Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The sound of crunching snow felt slower than ever, the soundwaves going through a ear, and out the other.
Noel was utterly exhausted after coming to this world, extremely so.
So many events had occurred at a rapid progress, it was almost nonsensical to believe everything was real.
His limbs had reached their limits of terms of use, and were now, in all due respect, disposable in terms of functionality. His brain had worn out from the extreme stress of learning too many new things at one time. Yet at the same time, he had also experienced many other unpleasant things at the same time.
'.... What is even the point of all of this... ?'
His eyes became glassy as he aimlessly walked looked in the air.
Following after Exile's back, he walked onto the stairs that had came down from the large train.
He stood for a moment of daze looking as the stairs slowly lowered, yet he continued following after Exile, who had already somehow reached the lit entrance of the train.
The sound of steam erupting from the train a call that announced the train would shortly depart from the current station.
'I. I don't know'
Noel's vision swam as he felt lethargic yet extremely restless, his tensed Quadriceps Femoris aching in pain and from the strength they put into climbing the seemingly endless stairs.
His breathing became heavy with helplessness and tiredness.
His heavy eyes rose to look at the door slowly before going back to the stairs.
'What... did I even want? Why is life so tiresome?'
He stood silent for a moment.
'Is this really the entertainment I wanted?'
Doubt arose within his brain, fogging his ability to judge his current situation, as he closed his eyelids shut, the faint sound of tetanus ringing in his ears.
A metallic taste arose in his head along with a wave of nausea, his forehead creasing for a fraction of a second before relaxing again as he forcefully suppressed it.
He reached out his hand to hold his churning and burning stomach as if to subconsciously caress it, but he stopped, retracting his hand.
Instead, he held his temple and continued walking up the stairs.
A few seconds passed before he was able to reach the entrance of train, his body burning in pain, particularly his injured foot.
He gave it a subtly glance through his panted breaths. It had swelled.
"Foot. F*cking h..urts. Like shit.'
His desire for sleep was simply too overwhelming to ignore, yet, despite being in a state of lassitude, he somehow took a few more steps and reached the entrance.
He took a deep breath as if attempting to shrug off the sleep, and took a step forward into the light.
---------------
I gave a violent cough as if my innards were tearing apart with knives. It was most likely because of the sudden change in humidity after staying so long in the dry weather.
"Cough, cough!"
It's painful, extremely so.
My head was extremely dizzy as if I had overexerted myself while being dehydrated at the same time, and honestly, it was one of the times in my life where I wondered if life really could get that bad.
Yes, it was that horrible.
I felt many eyes around me blatantly staring at me from their seats, most of them glancing at me for a moment, before resuming their previous activities.
But I, I couldn't focus on them.
My eyes desperately danced around, my feet walking forward, looking for any empty seat I could sit on and rest.
'Please, Just one seat ... ! Just one!'
But everywhere I looked, the seats looked like they already had their share of passengers.
Bloody hell, my foot is bleeding. I don't have time for this.
I gritted my molars to the extent I felt pain my jaws, frustration boiling.
'Why the fuck is this happening to me? Why me?'
I saw Exile staring at me with his lifeless eyes, opening his mouth, his grey words dropping onto the ground. Nothing entered my ears, just a plethora of sound waves that sounded gibberish.
Yet, my eyes drawn to the direction where he was pointing to with his cane.
Moving me limp foot that stung like shit, I forcefully pushed myself forward, without a care of the world, my eyes focusing on my haven before me.
And I breathlessly collapsed on the seat as I held my hands to my carotid artery, measuring my blood pressure, a habit I had back on earth, before my hands dropped, my breathing still heavy.
Instantly, I felt the pain on my ankle subside a bit, the burning sensation slightly fading away.
Naturally, my head leaned backwards on the seat, almost a bit too much comfortably. I shifted my knees slightly yet carefully as not to hit the table before me.
'.....'
I sat there blankly with my lips slightly parted staring at the colorful and skillfully decorated celing filled with intricate drawings that seemed to resemble that drawn back in the 18th century.
'How beautiful'
After a moment of silence, I looked outside the cold wweather blowing outside the window, my mind rummaging through all the events he had gone through so far.
Yet nothing came to mind.
'Forget ... it.'
Yet, despite my attempt to think about today's eventuful events, I felt as if my mind had blanked out completely, my mind's protective mechanisms working overtime as to protect my fragile mentality.
Rumble.
A sudden sound occurred somewhere in front of me, making my eyes slowly shift towards the source of sound, seeing a figure, sitting in front of me, with a small smile on its dull lips.
'It' adjusted its appearance, and pulled up its collar a bit, holding the cane atop of 'its' knees.
'It' spoke something, but I couldn't hear it.
Was it was saying something like 'I wish you an eventful sleep?'
Who even uses the word 'eventful' in this day and age?
Hm ... But on second thought, isn't he ... Exile?
Ex ... ile?
My eyes started to turn heavy as one last thought entered my mind before my vision turned black.
'.... Since when did Exile smile?'
I heard a faint whistling sound that sounded far, far away, very distant, before the last of my consciousness followed my vision.