Chapter Text
Year 2018
How long had it been already? She was not sure. Probably a few hours, though it felt like an eternity already. Her eyes wandered over to the tail passengers going about their business, all bundled up snugly in their heavy clothing. What I would give for a coat. There was heating in her section, so she was not exactly dressed for the temperature of the tail. The young woman sighed and turned away. Even if she asked them for help, she knew they would not help her. She could feel it all. The glances, the whispers, the hatred. She was someone from the mid-section. She did not know what suffering was, not like them. She was just a spoiled brat finally getting a taste of what they went through for the past five years. A slight, bitter smile tugged at her lips. It was funny how they hated her and other sectioners based on the same reasoning the front and mid-sections looked done upon them. Because of their placement.
She doubted they would help even with the hatred aside. Minister Mason had made it very clear to everyone that the punishment would be brutal if anyone were to help or even speak to the newest addition to the tail. She personally thought it was a bit much for what she had done, but she apparently had a different way of thinking.
“Who are you?”
A young child – no older than perhaps seven or eight years or so – was the first to speak to her. It took a few hours of her sitting and doing absolutely nothing in the small cage placed in the corner she had been made to live in before the child did. The brunette figured it had to have been curiosity that got the best of the child. She was not sure why it was no one stopped the girl from speaking to the prisoner until at least an hour later, but the girl was not stopped, and the woman was thankful to finally be graced with some conversation. It wasn’t bad conversation, either, considering her new acquaintance was a young child.
The blue-eyed female smiled slightly, sitting up a little straighter now that someone was present. “I’m a woman with probably the biggest mouth you’ll ever meet,” was her initial response, meant to be taken jokingly. The child, however, took it literally and studied her lips very closely. She almost chuckled at that. Almost. “My name is Lucinda. Lucinda Arlington.”
The young girl perked up. “Is that just a fancy way to say ‘Lucy?’?”
“I suppose you could say that. My friends did call me Lucy most of the time.”
“I’m Lucy, too!” Lucy grinned, pointing at herself. Lucinda thought it was adorable, though she was a bit irked to learn that the girl’s name was Lucy as well. She had never enjoyed sharing names with other people. As she gazed at the girl with dark hair and dark eyes, however, she thought maybe just this once she would not mind it so much.
Lucinda smiled back and reached out her hand, her smile widening into a full-blown grin when Lucy placed her tiny hand in hers with a slightly confused expression. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Lucy.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” She replied distractedly as she watched their hands move up and down. She was a train baby; shaking hands was not a manner she was familiar with.
“So, Lucy,” Lucinda released the girl’s hand and tilted her head at her. “What made you come over and speak to me? No one seems very thrilled to see me here, and I doubt your parents are an exception.”
“My papa doesn’t know I’m over here. He’s helping some lady with her baby.”
“Oh, so you’re not actually supposed to be over here right now?” The older of the two raised an eyebrow.
“Well…”
“Thank you.”
Lucy looked up at her in surprise. She grinned.
“Thank you for risking punishment for me. I was really lonely sitting here all by myself. But are you sure you want to stay here? That minister—”
“Aw, Minister Mason doesn’t scare me. She’s just a weird old lady who talks too much.” Lucy wrinkled her nose, and Lucinda had to agree. Mason really did talk too much sometimes. “So why’re you here anyway? I’ve never seen a person switch sections before.”
The would-be singer gave a tired, sad smile. “Interesting story, that one…”
~~~
Hatred. It felt foreign to Lucinda. She had never been one to hate people; detest and despise people, she would, but she felt that hate was too strong a feeling for her to ever say that. But as she watched that wretched woman measure her baby brother, give a little, cheerless smile, and take his hand, she felt the hatred burning brightly and unbearably hot in her chest. Lucinda figured part of the burning came from the anger and frustration she felt, too, but it was not important. All that mattered was the fact that Lucas was being taken from her and her mother. He was being taken, and they were powerless to stop it.
The young woman could not help herself – she really, honestly could not. Her mouth was always something that she had been scolded for in the past. She was too outspoken, too hotheaded, and too quick to let her thoughts be known. Thinking before speaking was not her strongest suit, which was something her mother pointed out often enough for Lucinda to lose count of how many times it was said. That being the case, she really could not keep herself from speaking.
“Where are you taking him?”
Her mother tried to silence her as the other woman turned back, Lucas’s tiny hand in her own, but the twenty-one-year-old English woman ignored the quiet shushing. The woman who currently was at the top of her hit list just stared at Lucinda, causing the brunette’s temper to flare dangerously. If there was one thing she hated, it was when a person purposely ignored her.
“Why are you taking my brother? You’ve never done this before, so why now, and why him? Why?” She knew she was treading on dangerously thin ice, but she could not have cared less.
“I suggest you shut up, lady.”
Lucinda fixed her heated glare upon the soldier that had spoken up. Yes, he had a gun, but she doubted he would use it on her. She didn’t pose a threat, and it would be bad for appearances if the other mid-sectioners saw a soldier shoot an unarmed passenger. “If I wanted your suggestions, sir, I would have asked,” the would-be singer turned her gaze back to the woman. “Now will you kindly answer me, ma’am?” It would not hurt to mind her manners somewhat, right?
“No, I won’t, and it would be wise to listen to that soldier’s suggestion.” The woman’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly at Lucinda before she turned back around, beginning to walk away with Lucas who turned back to look at his two family members. His expression broke his sister’s heart to miniature-sized pieces. He looked so scared and on the verge of tears. Be strong. Lucinda bit her lip, nearly drawing blood. If you break down, sport, I just might shatter myself.
The first tear fell, and she lost it.
“You can’t just take him without letting us say goodbye—”
She had grabbed onto Lucas’s arm to halt the pair and succeeded in doing so, her words rushed and thick with desperation and anger. However, before she get out the word “properly,” she felt a blunt object come in contact with the back of her head, followed by a swift kick to the backs of her legs. Her mother and brother both let out shocked, horrified cries of her name as she crumpled to the ground, and her brother even ripped his hand away from that woman’s to drop beside her, shaking Lucinda and gripping onto her blouse tightly.
“Lucy! Lucy, is your head okay? Lu— LET ME GO!”
Lucinda could not recall a time when her brother had ever shouted like that. Not even when he threw the occasional hissy fit had he ever shouted like that. He sounded furious. And terrified.
It was the crying that finally shook her back to focus. The fact that her brother was desperately calling for her fueled her to get back up, to push past the pain and disoriented feeling that blanketed her mind so that she could save him. Or damn well try to and maybe injure that loathsome female in the process.
Despite her off-kilter movements, the soldier did not manage to stop Lucinda from clambering to her feet, rushing after the still nameless woman, and sweeping her feet out from underneath her with a swift kick of her own. She snatched Lucas into her arms before he fell with the woman and hugged him closely to her. His little arms circled around her neck as he clinged to his sister, sobbing into her shoulder as she quickly ran past everyone. Lucinda had absolutely no idea where she was going nor what she was doing; the two of them had nowhere to go. They were on a train. There were no police officers she could turn to, no particularly good hiding places for her to leave Lucas. There was one man truly in charge on this train, and that man was Wilford. If he wanted her brother, he was going to have her brother. Because he was their savior and naturally deserved everything he asked for.
She concentrated on her breathing in hopes of keeping her tears at bay. She couldn’t start the waterworks up when Lucas needed her to be the stronger sister for him. If they really had any chance of escaping this madness, she had to be strong. No tears, no fear, no doubt. Only strength.
Lucinda made it through one whole car before she was caught and had Lucas torn away from her.
~~~
“That’s awful.”
Lucinda gave a short, humorless laugh. “Yeah, it is. It’s my own fault, though. I only made things worse.”
“That lady and soldier were really mean, too. It’s not just your fault,” Lucy was frowning at Lucinda, her brow scrunched up in an upset yet adorable scowl. “My dad would say that those two were being a couple of bit—”
“Hey, Lucy?” The older female of the two interrupted with a nervous grin. “Why don’t you tell me about your dad? What’s he like?”
The brown-eyed girl blinked in surprise, somewhat thrown off by the sudden topic change, and ran a few fingers through her tangled curls. “Well, he acts like a papa. He takes really good care of me. Sometimes he gives me his protein block instead of eating it himself, which I think is really nice of him. I barely like sharing my block, but he gives me the whole thing!”
“That is nice of him.” Lucinda agreed, smiling softly.
“And he can get this really mean look on his face sometimes, but he’s actually a big teddy bear,” the little girl giggled. “He can be protective, too, but that’s just because it’s only me and him.”
“Your mom isn’t around?”
Lucy shook her head. “Papa says Momma died during the first couple of months on the train.”
“I’m terribly sorry, Lucy.” She felt horrible for bringing it up; Lucinda knew how devastating it could feel to lose a parent.
“Aw, you don’t have to be sorry. I can’t really remember her, so I don’t feel sad.”
“Lucy!”
Both females turned to see an Asian woman in her late forties rushing over to where they sat in their corner away from everyone else. The woman had pale skin and onyx-colored hair that Lucinda was sure was once the subject of every woman’s envy, and her eyes were a rather pretty shade of brown, the young woman mused. Though those eyes currently scared her with how they were looking at her at that very moment. However, they focused in on Lucy at the last second, causing Lucinda to breathe a quiet sigh in relief. She was already in trouble; she certainly did not need more of it.
“Lucy, just what do you think you are doing? You heard Minister Mason loud and clear – I saw you roll your eyes, so I know that for sure.” The third woman began to drag the young one to her feet. “You are lucky your father was not the one to see you over here.”
“But Sonmi—”
“No, I won’t listen to your argument. We are leaving.”
Sonmi shot one more harsh glare at Lucinda before tugging Lucy away, the young child turning her head to give an apologetic grin and a wave before picking up the pace to avoid being dragged again. The young woman heaved a great sigh and leaned against the wall of her cage. She was back to being all alone again. Great. She frowned, crossing her arms and scowling for several moments before, unexpectedly, a smile made its way onto her lips.
Well, at least she had made a new friend.
~~~
A heavy sigh swept past Lucinda’s lips as she shifted once again in an attempt to find a sleeping position that was comfortable for both her back and her head and sat up with another frustrated sigh when she failed to find one. It would not have been so bad if it were not for the blasted cage she had been forced into (she was still rather bitter about that seeing as she certainly was not an animal). The bars of the cage made it impossible for her to be comfortable, and she began to wonder how her dog from her younger years had managed to sleep so blissfully in one. It also did not help that she could feel the stares of the other tail sectioners; they had been watching her more closely since she had spoken to Lucy, though she did not get the reason why. She was in a cage, so what were they expecting? For her to suddenly go nuts?
The opening of the one entrance to the tail section had Lucinda sitting up straighter and narrowing her eyes. Now she would definitely have no hope of getting sleep any time soon. The soldiers caused such a racket the first time she was present when they came to dish out protein blocks and count heads, and she had no doubt they would be just as noisy this time, too. The blue-eyed woman crossed her arms and turned her back to the scene, knowing she probably would not be getting a protein block this time, either. The whole point of her being thrown into the tail was to make her suffer, so that meant no food for her aching tummy.
Due to having her back to the door, Lucinda was quite surprised when the door to her cage was opened, a hand dragging her out without warning. She stumbled to her feet only to be knocked down again, and the young woman rolled her eyes at the action. Simply telling her to remain on her knees would have sufficed. She saw no need for violence now, and quite frankly it was beginning to piss her off. As a pair of shoes came into her view, Lucinda’s eyes flicked up to catch sight of Minister Mason scrutinizing her with what appeared to be slight disdain – probably because Lucinda gave her more work to do, what with her being transferred to the tail and all – and raised an eyebrow. She knew Mason had not explained the situation to the tail’s passengers, though she had threatened them should they approach Lucinda. Was she here to revisit Lucinda’s reason for being transferred? It seemed like the only reason Mason would be here.
The older woman of the two motioned for the soldier behind Lucinda to bring the woman to her feet, clearing her throat as she was handed a microphone. The younger woman rolled her eyes once again. First they wanted her kneeling, now they wanted her to stand. How indecisive of them. And she hardly thought a speech was necessary. Her presence in the tail spoke for itself, she believed, and the other tail passengers were bound to ask for her story, so a speech was not needed. Whatever, the twenty-one-year-old sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. I’m being made an example of. Perfect opportunity to make sure everyone stays in their “preordained” place, right? In that case, a speech was not so unnecessary.
“You all have taken note of this woman, have you not?”
Lucinda gave a quiet scoff, glancing at the two translators who immediately began repeating Mason’s words. No shit, Sherlock. They’ve only been staring and whispering since I got here.
Mason gestured to her. “Do you know where she came from? She came from the mid-section of the train. Do you all know why she is not there, but here right now?”
There was silence from the seated tail sectioners. They stared at the woman in charge, occasionally glancing at the brunette beside her who looked bored while they waited for Mason to continue her speech.
“Disorder,” Mason put emphasis on each syllable and motioned towards Lucinda once again. “She caused disorder, she caused chaos, she went against her preordained position! Because she went against the rules of this blessed locomotive, she has ended up here amongst you all. She no longer belongs to the middle, but to the tail. So it is.”
“Isn’t that going against my ‘preordained’ position?”
She really needed to learn when to be quiet. Luckily she didn’t receive a blow like she expected, though the soldier did nudge her threateningly. Mason shot her a look.
“Your position has changed,” the minister turned back to the crowd, pointing at the transferee. “Her position has changed because of her mistake. She chose disorder, and she chose to give up her station. So it is. Now, if her mistake caused her to be moved down a station, where would your mistakes land you? If you all choose disorder, where will you end up?” No one said a word. They knew she would answer her own question. “You choose disorder, you choose death. Only with order can we…”
Lucinda tuned Mason out after that, already done with the situation. She had accepted her fate; she would remain in the tail section, and as much as she detested that and honestly feared it, there was nothing she could do. She could apologize and beg, but she was a little too prideful for that, and the would-be singer doubted that all of that would get her anywhere even if she wasn’t. She would have liked to apologize to her mother, though. How worried must she be? How traumatized and broken must she feel right now? To lose not only her son but her daughter, too, all in the same day and around the same time? Lucinda could only imagine the sort of pain her mother was experiencing.
Mason seemed to finish up a few minutes later, turning to the man – one of the translators – when he lightly grabbed hold of her elbow. He spoke too quietly for Lucinda to catch what he was saying, but judging from the short-haired minister’s expression, it was not something she particularly liked.
The next moment the bespectacled woman had turned back to the tail passengers with a smile stretched across her lips. “Well, Mr. Wilford is a good, merciful man. He is very forgiving. This young woman has a chance to fix her mistake,” Lucinda missed the next several words, too shocked by that one sentence. It seemed too good to be true. “It is important to repair the damage one’s wrong-doing has caused. To repair her mistake, she must apologize.”
Apologize? Lucinda had to apologize, and she would be put back where she came from? Her brow furrowed as her thoughts began to race.
“So, Ms. Arlington,” Mason nodded towards her and motioned for the soldier behind her to give her some space. She smiled again, glancing back at the tail section passengers. “What do you have to say?” The microphone was held in front of her.
Apologize, or do not apologize. Toss away both your pride and what you believe, or stand by what you think. Go back to your mother and perhaps see your brother again one day, or have more or less no chance to ever see them again. Lucinda clenched her fists, her bottom lip finding its way between her teeth. What was she trying to prove? She had nothing to prove to anyone. She was a good person. Her mother had paid for her place on this train. She deserved to be with her mother in the mid-section. Her eyes wandered over to the men, women, and children all watching her curiously. Some looked tired, angry, and even bored. The anger…
Would these passengers really have been given the same chance as Lucinda if they did what she had? No, probably not.
“Ms. Arlington?”
Mason’s voice snapped Lucinda back into reality, and she opened her mouth once before closing it again. Why was it so hard? Just a few words. "I’m terribly sorry for my actions." That would be it, and she could go back to her mother, back to her… position.
“I’ll give you an apology,” Lucinda met the eyes of the minister who smiled politely at her. The young woman paused for a few seconds, chewing on her lip briefly before she gave a little, snarky grin of her own. To Hell with it; she was going to let her mouth run. “But not for you, or rather my apology is not for that woman.”
She could hear the whispers become a low murmur in the background. Obviously no one had expected that sort of reply, especially Mason who looked less than amused and rather appalled at Lucinda’s words.
“I have an apology for my mother, if you wouldn’t mind relaying it. I’m sorry I let myself go mad. I was being positively stupid – I mean, honestly, what was I expecting? I had no place to run on this blasted train, and there’s not a bloody thing I can do if Wilford wants my brother, is there?” She gave a rueful smile as she tilted her head to the left before her expression turned somber. “But most of all, I apologize for not coming back to her. I just… The tail section has such a familial, loyal, and honest feel to it. Much better than the mid-section where we’re all polite smiles and whispered declarations of loathing.”
Mason appeared to be unsure of how to handle Lucinda’s response if the opening and closing of her mouth was anything to go by. Lucinda nearly laughed at her expression. “You do realize you are tossing away your only chance to repent for your actions against the sacred engine?”
The blue-eyed woman dropped her gaze briefly, catching sight of Lucy smiling at her from the sea of people that was the tail section. She flashed the child a friendly grin that slowly shifted into a smirk as she looked to Mason once more. “Not to be rude, but I don’t believe I have anything to repent for. The only other thing I’m sorry about is the fact I didn’t get a few more hits on that wretch who took my brother.”
A look from Mason sent the soldier behind her kicking her legs out from under her and slamming the butt of his gun against her head. Again. And he managed to get nearly the same spot she had suffered a blow on earlier. Basta— Another blow to her stomach, to her ribs, to her backside. Kicks and blunt objects smashing into her from both sides. She shielded her head the best she could with her arms, curling into a small ball in hopes of giving the two soldiers – or was it three? Four? – less area to wound. It did not help much. It hurt all the same.
“You see, passengers, this is what happens when you spit on the face of those who grant you a second chance. This is what happens when you refuse to admit to your sins.”
Lucinda was not able to hear the rest of what the blasted woman had to say because she was out like a light within seconds.