Chapter 9: Smiling Masks

Kaito eagerly tugged the covers over him and rested his head on his pillow. His mother would refuse to read the story to him if he wasn't perfectly obedient, after all! His tiny body barely took up the massive bed, but that meant all the more room for the two of them to sit, nestled side by side as the Queen held the large book in her lap. "Are you ready, my shining jewel?"

"Of course, mother!"

"Once upon a time, there was a girl whose mother died. Before her death, her mother took her precious daughter to her side and told her…"

How his mother loved this story. The sad existence of Cinderella, faithful and good but trapped in a tortuous existence.

"But when the Prince saw her beautiful clothes, he was so enchanted that he saw nothing else but her. They danced for hours until the clock tolled the midnight hour… Cinderella rushed down the stairs, fleeing the prince as he called her name and leaving nothing more behind than a glass slipper…"

"Mother, why did Cinderella run? The prince already loved her!"

The Queen chuckled gently at Kaito's innocence. "No doubt she was embarrassed of him seeing her in rags and soot. It's not proper attire!"

And so as his mother continued to read, Kaito continued to ponder the strange choice. Why would Cinderella be embarrassed? If he declared his love for her, it shouldn't matter how she was dressed!

But his love would not be stopped. The Prince would find his mysterious maid by the token she left behind. He would spirit her away from pain and want. The Prince would save Cinderella from the terrible people…

"And they lived happily ever after."

His mother sighed as she closed the book. "Some day it will be you who has such power, Kaito. I trust you to use it justly."

His mother stroked his bangs with her hands and kissed him softly along his cheek. "My shining jewel."

Kaito snuggled under the bed sheets, dreaming of the day he would save his Cinderella…

As the endless empty scenery rolled by the car window, Kaito found his exhilaration at the idea of car trips through the country fading, replaced with frustrating boredom. It never seemed like they made much in the way of progress – the civil war engulfing Estmarch was cutting off more of their ideal routes out of the country. And there were so few roads. They'd lost precious time turning back when conflict blocked yet another path.

But now they had a town they thought they might make it through – and he prayed they would have some shelter for the evening.

All he could do was try and make sense of the intelligence he had from Meiko and move forward. From what the two of them had pieced together, resistance within the country to his family's regime was a combination of separatist organizations in their conquered lands and Estmarchian citizens fed up with the low standard of living outside of the aristocracy. Capable of doing tremendous damage, but not organized enough to gain traction.

Easily put down.

Until the Emerald Dawn.

Meiko and Gumi had gathered intelligence from their mission indicating that the Dawn had started out sweeping through the discontent. Pulling off members left and right under their banners. The attacks became far more strategic, cropping up where the Fairy Godmothers would conveniently leave power vacuums in the wake of their targeted assassinations.

And yet... as Kaito looked things over, something kept bothering him. If his parents were as ruthless and strategic as they appeared to be, their response to the Dawn was surprisingly muted aside from the regular ground assaults by the loyalists. As he'd told Meiko, his nation had leapt ahead in the development of aerial combat technology. They had a growing air force. War planes.

The zeppelins.

And Meiko had discovered something on her own – the existence of a new weapon, only labelled as "Faerie Dust." She hasn't learned what it was, and that alone made Kaito nervous given what he knew they were capable of after what Luka had told him… but that weapon had yet to be deployed. Why would they not make use of it as soon as the capital fell? Why weren't the Loyalists using it everywhere?

'Were they trying to stop the Dawn from interfering with their plans in the north?'

The most vital information the spies had gathered indicated that the army was far more concentrated around the Nordish Channel. They had yet to gather precise positions, but even the growing air force seemed to be preparing for another Rose War. There was little effort to turn that force inward and stave off civil war.

He'd suggested maybe they underestimated the Dawn – after all, Miku had easily slipped into the castle with the mission of killing Estmarch's only heir.

But even as he said it, that felt off. He was missing something vital.

The most important element to come out of the strategy meeting was a plan. As expected, Meiko at first wanted to convince him to go with her to Nordland. She could try and get him passage across the channel by boat and allow him diplomatic immunity with their King.

He understood her perspective, but he didn't entirely trust the current King in Nordland either. Not enough to expect to leave safely and rule his own kingdom.

Fortunately, the deployment of the military gave him a more diplomatic excuse. Kaito argued that the only safe path out of Estmarch now was to continue their journey to Westheim. The nation's much cherished neutrality meant that fighting in Estmarch would likely stay out of its borders. While their nascent air force wouldn't necessarily beat back Estmarch's, the Alpine mountains along the border would make any air and land assaults difficult. Kaito thus argued from the perspective that routes into Westheim were far more secure for all parties involved.

That left one final problem – the passage into Westheim would take them through conquered Sudland. The Confedere had yet to join with the Emerald Dawn. They wouldn't be expecting to find a dead Prince, so he had that going for him, but he hardly expected them to be friendly to the son of their oppressors either.

"Hmph, I wonder if we'll run past any nice patisseries in old Sudland! Even with the rationing going on, I'd love for some nice macarons to keep my spirits up!"

Gakupo's eternal optimism on the road trip was one of the few things propping up Kaito's car. He sat in the back with Miku, while Meiko stayed up front occasionally barking out directions. She'd never personally visited Estmarch or Sudland before, but she'd dutifully studied major roads and cities ahead of time should her clandestine operations require it.

'I hope Gumi is holding up okay in the truck…' Kaito thought, 'She didn't seem happy being separated from Meiko.'

"Hmph, I haven't had a nice shepherd's pie in weeks," Meiko moped, "Just to warm me up in the cold, that's all!"

"You miss the ice cream, don't you Kaito?"

Kaito looked strangely at Miku. Was she teasing him again? Ever since she'd started to bond with Rin, it seemed to him that she was showing more facets of her persona. "I mean… well, we all miss nice things, don't me?" he said, laughing nervously, "But… ah, even in winter I certainly enjoyed a nice cup of strawberry ice cream."

Meiko laughed in the front seat. "You're full of surprises, Your Highness!"

Kaito remembered the last time he'd had ice cream was the ball. "Maybe we'll find some in Sudland… I don't suppose any of you have had the pleasure of visiting?"

"I haven't seen much of Estmarch because of…" Miku's voice trailed off, "Well, in any case, this will be my first visit."

"I was pretty young when the war happened," Meiko explained, "Believe it or not, my parents were just simple millers. So travelling across the channel would have been well beyond our means! And by the time my career took off, it wasn't easy to come out here even for my job."

Gakupo let out an uncomfortable grunt. "Well, it sounds like it will be a new journey for all of us! We can't exactly sightsee with a war on, but at least we'll be broadening our horizons! Won't that be exciting!"

'Gakupo got awfully quiet,' Kaito thought in regard to the normally talkative doctor, 'Well, it wouldn't be right to pry. Sudland isn't easy for any of us.'

It would be strange travelling through the former country his parents conquered as simply a refugee.

Luka rode in the gilded coach as she clutched her rags close to her. When it pulled up to the glamorous palace, she stepped out and the dirty brown wraps became a glittering white gown. She leapt up the steps in excitement, as the blue haired prince reached out his hand for her, a seraph welcoming an orphan into his wings.

The two of them began to dance along the floor, surrounded by masks of white, as Luka carefully counted down the time. All the while the naïve prince showered her with kindness unlike that she'd ever experienced. For a moment, she found herself conflicted – she had wanted a tyrant to slay, but he was trying to gain access to her heart.

She felt another hand along hers, pulling her into another dance. The purple haired doctor, dressed identically as the prince, as he told her of her worth, he mourned for her sorrows, he gained cheer from her every word. "You can choose. You have the strength."

But then she heard the whisper in her ear from the girl in the cat's mask. "Take your blade and snatch everything from him."

And so she tore away and back to the hapless prince. When the bells began to chime, she easily reached for the knife within her close… and at the final bell, thrust her final farewell into his heart.

The prince collapsed almost instantly from his fatal wound. She turned to the King and Queen with a look of cold retribution. "In vengeance for stealing everything from me, I have destroyed that which you love above all else!"

Even with the white masks over their eyes, Luka expected to see the horror and terror at the death of their precious son as his warm blood dripped from her hands. But when they reacted, it was not with sorrow or fear. But amusement.

"Thank you, Cinderella, for your service."

It was not the King or Queen that screamed but the ash maiden herself as the realization sunk in…

Luka snapped awake in the front seat of her car. The sun shone through the windows, alerting her to the morning hour. She pulled out her watch and was reassured by the time.

She hadn't wanted to sleep outside of town, but if she was a wanted woman… she had no choice. The towns along these rural roads were small – and they would make her easier to trace. Fortunately for her, that made her quarry easier to trace as well. The Prince was foolishly travelling in a distinctly large group. They'd passed into Katzhagen in the aftermath of the escape, then departed early the next morning.

… the doctor was with them. He couldn't seem to keep his nose out of matters far above him.

Through her more thorough investigations, she'd worked out which city they'd likely approach next – a small town named Jangenschatz. Routes anywhere else were blocked thanks to the conflicts breaking out in Estmarch – and more importantly, Jangenschatz was the best route into the Zellen Sea.

The Shion Royals had built a vacation home out there, but she also knew it served as a strategic fortification to hold off any potential outbreaks of violence in Sudland.

If the Royals had retreated, they would be going there.

And no doubt their wayward son would find them.

She only had to wait in Jangenschatz.

"And then I'll…"

She imagined killing him and finally bringing the whole business to an end. Maybe then the Godmothers would take her back. Even if they didn't, it mattered not. The Prince's death would let her finally let it past.

"If that makes us foes in the future, so be it."

"You don't understand, do you?" she whispered, "You and I were born enemies. It was fate. Neither of us is strong enough to change fate."

She switched on the ignition for the car and began to pull back out onto the road. She held her approach out as she noticed a large group of cars passing. They too headed for Jangenschatz.

Something about the shape of the motorcade made her wait. She tried to make out who was inside, but from the distance the best she could see was a man with gray hair in the middle car. Most of the rest wore some kind of uniforms.

'Loyalists? Hmph… better wait them out… they'll notice a car in pursuit, and I'm not going to fight that many of them.'

The important thing? The Prince was not among their number.

If they were seeking him, they'd clearly not found him.

"Ah! Surely we won't be enemies again after this!"

"… only so long as you stand out of my way, doctor."

Even with the cold temperatures, Miku appreciated the feeling of sun on her face as she sat in the grass holding her sandwich. She was sitting at some distance from her allies – close enough to react, but just separate enough to keep her thoughts to herself.

The two cars had pulled off the road for a much needed rest. The fall leaves scattered across the ground were surprisingly soft. She stared up into the sky wondering when the first snowfall would hit. 'Hopefully not soon… our current route is to try and stay out of the mountains. It's too dangerous to try and travel them with November snows so close…'

That would naturally mean the path of Estmarchian refugees would start bottlenecking if they were trying to get to Westheim as well…

'No… I can't focus on that… I can only focus on what I can change right now.'

"So, you never told me what's in a shepherd's pie! Is it hay in a crust?"

"You cannot be that thick-headed!"

"Gakupo, I think it's some kind of meat actually…"

"Eh? How does that work? They don't cook the shepherds do they?"

Miku heard Meiko spluttering in surprise before Gakupo burst out laughing. His laughter was infectious, sneaking into everyone else around him. Somewhere Miku found enough of a spark to start laughing herself at the man's clowning.

She gasped when the sound of a flash bulb went off. Angrily, she turned to see Gumi with her camera pointed right at her, staring through the lens. "W-w-what do you want?! Are you documenting my every move?!"

Gumi pulled the camera away from her face, seemingly confused at Miku's anger. "The color of your hair blends so nicely with the leaves and grass…" she said quietly and unemotionally, "I thought it would just be perfect if you'd smile, but I wasn't sure you ever would, so when you laughed I took the shot…"

Miku blinked in shock as Gumi explained her actions as if they were totally rational. "Ah! Gumi! You really need to ask for permission before you take their photos for fun!" Meiko called out.

"You were… just taking a picture? You weren't spying?"

Gumi put her camera back in her bag. "If I was spying, you wouldn't have seen me."

Her business done, she crawled back through the leaves to join the others. Miku felt self-conscious – was it really so strange of her to smile of her own volition?

'I guess I'm still not so good at being my own person again…'

She heard rustling in the leaves and felt a hand on her shoulder. Her first instinct was to throw the hand away as if she were under attack, but she managed to stop herself as she saw the familiar red fingernails. "Hey, I'm sorry if Gumi upset you…"

Miku pulled her sandwich closer. "I'm not used to being the center of attention is all…"

Meiko sat down next to her, interrupting Miku's perfectly fine time to herself. "I try to keep an eye on her. When she's not working, she's still thinking about photos – she wants to capture the most perfect moments of beauty, you know? But she's not good about telling people that…"

Miku glanced over to the green haired girl and noticed her hovering around with a hand on her camera, waiting for something to happen. "Is she just bad with people?"

Meiko sighed happily. "She's good with the few people she truly trusts. Everyone else, she's all business. Spy business… hobby business…"

"I understand then… I'm not that great with people either… not yet anyway…"

She finished eating her sandwich. "If taking photos helps her cope with that… I won't begrudge her it."

"Awww, you're a good egg! Thanks Miku!"

The singer patted her on the shoulder as she left and Miku just yearned to be back on the road.

Every night her dreams remained the same, evoking the nightmare of killing him while the sea of smiling masks watched in delight. She kept trying to use Rin's advice to banish her guilt, but the dreams followed her at every turn, their every detail mocking her dedication.

She sat by herself in the grass as she waited for the others to finish, her eyes scanning the area for any kind of disturbances. What if they were followed? What if there were Dawn troops moving around? What if… What if…

"Ah… you don't mind if I sit here, do you? Unless you really wanted to be alone."

Kaito.

"Of course not."

Maybe her outburst had drawn his attention, but it was impossible for Miku to ignore that he was growing more attached to her. That her presence seemed to steady him. That his presence could steady her even as she constantly worried over him. She looked out at the scenery and recalled a snatch of conversation from the first time they'd met. "Kaito, I recall how you confessed you've never seen the ocean… not even the Zellen Sea where your family's home is…"

"No… I haven't," he laughed.

Miku extended her arm out over the hills in the distance. "That way. It's beyond those hills. We can't smell the ocean right now, but we're just a few hours from it."

Kaito's eyes widened. "Right there!? Already!?"

He stared out at the hills as if trying to will the waves to come crashing over them. "I've seen photos of the manor, but I've never seen water like that…" he murmured, "Miku, what was it like?"

She tried her hardest to recall one of her buried memories, summoning up a dream of her skittering along the sand and trying to gather shells. "Water as far as you can see… a salty spray… when you run along the wet sand, your footprints fade with the incoming tide…"

She thought it might hurt to remember this far back, when she still had happy times in her life but remembering it stirred something else up in her heart, a warmth long buried as she remembered splashing in the waves with her father and the joy even that incomplete memory brought her…

"We should go, you and I. Not now, not during the war… but when it's over. To see the ocean."

She turned to Kaito and her smile came so easily for him. "I'll protect you from the pincher crabs that nip at the toes of careless princes."

Kaito laughed in embarrassment. "No no, I should be protecting you, remember! Prince Charming should be able to handle a couple of angry crabs!"

"I don't suppose Prince Charming knows how to swim?" Miku teased.

"Ah… no…" he stammered.

"It's fine, I'll teach you. When we go."

One more thing for Miku to fight for… not just a person, but an experience.

One more step.

The camera clicked and Miku almost jumped again as she whipped her head to see Gumi already standing close by, her face behind the lens.

"Were we really that interesting?" Kaito said nervously.

The girl moved the camera away. "The mountains framed the two of you so that the light highlighted your expressions. The sorrow and hope, captured in your smile… I hope I have enough chemicals left to develop this set in color…"

The photographer kept mumbling to herself as she wandered away again.

"Behold, my son. The first Zeppelin in service to Estmarch! The Fantasie!"

Kaito marveled as he watched the massive rigid airship plodding through the sky. "How many people could it possibly carry, Father?!" he asked in delight.

"90 people… it's engine is so powerful it could pass over the oceans, even to the shores of the Union of Columbia!"

The idea of flying through the clouds, so far from his home, excited the young prince. "Father, father, when shall we take the first flight?!"

He saw his father's enthusiasm fade. "Kaito… while the Fantasie is a great technological marvel… I cannot take the risk of you coming to harm in it."

The young teen furrowed his brow. "I'm not asking to fly it myself… I merely wish to see the clouds."

"My dear son… there are dangerous men in the world that seek to kill you at all turns. Within these walls, you'll always be safe. The clouds can wait until your enemies lay dead."

Kaito felt an uncharacteristic anger rising up in his heart. "You… you always say that!" he shouted, "I'm not a fragile doll, I'm the Prince of Estmarch! I have as much right to see this land as you do!"

He had never raised his voice at his father, and from the stunned look on the King's face, it was doubtful anyone had ever yelled at him so. But then his shock turned to sorrow, and Kaito at once felt guilty for losing control of his anger. "Of course you have the right. But Kaito. Allow me this selfishness. You are the most precious person in the world to me. As I try to guide Estmarch onto the path of righteousness, I worry constantly over your safety. Think of how it would break a father's heart to lose that which he loves most."

Kaito tried to steady his emotions. He was certain of his father's love. The King never spoke to another the way he spoke to him. As upsetting as his decisions were… they were not meant to be cruel.

"Now Kaito… I may not be able to allow you a ride, but if you'd like, I can have them land the ship in the training grounds so you might inspect it up close. Would that please you?"

Kaito's curiosity got the better of him. "Of course it would, Father!"

Miku sifted through her bag as it rested on the hotel bed, only verifying what supplies she would need for the immediate day. Lest they have to run in a hurry yet again. She pressed her fingers around the familiar wrapped object and felt a momentary sense of calm. 'It's still in one piece.'

"Miku… we're within a day's drive of Westheim… and there's something I must ask of you."

Miku clutched the precious object tightly in her fingers. "Yes Kaito?"

"When we made this arrangement… you promised you would leave as soon as we arrived."

The worry in his voice was unmistakable, and the reminder of that promise drew back her fear from the moment she'd pledged it. In that moment, all she'd cared about was that Kaito survived. It was vital that he live, her heart needed that. Even if it meant he would turn her away when it was passed…

"But Miku, where will you go when this is over with? You have no family to return to, no other professions… everyone else among us has something they can start over with."

She released her grasp on the item and zipped up her bag. "It's not really something you need worry about, Kaito. When you're in Westheim, I'll have finished my task."

But today Kaito was being insistent. "Miku, you are not something I can just throw away and discard," he pressed, "You've become more than a soldier, you've become a friend. I… I only wished to suggest that you may stay with me and my uncle in his manor house until you've found your next path."

Next path. Miku was only moving one step forward every day, as if she could plan that far out.

But this seemed to be something that was particularly upsetting to Kaito, so she could at least ease his worry. "If your Uncle is fine with someone like me staying, I will accept."

Indeed, Kaito looked relieved to have this past. "I promise you, my Uncle is very accommodating. He won't treat you as… they… would have."

'They.' The way his tongue seemed to twist as he spoke of his parents, Miku knew how heavily they weighed upon his heart. "Kaito, is there something else bothering you?"

Indeed, the Prince had barely managed to go through any of his possessions. "Something else Luka said to me in the prison… it's been bothering me. She told me to be wary of those in white masks, that those people are my enemies."

As he described the white masks, Miku felt a flash of fear as her recurring nightmares popped out again, of being jeered at by the ghoulish figures who watched her destroy her prince.

"I know you've told me everything about the assassination, but if that has any meaning to you, it may help us both."

She tried to banish the imagery and recall the evening of the attack one more wretched time. "When I was given my orders, I was told that the people in white masks were involved. Tonio wore one of course. I wouldn't have known who the others were wearing them, but what I did know was that they would be watching me to make sure that I… that I…"

She swallowed. "To ensure the task was completed satisfactorily."

As she turned to Kaito, the information seemed to similarly disturb him. "Did you remember something?"

His face seemed a shade paler. "I… no, it's a trivial detail. I'm sorry to bother you with it."

'He's been so fixated on his parents… I still don't know how to help him. Kaito, I want to ease your pain…'

Kaito's fingers deftly maneuvered through the complex piece on the piano. The main melody was meant to mimic the sound of raindrops falling in a summer shower. He performed without a singer, but in his mind he could recall the voice of his piano tutor, steadying his playing as he envisioned the phantom performer.

As he completed the melody, he looked expectantly to his parents. They clapped politely for his performance. "Your music tutor has truly cultivated your talent," his mother said warmly, "I hear you've taken to playing whenever you're bored."

Which these days was often, not that he would be rude enough to express that so bluntly to his parents.

"Do you think it's good enough to perform in public? Perhaps a recital in the Vedunia Concert hall? Surely that building should be easy enough to secure from radical elements."

His parents looked to each other and began to whisper quietly, Kaito straining to hear even a single word shared between the two of them. Finally they looked back and he held his breath in anticipation.

"Kaito, your mother has reminded me that the Vedunia Concert Hall in particular has been targeted by radical elements," his father intoned calmly.

"Then… what about a smaller one?!" Kaito protested.

"My shining jewel."

Kaito shuddered. He knew what was coming next when his mother used that phrase.

"Our beloved Prince performing a recital would no doubt fill the people of Estmarch with confidence and beauty. Which is why your recital would be targeted at once. Think of the horror and dread they would suffer if you or anyone inside were to come to harm?"

"But… But…"

He stopped as he thought through the logic – performing in public like this could risk someone else's life besides his own. He couldn't ask someone to possibly die so he could have a few brief hours of freedom outside of his home…

"… you are right, of course. I was being selfish. My apologies."

So swiftly did another door close in front of the frustrated young man…

"In a space a dripped sound echoes, Footstep sounds disappear… I cry out a word, but it also is drowned out in vain… The sound you let me hear that day is no longer here… and broken pieces scatter…"

"My goodness… your voice sounded just like the drops of rain."

Miku was seated right next to Kaito on the piano bench, mesmerized by his playing. The young man couldn't help but sing the words for her, and she'd stayed silent the entire time.

"It was so lovely. You shouldn't have been hidden away like that."

Miku was deliberately being vague given that there were still people in the lobby, but Kaito understood what she meant. "My parents wanted me to be safe," he said bitterly, "Not just myself but the people around me. No matter what I asked, no matter how I begged or plotted, they always had a way to defeat my ambitions. Many times they would tell me how my being in public would risk other's lives… how could I take that chance?"

It felt ridiculous for him to complain about this to Miku given how much more harshly she'd been imprisoned. "You really were a prisoner…" she whispered.

"Sometimes I wish I could hate them properly. They've so much evil to their reputation. But they were… so different for me… even as they caged me, I couldn't stop believing in them…"

"They're your parents. Of course you love them. Even as they trapped you, they showered you in love to keep you content. You never ran away because you feared hurting them. You… you try to help everyone. Even me. Even strangers. Even… even Luka. Your heart won't bear being the cause of misery, even to your family."

To hear Miku explain it so succinctly provided a small amount of succor to his conflicted heart. The white masks would not leave his mind. But as he looked at Miku he found a strong impulse overtaking him. Even as Miku would speak of trying to protect him, she never sheltered him pointlessly. She listened so intently. She wanted him to be happy and safe, but she wanted him to have his freedom.

She understood having no freedom.

He wanted to protect her too. To shelter her from the people chasing her, who stole her life from her. Cinderella, always running. Cinderella, forgotten in the ashes and dust. Cinderella, unceasingly waiting for someone to save her but running from the Prince who loved her…

'Do I… love Cinderella?'

With her right on the bench with him, so close… he stared right into her eyes and saw them as he did the night he impulsively declared he loved her… would she…?

"Miku… even with all the pain you've suffered, you always try to salve my wounds… I want to do the same for you. More than just a place to stay… I…"

When he spoke those words that night, they were the words of a man desperate to feel love. A man who didn't understand it and easily fell for the illusion of it. But now as he sat with Miku so close again, he felt something so much stronger and it felt to him that he needed to say just the right words or he'd lose her. He gingerly slipped his hand over Miku's on the piano bench and…

The news report on the radio report interrupted everything at once.

"… sighted in the distance! The Fantasie and a bombing squadron! We're trying to make contact with another city to determine their trajectory!"

"The Fantasie… that's Estmarch's first zeppelin… he outfitted it for war?!"

Kaito's first instinct was to bolt outside and search the skies, but Miku clutched at his outstretched hand. "Stay here. Please."

After everything Kaito had just confessed to, he was about to snap at being told to stay back again, but relented at the true fear in Miku's eyes. "I'll find out what I can! Meiko and Gumi are still trying to find a phone or telegraph out of the country, Rin and Len are gathering intelligence, and Gakupo is getting medical supplies… surely one of them will have the information we need!"

She placed her other hand over his, this time with tenderness. "Please don't leave here. Run and hide if you must. If you die, everything I've given up will have been for nothing."

As she slipped her hand from his, Kaito felt reluctant to leave her but at the same time, he wanted to follow her instructions for now.

He trusted her.

"Hmph… this isn't as much as I would have liked… but given our monetary situation, it's going to have to do…"

The doctor muttered under his breath as he gathered what little he could still afford from the chemist. He was trying to plan ahead for an emergency – bullet wounds, Kaito's stitches, enough ether for surgery… he had a few sterile needles left, but some sterilizing antibiotics would contain infection if he needed to perform blood transfusions…

Driving through Jangenschatz earlier had unsettled him. Another makeshift hospital caring for people injured in yet more violent outbreaks as Estmarch tried to right itself. The chemist here already was strapped for supplies, and here he was buying them up. His heart yearned to stay behind and patch as many people up as he could – he was a doctor, and a good one. But now he'd committed to this wild mission of ferrying a Prince across a warzone. Saving one life instead of hundreds.

He began to turn when he saw a familiar pair of blue eyes behind a nurses' mask. Before he could say another word, the woman gripped his wrist and turned him away towards the wall, jabbing the tip of a knife into his back. "Leia…" he whispered, deciding not to try and wriggle free lest his captor try and maneuver against him.

She leaned closer to his ear and again he heard that familiar Sudlandian song. "You must stay calm. You already know what I will ask. If you are here, then he is too."

Had she stalked him inside the chemist? Or was she merely smart enough to check the medical establishments first for him? Gakupo quietly cursed his luck – he wasn't a spy or an assassin. He didn't know how to cover his tracks without Rin helping him.

"Where is he?"

'No… I won't give up like this… she's desperate if she's cornering someone as useless as me again.'

"I thought after Fort Kahlgren that we'd ceased to be enemies! Are you still holding that grudge?"

The knife dug a little deeper and Gakupo bit his lip. "You and I are not. The Prince and I are. It's not my choice, Gakupo. It's fate that placed us on this path, and it will not end until one of us lies dead. No matter what either of us wishes, that fate is unchanging."

'Fate… Rin used to talk about it… and… didn't Miku? She spoke of changing fate before…'

"Was it also your fate to save those children in the Rust District?"

The pressure on his wrist didn't let up – despite him being so much taller than Luka, she'd managed to press right down on his arm to overpower him. "Was it fate to put you in a nurse's costume in a hospital? Was it fate to sing them a lullaby?"

The tip of the knife seemed to quiver a moment. "Luka," Gakupo said, forgoing her false name once and for all, "I am not such a naïve man that I think I can change every person's heart by words. But I judge you by your deeds. And as I see it… the cruelest atrocity turned on you was not the past you lost, but the future stolen from you by those with wicked hearts. Women gathering helpless Cinderellas and luring them to balls of death. And that is why… you are currently trying to come up with a reason to stab a random doctor to death in a chemist's shop."

"You… just… tell me!"

He was hoping her frustration meant he was making progress. "Luka… there are now two women connected to you that have chosen to take fate for themselves. I believe… that is not a coincidence."

"You think me weak?!" she hissed.

"No… I think even as you found yourself chained… you still searched for a way out. That you've been searching for so long for the way to take your fate for yourself as well. They succeeded because you wanted them to. Your fate belongs to you, Luka."

Gakupo found himself tossed into an empty rack, breaking right through it from the force of Luka's anger. "Shut up! How dare you talk like that?! I'll prove your naivety wrong, I promise you! Someone in this city knows where he is, and I'll destroy him!"

The doctor crawled out of the splintered wood. "Well… that could have gone better…" he muttered. He heard the chemist's rapid footsteps. "Holy hell, was that a damn Loyalist?! What happened here?!"

Gakupo quickly rose to his feet and grabbed all the money he had, thrusting it into his arms. "I'll take all of these, and that should pay for that… and… well the shelving too! Thank you!"

His only thought was catching Luka before she figured out what hotel Kaito was in, but as he stepped outside and saw the panicked crowd watching the sky, he realized he wouldn't easily find her…

"Dammit… I'm going into the basement! You guys are on your own!"

The old man slammed the door behind the desk. "Hmph… so much for that…" Kaito said, annoyed.

The prince briefly considered sheltering under some of the hotel's furniture as some of the panicked guests were doing, but he changed his mind as he saw a familiar face entering the lobby.

"Dex?"

The grey haired lad turned his yellow eyes to the Prince and he smiled like a hungry wolf. "You know, given all the trouble you went through to make contact with the Loyalists, you rather made yourself scarce in the aftermath of Zweissen."

"Who's sending the bombers?! The Dawn or the Loyalists?!"

Dex's rather lax posture seemed to project the answer. "As if the Dawn could gain the loyalty of the Royal Air Force so easily! This city is safe from them."

As he approached the bench, Kaito had half a mind to get his concealed weapon out from his coat, but nothing in Dex's manner suggested aggression yet. The man placed an envelope on the piano. "Given what I've come to you for, I assume words alone wouldn't convince you. So I ensured there was a little more evidence backing me up."

Kaito reached for the envelope, tearing open the flap and pulling out a small slip of paper. His fingers began to shake at the sight of the familiar handwriting on the page.

My shining jewel.

We are blessed to learn you yet live. Please return to us at once that we might set our hearts at ease.

Such a simple letter, worded carefully to shield its true meaning from enemies. But Kaito knew it at once.

His mother.

"They… they sent you…"

His parents were still alive, just as the rumors stated. They really were running the Loyalists.

And they wanted him at their side.

"Well of course. I had to report to them at once when I met you, and there was no mistake to your identity. They sent me right back out."

Dex observed the frightened guests in the hotel, still not making any impact on him. "I suppose… they would want me right away, wouldn't they?"

This could still be a trap! This letter could have been pried out of a woman held hostage… and yet…

"I'll be blunt with you. They demanded I bring you back, in custody if I must, with you still travel with. I already told him about that boy you were hanging around with, and the green haired girl…"

'Miku!'

If he brought the woman who'd stabbed him in front of his parents…

"Hrm… what'd they call her again? Oh… Cinderella. Does that mean anything to you?"

For a moment Kaito could imagine himself being pulled apart by people in white masks. The last scraps of faith he still held in his heart torn to shreds.

'No… no this can't… no… they wouldn't…'

A strange resolve settled into his chest. If he tried to escape, they'd tear the kingdom apart until they had him. He'd always known his fate would be to stand before his parents and confront the vile truths between them.

And lest those he cared about be destroyed as well… he would have to face that fate himself. He would have to break his promise, but he did so only because he loved Miku too much to see her ensnared along with him.

"I regret to inform you that I've parted ways with my companions. If you'll have me, I'll go alone."

This would hopefully suffice.

Prince Charming had to protect Cinderella.

Luka held her gun steady as she kept it trained on his head, balancing herself on a tree branch. One bullet and she'd have her past dealt with and her future secure. It was trivial locating his hotel so swiftly. The group of cars parked out front only made his presence more prominent. And then her patience paid off as she watched the Prince emerge with a white haired young man.

She squeezed her finger around the trigger.

"If all you wanted was revenge, why weren't you the one sent to kill me sooner?!"

'Because this isn't revenge… it is our fate…'

The Prince looked oddly sad – were these people not Loyalists? Where was he going off to?

"Dex… how did my mother react when you told her? Did she… did she say anything?"

The white haired man shrugged. "They were rather calm… I expected more out of them, honestly. Maybe they just expected you to survive somehow."

"I was their prisoner."

'His parents… they've found him…'

In her mind she could still see the last nightmare she had, so different from the burning dreams. Where she tore her dress in her rage as she thought she'd destroyed that which they loved, only leaving them smiling behind their masks…

Luka had never been told directly who ordered the assassination given to Miku. But she did have an inkling of the particulars. That only two people in the castle could have arranged for the young girl to get so far so easily. Hence her cruel insinuation to the prince that he watch for those masks. She wanted to plant the seeds of distrust in him that he might suffer.

"The Godmothers have shown neither I nor Miku any mercy. I cannot leave you to their whims. If that makes us foes in the future, so be it. But I cannot ignore someone unjustly made a prisoner."

"Your fate belongs to you, Luka."

Tears trickled down her face as she lowered the gun, her opportunity passing by. She saw a pair of women leaving the car as she climbed out, one a pale woman with short blue hair, another with dark skin and long purple hair, both of them wearing long red coats and black stockings. She remained unsure of her next path until she saw them split up and break into the crowds…

"Cleaning up loose ends, are you?"

"Well this is a fine mess we're in!" Len shouted through the din, "Not a word of anything useful and everyone's sure we're going to get bombed to death!"

"We just need to get back to the hotel and get Kaito out of here!" Rin shouted back, "We'll figure out where to go when we have the chance!"

Len tried to keep his sister's hand tight in his own, not wanting to risk being further separated even as the girl hobbled on her crutches.

Suddenly he heard the sound of a cracking whip and Rin grabbed him and shoved him to the road. "What gives?!" he shouted before he saw a woman with blue hair emerge from the crowd with a whip drawn. "Len Kagamine," she whispered, "Your life is forfeit."

Rin rolled off of him and held up her crutch like it was a weapon. Len cringed as he saw a tear in her jacket where the whip had hit his sister. "Only yours is if you so much as touch him! This is your only warning!"

Len had yet to see Rin fight, but the ferocity she delivered in his defense as the mysterious assailant tried to break through to him gave him no doubt she'd once been a terrifying force for the Godmothers. Every crack of the whip lead to Rin countering with her crutch, never even taking a strike. 'No, what the hell am I doing?! I need to fight back too!'

Len drew his pistol and tried to train it on the woman his sister was fighting, but she was moving too fast. "Rin, I need a clear shot-"

"NO!" she pleaded.

"Mercy will not save either of you!"

'Rin… you don't want anyone else to die?! But this is war!'

With a sickening sound, the woman's whip finally connected to Rin's arm, wrapping around it and forcing her to drop the crutch. The woman pulled her forward, wrapping it tightly around her neck. "Your mercy is meaningless… this is our fate, to die fighting…"

"Len! Please don't!"

He heard his sister chocking as she struggled to breathe…

'… Rin, I'm sorry.'

Len took careful aim, trying to make sure he wouldn't miss as he pulled the trigger tightly… the gun kicked in his hand as the bullet fire out of the barrel…

The whip relaxed around Rin's neck as the blue haired woman fell to the ground. Rin collapsed with her as Len's hands shook. He'd done it. He'd killed someone.

Rin bent over her foe's body and sobbed. "I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…" she cried, "I couldn't save you…"

Len never wanted to imagine he'd kill someone, no matter how dark he'd become in the past. But he couldn't let Rin die… and he didn't want her to be responsible for a death after she'd fought so long to be free of her life as a Cinderella.

He grasped her shoulder. "Rin… if there's a Cinderella here… none of us are safe…"

The girl nodded and propped herself back up on her crutch. "I… I know…"

He gave one last glance to the woman he'd destroyed. Was she someone's sister? Someone's beloved lost daughter? He never even knew her name… and now nobody would know what happened to her.

He felt sick with the guilt, even if he knew that he'd had to choose who would live and who would die… and he couldn't let Rin be the one to die…

"Don't, Len. Don't blame yourself."

Rin stared at him sympathetically. "We have to save the others."

Miku fought to parry her opponent's blows as the purple haired woman came at her wielding a butterfly knife. The woman had tried to take her by surprise but Miku's paranoia at her surroundings foiled her the second she'd heard the blade unfolding.

She could have turned and shot her and gotten the element of surprise… but she didn't want to cause her demise.

She didn't know this woman's name, but she knew she was like her. Another lost Cinderella, forced by fate into battle. She would dispatch her, find out who'd sent her, and then knock her out. This was her creed.

The woman tried to plunge the weapon right into Miku's chest, only for the girl to take a chance and grab at her extended arm, flipping her over and kicking her in the chest. She took the advantage and pinned her down by sitting right on her back. "Who are your masters?! The Godmothers!?" she growled.

"You'll never have us!" the woman shouted, "Your Prince is already lost to you!"

'K-Kaito!'

"Where is he?! Have you… Have you…?!"

She never should have abandoned him, no matter what the danger outside! She felt weak at the thought of Kaito having been taken out so swiftly…

"You'll never have him… his enemies have taken him… miserable little traitor!"

Miku wrapped her elbow around the woman's throat, listening for the telltale sounds of her diving into unconsciousness before releasing her. 'I have to get back to the hotel! I have to make sure he's okay!'

As Miku sprung up to her feet, she found herself staring down the last person she wanted to see. Luka, dressed as a nurse, with her hat and mask discarded. The woman's raised pistol gave Miku no time to dodge –

The gunshot rang out and Miku heard a gurgling cry behind her. She turned to see the woman she'd just been fighting with fall down dead, blood soaking her chest from the entrance wound, her knife plunging into the ground next to her. "You show mercy too easily," Luka whispered matter-of-factly.

"You… what do you want of me?!" Miku shouted, ready for a new fight, "Did you kill Kaito?!"

"You. I want to hear your answer. Why did you try to change fate?"

'What kind of question is this?!' Miku thought to herself.

"You cast aside all that you had to protect him. To risk never having a life of your own again. I will hear of what drove you. Now."

Miku looked at the woman's face, searching her for some sign of her thoughts. What did she want?! She'd filled Kaito's head with tales of Sudland, driving the conflict inside of him... he'd taken pity on her and let her live…

She thought of how Kaito admired her strength and courage, how Rin praised her bravery in the moment of truth no matter how cowardly Miku felt…

"... I made my choice because of him. Because Kaito showed me kindness when no other person did."

Her hands balled into tight fists as her memories crowded into her head. "I wanted nothing more than for our fates to be different. And in the last moments, when the clock chimed… I decided I had the right to control fate. To choose who I would be. To choose who would answer to. To choose… to fall in love."

As if her heart had ever changed from that moment. Her feelings had never changed. They'd simply grown the more she'd come to know him, taking root in her heart like a sprouting flower.

She raised her own knife defiantly. "I'll fight for that future, no matter how brief it may be. Even if the world is my enemy, I'd rather die for that short existence of my own than live forever as a prisoner again."

Luka finally lowered her weapon, and her face finally calmed. "Such simplicity… maybe I should have expected that in the end… you would never truly be broken."

"LUKA!"

Miku saw Gakupo running towards them, covered in sweat and panting from what looked like a rather long chase. "I… I finally found you… before… before…"

The doctor gasped in horror as he saw the body of the dead Cinderella. He moved towards her instinctually, before Miku broke the sad news. "She's already passed… we… we didn't have a choice…"

He stopped in his tracks, a sad acceptance settling over him. "I'm sorry, Gakupo…" Miku began to say.

"… no. Don't apologize. There is not bringing her back."

Gakupo turned to Luka. "Did you save her life?"

The woman looked away awkwardly. "I… it turned out that way, yes. I wanted to take the assassins out before they reached their targets, but their Cinderella training let them slip away so quickly I had to settle for stopping one of them after they tracked their targets…"

"Then there's another one?!"

Miku began to panic again. "Did that one kill him?!"

"Kaito isn't dead! Not yet!" Luka shouted, "But he will be soon. He departed with the Loyalists from your hotel, to meet with his parents. Alone."

'Alone!? But he promised… unless…'

If Kaito left without a word, he must have had a reason! Then what was it…

"Think Miku. Who else wore white masks that night?"

Miku tried to separate her nightmares from reality to recall these details. Tonio, of course. Several of the nobles. And… and…

"… the King and Queen."

She shuddered as the realization fell over her. "What do they have to gain from killing their own son?" she protested.

"… perhaps Kaito had become an obstacle to them."

Gakupo's cold reasoning surprised Miku, but he was dead serious. "More importantly, where are they heading off with him without a word? They've got quite the head start on us."

"The Zellen Sea."

Luka was surprisingly well informed. "And you got that information, how?" Miku asked suspiciously.

"Hmph. It wasn't that hard, I kept an ear to the ground. Cars have been coming in and out of here from out that way for some time and the royal family maintains operations out there. It's the most logical location for them to take shelter while they try and tighten their grip again…"

The sound of military planes overhead cut them off. Miku watched the sky as one large dark shape began to blot out light above them. The zeppelin, the Fantasie… with bombs strapped to its sides. Miku held her breath as it chugged ahead in the sky, fortunately not dropping its payload.

"Gakupo! Miku!"

Miku heard Rin's voice calling out. "We're under attack! This crazy woman tried to kill us and… and… CRAP! It's another one!"

Luka let out an annoyed sigh. "If I was going to kill you, I'd have done it already!" she protested.

"If Kaito is going to die or worse in the next few hours… we need to find him…" Miku said.

She had to fight for him, even if he was giving up. The specter of his parents was still trapping him, even as he sought to be free.

She couldn't let him stay caged even unto death.

A/N:

Just another reminder for the readers - when chapters are going to be late, I have no way to properly alert you on this site. So I will always update my DeviantArt, Tumblr, and Wattpad profiles with the latest information! I am Rebochan on all of those services :) I posted two updates as this one got pushed back, so when stories are late, check one of those sites to see what happened and read more pathetic excuses from the author.

Man, I'm really racking up the late chapters. Don't worry guys, I'm not giving up on this story – even when the chapters are late, I'm always writing them. I want this story done and as you may have gathered, some plot points are coming to a head. First work then illness delayed this sucker, and I apologize if this chapter has more typos than usual. I really hoped at some point I'd be getting ahead, but strangely as the story has hit its narrative payoffs, it's getting harder to write because I want to get them just right. This is a story with a lot of complex political angles, and I don't actually want to bury people in that too much buuuut hey, something has to kick off a war, right?

Fun fact: color photography was in fact in active use during the early 20th century, it was just so complex that only hobbyist photographers took advantage of it until it became more commercially viable much later in the 20th century. In the course of researching it, I actually found a huge archive of color photographs taken in the time leading up to World War I. I figured Gumi would be the type to dedicate herself to the far more complicated development process, the little shutterbug. For once I'm not blurring history too hard :)

In case anyone is curious, the two unfortunate Cinderellas this chapter were Lapis and Merli. Hence why Merli fought with a butterfly knife ;)

The "Union of Columbia" is meant to be the United States. It was actually kind of hard to come up with an alt-universe name for my own country because it's not that old and has been pretty consistently named unlike some of the other countries I've been able to have fun with using etymology on. "Columbia" is an image used to be the personification of the United States itself during a brief period in the late 1800s and fell out in the early 1900s. If you played Bioshock Infinite, they were using the same source I was for their fictional flying death island.

Songs: Kaito was singing and playing "Broken Rain" by Shinjou-P, a song where she deliberately tried to have Kaito's sung words match the pattern of falling rain drops.