Gilberto de la Vega liked trains for the sheer marvel of technology they were. And because it meant travelling far, quickly and safely while giving Diego the opportunity to see the worldwithoutputting a strain on his heart. It did also mean stinking of smoke and charcoal, dreaming for days afterwards of that infernal noise and sharing the hallways with too much people to his taste, but it was still a lot better than a stage coach or a boat: at least you could open the windows to your liking – or whenever a bad spell made your sick twin gasp for air – and not have the entire wagon glaring at you or your bed splashed by sea water.

Lin Chen hated trains with a passion. They were loud and smelly and crowded – the epitome of western worst manufactures. Yes, it meant travelling to these many places Mei Changsu had dreamt of visiting in the shortest time – and saving time was, oh! so very important – but it also meant sharing the space with stupid people who could not understand for the life of them why opening a window when it was that cold outside was an act of murder when they were sitting next to a man who was shivering despite the fact he was tucked in heavy furs.

Felipe did not like the train very much. It made his ears ring. Plus, it wasn't easy manoeuvring a glass of water without spilling any with all that shaking. The benches were hard (there was no way Diego would be able to sleep properly any time soon). And it wasn't very warm. He couldn't stop frowning. Surely, travelling by train could be improved.

Fei Liu absolutely loved the train. He would have spent the entire journey on the roof if he hadn't been forbidden to do so (he had very little worry about losing his head to a tunnel entrance). The excitement was almost too much. He couldn't stay in place and kept pointing at things through the window, yelping and jumping with a big grin on his small face.

Diego de la Vega had fallen asleep halfway through the fourth chapter of his book, lulled by the train's regular huffing and clonking. He was slouched against the wooden wall in a position that couldn't be very comfortable, but he looked quite peaceful. Hopefully, he would be rested enough to travel the rest of the way without a two-days pause in some godforsaken Chinese town. The sooner they reached their destination, the better. The man they had rescued from these pirates had promised they had very good doctors over there when he had written to invite them. It was the main reason why Gilberto had agreed to make the trip: he wouldn't otherwise have approved of such a long and tiring journey, even if Diego was giving him puppy eyes and even knowing Los Angeles would be fine while they were gone – with Don Alejandro now alcalde, Zorro wasn't needed anymore and the masked hero had started to retreat to the shadows.

Mei Changsu couldn't focus on any reading, with all that bumping and the cold drafts slithering inside their compartment, but watching the landscape blur away through the window and listening to Fei Liu's cries of delight was enough distraction from the constant pain in his frail body or the dark future coming ahead. He had waited eleven long years. Just one more, then he would return to the capital and start to unfold his terrible revenge… The reason he had agreed to travelling with Lin Chen to these places he had only seen in pictures or read about in poems, they both knew it, even though none of them would ever say it aloud: there was no guaranty he would still be alive afterwards. Maybe, this was his only chance to try living like a person, not like a ghost.

It was mid-spring. California was still a Spanish colony and Imperial China had barely entered its last century.

The man who had brought Zorro to life was travelling South with his twin, who was the one actually wearing the black mask of the Fox, and the mute orphan he had saved and adopted.

The man who had buried Lin Shu in his heart was heading North with his best friend, who was also his personal doctor, and the mentally impaired former assassin he loved like a son.

Nothing should have brought these two parties together and yet a glitch in destiny's clogs was going to make it happen.

oOoOoOo

Both trains slowed down at the same time and their locomotives let go of a cloud of steam as they whistled loudly their coming into the station. They stopped next to each other in a ruckus of rattling and clanging and puffing, then their voyagers poured out on their respective platforms.

Gilberto was hungry and thirsty, but he didn't have the heart to wake up Diego. He patted Felipe's shoulder and signed that they should go out and buy some lunch during the break. Felipe frowned, but in the end, he agreed to go stretch his legs and look around: the train had proven to be a safe place in the last three days and Diego's colour was good, he was breathing fine and his pulse was strong and even. He would be okay, as long as they left him a note in case he woke up. Gilberto obliged and they left the compartment quietly with the small Chinese dictionary Diego had put together, determined to find something to eat that wouldn't be too weird.

Lin Chen was so thrilled he could finally get out of that dratted western contraception that he didn't have the slightest hesitation when Mei Changsu asked him to go after Fei Liu – who had escaped through the window at the very moment the train had stopped. The strategist would be fine. Actually, some space and quiet would probably do him good. Maybe for the little time the train wasn't shaking him, he'd get some proper sleep, not just another fever induced restless nap filled with nightmares – heavens knew he needed it. And it wouldn't be that long to find the monkey in the station and to drag him back. Lin Chen chuckled, and he left after closing the window, waving his fan at his smiling friend.

The weather had been quite nice all morning long, but now dark clouds were gathering in the skies and the light was dimming. Soon, it would rain.

Somehow, time must have flown faster than he thought, because when he looked at his pocket watch, Gilberto was surprised to realise it was a minute before departure. He quickly collected Felipe who was carrying their purchases and they hurried back to the train.

The first drops started to fall, first a refreshing drizzle, then a tight curtain of coldness.

A double whistle echoed in the station as he pushed his way through the crowd, a reluctant Fei Liu tucked under his arm. Lin Chen tisked impatiently and considered flying over the stupid flock to get back faster to the train. It wouldn't have been difficult, except the train would probably be delayed if some obnoxious master in martial arts was among the travellers and decided to ask for a fight.

The two trains trembled, panted and slowly set off in opposite directions, their steam dissolving into fizzy grey clouds under the heavy rain.

Gilberto jumped, grabbed the handle next to the door, and leant back to help Felipe onto the slippery step. They both caught back their breaths, hands on their knees, after they were safely inside the hallway, looking at each other slightly haggardly: it had been awfully close. Ten seconds later and Diego was on his way to the unknown without them…

Fei Liu wasn't happy, to say the least. He had enjoyed being thrown in the air and had softly landed on the pile of charcoal, not at all frayed by the mean used to get him back on the train. But he had not even waited for Lin Chen to make sure his long black hair was combed back to perfection to start rambling about almost staying back while the iron monster took away his Su-gege.

Since they were back on tracks, so to say, Lin Chen really didn't care about anything else than the fact his immaculate sleeves were now not only damp but also dirty. He ignored the little bodyguard's furious glares and angry sputtering, just like he would have done with a cat in a back alley, and climbed back inside the train, eager to tell Mei Changsu about the pretty girl he had spotted behind a brothel's barred window.

Gilberto wasn't very proud of himself but, at least, Diego would make fun of him and laughing was something that always did good to his brother. He deliberately looked away from the reproachful signs Felipe was making at him and marched to their compartment.

The door slid open.

Diego, who had been staring at the window, quite worried, spun on his heels when he heard them.

- "What happened? I was about to–" he started.

Mei Changsu's eyes fluttered open when the wooden panel banged against the door frame.

- "Already back?" he asked sleepily. "I would have thought-"

But then they stopped and stared and for a second both their brilliant brains felt as numb and powerless as their frail bodies, because it was not whom they had been expected who had stepped in.

Gilberto's throat dried up. Felipe's eyes widened big. Lin Shu swallowed hard. Fei Liu frowned.

It took them about six seconds to realise they were not in the right train.

oOoOoOo

They were going North instead of South. He would have noticed earlier, if he had not been so worried about having almost left Diego alone. Well, now, he had done it. If Father ever learnt about this… if something, anything, happened to his brother while they were separated… Gilberto had to take a deep breath to stop the panic from getting to his head. He clenched his fists, closed his eyes shorty, then looked at Felipe.

But the boy wasn't closed to tears, signing frantically or glowering at him or making crazy plans to stop the freaking train before it would get to the next station (and what else could they do, really, other than that and hating themselves along the way?). No, Felipe was looking at the stranger they had found in 'their' compartment.

Gilberto frowned, because Felipe should have been as disarrayed as him, not paying attention to some unknown Chinese passenger. Then he too took a closer look.

The man was tall, almost as tall as the twins (who were well above average in Alta California, and that was saying). He was about their age, but he looked thinner and frailer than Diego, even though he was just as pale and seemed to be just as ill and exhausted. He was wearing thick linen robes, in all likelihood warmer than anyone else they had met, and a woollen blue coat lined with white fur, which seemed more expansive and fancy than his plain white clothes. His dark hair was neatly tied in a high bun and his brown eyes were studying them calmly.

Gilberto shifted uncomfortably.

There was something hiding in these eyes. The man might have looked sickly and harmless enough, Zorro's instinct was telling him that it was not an ordinary folk he had in front of him.

oOoOoOo

They were going South instead of North. How could he have not noticed earlier? Blasted monkey! Stupid sweaty down-the-mountain people and stupid country beauty who had made him lost his common sense. This should never had happened. Li Gang was going to give him hell. Actually, the whole Alliance was going to give him hell for losing sight of their precious leader.

Lin Chen wasn't worried about Mei Changsu – the man was resourceful, and his health had not been too bad these past days, he would be fine – as long as he did not try to come back walking from the next station… as long as the weather did not take a turn for the worse – curse it, it was already raining… Spring could be really chilly in these parts, sometimes it even snowed… Darn! This was a disaster. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to the wisest man on Langya List because his foolish doctor had been side-tracked enough by a woman to take the wrong train.

Lin Chen huffed and stamped his foot, angry at himself and at his lack of options to save the day. He realised that Fei Liu had stop rambling and looked at the boy. The little bodyguard was still very stiff, but his dangerously slit-closed eyes were now round-opened and almost fascinated. So Lin Chen flipped his long shiny black hair behind his shoulder, opened his fan and took a closer look at the stranger they had found in 'their' compartment.

He was tall. Taller than anyone Lin Chen had seen (even taller than Mei Changsu who was by far the tallest man in all Langya Province) and dressed in a weird fashion, even for a westerner: frilly jabot and ruffles at his wrists, fringed sash at his waist, embroideries on his tailcoat jacket, large hat, fitted vest, sleeves and even on his trousers, that were wider at the ankle. His shoulders were broad and his features very square. He had hair on his upper lip and his sharp blue gaze was almost mesmerizing. But all this couldn't hide the fact that he was a very sick man. Lin Chen was a doctor, after all, and the best in a good several thousand li around (even though he currently agreed with Fei Liu who liked to call him a quack): you couldn't hide some things from him and it didn't take him more than a few minutes to analyse the way the western man breathed and moved, and to guess he had a heart ailment.

- "Sick?" asked Fei Liu, cocking his head to the side. He pointed at the stranger. "Like Su-gege?"

Lin Chen rolled his eyes.

- "No, you monkey. It's two totally different illnesses. I'm the expert. Don't make me lose my job."

The man frowned.

- "You…a doctor?" he asked in bad Chinese, turning to Lin Chen who couldn't help gaping. "My name… Diego de la Vega."

He struggled with his next words, visibly trying to remember memorised vocabulary.

- "My friends… not good train. I think."

- "Yes, well. Us too", said Lin Chen nonchalantly, fanning himself. "Our friend is probably with yours. Going North, while we are on our way back to South. Wonderful."

The man grinned. He had a nice smile. Broad and big and genuine. The sort of smile Mei Changsu never ever had on his face... Lin Chen felt a pang of sadness.

- "Friend!" said Fei Liu with a satisfied nod, turning away from the stranger. "We go to Su-gege, now."

Lin Chen moistened his lips.

- "We'll have to wait until the train stop for that, Little Fei Liu. And I'm afraid we'll have to take another train afterwards and then only we'll be back with your Su-gege. That is, of course, if he hasn't taken things in his hands and decided to get back to us on his own – and if he does, I shall kill him. Spring is cold, it's raining, these dratted trains are anything but comfortable and he won't last long going back and forth on these lines. I really hope he'll have the brains to go all the way to Zhengzhou and to wait there for us with Li Gang."

He was trying to be his usual light and wry self, but his worry was showing at the corners of his eyes. Fei Liu sobered up.

- "Su-gege? Su-gege!" he asked again, first plaintively, then with some anger.

Lin Shu sighed. He was bracing himself for yet another painful conversation with Mei Changsu's little shadow, when Diego de la Vega stepped closer and reached out to Fei Liu to pet his head, saying something in Spanish that sounded like "I'm sure it's going to be okay, little one".

Lin Chen had no time to worry about Fei Liu grabbing the stranger's arm and sending him to crash against the wall – which surely would have killed such a sick man – because what the man said right after that in his bad Chinese took him so much by surprise that his mind went blank for a second.

- "Something terrible happened to this young boy, I think."

The man seemed pained, not by the fact that Fei Liu had shirked his hand swiftly (the boy had been surprisingly insightful) but by his dawning realisation.

- "His head – his mind… it's broken, isn't it?"

No one – no one had ever seen past the childish face or the brutal moves of the former assassin. People sometimes figured something was wrong with Fei Liu, but they always seemed to think it was somehow his fault if he acted crazy. No one had ever met the boy and looked at him the way Mei Changsu had looked at the brat on the day Lin Chen had brought him to the monastery.

The doctor narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Who was that man? What kind of power held these blue eyes and this smiling face? And since when could deadly sick people see through others' souls?

He cleared his throat.

- "I'd advise you not to try touching him without his permission again", he drawled. "This could have you killed, next time."

Diego nodded.

- "I understand", he said sadly.

And then he swayed, because obviously his heart had coped so far with the situation, but it couldn't stretch on with this kind of stress any longer. Lin Chen automatically went into doctor's mode and he quickly helped the man to lie down, lifted his feet and undid his collar.

- "Where's the medicine you're taking?" he pressed.

Diego was gasping for air. He tried to speak but failed. His fingers were clawing at Lin Chen's arm, desperately drawing signs the Chinese doctor could not understand.

Fei Liu whimpered, worried. He was hovering behind them and it was upsetting. Lin Chen was about to snap at the boy to step back, when Fei Liu suddenly held out to him a small phial. The young doctor grabbed it, snatched it open and smelled it, before he shoved it in front of the widened blue eyes of his western patient.

Diego de la Vega nodded frantically.

Half an incense stick later, it was over. Lin Chen sank on the bench next to the now sleeping man and he smiled at Fei Liu who was crawling to him on the wooden seat.

- "How did you know it was that we needed?" he asked softly, letting the young boy sit next to him and handing him a snack, for once not playing with the dark ponytail so that Fei Liu would feel almost like if he was with Mei Changsu.

- "Smelled like Su-gege's bad-but-good potions", munched the young bodyguard.

- "He was right. You are paying attention."

Lin Chen sighed.

I hope you have someone as clever and loving as this one with you now, my friend… he silently prayed. Please be okay, Changsu. We'll soon come to you.

oOoOoOo

Felipe was worried, but he couldn't stop peering curiously at the man. There was something about him that made him think of Diego…. And it wasn't only the fact he was tall. Maybe it was his elegant manners, the way he held his back straight and regal, even though he seemed very weak. Diego always carried himself like a caballero, even on bad days when he had to lean on tables or on someone to navigate a room.

Maybe it was the smile. This man had softer features than Diego, a thinner face, but the same kindness in his jaw, and eyes which really looked at you. He had figured Felipe was mute in less than two minutes and, about an hour later, he was already capable of understanding a few signs. This told a lot about his character.

Gilberto wasn't trusting him at all and looked on edge, like if he was expecting the man to suddenly jump at his throat with a knife. That was nowhere close to happen. The stranger could barely get up without fighting a bout of dizziness and he kept shivering despite his very warm clothes and his fur-lined cloak. He didn't have a fever, though. Felipe had checked.

The man had chuckled at the tentative hand reaching to his brow. He had said something in Chinese and looked very interested by their home-made dictionary, when Gilberto had taken it out. He had even managed a few sentences in bad English – a feat that had astonished them.

But then, it wasn't that surprising. The man looked like a scholar, and he seemed to be just as interested in discovering new things and meeting new people than Diego was.

There was not much to do while they were waiting for the train to reach his destination, so they had sat together in the small compartment, sometimes making a comment about something they glimpsed or heard – not always managing in translating it properly, which was sometimes quite funny, but most of the time very frustrating.

The rain was still falling. Rivulets were drifting down the window glass and the country outside was only a blur of green and grey.

Gilberto was pretending to nap, but Felipe knew otherwise. It didn't matter.

The stranger had tried to read, then stopped, obviously tired. He seemed a lot more incommoded by the bumping of the train and the dampness than Diego had been. It was almost as if he was always in pain. Sometimes, he coughed and quickly hid his handkerchief in his wide sleeves, while he tried to catch his breath.

He always smiled at Felipe afterwards, like if he needed to reassure him.

Felipe wanted to tell him that he was no baby, that he was studying medicine and would have gladly helped if he could. But of course, he couldn't, neither in signs nor in written Chinese.

By the third hour, Gilberto had definitely fallen asleep, lulled by the patter of the rain on the roof and the train's regular motion, and Felipe had moved to the other bench, to sit next to the stranger. He needed to do something to stop the worry gnawing at his heart.

The man had taken out of a basket something that looked like a notepad, and grinded some ink in a small golden box. He had shown Felipe how to write with a long silky pencil.

It was very different than writing with a quill – quite difficult too – but it felt like learning something new with Diego. The man was very, very patient, and he also seemed to have the capability of making anything interesting.

They had drawn all sorts of things, taught each other their names – the man was called Mei Changsu. He had a funny way of pronouncing Felipe's name, stretching and separating the syllables.

He had explained that he was travelling with two companions. One who had long untied hair like a woman and who was apparently some kind of a doctor, and a young boy who was either his son or his little brother, someone he seemed to love very much and who had a name that sounded a bit like Felipe's.

When night had settled down outside and it had been necessary to light the candle in the booth's lantern, Gilberto had stretched and opened his eyes. He then had joined in writing in the notepad, also asking questions in a mixture of Chinese and English and mimics and noises, to know more about the country, the next train stop and the stranger's companions who were possibly with Diego, if they had done the same mistake.

Mei Changsu also looked like Diego when he was talking with Gilberto. There was something in his poise, in his eyes, on his features, that suddenly made him look a lot sharper, a lot stronger… something akin to longing as well… as if he, too, had been a warrior once and had been forced to let go of a sword his hands could no longer hold.

Felipe wanted to get back to Diego even faster, to tell him about the mysterious passenger. He was convinced he would love to talk to Mei Changsu.

Diego had started to learn some Chinese since they had planned the journey, and like everything he did, he had been quite good at it. The stranger's English was getting better and better with every sentence. They definitely would get along well.

Gilberto was fluent in Russian, Latin and French. His English had also greatly improved in the last few years, but he was nowhere as good as his brother with foreign languages. He was good at making people trust him, though, and he could be awfully charming with the ladies when he wanted to (he rarely wanted to).

- "The other man… the sick man in the right train… Di Ego? He's… brother to you?" asked Mei Changsu softly, later on, when Felipe had gone in search of latrines and someplace to refill their wineskins.

Gilberto ran a hand in his hair. His blue eyes were bright, but hard and sad at the same time, in the darkness of the booth.

- "Indeed he is", he said. "My twin brother, my best friend… the greatest man on Earth."

He had to scribble little drawings to explain "twin".

- "You love him."

Gilberto shrugged.

- "I do. Who wouldn't like his brother? Especially a brother like him."

- "I know brothers who only dream of killing each other… " Mei Changsu said calmly, although there was a terrible sadness in this quiet voice.

He seemed lost in his thoughts for a few minutes. Then he closed the notepad on his lap, slowly folded his long bony hands on it.

- "I have… a brother like yours. Not really my brother, but just the same. We were… brought up together. We laughed, cried, fought together. He… he thinks I'm dead, now."

His face darkened even more.

- "Might as well be, in this condition..."

He coughed in his sleeve again, struggling to breathe, pale and feverish, and suddenly not looking composed and dignified, but just very frail – so very, very similar to Diego when he was so sick that all hope abandoned him.

But Mei Changsu wasn't Diego and they weren't in California. They were complete strangers. So even though his heart squeezed painfully, Gilberto didn't make a move to put his arm on the young man's shoulders, like he would have done for his twin at home, in the hacienda's roses garden.

- "Do you see him, sometimes?" he asked instead, when the man had caught back his breath and leaned again, tiredly, against the wooden wall.

Mei Changsu shook his head. He pulled his cloak closer, shivering.

- "I haven't seen him in eleven years. Nor him, nor my love. I will. Soon. But they won't know me."

He had a poor smile.

Gilberto wasn't sure he had understood right.

- "What do you mean? You will surprise them by coming back when they're not expecting you?"

- "You can say it like this. A disguise. Like a game. To help my friend, my brother, while they think I'm working for them… And then we'll have a better country, with a good king. He, too, is the best of men."

Mei Changsu's smile sent a shiver down Gilberto's spine, this time. It was almost as if he was staring in a deep well, like if he was swallowed by grief, scorched by hatred, sinking into resignation after a very, very long fall.

Zorro had been borne out of despair, too. Diego had longed to be able to do something for the people of Alta California and when he had come up with this crazy scheme, Gilberto had gladly seized that opportunity to make himself useful, despite the fact it meant death and jail and torture for him, if the Fox's identity was to be discovered… but there was something sinister in Mei Changsu's soft voice. Like if he didn't fear possible bad outcomings in his plan, whatever it was… like if he knew it would not end well. Like if he was alone in the whole world, all alone against great dark forces.

And yet the strength in his resolution and his faith in this 'brother' of his were shining in his eyes.

Gilberto's throat tightened up.

He had seen that look before. He knew exactly how it felt to be loved and trusted that much and he hoped, really hoped, that Mei Changsu's friend was worth the sacrifices made for him.

TBC