Mable: Hello again! This was supposed to be posted last night, but internet fell when storms rolled in unfortunately, so it looks like this ones coming out a bit later than I imagined that it would be. Anyway, I don't own 9, Enjoy!
Next Stop, North Pole
Chapter Four: Arriving at the City
The North Pole was getting closer every minute and the Stitchpunks aboard the train were getting antsy. They were beginning to stand and move around the cart, to One's disturbance and increasing anxiety. Nine stretched out his back briefly and stood from the table. "I'm going to stretch my legs," He offered to the others and the other three looked to him. "Alright, we won't tell One so he doesn't come after you," Seven offered to the male. With a nod, the male started to turn to leave when Five stopped him.
"Wait, if you're going…" He stopped him. "I know One said it was dangerous, but Six and Sky went back into the caboose to look out the back. Could you go get them?" Now the Warrior nodded in agreement, "If he notices that they went back there he's liable to flip." Nine nodded and agreed with them both, "Alright. I'm not worried; it's not like we're riding on the water anymore. Just… over it." He playfully quipped with an amused smile and headed to the door, opening it to step out.
"Watch out for that first step," the albino male quipped from the other seat, oddly enough now reading the book that Velvet had. Nine quipped a brow, "What do you mean?" Immediately the pale male smirked in response. "Just to watch where you step. We don't want another clumsy trip." Nine frowned at the comment and held back an embarrassed blush, then headed out through the door. He stepped over into the next cart and then started to head back towards the caboose.
Midway down the line of seats he abruptly was interrupted by a voice. "Wandering on your own?" Nine jumped and looked over to see Two stretched out on a seat. "I thought you were in the front of the train." The older male chuckled and crossed his legs tiredly, keeping his optics closed. "I came back here for some peace and quiet, and a proper break. It's not much longer until we arrive at the North Pole." Nine smiled at the comment and inquired, "Have you been to the North Pole?" The Inventor hesitated before nodding, "Of course."
Something seemed strangely hesitant about the way he said that and Nine pried further, "You've… Been on this train for a while though, right?" Maybe there was a way he could talk Two out of whatever hypnosis this was overtaking him. Yet Two seemed to suddenly shrug and relax, "Time on this train isn't exactly constant, my boy. Notice it's been Midnight, or just about to be Midnight, since you've gotten on board." Nine had noticed this but assumed it was One's clock being wrong.
Now that Two pointed it out it seemed that the phenomenon was actually a real thing. "I'll be right back. I'm going to get Six and Sky from the caboose." As he passed Two abruptly sat upwards, "Be careful!" The zippered male looked confused and the older added in. "More specifically, don't step on the connector between the trains. It sustained some damage and hasn't properly regenerated. It shouldn't be a problem if you just don't step on it." The younger male nodded, thanked him, and continued onwards into the last car.
There he could see Six and Sky on the other side, peering out into the night. The back of the train showed the icy ocean stretching out, the long bridge, and the sky full of lights that were colored like rainbows. As he moved closer he could hear the two talking amongst themselves. "But I don't have enough colors for it," Six explained almost sadly, "I only have black. I don't mind black ink, but I- I can't make this." Sky was a bit more hopeful about it, "Maybe Santa will give you more ink for your gift."
"That would be nice… But what if I don't get the first gift? Then I might not get one. What if he forgets?" He was rather curious and Sky paused before insisting, "He won't forget you. I promise." She pushed back her hood as she looked towards the sky again, revealing her own tuft of brown yarn. It was groomed better than Six's who tended to get his own yarn ink stained. Nine creeped forward more and continued to listen in as Six murmured, "Can you tell me what you want for Christmas?" As though it was an intimate question.
"Well… It's kind of silly…" Sky admitted and Six got an encouraging smile, "Please? I can't be sillier than ink." She smiled back and explained, "I-I sort of want a companion or a pet to take care of, but I don't know if Santa can give that. After all, all the animals are gone now. I don't even know if Santa would even still have his reindeer." Six smiled in assurance and added in, "I'm sure he could get you one. There has to be some out there somewhere." Sky smiled back at they spent a quiet moment just like that until they looked back to the sky.
Nine realized that this wasn't the time to interrupt and stepped back to the door and exited out of the caboose. He shut the door before crossing to the next and opening it. He stepped in only to have a disturbing, white face right in front of him, with a stretched smile and empty holes for eyes. "Surprise!" The puppet announced and Nine let out a cry in alarm and stumbled back. He barely managed to grab the side of the doors to stop himself. Immediately afterwards a metal hand came out to grab ahold of him as well.
The albino male yanked him into the car, revealing the Stitchpunk currently wielding the puppet. "What are you doing?!" Nine demanded and the male just gawked at him, "Just giving you a scare; I didn't expect you to dive backwards." Nine frowned in embarrassment and replied with, "Wouldn't you have?" He gestured to the puppet and the albino male looked to it, staring briefly. "…Yes. I apologize, perhaps that was a bit too cruel of a joke." He sounded sincere enough with his apology and Nine looked slightly suspicious, but nodded.
"Just… Burn that thing when you're finished." The pale male started to chuckle in amusement at the comment. "I might just do that. I'm Child." Nine started before asking, "I thought you said you were the Fabrication Machine." The pale male quipped a brow, "Maybe, but my name is Child," he pointed out. Nine smiled a bit and replied, "I'm Nine… Though you probably already knew that." The pale male retorted with, "I'm sure I've seen your back once or twice." The zippered male playfully replied with, "I'm sure you have."
Suddenly Child got a strange look as though Nine had made a quip of some kind, even though the younger male hadn't intended to. "Is Two still here?" Nine moved further down the row and looked in to see that the Inventor was missing. "I guess not… Come on. Let's get back to our seats." They started forwards and Nine opened the door while Child tossed the puppet onto a seat on the way. They entered into the car and Nine sat down beside Seven who was looking out the window. Velvet was still there and Five was now standing, peering out.
"What do you see?" Nine offered before looking out and seeing it for himself. They were currently heading through the gate at the large walls around the North Pole city. Child sat down beside Nine and watched as well, seeing the brief tunnel of stone before the city opened to them. The buildings were all lined with beautiful Christmas lights; some with just one color, some with a mix of red, green, gold, silver, blue, and more. Icicles hung down like crystals and streetlights were alit with lovely candles.
Seven could see towards the front of the train better and saw something in the distance. "It looks like there's a large tree ahead. It's taller than the Cathedral's tower was!" The twins heard her and wrestled with the window before pushing it open, poking their heads out with Sparky's own. Seven gave an amused smile, "Never mind. There seems to be something blocking my vision." The train started to slow down and smoke briefly danced along the windows before fading off. It wasn't until the train came to a stop when One suddenly entered the car again.
"Alright everyone, the time is now! Everyone stand, stand in single file in the center of the car, and I'll open the door to guide us out." He rested his hand on a lever on the wall and waited as the others stood and pooled into the center of the room. Then he tugged down the lever and the tables all disappeared into the floor as the seats reset themselves. He then crossed to open the door and stepped out, Eight and his female companion following next. Nine noticed that Six and Sky were still in the back and looked to Five.
"We should go get Six, he's still in the caboose with Sky." Five seemed hesitant to leave because of One ushering them out, but Sparky chimed in. "I'll come with you," he offered with a smile and Five nodded, "Alright, all three of us will go. Then if One sees us he'll know we're, well, doing something." He rested a hand on Velvet's shoulder, "We'll be back in a minute. Tell Seven we're getting Six." She nodded and headed off as well. The twins also noticed them and looked to each other.
Their optics flickered a bit as Four inquired something to her twin. Her twin eagerly nodded in agreement and nudged her along. Four headed along with the group while Three followed the others out. Nine, Five, Four, and Sparky headed through the next cart and to the caboose. Five made sure Four and Sparky got over before heading inside and Nine was last. His foot slipped on the icy mental and fell down a bit, striking part of the metal conductor between the carts. He wasn't sure what he hit and looked down to see if anything was wrong.
Nine couldn't see anything as he stood and entered into the caboose, not realizing that he had hit something a bit more important than just metal; an actual release. Nine entered into the caboose and rushed to the other side where Five and the others were telling Six and Sky to come. "Come on, guys. We don't want One to notice we're gone," Nine encouraged with a smile and the others, smiling back, followed after him. That was until the caboose suddenly started to move slowly.
It took the group aback and Six murmured, "I thought the train stopped." Right afterwards Sky looked back towards the opened back of the caboose and added in, "It's going backwards." It was as though it suddenly clicked for Five who sputtered out, "Wait, are we rolling?!" Nine sprinted forwards and looked out of the door as the cart started to gain speed as it moved backwards. He could see Two trying to run after them, but as the caboose suddenly started to plummet down a hill there was no chance.
"Should we jump out!?" Five asked in dread as he looked out. He had his answer as soon as he looked out, but Nine still pointed out, "We can't!" Four looked around desperately before grabbing Sparky's shoulder, shaking him desperately before making a lever gesture. "A lever? I don't… You mean a break?! Where?!" Four nodded and looked around desperately, but there wasn't any break to be seen on the walls. "There's a break somewhere! We have to find it!" Six insisted and started to circle the area desperately.
Some of them looked under the seats as the caboose took a sudden swerve. Nine fell onto a knee as he was bending over, "What was that?!" He looked back at Five who was looking out the caboose, frozen by fear. "We switched tracks onto another road! I don't even know where we are now!" At this time Sky called out, "It's under this seat!" Nine dashed over with Five to the seat, unlike the others they could tilt this one back and held it in place as Six reached to grab the handle, pulling it back and finding it a little difficult.
Four latched onto him and helped tug, then Sparky did as well. Sky grabbed the lever directly and helped tug back. Finally it snapped back and Six stumbled back while Four and Sparky fell in a lump, and Sky landed on her backside. The caboose screeched to a halt and now Nine, Five, and Six truly went to the floor as the others had done. After a short few moments the caboose came to an abrupt halt. Now Nine stood and offered Five his hand to help him to his feet. "Is everyone alright?"
There were groans and nods, along with a frantic moment where Four noticed she was atop Sparky, blushed furiously, and dove off of him. Sky helped Six to his feet as well while Nine looked out of the door, seeing where they were. They were tucked into a small alley with tall homes and buildings on each side, still heavily decorated with lights and some garland. Soft Christmas music wafted through the air as they climbed out. "It should be that way. We'll just follow the tracks, right?" Five offered to the others and they nodded.
"Seems like a good plan… Unless they get up and move somewhere," Sparky playfully teased and his sister nudged him, silently pointing out that the others looked thoroughly disturbed. He coughed and awkwardly followed the others who began to follow the tracks. Along the way Nine's curiosity got the best of him, "I wonder who lives in all of these houses." He offered and approached one of the windows to peer in, wiping the fog off of the window. "Will they mind us looking in?" Six asked and Four hurried over to look in.
Before she could Nine moved back, slowly looking to the others. There was disturbance on his face that now dragged them all to attention. "Nine? What did you see?" Five inquired and Nine responded with, "Nothing…" The one eyed male was confused, "Oh… Well, uh, then I guess we should keep going." Nine corrected, "No, Five, I saw nothing. It's completely empty inside." He turned back to peek in again, "No furniture no decorations, no Stitchpunks or humans…. There's just a light on."
The others, except Five, now grouped around and attempted to look in as Nine crossed to the next house and peered in. Again there was nobody inside and it was somewhat haunting. Yet the group still moved further along the street, trying to follow the tracks and yet still finding themselves walking in circles around the city until they crossed through a tunnel under a bridge. They planned to simply continue going onwards when Nine noticed a metal door and, trying it, found it unlocked.
"…Let's try this way," He offered and was met with facial hesitance. "Guys, we know something's strange here. One and Two don't remember anything, the houses are empty, we've been brought to the North Pole by a Stitchpunk sized train; there's something wrong." The others looked to each other before Six quietly murmured, "Yeah… Something's… Different," He slowly voiced, "It's wrong. Something's wrong here. It's so empty."
Nine nodded in agreement, "And I trust your feelings much better than I trust my own. What if this is a trap and we go back to the others only to be trapped, unable to find out the truth. This is our only chance." The others were hesitant; Sparky and Sky looked to each other, Four got a concerned look, and Five rubbed his neck. "I…Okay… But let's- Let's not touch anything we do find," The healer caved and Nine nodded as he opened the door, showing a dark staircase.
He lit his Lightstaff which he had thankfully carried with him when they went to get Six and Sky, as he thought that they were getting off of the train. He led the way with Five behind him and the other four sort of grouped behind him. The staircase smelled dark as though it hadn't been aired out in a long while. Once they arrived near the bottom a soft, flickering light filtered through the stairwell. They finally stepped out into a large room that immediately caught them off guard. It was none other than an empty factory of some kind, or a portion of one.
The lights were on, but the machinery looked to have been out of use for a very long time. Dust and cobwebs clung along the walls and empty conveyer belts stretched across the room. "What is this place?" Nine asked in disturbance, "A factory under the city?" At this time Sky pointed across the room, "Over there, look at all of the wrapping paper!" Indeed there were unused rolls of wrapping paper resting nearby, their sheen seemingly long gone. "This must be where Santa makes and wraps his presents," she deduced.
"But why is it like this?" Sparky asked back. "Why is it a factory anyway? I thought he had a workshop." It was now when Five guessed, "Quicker, maybe? He'd only have to make a design and then the factory would make copies." They continued forward down the steps when Six suddenly caught something, "Wait…" The others came to a halt and he clutched his key in dread, "Is it me or is the size…?" Nine blinked and looked around, "What do you…?" That's when he suddenly noticed it and it disturbed him to.
It was like a line across the room where the Stitchpunk sized area suddenly changed to be larger. The factory machinery was human sized, the steps suddenly went from little to small, and even the roof raised higher at this line. "What is this?" Nine asked quietly and didn't expect any sort of answer. The group continued to walk along through the factory together, revealing empty offices and work spaces that looked like they were for average or smaller humans, but definitely larger than the dolls themselves.
Abandoned corkboards displayed pictures of toy designs and it looked like whoever had been working had been planning toys. Four also pointed out a large board on the wall that was separated into lines as though showing a list. She alit her optics and shined them closer in an attempt to brighten the board, but her light wasn't far enough to do so. Regardless they could read the words 'nice' and 'naughty' at the top along with nothing underneath it. The twin turned her light off sadly and Sparky rested a hand on her shoulder before giving her a hug.
"Santa had a nice and naughty list," Sky explained to the remaining three. "Nice children would get toys and naughty children would not be given toys, or sometimes they would be given coal instead." Six looked over to her and meekly asked, "So there's supposed to be names?" She nodded and he quietly, and grimly added in, "I guess… There's no more names to put there." Nine suddenly looked at Five with optics as wide as saucers as though he'd give him answers. "Is that it?"
Five stared back and Nine continued further. "Is that why this place is like this? Because all of the humans are gone?" Five got a slightly more surprised look before looking downwards, releasing a soft noise like a sigh or a gasp. Nine looked back to the board when Six spoke, "Over there!" All of them looked over as Six started to rush along the way. "Six, wait! It might not be safe!" Five called after and followed with him and the others. The Artist dashed across the factory before coming to a sudden stop before a large, metal door.
"Sleigh Room?" He quietly read beside the door before looking back, "The light through the window is brighter. I think something's been moved in there recently." Now Sky nodded in agreement, "That could be why this room has its lights on too!... But how do we get inside?" The group looked around until Four saw a conveyer belt that led into a slot in the wall relatively close to the door. She tapped both Nine and Five on the arms before pointing forwards to it. They saw it before getting an idea.
"Leave it to me," Five murmured and approached the belt before pulling out one of his grappling hook clusters. He loaded it into his weapon and aimed, shooting it upwards and managing to hook it on the edge of the belt. Once it was deemed secure he started to climb with the others following. They then followed the belt through a flap and into the next room. It was significantly smaller and had many various belts leading in to the center of the room where something new waited. It was a large, red bag that looked about double the size of Eight.
"Did Santa have a bag?" Nine asked Sky who nodded, staring at it in awe. Now Four took the lead and grasped Sparky's hands, putting them on her shoulders and standing before him. "Uh… Huh?" he asked until her optics alit and showed a picture of Santa Claus on the belt below, somewhat faded on the dark surface. "She gets a little disoriented during this. She needs someone to hold her," Five explained with a smile before looking down. "So the bag is Santa's gift bag!... I wonder if those are our gifts in that bag."
"It's our ticket out of here for sure. Look up there!" Nine pointed to show an open section of the roof. "I think that stage that the bag is on will actually lift it and that will lead us to the street; then we'll be able to follow the gifts to the others!" They followed the conveyor belt the rest of the way before hopping down on the bag and lowering themselves to the stage. It didn't take them long until they found a lever set of levers on the wall that were marked with 'raise' and 'lower'. Once again Five used his cluster grapple to hook on.
The group used their weight and strength to tug the lever down. Immediately the lift let out a creaking noise along with a gust of steam. It then started to gradually rise towards the surface of the street. They didn't know what was coming, but wanted answers and had a feeling they were going to get them.
Mable: So the plot thickens a bit more. What has happened to the North Pole and why are they actually here? All to be revealed on the next chapter, which I have every intention of posting tomorrow unless my internet dies again and I'm forced to post the next day. I doubt it because the thunderstorms have seemed to wane, so I'm certain all will go well! I hope everyone enjoyed!