Chapter Text
The train platform was deserted when Doc arrived.
He set down his trunk on the ground, pulled the crumpled papers out of his jacket pocket, and smoothed them out to check over. Then he looked at the train. The red and gold paint was peeling, and rust consumed many of the finer details. He glanced back at the papers, then at the train. Scarlet Mountaineer was stencilled on the side in fading gold letters, matching the name on his ticket. Doc sighed. It was a piece of junk, but it was the train he had to catch… though it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He fished out his pocket watch and checked the time, recognizing that it was early, and elected to wait and reconsider his life choices before boarding.
“Well, hello there!” came a chipper voice from the other end of the platform, and Doc looked up from where he’d been staring through his papers, attempting to read. “I didn’t know we were going to be having live passengers on this trip, or else I would’ve been keeping an eye out!” The conductor--he must’ve been, for he was wearing a conductor’s outfit--was a young man, though the unkempt beard covering his chin made him seem older. He was a ginger, and dressed all in black and red with a hint of gold, which Doc assumed was to match the train. “Francis F. Whip,” he said, having sauntered towards Doc and now taking a little bow as he introduced himself. “May I take your luggage?”
“Er- yes,” Doc replied, lifting his trunk and handing it to the man. “Are you the-” he glanced over Francis’ outfit again, but he didn’t have to find the word, because he was interrupted before he could finish.
“Yes!” Francis answered brightly. “This is my train, I handle everything. Just me, and the bots, of course. Robots, that is. My little crew of brilliant bots.” He staggered slightly under the weight of Doc’s trunk as he went towards the train’s open door, but managed to recover. “Come- come along, sir!”
Doc followed Francis onto the train, folding his papers back into the inside pocket of his jacket. As he stood in the doorway, watching Francis struggle to stow the trunk above his head, Doc glanced back at the platform- and a sharp flash of green in the trees beyond caught his eye.
There was a man, standing just at the treeline, obscured by the branches so that all Doc could see was his eyes. And his eyes were bright, bright green.
Doc blinked, and the man vanished.
He pointed at the spot where he’d seen the figure and called out to Francis. “Did you see that?” he asked, though he knew the other man’s back had been turned. “There was a man, just there, in the trees.”
Francis came up behind him and leaned around his shoulder. “Er… no? There’s nothing out there except deer and a few coyotes; people aren’t supposed to go into the woods around the station,” he said. “Also, you can call me fWhip. Everybody does.”
Doc made a mental note to never call Francis ‘fWhip’, and also to get his eyesight checked when he next saw another doctor.
He stepped inside and Francis closed the door behind him, before ushering him to a seat. “As you can see, the train is very… quiet, so if you need anything, just holler and I’ll get it for you. If I have it, that is,” he said quickly. “The bots can pretty much run the train themselves by this point, so I don’t need to supervise them. They know the route. We do it almost without stopping. Just one end to the other and back again, back and forth, back and forth.”
Doc tilted his head slightly. “But you don’t have any passengers,” he pointed out. “You were surprised to see me. So why do you do the trip out to the edge of the world so much?”
Francis sighed. “This is the only train to the Roost. Which I assume is where you’re going, since you’re on this train. It’s a nightmare up there, in the mountains, especially if you’re trying to travel up or down by any means other than this train. So this baby-” Francis tapped the back of the seat he was leaning on, “-is the only way the people up there get any supplies from the rest of the world. Especially during the winter, when they need it most, and it’s precarious even for me and my little crew.” He smiled. “So while we hardly ever have live passengers like you, we’re constantly heading up and down with other stuff.”
“Hm,” Doc grunted. “I’ve… read a lot about the Roost, but I don’t think much of it is very… up to date.” Francis seemed like an… interesting man, but Doc couldn’t begrudge him his oddness. He’d just admitted to spending most of his time alone on a train with a bunch of robots--that was bound to make anyone a little strange. Perhaps he would be able to answer all of Doc’s questions while they were on their way up. Perhaps it would distract him from the fact that he was about to undertake the most perilous journey of his life inside a rusting hunk of metal.
“No, probably not,” Francis replied. He slung a pocket watch out of his jacket and flipped it over in his hand. It opened with a click, and Francis’ eyebrows shot up. “Oh, look at the time! What are those blasted bots, thinking, we should be going by now! We don’t want to get caught trying to ascend in the dark!”
“Why?” Doc asked, quite genuinely, as Francis leapt towards the door to the next train car. “What’s so bad about driving the train up at night?”
Francis regarded him curiously for a moment. “You really don’t know much about the Roost, or the mountains,” he said, then he paused as if waiting for Doc to realise the answer himself. “Monsters, sir. When you go up those mountains at night, you risk being attacked by monsters.” Then he opened the door and stepped out of Doc’s sight.
Doc had a bag slung over his shoulder, and it was now that he unhooked it and set it on the seat next to him. Monsters, Francis had said. Of course, Doc had read about the monsters. Everybody knew about the dangers in the mountains. The peaks were the only thing keeping those monsters back from the rest of the world. Over the other side, monsters roamed freely, and that was why it was forbidden to go there. The closest you could get was the mountaintop city known as the Roost--the world’s first line of defence in case there was ever a true monster threat. It was known to be cold, desolate, and horribly dangerous. And it was where Doc had to go.
The train finally jolted to a start, and Doc leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He treasured his few moments of peace before Francis returned, looking strikingly as if something had blown up in his face by the amount of soot covering his nose and cheeks. He shook his head frantically, as if trying to clear it, and then pulled a blackened handkerchief out of his pocket to scrub at his face. It didn’t do much to remove the stains--in fact, Doc was fairly sure it made more.
“Sorry, sorry-” Francis murmured, stuffing the handkerchief back into his jacket. “One of the bots got me with some coal dust, it happens a lot- don’t usually have to look presentable.” He cleared his throat and sat down in the seat across from Doc. “So! Why are you off to the Roost, Mr…”
“Doctor,” Doc corrected, not offering any further parts of his name. “I’ve been reassigned there from the Circle.”
Francis lifted his eyebrows. “Doctor,” he repeated. “From the Circle? Let me guess, you’ve never left?” Doc didn’t like his judgemental expression. “What in the world did you do to get reassigned out here?”
“I have left,” Doc replied shortly. “I just haven’t been out this far before--not a lot of people have, if you recall how empty this train is.” He gestured around at the vacant seats. “I think I’m thoroughly qualified, or as qualified as any doctor could be to come work out here. And I didn’t do anything. I requested this job.” He narrowed his mismatched eyes at Francis, and he noticed Francis glancing between them as if he’d only just noticed the false one.
“You- you requested to come out here? The only people that come out here voluntarily are hermits and crazy people,” Francis said. “And believe me, there’s no shortage of either at the Roost.” He snorted. “The mayor, especially. He’s been a little-” Francis made a circular gesture next to his ear, “-ever since he got back from that expedition.”
Doc leaned across to rest his elbows on the table between them. “What expedition?” he asked curiously. If Francis wanted to ramble, he would gladly encourage it.
“Well- alright, so, you know they’re not supposed to cross to the other side of the mountains, but they do anyway,” Francis started. “They send out these little expedition parties sometimes, to map out the area and assess threats and things. Y’know. And so the mayor--his name’s Scar--he went out once, with a little group, and then this horrible snowstorm came out of nowhere and everybody thought they’d all died. And then, four months later, Scar turned up at the edge of the mountains, perfectly unharmed. Not even a single scratch on him--other than the ones already there, of course. He’s been a little off ever since. Been having… dreams, and visions. Of a man, I think they said, always standing far away from him, always just… staring. Super creepy.” Francis hummed, and Doc immediately thought back to what he’d seen as he’d boarded the train. Then he pushed the thought away. That was silly. He wasn’t having visions, it was just a trick of the light. It had nothing to do with some mayor’s fever dreams. “Anyway, Scar was always a little odd, and he’s still a great guy, just a little weirder than he was before. Nothing too concerning, but- hey, maybe that’s why they were so eager to get a new doctor in. To help with Scar’s… whatever he’s got going on.”
Doc hesitated. He had another question, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer. “And… what happened to the last doctor?”
Francis shrugged. “No idea. But I can guess they probably had an accident. There’s a lot of those. You know, the usual--frostbite, bad falls, landslides, wolf attacks… and a lot of the un usual too. Werewolves. Giant eagles. Vampires. Gnolls, kobolds, and orcs, even. Plus the occasional imp, or chimera, or-”
“Yeah, I get it,” Doc interjected. “Lots of stuff that wants to kill you. That’s probably why they were eager for a new doctor, not some… feverish ramblings.” He paused. “How many people live up there, anyway?”
Francis shrugged again. “I don’t spend a lot of time in the Roost. Just drop off my stuff, spend the night, and head right back down again.” He suddenly stood up, taking Doc by surprise. “Speaking of, you should probably catch some beauty sleep before we get there. I know how long the journey is to get out here from the Circle, and there’s still quite a few hours until we even reach the mountains. You should get all the rest you can, especially since this is your first time going up there.” He regarded Doc firmly. “It’s always hard to sleep the first night. The howling takes some getting used to.”
“Howl- oh. Right. Wolves and werewolves, I remember,” Doc muttered. “Where can I sleep?” He looked down at the seat he was sitting on, but it wasn’t nearly long enough to lay down on.
Francis grinned and pulled down a string on the opposite wall. Instantly, the table and seats across the aisle flipped and slotted into a formation that resembled a pull-out bed, complete with a headrest. “She may look like a hunk of junk, but I promise, she’s very functional, and I haven’t had her fail on me yet!” Francis exclaimed, still grinning as he left the carriage to return to the front car of the train.
Doc got up slowly, leaving his bag on the seat. The bed seemed comfortable enough, and he was quite tired from trekking across the world over the last few days…
Without a second thought, he crawled onto the cot and lay his head down to rest.