Mystery Train
Rated: G
By: Kohan

Disclaimer: BSSM and all its corresponding characters and elements belong to Naoko Takeuchi and not I. This story does. The title comes from the Final Fantasy 6 OST, disc 1.

Summary: The train has come to carry her home. Drabble.

A/N: For Sailormoon100's 5th challenge: The Final Fantasy Soundtrack Challenge. Full challenge at the end of the fic.

***

The station was empty and quiet, dark and dry as the brown leaves in fall. It wasn't much of a station, really, rather a dark brown platform in the middle of empty space. A bench and train-hailing pillar were its only companions, and one small girl who sat lonely on the bench. The girl had no possessions with her, and her dress, though plain as it was, seemed to fade into the background of the bench. Her whole being, in fact, seemed quite unstable, and it seemed to waver between existence and non-existence, as if it hadn't yet made up its mind in what state it wanted to remain.

She could hear the train coming in the distance, though she could neither see the tracks nor see the lights that her experience told her the train was sporting. The girl did not shiver in fear--her life had told her that there were far worse things than the final journey--nor did she cry, as she often thought she would. Many times had she reached this platform in her long life, but never had the train traveled from the west, as it did now. Always from the east, and always to bring her back to Life, always to return her back to her friends loving arms, and another day of battle.

She wanted to cry. She felt that it was expected of her. It was her final hour, wasn't it? No--that final hour had passed like spores in the wind. The final hour was gone. She was stationed once more in limbo, so near her old life that she could taste it, so close to her final destination that she could feel it calling to her, as water called to the thirsty and food to the hungry. She wanted it, and it wanted her.

The train rumbled to a stop before her, though she had not seen it coming, only heard its approach. A door before her swung open, and she stood slowly and peered into it, much like a curious child. She knew nothing of the afterlife. Was there a heaven? Was she destined for it, for all that she'd killed, for all the destruction she had reaped? She had been evil so many years, and then young and innocent, and then--her head hung--a merciless killer. It was her own choice to yield to the goddess inside her and let her rake her giant scythe about the earth, purging it from...what? Evil?

Resolutely, the girl grasped the bar that was a handhold and heaved her small body onto the train. Inside, there was nothing but wooden planks and soft seats. Her footsteps thundered loudly on the planks, and she lowered herself onto the seat with unknown reverence. Here she was, at last. She had to face her destiny, no matter what it brought.

The train hurled on to the great unknown. She rode it in subdued silence. No matter its destination, the mystery train had come to carry her home.

***

A/N: Word Count: 504

Full challenge: Use any song title from the soundtracks listed below as your fic title (if we used them all, that wouldn't be much a challenge, so this is only a select list).