Chapter 3: A Frigid Mask

She sat in the office, tapping her black riding boots on the floor as the only visible sign of her impatience. She'd had three days to try and get ahead of her quarry, and now the disorganized checkpoint staff was making her wait. She couldn't chance them slipping through…

She might have looked a bit strange wearing tan trousers, her baggy black coat, and a black blouse but the general perception of women in trousers was that they were too poor to afford anything else. Easily forgotten.

Which made her good at spotting the details that others missed.

It was why she knew she was on the right track.

When she'd received a call that "Cinderella has run away with Prince Charming," she'd understood the gravity of the message. She'd known the girl wasn't capable of the task, but her opinions were overruled. They wanted a girl that had never been deployed on a mission to ensure no chance of her being recognized before the kill. But that meant they'd sent a girl who also hadn't been properly hardened on their most important mission yet.

So it fell to her to cut the two loose ends.

Her first step had been to alert her contacts in Vedunia of the existence of the slum clinic and demand they search it. If the Cinderella stole away with the Prince Charming, his next stop would have been a surgeon – the wound he'd sustained was not insubstantial. Given the hour, given her intel… the dingy slum clinic with the rumored talented surgeon tucked away had been an obvious location, and the most vital to tracking the Prince's movements.

She'd received a phone call not long after – this supposedly "poor" clinic actually had a phone installed. Clearly the doctor was well off enough to ensure he had telephone service. By all accounts he and whatever staff worked for him had already fled though, taking most of the medicine and tools, and the soldiers were already planning to give up.

'Idiots.'

Of course they wouldn't have left a map behind, what were they expecting? But they would have had little time to leave… and thus they would have had little time to clean up evidence.

She demanded they search the incinerator.

Inside of a great heaping of still smoldering ashes, they turned up the remains of a silver tiara and a gold medallion bearing the royal crest.

"Miss Megurine? We just received the telegram, - the passenger train out of Liesenfall made its scheduled departure. We're setting up a checkpoint at the Heidlmont Station and along the roads into Zweissen."

"Good."

Her pink hair wavered as she stood up to follow them. "Any word from the Red Devil?"

She didn't know why Teto had chosen such a ridiculous code name…

"None."

'So Cendrillon passed through… and took out her rival.'

Cendrillon had fled. It was up to Luka, a Godmother, to deal with her disloyalty. The time for living entirely in shadows had passed.

It didn't matter who the prince was or why he needed to die. Fate had decreed his death, and he was currently an aberration so long as he drew breath. And now she had the scent of her prey, wherever he was, she would find him. He would find no quarter, no safety, and no mercy.

Nor would the wayward Cendrillon.

Kaito sat at Yuki's bedside, observing the slumbering girl with care. Miku had assured him that the drugs she'd taken wouldn't hurt her, but he still worried over such a young child being given hallucinogens, let alone being present during such a violent encounter. His hand ran up his back, feeling where his own deep wound still quietly healed. Somehow when he was running after Miku, he hadn't even paid attention to how much it still ached, but with no such distractions, the pain stood out even more.

He heard the window to the room opening up and to his surprise Miku crawled in from the outside. "How did you get up the side of the building?" he asked incredulously.

"There's a trellis running up the second story… I just climbed up that one, then leapt up to the ledges, then picked the lock with a hair pin!"

'She makes it sound like it was barely a trifle…' Kaito thought to himself.

Miku dusted herself off after pulling the window closed again. Kaito noticed the tears in her dress from her earlier fight with Teto, but they didn't seem to bother her. "I didn't see that car outside when I got back. Were they still here when you got back?"

Kaito shook his head. "The Lord Mayor's guests seem to have had rather short business with him."

She took a seat near the door, and Kaito noticed red marks on one of her hands. 'Did Teto manage to scratch her?'

Before he could inquire further, the door to the bedroom cracked open and Kiyoteru entered. When the worried father spied his slumbering daughter, he strode quickly to her side, kneeling on the floor and stroking her forehead gently. "Thank God… She wasn't injured?"

"Just the drugs. She needs to sleep them off," Miku replied.

Kiyoteru still seemed to be examining his daughter for any signs of injury. "I see. And what became of Teto?"

"Teto won't be bothering us anymore."

And at that Kaito felt a chill as this calm, collected young woman spoke so casually of the brutal fight where she'd choked a woman into unconsciousness. "I take it you killed her," Kiyoteru said grimly.

Miku winced, covering the red mark on her hand. "I didn't… I… She's unconscious on a train bound for the Southern border. That should put her out of contact for some time."

"Good… that means she won't interfere with you when you leave Liesenfall. Which unfortunately is going to have to be tonight."

Miku looked surprised. "But… Kaito hasn't entirely recovered himself!"

The Lord Mayor's weary face returned. "Those men from before were couriers from the Emerald Dawn… I have until morning to surrender Liesenfall to them."

"You're giving up on them!?" Kaito shouted before remembering Yuki's condition. He lowered his voice, but his tone was no less urgent. "What will happen to your people?"

"They won't turn into cannon fodder for a meaningless assault."

Kiyoteru's grim expression provided no comfort. "I had to make a choice – it wasn't about myself or even Yuki. I suspect we'll be losing our place of comfort next if they decide I have too many ties to the crown. But… the people. The people would suffer if I made them fight. We lost so many in the Great War. There are few left with the strength now to defend us from even a light attack, let alone an organized military. They've been quite efficient at rallying disunity within the Estmarch forces."

"I… I don't even have an army…" Kaito murmured. He was even on the run from his own countrymen…

… he tried to contain his worries as he watched how tenderly Kiyoteru was treating his daughter who'd already been injured by the same organization that had targeted him. "Were they able to promise you rations? Supplies? How do you know they won't draft your citizens again?"

"I don't. I'm just buying time."

This time when the Lord Mayor looked at the Prince, he saw something new. Hope. "I've only known you for a short while…. But you are a very unique person, and a man with a great deal of power behind him even if it doesn't seem that way right now. You could have been like the rest of the aristocracy and ignored those below you. But you've already taken risks for strangers. You were furious at the idea of people living in the streets, without food or medicine!

"Isn't that just… normal?"

"I'm afraid not," Miku interjected, still rubbing at her hand.

Kiyoteru continued. "You saw the tent city and refused to look away from it. Even if you don't understand the circumstances, you keep looking for ways to help. If you find your parents alive… if they truly value you so much… they may yet listen to you when nobody else shall! If they're still in hiding, they're likely rallying the military that remains loyal to them as we speak, to take back the country that belongs to you by birthright. So… I shall place everyone in Liesenfall on your shoulders… make this time count."

Everyone… in Liesenfall…

Kaito steadied himself. He was a prince. This was expected of him, was it not? "I promise I will see Liesenfall free… and all of Estmarch as well."

His words seemed to bolster Kiyoteru's spirits. With that, the Lord Mayor gestured towards the door. "It would be best if you made whatever plans you have without me in earshot… that way they can't torture it out of me if they figure out what happened."

Kaito nodded to Miku and the two of them exited for the hallway. "Well, do you think we can trust him?" Miku asked calmly once they'd gotten out of earshot of Kiyoteru.

Kaito found her question rather strange. "You found him trust worthy enough to bring me here. Is that not enough?"

She fiddled with her hair. "I had a few potential leads in case the mission went south that I could pursue if I needed to escape and regroup… I was explicitly not told how they were related. People like the slum doctor, the Lord Mayor… at least one more aristocrat that could aid us as well. I suspect that Kiyoteru was given to me because Teto was here, but neither of us recognized each other. They try to keep most of us in the dark about who the other Cinderellas are… I only really knew my mentor and some of my handlers."

She looked up to Kaito and he found himself at an impasse. When he'd first awoken, all he'd felt when he looked at her was the pain of betrayal. Of giving up his most personal emotions, his very heart, to someone who'd been sent to kill him. But now…

He didn't know how he felt. Was she a victim too? Kiyoteru certainly believed her to be, but he didn't know that.

"Kaito. I'm serious about what I said before the kidnapping… I will see you safely out of Estmarch. Wherever that safety is. You don't have to like me, trust me, or even talk to me. I promise, when you're safe, I'll leave and you'll never see me again. Just… understand that I've already given up my life for yours. Let my sacrifice mean something."

Were her tears at the ball sincere? Was her pledge now sincere?

He didn't know.

He did know she'd risked exposing herself to save the child of a stranger.

And he also knew the second he fired his pistol that he couldn't stand back and watch her suffer and die.

She was waiting for an answer.

"Westheim."

"Pardon?"

He cleared his throat. "My uncle Naoto in the capital of Westheim. My mother's brother, so he has no claim to the throne, the conspiracy wouldn't have reached him. And, frankly… my uncle is a good man. My parents weren't getting along as well with him over the last few years, but he still wrote to me often."

Miku's eyes widened. "That's quite far! Are you certain of its safety?"

She wasn't wrong – it would be a few days by train, a little more by car. But with the growing chaos enveloping Estmarch in the way of the coup, the more time Kaito took leaving Estmarch, the greater the chance of him being swallowed up by his enemies. But he couldn't see any other place beyond the borders of Estmarch that would take him.

"Estmarch already conquered Sudland. Nordland is likely preparing for war and this will push it over I suspect. But Westheim believes in strict neutrality in all conflicts, and they're well-armed to protect their own borders. I think it's our safest route – if we get passage in, we can't be so easily pursued."

Miku rested a hand against her chin as she considered Kaito's argument. "Let's see then… we're best off taking the car towards the Rhune Valley, I still don't trust the trains if the Emerald Dawn gets ahead of us. I'll see if Kiyoteru can get us some gasoline and a few supplies. I think I have a contact in the industrial cities, Duke Ueki. By the time we've reached Zweissen, we should know where his loyalties lie."

She looked Kaito over carefully, inspecting him as though he were a fragile doll and not a person. "You didn't tear your stitches running around, did you?"

Kaito hadn't even thought of that possibility… but he didn't feel anything like blood seeping out as he touched his injury. "They're intact… I was careful, I promise."

"Good…"

Miku looked momentarily relieved. "I'm not sure when we're going to find another doctor once we're on the road…"

"Gakupo, you slept all the way through the stop at Liesenfall."

"Hrm?"

Rin couldn't help but laugh as the lazy doctor's eyes cracked open, scanning the tiny train room at a slow pace. "Did I miss anything important?"

"Well the sunrise over the Kitzenglock Mountains was so lovely…"

"Ah… what a shame I slept through the breakfast cart…"

Gakupo began to shut his eyes again and for once Rin was willing to leave him to his impressive napping skills. They'd barely escaped the coup in the capital with what they could carry in their backpacks. Gakupo had insisted on retrieving as many of his medical supplies as possible, and between the two of them they'd managed to get enough drugs and tools to start a small clinic if they needed to. But it also meant leaving behind such things as day clothes – Rin was only wearing an old white dress, a short, thick yellow jacket, and thick black shoes, her skirt running down to her ankles. Gakupo hadn't even really changed since the night of the Prince's surgery, and Rin wondered how many people had realized he was still wearing a night shirt. At least he'd grabbed his long purple coat before he took off, though right now he had it draped over him like a blanket.

'And with a war on… who knows what we'll need?'

She kicked her heels on the bench. To think she'd so suddenly had to flee and start her life over again! But it didn't seem as frightening this time. She had a friend with her, after all, and even as they scoured for any scrap of information on what happened to her family, she could always fall back into her trade.

"Well sleepy head, I'm going to stretch my legs. It's been years since I was on a train!"

He gave a wave of his hand to his young nurse as she slipped out of their room, wandering the train cars. 'I think we have enough money for a little snack… I don't want Gakupo to die of starvation in there…'

The cars were packed with people. Rin imagined that under normal circumstances, they would be buzzing with activity and happiness. But this wasn't a normal journey. Everyone on this train was like her and Gakupo – refugees of war. Conversation stayed close to simple topics. As she approached the dining car, she heard the telltale sounds of a radio and leaned in just in case there was anything important.

"… the people cheer for the freedom they've achieved today! For today, we are transferring power from the thieves of Shion and giving it back to you, the people! Together, we will determine the course of Estmarch and the world for many, many years to come! We will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but Estmarch steps forward, into an era where we no longer allow the elites to rob the poor! The industry to falter, the poor to suffer in our cities, the weakest to become weaker!"

Several people were gathered around the radio in silence. "Who is that?" Rin whispered.

"That's our new Grand General Tonio, giving his ascension speech…" whispered an old gentleman.

"Tonio? Duke Tonio? I thought the Emerald Dawn was supposed to be a rebellion against the aristocracy…"

The radio continued to blare and Rin found herself wanting to listen even as the "General's" bombastic words sounded rather unhinged. "We must not allow our new order to be wasted on those beneath us! Estmarch will become a shining beacon to the world and the elites and frauds beyond our borders will learn to fear our might! We will eradicate the terroristic elements still threatening our society! And those who don't respect the people of Estmarch… we will respond with our united force!"

Cheers began to erupt from the crowd on the radio.

"Estmarch strong, Estmarch forever!"

Rin slipped away trying to make sense of what she'd heard. Perhaps deep in her heart, she'd hoped that these people who'd burned her old home might still somehow be better than the Shion royals. She of course pitied the poor Prince who'd been a victim of a near murder, but spending so long in the slums and watching them decay around her had only made her more and more glum about the future of her homeland.

But fleeing Estmarch entirely was never an option for her or for Gakupo – the travel papers to move freely within the country could be hard enough to acquire, let alone for a girl officially listed as dead. Only the chaos of the night before had given herself and Gakupo the ability to board the last train out of the capital without paperwork as the train staff ultimately chose to keep allowing people to board until they had to leave to allow as many refugees to escape as possible.

This new ruler did not calm Rin's nerves. She'd heard people like him speak. She'd been sent to kill people like him in her other life...

'No… none of that…'

She found the dining room and to her dismay, it was clear they'd already run out of food thanks to the extra passengers. 'There probably won't be anything until our next stop. Hopefully they can stock up in Rhune Valley before Gakupo does something really crazy like eat a pillow...'

As Rin began to exit to return to her tiny room, she noticed a panicked blonde-haired boy in dirty black clothes rushing through the crowd. "Please! A doctor, do any of you know a doctor?!"

He only looked a few years older than Rin, his red eyes scanning for anyone that would listen to him. "Anyone, you have to help my brother! My brother is going to…!"

Rin ran over to him and grabbed him by the wrist. "I'm a nurse, I'm traveling with a surgeon! Let's go fetch him!"

The young man's panic seemed to subside a little. "Thank you so much!"

His nerves seemed to translate into babbling from fear as Rin lead him back to their train car. "I'm Yohio… his name is Oliver… we just barely got out of Vedunia with our lives… but Ollie, he got caught up in mortar fire… we bandaged him up but he's taking a turn for the worst…"

"We'll check for an infection and any fragments!" Rin said as her nurse instincts took over, "Do you know his blood type?"

"Ah! It's B, just like mine!"

"Good! That makes the transfusions easier!"

Rin threw open the door and saw Gakupo sprawled over the couch, his hair half covering his face as a bit of drool dripped of his mouth while he snored.

"THAT'S the doctor?!"

Yohio sounded incredulous as Rin grabbed Gakupo's shoulder and started shaking him. "Wake up, it's an emergency! We need your skills!"

"The Glockenspiel Mountains are so pretty on jelly toast…" he mumbled in his sleep.

A loud crack rang out as Rin slapped the side of his face as hard as she could. "GET UP ALREADY!"

Now he was up, with a red handprint on his cheek. "You didn't have to resort to violence!" he whined.

He hopped off the couch, pulling his hair back. "All right, all right, grab the supplies. What are we looking at?"

"An injured boy, shrapnel wound in the face. His brother has the same blood type."

"Ah! You're so responsible, finding that out in advance!"

"Well one of us has to be."

By now Yohio looked even more scared after having met the bizarre doctor. "Are you… sure… he's a real doctor?"

Gakupo clapped one of his hands on the boy's shoulder. "Now now, I ran a slum clinic for the last six years and I didn't lose a single patient!"

It wasn't hard finding the train car with Oliver inside, given the number of people gathered around it. Rin could hear a woman singing softly, her voice occasionally shaking.

"Locked and hidden out of sight, your tender your warmth might open up what I hide inside; Passionate fire and calming night…"

Rin and Gakupo pushed their way inside to see a dark-skinned woman with reddish blonde hair and wearing a long red coat. She was holding a blonde boy in her arms, cradling him as she sang to calm him.

"The ear that hears the words unspoken… The arms that hold you tightly…The welcoming heart when all is broken, the touch you feel too deeply…"

Maybe a normal girl Rin's age would be terrified to see a child covered in bloody rags, his skin pale from blood loss as he trembled, his little white cap resting on the chair near his side.

But Rin was a nurse – this was not the first such sight she'd had to endure in a surgery.

Gakupo was similarly unphased, but he had a far more exuberant way of expressing it. "Well, no wonder he's doing so well when he has such pretty eyes to look up into!"

At that the young lady stopped singing. "Who the hell are you!?"

Rin heard Yohio's voice in the hallway. "Ruby, he's the doctor! They're here for Ollie!"

And maybe by now Rin would be used to the strange looks people always gave Gakupo's "unique" bedside manner.

"Now now, let's not get upset! Ah, you did an exceptional job with what you had… let me just peel back these bandages and see the wounds."

Gakupo pulled away the bandages on the young man's forehead and whistled – the wound on the side of his face had crossed right over his right eye. "Oh… well, two eyes are overrated, aren't they? Rin, can you get the ether mask? I think I see where the shrapnel entered…"

For all of Gakupo's odd mannerisms, he was downright gentle with the young boy. "I'm… I'm going to be an angel? Like mama?"

Oliver's voice sounded so nervous and weak and the doctor's sudden laugh seemed to seriously unsettle the boy's older brother. "Well I certainly expect so someday, you seem like a good fellow! But it's a little early to be planning for heaven, you've got so much to do here!"

Rin slipped the mask over Oliver's face as Gakupo kept the boy's eyes focused while the flow of anesthetic began. "Now just have a nice rest… you'll feel better when you wake up…"

The young nurse stood up and gestured to the door apologetically. "I'm sorry, I know you're both worried, but we need space in here if we're going to operate to get that shrapnel out. We're going to change up, if either of you can find a wash basin and some soap, we'll have a more sterile environment."

The ether didn't take long to take effect before the child was unconscious, the doctor laying him gently on the floor where Rin had already set out a surgical blanket. "Poor lad… at least I found him before it was too late…"

As much as Gakupo's off-putting behavior could set everyone around him on edge, Rin knew the truth about the lazy doctor. More than naps, more than even pretty girls, Gakupo loved to save lives. And once his mind was trained on medicine, he was the most talented surgeon in the world.

And he never gave up on his patients.

Kaito felt a bit childish leaning his head out the window of car as Miku drove along the dusty rural road, but the feeling of fresh air against his face and the smell of the fresh cut fields felt so exciting and new for the sheltered prince. He hadn't personally been out in the countryside, but from what he'd read about, the fall harvest had just ended. For a moment he wished he'd been out here to see the fields full of ripe wheat and vegetables…

… then he remembered the gravity of the situation he was in and he stiffened up.

Kaito had wanted to contact his uncle to at least let him know he was still alive. It had been years since he'd last seen the man. Kaito had been aware that his uncle's relationship with the King and Queen of House Shion had soured during the many "Rose Wars". Westheim practiced strict armed neutrality, and while Kaito could rarely get much information out of his parents about the nature of the conflicts themselves, he doubted either of his parents would appreciate maintaining contact with a nation that wouldn't join them under any circumstances. Yet Kaito himself still received a steady flow of friendly letters and even the occasional phone call from his uncle, and he was certain that the poor man would be devastated to believe his nephew had been the victim of a brutal assassination.

But as Miku had pointed out, telegrams and phone calls out of Estmarch were locked down thanks to the coup, the operators preventing the messages from being transmitted. A letter would meet a similar fate as it was doubtful postal carriers would be permitted to leave. So for now, to Kaito's dismay, his uncle would have to continue to believe Kaito was dead until they found a secure way to contact him.

Kaito's mind drifted back to what he'd seen in Liesenfall. The victims of the Rose Wars… Kiyoteru had seemed to take a dim opinion of the wars themselves. His parents had told him it was necessary, that Estmarch had the right to grow and strengthen, just a strong plant extends its roots and branches throughout the soil.

But Kaito wasn't stupid – he knew something had been deeply wrong the more he'd found his life growing more and more restricted when he asked too many questions. He could only listen to Meiko's albums so many times before he'd finally start trying to sneak an ear to the door of royal conferences to hear about what was really happening. But it was difficult to get the truth – the radio would repeat what his parents would say. The textbooks his tutors provided gave nothing but glowing stories of how Estmarch had brought pride and prosperity to those it had brought into its fold. Not one person within the castle would speak to him plainly, regardless of how friendly they might otherwise appear to him.

He glanced over to Miku. Their drive had been entirely in silence so far. He still didn't entirely know what he felt about her – all the passion he'd felt inside his heart the night he'd met her had released in the chaotic aftermath, but she still held a strong fascination for him. She'd been so good at digging into his deepest feelings and worries. And even now, when she was focused, there remained the aura of intense sorrow around her. So at least that wasn't intentionally part of the "trap".

After everything Kiyoteru had told him about the Cinderellas...

After what Miku had been trying to tell him about the Cinderellas…

"I wish… I wish I could be free too…"

"Miku, I must impose upon you… you've told me precious little about the people pursuing us. I already know Duke Tonio has elevated to become at least the face of the Emerald Dawn, but what of the Fairy Godmothers?"

"I don't know where they stand with the coup. If they're part of it, if they engineered it, or if they were simply useful. All of us Cinderellas are kept largely in the dark about the nature of our organization, to keep us from giving it away."

But he persisted. "Then just tell me what you do know. About the Cinderellas, about anything that could help me understand."

He noticed her mood growing more somber. He felt guilty for making her dig into her own past, but both of their lives depended on it. "I'm sorry Miku, but I can't simply treat you as a blunt tool as you requested. If we're to both survive the journey to Westheim, I have to see you as a companion. Someone I trust."

He slid back into the car seat, wincing a little as he accidentally put pressure on his still-healing knife wound. "And I want you to be able to trust me too."

"The Godmothers… they take us when we're young."

Though Miku's voice hitched up, she kept her eyes on the road. "The ones nobody will miss. Some of us are taken, some of us are… paid for. And still others are simply found – my mentor crawled out of the ashes of the conquest of Sudland."

'The people of Sudland were said to be grateful to be saved from a tyrannical old regime…' Kaito thought to himself.

Their route out of Estmarch might well bring them into the former lands of Sudland. He could see for himself when he got there.

"We train every day… all day. Everything we do is training. Training for our bodies, training for our minds… We're ground down to take orders, but bolstered enough to sound like real people when we're placed on our missions. Most of us need to blend in… and… and…"

There was a part of Kaito that wanted to push her harder right now. The part of him that wanted to know the truth of everything she said to him the night they met. But he pushed that part back – he pitied her the more she spoke.

"…they promised to make us into Princesses. So we'd never want for food or shelter or warmth again."

That such abuse took place in his kingdom right under his nose… "How long has this been going on? How has nobody stopped it?!"

"I don't really know how long… longer than since I joined anyway. As for why… you heard Kiyoteru. Nobody cared about us going missing. On top of that… the Godmothers are well connected. We could be placed on jobs at the highest levels of society. So there had to be more people like Tonio that knew about us and did nothing because they intended to make use of us."

'Like murdering a royal,' Kaito thought to himself. "Did Tonio hire you then?"

He knew he was getting very close.

"I don't know. I never met him until that night. And I was just told… where to kill you and where to leave your body. It wasn't until the Emerald Dawn attacked the castle that I realized the events were meant to create a coup."

She sounded more apologetic. "This may sound crazy, but… I really didn't know anything about the Emerald Dawn. I don't know if I was simply a hired hand or… or if maybe the Godmothers colluded with them… or if all of us are being used… there are so many dangerous people in Estmarch that had to plot together to make the events of the ball play out and… and I was the one that started the war…"

Even if Kaito already had a strong moral objection to the way Miku and her other Cinderellas had been neglected so long, now he could only see the results of that ignorance. Estmarch had been torn asunder, its very foundations cracking apart.

'Surely I can use that to convince my parents to listen to me…'

They hadn't listened to him before… but he'd already promised he would try.

'And if they don't…'

He didn't know the answer to that question yet. Even so…

For just a moment he could remember in the haze before he collapsed at the ball… he remembered Miku's tears even as she'd stabbed him…

"Kaito, there's a line up of cars ahead… get your travel papers ready. That might be a checkpoint."

Kaito straightened up in his seat, going through his bags to find the paper work. Before departing Kiyoteru's residence, the Lord Mayor had provided them with a number of supplies – some food, water, fuel, and perhaps more important than any of them, forged travel documents with false names. They might even work in the short term – until inevitably they were changed again. Miku had hoped once she was able to get into contact with Duke Ueki that he could get her some more recent ones.

As the line of cars stayed stable, Miku looked more nervous. "The travel papers might not cover us…" she whispered, "But still… the news keeps reporting on your death. These are just border guards, they shouldn't have been informed of your survival."

Eventually there was a brief shift forward and Miku drove along. "You… might want to keep that pistol ready."

"To shoot the guards?! I'm not shooting someone who's just trying to do his job!"

Miku winced. "If they shoot at us, we won't have a choice… ah, here they come!"

All they could do was wait out the line… that or drive through the harvested corn field and hope they wouldn't be caught…

"Kaito… grab on to something…"

"What?! You're not seriously going to…!"

The pigtailed driver reiterated her command. "Grab. ON!"

He did as he was told, holding on tightly to a metal bar as Miku slammed her foot on the accelerometer. The car lurched forward and swerved off the road. In the distance Kaito could already see the panicked guards scrambling to try and get into their own vehicles. If they'd intended to sneak by, that was already past – now it was a race to get away!

"Can this car withstand whatever madness you're plotting?!"

"We're going to find out!"

A hint of a smile formed on Miku's face after so long without it. And to Kaito's greater distress… he found their sudden plunge off the orderly road and into the farm land exhilarating…

Gakupo's patient slept soundly as the doctor gently examined the newly wrapped, clean bandages running across his face. The two-hour surgery had cleared out the metallic fragments. As expected, he wasn't able to save the boy's eye, but he was confident he would survive the injury.

He pulled off his surgical apron and mask, washing his hands in the basin to keep contamination from spreading. "Someone that young shouldn't be worrying about this…" he murmured to his nurse.

"At least he had you," Rin said, smiling at him, "And our little floating clinic."

"Go ahead and let the family in, I think his brother was about to pass out from worry!"

As Rin opened the door, Yohio was the first one inside. The teenager rushed over to his brother before Gakupo held his hand out. "Let him sleep, he's earned it, surely?" the doctor said.

Yohio stopped his running, slowly approaching the boy and sitting next to him on the floor. "Sorry… he's all I've got… I don't know what I'd do if I let him die…"

Gakupo couldn't even comprehend such a sense of guilt. "Ah, but you didn't! You got him safely onto this train and into the hands of a surgeon! You should be proud of yourself!"

"Maybe… maybe you're right…" Yohio said, sounding relieved before he turned to gesture to Ruby outside the door. She walked in carrying a small duster hat filled with bills. "Hey… we don't have much, but… me and the other passengers scrapped together what we had. To pay for the surgery."

Gakupo pushed the hat away at once. "Nonsense, you need that to get where you're going. It's a long way out of Estmarch."

He looked back to his patient. "Besides, I do cases like this all the time… it was practically cheap!"

That was technically a lie, but he didn't have a clinic right now… and the supplies he had were meant to help out others on the way, right?

But Ruby pushed the hat forward again. "Then you take this and use it to keep helping more people!" she insisted, "Supplies or tents or whatever… Ollie's not going to be the first injured person you find… and…"

She smiled at him and he was taken aback by the lovely green glow of her eyes. "You seemed a little unreliable, but you did a good thing here. So take it, please… for the next Ollie."

Gakupo realized his attempt at altruism wasn't going to succeed, and he took the hat. There wasn't exactly a fantastic sum in there, but in the back of his head, he was already counting out how much of it would go to helping him restock medicine when he eventually got another clinic off the ground. Or sooner… Ruby was right, it wouldn't be long before his skills and his stock would be needed.

Ruby leaned up against the doorway, watching Yohio with his brother. "So what's someone like you doing wasting away as a slum doc?"

He looked back over to Ruby and flashed a smile. "I just like to help people… and the people in the slums needed me more than anyone else."

"And the nurse? What about her?"

Gakupo scanned the room but saw no sign of Rin. "Why, she's the finest nurse I could ask for! I'm sure when she's older, and this war business is over, she'll be off to medical school… and who knows what then?"

The train slowed down as it pulled into the Heidelmont station. "Are you lot getting off here?" he asked.

Yohio shook his head. "We don't know how far this train's going, but the closer it gets us to the borders… the better. I wanted to try for Nordland, but not with Oliver like this, not crammed onto a boat. So… Westheim, probably."

Ruby seemed similarly dim. "The Shion Royals were hell and a half, but I'm not planning to stick around while all these rebellions fight out who's in charge next. While everything's chaotic though, we might actually make it out of Estmarch."

He heard a disturbance outside the hallway and the sound of pounding footsteps approaching the room until Rin burst in through the open door. "Gakupo! The station guards are checking every car, they're looking for us! They've got a woman with them… she's a… she's a…"

Her pale face told the doctor everything he needed to know about the person Rin was speaking of. "Calm down! You still had your mask on, right? Then she shouldn't have recognized you!"

Gakupo quickly rooted through his suitcase and handed Yohio a small pill bottle. "These are antibiotics. Make sure he takes one every day until you run out in case of infection. I'm sorry I can't leave you with more."

The boy took the pills but looked alarmed at the sudden turn of events. "You're a wanted man?!" he blurted out, "What did you do, kill someone?!"

The doctor smirked. "Quite the opposite! I think I may have saved a life I shouldn't have."

"Hey, I'll get out there and slow the patrol down!" Ruby said, "I'll pass the word around the cabin, everyone here is on your side! Those stuffed shirts won't have time to lay a finger on you!"

Gakupo and Rin finished packing up their surgical supplies. "Wait, I don't even know your name!" Yohio said, "Who should Oliver be thanking?"

"Ah… well… um…"

Gakupo stammered as he realized giving out his name could further jeopardize a patient he'd just saved. "Gakuto! Just call me Dr. Gakuto!"

Rin slapped her forehead. "Wow, nobody will EVER be able to trace you with THAT brilliant name!"

"Just… come on, let's go!"

The pair dashed through the train cars, stopping briefly in their room to gather the last of their things before bolting out the back way. Gakupo could hear the passengers behind him forming up a distraction for him and silently hoped they would be safe.

"Gakupo! This way!"

Rin was in far better shape than him, kicking open the back door and climbing up a ladder onto the top of the caboose. "You want us to climb the top of the train?!"

"Just for now! Trust me!"

Gakupo swallowed. "Some of us aren't that acrobatic you know!"

She let out an annoyed sigh. "Come on up here or I'm telling everyone your name is Dr. Chickenhead!"

"Now that's just cruel!"

Gakupo adjusted his backpack and scrambled up the ladder, trying to keep his balance on top of the train. To his amazement, Rin was easily running along the roof, looking for the best exit. "There's so many guards here… wait, there's a good path to the train yard if we run along the top! Okay, come on Gakupo, pick up the pace!"

The poor doctor was a lot of things – an excellent napper, a brilliant surgeon… but not a terribly good runner. Rin leapt between two of the train cars and landed on the other side. Gakupo struggled to make the same jump, nearly tripping and tumbling off clumsily. "Are you sure this is the best route for escape?!"

"Well there's nobody up here but us, so yea, it is!"

And while the two clambered over the rail cars, this remained a truth as well… until a black-clothed figure leapt up between two of the cars and landed just a meter away from Rin. A black clothed feminine figure, her long pink hair blowing in the wind behind her.

She had the most lovely pair of blue eyes Gakupo had ever seen.

"L…Luka…"

Rin stumbled backwards, the first time Gakupo had seen her startled since their entire mad chase. "So you returned from the dead, Cendrillon."

There was a melody to the way she spoke, as if her every word flowed together. Gakupo at once recognized the accent as Sudlandian – to him, their voices always sounded so elegant, even though her accent wasn't terribly strong. When she looked his way, however, he saw no emotions in her eyes. "This man is your accomplice then? I'm understanding how the Prince escaped so easily then."

Rin stepped in front of Gakupo, putting her hands out. "You won't touch him! I'll fight to the death to protect him!"

"Like you protected the prince?"

She cocked a pistol and pointed it square at the duo. "We've got road blocks on the path through the fortification walls. Come quietly and tell us everything you know about where he went."

Gakupo wasn't entirely sure the woman would believe him if he answered truthfully that the prince and his caretaker hadn't told him where they were going. He tried to put himself between Rin and Luka. Maybe there was a peaceful resolution that didn't require him possibly getting a former patient killed? He met her eyes again and even knowing she was plotting against him, he still had to admit they captivated him.

"Miss, there has been a mistake… I treat people at all hours in my clinic, but I think you and I both know the prince was assassinated a few days ago…"

His lie clearly was having no effect on Luka. "We already found what was left of his clothes in your incinerator. There is no point in trying to conceal your involvement. If you're here, no doubt he's here as well."

'She's… probably right about that…' Gakupo thought to himself. Obviously Miku had taken the car, but the only major roadways she could take would have taken her through the Rhune Valley…

"Gakupo. When I say jump, jump."

Rin hissed at him and he already worried about what kind of crazy plan she'd concocted. He knew a little of who his nurse used to be, before the night that he found her battered body and dragged it back to his surgery. And he was aware of how dangerous it was for anyone associated with her old employers to know she was alive and trying to live free.

"What's it going to –"

"JUMP!"

Before Luka could get another word out, Rin tossed a small, lit flask out of her backpack in Luka's direction. It broke on the deck, the flaming powder releasing a small cloud of smoke as Luka fired her weapon and Gakupo actually felt the bullets whiz through his hair as he followed his nurse over the side of the train, landing in the cargo-filled train yard.

He cried out as he landed on his ankle poorly… but after a few poor steps, he was assured he hadn't twisted it. Just a rough landing. "What in the world did you put in that flask!?" Gakupo called out.

"Potassium nitrate… and sugar! You wouldn't believe how easy those are to make if you have a lighter!"

"Well, I do hope we aren't treating anyone with asthma any time soon…"

Gakupo followed through the train cars as he and Rin searched for any kind of an exit from the train yard. "No more gun fire… that's not good…" Rin muttered.

"Isn't it though? It means she's not shooting us, right?!"

"That's just it… she wouldn't waste the bullets just to scare us…"

Rin screamed as Gakupo heard the gunshot, limping forward as blood stained her skirt around her right thigh. "Rin!"

The blonde bravely kept trying to maintain her pace. "G-Gakupo! She probably still has a clear shot-"

She shoved him down to the ground as the next bullet exploded into bags of powder. "Just go, please! Luka's more interested in me anyway and…"

Without another word, Gakupo grabbed the girl's arm and propped her up. "Sorry, but I still need a nurse, and you're the best one I have!"

In the back of his head he was already plotting her treatment… there wasn't a massive blood flow yet, so the bullet had clearly missed her arteries…

Gakupo tried to keep up a steady pace and keep Rin off her leg as they tried to plot an escape, zigzagging behind crates and empty train cars as they kept waiting for another bullet to take them out… he started to form the seeds of a plan, but he wasn't sure he wanted to voice it aloud because he suspected Rin would, rightfully, call him out on how crazy it was…

The car swerved through the plants as Miku tried to keep it steady. It wasn't built for driving off the road and the frame kept shaking around her as it barreled over the rough farm land. "We've got three behind us!" Kaito called out, to her gratitude as apparently the rather flighty doctor she'd gotten it from hadn't bothered to install any rearview mirrors.

She ducked as she heard gun fire, swerving the vehicle to try and keep the bullets from hitting anything valuable. Fortunately, the first round had missed. "We need to stop those vehicles! They didn't have many at the checkpoint, we should be okay if we can pile them up or something!"

She glanced over to Kaito, who was still cautiously hanging his head out the window. "Get me a clearer shot," he shouted.

Miku swallowed and headed closer to the main road again. She would be completely exposed. "They're still bunched up!" Kaito yelled, "I'll bet they stay that way when they hit the road!"

"Kaito, what are you trying to do?!"

She heard the sound of a pistol cocking and glanced down to see Kaito holding his pistol in his lap. 'Does he really have the nerve to kill them?' Miku thought as Kaito leaned out the window with his gun. She hoped they wouldn't shoot at him when he was this exposed.

Four clear shots rang out from his gun before Kaito ducked back inside as Miku heard the returning fire… and several loud "pops" as the tires on one of the vehicles behind her exploded. She risked turning her head and watching as one of the cars, trying to maneuver on axles, spun out of control, crashing into one and causing a third to flip back off the road, overturning into the cornfield. All of them came to a complete stop as the drivers bailed out of their smoking vehicles. Miku turned back to the road, focusing only on putting as much distance between the still-armed but now footbound pursuers and herself…

Luka had observed her targets trying to hide out in a freight car and she was already in pursuit as she closed in on it. The girl, Rin, was injured, and her friend was clearly an idiot. She prepared herself for an attack when she entered anyway. Rin was a Cendrillon once, and a previously successful one. A bullet wound would not stop her if she intended to fight back.

She stepped into the train car, ready for anything… only to see another smoke filled flask tossed in front of her. "That's not going to work again," she sighed, marching through the feeble cloud.

"Ah, but you have to give me some credit for my ingenuity right?"

The doctor stood in front of the "nurse", wearing a surgical mask on his face. "I mean, really, I'm only a doctor, it's not like I have explosives on me!"

"I don't need a live idiot when I have my Cendrillon."

Her words had the intended effect as she saw Rin grow upset. "I don't belong to you or to anyone else!"

Luka backed up just as she saw Rin charge for her. The girl's leap was good given the injury… but not powerful enough. The more seasoned assassin spun easily out of the smaller girl's grasp, grabbing her tightly and wrapping her arm around the girl's neck. "There is no running from the Godmothers! You're either a Cendrillon, or you're dead! Whatever you think you were up to trying to get away…!"

Rin tugged Luka further back into the smoke, but Luka maintained her grip. "Wait! Leave her alone! I might have the information you need!"

So he was a coward too. The smoke from the flask wavered up into her face as she kept trying to hold Rin.

"The Prince's route, and you live when I take the Cinderella back."

"You call that a trade?"

The doctor was fidgeting around. "You can't just take my nurse from me!"

"You're not aware of how lucky you are!" Luka shouted as she tightened her grip around her prisoner, "I should kill you just for having met her! Let alone helping another one get away with the person she was supposed to kill!"

"I knew it… I knew that girl was one of you…" Rin choked out.

Luka sighed and pulled back the hammer on her gun. "You don't have any room to negotiate. What is your choice?'

"Well… I have to say, does it smell like flowers in here or is it just me?"

"What kind of answer is…"

And that's when Luka realized how suicidally stupid the doctor had been as she felt her fingers going numb, Rin falling weak in her arms while the doctor stumbled around like he was drunk. "Gakupo, I told you that mask wasn't going to be thick enough…" Rin murmured.

"You stuffed your anesthetic into a smoke bomb?! You're breathing it in too!"

She had to get out of the train car before she lost consciousness. Who knew what they'd do if they caught her… but her legs gave out next and she buckled onto the floor, so dizzy the room was spinning around her. She grabbed her pistol and tried firing at the purple blur in front of her, but she didn't even come close. Her pistol was pulled out of her numb hands and she fully expected him to shoot her as he held it close... but instead he rested it on the floor and picked her up as the numbing sensation continued to spread.

"Look, I'm sorry, I can't have you running around shooting us, but I took an oath. Do no harm. That extends to you too."

She wanted to struggle against him, but the anesthetic had completely taken hold of her. She was having trouble staying focused as her mind shut off as well while he carried her to the door. "I don't know what they did to you to make you like this, but I forgive you. Maybe next time we meet, we won't be enemies, okay?"

She felt the train car starting to move before the doctor dropped her to the ground outside, well out of range of the tracks. The last thing she was aware of before she blacked out was the sound of the train pulling away…

…with another Cendrillon on board…

It was almost twenty minutes before Miku finally released all the tension from the daring escape in one long breath. She turned to Kaito, who sat rigidly in the car, gripping the pistol with both hands and staring at it. ""We… we did… it…" he finally said.

"I can't believe you shot them! And it worked!" Miku exclaimed.

And suddenly, for the first time since that ill-fated ball… Kaito began to laugh. His genuine smile breaking upon his face spread his cheer to her…

… and now Miku was laughing too.

She never thought she would be able to again.

The car eased up on its wild acceleration as Miku released the pedal lightly. "I didn't think you actually knew how to aim a pistol, I thought you were just waving it around for show!"

Kaito's laughter began to calm. "Of course I can shoot! One of my few actual duties required me to participate in military drills with our army! It would have been a poor showing if the Prince of all people was incapable of basic combat!"

He pulled open the bullet chamber and started to replace the used projectiles. "I fenced as a hobby, along with the target shooting. My tutor said I was excellent. My parents gave my teachers free reign to criticize me as necessary, so I'm certain I can trust that opinion."

The prince took one more long look out the road behind him. "Certainly more now that I've actually shot at live targets…"

His voice died down as all that remained was the hum of the vehicle's engine. "Kaito… the freedom you wanted… I know you didn't want it like this, but… is it what you hoped?"

Miku knew she was taking a great chance speaking to him of something so personal. Something he'd confessed during her deception. The prince's long silence made her start to regret her curiosity until he finally answered her question.

"I've never felt more excited to be alive."

Gakupo kicked the smoke bomb out of the moving train even as everything spun around him and nausea spread through his insides. He looked over to Rin who was properly unconscious – which he needed anyway if he was going to get that bullet out without causing her even more pain. But somehow his hands felt heavy, like lead.

"Ah… I think I might have overdone it…" he murmured, leaning back into a crate. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a roll of bandages. "When this wears off, I'll make it up to you, Rin. You're so brave…"

With the mask on he hadn't inhaled as much. He shouldn't pass out. His foggy brain kept trying to convince him he deserved a nap for this, but he fought to stay awake so he could perform the surgery before Rin woke up. It wouldn't be long…

"You're so much braver than me…"

As he relaxed, waiting for the chloroform to wear off enough that he could properly hold a pair of forceps, he envisioned the face of the pink-haired assassin again and wondered who she used to be…

A/N:

Man, my google searches sure are fun. "Can you use chloroform in a smoke bomb?" being the most amusing for this chapter.

I'm trying to still incorporate some of the historical elements of war and such without getting too close to what's actually happening in the world right now. It is unfortunate that the speeches of fascists are often quite similar.

It's also fun when you'd like to convey a French accent in a setting where France doesn't exist, but yes, Sudland is intended to be an occupied France. Luka's use of the name "Cendrillon" is a nod to the French name of the fairy tale. I suppose technically the rest of the cast is speaking German, but "Aschenputtel" isn't quite as catchy as "Cinderella", so ha.

The Rhune Valley is a stand in for the "Ruhr Valley", which is actually in Germany and is even today a major industrial region in the country. I've deliberately increased the size of Estmarch to be much larger than its real world counterparts to make the journey a bit more perilous for Kaito and Miku.

Songs: Three chapters in and no songs for Miku, but Ruby got one! She's singing "Heart's Lock".