117. Last Train To Wherever 2/10
TITLE Last Train To Wherever 2/10
SUMMARY Jonghyun takes the train to the last stop, only to find he's left his life behind.
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS [SHINee] Jonghyun/Key.
RATING/WARNING PG-13.
GENRE Supernatural/light horror/humor/suspense/romance
( 1)
last train to wherever
The city wasn't filled with grandeur or any particular spooky qualities, Jonghyun noted, as Key took an endless number of right turns, winding them deeper into the labyrinth of streets. It looked a lot like any big city; everything appeared to be connected by trains zigzagging silently above or across. It was almost futuristic in its appeal.
"Impressed?" Key asked, glancing at his escortee's awed face.
"It looks like Seoul."
"That'll change." replied the reaper, turning onto a weed-laced brick road. Dour trees lined the wide path, and up ahead Jonghyun spotted a rickety old castle-house. It stood proud despite being caged by cooperate high-rises-a small oasis of greenery amidst metal and grit. Key pulled the Nadir to a halt and hopped out of the carriage, extending a hand to assist Jonghyun, who just ignored him and slid out sort of sideways. They entered the manor through two large, mahogany doors that opened straight to four choices of spindly hallways, and took the one to the left.
"You know," Key spoke, breaking the impeding silence with a curious tone. "I'm still waiting for your breakdown."
Jonghyun eyed him with a look of antipathy. "I killed myself. It's not like I died unexpectedly."
"Regardless,"-Jonghyun could swear he heard disappointment laced in Key's voice-"this is not what most people expect."
"It's probably better, isn't it?" Jonghyun shot back. "I still exist."
Key deigned no reply, instead watching Jonghyun out of the corner of his eye as they continued through the house, up a flight of stairs, and through a parlor. This boy was very strange. Suicides usually took it the worst, but here was Jonghyun, behaving as if this was nothing new.
They reached the library and pushed the ajar door fully open. Jonghyun's eyes were immediately drawn to a rather regal looking person sitting in a rather throne-like chair, but Key bypassed him with nothing but a nod of acknowledgment (which he got in return) before veering off and down an aisle.
They walked through what seemed like endless rows of books, ducked under a few dangerous looking ladders, and finally emerged into a book-den of sorts, full of clutter and a solitary person, sitting bent over a book nearly half his size, and probably weighing just as much.
Key strolled over and bowed shortly. "Your highness,"
No response. Key sighed. "Jinki."
"Huhwhat?" the bespectacled king exclaimed, head snapping upwards. A grin befell his face when he saw Key, followed by a curious brow raise at Jonghyun.
"It's Kim Jonghyun." Key leaned in to whisper, casting a glance at the pale boy behind him.
"Oh." said the king, looking surprised and all-together very un-kingly. He just did not fit the picture at all.
"Jonghyun, this is your 'Hades', more or less," Jinki made a strange sound and the amusement was apparent by Key's tone, if the smug smile didn't give it away. "Around here we just call him the Landlord."
"You're kidding." Jonghyun deadpanned, not amused.
"Ouch." Jinki winced a little, chuckling at Key's haughty intake of air. "So. Kim Jonghyun."
He paused and said nothing more, transfixing a serious stare at the blonde.
"What? What are you doing?" Jonghyun snapped, impatient.
"You're interesting." said the king. "Why are you here?"
Jonghyun scowled. "You're like, king of the underworld. Shouldn't you know?"
"Actually, that's why I have a secretary."
"An under-appreciated one!" came a squawk from down the aisle. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonghyun saw some sort of long-legged creature move along a dark aisle, black feathers twitching as it went.
Key pursed his lips. "He's a suicide, but. He left the last station by himself. He's-well, he's got potential."
"Hmmm." the king once again peered at Jonghyun over his black, square-rimmed glasses. "Okay."
"Okay what?" Jonghyun demanded.
Jinki ignored him. "Kibum, I expect you to stop complaining about overtime. A partner would make your job easier, wouldn't it?"
Key did not look pleased. In fact, his face went through several levels of anguish, and Jonghyun thought he looked like a gold-fish, lips flapping uselessly. "But-no-that's-"
"Not my decision." Jinki chimed, un-affected. "So it can't be changed. Now go away please, I'm entirely too fascinated by the idea of birthday parties to waste any more time on trivial matters. Actually, I was thinking of passing a decree about celebrating deathdays. What do you think?"
Jonghyun stared at him. Key seemed to have recovered and he shook his head reproachfully. "You're the Landlord, do as you please."
"No one's any help around here." muttered the king, waving them away and turning back to his large tome.
"Don't I get any say?" Jonghyun yelled, moodily yanking his arm free from Key's grip. "I'm not playing any of this!"
"Playing?" Jinki looked up, bewildered. "Please never think," he said, very austerely, "that this is any sort of game."
"You. Are insane." Key hissed when they finally found their way back through the maze of aisles, books, and ladders. "You're lucky to be standing in the Landlord's household, and yet there you go speaking disrespectfully without any reason too."
"I think I have every reason too." Jonghyun spat back. "I'm dead."
"You're a suicide," replied Key, "You're supposed to be in the Moors. Don't complain."
Jonghyun turned to him, opening his mouth to retort, but Key hushed him, talking on, "You don't deserve to be here."
"The Moors?"
"Outside. The dead part of the city. It's never safe there."
That quieted Jonghyun, in fact, he felt disquieted. "I just wanted to disappear."
"Nobody wants to disappear." Key refuted. "That's why this place exists."
The Nadir were gone when they stepped outside; the air smelled like ash and roses-a strange combination. They stood there for a time, the breeze whispering past Jonghyun's cold nose and grabbing at his hair. "Hey," he said eventually. "Key?"
"Hmm? Sorry." the reaper replied. "I was distracted."
"By what?"
Key turned somber eyes to him. "Something you may like to know." he held his pocket watch in front of Jonghyun, popping it open. There were no hands, just numbers-and it went from one to forty-four. "Is that time does not work here. Also, if you hear something, listen to it. Or don't. It may or may not be important."
What does that mean, thought Jonghyun. "How did you tell time earlier?" came out instead.
"I didn't. The sun rose about ten minutes after I said an hour. It's actually a pretty close estimation, for once. Ah, there it is again."
Jonghyun blinked rapidly, trying to follow the conversation. "You're hearing something?"
"An eerie piano tune. It's nothing new." Key cuffed his shirt sleeves and began off down the path on foot, back towards the towering city heights. Jonghyun did not follow. The reaper turned back, looking perturbed. "I am technically still your escort, therefore you are technically still supposed to be going where I go."
"Which is?" Jonghyun replied, finding his feet jogging to catch up with Key regardless.
"Home."
"Home" was a pristine little penthouse in a building built like a twisted deck of cards, yet somehow perfectly balanced. Everything was white, cleanly-the only color was a large, red suede couch and a black timepiece behind it, which, Jonghyun observed, spun in whatever directions at whatever speeds it pleased.
"For now, consider yourself on house arrest." Key was saying, though Jonghyun was hardly listening, removing his muddied high-tops outside the swinging door, barely catching it as Key kept talking, and walking further into the apartment. "I have another job coming up soon and I can't take you with me. I also assume that you are going to be difficult about everything because I know these things, so you can stay here until you die again of boredom or decide to cooperate."
"Actually," Jonghyun said, "I just want coffee."
"Good, because that's all I have. It's behind the flower pot." with that, Key promptly turned back to the door, flipped a strange nodule, and disappeared into a dark abyss.
Jonghyun considered running away, or tearing the room apart-but, as he brewed heady scented coffee, he realized he had nothing better to do but stay. This place had a dulling affect.
The coffee swirled against gravity into the upside down cup and mixed with a strange sound that traveled softly through the walls. Jonghyun nearly tripped as he rushed to the huge windows just in time to see a monolith of a whale glide past-swimming through the air-almost like it was pushing oxygen apart from nitrogen with its strange song. The call echoed sadly and it arched upward, quickly waning as it flew further towards the clouds. He mused that The End was deep, deep at the bottom of the ocean-that he really wasn't dead at all, that the clouds were the break of sea and firmament-
The coffee timer tinged and Jonghyun returned to reality, padding back over and pouring the black liquid into a mug without aplomb, watching it slosh, as if offended, into the ceramic cup. He wondered what his family was thinking-his friends. He hadn't even left a note. He was willing to wager that they never saw it coming. His life was completely normal-mundane and boring. Pointless. Jonghyun sighed. He could understand that breakdown Key had been pestering him about earlier, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get tears to come.
"That," Key said later, after Jonghyun had asked him about the whale, "is only the beginning of Things That Are Not Like Seoul."
He had startled Jonghyun, appearing much like the Cheshire Cat, out of nowhere and half-there, except not really. He was sitting cross-legged on the red couch, but how and when he got there, Jonghyun did not know. Last he had seen him several moments ago, he was turning away from him in the kitchen.
"Why are there whales here?" he asked, crouching down to pick up the large pieces of shattered mug whilst doing his best to ignore his speeding heart.
"Contrary to popular belief, humans aren't the only things that know they exist."
"Which means..." Jonghyun muttered, not expecting an answer. He was not disappointed. Instead, Key said, "I've always been curious as to where they disappear too, being so big and all. Do they ever get stuck anywhere?"
"This place." Jonghyun exhaled, feeling weary as Key un-couched himself and knelt down beside him, "What is it?"
"Haven't we been through this already?" Key sighed. "Stop fussing, you cut your hand."
Jonghyun looked down. His hand was indeed bleeding, but he felt no pain. Just warmth, and not from the dripping red. Maybe from the body heat next to him; but how Death could be warm, he'd never understand. "I just want some straight answers." he muttered. "Why am I bleeding. Still."
"Do you think if you're not shot, you won't bleed?" Key asked, wrapping a cloth around Jonghyun's hand. "Hold that tight, okay?" he stood up and disappeared for a moment, leaving Jonghyun to stare at the black coffee slowly swirling from the white tile to soak in the white carpet. Much like his blood had when he was alive. His breath caught in his throat and when Key came came back out, he was crying.
"About time." the reaper said, gently taking Jonghyun's hand and treating it. "Just cry until you can't anymore."
So Jonghyun did.
He was dead. By his own hands, everything was over. Yet, here he was, at the end. The End.
It just didn't make any sense.
previous | next
AN: I hope to get the next chapter up by tomorrow or Thursday. I wanted to make this chapter longer for you guys, but I figured you'd rather just have it now??? IDK. Hope you liked. ^^
"Contrary to popular belief, humans aren't the only things that know they exist." - I realized this can be read two ways, so I wanted to elaborate. Technically, only things that recognize their existence and act on more than just "instinct" have "souls". So. Yup.
SUMMARY Jonghyun takes the train to the last stop, only to find he's left his life behind.
CHARACTERS/PAIRINGS [SHINee] Jonghyun/Key.
RATING/WARNING PG-13.
GENRE Supernatural/light horror/humor/suspense/romance
( 1)
last train to wherever
The city wasn't filled with grandeur or any particular spooky qualities, Jonghyun noted, as Key took an endless number of right turns, winding them deeper into the labyrinth of streets. It looked a lot like any big city; everything appeared to be connected by trains zigzagging silently above or across. It was almost futuristic in its appeal.
"Impressed?" Key asked, glancing at his escortee's awed face.
"It looks like Seoul."
"That'll change." replied the reaper, turning onto a weed-laced brick road. Dour trees lined the wide path, and up ahead Jonghyun spotted a rickety old castle-house. It stood proud despite being caged by cooperate high-rises-a small oasis of greenery amidst metal and grit. Key pulled the Nadir to a halt and hopped out of the carriage, extending a hand to assist Jonghyun, who just ignored him and slid out sort of sideways. They entered the manor through two large, mahogany doors that opened straight to four choices of spindly hallways, and took the one to the left.
"You know," Key spoke, breaking the impeding silence with a curious tone. "I'm still waiting for your breakdown."
Jonghyun eyed him with a look of antipathy. "I killed myself. It's not like I died unexpectedly."
"Regardless,"-Jonghyun could swear he heard disappointment laced in Key's voice-"this is not what most people expect."
"It's probably better, isn't it?" Jonghyun shot back. "I still exist."
Key deigned no reply, instead watching Jonghyun out of the corner of his eye as they continued through the house, up a flight of stairs, and through a parlor. This boy was very strange. Suicides usually took it the worst, but here was Jonghyun, behaving as if this was nothing new.
They reached the library and pushed the ajar door fully open. Jonghyun's eyes were immediately drawn to a rather regal looking person sitting in a rather throne-like chair, but Key bypassed him with nothing but a nod of acknowledgment (which he got in return) before veering off and down an aisle.
They walked through what seemed like endless rows of books, ducked under a few dangerous looking ladders, and finally emerged into a book-den of sorts, full of clutter and a solitary person, sitting bent over a book nearly half his size, and probably weighing just as much.
Key strolled over and bowed shortly. "Your highness,"
No response. Key sighed. "Jinki."
"Huhwhat?" the bespectacled king exclaimed, head snapping upwards. A grin befell his face when he saw Key, followed by a curious brow raise at Jonghyun.
"It's Kim Jonghyun." Key leaned in to whisper, casting a glance at the pale boy behind him.
"Oh." said the king, looking surprised and all-together very un-kingly. He just did not fit the picture at all.
"Jonghyun, this is your 'Hades', more or less," Jinki made a strange sound and the amusement was apparent by Key's tone, if the smug smile didn't give it away. "Around here we just call him the Landlord."
"You're kidding." Jonghyun deadpanned, not amused.
"Ouch." Jinki winced a little, chuckling at Key's haughty intake of air. "So. Kim Jonghyun."
He paused and said nothing more, transfixing a serious stare at the blonde.
"What? What are you doing?" Jonghyun snapped, impatient.
"You're interesting." said the king. "Why are you here?"
Jonghyun scowled. "You're like, king of the underworld. Shouldn't you know?"
"Actually, that's why I have a secretary."
"An under-appreciated one!" came a squawk from down the aisle. Out of the corner of his eye, Jonghyun saw some sort of long-legged creature move along a dark aisle, black feathers twitching as it went.
Key pursed his lips. "He's a suicide, but. He left the last station by himself. He's-well, he's got potential."
"Hmmm." the king once again peered at Jonghyun over his black, square-rimmed glasses. "Okay."
"Okay what?" Jonghyun demanded.
Jinki ignored him. "Kibum, I expect you to stop complaining about overtime. A partner would make your job easier, wouldn't it?"
Key did not look pleased. In fact, his face went through several levels of anguish, and Jonghyun thought he looked like a gold-fish, lips flapping uselessly. "But-no-that's-"
"Not my decision." Jinki chimed, un-affected. "So it can't be changed. Now go away please, I'm entirely too fascinated by the idea of birthday parties to waste any more time on trivial matters. Actually, I was thinking of passing a decree about celebrating deathdays. What do you think?"
Jonghyun stared at him. Key seemed to have recovered and he shook his head reproachfully. "You're the Landlord, do as you please."
"No one's any help around here." muttered the king, waving them away and turning back to his large tome.
"Don't I get any say?" Jonghyun yelled, moodily yanking his arm free from Key's grip. "I'm not playing any of this!"
"Playing?" Jinki looked up, bewildered. "Please never think," he said, very austerely, "that this is any sort of game."
"You. Are insane." Key hissed when they finally found their way back through the maze of aisles, books, and ladders. "You're lucky to be standing in the Landlord's household, and yet there you go speaking disrespectfully without any reason too."
"I think I have every reason too." Jonghyun spat back. "I'm dead."
"You're a suicide," replied Key, "You're supposed to be in the Moors. Don't complain."
Jonghyun turned to him, opening his mouth to retort, but Key hushed him, talking on, "You don't deserve to be here."
"The Moors?"
"Outside. The dead part of the city. It's never safe there."
That quieted Jonghyun, in fact, he felt disquieted. "I just wanted to disappear."
"Nobody wants to disappear." Key refuted. "That's why this place exists."
The Nadir were gone when they stepped outside; the air smelled like ash and roses-a strange combination. They stood there for a time, the breeze whispering past Jonghyun's cold nose and grabbing at his hair. "Hey," he said eventually. "Key?"
"Hmm? Sorry." the reaper replied. "I was distracted."
"By what?"
Key turned somber eyes to him. "Something you may like to know." he held his pocket watch in front of Jonghyun, popping it open. There were no hands, just numbers-and it went from one to forty-four. "Is that time does not work here. Also, if you hear something, listen to it. Or don't. It may or may not be important."
What does that mean, thought Jonghyun. "How did you tell time earlier?" came out instead.
"I didn't. The sun rose about ten minutes after I said an hour. It's actually a pretty close estimation, for once. Ah, there it is again."
Jonghyun blinked rapidly, trying to follow the conversation. "You're hearing something?"
"An eerie piano tune. It's nothing new." Key cuffed his shirt sleeves and began off down the path on foot, back towards the towering city heights. Jonghyun did not follow. The reaper turned back, looking perturbed. "I am technically still your escort, therefore you are technically still supposed to be going where I go."
"Which is?" Jonghyun replied, finding his feet jogging to catch up with Key regardless.
"Home."
"Home" was a pristine little penthouse in a building built like a twisted deck of cards, yet somehow perfectly balanced. Everything was white, cleanly-the only color was a large, red suede couch and a black timepiece behind it, which, Jonghyun observed, spun in whatever directions at whatever speeds it pleased.
"For now, consider yourself on house arrest." Key was saying, though Jonghyun was hardly listening, removing his muddied high-tops outside the swinging door, barely catching it as Key kept talking, and walking further into the apartment. "I have another job coming up soon and I can't take you with me. I also assume that you are going to be difficult about everything because I know these things, so you can stay here until you die again of boredom or decide to cooperate."
"Actually," Jonghyun said, "I just want coffee."
"Good, because that's all I have. It's behind the flower pot." with that, Key promptly turned back to the door, flipped a strange nodule, and disappeared into a dark abyss.
Jonghyun considered running away, or tearing the room apart-but, as he brewed heady scented coffee, he realized he had nothing better to do but stay. This place had a dulling affect.
The coffee swirled against gravity into the upside down cup and mixed with a strange sound that traveled softly through the walls. Jonghyun nearly tripped as he rushed to the huge windows just in time to see a monolith of a whale glide past-swimming through the air-almost like it was pushing oxygen apart from nitrogen with its strange song. The call echoed sadly and it arched upward, quickly waning as it flew further towards the clouds. He mused that The End was deep, deep at the bottom of the ocean-that he really wasn't dead at all, that the clouds were the break of sea and firmament-
The coffee timer tinged and Jonghyun returned to reality, padding back over and pouring the black liquid into a mug without aplomb, watching it slosh, as if offended, into the ceramic cup. He wondered what his family was thinking-his friends. He hadn't even left a note. He was willing to wager that they never saw it coming. His life was completely normal-mundane and boring. Pointless. Jonghyun sighed. He could understand that breakdown Key had been pestering him about earlier, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get tears to come.
"That," Key said later, after Jonghyun had asked him about the whale, "is only the beginning of Things That Are Not Like Seoul."
He had startled Jonghyun, appearing much like the Cheshire Cat, out of nowhere and half-there, except not really. He was sitting cross-legged on the red couch, but how and when he got there, Jonghyun did not know. Last he had seen him several moments ago, he was turning away from him in the kitchen.
"Why are there whales here?" he asked, crouching down to pick up the large pieces of shattered mug whilst doing his best to ignore his speeding heart.
"Contrary to popular belief, humans aren't the only things that know they exist."
"Which means..." Jonghyun muttered, not expecting an answer. He was not disappointed. Instead, Key said, "I've always been curious as to where they disappear too, being so big and all. Do they ever get stuck anywhere?"
"This place." Jonghyun exhaled, feeling weary as Key un-couched himself and knelt down beside him, "What is it?"
"Haven't we been through this already?" Key sighed. "Stop fussing, you cut your hand."
Jonghyun looked down. His hand was indeed bleeding, but he felt no pain. Just warmth, and not from the dripping red. Maybe from the body heat next to him; but how Death could be warm, he'd never understand. "I just want some straight answers." he muttered. "Why am I bleeding. Still."
"Do you think if you're not shot, you won't bleed?" Key asked, wrapping a cloth around Jonghyun's hand. "Hold that tight, okay?" he stood up and disappeared for a moment, leaving Jonghyun to stare at the black coffee slowly swirling from the white tile to soak in the white carpet. Much like his blood had when he was alive. His breath caught in his throat and when Key came came back out, he was crying.
"About time." the reaper said, gently taking Jonghyun's hand and treating it. "Just cry until you can't anymore."
So Jonghyun did.
He was dead. By his own hands, everything was over. Yet, here he was, at the end. The End.
It just didn't make any sense.
previous | next
AN: I hope to get the next chapter up by tomorrow or Thursday. I wanted to make this chapter longer for you guys, but I figured you'd rather just have it now??? IDK. Hope you liked. ^^
"Contrary to popular belief, humans aren't the only things that know they exist." - I realized this can be read two ways, so I wanted to elaborate. Technically, only things that recognize their existence and act on more than just "instinct" have "souls". So. Yup.