Grace shifted and turned uncomfortably in her bed. She'd woken up only a few minutes ago and her body refused to let her go back to sleep. Ultimately she kicked the covers off entirely and walked over towards her mirror instinctively reaching for the red lipstick as she'd done countless times before. Realizing this she stopped herself and stared at her reflection in the mirror. It was odd that she'd still reached for the lipstick despite not having applied it to her face in this mirror for four months. She paused that number, it seemed too high. But yes it had been four months since she'd last put the red wave on her face in this mirror. She and Simon had been gone from the Redemptive (formerly known as the Apex) for a month, and it had been three months since they'd returned. Oh how things had changed in that time. A new name had been selected by the children, and a new mission statement. First of all anyone could come and go as they pleased an option which some of the older members chose, though most stayed with them. Secondly their new goal was to help the children get their numbers down by solving puzzles and helping denizens. Finally their help extended to any passenger who wanted it and anyone who had questions about the nature of the train could come to them. The system had worked wonders, the Redemptive was sending kids home everyday. In fact last night they'd sent their last kid home. Grace felt her chest tighten at this, she was definitely happy that all of the children had made their way back home but the train just wouldn't be the same without them. Tired of staring at herself in the mirror Grace resigned herself to struggling to fall back asleep in her own bed before changing her mind, leaving her room and walking over to Simon's instead. Opening the door Grace was greeted by a sleeping Simon who was utterly unaware of her presence. God he was a dork. She loved him so much. Walking over she gently shook him. "Simon, wake up." she whispered. Simon groaned in response and slightly opened his eyes."
"What?" he asked tiredly and through hazy eyes.
"I can't sleep." Grace responded honestly. In response Simon lifted the blanket up and offered for her to come join him. Grace took the offer and climbed into bed next to him. As he always did Simon put his arms around her as they lay there together. Grace was surprised at how quickly she felt herself getting tired though she figured she shouldn't be, after all the reason she couldn't sleep hadn't been merely one of discomfort but rather one of fear. Though she'd never let herself admit it Grace hated how quiet the car was with all of the children gone and being alone in her room allowed her mind to wander towards her deepest fear, that she'd wake up one day to an empty mall car, Simon having left her behind. And moreover that she'd check her number only to find that it had gone up and she'd be on this train by herself for a long time. However with Simon's arms around her, the steady sound of his breathing, the gentle beating of his heart, those thoughts were kept at bay. They were together, they were safe, he wasn't going to leave her. Grace let her eyes close and she drifted off to sleep. Sometime later Simon woke up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he did. Looking over to see Grace still asleep he found himself a little surprised. He'd been only half awake when she'd entered and he'd almost thought it had been a dream. Silently, Simon shifted and made his way out the bed. Grace was still fast asleep and he had no intention of waking her, but someone had to go make breakfast. He looked at her for a moment as she slept. She was so peaceful. God he loved her. He wondered if Grace ever looked at him and thought the same ignoring the way his heart pounded at the thought. He made his way to the makeshift kitchen of the car and looked through what was available. The denizens in the breakfast car had been nice enough to give them some pancake mix last week and they still weren't out so pancakes it was. As he cooked his thoughts wandered to the question of his number. He and Grace had both taken to wearing gloves and neither had checked their number in a long time. After all, no use obsessing over it and risking accidentally bringing their number back up. And yet something in his stomach told him that their numbers were pretty low. Though that may have just been because they'd sent all the Redemptive children back home. Simon heard Grace descend the escalator behind him just as he finished cooking. He handed her a plate and she gave him a peck on the lips in return. As the two sat down with their food Grace looked around the empty car and felt a sense of urgency crop up in her. Something in her told her that her number was low, that they'd be returning home soon. If there were any loose ends left to tie up on the train now was the time to do so. Staring at the pancakes on her plate Grace knew one loose end that she'd never forgive herself if she didn't tie up. "I want to see Hazel." Grace said serious. Simon looked up at her shocked. In all honesty he'd been thinking about Hazel quite a bit recently but going to try and find her was something else
"Are you sure? What if she doesn't want to see us?" Simon didn't know if he could handle seeing Hazel again for the first time in months only to have her turn them away. Grace nodded in response.
"Simon, we're going to leave this train at some point. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe years from now. Do you want to leave this place and have regrets on what you didn't do?" Simon shook his head, Grace was right, Grace was always right about these sorts of things.
"Okay, let's go see Hazel." he responded. Grace scarfed down the rest of her pancakes, incredibly excited and nervous to go see the person who had invariably changed her life the most in the shortest amount of time. Simon finished his pancakes as well and pulled out his tracker.
"Do you have any idea of where she might be?" Grace asked nervously. After all, Hazel had no number for them to track. Trying to find her without a point of reference would be a shot in the dark.
"A little. Hazel went with Amelia and Amelia works for One-One who stays in the engine. We could just track Amelia but I don't think she takes Hazel with her to go do her jobs so the engine is probably our best bet." Simon explained. Grace nodded in agreement, the two would travel to the engine.
"While we're there maybe we can apologize to One-One for all the stuff we broke on the train." Grace optimistically offered. Simon laughed before shaking his head.
"He doesn't know we exist, remember?" he responded. Grace had completely forgotten that One-One had no knowledge of their actions. She didn't know whether to be thankful that their reign of terror hadn't been significant enough to warrant his attention or a little offended that they weren't worthy of his time.
"How far is the engine?" Grace asked. Simon scrolled on his pad counting the cars in between theirs and the engine.
"It's only about ten cars. Assuming all of the cars are about average size we could probably cover it in two or three days, a week at most if we're really unlucky." Grace nodded and the two began packing for their journey. Unlike the one they'd taken all those months ago this one would not be impromptu so they'd at least be able to prepare themselves. Armed with two backpacks worth of supplies the two took each other's hand and exited the car together walking out onto the bridge towards the engine. As they walked out onto the bridge a conversation was struck up.
"Hey Hazel's almost 7 now. Do you think we should have brought her a birthday present?" Grace asked. Outwardly a joke but inwardly an acknowledgment that they may not be there for Hazel's birthday properly. Simon laughed at Grace's question before responding.
If she wants it she can have that bag of gorp that you still haven't tossed out for some reason." Simon offered. Grace rolled her eyes as the pair entered the next car. It was a small non-puzzle car. If their luck kept up they might even make it to see Hazel before the days end.
Ten cars away in the engine Hazel was starting her day unaware of the two former leaders who were making their trek to her. Hazel was quite happy with her life as things had panned out. Though Amelia had promised her that she wouldn't get attached, small things had shown Amelia's change in attitude towards her, accepting affection, calling her by her name, little gifts, things like that. By the time that they'd returned to the engine, though Amelia would never admit it, she'd developed a real fondness for the girl, even setting up a little room for Hazel to have as her own. This morning, Hazel had been given breakfast by Amelia who had left shortly after to attend to some business or other on the train. This meant Hazel was left to her own devices for the day and when that happened generally Hazel went to go spend time with One-One. As she walked to the engine's control room aka where One-One could always be found Hazel remembered a time where she'd freely said she'd hated him despite never having met him properly. But she'd truly believed it to be true because it had been told to her by Grace and Simon who she'd trusted unequivocally. Though Hazel had been the one to leave them she still found herself missing the two from time to time. They had just been confused and maybe a little scared. They tried their best to keep her safe even if they weren't that great at it sometimes. Grace and Simon loved her and she loved them back. She hoped that they'd left the train and were really happy. As Hazel made her way to One-One Hazel offered the robot a greeting.
"Hi, One-One!" Hazel greeted him. One-One responded in kind
"Hello Hazel and good morning. What brings you to the control room?" He asked despite the fact that Hazel came here everyday. He couldn't really be blamed though, robots were good at numbers, it was humans were good at pattern recognition
"Do you have any stories for me?" she asked. This was part of their routine. Hazel would come and visit him after Amelia left for the day. He'd tell her a story about a passenger who's memories he'd processed and then she'd predict what they'd do on the train. It was fun and it was a good way to keep herself occupied considering Amelia had made the "No leaving the engine" rule very clear. Hazel tried to focus as One-One recounted to her the story of some poor wayward soul who'd boarded the train but still she couldn't help but wonder about what her former guardians were up to.
Grace and Simon had made great headway and were blasting through cars quickly. It had only been a few hours and they were already about halfway to the engine. Considering how good their pace had been the two decided it was a fine time to break for lunch. Sitting down in the throw-pillow themed car the two unpacked their food and examined the place they currently inhabited as pillow themed denizens walked around them. As Simon bit into an apple he started
"This reminds me of chapter 6 in my book when they visit the kingdom of Softsleep and the Sultan tries to hypnotize the leads." Simon said, trying to sound casual.
"Actually that was chapter 8-" Grace replied absentmindedly before realizing her mistake. "I mean uh, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Grace said attempting to cover her tracks but it was too late, she'd fallen right into Simon's trap.
"I knew it! I knew you'd read my book!" he exclaimed happily. Grace felt her face grow hot with embarrassment as she realized she'd been caught. Of course she'd read Simon's dumb book. It had provided quite a bit of ironic entertainment for her and experiencing Simon's reaction to the idea that she hadn't read it had been like a game in and of itself. But like all games, Grace knew when It was time to admit defeat
"Alright, alright I read your story." she admitted. Simon looked like a little kid on Christmas with how wide his smile was. Grace tried and failed to be annoyed by that fact before settling on poking fun at him. "By the way how have you been writing this story since we were thirteen and you haven't completed book one of the trilogy?" she asked jokingly.
"I'm...working on it." he responded slightly embarrassed. The two continued their comfortable back and forth as their lunch went on. It was strange, before the two had gotten together they'd both feared that the beginning of a relationship would bring far too much change but now here they sat hand in hand, completely in love, and joking like they had since they were children. Subtly the mood shifted and Grace asked a more serious question
"Say that we leave the train together, do you think we'd end up like, in separate places or do you think we'd stay together?" Grace asked. She deeply hoped it was the latter as the idea of experiencing her return to the real world without Simon by her side wasn't something she was interested in. Simon seemed to think for a moment before giving his answer.
"I think...I think we'll stay together." Simon didn't offer any justification for this thought process and he didn't have to. Just like both could just feel that their numbers had lowered both could just feel that they'd stick together. Grace accepted this answer and put her head on his shoulder for a moment before the two wrapped up lunch and headed for the next car.
Hazel had concluded her prediction of what the passenger One-One had described would do on the train and One-One was gearing up to offer her another when Hazel quickly changed the topic
"Do you know everything on the train?" Hazel asked. One-One responded quickly.
"Well that really depends. I can tell you all about how the train works and who is on it and who has got off it. But I can't do anything like spy on a passenger to see what they're doing. No matter how much I wish I could at times." One-One said wistfully. Hazel ignored most of what he said and honed in on one specific thing.
"You can tell me who got off the train! Can you tell me if Grace and Simon got off yet?" she asked.
"Of course, right away!" One-One combed through his internal database for a moment "Oh you're in luck, only a few people on the train have those names. Now there are 12000 Grace's and 8750 Simon's on the train." One-One projected their faces on the wall. "Just point to the ones that are yours." Hazel stared at the thousands of faces on the wall and did her best to try and find the people she was looking for but with so many people to sift through she could tell she'd be here for a while. Hazel sat down and began looking. After some time had passed Hazel yawned and she quickly realized that it had gotten late. She always yawned right before Amelia came back for the day and took her back to her room. Hazel stood up and stretched frustrated that despite spending her whole day looking at photos she was still no closer to finding out if her former guardians were still on the train
"I'm done." she told One-One who dropped the projection from the wall.
"Did you find your friends?" he asked. Hazel shook her head in response. "Oh well that's alright I'm sure you'll find them tomorrow." A beep was emitted from One-One's monitor indicating that someone was approaching the engine. That person was almost always Amelia but it was a bit too early for her to be arriving. "I wonder who that could be." One-One said excitedly before the car was entered by none other than Grace and Simon. Hazel's eyes went wide as she ran over to them
"Grace! Simon! What are you two doing here?" she said happily as she threw her arms around their legs. The two bent down to give Hazel a big hug in return. Hazel pulled away from the hug and was clearly excited to talk to them about every development in her life. "I have so much I want to tell you both! I'm a turtle all the time now!" Hazel said as she spun around showing off her shell. Grace and Simon gave her a smile, happy that Hazel had embraced her true self despite their initial discomfort. "Also I grew an entire inch! Ms Amelia said that it was fascinating!" she explained. "Oh and also I have my own room! Do you want to see?" Hazel asked. Grace and Simon nodded happily both just glad that Hazel seemed safe and well adjusted. Following her passed the control room through Amelia's quarters Hazel opened a door revealing a bedroom. Hazel had a dresser with clothes made specifically for her, some nice toys to play with and a comfortably looking bed of pillows. Grace turned to Simon and whispered
"Looks like Amelia's rule about not getting attached to her was broken." Simon chuckled at this and they looked back to Hazel.
"This whole room is mine." Hazel said with awe. Clearly Hazel had never had a room to herself before and seeing her utter excitement at having one filled the pair with joy. "So why did you two come see me?" she asked sitting down on the bed of pillows. Simon and Grace sat down next to her.
"We just wanted to see you." Simon said. "We missed you a lot," he added. Hazel smiled in return.
"I miss you a lot too." she responded. "But I still have a lot of fun here." Hazel sat in between them and quietly remembered the feeling of when it had been just the three of them. Hazel was sad for a little bit. She liked her life in the engine but she had been happy with Grace and Simon. It was only then that she remembered why she'd left. "Can I see you numbers?" Hazel asked. Grace and Simon shared a look. Neither of them had even taken a look at their numbers in months. And if they had been wrong about their numbers, If they actually were still really far away from leaving this train revealing that to Hazel would be embarrassing. But they would. Slowly both removed the gloves from their hand and found three things. The first was that both of their numbers had completely gone down to just their hands, which shocked them both. Grace could barely remember a time where her number hadn't spilled onto her arm and yet here it was right before her. The second was that the number was changing. Simon's stomach turned with fear as the glowing green number spun before stopping. The last thing, which was by far the most shocking was that when their numbers stopped they were the same. Emblazoned in their hands in glowing green neon was the number two. They were closer than they could have ever imagined. "Wow!" Hazel said excitedly, "You're really close to going home." Though she'd been excited when she first said it the happiness in Hazel's eyes faded a bit when she realized what it really meant, she wouldn't see them ever again. Noticing this the pair leaned in to give Hazel a hug.
"Hazel, it's okay." Grace said sweetly. Hazel felt her face become wet with tears as she began crying at the idea of losing Grace and Simon.
"I changed my mind, I want to stay with you two." Hazel said, referencing Grace's words to her all of that time ago before she'd left with Amelia. Simon gently patted Hazel's head as he'd done to soothe her countless times. As always it calmed Hazel down.
"Hazel, you made our lives so much better. I wouldn't trade having met you for anything." Simon said to the girl. Hazel wiped her eyes.
"Not even for a million of Ms Amelia's pancakes?" she asked. Grace shook her head.
"Not even for a million of Amelia's pancakes." Grace responded "Do you know why?" Grace asked. Hazel shook her head. Grace told her. "Because you made us better people." It all happened so quickly after that, the changing of the numbers, the appearance of the doors. Hazel's eyes went wide as the two glowing exits appeared before forming into one. It seemed the train knew that they were leaving together. Neither Grace nor Simon felt that they were even worthy of an exit, but it didn't seem to matter to the train. Giving Hazel one last hug the two stood up and headed towards the door
"I love you." Hazel said to the pair. Turning back to look at her one last time before they left this reality, before they left Hazel forever, there was only one response they would possibly give.
"I love you too." they both said before stepping through the exit together.