone.
She sat next to the black piano, but today she held the violin.
She stood there, closed her eyes, and began to play a melody.
The sound of the bow hair rubbing against the strings echoed in the empty car.
There was no audience.
Chara stood at the corner of the corridor, not walking in.
She listened to those sounds flowing out from Dolly’s violin.
That melody was played for three days and three nights.
On the evening of the third day, after the last note dissipated in the air, Dolly stood by the window, motionless. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Her body had completely turned into semi-transparent crystal, refracting fine specks of light under the light of space.
Her final movement was looking at the stars outside the window, a slight arc on the corners of her mouth.
Then, those lights brightened from inside her body, brighter and brighter…
In the end, she scattered into the air like a wisp of soft light dust, falling onto the violin, falling onto the windowsill, falling onto the keys she had once touched.
The place where she stood didn’t leave a single trace…
Chara stood in the corridor for a long time, then turned around and walked back to her room.
She didn’t cry…
really…!
● After that night in the room, tears fell like rain.
…
Isee began to grow silent.
After Akivili’s fall, he spoke less than before.
After Dolly left, he almost never took the initiative to speak.
That day, Chara walked into the Parlor Car holding two cups of hot tea, placing one on the console next to Isee.
“How long has it been since you slept?”
“I slept yesterday.”
“I’m asking how long it’s been since you had a good night’s sleep.”
Isee didn’t answer.
He picked up the teacup, took a sip, and looked at the star map in front of him.
“I’m fine…”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I can hold on.”
Chara sat in the chair next to him, holding Flowey’s flower pot, looking at the flickering stars.
“‘Holding on’ and ‘getting better’ are two different things.
You are the Navigator.
The people on the train need you, and I…
don’t want you to leave either…”
“It’s fine…
After a while longer, I think I’ll be okay.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for you.”
…
And the chaos and greed on the train…
started half a month ago.
At first, it was just a few Nameless arguing in the corridor.
The voices got louder and louder, eventually escalating into a physical fight.
When Chara passed by, she saw them wrestling.
One person had the other pinned against the wall, cursing about the distribution of some inheritance?
After that, more and more people (probably a few hundred) began to show that expression Chara had heard outside the door over a decade ago…
greed.
Some started discussing the value of the train’s engine, saying that if dismantled and sold to the interstellar black market, it could be exchanged for a large sum of Credits.
Some even started live streaming, pointing the camera at the train’s internal structure and equipment, loudly introducing “the relics of the Aeon of Trailblaze,” letting the entire universe see what they were doing?
Pom-Pom chased those people down the corridor, his little short legs moving rapidly, shouting as he ran, “Put it down!
That belongs to the train! This chapter is updated first at g.com.
It’s not yours!”
No one was willing to listen…
After all…
Akivili was dead, so what was the point of Trailblaze?
Many Nameless even began to fight for the position of Navigator, saying that since Akivili was gone, the train should be handed over to someone more capable to manage.
And some even initiated several murders…
the smell of blood filled the carriages…
“Akivili was a liar!”
“I’m getting a share of His inheritance!”
“Navigator, what should we do?”
“Let go of me!
Get lost!”
…
Isee stood at the door of the driver’s cab, watching the few people wrestling at the end of the corridor.
The teacup in his hand wasn’t raised, just hanging by his side.
Chara walked to his side, following his gaze.
“What day is it?”
“The fifth day…”
“What are you going to do?”
Isee was silent for a moment, placed the teacup on the small table next to him, then turned and walked into the driver’s cab, pressing a button.
The train’s broadcast system let out a short beep, and his voice came from the speakers in all the carriages: [Any attempt to damage the train’s structure, embezzle public assets, or use violence against other passengers will be regarded as a threat to the train’s safety.
I will take appropriate measures.]
The wrestling in the corridor stopped for a moment.
A few people looked up at the speaker on the ceiling, their expressions varied.
Some awkwardly let go, some snorted and turned to leave, and others stood in place looking toward the driver’s cab, their eyes filled with reluctance.
But at least they didn’t start fighting again…?
Chara walked to Isee’s side holding Flowey, standing next to him, looking out the window together.
“They will cause trouble again.”
“I know…”
“How long do you think you can hold on?”
Isee looked at the stars outside the window, the corners of his mouth moving slightly, carrying a very faint arc.
“I don’t know…
When Akivili and Dolly left the train to me, they didn’t give me the option to stop.”
Chara nodded.
“If…
you can’t hold on anymore…
then I’ll do it.”
The voices behind them were still there, the sounds of arguing and footsteps mixing together, like a noisy background noise.
Flowey poked his head out of the flower pot, looked out the window, then looked behind him, and then shrank back in.
“The people on the train are so noisy.”
Chara didn’t respond, reaching out to touch Flowey’s petals.
Outside the window were stars, behind the window was chaos.
“In the name of the ‘Starseer’, to purge the traitors of Trailblaze.”