A.N. I know that I did label this book as 'discontinued' but then I wanted to write another chapter of it. So I thought, why not? I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Nino said that he had everything in control. Meaning that he successfully stole train tickets and never has Marinette been so proud of him.

"You really aren't like your age, eh?" Marinette teases him.

"Shut your flytrap, Mari," he scolds her. He slides open the door to their shared coach and warily looks to his left and right to check if the coast is clear. When he knows they’re safe for now, he looks back at Marinette. "Don't make it too clear. And it’s not like we’re covered....as long as they don’t ask for names then we’re good."

"And the old man is back," Marinette mutters under her breath. Nino scowled at her then shakes his head in defeat and stepped out of the coach, shutting the door closed to do God knows what. "Sucks that I was hoping for too much." She sighs nonchalantly.

Aden on the other hand was feeling different things at the same time, keeping his gaze on the ground. Nervous, scared, excited, wary - his emotions were all over the place.

His knees wouldn’t stop shaking as he took a seat in their assigned coach and Mari took the free one across from him. The mere thought of finally going on the adventure he has been waiting for all these years is overwhelming yet exhilarating. Mother Teal was right. There is something waiting out there for him. Despite his checkered past, there is a part of him that hopes for a grand future - something that is more than what this bleak world is currently offering to him.

And he is blessed to have found the right people to guide him through such a path.

"Hey, hey," Marinette calls him out, leaning forward to roughly tap his knee repeatedly. Aden jumps a bit from where he's seated and looks up at Mari. “Why are you looking nervous?”

He sputters, "U-Uh, I, uh, I mean-"

"Relax, okay?" Mari coaxes him, widening her eyes as she demonstrates a breathing technique, exaggerating an inhalation through the nose and then exhaling through the mouth. She repeats the technique before saying, "Follow me and this will calm you down."

Aden nods vehemently and fixes his posture, straightening his back before leaning against the cushion behind him. He closes his eyes and does the technique she taught, inhaling through the nose for seconds and letting it go through his mouth slowly. It does ease him a bit, but his mind is still swirling with all the what-ifs that he could come up with. Not only that, but his two new companions seem daunting to him. There is this little voice in him that constantly reminds him to not trust them that easily and freely.

“Feeling better now, Ad?”

His eyes fly open, surprised by Mari’s voice since he was too occupied with his thoughts to even recall what he was doing. “Um,” he clears his throat, “Yes, yes, a bit better now…” his voice trails off towards the end.

Mari, though, does not notice his apparent apprehension. She props her foot up on a block of wood and clicks her tongue, watching the view change through the window as the train makes its way to the next stop. Nino has not returned to the coach since there are still some things that he had to fix, especially in terms of not letting them get caught. “You might as well sleep, for now, Ad,” she tells him, raising an eyebrow at him. “We got a few hours left until we reach our destination.”

“I wish I could sleep,” Aden mutters under his breath.

Mari hums, hearing what he said. “Then how about we discuss what you need to know before meeting the Czarina? Would that help?”

He shrugs in acceptance. “Whatever would help out, honestly. I’ll take anything to get my mind off things.”

“Okay,” Mari grunts, placing her foot on the ground. "So, since you claim that your mother used to be a servant to the royal family for years, there are a lot of things that you need to memorize. We start with names of the family and relatives, their hobbies, and what they enjoy doing."

"...How is this connected to the servants?" Aden asks reluctantly, finding it odd that if he were to know about the servants why would it be important to know about the royal family?

Mari’s gaze turns into a defensive glare. "Look. Do you want to know who your mother is or are you going to continue questioning our integrity?"

He gawks at her, not expecting a sudden attack like that. "I-I'm not doing that-" he stammers.

"Sounds like you are."

And so, to not agitate the woman any further, the woman who is willing to help him find the answers to his never-ending questions, he decides to swallow whatever comeback he had planned to utter. “...I’m sorry,” he muttered at length.

Mari scoffs and crosses her arms before her, “You better be. Now listen here. There are a lot of names to memorize when it comes to the royal family. We’re talking about more than third-degree relatives.”

“God, that’s a lot.”

She nods and hums in agreement, “Mhm. But I promise that you’ll get the hang of it especially since most of them are cousins of other cousins and so on. Royal families like to keep their royal blood intact. They don’t want too many outsiders sharing their blood.”

Even as she continued to explain, Aden was still confused as to how this is important to find his mother. “I’m sorry, I still don’t get why I need to know this if my mother is only a servant–”

“All servants knew the history of the royal family and their relatives,” Mari interjects harshly. “So if you really want to find your way home you better listen to me. Got that?”

Aden found himself beginning to grow impatient with Mari. She claims that she is someone who works in the human resources department, but acts the opposite of someone who supposedly cares for people.

The three have battles of their own, yet unbeknownst to them, a herd of winged minions with ghastly features and the power of black magic were ready to wreak havoc and bring death in place of their cynical master…

—---------

Just as Mari continued to explain the history to Aden (and while he stayed quiet despite his constant confusion), Nino suddenly bursts into the coach, causing the woman to halt in her current explanation.

Mari regards his nerve-stricken countenance with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Shit, the conductor is coming,” he breathes out, eyes darting everywhere in the coach.

Mari did not see the purpose of panicking. “Why are you worrying about that? We have our tickets.”

“Yes, but do we look like a Yekaterina Petrovna and a Katya Zamolodchikova? I don’t think so.” (A.N. if you know this reference then I officially love you)

Now this made Mari begin to show the same panic. “Damn it, Nino. If you were to steal tickets, at least choose those that could fit who we are!” She then sharply swears under her breath and runs her fingers through her already disheveled hair.

“I thought you were part of the police?”

The con artists jump in shock when another voice speaks from behind. Mother of Russia, both forgot that Aden was with them in the coach. The man has his brows furrowed in a quizzical manner. “So?” He continues. “What are you doing just staring at me? Why are you worried?”

“Shut it,” Mari exclaimed and proceeded to look around the coach to find a place to hide or escape from. “Keep quiet and let Nino and I handle this situation.”

Aden, though, wasn’t having it. “What are you doing?” He peered at the woman who was moving all over the place, checking each cranny and if she could move any of the furniture away. But the coach wasn’t that big – even for three people, it felt too tight to stay in. Mari bumped into Nino and Aden as she moved around.

“Mari,” Nino uttered her name in haste. “We need to tell him–”

She stopped to point a stern finger at the man. “No!”

“Tell me what?”

“We are not actually–”

“No, Nino!”

“This won’t help our situation if you won’t tell me!”

“We are not police officers!”

Aden’s eyes widened in bewilderment. “What?!” He spat out and began to bring his hands to his head. He threw incredulous looks toward the two people with him. “Are you serious?”

“Nino!” Mari scolds the man and slaps his arm.

“So you lied?!” Aden continues, still clearly exasperated.

Mari had enough of his neverending utterances. Out of anger, she grabs him by the collar and pulls him close to her. “Does this matter to you now?” She hissed right at his face. “I can feed you to the conductor in a second. Would you want that?”

But Aden knew how to fight back. “Tell me who you are first, then I’ll cooperate.”

Mari lets go of his collar and just as she was about to huff out an answer, the entire carriage violently shook toward the east, causing all of them to suddenly be jerked to the side due to the impact. Nino thankfully lands on the cushioned bench but Mari accidentally lands on the floor, well…on top of Aden.

“What was that?!” Nino asked, trying to regain his balance.

“Get off me!” Aden shouted and shoved the woman away. Mari was quick to push him back in retaliation. She got to her feet and looked out the window to see what is going on.

The sight before her sends shivers down her spine. “Shit,” she swore under her breath. The two men manage to look out the window to see the train carriage connected to theirs on fire. “Sweet mother of Russia,” Nino murmured with wide eyes.

Shrieks in terror can be heard from outside their coach and they are getting louder by the second.

“The conductor won’t give a damn about us,” Mari says in a rush. “The only thing we need to do now is to get out.”

Another blow comes to the train carriage, this time stronger – almost tipping off the carriage from the tracks. They bring their hands to their heads and duck out of instinct. The wooden furniture creaks loudly at some edges, suffering from the impact of the sudden jerk movements.

“What are you all doing?!” Mari berated the men who were just crouching and not moving. “We need to run to the front area and jump off the carriage!” She slides open the carriage door and is greeted by wafting black smoke coming from the end of the carriage. Some people scream or shout as they run through the aisle to get to the front of the carriage.

“Jump?” Nino exclaims, “Are you crazy?!”

“It’s crazier to stay behind, believe me!” She grabs Nino’s arm and drags him to the door then pushes him to run along with the others. When she turns to grab Aden, she sees him at the far end of their coach, regarding her with a wary glare. “Don’t be stupid now.”

“I’m debating if it’s safer to escape on my own or with you.”

“And would you know your way? You told us that you don’t even know a thing!” She retorts. “Look, I’m not going to leave you to die because, as a decent human being, I’d like to keep you alive.” And I’d like to have the money once we take you to the Czarina, she continued in her thoughts. “Isn’t that enough for you to trust me?”

She held out her left hand and Aden casts his gaze on it. For a few seconds, he only stares at it, his thoughts going through every possible scenario if he were to choose differently.

“We don’t have much time!” Mari warned him. More smoke has entered the carriage and it even has spread throughout their coach. She covers her nose with her right forearm. Even Aden had to cover his nose and mouth too.

He hated to admit it, but the most plausible decision would be to take her hand and follow her. He mutters through gritted teeth, “Don’t make me regret this.” And he takes a hold of her hand.

—---------

“Master,” the small bat-looking creature woefully whispers as it watches real-time events unfold through a smoke apparition summoned by the master through different spells. It is perched on top of its master’s shoulder. The master has not said a word. “Master?”

“...My minions may have failed me this time,” Hawkmoth murmurs at length. His eyes are transfixed on three people who have landed on a bed of snow after jumping off a burning train with only minor injuries. Slowly the scene of the apparition moves closer to a certain man with a pair of green-colored eyes that clearly would stand out to anyone, especially the master.

A sinister smile then spreads slowly on his face. “Yet this does not mean that we failed entirely.” He then begins to cynically laugh. “Let’s watch them have some fun first…” His gaze on the apparition darkens.

“...Then we’ll strike again when they least expect it.”

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

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