Infinity Train: Artist of Yggdrasil
: A one shot that makes a very tiny, but significant change: instead of calling her parents, Talia Cerise decided to pay them a visit by train.
She just didn't take the train she expected.
This fanfic contains instances of:
- Abusive Parents: Like in Blossoming Trail, Talia is publicly demonized as an abusive mother by Chloe's supporters because she wasn't "spoiling [Chloe] rotten" in their eyes, even though the situation is much more complicated than it appears. This wrongful view of her compounded her guilt over Chloe's disappearance, and ultimately landed her in the Infinity Train.
- Art Initiates Life: Talia gains a book that lets whatever she draw come to life as long as it's open; once she closes it, the sketch disappears.
- Brutal Honesty: Justified. Yggdrasil states he sees all Passengers on the Train as they really are, so he is blunt on his assessments of them. Chloe, in his words, is a "self-pitying child" who let her problems boil over instead of talking to someone, and ran away out of spite towards everyone for not reading her mind. On the other hand, he calls Talia a flawed woman who is firmly rooted in denial, yet a kind woman who tried to bond with Chloe and is unfairly demonized by others for not spoiling her daughter.
- A Day in the Limelight: Talia, Chloe's mother, is the main protagonist of this story.
- For Want Of A Nail: It was Talia's choice to pay her parents a visit by train that got her on the Infinity Train, rather than using the phone to contact them like in the canon storyline.
- I Reject Your Reality: In Yggdrasil's eyes, this is Talia's main flaw. Her reluctance to see and/or accept reality as it truly is not only contributed to Chloe being on the Train, but also blinded her to Chloe's worst flaws like her self-pitying mindset. He gives Talia a book that brings anything she draws to life so she could overcome her denial.
- It's All About Me: Yggdrasil condemns Chloe as a self-pitying child who ran away to spite everyone for not catering to her, abandoning her mother to become a scapegoat just for not "spoiling her rotten" as she expected her to.
- Never My Fault: Deconstructed. Since Chloe's departure, everyone started blaming each other regarding who did what to Chloe, regardless of their actual involvement. Talia got hit with it the worst since, in everyone's eyes, the fact that she wasn't "spoiling [Chloe] rotten" made her look like a bad mother. This is what leads to her boarding the Infinity Train, too — she took a train to her parents' house because she wanted to get away from the victim-blaming.
- Parents as People: Talia, according to Yggdrasil, is a flawed woman who is unwilling to accept the harsh things in life, yet is a kind mother who tried and failed to bond with Chloe, and is being wrongly demonized by everyone for not spoiling her daughter rotten.
- Poor Communication Kills: Deconstructed. Yggdrasil bluntly points out Chloe chose to keep her problems to herself until they boiled over, then ran away to spite everyone when they couldn't read her mind.
- Warts and All: Yggdrasil sees everyone on the Train in an unbiased light, so he knows of both their good and bad traits. This includes heroic figures like Chloe.
- What If?: Instead of calling her parents, what if Talia decided to try visit them by train, causing the Infinity Train to snatch her?
- What the Hell, Hero?: In contrast to his more encouraging assessment of Talia, Yggdrasil is more condemning of Chloe, whom he calls a self-pitying child who refused to talk about her problems and ran away from home to spite everyone for not reading her mind or catering to her whims, leaving her mother behind to be wrongly demonized by others for not spoiling her daughter.
