Chapter 16: Lonely Souls
"My lady… I'm… I'm sorry to report…"
Iroha tried to steady herself as she saw her mistress' mood sour. "They struck again," she finished for her.
Miriam's cold eyes turned to the girl. "I spent decades crafting these girls into the force we need, and now they're being dismantled, one by one… how did we waste such time on such useless little-!"
She clutched the stem of her wine glass so hard Iroha feared it would break in her hands. "My spies being silenced… my Cinderellas being handed over like wrapped packages to that infernal brat!"
Iroha flinched. This level of anger was uncharacteristic for the lady she knew. Then again, it was abnormal for her plans to be thrown so far off course. Her mistress had worked so hard to conceive of every contingency. Spies in the right places to keep passing information along. Cinderellas at every turn to cut down the upstart "Prince Charming" as he tried to take back what he felt entitled to by birth.
But now it was as if an unseen force knew where every one of them were…
"Miku can't possibly be doing all of this on her own. But he can't possibly… he can't…"
There was no need to explain who "he" was. There was only one person her mistress loathed above all else.
"There's… there's more… we've confirmed Teto disappeared at Sainte-Famille. If… if Luka was there… then… she must be part of this…"
She thought the mistress would only grow angrier but a strange calm settled over her, her grip relaxing.
"Ah. So this is merely revenge. And here I thought we could worry about him having unraveled everything."
"You're… okay with this?" Iroha asked in disbelief.
Miriam refilled her glass of wine with complete calm. "Luka is single-minded. I sent Teto there to be my 'canary' – Luka wouldn't have gone to Saint-Famille unless she was planning to settle old business. If Teto has disappeared, then Luka is trying to make her move. She can be easily lured out and disposed of. I'll have you deliver the precise orders… let's see…"
She stared thoughtfully into her reflection in the wine glass, her naturally silver hair shining in the dim light. "Ah. Stardust. She can handle our wayward 'Dove'. I'm more concerned with our dear Miku… she must be the other prong in this assault. Carefully staying ahead of her dear Prince, shielding him from even the slightest hardship…"
The mistress smiled slyly. "Twenty years…" she whispered, "Twenty years of waiting for the moment I'd finally strike him out. I've winnowed away everything he has – his home, his crown, his family. Even if Tonio falls, even if Vedunia falls… he's yet to escape the story I've written for him."
She raised the glass to her lips. "I leave Miku to you, my precious kitten. If Prince Charming is able to make it all the way to Vedunia, we must have our trump card ready. Miku is still the strongest and brightest of my Cinderellas, after all. My true Cinderella."
Iroha's heartbeats steadied as her mistress' confidence grew again. She would gladly do anything to see her dear mistress's grand designs come true. And now… now she would be doing more than just playing a servant.
She would prove her loyalty to the very end.
The first sounds of gun and artillery fire sounded out in the distance. A tension raced through the streets of the Rust District as its denizens understood what this would mean for them. The non-combatants tried to gather cover as quickly as possible while those drafted into service rushed forward to try and halt an advance.
But in the heart of Zweissen, in the former domain of Duke Ueki, a different sort of tension was in play. Akiko slipped out of the house, dressed in thick clothing to handle the unbearable cold of December, under strict orders to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. The Prince's forces could not succeed in taking the Rhune. His military adventures had to end now.
She heard the buzzing of planes above as Estmarch's planes, under Dawn control, swept forward… met by planes bearing the familiar Nordland battle standards as they swooped in to intercept as quickly as possible.
Just one Cinderella sent to stop an army with a sniper rifle. She would have to work quickly. The Prince knew her face; there was no chance of her sneaking up on him. She would have to deal with him at a distance.
The war would cease with the death of Prince Kaito. Even if Estmarch were conquered by outsiders in the aftermath, the Godmothers and their Cinderellas would still exist in the shadows to rebuild and reshape Uralia.
She would be a Princess.
If she could end him.
She spied the run-down clocktower near the walls marking the divide between Zweissen and the industrial Rust District. The only real vantage point to get a clear shot as the Prince inevitably pressed ahead on his assault and exposed himself.
Her training led her to scaling it quickly from the inside, until she was up and inside the clock face itself. She cracked open the maintenance door and laid low. Staring into the telescope, she scanned the field carefully for the distinct blue hair…
Footsteps behind her drew her from her position. In a flash she had her combat knife out, slashing at an assailant with turquoise pigtails. "I should have known it was you!" Akiko cursed at the girl, "You wretched traitor! You've sold your soul to a devil!"
Miku stayed ahead of her knife blows, dodging them carefully before reaching out to strike at Akiko's arm. Twisting it harshly, Akiko let out a cry as it bent so hard she thought it would snap. A blow to her stomach from Miku's foot caused her to recoil, just as Miku's elbow landed around her neck…
Akiko collapsed in her arms. Miku held her for a few moments, waiting to see if she was merely faking it… she wouldn't make this mistake again…
But Akiko stayed silent, confirming to Miku that she'd truly knocked her out. She pulled thick rope from her satchel and started tying Akiko's arms up behind her, keeping alert in case the girl sprang back to consciousness while she worked. "It works that she came up to the clocktower," Miku said, "This is as good a spot as any…"
From what little intelligence she had, Akiko was the only Cinderella active in Zweissen now. Miku had taken out one more when she crept into the Rust district a few days ago. She'd worried that might alert Akiko, but clearly their intelligence networks were breaking down.
The number of Cinderellas in Estmarch seemed to be declining… she hoped that meant she was getting close to her true target.
And that said nothing of what Luka might be up to on her own… She'd gotten some indications in some of the cities she'd passed through that her former mentor had taken on a similar goal to her own.
Miku took a careful step close to the ledge. She picked up the sniper rifle, staring through the telescope. For just a moment, she caught a glimpse of blue and her heart skipped a few beats. Kaito was right on the battlefield!
'Not yet… I'm sorry. But if I'm right… we'll reunite in Vedunia. Because I'm certain she is there.'
Miku slipped a firm hook onto the tight ropes around Akiko's wrists and began to dangle her slumbering body from the clocktower's face…
"You idiots let them take Zweissen?!"
Grand General Tonio punched the royal throne so hard it actually cracked under his fist. "We are the greatest military minds in Uralia! Are they sleeping on the job?!"
Prima observed the shaking general in front of the enraged leader, yet she didn't even flinch at his rage, sitting in place in her elegant maroon gown, her chin-length black hair framed by a white headband. "We… we've had more issues with deserters…" he stuttered, "I've passed on your orders to execute them on sight on sight but they're… the Prince is more…"
The man was stuttering as he watched the General's rage boil over at him. "Are you insinuating that the members of the Emerald Dawn are more loyal to that royal dog than to me?! That empty-headed mongrel has no grasp of my appeal!"
"I… I know sir but-"
Several shots rang out in the throne room as Tonio aimed his pistol at his own general. Yet not a single bullet hit – he'd deliberately fired around him.
"The Emerald Dawn will tolerate no disloyalty! The Prince is marching on Vedunia! What is your plan to handle it?!"
"We… we can bring the Fantasie back in and bomb his army…"
"Idiot, by the time it gets here they'll already be at the damn gates and we'll be blowing up our own forces! You get out of here and don't come back until I've fixed this! Vedunia will be the last place the Prince ever sees!"
The shaking general stepped out, Prima half wondering if he would be stupid enough to try and defect as well.
Tonio placed a gruff hand on her shoulder. "How did these fools ever expect to take Nordland when they can't handle a brat like him?"
"Obviously the King and Queen were poor judges of character," Prima said calmly.
'As seen by letting you become an advisor,' she thought to herself.
He slumped into his throne, massaging his temples with his hands. "Now to think of another plan… we can't let Vedunia fall next… how to outmaneuver someone like him…"
Prima recognized the opportunity – she would have to be clever of course, but Tonio was easy to manipulate. "Weren't you saying that the people of the Emerald Dawn should be loyal? It would certainly be a shame if the citizens were starting to lose faith."
"What?! They hated the Shions!" Tonio barked, "They were always about to crack… it's how I had such an easy time recruiting them. They wouldn't dare!"
The seed had been planted. Now to nurture it. "I can't wait to see how you show them who's really in charge," she said coyly, "The Prince is too cowardly to plow through civilians of course."
And now it had taken root. "Yes… yes… I see it…" Tonio whispered.
He stomped out of the court hall. "Assemble the generals!" he shouted, "And get ready to assemble the citizenry as well! Vedunia's loyalty must be ensured above all! Any man or woman that is not ready to lay down their lives for the Emerald Dawn is to be executed at once!"
So simple.
'Well Prince Kaito,' Prima thought to herself, 'We'll see just how badly you want this throne of yours back. Are you even willing to cut through the people you claim to care for just to reach it?'
Just as the Grand Godmother had planned.
Until she recovered the pure Cinderella, of course. The one causing them so much grief.
She smirked. She almost hoped she'd get a chance to fight the girl. To see if she really lived up to the other Godmothers' expectations.
Kaito stepped through the open gates of Fort Kahlgren. It was eerie entering it as a free man after he'd broken out as a prisoner just a few short months ago. But now that it was a new year, he could regard the installation as his again now that he'd led his army to occupy it.
But much of the city had surrendered to him after the initial battle. There just weren't enough loyal Dawn soldiers left, not when faced with the choice of Tonio's wrath and the Prince's mercy.
As he continued his march through the yard, he nodded to the familiar face of Sonika as she was led out in cuffs by some of his own troops. His former jailer looked stunned to see him. "Your… Your highness…" she said in awe.
He waved to the soldiers to stop marching her out. "Excuse me, I would have her service a moment," Kaito said, "It's my understanding that Fort Kahlgren has been holding a great number of political prisoners. Sonika, can you take me to them?"
Sonika looked to each of her handlers, then back to Kaito and nodded slowly. "I have the keys in my coat pocket. Right side."
One of the men reached into her coat and pulled out the long ring. 'So she's not really resisting either, is she?' Kaito thought to himself.
The walk down to the cells was surprisingly calm. Fighting his way into Zweissen had proven easier than he expected. While the tactics of the Dawn troops were quite intelligent, their morale seemed lower now. Quietly, Kaito hoped this would continue, but logically, he suspected the most loyal of the Dawn were waiting for him in Vedunia. The last of them would be fanatically devoted… he already had enough guilt knowing his war to take his home back was slaughtering his own countrymen.
'So long as the citizens are spared,' he thought to himself.
Finally, he entered the familiar row of cells where he and Luka had been held that fateful night. Now they were full of other prisoners, nowhere near as empty as the cells had been the night he'd been taken in. People that Tonio felt threatened by, but for whatever reason couldn't bring himself to kill.
"How have they been treated?" Kaito asked curtly.
"We gave them simple rations if that's what you're asking," Sonika said, "We didn't have much for us, let alone for the prisoners. If you've brought anything for them-"
"I have," Kaito said, observing bruises on some of the prisoners. "Who did this? Who was striking them?!"
"I'm… I'm sorry," she said, "We got a lot of them already tortured like this. I told my soldiers to hold off, but the ones Tonio would bring in-"
Kaito clenched his fists at the cruelty on display. "I'm a coward," Sonika apologized, "None of us had the guts to resist them. We didn't want him blowing up Zweissen like he did to Saint-Urbain."
"You know the truth then?" Kaito said.
"Frankly… none of us would have been surprised."
In the last cell, a familiar face jumped out to Kaito as he rushed to the bars. "Lord Mayor, Kiyoteru!"
On hearing his name, the brunette man groaned and turned his head up to Kaito. One of his eyes was blacked from a beating, and he looked like he'd lost a great deal of weight. But his soft smile tipped Kaito off that the man was still sane. "The Prince has finally arrived," he said.
"Get him out first! That's the Lord Mayor of Liesenfall!"
Grasping the key ring, Kaito unlocked the door with speed and held out his hand, allowing the older man to take it and prop himself up. Despite his apparent weakness, Kiyoteru's grip was still strong as he grasped Kaito's hand.
"They did this to you because of me, didn't they?" he said sadly.
Kiyoteru laughed lightly. "Don't worry, I didn't turn on you. I bought a lot of time in Liesenfall before they realized you were out in the Rhune already."
From his miserable condition, Kaito sensed that the Lord Mayor had paid dearly for his unfaltering loyalty.
"What about Yuki!? Where is she?!"
"Safe. I placed her with relatives before I was arrested. They left her alone, as far as I know… assuming the Godmothers didn't return their interest in her."
Kaito turned back to his own soldiers. "Start releasing the rest of them and get the word out to Gakupo that we have injured in here. And see if we can't get some proper meals for them."
He glanced over to Sonika. "I'll give you the same choice I gave everyone else. Surrender to me and your treason will be forgiven. Because you've worked with me so far, I'm willing to let you go assuming you haven't committed any crimes against the prisoners in here."
The commander's eyes widened at Kaito's proposal. "Any other leader would have executed me! Why are you doing this?!"
"Things are different now," Kaito said matter-of-factly, "Estmarch is no longer to be a kingdom where the strong prey on the weak."
"Gakupo, we've got more patients coming in!" Rin shouted, "Get ready!"
"Excellent!" the doctor shouted, surprisingly cheerful given his surgery, "I've just finished a round, the surgery is prepared!"
Not that he needed any kind of warning in the mobile surgery. Where in the past Rin might have to awaken the doctor from an incredibly deep slumber, since the war started, she was often finding herself forcing the man to actually stop and sleep. The challenge of saving as many lives as possible was close to breaking him, Rin feared.
She just wished she could get him to stop blaming himself for the losses. He was used to patients that survived. He hadn't had to work on people torn apart by bullets and artillery fire…
The Prince had tried to direct his armies to minimalize casualties – after all, they were fighting his own people. But he'd learned through harsh experience that he was still fighting a war. And plenty of people were willing to die rather than allow him to rule them.
There was no such thing as a bloodless war.
When the fighting was at its most intense, Rin would join the triage medics and try to evacuate as many people off the field as possible. She found her old Cinderella training coming into play more than once to this benefit – she was adept at slipping through a gunfight and snatching up the people who were hurt without taking any fire herself. And if she had to face an attack… she knew how to fight back.
As for Gakupo, he'd stay back in the surgery unit and stitch up as many people who came back there as possible. He hadn't had to take a life on his own yet.
And Rin made sure that wouldn't happen. Even if Gakupo believed himself a coward for his beliefs… she understood the value of trying to keep his hands clean.
To Rin, Gakupo's way wasn't cowardice. It was a deep conviction that formed the core of his personality. A man pushed to join the war machine, he rejected it for the pursuit of life.
It wasn't his fault he'd been born into a world set on violence.
The first of the patients began to roll in, Rin quickly assessing their conditions to decide who needed help first. Essentially, deciding who was closest to death and pushing them ahead.
Thank goodness it wasn't just her and Gakupo.
Once Westheim's forces had committed to aiding the campaign in Estmarch, that gave the Prince access to some of the finest doctors on the continent. She'd marveled at the advancements in technique they'd developed in a country free of constant war. Meanwhile, Gakupo's intense training on delivering medical care in combat gave him an advantage in directing an entire group of people fresh on medical skills but new to providing care in a war.
But even as he tried to blow off the toll of his work on his body, Rin detected the telltale signs of fatigue creeping into Gakupo's mannerisms as they took on the next patient. Dark circles hung under his eyes, even as his surgical knife stayed steady and true. He may have trained to be a combat medic, but the tolls of war seemed to be exceptionally harsh on him.
He also never spoke of Luka since the night she left. This was even more unusual. Gakupo had always enjoyed flirting with cute girls in the past, and Rin would hear about each one for some time. Now he'd fallen for Luka, and… he didn't want to talk about her.
'He must have been really serious this time,' she thought to herself.
Miku sat on the hood of her stolen car, watching as the Estmarch flag was hoisted over the last walls of Zweissen. Kaito had won.
Now she was confident that he would survive long enough for her to finish the task she'd set out to do. The people she was fighting for needed her just a little longer before she could finally rest.
'Next he'll likely march through Liesenfall… but there aren't any Cinderellas out there. The intel I picked off of Akiko shows she was getting orders from within Vedunia.'
The connections the Grand Godmother needed indicated to Miku that her target had to be nobility of some sort. Close enough to the King and Queen to earn their paranoid trust, but not a regular guest of the palace or Kaito would know her. Someone well known to the public, hence the need for masks and the need to use Tonio as a scapegoat.
Eliminating Cinderellas was getting her closer and closer though. Even if they didn't know her, some scrap of orders or information would start to show a pattern.
What worried her was that it felt like they were hunting her. They weren't just trying to stop Kaito – they were trying to capture her.
'The Vedunia clocktower. Midnight.'
She looked over the scribbled intel more carefully. It always came back to the fairy tale, didn't it? Cinderellas, taken by Godmothers, awaiting the magic to fade at the appointed hour.
'Why are they so obsessed with this story?' Miku thought to herself.
It seemed a strange way to theme their organization of deadly assassins.
'Kaito was obsessed with it too though, wasn't he? Especially being Prince Charming…'
And his mother apparently had the same fixation.
'No… it can't be…'
The odd thread connecting Miku and Kaito seemed far more intentional. The Godmothers, the Cinderellas, a prince kept pure hearted and hidden away… a search for a girl that met the fairy tale description complete with a careful molding of her mind and spirit to make her as close of a match as possible…
'… I know I'm close to her. I'll find out for certain… when I meet her. The Grand Godmother.'
Miku gave one more longing glance at the flag, wondering if Kaito was staring at the same flag as she, before she grabbed the crank to start up her car and leave once more…
The door to the interrogation chamber slammed shut as Len made his grand entrance. "Well, well, well! The tables have turned, haven't they?!"
Len couldn't help but smirk at the sight of his former partner in crime, bound up in handcuffs. "Hmph… I should have known you were involved," she grumbled.
He heard the snap of a camera going off and couldn't believe Gumi had found something entertaining enough out of Len just confronting Akiko. "Glad you had a spare moment, Len," Meiko said, never once moving her eyes off the captured Cinderella, "Not that her friends have been much help, but you actually know her. Maybe she'll say something to you."
Akiko silently glared daggers at her interrogators. "You know, if it were me that found her, I would have let her dangle a little longer," Len said cheekily, "But then again, she did try to pin one of her murders on me."
"… I should have guessed," Akiko murmured, "You and the true Cinderella have been working together. She strikes out ahead of you to clear a path and you sweep up the remains. Otherwise I would have had him… he was right in my crosshairs…!"
Of course by now Len knew Akiko was just one of many Cinderellas. Cinderellas left for them. If Kaito had thought Miku had gone into hiding, she'd clearly done quite the opposite. Every time they stormed another city or base, they'd gotten used to finding a subdued Cinderella somewhere obvious. Like a wrapped present.
Not that Len wanted to let Miku's separation out. So far being captured by the Prince and realizing the depths of their failure took the fight out of the Cinderellas they would find. Kaito amassing an ever-greater group of war prisoners gathered from the Fairy Godmothers.
But Len refused to take a chance on letting any intel slip to them, lest one of them get enough confidence back to break out and report to their leadership.
"You think you're so much better than me, Len? We're both guilty of wretched crimes in the name of the Duke. And you can't honestly tell me he didn't deserve what was coming to him."
Len winced a moment – she was right. 'Thank the Lord above I came clean first,' Len thought to himself, 'Kaito pardoned me but…'
Even though he was enjoying teasing her, deep down Len knew Akiko had a story somewhere. Something that had drawn her to being broken and rebuilt by the Godmothers. Kaito saw every one of these women as victims, and Len understood that to be true as well.
'Even so… they can still be dangerous… Kaito can't keep underestimating them…'
"… there's only one person we're interested in right now. I'm sure my associates already asked about her."
For all the Cinderellas they'd taken in, for all of the intelligence he, Meiko, and Gumi had gathered, one person continued to elude them. The Grand Godmother. A face, a name, a plan. A phantom whose presence they felt at every turn.
Akiko fell silent once again. "You had to know her, Akiko… Duke Ueki was important to them. He ran everything in the Rhune for her. Even if he never met her, surely you had."
The silence became so potent that Len could just barely hear the small and swift clicking of Gumi's miniature camera.
Kaito chased the girl in white as she fled through the immaculate splendor of the palace. "Cinderella!" he cried out, "What have I done wrong?! Why won't you stay with me?! Please!"
But all he could make out of her were her flapping pigtails and sweeping skirts, the sound of her glass slippers stomping into the floor. He saw a wall of fire and screamed out one more time. "Cinderella, please! You'll be nothing more than ashes! Let me protect you!"
But she didn't even hesitate. To his horror, he saw her leap into the flames, turning to ashes and leaving only a single glass slipper behind…
Kaito gasped as the nightmare left him, his mind adjusting to wakefulness as the sight of his bedroom returned.
Another night, another dream of Miku's death. 'An omen?' he worried, 'No… she has to still be alive, Akiko fought her when we took the Rhune…'
His eyes darted to the glass slipper on the bedstand next to him. Miku's token.
Carried far from Vedunia… now he was bringing it back once more.
He was in the former Duke Ueki's manor. The very same room he'd shared with Miku in his initial flight. His forces had commandeered the manor for planning and intelligence purposes. Kaito wanted to stay up planning, but Commander Lily insisted he sleep in a real bed for once.
The march to Vedunia would not get any easier.
He glanced over to the chaise lounge, and he could still remember the sight of Miku resting on it. His hand moved to his old knife wound. He was past the point of worrying about tearing it open again, the sharp pains now a dull ache if it was bumped or leaned on.
'Miku… I can't escape our memories, can I?'
Everyone thought him so brave and true, leading armies as he claimed more and more of his rightful lands. Unwavering in his dedication to his country and strong of heart and will.
But every night Kaito would see Miku consumed by fire as he watched helpless and he would awaken filled with regret and doubt.
He yearned for her. Whether she understood it or not, Miku centered him. Her trust, her presence, her devotion… all traits that preserved him as his entire life crumbled around him.
He wanted her by his side again, bolstering his will. He wanted her in his bed again, assuring him that he wasn't alone.
Once more he drew out the memories of their last night together, of the heated passion they shared. How much he loved her and what she meant to him.
In these private moments, the Prince sometimes felt he would collapse inward again. Into the fear of the future, of the monumental task ahead of him. Assuming he claimed his throne once more in Vedunia, how would he rebuild his shattered kingdom? His subjects had so hated his family many willingly joined the Dawn to revolt against him. Would they ever accept a king again? How would he oversee the safe surrender of the lands he'd promised to return, and how would he ensure they felt no hardship?
How would he rule them for the rest of his life and expect their wills to bind to his?
Kaito tossed on a robe and left the room – he was far too restless now. A walk would clear his head. 'Too bad there isn't a lake or pond around…' he thought to himself. Skipping stones would have been nice.
He wandered the halls of the manor. The familiar sounds of planning and strategizing were silent – after the successful taking of such a large region, it was no wonder. The transfer had gone over surprisingly painlessly… because General Tonio had already started to pull his remaining forces back. Kaito hoped that meant even Liesenfall would be spared. But he knew these were not proper signs of surrender – the General was clearly planning his final stand in Vedunia.
'No doubt he's plotting something… they spotted the Fantasie on the move again. We've got anti-airship weapons if it comes towards us, but it's likely going to fortify Vedunia…'
To return home would require him to fight for it. For whatever was still left.
He could focus when he was in front of his army. He'd waited all of his life to be a king, and now that the moment was at hand to finally act like one, he found leading them came naturally. They invested all of their hopes in his promises, and as heavy as that burden felt, he wanted to make everything right.
He heard shuffling in the manor. At first he thought it might be one of his higher-ups seeking him out, but as he made his way into a kitchen, Kaito was surprised to see Gakupo slumped over a table. 'He wasn't… drinking again was he?'
Kaito approached him with care. He didn't see any signs of alcohol or inebriation. The doctor seemed to stir when Kaito approached close enough, leaning over to him to reveal the dark circles under his eyes. "Gakupo… are you all right?"
The doctor blew a loose strand of hair out of his face. "Rin made me come back and sleep. Insisted I come here so I'd be out of the hospital and not working."
Indeed, despite Kaito having heard of Gakupo's legendary nap-taking skills, he'd found ever since the war started that he barely slept at all. "She's not wrong. You're a surgeon, you need to take care of your health. People's lives depend on you."
Gakupo laughed. "You sound like her now!"
He propped his weary head up on his hands. "But surely the Crown Prince of Estmarch should have the same priorities?"
Kaito began to root through the former Duke's kitchen for a glass. "I just… I just came down for some water so I could get back to sleep."
"Because of Miku?"
For a moment Kaito saw Miku burned to ash, causing him to hesitate as he grabbed the cupboard handle. "I promise it's not distracting me from my duties," he said, trying to qualify his concerns, "But we were… very close. It's difficult not to worry for her when I know who she's been fighting. Who she's still fighting. Every one of them we capture only confirms she's still alive, not what her goals are…"
"Well, at least you've some idea of what happened to her. Luka's gone completely quiet."
Gakupo's tone was even, but his intent was clear to Kaito – he wasn't the only one fighting back the fear and uncertainty over a loved one right now. The prince hadn't want to press the doctor on the circumstances of his relationship to the former assassin – they had their own lives after all. But still, Kaito wondered how that closeness had formed between them…
The doctor looked apologetic. "Sorry… that came out rude, didn't it?"
The doctor ran his fingers along his tired eyes. "I'm trying to say that we have something in common. I understand."
He didn't want to confess his weakness like this - he didn't really know Gakupo as well as he'd like. He knew what the man's personality was like but even the weeks spent working together, it was in the field of war. Not a place to truly learn about a companion. And the doctor could be surprisingly evasive about himself.
But he already knew of Kaito's sorrow… he was there after all… what would it hurt?
"Why did you come this far? You abandoned everything you knew just to save a single patient. You didn't know Miku or I and…"
"Heh, I've wondered that myself. It just seemed natural though."
Gakupo's eyes met the Prince's as he slipped his fingers back away from his face. "I suppose I really should have had some kind of a plan! But… well, a patient turns up in the middle of the night, and there was no other choice for me, was there? I'm a surgeon, I can save lives… why wouldn't I save this one?"
"Is that… really all? You just want to save lives?"
Kaito was having trouble comprehending such a pure purpose. "Really, maybe it was fate," Gakupo said with a hint of reflection, "My life collided with the Godmothers before after all… I had a perfect trajectory to become a respected, wealthy surgeon to the upper crust. I even had the opportunity to treat your mother, once! A simple bout of appendicitis, but I suppose the academy had a great deal of faith in me to risk their reputation on a man that had barely established himself."
"Really?! I… I had no idea…" Kaito certainly recalled that night of surgery. After seeing her in such pain, the young prince had wanted to be at his mother's side to assure himself she would live. But naturally she'd been moved outside of the castle… outside of his "prison"… where all he could do was wait, trying to soothe his myriad fears.
The doctor let out a joyful laugh. "And that might well have been fate as well! I met dear Rin that very night… and well, it wouldn't have been right to turn a child, let alone a patient of mine, out onto the streets! So… perhaps…"
He looked to Kaito with a strange regard for him. "Well, dropping my entire life and starting over in a matter of hours isn't really new to me anymore. Every time, it's only opened my mind to what more I could be doing… to force me to question everything that I hold dear…"
'Right… even as he aids my soldiers in the theater of war… he still maintains his pacifism. He won't even carry a gun onto the battlefield.'
Now Kaito found himself in awe of Gakupo's strength. He was just one man, without a grand design for his life. As if to him, picking up a scalpel was no different than a priest putting on his collar… his "church" was his surgery, his beliefs as inviolable as scripture.
Their conversation was interrupted by the appearance of one of the nurses from the camp. "Oh! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"
Gakupo straightened up at once. "Another emergency? Let me get my scrubs and –"
"For once, it's not," she said softly, "Miss Rin is holding down the fort in our medical camp, but there was a boy in the camp looking for you. He wanted to give you a package."
"For… me?"
Gakupo looked flummoxed. "Was he a child of one of our soldiers or –"
The nurse placed the package on the table. "He said his name was Ryuto, and he said… well, it was strange, but he said you'd know what to do when you got this. He told me that a red-haired courier passed it on to him, and it was from a woman named Leia..."
To Kaito's confusion, Gakupo immediately grabbed the package and tore the paper off. Something about the name 'Leia' seemed to change his demeanor entirely.
Resting in the remains was an aged tome with flowers on the front. Gakupo began to thumb through it like he was reading some kind of ancient codex. "Gakupo, who's Leia?" Kaito asked.
"That was Luka's name when she was working undercover," he said bluntly, "This is from her. She's not so sentimental that she'd waste time on just giving me presents. She was risking her life to make sure I got this. That we got this."
Now Kaito's attention was focused… what had she passed along? But all of a sudden Gakupo found some documents tucked near the center of the volume. He pulled them out and looked them over curiously, before passing them to Kaito.
"I think… Luka made a breakthrough."
Kaito quickly scanned the documents and caught sight of a photograph. A silver-haired woman… and then he found the notes written on the back.
"Where's Meiko and Gumi?!" he said in a hurry, "We need to show them this! We might finally have something!"
He looked back to Gakupo and saw him oddly smiling as his fingers rested on the pages. "She… she stuck them in a recipe for macarons…" he said wistfully.
Kaito rushed upstairs to get changed, leaving the doctor to his eccentricities. If he was right – if this was what he'd hoped it was – then he might finally be getting the upper hand.
At the center of everything was the elusive Grand Godmother. The one person Kaito couldn't find. The one nobody could find.
Every Cinderella interrogated knew nothing about her. Her name, her face, her motivations. And yet somehow she knew everything about him.
But now he had a lead. Sent by one of her formerly loyal soldiers.
Meiko dragged her cigarette in frustration as she sat along a stone bench walls in the open air, her red coat and scarf spread out around her. Right now she and Gumi were taking a much needed break. Len was visiting his sister in the medical camp. And Akiko was back in the cells under constant watch.
Meiko had made a promise to Kaito to find this Godmother, her way, and no matter how much they found they never seemed any closer to her. Somehow, there was one woman in all of Uralia who had managed to erase herself from existence.
'Every time we get close to her, we learn she's already struck down another lead. Whoever her conspirators were, she made sure they wouldn't survive long enough to call her out! But she can't stay hidden forever. She's still pulling the strings from somewhere, and there's less and less of Estmarch for her to hide in.'
She felt a comforting presence as Gumi settled into the bench at her side, leaning into her shoulders for warmth.
Gumi wasn't someone who expressed herself easily through words. Meiko learned that early in their working relationship and extended it into their personal relationship as well. The photographer could be very particular about a lot of things.
She wasn't a typical woman.
And that was what Meiko loved about her.
She leaned over and lightly brushed her partner's cheek, slipping an arm around her in a comforting hug. "… when the world's falling apart like this," Meiko confessed, "I'm glad you're here. You're the only thing that ever makes sense."
She caught the corners of an adorable smile on the green-haired woman's face. Gumi's unguarded smiles were rare… which made them feel even more precious.
Gumi parting with any amount of her work for a stranger was unheard of, yet in the aftermath of Miku's departure, the photographer had chosen of her own volition to give Kaito the critical photos of his assassination attempt. Even Meiko had been surprised at first, but later, the photographer had confessed a deep truth to her.
That she understood how potent and precious such love was, and she would do everything in her power to protect it. Even after so long of being together, Gumi could still find ways to make Meiko's heart flutter like a school girl's first crush.
For just a moment, Meiko closed her eyes and imagined a glimpse of their life when this was over. She couldn't go back to the stage yet – not after all the lives she'd taken. Not after watching so many die.
She met Lady Daina Rottfuchs in Westheim shortly after her arrival there. Dex's passing had been marked only by the absence of any sound… but now along with being haunted by his cold dead stare, Meiko would never forget the horrible wail that erupted from his heartbroken fiancé as she returned his token to her.
How was she ever to sing like she used to again?
"Gumi…" she said absentmindedly, "Is there anywhere in this whole world you think you'd want to go? When this is over, I mean."
The photographer stayed silent for several moments. "Wherever you're singing… is where I want to go."
Meiko blushed at such a passionate statement.
Could she sing?
'Maybe… if it was just for Gumi right now… ah, I could never deprive Gumi of song…'
She leaned in and lightly kissed her. "That gives us a lot of options," she whispered to her, "I'll put together a list of places with the best scenery… because if I'm going to sing for you, I must insist that you take only the finest photos."
The sound of harried footsteps and a bouncing flashlight beam drew Meiko out of her brief interlude. She leaned up and saw Kaito's approach, even as she stayed entwined with Gumi. "What happened?" she asked cautiously.
"Meiko… we think we found her. Can you get Akiko back out?" Kaito asked.
Work called. "Of course we can, your Highness," she said calmly. She gave Gumi's hand a squeeze and the two returned to business. "While we send for her, you should probably get Len back here too if it's about…"
"I've already called him. He and Rin are on the way," Kaito confirmed to Meiko's surprise. "And I must request that you retrieve whatever photos you still have the night of the ball…" Kaito started to say.
Gumi immediately produced them from the handbag at her side. "As if I would ever chance something this important leaving my sight."
The red-headed girl shook as she stared at the photographs. Even as she wouldn't speak, she seemed to shudder in place at the mere visage of the white-haired woman.
"Akiko… she's not going to protect you," Len said sharply, "Ask Luka. You already failed by being caught. If you know her…"
He glanced back out of the room, at the wall of glass. "You may as well tell us so we can stop her."
He stared back to the woman in the photo. If they were right about everything, he finally had a face to put to the person that shattered his family and destroyed himself and Rin.
"…she kills anyone who knows too much," Akiko whispered, "She… she already killed my parents when they started closing in on her. My brothers too, just to make a point… I went from a large family to nothing at all. And then I was elevated into her Cinderellas."
She clutched hard at her sides and Len couldn't believe he was seeing the same collected maid he'd known. 'But is it sincere?' he thought to himself, 'I know she's a good actress…'
"I only saw her once," Akiko continued, tossing a glance at the photo. "I was only 13. She gave no indication of her name or importance. She blended in so well I thought she was just another trainer until she started asking so many strange questions. She wanted to know everything about my history. She kept talking about fairy tales and Prince Charming, but I wanted none of that, I just wanted my family back…"
She scowled a moment. "I figured out quickly that this wasn't someone to cross. The Duke was asking for it when he tried to double-deal with them."
"Yea, I know… but… is this woman the grand godmother?" Len pressed. Akiko's uncharacteristic rambling was starting to unnerve him. He wasn't a hardened interrogator, but he was handling this because he was the only person that knew her.
Akiko nervously started to dig her fingernails into her elbows. "I don't know for sure," she whispered, "Even that name could be a fake. But… right before I met with her… I'd done my poison training and I remember my mind being hazy. It was as if I couldn't resist anything that was asked. And it was so hard to really remember her… until now. When she's staring me in the face. Who else would be that worried?"
Len hoped Rin was holding up okay on the other side of the two-way mirror. He loathed that either of them had to be a part of this process, but both twins understood the value of potentially ending the war and saving countless lives. But imagining his poor drugged sister pouring out everything inside of her for this woman's scheming…
Kaito watched Rin shaking in place on the other side of the two way mirror with him. He hadn't wanted to include the poor girl in this, but it was critical that she be present – her memories, whatever she still had, were too valuable as the only former Cinderella still in his employ. 'Akiko… how she got here is so different but…'
Rin wiped her eyes and tried to regain her sense of calm. "I'm certain… I met her too… just like Akiko did. She didn't come to the house with me, so Len never saw her. And I remember the haze too…"
Kaito tried to contain his anger but his clenched fists shook. "And I remember… it was weird, but I keep remembering something about Prince Charming…" Rin continued, "If that helps. But she said I was still too young. That I had to be a dove that struck at Cinderella's enemies first."
"…why is that damn fairy tale chasing me everywhere I look?" Kaito said through clenched teeth, "What does it mean to her?!"
It seemed as if from the moment he was born he was being shaped into something out of a story, the world being molded around him to fit.
"AH! Kaito, we found it!"
He was distracted as Gumi bolted up from a table covered in photos, flapping around one with a level of excitement he'd yet to see from her. "I took pictures of all the nobles that night, but we couldn't identify this one. It's obvious she didn't want to be known. But she still stole a moment away with the Queen and… there she is…"
The composition of the photograph was unusually odd for Gumi – at first it seemed as if she'd messed up taking a picture of Meiko, as the shapely singer was almost cropped out. But then Kaito spotted her – the white-haired woman in the back with his mother.
"I didn't see her all night…" Kaito murmured, "And she was watching me. The whole time."
Behind a mask of white.
He tried to better recall the evening he'd had, but everything that night had been so carefully planned – and of course now he had the hindsight to know why. When Meiko was on the floor, she was all Kaito would pay attention to. When Tonio brought Miku his way, he never wanted to stop speaking to her.
"I was completely oblivious…" he said, feeling that long ago sense of anger at being so easily manipulated rising up.
"Your Highness, I wouldn't take it personally," Meiko added, "Even though Gumi and I figured the timing of such a high-profile event on the eve of a Nordland invasion was important, we never suspected an assassination attempt. You wouldn't have expected anything because you had no reason to believe your life was in danger."
"Are there any more?" he asked hopefully.
Gumi looked disappointed. "I… I spent the rest of the night trying to follow you and Miku around. We didn't understand why a woman none of us had ever heard of would be dancing with you and figured it had to be important."
Even so, now they had *two* photos of this mysterious Miriam, a person that wanted her entire presence erased.
"When Len's done with her, he said he knows where Ueki kept most of his files on everyone," Meiko said confidently, "You know, the good stuff. Assuming Akiko didn't destroy all of it. But if Akiko didn't know who her bosses were, there's a good chance she missed something even if she did make a sweep. We were going to go through it all anyway but now that we have a person of interest, we can zero in on the good stuff."
Kaito glanced back into the interrogation room somberly. "Luka has granted us such a great boon…" he said, "I only wish she were present so I could thank her."
Gumi shifted nervously. "I just… I hope she comes back alive."
"My life is forfeit…" Akiko said, barely above a whisper, "She'll find a way… she always finds a way… you're all going to die. She's had to have found whoever sent you that photo and if she's not already dead, she will be…"
"No, it won't," Len growled harshly, "Luka's stronger than that. She's already unmasked you!"
He couldn't believe he was standing up for the harsh assassin, but her actions were unmistakable. Whatever was going through her head now, she was utterly merciless in tearing away the shroud the Godmothers used to cover themselves.
Akiko's fear began to dissipate as a touch of her cockiness returned. "Mph. Luka. I should have guessed – Miku can't be in two places at once."
A wretched smirk spread across the girl's face. "You lot are only taking down pawns. The weakest pieces on the board. She still has stronger pieces in play to protect her. She knows us better than we know ourselves."
Akiko began to twitch oddly and Len had half a second to react to realizing somehow she'd snuck a knife into the prison before she was pouncing on him. The blade drove into the ground next to his face as he was slammed to the floor – a near miss.
And then the mirror practically exploded as a chair flew through the glass, sending the shards across the room. Before Akiko had any time to get a second stab in at Len, Rin had joined the fray, wrestling with the frantic Cinderella.
"None of this matters!" she shouted, "You're not going to stop her! We're all going to die!"
"Nobody is dying here tonight! I'm not going to let anymore of you die on my watch!" Rin shouted.
Drops of blood landed on Len's shirt and he panicked that Rin had been hurt… until he saw the blood running down Akiko's arms. "Rin! She slit her wrists!"
The girl began to slump quickly. "It's done… it's all done… I was the last one that didn't die, so now I'll join them…"
Even as Rin switched from her latent Cinderella training to her present nurse's training, starting to quickly bandage Akiko's arms to reduce her blood loss, Len was chilled by the smile on her face.
"She always has her revenge…"
The train to Vedunia barreled forward in the darkness. Rail service in Estmarch was still chaotic – the Dawn largely controlled the actual trains so far and had detonated the railways between the Rhune and Liesenfall to try and slow their progress, but now it served as little more than troop transport. Which for now was one-way.
Luka carefully stayed attached to the exterior of one of the cars as she made her way towards her next target. Liesenfall would no doubt be the next city on the Prince's route to liberate the country. She just had to make sure she dealt with the Godmother on board this train and the last line of sight would be severed.
"Cendrillon's Dove" was performing her duty.
The woman on this train was a Countess of Belgica that secretly worked as a mole for the Crown to help them in taking her own nation. An obvious target for conversion to the Godmothers. Luka could remember her as the source of several of her earlier missions, sending her out to kill what turned out to be political rivals.
And now it was her turn to be silenced.
So far Luka had been able to accomplish her task with a minimum of bloodshed. Making sure the people she captured "disappeared" to faraway places or wound up in the hands of the oncoming liberation forces. But she couldn't always ensure it went so peacefully…
She didn't used to have qualms taking lives, and she knew she shouldn't now given the state of warfare they were in. But now she found herself considering it a failure of tactics if she couldn't find a way to end things without the target's death.
Even if they were her own tormentors.
She approached the target car and quietly pried open the top escape hatch. She peeked inside with care and counted out the visible guards. She couldn't make out where the Countess was seated. 'Merde. I'll have to go in blind… there's no time to regroup.'
They didn't stand a chance against her swift assault. She'd had plenty of time to adjust for her vision impairment.
But in the scuffle of taking out the soldiers, Luka knew she'd given away her surprise. "Countess Tremaine, the Dove has come for you!" she called out.
Luka began to sweep through the train car, worried that her target had eluded her... but then the telltale steps of a Cendrillon behind her sent her into high alert. She effortlessly dodged the thrust of a knife as a girl with white pigtails charged her, pushing the girl back and taking a swipe with her own weapon as a warning. The pigtailed girl landed in front of her, taking an aggressive pose but wearing an amused smile on her face.
"Hee… you really are too simple…"
Luka straightened up, observing the gold eyes of her foe. "And who are you supposed to be?" Luka said gruffly.
The girl politely curtsied. "Je suis Stardust," she said, for a moment slipping into Luka's Sudlandian tongue, "You should have let me just stab you, you know. It would have been quicker."
At that moment Luka noticed the telltale puddle of blood spreading along the carpet and saw the body of her target laid out on the floor, her throat slashed. 'Cleaning up loose ends…' she thought to herself.
A strange calm settled inside of her as she realized how easy she had been to lure. "I must have really upset the Grand Godmother if she sent someone just for me," Luka asked Stardust confidently, "You expect to defeat me in a fair fight?"
"Not really. But an unfair fight? I'm fairly confident I can win that."
Luka became aware of a screeching sound on the train tracks and a jolt so strong she was flung to the floor. She found herself being smashed into the seating as the car derailed, rolling off the tracks. 'They're putting their own soldiers at risk just to kill me?!'
"Adieu, my 'Dove!'" Stardust shouted as she leapt from an open window. Luka could smell the familiar stench of propane gas… and had just seconds to see Stardust had left a lit Molotov cocktail behind…
She had one chance to survive as she reached into the pack strapped to her thigh, just as the flames raced toward her…
Stardust watched the train car roll away as the fiery explosion began to consume it. She watched and waited for several moments – she couldn't count Luka dead until she'd found a body.
She started to approach the wreckage of the train, maneuvering through the many cars that had crashed in the wake of her plan. She heard nothing in them – as expected. She'd been careful to trap Luka in a section of the train away from the troops, taking care to ensure the cars were decoupled on her signal to prevent the part of the train with their allies in it from derailing. A minimal loss of life, and she even got to kill a Countess who'd made the mistake of letting it slip that she was planning to defect.
The lost supplies could be recovered.
She saw a body tumble out of one of the windows and into the grass. Stardust approached it with care, but smirked as she saw the telltale pink hair. Luka's skin was relatively free of burns, but then Stardust noticed a long bloody gash along the front of her shirt.
She kept her grip on her weapons as she checked for signs of life.
No pulse.
'Hee… no kill like overkill...'
Stardust picked up the bloody body and slung it along her shoulders. Her leadership would never believe Luka dead until they could see it with their own eyes.
An empty vial rested in the grass behind her…
The flames beckoned her forward. If she could just dive into them, she would never be alone again. Never to suffer. She wanted this, more than anything in the world, as she leapt forward and gave herself to become ash.
Miku shuddered as the shock left her. Why was this happening now?! She was so close to Vedunia!
But ever since she'd started to recover her own truths, somehow the intensity of her grief-stricken flashbacks only seemed to grow. To the point that she feared being seized by one of them at a critical moment…
'Please not now… not when I'm this close to her...'
She stared up the walls of Vedunia, going over her breaching strategy one last time. She just had to get in and reach the clocktower by midnight… and everything would end.
The war would end.
The Godmothers would disband.
Kaito would be safe.
Kaito tried to settle into sleep once more, but the image of the white-haired woman never left him. It was as if now that he had her face in his mind, he could imagine her always watching him.
Waiting.
But now he had just one advantage. He knew her name and her knew her face. And he was certain he knew where she would be waiting for him.
"Vedunia…" he whispered.
They would be there soon enough, once they marched through and liberated Liesenfall along the way.
Once in Vedunia… everything would end quickly. He would find Tonio and take him into custody along with the Grand Godmother pulling his strings.
The war would end.
The Godmothers would disband.
Miku would be safe.
Miriam listened to the resonation of the bells marking the ten o'clock hour. Two more hours left.
Miku was never late.
She didn't expect her to be now.
"It's been far too long coming," she murmured to herself, relaxing in her chair. "But I knew… the day I met Miku I knew… she would be the one to end it. And now… she's returning to me to play that part once more."
"The Ash Maiden I waited a lifetime to meet."
The war would end.
The Godmothers would rebuild.
Kaito would be dead.
A/N:
Well this has been… a year. A rough job, lots of overtime, health problems, losing a job, moving out of the country to an uncertain future, and all the insanity that brings with it.
So first off, don't get your hopes too high that weekly updates are back – I hate to put up a chapter without promising the next will follow immediately after, but I figured I've had this chapter done for a month, Cendrillon crossed it's 10 year anniversary in September, and it's been a year since the last new update. You guys deserve something, even if it's more of a dollop.
I will also add that my decision was nudged by the realization that the promised final three chapters actually had more complexity than I expected, and I've accepted that they will, in fact, likely be four chapters instead. So here is one of four! And frankly, normally I'd trim the word count more efficiently but I say, after a year with no updates, it's okay to have one super duper long chapter!
That of course ends on your friend and mine – the cliffhanger. I actually feel bad that Miku isn't as sharply in focus given the absence but moving all of the final pieces into play required someone to get short shrift. And she did have a LOT of the focus in Chapter 16, right?!
So once again, thank you to those that have stuck this out for so long. I hope it won't be that long before the story is completed, but as the end of the year is going to be intensely busy, there's a high chance the story won't complete before the end of the year. I hope this little dollop of story at least holds your interest a little bit longer.