Chapter Text
____ had no idea how long she’d been sitting there...
Three minutes... three hours... three days...
She didn't even remember the faces of the people who had left her in front of that old abandoned building. Only that they'd told her to wait... and that help would come soon. The people who would help her learn to control how she reacted when she was angry... when she was scared...
It wasn't like she could control it. She was still a kid, after all... But she still felt like she should know how to control it, judging by the way people reacted to it.
Confused...
Scared...
Disgusted.
Disgusted with the daughter they themselves had wanted in their lives. Only to throw her away when they decided she was defective and replace her with a new child of their own.
____ remembered sitting there with her back against the dirty wall of the building. Her arms were wrapped around her knees as she into her arm to stop the sounds of her sorrow.
It felt like it would go on for hours or days, with no one coming...
But then...
She heard heavy footsteps.
It wasn't unusual for people to walk around these shady parts of town, so she kept looking at the ground...
Until they stopped. Right in front of her...
"You're ____, right?"
A calm, deep voice came from above.
She looked up and nodded.
The man was just as soaked as she was, his face covered by the shadows of the hood he was wearing even as he crouched down to her level. But she could still see his clear blue eyes... and the long blond hair coming out from underneath his hood.
Even when combed, it seemed untameable...
Like hers...
He sat there in the rain, staring at her, before pulling something out of his jacket.
It seemed to be... bread?
She looked at it suspiciously, only taking it after the stranger pulled off a piece and ate it himself.
Quietly, she took it and bit into it.
It wasn't good... But at least it was edible. And it filled her stomach.
For now...
She remembered how he brought her to a warm home, where people welcomed her with open arms even after seeing how she expressed her anger and sorrow.
____ also remembered the last time she'd seen him...
It was a cold winter day in the Seven Waters. They both sat in front of her new home, looking out into the distance... at the dark blue water.
"Someday you will understand, ____," the older man said.
"Understand what?" she asked, frowning.
"Why you were abandoned that day."
"They didn't want me," she said simply.
She had long ago lost all the energy to direct her hatred toward those people...
Or maybe it was hatred she felt toward herself.
"They didn't know what to do with a kid they couldn't understand. They even gave up hope after the doctors told them I couldn't be fixed."
"I know..." he said quietly. "Just... whatever hate you feel toward them... and yourself... blame me for it."
____ frowned.
"Blame you? What? Why?"
She was confused.
How could she blame someone who had given her a home? Someone who had made her feel safe?
How could she blame him for the mistakes her parents had made?
"Because I knew. I knew it might happen again... just not that it would happen so soon."
The girl blinked in confusion.
"I should have been there earlier... to stop this from happening."
She didn't know what to say. The tall man quietly placed a hand on her head, like he always did when he was about to leave.
"Until you find out why... just blame me for whatever happened to you," he said softly before standing up and making his way to leave. "When will I see you again?" she asked, standing up and running after him.
The tall man turned. He seemed to think for a moment before answering.
"Soon... I hope. If not... find me."
The memory faded, just like the sound of the ocean, as she woke up...
She stared at her reflection in the mirror next to her closet. Her clear blue eyes were red from crying after the dream she'd just woken from.
The door of her cabin thumped loudly twice.
"Lami. Wake up. The pistons in the Water Train are making weird sounds again."
The rough voice of a woman came from the other side of the door.
She sighed and began getting ready for her shift on the train.
She looked in the mirror again, studying the same messy blond hair she remembered from the stranger...
And those same clear blue eyes...
"Faffaffaffa..."
---
"So let me get this straight. You found an old letter... and now we are randomly just... going to the location where the thing might not even be there anymore?" Tenion asked, following the older blond man, who had frowned at him while carrying a heavy shoulder bag.
"I never forced you to come along. You decided that on your own, yoi."
'Vista' only said that as he showed the way to the Water Train station.
The younger man huffed, moving faster to keep up with Mr. Smartypants.
"What do you even have inside that bag? It feels heavier than steel," he continued to complain, looking through it.
"Stuff that will be useful later, yoi."
"Really. How will a cross necklace ever come in handy?" the blue-haired man asked, looking at the necklace. It looked like part of it could... come apart?
Huh. Weird design.
"Put it on and you will see, yoi," the man said as they arrived at the station.
"How long does it even take to get there?" Tenion asked as they went to the counter where the tickets were being sold.
"An hour or more, depending on whether the sea is on our side, yoi," he answered vaguely.
A young woman who looked around eighteen or nineteen sat behind the ticket counter, chewing gum while looking at a magazine. She didn't even acknowledge that she had customers.
"Two tickets to the Seven Waters with our own cabin, if possible, please, yoi," the blond asked, pulling out his wallet and paying the exact amount.
Looking up, she handed them the tickets before suddenly stopping and staring at Tenion...
"OH... MY... GOD!" she said excitedly, putting one of her hands, painted red and blue, against her chest.
"I loooove the Marine Tre-inspired fit!" she exclaimed, her green eyes lighting up as she continued chewing her gum.
Tenion looked at her awkwardly.
"...Who?"
The young woman stopped, shocked.
"How could you NOT know about Marine Tre?! THE MR. TRE! He is the most popular artist and musician of this decade! Have you been living under a giant rock for the past seven years?!"
She said it dramatically before pulling out her magazine and showing them a picture of a dude with long, bright royal-blue hair, dramatic makeup that made his light-blue eyes pop...
He also had a ridiculously bright red nose...
"You have to be kidding me... not that buffoon again...
Well, it most likely would be that 'Buddy' guy's descendant. Just like 'Vista' is apparently descended from that Marco guy..." Tenion thought
"Well, before I came here, I lived on an island that the Government had lost interest in decades before I arrived," he said, only leaving out why and where it was.
The girl looked even more shocked.
Before she could say anything, the sound of the Water Train approaching filled the station.
'Vista' pulled Tenion away toward the platform, where they boarded the train.
"Cabin 14, yoi," the older man mumbled.
The blue-haired man looked around before taking the brochure with a map of the train.
"Goddammit, that fucking engine. Who made this shit?!" a rough female voice shouted somewhere farther down the train.
"Vic, you were the one who created the engine," another woman replied, her soft voice carrying a hint of amusement.
"Yeah, I know that, dipshit!" the other voice bit back, annoyed.
Tenion frowned, looking in the direction of the voices before being pulled into the cabin by the blond man he was traveling with.
He quietly sat down and looked outside before turning to the person sitting on the opposite side of the cabin, who was reading a newspaper.
"Where did that newspaper come from? Out of your ass?" he asked, confused.
'Vista' looked up with an expression that already said he was done with Tenion's shit.
"I picked it up while the ticket seller was talking our ears off about that musician guy, yoi," he gruffly said, turning to the next page of the *WENP & Co.*
The top line read:
"Another Assassination on the Nefertari Family Line."
The headline made Mr. Smartypants look... worried?
Why would he look worried?
These people are just like any other royal family. Scum with their noses held high, who would rather die than interact with a commoner.
Tenion looked at him, confused, before folding up the long brochure, which was almost as long as the table in the middle of the cabin.
Marine wagons were positioned at both ends of the train. Probably one Marine unit to look after the guests in the seating and couchette wagons, and another team to look after the passengers who had cabins to stay overnight.
And in the middle of it all...
A dining wagon.
"Ooh, a food wagon... wait, how do they even make the food here?" he asked.
"It depends on what train line you are taking. Some have special galleys for cooks to make the food for the people going by train, but that is mostly for first-class passengers. Most pre-cook the food and then put it in containers that heat the meal inside them, yoi," 'Vista' explained looking at the brochure while holding the news paper.
This led Tenion to let out a simple:
"Huh."
Then he looked at his ticket.
"Is the meal also included in the ticket?" he asked quietly, but it was answered since the ticket itself stated in big letters that drinks, lunch, and dinner were included.
"Guess I know where I am going next," the blue-haired man said.
He looked outside the window, seeing that they had made it off the island and were now officially over the water.
Standing up, he took his ticket and made his way to the dining wagon.
"I'll join you later after I'm done with the newspaper, yoi," he heard behind him.
Outside the cabins, the carts looked normal, with wood-styled walls that were probably just metal or another material made to look like wood because of how dangerous damaged wood could be if it caught fire.
Stepping inside the dining car, he looked around for an empty spot and went straight to the dining area closest to the exit and to his cabin.
The dining car looked like a normal small restaurant, just with a lot of tables and seats for four or more people.
Each table had four menus, each one four pages long.
Quietly, after sitting down, Tenion opened one of the 4 menus on the table.
"Huh... what do I even want to eat?" he asked more to himself.
It seemed, however, that a young man who looked to be maybe two years younger than Tenion had heard him.
"Well, I can recommend the rolled cabbage filled with minced pork and beef in a nice tomato sauce, with tomato pieces, carrots, and, depending on what you prefer, either mashed potatoes or rice on the side," the young man said, taking out said meal to show it to his guest.
"Or, if you prefer something lighter, I can recommend the black-bean tomato soup with baguette on the side. There is an option with ground beef and one without."
The light-brown-haired young man said it while wearing the uniform of a cook and showing Tenion the boxes of both versions of the soup, which he had taken from the trolley beside him.
"Uh... um... I was more talking to myself... but thank you for the recommendation," Tenion said awkwardly.
The cook shook his head, embarrassed. "Oh... oh, sorry. I thought... uh... um..." The two stared at each other awkwardly before Tenion looked at the menu again.
"Is there still some chicken curry left?" he asked.
"Sure! With coconut milk?" the young cook asked, pulling both chicken curry boxes out. "What else would you put inside a chicken curry if not coconut milk?" the blue-haired man said, frowning.
"We put cream in this one. We also have to make other options for people with allergies, diabetes, lactose intolerance, and other dietary restrictions," the cook explained, counting the restrictions on his hand.
That earned him a small "ahh" from Tenion before he asked for the one with coconut milk.
"You have to pull the string on this side, and the box will heat the meal," Ivan said, showing him the string before putting down the meal with its cutlery.
Turning to the food, he looked at it quietly, reading the paper that was glued to the top of the box, which had the ingredients on it.
"So is it better to heat it up with the box closed or open?" the blue-haired man asked.
But instead of the light brunette who was not on the other side of the wagon, he saw 'Vista' walk up to him with drinks and some food of his own.
Tenion looked at him, taking the bottle of water that the blond put in front of him and opening it... more like trying to, because for some reason even the cap of the bottle seemed to have something against him.
Struggling with the bottle, he watched as the older man pulled on the string with the box closed and waited, watching the youngster in front of him.
"You need help, yoi?" he asked, amused.
Taking the bottle when Tenion nodded, he handed it to him, and with one simple turn, the bottle was open.
"Now you are making fun of me," he grumbled, taking the bottle and sipping on it.
"Maybe you just suck at opening stuff up, yoi," the blond said, earning another glare from Tenion.
Closing the cap of the bottle and pulling on the string of the box, they waited.
After a while, they opened the lunchbox.
"Oh, it actually looks good," the young man said, grinning.
The curry smelled of all the different spices that were in the dish. "Smells like home....," he caught himself thinking, but shook his head the second it almost left his mouth. Instead, he stopped himself and turned to the older man.
"What did you get?" he asked.
"Tuna noodle casserole with soup," the older man said, picking up his spoon to eat.
"Huh, but where is the soup? Shouldn't there be a container on the side or something like that?" the blue-haired man asked, frowning. This earned him a small chuckle. "No, the soup is mixed in the dish as the creamy sauce base, yoi," he said with a small smile, as if he had heard that question once before a long time ago...
"So do you know how long we are still going?" the younger man asked while blowing on the spoonful of curry. 'Vista' quietly looked at the clock, humming.
"I think about thirty to forty minutes, yoi," he said, watching Tenion take a spoonful of curry and nod before eating.
Later, after lunch, both men got back to the cabin, waiting for the train to stop. The older man looked at the bag next to Tenion, humming quietly before asking, "May I look at the notebook, yoi?"
"Sure," the blue-haired man said, handing it to the blond.
Opening it, the older man's expression changed... as if he were looking at a relative he hadn't seen in a long time.
"You captured his expression well... yoi," he quietly said, turning the next pages and blinking in confusion.
"How many drawings of Ace did you make, yoi?" he asked, huffing amusedly.
"Uh... I stopped counting after five," Tenion said, laughing awkwardly.
He turned his head up when the calm, smooth voice of the announcer came through the speakers.
"We will shortly arrive at the Seven Waters main train station. Please be careful when exiting the train. We wish you a wonderful day."
They slowly got their stuff and made their way to the exit of the train. "So what direction do we have to go next, Mr. Navigator?" Tenion asked as they exited the train, watching as 'Vista' fumbled with an old-looking electronic device.
"Uh... let me see, yoi." He looked at the map, then looked up. "This way, yoi." He pointed in the direction where a fountain could be seen in the distance.
As they headed there, Tenion frowned, seeing that they went in the direction of the signs that pointed to the graveyard...
"You do realize I was joking about the whole digging-out-graves thing.... right?"