The Train Of Life [NCT Dream]

the good

-

This was different because you were on the train but there was an arrow against the wall. You had awoken and you were surrounded by a garden, hilarious cartoon characters as statues embedded onto the ground. You stood up, your knees shaky from the fall when you followed the arrows and stepped out of the train just to see a man stand there with a shovel and bucket in his arm.

"Oh!" He gasped out loud, a hand going to ruffle his cotton candy blue hair. "You're here! You reached the last stop!"

He was definitely energetic with the way he bounded towards you, his heels digging to a stop. He huffed his chest out and pounded his fist down two times.

"My. Name. Is. Nana," he emphasized and offered you his hand, almost dragging you to the flowers that he seemed to have planted. "And you are our passenger for today. Poor you, you must be tired," he cooed.

You were but you did not say anything, Nana patting your cheek and you winced when dirt smeared across your cheek.

"This is the last stop?" you asked and he nodded eagerly, his bright smile enough to blind you. "What are you?"

"Oh no, why do you sound defeated?" He shook his head. "I bet the rest played with you, didn't they? Did they ask you to guess? We decided not to do that! It tires out the passengers!"

He stomped onto the ground before he was back to smiling once more, leaving you even more confused.

"I am forgiveness. I am love. I am all the good things rolled in one," he concluded, giving you a low bow. "Look around you, my beautiful girl. These flowers, these plants. You plant the seeds; they grow out of love and they wilt with none. Simple, isn't it?"

It was, you thought. He spoke so fast, you desperately tried to keep up. Your hand reached out to touch a leaf softly, the green rich and the many colors of the buds blooming magically to your left and right.

It was simple.

"A flower for you," he sang out, the male thrusting a rose into your hands when you yelped. "Oh no! I'm sorry. I forgot it had thorns."

"How could you forget?" you exclaimed back boldly and his smile froze on his face, the male staring at you. You gulped, telling him that him staring at you that way was creepy. "That's... creepy."

"Yes, I know. Just... raveling at the way you spoke just now. Such a change, don't you think?" he asked you but he did not wait for your answer. "Come now, follow me!"

You were brought towards a cemetery.

"Come now!" he urged. For someone so cheery, he was impatient and you nodded, following his orders. "Here, a shovel."

"S-Sorry?" You frown and with the same creepy smile, he simply stared at you. "You have got to stop doing that."

"Much apologies, such a hard habit to get rid of," he said to you and you frowned.

"Smiling and staring?"

"Yup. Dig," he said, pointing to the ground. "You must dig a hole and bury every bad thing you have ever thought about yourself in that hole. Symbolic, don't you think? I love it!"

"Nana," you began but he had already beat you to it, motioning to the ground. You groaned and then you began to dig, the male beaming at you. It took a while, grunt after grunt and a pile of dirt after you had dug a hole.

"Beautiful," he whispered and when you straightened yourself up, he brought his hand up to your head. Strands of gold static moved towards his fingers and he sighed when he saw it. "Let it go now, don't be shy."

You exhaled when you felt it, your body feeling lighter than it had ever been. The gold strings of magic were no longer gold but a dark black and you watched as Nana tugged it away from you. His voice had turned soothing.

"Bury it, my lady," he said to you. "After you do, forgive yourself for the things you feel guilty for."

You watched the thoughts slowly melt into the ground and you grabbed the shovel, filling the hole with dirt. You wanted your thoughts to stay there. You did not realize that you were crying, your tears seeping onto the ground as heavy droplets.

"It's okay to cry," he said simply from behind you.

And he let you cry over that covered hole of big black dark thoughts. He let you cry while you pounded the shovel onto the ground to harden the dirt, compress it and never let it out.

And once it was buried, he told you it was time to walk away.

"Time to leave what makes you soul heavy behind," he said, pointing to the exit.

The gates by the cemetery had opened and beyond that, you could hear the train station so you walked towards it.

"Goodbye, my lady!" he called out from behind you but you did not look back. Your feet froze by the exit and once again, the searing feeling of fear began to overcome you when you heard a breathless huff.

"Wait!" Chenle's voice called out, the man in charge of Courage waving to you while he tried to catch up. "Wait!"

When he reached you, he caught his breath a hand slipping into yours.

"Courage. To go back and face the outside world," he told you and that was all that was needed for you to decide that you could make it. "It was a pleasure to have you on the Train of Life!"

You smiled, deciding to go on your way.

"Remember to live while you're trying to survive," he called out once more. "And everything will make sense!"

And made sense, it did.

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