Chapter 2: Deceitful Love
"Gakupo, wake up! There's someone at the door!" a girl's voice shouted.
"Mmm…" he mumbled, still in the thrall of a pleasant dream, "But we're having such a wonderful date together!"
The purple haired man suddenly found himself tossed out of the lower level of his bunk bed when the sheets were roughly tugged from him, leading to a hard landing on the floor below as his loose hair spilled around him.
"Ah Rin! I was dreaming I was about to kiss a woman with the loveliest brown eyes…" he muttered.
But the blonde-haired girl responsible for his predicament stomped her bare foot on the floor, shaking her long white night gown from the force. "GAKUPO! What if it's an emergency!?"
Indeed, the loud pounding knocks from the front door seemed to indicate as much. Gakupo stood up and dusted himself off from his rough awakening, throwing a pair of brown pants on under his pajama shirt to at least try to look respectable. He waved Rin as he left to greet whoever was calling on him at such a late hour. "Go ahead and get prepped in case its serious… at this hour, it usually is…"
He glanced at the clock on his wall – it was already 3 am…
He tucked his shirt into his baggy pants as he wandered out of his bedroom, the sleep still dragging at his vision. He slipped on a pair of black shoes, thinking momentarily of brewing a pot of coffee on the stove as the knocking continued. "I'm coming, don't you worry!" he shouted, interrupted by a powerful yawn.
Passing through his small operating room, he quickly eyed the tools – everything in its place.
Finally, he made it into the shabby kitchen – miraculously clean today. Well, not really a "miracle" given that Rin usually did that herself, when she wasn't making Gakupo help her out. Housework was often a low priority for him… outside of the surgery of course, where the slightest contamination could cause infection. That he maintained with rigorous devotion.
As he opened the door, he saw a curious sight. A young pigtailed girl in a fancy white dress, with splotches of blood across the front, a single glass shoe on her right foot. In her arms she held an unconscious man with blue hair, clutching him tightly as she tried to keep him propped up.
"Please… he… he needs help… he was nearly murdered… he'll die… You're supposed to be the greatest surgeon in Estmarch…"
Gakupo took one look at the blood seeping from the wound on his back and staining her dress… and the panicked but lovely eyes of the girl begging him for aid. "To the operating room!"
He laid his new intake down on his stomach, quickly pulling off the young man's shirt and jacket as he gawked at the deep knife wound. Given the location, he would have expected the attacker would have punctured one of his organs… and the stillness of the patient's body only seemed to confirm that to the doctor.
"Miss… I doubt he's alive…"
He couldn't see any signs of breathing either…
"He won't die, not know… he's… asleep…"
She sat in a well-worn red chair, fingering a small, empty glass vial. Frankly, he would have expected greater alarm from the poor girl, but perhaps it was just shock? That must have been what left her in such an obvious state of denial… she didn't even seem to notice her one bare foot…
Gakupo carefully touched the man's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. Nothing. He pulled out a stethoscope, only to confirm the lack of a beating heart. "I'm sorry… there's no vitals…"
The girl bit her lip, her fingers tightening around the vial. "There won't be. But I assure you, he's alive. Listen very closely."
'Madness!' Gakupo thought to himself, but he kept the stethoscope close.
Until he heard it… the faintest beating. Weak, but steady. And just so faintly, he could hear air moving through the lungs unencumbered.
"… he won't survive when the poison wears off if you don't patch up that wound."
Gakupo shuddered at how calm and impersonal the girl spoke of a critical wound. But if this man had been given some kind of toxin to induce a deathlike slumber, he could likely survive an otherwise fatal wound long enough for medical treatment…
He worried over why she had this man, why he was in this state, and what was going to happen to him even if he survived…
"Nurse, bring my scrubs! And get this young lady a clean change of clothes!"
But none of it mattered at the moment – his duty was to his patient. Rin ran into the operating room, carrying Gakupo's surgical clothes. Her long white nurses' uniform and mask covered up much of her appearance, and now Gakupo was beginning to suspect the concealment of her identity was a necessity. It only took a few moments for him to get his scrubs on over his street clothes and to pull back his lengthy hair into a more manageable ponytail.
"We'll need to stem the bleeding first… he seems to have lost a great deal of blood already, so he'll need a transfusion when we get that contained as well…"
"I don't know his blood type," the girl murmured.
Gakupo laughed. "That's fine, I can handle it," he said as he started to pull out a needle and surgical thread. "Lucky me, I'm Type O, and I haven't had to give blood in months. Rin, can you get the x-ray machine over here? We need to estimate the depth of the puncture!"
He grabbed for a sterile solution and began to flush out the wound. In spite of the blood loss, it seemed peculiarly shallow so far. The wound was surprisingly free of debris, and he didn't appear to have any other stab wounds along his body.
"Here Miss… these are baggy on me, they might fit you all right."
The girl nodded to his nurse, taking the clothes and departing the operating room.
Rin walked over to the table as Gakupo cut off and tied the stitches on his patient's back. There was nothing left for him to do but sew up the wound now that the bleeding had stopped. According to the x-ray they'd taken, the wound was surprisingly shallow and precise, missing his organs. As if the attacker hadn't wanted to kill him.
"… she has to be one of them…" Rin whispered, "We had all kinds of poisons and toxins we could use… we'd use lysindera meliandra if we thought we were going to get caught and needed to fake out the pursuers…"
He could hear fear in the girl's voice as she spoke.
"Don't let that mask slip and you'll be okay."
Already Rin was getting together the supplies Gakupo would need for the blood transfusion. "What's your read on it? It seems pretty obvious to me how this happened…"
Rin traced her fingers along the metal table. "Maybe this is part of their plan… or… maybe… maybe she…"
Suddenly she let out a gasp. "Gakupo, his face! Don't you know who that is?!"
Gakupo tied off the fresh stitches and moved over to Rin's side of the table. "Oh my! You know, I was so busy trying to get him prepped that I didn't even take a good look at him!"
The sound of a radio being turned on filled the surgery and interrupted Gakupo's speech.
"… fire out of the castle! The gunfire is still going on! We've yet to confirm whether our glorious King and Queen have survived, but all we know is that Prince Kaito is confirmed dead by the rebels!"
The panic of the radio announcer continued as the pigtailed girl stood next to the device, her hand on the receiver, dressed in the simple black dress Rin had provided for her.
"… the Emerald Dawn is locking down the palace… communications are likely next… people of Estmarch, you must resist! You must not let madness overtake us!"
Gakupo rolled one of his sleeves up, puncturing his arm with a needle already attached to his patient, watching the red line of blood flow through the plastic tube and into his patient.
"Why did you come to me?" he finally asked.
The girl turned off the radio. "You were a young, gifted surgeon, so famous you even treated the royal family. But then you disappeared, vanishing into the slums after losing a patient… they said you were consumed with guilt."
She looked over to him, but he saw no malice in her eyes. Those eyes looked entirely too familiar though. He'd seen them that night three years ago, when he'd first met his nurse. For a brief moment, he wondered if she recognized Rin even with the mask on, but she didn't seem to have connected the two of them.
Gakupo looked his patient over as the IV continued to run. "Well, he's fairly close to death I'd say… after all he lost quite a lot of blood…"
He watched the girl out of the corner of his eye. This was a little cruel, but he wanted to see how she'd react. He needed to confirm something.
Upon his words, her solid expression crumbled, her eyes just barely brimming with tears. "No… it… it shouldn't be that deep… he should be able to pull through… he needs to survive… he has to survive!"
Seeing her getting scared for the Prince's life… that was all Gakupo wanted to see. "Well, don't worry! I have really strong blood, it should get him up and about in no time!"
Rin rolled her eyes and groaned. "Gakupo, that's a pint! We need to stop it!"
Gakupo quickly stopped the blood flow as Rin took his IV out. Applying pressure to the IV site with his fingertips, he grabbed for gauze for both himself and the patient.
"Where do you intend to go from here, young lady?"
The girl gripped her arms. "As far as I can… before they realize what I've done."
She looked at Gakupo, her eyes filled with sadness. "I'm sorry, they might chase me here… I can't tell you what I plan to do. The less you know, the better."
He'd heard that before.
And he really couldn't ignore the plight of someone with such pretty eyes.
"You're certain there's nothing more I can do for you?"
Gakupo watched the girl in front of him as she tried to keep the unconscious Prince steady in her arms. Rin stood at his side, her mask off – clearly by now she felt comfortable that their strange guest was not her enemy. The prince's fineries had already been stripped from him – Gakupo tossing the bloodied clothes in the incinerator along with the girl's. Gakupo's spare clothes hung rather loosely on him given the difference in height, but they would do. He would blend in.
"No. Like I said, it's best that you help me as little as possible. If someone asks, say I threatened you."
Gakupo watched the sun beginning to peek over the horizon as the girl hobbled around trying to keep her "load" steady. "At least take the car."
"G-Gakupo! We NEED that car!" Rin protested.
"I can't take something so valuable…" the girl started to say.
"Hey now, I can't very well let such a lovely young lady carry off a patient who needs to stay stable for the next few days!"
He heard another annoyed sigh from Rin, but she seemed to have already resigned herself to whatever Gakupo had decided. "Besides, if you steal my car, it's a more convincing cover!"
The girl seemed to accept his wisdom as Gakupo grabbed the ignition keys from the hook. "Just turn it into the start position and give it a few good cranks and it'll go just fine. There's usually no traffic but…"
Their conversation ceased as the sounds of gunfire started off in the distance. "Come on, I'll help you load him up!"
The small, rickety vehicle barely had enough room for two, but the girl was able to lay the Prince along the backseat. She quickly tossed a blanket over him entirely. Gakupo grabbed the long crank and inserted it into the motor, giving it a few turns until he heard the motor sputter to life.
The girl gripped the wheel tightly as she stared out at the road ahead. She finally looked back to Gakupo and he winked at her. "I wish you luck on your journey! But I do at least wish to know your name before you leave."
She looked away from him. "Miku. I'm Miku. And I'm sorry."
He watched as Miku pulled out of the small garage and drove off into the streets. He realized he'd never asked for her name – all he'd focused on was saving the life of the boy, and ensuring she got out safely. Soon the car was out of sight.
"She's running away from them…" Rin said behind him.
Gakupo turned and saw his nurse had tears in her eyes. "They're never going to stop chasing her…"
"Oh stop that, she seems pretty clever. It wasn't that hard to get them off of you, was it?!"
She had her hands clutched close together. "They… they'll probably come here, Gakupo… what if they recognize me?"
He didn't like to see her cry… Rin had gotten so strong since she'd started living with him, but there was only one thing that ever frightened her. Going back.
"You know, I think things here in Vedunia are going to be a bit difficult... so… we should take this practice on the road!"
Rin sniffled. "But that girl just took the car! How are you going to…"
Gakupo let out a booming laugh. "That would have been a lousy operating room! Here, we'll just get all my tools together… and…"
He thought of something to try and get Rin's courage up. "We always said someday we'd go and search for your family, right? Well, no time like the present!"
Rin started to smile. "Well, I'd better go with you, you're kind of hopeless on your own anyway."
"Ahhh, what's all this?! I've taken care of you all these years!"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "If it weren't for me, you'd never get out of bed in the morning! Or wash your dishes or laundry… or you'd burn the house down trying to cook for yourself…"
Gakupo let out a frustrated sigh. "Oh, here I go cheering you up and you just unload on me!"
The two laughed together before the gunfire started up again. It still sounded far away… they still had time to pack and try and get a train out of town before the Emerald Dawn seized the railways…
Kaito felt a soft bed underneath him… warm sheets around his body…
He tried to speak but his tongue slurred the words… he was barely cognizant of what was around him…
'I died… I remember dying… is this the afterlife?'
Kaito finally managed to open his eyes. His vision was still blurry but he could hear voices nearby. He strained to hear them.
"… the best we can do for him…" "… I'll make sure your family is safe…"
Just snatches of conversation. Kaito thought he'd heard both voices before. Then… he wasn't dead.
He saw the door open and his foggy vision could barely make out the sight of a brown-haired man in a black suit, white shirt, and blue tie entering his room. "Oh my… I think he's awake!"
As the man grew closer, Kaito could see his reflection in the man's thin glasses. He tried to speak again, but the words just wouldn't come together. "Then the toxin is finally wearing off… good."
Kaito tried to move his eyes to see the female speaking to him, but he couldn't quite turn his head yet. "Kaito… don't force it right now… you're still going to be very weak. You're in Liesenfall now."
Her voice sounded so reassuring right now after his ordeal. "Just rest… nothing will happen to you here…"
He wanted to believe her even as he let his exhaustion pull him back into darkness…
Miku sat in a worn chestnut chair, observing the prince for any signs of his eventual awakening. She'd changed from the simple clothes she'd received from the doctor and now wore a grey and black vest over a white blouse, a calf-length black skirt, black stockings, and tall black boots. A green bow was tied around her neck. She'd wanted to grab a pair of trousers instead of the skirt, but as it was she was borrowing clothes worn by her host's late wife and apparently, the lady of the house hadn't possessed any that fit.
The prince's first awakening had been a good sign – he wasn't in a coma. The toxin she'd given him worked so much faster when applied in her…unique… manner. She'd worried that it might cause permanent damage to him.
If they had to keep fleeing Estmarch to stay ahead of his enemies, he would need to be able to support himself.
Because of her.
She reflected on her flight into Liesenfall as the Emerald Dawn rapidly closed off the capital. She later learned that a blockade had been set up – and trains out of Vedunia had closed within hours after the announcement of the coup. But their occupation of Estmarch was slow in the two days since - many factions of the military held no loyalty to them. Liesenfall was one such city that had yet to convert, but like many of the remaining cities, everyone sat on tenterhooks waiting for any scrap of news over who would rule them. The current monarchy had hardly been kind, but the coup appeared no better yet…
She heard Kaito moaning and tried to steady her hands. She didn't know how he was going to react… to his lost time… to his lost home… his lost life…
To breaking his heart…
The second his eyes opened and he saw Miku, she saw his face contort in terror. He tried to push himself backwards on the bed. "Get… get away from me!"
Miku tried to brace herself. "Kaito…"
She had no right to call him that.
"Your Highness, please… let me explain…"
"There's nothing to explain! You tried to kill me! What more do you want?!"
Unfortunately for Kaito, if he planned on bolting out the door, Miku was sitting right next to it. He seemed to recognize this as his panicked eyes darted in the direction of the only exit, before returning to Miku. She tried to gather her thoughts, but somehow every word of the speeches she'd practiced seemed to slip away. Miku had never been prepared for actual social situations, especially not awkward ones like this.
"I brought you to safety, Prince. You're amongst a supporter of the royal family."
Kaito winced as he wiggled around enough that Miku suspected he'd pulled at one of the muscles still healing from his wound. "Please, Prince! You're still healing! Be careful, you can't let your stitches come undone!"
"… I'm only injured because of you!"
His fear began to devolve into anger… he would appear to be even harder to reason with. "You must listen to me… you've been asleep for two days. You're in the town of Liesenfall. The Emerald Dawn has conquered the capital, your home isn't safe."
"Emerald… Dawn? Conquered? What are you talking about?"
Kaito seemed to be calming down enough to at least listen to her. With great sadness, Miku began to explain the events since the night of the ill-fated ball. How she'd tipped her murderous dagger with a toxin that would force his body into a deathlike coma, delivering a wound that to an untrained observer would appear fatal. How she'd carefully concealed herself until the right moment and stolen him away, in such haste that she'd lost one of her shoes.
She told him of the rise of the Emerald Dawn who declared themselves the lords of Estmarch in place of the corrupt tyrants they'd deposed, using the apparent death of Estmarch's only heir as a symbol of their power.
"And you helped them…" he accused.
His voice sounded so cold.
"I wasn't… I didn't work for them…"
Miku didn't even know how to properly explain her own role. He was right, wasn't he? Even if she'd saved his life, her actions had let the current wave of rebellion turn to violence, had they not? It didn't matter who she worked for, did it?
"I was… I was brought to the castle to… to kill you… but I…"
She had to fight to keep speaking through the guilt and shame building up inside of her.
"…I refused. I… I couldn't… I couldn't kill you. I chose to save you. I didn't have any other way to get you out of the castle but to tip my dagger with a sleeping toxin, there were conspirators everywhere! Please understand that… whatever you may think of me, I am trying to keep you alive."
The Prince stayed silent, but he refused to look at her. "… Do my parents still live?"
"Yes, Your Highness. As far as we know, they escaped the fall of the capital, but nobody knows where they went to after that."
The prince looked somewhat relieved at that news.
"Good… You may leave."
Miku remained in her place. "My Lord, Liesenfall will not be safe for long. The Emerald Dawn approaches…"
"What concern is it of yours?"
His cold clipped words cut into her heart.
"There will be others seeking you out. For the time being, news of your death is being used for them to retain power. If you were found to be alive and amongst supporters of House Shion… It would be most inconvenient."
Already, Miku's tactical mind wandered to her former superiors. "I've already betrayed my organization… So they'll be sending someone higher up to track you and do my job instead."
She tried to guess who might come, but by design the "Cinderellas" were largely isolated. Miku could only identify a few by their faces. Given the chaos, they'd probably send whoever was closest to the capital… she'd been lucky in that her betrayal in the middle of a coup would have put her out of sight of whomever was sent to monitor her, but…
"I'll see to it that you're escorted safely to-"
"Don't you understand that I want nothing more to do with you?! How can I possibly trust anything you say to me after what you've done?!"
The prince's angry outburst silenced Miku entirely. She tried to speak again, but his furious glare kept robbing her of her voice. The opportunity for any more words ended as the lord of the house came running through the doorway. "Are you finally awake, my honored guest?"
Kaito vaguely recalled this man's face from before, as he'd briefly awakened during his long slumber. "You… You were in the palace only a month ago… Lord Mayor Kiyoteru Hiyama?"
The young man bowed his head in respect. "I'm pleased that you remember me!"
His cheerful smile hardly fit the somber mood. Kaito's eyes darted back to the chair where Miku had been sitting… she was already gone.
'Good.'
She'd made a fool of him. Getting so close to him with lies and promises, with sweet embraces and kisses, conning him into confessing his deepest feelings… and he'd so easily fallen for it…
Fallen in love…
How could he have been so blind?! Of course, a stranger wouldn't have the patience for his prattling on unless she wanted something. He'd always been warned this was the way of the world… perhaps his parents were right about this…
Whatever she stood to gain from faking his death… it didn't matter. He wouldn't let her near again.
Kiyoteru finally noticed Kaito's eyes focused on where Miku had been sitting only moments ago."Oh, the young lady?" Kiyoteru's smile seemed to fade as he spoke of her. "She's a strange one… I've never met her in my life, but somehow she seemed to suspect my allegiances were closer to the Crown than the Emerald Dawn. Quite fortunate for you given the poor shape you were in upon your arrival. I must say everyone here in Liesenfall was quite shaken to hear the news of your death. Would that I could spread the word of your fortunate survival, but I don't entirely trust that the people who did this to you aren't already closing in to finish the job."
'Of course, she wouldn't have been mad enough to tell him that she was the one who tried to kill me in the first place.'
The prince had half a mind to blow her cover lest she be plotting another assault on him or worse. He ran his hands along the bandages under his loose white shirt. "Did you ensure I had medical treatment as well?"
Kiyoteru shook his head. "You were already bandaged up when you got here… your… er… escort… had already taken you to a surgeon before you left Vedunia."
'So… she was thorough…'
His thoughts of exposing her subsided. Even if he didn't trust her or want her in his presence, she had appeared to have taken care of him. He owed her that much gratitude…
The weight of everything happening around him began to press against Kaito's thoughts. His family was missing, and likely running for their lives as these mysterious revolutionaries pursued the three of them. There was no way for him to report his survival to them. His home was under siege, and the people responsible had already made one devious attempt on his life.
Where would he go?
What did he intend to do?
What did being a Prince even mean with no castle or crown?
"My liege… I can give you what hospitality within my means but… unfortunately, I've no idea how long Liesenfall is safe for you," Kiyoteru said, "I'll give you some time to adjust and plan for your next move. If you've need of anything, I'll see what I can provide."
Kaito nodded his head – he'd never felt so vulnerable in his life. "Thank you…"
As his silence remained, Kiyoteru coughed and left the prince entirely to himself.
Miku wandered through the manor in a daze. She couldn't very well go outside, she couldn't chance being seen by an agent of the Godmothers. 'But I can't stay here very long either… Or I'll bring all this danger to him as well…'
Her 'host' hadn't been entirely willing. He seemed to have suspicions about her true purpose. So she ended letting him keep them – as long as it gave Kaito enough safety to recuperate, she didn't care what the Lord Mayor thought of her.
As for Kaito…
For a moment, she could only think of the brief evening they shared where she'd transformed into the Countess of Marchenland and romanced a charming Prince…
Her hands trembled as she reconciled his kindness with his wrath…
'He's right to be angry… I stole his heart… Whether I saved him or not, I cost him everything…'
She couldn't deny the strength of her emotions that night that brought her down this dangerous path, and she'd known the second she'd chosen to save Kaito's life, she'd lose his love in return. So what was next for her? She couldn't expect him to ever trust her again… And there was no doubt that her former masters would try and rectify his unplanned survival….
"Nanny Teto, Nanny Teto! Where are you?!"
Miku stopped her rumination as a small child in a frilly red dress slammed into her. The little girl barely appeared older than 6, her black hair tied into a pair of tiny pigtails. "Oh, sorry miss! Oh… are you a new nanny?"
Before Miku could say anything, the girl looked her over and frowned. "Did Nanny Teto leave? Everyone's leaving the house now… Daddy said something bad is happening outside and now everyone is going away…"
A war… a war that Miku had caused to happen…
"I'm sorry…" she whispered as she slipped past her, the guilt eating away at her… She wanted to be anywhere else right now, and Kaito was already done with her… She didn't even want to exist anymore… She brushed past a woman with bright red hair and curly pigtails without even excusing herself…
Kaito slipped the hood of a long white jacket over his head. It wasn't a fantastic disguise… but it would do. Hiding out in this house would drive him mad, and he still couldn't be certain he was safe. He needed to get outside. He tugged a long blue scarf up to cover the bottom of his face… he was finally concealed.
It might be selfish, but as the time passed, he started to realize there was a slight upside to his difficult situation. He wasn't being kept in the castle anymore. He knew nothing of the world outside, and now it was waiting for him.
He left a note on his bed for his current host, apologizing for his abrupt departure. It was the least he could do.
And with that, Kaito tugged the hood down one more time and tried to sneak through the manor's halls. He'd expected he'd have to duck out on a great deal of servants – surely a Lord Mayor would have many – but to Kaito's surprise there was a distinct lack of staff. 'Does he even have a single maid?' Kaito thought to himself, 'He couldn't possibly be dusting this himself…'
Before Kaito made it to the front door, his solo journey was interrupted. A woman with two curly ponytails in a simple black dress and white apron marched out of the kitchen. She looked him over with surprise. "I'm sorry… are you a new staff member?"
Kaito fumbled for a response. "I… no, I'm just… a… a…"
He tried to pull out some kind of lame answer. "Just a courier… miss! I've already delivered my message and I'm on my way out!"
Kaito finally took notice of another person with this young lady who'd so embarrassed him – a young girl, who could be no older than 6, her hand tightly clutching what Kaito seemed to finally realize was her nanny. Despite her bright clothes, her personality seemed strangely somber and withdrawn. "Oh… is there something wrong, miss?" he said to her.
The girl remained silent before the nanny spoke up. "Lady Yuki's health is not what it used to be… this awful air in the house is sapping her strength. The two of us are taking a long walk outside so she can recover."
"Oh! Well… I shouldn't delay you any further, should I?"
He bowed formally to the nanny and her charge, only to receive a giggle in return. The prince's cheeks flushed red. "I've never seen so proper a courier!"
Kaito brushed past the two of them, trying to contain his embarrassment as he slipped into the crowds.
In spite of the rough start to his excursion, the sensation of being surrounded by people began to invigorate the prince as he wandered aimlessly. His first trip to a market was full of wonders! Where he'd grown up he was simply given anything he wanted, but here he spied one strange thing after another that tickled his fancy! 'Ah, if only my parents had taken me through one of these places before!' he thought enviously, imagining riding home in a carriage filled with a day's trinkets and treasures, 'Liesenfall is filled with wonders!'
The scent of fresh pastries lured him past a bakery, simple in comparison to the lavish kitchen of his castle but there was something exciting about watching the staff inside scurry around and pop out bread and cakes as customers flooded the streets. The sweets were nowhere near as grand, but now Kaito found himself wishing he had some kind of coin to buy a sweet roll for himself…
'Maybe I was wrong? There seems to be plenty of nice food here… and plenty of customers… My parents could have been right all along…'
He heard the sound of bells and his wanderlust drew him towards an old, elaborate church, his heart beginning to lighten as he let the rush of people draw him into their lively flow…
Miku felt herself swallowed up in the crowds. Who could she trust? Who could help her? Was she being followed?
If that was the case, she needed to run… far… far from Kaito…
'But if he's being followed…'
She almost stopped walking right there. Being so out of sorts… this wasn't normal for her. She was supposed to be a focused assassin.
'But I'm not… I didn't make my first kill. I didn't hide my true self…'
She ducked back and watched as some of the townsfolk began to approach the church. Their shabby clothes, rags, and dirt. So many children looking run down, reaching for the meager food hand outs.
'Even Liesenfall is filled with misery.'
For a moment, Miku could recall the cold floors as she clutched at an empty belly and she began to banish that memory again. She tried to get a better look at the children – from the condition of their clothes, she doubted they were refugees. These were normal orphans.
All the church was providing was bread. She looked the priests over next - none of them seemed terribly well fed either, though they seemed like they were in better shape than some of the children. Miku began to close in… she had to know what the situation was…
"… if only we had more room…"
"The Lord Mayor already sold off more of his family heirlooms to secure another shipment of building materials. Hopefully the coup doesn't cut off the delivery before we can build shelter for the winter."
"The poor souls…"
'So they're trying… they're just overwhelmed.'
She melted away from the crowd. If there were people in flight from the coup, she could always pretend to be one of them. 'Heh… what pretending? I can't go back to the godmothers anyway.'
She could imagine the stern face of the woman who gave her the order. The sweet promises that would make all her years of suffering worth it. The trials, the cold, the whippings… every moment of it to allow her to become a Cinderella and claim her rightful place.
Now that was gone. But she did have one thing to show for it – Kaito was alive. She had changed his fate.
Miku's feet wandered as she started to follow the crowds again, trying to figure out which fate would be hers.
Kaito followed the shabby looking children in curiosity. He wanted to know how they came to be this way. As he moved further through the district, he started to notice the finally trimmed bricks vanishing, the structures turning to decaying wood. The streets lost their cobblestones, becoming nothing more than dirt. He could hear the train whistle in the distance and looked up to see the tracks were cared for but the area around them much less so.
And that was when he started to find the fraying tents. He watched the children scatter with their bread. One of them snapped her loaf in half and shared it with an older man covered in bandages, who looked like he could barely make the journey ten meters let alone all the way to the church.
'What is going on here!?'
How could anyone live like this? No roofs, no walls? Surely with the encroachment of winter they would freeze?!
He leaned back against a dirty brick wall taking it in. The few adults around barely looked nourished themselves. Many of the men were missing limbs.
'This must be… temporary… this must be because of the coup! This can't be…'
Certainly he'd entertained the idea that his parents were deceiving him about the state of his kingdom, but… no, surely it was a mistake. They must not know. So much of Liesenfall was beautiful and plentiful…
He felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked his head up. It was Kiyoteru, his eyes panicked. "You shouldn't be out like this!" he scolded, "You're supposed to be dead!"
Kaito fumbled for a response. "How did you find me?"
The Lord Mayor tugged at Kaito's blue scarf. "That was a Christmas gift from my late aunt. I'd recognize it anywhere!"
Kaito's eyes wandered behind Kiyoteru's form. "How you can let this stand?!" he asked in shock, "Why do they have no homes?! Doctors?! Why are they taking hand outs?!"
The bespectacled fellow began to guide Kaito away. "This isn't my choice… we're working on increasing the amount of solid shelter, but building materials are being rationed again. Surely you know why."
Kaito thought he noticed a sharper tone on the last sentence. "I don't know anything about rations. Or why those men…"
He gestured to the injured. "…aren't even in a hospital bed!"
For a few moments, Kiyoteru walked in silence. "It would not do for me to express displeasure to their son when the King and Queen are still alive."
"Nonsense!" Kaito protested, "You should speak to me plainly! Is that not your job?"
Kiyoteru side eyed the Prince carefully. "You won't like it."
As the two made their way through the city streets again, Kaito's sense of unease grew as Lord Mayor Hiyama explained the state of things.
That the series of Rose Wars that expanded Estmarch's territory did not come without great cost. The aristocracy had claimed the lion's share of wealth and resources, and with another war on the way, the rationing had begun again and any city without a strong industrial center bore the brunt of the lack of resources. Food, materials, healthcare… and now with a coup in play, it would only get worse as the fighting broke out within Estmarch's borders as well.
"Liesenfall's soldiers have dwindled over time… we couldn't fend off an invasion if it comes. The able-bodied men were sent north… as if it isn't obvious they're going to be ground up when the Nordland invasion inevitably comes."
The ones Kaito saw were unemployable – broken. With so little to go around, nobody would care for them. Save for the orphans who willingly shared their bread.
'Refugees…'
So many had wandered into the city seeking safety after losing parents to illness, to poverty, to war… to crime.
"But surely this is unusual!" Kaito said daring to hope.
"It's my understanding that there's many cities in worse off shape. Liesenfall is stretched to the brink. I've been selling off everything I have to try and help support the poor of my city, even dismissing my staff so I might have more to give. But without help from whomever IS in charge of Estmarch, this too shall run out."
So the state of his house was a reflection of how much the Lord Mayor had been trying to stave off true collapse.
He started to recall how Miku had spoken to him in her false guise as a Countess.
'She talked of doing without, of her little 'fairy tail' country trying to give away whatever it could…'
She'd appeared so sincere… before she…
"Oh! I thought perhaps you'd left."
Kiyoteru's manner grew far more guarded as the pair reached the front gates… where Miku stood waiting for them.
Kaito felt a whirl of emotions take him, but different from the ones before. Now it already felt unbecoming of him to have shouted so when he awoke, without even bothering to try and understand Miku's motivations. But he didn't entirely feel glad to see her again either as she approached him.
"I merely wish to ensure that Kai- the Prince is safe. While he recovers. At least grant me this, Your Highness."
When Miku's eyes turned to Kaito, he thought he spotted something familiar. For just a moment… he thought he recalled the eyes of the children he'd just met…
"Well, whatever you two decide, it's not safe for the both of you to be out here."
Kaito swallowed and walked inside after the Lord Mayor, trying to keep his cool. When he'd awoken, he'd wanted nothing more than to drive Miku away. Right now… he didn't know where he stood now that some of the shock was wearing off.
As they crossed through the threshold into the house, Kiyoteru began sifting through some mail on his desk. "Yuki, I'm home!"
He stepped away, and Kaito found himself alone with Miku again for the first time in hours.
"I… you don't have to trust me… or even like me…"
She couldn't seem to raise her head up to look at him. "If… if that's the case… then treat me as simply a soldier. A blunt instrument to dispose of when you've no further need of me. But allow me to stay with you until you reach true safety."
Just being reminded of soldiers made Kaito recall the streets filled with the injured. For a moment he imagined this girl missing limbs herself.
"I implore you, your Highness, you are not safe within Estmarch any longer. The Fairy Godmothers must have figured out what I've done by now, and they will be looking for us. The next person… will be another Cinderella like myself. And she will have the resolve to carry out the task I failed. They are without mercy…"
"Fairy Godmothers?! Cinderellas?"
Kaito was familiar with the fairy tale, but what did any of that have to do with what Miku was telling him?
Before Miku could explain any further, Kiyoteru came running back in, an opened white envelope clutched in his hands, his face filled with fury. "What have you done with YukI!?" he shouted.
The harried man pressed so close to Miku the girl found herself backing up into a wall.
"Were you sent here as a distraction?! Did you want me to babysit him until the Emerald Dawn figured out what to do with him!?"
"Lord Mayor, calm yourself and explain!"
Kaito reached out and grasped Kiyoteru before he got any closer to Miku, turning the upset father to face him. "They… they left a note behind… they came for my daughter and said I'd know why... if I call the police they'll kill her…"
The prince flashed back to his departure from the home. "Your daughter… she was a small girl with a red dress and black pigtails?"
"You saw her?!"
The poor man sounded desperate as Kaito recalled the scene before he'd left the house. "She left in the company of a woman with red hair, just after I ventured into the city. She said she was taking Yuki out for a walk to restore her health."
"Madness!" Kiyoteru protested, "Yuki is in the peak of health! But… Teto…"
The anger began to drain out of him, replaced only by guilt. "Oh gods… I thought I checked out her references properly… I only hired her a month ago, when the old nanny moved out of Liesenfall…"
"… she must have been a Cinderella. Her references would have been carefully forged."
Miku stepped forward, placing a hand gently on Kiyoteru's shoulder. "If Prince Kaito saw her so recently, she can't have gotten out of Liesenfall yet. I'll bring your daughter back to you before the Godmothers go to work on her. But you need to pretend that everything is normal if they try to blackmail you. And keep Prince Kaito out of sight."
Kaito saw Miku slip her hands under her skirt as she holstered a pistol. "Miku… you're not going to…"
"It's only a precaution."
Any fear that he'd seen from Miku when she'd tried to speak to him was gone now. She pushed her way out the door to the streets without another word. Kaito felt a knot building up in his chest. "What is she planning to do?" he asked shakily.
"She's one of them. The lost 'Cinderellas'."
Kiyoteru gripped his right wrist with his left hand so tightly his knuckles were white. "They targeted Yuki because of me…" he said sadly, "Over a year ago, I'd been getting reports of young girls going missing in the slums. I tried to trace their whereabouts but there was always something keeping the truth just beyond my means. I… I came to the castle trying to get someone to look into it, someone with more resources…"
"My parents?" Kaito asked pointedly. He was starting to predict where this path would lead.
"… they wanted nothing to do with chasing down leads about 'gutter trash.'"
There was a weariness to the Lord Mayor that made him appear so much older than his years. "I wouldn't let up and that's when the first threat came. I should have been more careful but… I knew I was stumbling on something so much bigger… lovely young women turning up at assassinations, involved in dreadful business before they would disappear into the air… like the faeries had spirited them away… I thought she was simply here to manipulate me, but… she might have tried to escape instead."
The knot only felt tighter. Kaito pulled his hood down tightly and yanked up his scarf. "I'm going after them…"
Kiyoteru looked at him oddly, but pulled a pistol out from the inside of his coat. "Not without this you're not."
The prince almost didn't take it – the idea of ending a life made him sick. But he held out a hand and accepted the weapon anyway. 'Maybe I can at least look threatening or something.'
He dashed out of the house, hoping he was right behind Miku as he took note of a black car pulling up the gates, making him aware of needing to hide his face as he wrapped his scarf up just a little higher…
'All right, if she were taking a little girl without drawing attention, she'd use either the train or take a car…'
Miku took a quick peek in the driveway of the estate and smirked – a car WAS missing.
Her car. She hadn't gassed it up since they'd left Vedunia either.
'So she would have run out of gas by now… that means she'll have broken down and she'll be taking a train.'
This time, the throng of people didn't frighten her so. When Miku needed to find someone, melting into the crowd would provide her valuable cover. She had barely seen Yuki, and even more briefly the red-haired nanny, but she did know what someone trying to flee detection would look like.
Miku heard the distant whistle of the approaching passenger train and picked up her pace. Finally she spotted the distinctive hairstyle of her target. While to the people around her, she simply appeared to be guiding the little girl, Miku recognized that the girl wasn't moving normally – her steps were awkward, stumbling.
'She drugged her… likely celicanthum porticocus given her behavior and its ease in acquiring… Yuki won't be able to do much but follow orders like this. Clever.'
Miku broke out of the crowd and ran towards her target. "Stop! Give the girl back, this instant, Teto!"
Teto broke out of her calm stride, wrenching the girl up into her arms and leaping away. In seconds she'd jumped up a series of boxes to get over the fence to the train yard, Miku mimicking her. Such basic acrobatics was taught to her young.
She saw the glint of steel at Teto's thigh and leapt quickly to avoid being impaled by a throwing knife. 'Right, no pistols… too much attention.'
This was basic.
So why was a Cinderella even here?
Teto rested her charge on the ground, staring at Miku with eyes like ice. "You were supposed to be in the capital. What business is this of yours?"
Miku held her tongue, reiterating her threat. "Leave that child alone and nothing happens."
'She's out of contact? That… could be useful. But she knows what I look like… that means she knows about my mission!'
She couldn't give anything away that would put Kaito at risk along with the poor little girl. She tried to take stock of the train yard, where the most convenient exit was…
Teto removed several more knives from her coat. "I have orders to bring her back. What of you?"
Rather than talking any further, Miku dove forward, drawing her own knife out. Teto leapt in front of Yuki to meet Miku's furious slashes, never smiling… never showing any emotion…
"Your actions don't make sense! What is it you intend to do!? Did you mess up your mission somehow and now you're taking it out on me?!"
Again Miku kept silent rather than give anything away as she flipped around to avoid another barrage of throwing knives. "The news already got here of the Prince's death! What else are you planning?!"
Miku almost got close enough to slice through Teto's throat… but her hands shook as she nearly did the deed and she faltered. Leaving a clear opening for Teto to kick her in the stomach and send her flying back.
"I know that hesitation."
Miku pushed herself up out of the dirt and wood planks. She saw the train pulling into the station. She had to keep Yuki or Teto from boarding that train…
"You've never killed anyone. Which means…"
'No… no please don't figure it out…'
"He's ALIVE! You… you traitor!"
Miku rolled through the dirt before a knife impaled her, but her shirt sleeve was pinned to the ground. She tried to yank her arm free before Teto leapt forward and stomped on her free wrist. "Those who turn from the path are to be executed. No exceptions."
Teto was no different from Miku once. Whatever her story… Miku knew why girls became Cinderellas.
Except that she hadn't. Even with all the torment and conditioning and training… in the one moment of action, she turned her back on her fate.
What made her different?!
Teto began to plunge a dagger into Miku's chest as she finally wrenched her pinned arm free and grabbed for Teto's wrist, stopping the blade an inch from her chest. "You can't change fate! He's decreed to die! If you won't fulfill your duty, I'll make sure the Godmothers know where he is so they can do it for you!"
'I… won't… let anyone… hurt him!'
Miku gritted her teeth as she turned the blade away... she tried to keep her feelings in check… one quick twist and she could have Teto impaled on her own weapon… the only person who knew her location and Kaito's would be gone… she hesitated again as her nerve left her and the knife blade tilted back her way…
The sound of gun shots startled both combatants. Teto looked in the direction of them… her foot loosened…
Miku pulled her arm free and yanked the knife out of Teto's hand. As it fell flat against her chest, sliding to the ground, Miku used her grip on her assailant to flip the girl onto the ground, face first. Quickly, she leapt onto the girl's back and wrapped her arm under Teto's chin, tightly constricting her neck with both arms. The girl began to cough and wheeze loudly as her airflow was cut off, Miku trying to ignore how horrible the sounds truly were.
But finally she felt her target go completely limp in her arms. She released her grip quickly and listened for any signs of breathing.
She was still alive.
The adrenaline pumping through Miku's body began to wane as she realized that Teto would eventually wake up. When that happened… Kiyoteru and his daughter wouldn't be safe. She and Kaito wouldn't be safe either…
"Is she… is she dead?"
The high left her as she acknowledged the presence of another person. Kaito, still in his crude disguise, pulled his scarf down from his lower face with his free hand, his other clutching a pistol.
"She's unconscious," Miku assured him, lowering her eyes as she realized he'd watched her grotesque subduing of the girl only moment earlier. To him, it likely looked like a violent murder.
"Nanny… Nanny Teto? Where are you?"
Miku looked over to Yuki, who was stumbling in the dirt to stay standing. At once Kaito rushed to the little girl's side, dropping the pistol as he tried to keep her steady. "The drugs Teto gave her won't wear off for a few hours… we need to take her back home and let her sleep."
The prince finally picked the girl up in his arms, letting her arms drape around his shoulders as supported her in a sitting position. "Kiyoteru said you're an assassin… why didn't you kill Teto when you had the chance?"
'Because I'm a failed assassin… I'm an assassin who can't kill…'
Why couldn't she say it that way? Why did Kaito make her so nervous?
For a moment she wished they were still as they were the first night she'd met him, speaking so freely and her knowing she wouldn't be judged… in those precious blissful hours when Kaito knew nothing about her…
"I didn't have to."
She wasn't sure that was entirely true… but… it seemed to satisfy Kaito. "Were you trying to shoot at her?" Miku asked as she observed his discarded pistol.
"Oh… uh…"
Kaito shifted Yuki around in his arms to get a better grip on her. "I was trying to fire a warning shot… I didn't want to kill anyone either…"
Miku heard the sound of a train whistle and saw the latest train beginning to board. "That train is headed away from the capital… but…"
She saw a few freight cars mixed in with the passenger cars and got an idea as she slipped Teto's unconscious body over her shoulders.
"Kaito, take Yuki home. I'll follow back when I've dealt with this."
A/N:
Boy howdy do you guys get why I needed more time between chapters when they're all going to be this long? And no, we still haven't introduced all of the main cast!
So as you can see, and likely guessed since this wasn't a one-shot… Kaito is not dead. I tried to slip a clue into the first chapter that Miku had chosen not to kill him, but I tried to be very subtle about it to try and preserve the surprise. Ultimately, what made me want to write a Cendrillon story, what made me think I had something to say that wasn't said in other tales based on the song, was that I kept wondering what would happen in the aftermath. If Kaito died, it's pretty straight forward, but if he lives like some of the more popular MVs for the song suggest… what would that mean for them?
Pretty early on I wanted to get away from a normal fairy tale setting, and I returned to my fascination with the early 20th century. Massive political upheavals took place in the first two decades that led one of the largest military conflicts in history and a complete shift in the idea of whether someone could govern by divine right. So I put this story in the time period of World War I, in an alternative Europe where I could draw the borders and political conflicts as I needed. It should be more apparent that Estmarch is a stand in for Austria, with a bit of Germany thrown in.
I guess I should also point out that the story overall is going to have a lot less songs in it than I usually slip into my other stories.