rakuen | Next stop: Utopia Academy

You're falling, and you can't remember why. It's a sickening feeling that makes your insides lurch; the darkness and the vertigo combine, and all you can think of is a story you heard once, somewhere.

-I remember now. It's a simple story that everyone knows. A legend of a Princess, the Demon Lord who kidnapped her, and the Knight who fought to save her.

The Demon Lord had kidnapped the Princess countless times, but every time the Knight bested his challenges and rescued the Princess.

No matter what tricks and ploys the Demon Lord used, the Knight would always triumph in the end. This was because--

The world tilts on its axis one last time, and the dream slips from your mind as easily as it arrived. A new voice intrudes on your sleep.

"Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. This tramline terminates here; all change. Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. All change."

Sunlight streams through the windows of the long carriage, making the seats almost uncomfortably warm beneath its sleeping passengers. The air is muggy and thick, the atmosphere relaxing. Almost too relaxing; the warmth and the silence make it difficult to immediately muster any kind of reaction or thought. Your nausea settles, slowly. The last of the dream fades.

"We have arrived at Utopia. Repeat, we have arrived at Utopia Academy. Could all passengers please leave the tram, as it is terminating here."

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The warmth of the train and the voice on the speaker pulled Fletcher out of his sleep, and slowly, his dream faded. He couldn't remember what he'd dreamt about anymore, which was normal for him, but somehow this dream seemed important. He could only grasp on to tiny details: A forest, a voice saying something about a promise... and a story.

He pushed himself up and rubbed his eyes with his hands, then opened them wide. Then closed them, and opened them again. Where was this? "...Brother?"

Russel was a bit slower to rouse, the cue seeming to be the note of worry in Fletcher's voice. He lifted his head, and pushed his hair away from where it had been stuck to his face. He sat up a bit slowly, pushing himself up with his hands. "...'m awake..." he mumbled as he blinked around the car. A sinking feeling in his stomach brought him out of his sleepy stupor. He cast critical eyes around the car. This wasn't like any train he'd seen before. The design was different. His eyes narrowed, and he frowned. His eyes moved between the individuals in the car, as though he were assessing who may be at fault, be a threat, or at least know something.

"You alright?" he asked Fletcher without looking at him for much longer than a quick glance before going back to his assessment of the car.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," he stammered. And then, because it seemed important to say, he added, "I had a weird dream..."

He scooted closer to Russel and clung to one of his sleeves as he looked around. He didn't recognize anyone else here, and the moving scenery outside the windows was nothing he'd ever seen before, either. "Um, where are we?" he asked, as though Russel would know.

When Fletcher moved in to hold on, Russel wrapped an arm around him protectively. Russel's eyes flicked to the spaces over the doors and the windows, where the line map was usually located. It wasn't there. He frowned deeper. "I'm not sure," he replied. He combed his hair straight back over his head with his fingers, a rather uncharacteristic act for him. "But I'm going to find out."

"O-okay." If Russel said he was going to find out, well, he meant it. Fletcher just hoped they weren't somehow in over their heads.

Again.

Fletcher turned to look out the window. They were traveling over water, toward an island of some sort, it appeared.

Russel finally stood, and stretched his arms far up over his head with a long groan. After that was done, he adjusted his suspenders and tucked his shirt back in. With an adjustment in the folds of his rolled-up sleeves, he seemed satisfied with his state of dress. He pushed his hair back out of his face again. He looked up at it, and tried to part it the way it always had been, but it didn't look right. So he tried the other way. "...Dammit..." he muttered.

Fletcher looked up at Russel as he stood, swinging his legs back and forth under his seat. Something seemed off. "...are you having a bad hair day?" he asked cautiously. Russel's bad hair days were never fun to be around.

"Looks like...." he muttered, still scrabbling at his scalp with his fingers. After a few minutes, it got to something resembling normal, but it wasn't quite right. "Dammit... what's next, is Ed going to be tall?" he muttered under his breath. "Come on, let's get off and find out what's going on here."

Sure enough, the train was slowing to a stop. The conductor repeated her message one more time and the doors opened up. "O-okay... Um, if this is an academy, maybe there're professors who know what's going on."

Fletcher stood up and clutched onto Russel's sleeve again. He frowned as he looked up at his brother's hair. It looked... wrong.

"If they're a part of this, they're probably not particularly trustworthy," he pointed out as he strode out onto the platform. The fresh air was nice, that car as getting a bit stuffy. He mussed his brother's hair, forcing his voice into something a bit more upbeat. "Maybe we can get the military police to do something other than arrest us this time."

Oh, that was a good point. Fletcher frowned. He didn't like the police, but even they would have to do something about a trainload of people being kidnapped. "O-okay..."

The conductor was instructing them to head to the main entrance of the school. Fletcher looked up at Russel curiously. "Should we...?"

He sighed, and wrapped his arm around Fletcher so his hand rested on the boy's opposite shoulder. "I guess. We can't swim, so it's our only option."

Fletcher nodded. "Okay," he said again. There wasn't much else to say, really.

With his brother by his side, he joined the rank and file of students moving toward the school.

Next stop: Utopia Academy

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