(Play the music now ! You can play it during all the chapter if you want !)

Cʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 9 — Pᴀʀᴛ 1 : Lᴏᴠᴇ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴍɪᴛs ᴏғ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ

Five days later

(Y/n)'s POV

I'm walking in the hallways of the Hell Express. This damn train really deserve his name. It takes everyone you love and breaks your heart in million pieces, make you want to disappear and die more than anything else in the world.

Life has seemed so bland to me in the last few days. I eat, but nothing tastes good anymore. My eyes don't close anymore, I just stare at the ceiling every night for hours.

I feel like screaming, crying. I feel like dying, why I could never tell him before how I felt, how much I loved him.

If I had told him, would anything have changed ?

Why couldn't I have foreseen his death ? I'm really just a useless guide... Am I right ?

I could never save the people I loved.

My parents died, my foster mother died trying to protect me and the man who loved her too. And since I made so many people suffer... I have to lose the person that I love too.

It's just life after all... Even if tears come to my eyes, I can't do it anymore. The force has left my body and I feel like I'm slowly giving up on myself.

Today, I skipped lunch. Beta came to see me every day, bringing me water and hugging me to try to make me react. He told me that Bam hadn't woken up yet and that Rak and Miseng had disappeared.

It's at least 6 PM now. I'm still lying in my bed thinking nothing. My mind is empty and so are my eyes.

As my eyes were about to close, a voice shouted from the rooms next door.

"BAM'S AWAKE !"

I got up from my bed almost instantly and when I entered the room after a while, I bumped into Bam with the others.

"Where are the others ? Where's Khun ?"

I felt everyone staring at me, and I decided to leave immediately. I felt my throat dry, and on the way to my room, I ran into Beta.

"Oh, guide. It's good, I have something to show you. I finally got what I wanted. I wasn't going to show it to you before, but you have nothing to worry about since you weren't going to the hidden floor. You should watch this until the end."

He hands me a flash drive and I look down before I take it in my fragile hands. I crawled back to my room and inserted the flash drive into one of my lighthouses. Putting on earphones, I started looking at the file Beta had implanted on the little memory card.

My eyes widened and I felt my breath stuck in the back of my throat. My whole body stiffened, and I felt like I could burst at any moment. Break like glass or melt like ice under the sun...

I watch the video to the end and the door opens at the same time. I direct my gaze that was empty a few moments ago towards Bam and Endorsi who have just entered. My gaze is now filled with rage but sadness at the same time.

Bam seems worried when he sees me. He must've seen Khun's condition, and feels sorry for me.

"(Y/n)... You're crying..."

The three of them in the room look at me, surprised. I've refused to cry since their return, even after the events and yet... I feel a tear running down my cheek before falling to the ground. Then another one, before the tears finally flow by hundred. I feel my whole body shattering in a trembling fit.

I couldn't stand it.

She had to pay, it was her fault. It's always been her fault.

She have to die.

I got up and left the room without asking for anything more. Bam looked towards my lighthouse before I left and Beta motioned for him to watch the video too.

I walked with my fists clenched and closed my eyes to feel the presence of shinsu and teleport myself with my lighthouses to the source of shinsu. There I find Rak who has suddenly transformed to become much taller.

I put a soft hand on his leg to calm him down.

"Rak... Don't go there. Leave it to me.
- Turtle... Have you come for revenge ?
- I don't know. I really don't know. My feet moved all by themselves so far. But I think that... Khun would like her to die.
- You're right, you're a brave turtle."

He stepped back as I asked and I stepped forward to Rachel and Yura beside her crashed to the ground, screaming.

"Rachel... Why don't we just talk about this as a good friends ? Or I'll crush Yura and she'll be a pancake... Mastering shinsu is a convenient, right ?
-... Very good. Let her go."

I raise my hands and Yura starts crashing blood on the floor as she screams at me.

"How can a guide be so strong ?! This is insane !
- Just 'cause I'm pissed off."

Rachel clenches her fists and comes slowly toward me. I watch her walk towards me. The closer she gets, the more I feel my blood boiling in my veins.

"You deserve to die too. I should've killed you the moment I joined Khun's team. We never would've had a problem without you. I hope you rot in hell.
That's all you deserve. "

I squeeze the handles even tighter that glow in a gold color. The pressure increased as I decreased the shinsu. Rak was fine and after a while I open my mouth to say something while Rachel is half on the ground because of the pressure.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT TO HIM ?! I WARNED YOU !! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TOUCH HIM... AND YOU DARED TO KILL HIM...
SO ALL YOU DESERVE IS THE SAME THING !!"

I felt an incredible power gathering around me when I was about to kill her with one of the needles I pulled out. But suddenly, I felt something hit the back of my neck to knock me out. I could see Bam's face before I disemboweled.

Just tell me he's not going to forgive her again…

And after that, everything went black.

~~~~~

Two weeks after the return from the hidden floor...

I've lost a lot of weight.

I feel like I'm floating in all my old clothes, so Endorsi lends me hers she wore before.

I'm not angry anymore at Bam for knocking me out. He told me everything was happened with Rachel and I forgave him, even if this bitch succeed to escape.

Instead of just staring at the ceiling all night, I wander the corridors of the Hell Express. I always end up arriving at the room where Khun's body lies in Evan's special item.

I thanked myself by kneeling down in front of Evan to keep Khun alive. He said that Khun froze his own body to survive to the bomb Rachel had planted in his heart.

Every day after Evan announced that he wasn't totally dead and that he was keeping him alive, I would come to the room where Khun lies each night. I would come with books, fantastic stories for reading it to him and sometimes books about the tower, about the 10 great families and try to find a way to wake up Khun.

It's still a dark night, and I grab all my books before leaving my room. I walk to the room where Khun sleeps when Bam and Beta suddenly stop me.

"Hey guide, you should sleep.
- Miss (Y/n), you have huge dark circles and then you don't eat..."

I look down to look at my feet in Endorsi's orange heels. I don't know how she could walk or even fight in these before.

"I'm fine... I'm not really sleepy. Or hungry.
- Stop acting like a widow clinging to her dead husband ! Khun is alive, we'll find a way to wake him up ! — Shout Beta to me
- Beta is right, Miss (Y/n). Why don't you sleep ?"

I'm clutching the books to my chest. Why don't I sleep ? I'm scared. Just scared.

"What if someone comes and hurts him while I'm asleep ? What if he disappears ? What if he dies..."

Beta sighs and pushes himself from the front door of the room to let me in. Bam does the same. I end up going inside but the two boys follow me and sit next to me.

"So all these books, it's for what, guide ?
- I can't see any way to save Khun as I'm not a real guide chosen by the tower. So I'm looking for a path to save him."

Bam nods his head. He takes a book in his hands and opens it before he starts reading.

"We'll help you find that path, then ! I hate reading, I'm really doing this for you, guide...
- Miss (Y/n), we're staying here. You should get some rest..."

Bam lifts his face from the book he took to smile at me and I feel Beta carrying me like a common potato sack.

"B-beta ?! What are you doing ?! Put me down !"

I didn't know where he was taking me but I felt him fly and finally land on the kind of blue coffin that keeps Khun alive. I could see his sleeping face through it, he didn't seem to be in any pain.

"He's not going to die with you on there, and disappear too, believe me ! The only way he'll die is if you break the object under your weight. But with the weight you lost, he'll be fine !
- You can say that I was fat, you know."

Beta gives me a pat on the back before going down on the floor. Bam laughs slightly, with a sad look in his eyes. I know he's hiding his sadness so as not to affect me even more.

I look for a long time at the boys who were reading the books I had brought downstairs.

I end up lying on the floating object gently, by fear of breaking it.

I watched Khun for a long time locked up in that cold, transparent coffin. As my eyes closed after a while, my tears finally flowed.

It had been a while since I had cried.

~~~~~

1 month after the return of the hidden floor

Hwaryun warned us about the attack at the last station. I saw it too so I warned the train driver to go faster for a few days.

We were about to arrive at the last station, so for now I'm enjoying the peace and quiet with my books and Khun who is still in a coma.

Ten days ago, Bam, Beta and I found documents about the awakening of a member of the Khun family by someone from the Yeon family. When we told Evan about it, he told us it was true, and that he knows this Yeon family member, called Yeon Woon. He's apparently a member of Wolhaiksong. That's probably why Evan knows him. Woon Yeon would be indebted to Yuri, so he might be willing to help us.

The three of us were proud of our work. We were pulling all-nighters, and sometimes the boys would let me sleep with Khun because it was the only way I could fall asleep.

We had a plan to escape from this war that was about to happen. I wasn't really sure how Wangnan's team would escape. It sounded dangerous, more dangerous than Hwaryun suggested.

When Bam made up the teams, I didn't even have a say in which group I want to go.

Bam put me directly into the group with him to transport Khun. He knows me well, I couldn't say otherwise.

I can feel the train slowing down little by little, which means we're arriving. I join Rak and Bam who are with me in the group and the crocodile smiles at me.

"Don't worry, we'll manage to escape with the blue turtle, turtle in love !
- «Turtle in love» ... What kind of nickname is that again ?"

Hockney joins us with a smile.

"Everybody knows you love him now, so it's a good nickname I guess.
- Mr. Hockney's right ! — Bam laughs nervously
- Bam, don't get into it, too !”

I sigh and run my hand through my hair shyly. I tousle it a little and then cross my arms below my chest.

"Come on. We've got to escape with Khun. We'll make it.
I won't let anyone else die at the hands of the Jahad's army."

~~~~~

3rd person's POV

"Why did you ask for his three requests, king ? Clearly, all requests are impossible except one... The one to kill all the regulars on the train. And I'm sure your goal is..."

The man with blond hair crosses his arms and sits on his big throne, with a smirk on his face.

"I saw again a boy whom I was sure I had killed long ago in the hidden floor... And you're right. My goal is to kill that girl. That red-haired girl, the one who was protected by a guide and the ranker Jung Yu... She's also on that train.
This time, she won't run away alive."

~~~~~

Hello !

I cut this chapter in 2 parts, because it's a long chapter if  I don't do it-
The part 2 will coming in the end of the next week !

I hope you like it and... Thank you so much everyone for the 2k reading !! It's mean a lot for me T^T

Thanks for reading 💕✨