As the days progressed, the Mistress found herself thinking back to when the Warden was still alive. She often escaped into these memories when the confines of her work as world dictator would threaten to become too cumbersome to bear. She knew that such a coping mechanism was counter-productive to her day-to-day life, but then she supposed that old habits died hard. She would have dreams about him, dreams where she would revisit her extended stay at Superjail and how they fell in love during that period of time, dreams where they built a life together, dreams that fed off of her nostalgia and cycled through her head in an infinite loop. Almost every time, she would wake up, an aching sense of regret and wistfulness nagging at her from within. She knew she had to do something about these dreams, but what? What exactly was she meant to do? Double down on the work asked of her? That was just begging for her to go onto the self-destructive path of circular reasoning.

No matter. As long as she had family and friends she could count on to support her, she knew that she had no reason to dwell too much on the past or the future. What mattered now was the present.

It was almost exactly one month to the day that Warden had unexpectedly died. She'd already reflected on how ironic his death was for someone like him. Now came the question of how she was meant to spend this day. She had plenty of work to do in managing cosmopolitan affairs, but which tasks took up the most priority right now? First up was something she'd wanted to do for the longest time, but kept putting off due to her perfectionism: talk to the new Japanese empress on how she was adjusting to her political position after the previous empress's assassination. There was a lot more to it than that. She was also hoping to use her connections to fast-track the adoption process so Dorian and Junko could formally adopt her as their own.

So Mistress decided to get up during morning twilight and prepare to head out to what was once called the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in order to take a plane from Washington D.C. to Paris. She made her way inside right near the entrance of Terminal 1 and just walked right in. She didn't see many people around her, but then that was just typical of business for the airport these days. Aside from people with a high status (that is to say, people like the Mistress and her family), not many people had the chance to use it and the airlines that were available; whether they be people with a medium status (average citizens) or people with a low status (anybody who was considered an "undesirable"). Not many people meant that she had little to no reason to stress over whether she would make it to a flight on time. Not many people also meant she could hear herself process her thoughts as she navigated through the terminal. She looked around, scanning the area for any signs or information booths that could guide her to her destination before eventually spotting an information desk a few meters away.

"Perfect," she murmured to herself.

She quickly made her way towards the information desk, her spinner wheel luggage trailing right behind her. As she did so, a friendly airport ticketing agent greeted her with a warm smile.

"Hello, Respected Comrade Mistress, how may I assist you today?" the ticketing agent asked politely.

"Hello," Mistress replied. "I was hoping to get tickets for a flight to Paris. Are there any available right now?"

"Well, I'll have to check, but there might not be any available right now."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, Respected Comrade."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Like I said, I'll have to check." The ticketing agent stopped himself short of back-talking to their superior and started sweating instead when he saw she was giving him the death glare. "I'll have those tickets coming right up for you, Respected Comrade."

Mistress smiled at having gotten her way. "That's more like it."

After a moment of searching up tickets for his superior, the ticketing agent turned back to her with a smile. "I've found a flight departing in two hours. It's a direct flight to Paris and there's one seat that's available. Would that work for you?"

"That sounds great," Mistress replied. "I'll take it."

The ticketing agent swiftly processed her tickets and handed them over. "Here you go. The gate number will be displayed on the departure board when it's time for boarding. Enjoy your flight."

With her tickets in hand, Mistress thanked the ticketing agent and made her way towards the departure area.

It didn't take long for Mistress to board the plane and take her seat in first class. She was grateful for the upgrade and settled into her seat with a sigh. She closed her eyes and awaited the flight. She was still exhausted from forcing herself awake so early in the morning and decided to just try to sleep through the rest of the flight. At least then, she could perhaps prepare herself for a red-eye flight home. Just as well, she could also escape into her dreams as she was wont to do every day. They hadn't steered her wrong yet, so why start now?

It didn't exactly feel like it, but it took over seven and a half hours to fly from Washington D.C. all the way to Paris. Of course, Mistress had opted to sleep through it, not even waking up for breakfast. She supposed she'd have to take care of that and her other needs once she got off the plane. Eventually, when the plane had landed at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, she woke up and started to lift herself out of her seat.

"Did you enjoy the flight, Respected Comrade Mistress?" asked a flight attendant.

Mistress nodded. "Very much so."

"Good. Well, we've arrived in Paris. Enjoy your visit."

"Thank you. Good to see you're doing your job well."

With that, Mistress got off the plane and started heading inside the airport. She made her way to the baggage claim area and collected her luggage. She then made her way to a taxi stand and was soon on her way into the city of Paris. She couldn't wait to meet up with Dorian and Junko and get this adoption underway. But first, she needed to eat. She was famished.

So her first stop was at the ramen restaurant known as Menkicchi, which was located on 41 rue Sainte-Anne. This was extremely fortunate for her, given that Japanese cuisine was one of her all-time favorites. She decided to order the Miso Tonkotsu and some Castalie gaseous water for a total of fifteen euros while she was here. While she waited for her food, she decided to use that time to think about the future that lied ahead once Dorian and Junko had adopted her. She'd waited so long for someone, anyone, to come along and give her the kind of filial bond she deserved. She couldn't help but feel simultaneously anxious and excited about all of this. What if it fell through? Much as she felt compelled to, though, she didn't want to think about that possibility. She wanted to think about being adopted by two parents she felt had truly cared for her this late in her life. Her life was about to change forever, and she was ready to take that leap of faith. She was ready to start feeling like she truly belonged in a family.

Eventually, the waiter arrived with her food. Mistress was so eager to just eat already that she decided to dig in before the waiter had even gotten the chance to move on to another table. As she dug into her meal, she spotted someone out of her corner of her eye, someone who had managed to stand out amongst the other restaurant patrons.

She vaguely remembered hearing about him years and years ago, years before the Superjail War even. From what she'd understood, he went by the name of Lord Stingray, and he was one of the most fearsome supervillains the world had ever seen. Just by looking at him, she could kind of see why. He wore pointed armor that appeared to be black and gold with a blood-red cape that billowed all the way down to his feet. From what little she could see of him in the back, he was wearing a mask shaped in the silhouette of his namesake animal with the "tail" sticking up from his face. He appeared to be talking to a woman with ghostly pale skin, dark eyes, and dark hair shaped into a bob with bangs. She was wearing a black faux fur coat on top of a black jumpsuit with flared pants. Apparently, this woman's name was Mistress Killda, and she was Lord Stingray's wife.

Much as she wanted to eavesdrop on their apparent conversation, Mistress decided that her time would be better spent working on her meal instead. Besides that, she couldn't hear what they were talking about. Still, she couldn't help but get this strange gut feeling that it must've had to do with her (or perhaps her family). She hoped for her own sake that she was wrong.