Lupin The Third: Valley of the Crystal Wolves

Chapter 17

A woman screamed.

Ruby and Goemon quickly donned their clothes. Goemon's hand went to Zantetsuken as they peered out through the small, recently un-fogged baggage car window at the masked figures ransacking the train, car by car.

"R-Really? Kinda cliche, isn't it?" said Ruby, clutching at Goemon's hand. "Do people still rob trains?" she chuckled nervously, as she looked to a professional thief for answers.

"We've been known to pull train jobs occasionally," he replied, squeezing her hand.

"With bandanas and cowboy hats?" she teased, though the sweat drop rolling down her temple showed this joke was forced through anxiety.

Goemon had long ago learned that humor and levity was a coping mechanism for Ruby in otherwise threatening situations. "Of course not," he said stoically. "But I feel as though these men aren't looking for material goods..." He turned his gaze onto Ruby. "We've been discovered..."

"Oh, c'mon," Ruby laughed nervously. "Not everything revolves around us. This could totally be unrelated..."

"Find the girl!" shouted a masked man from two cars down.

"Okay, maybe it is," said Ruby, her tone as sullen and exasperated as it was frightened.

The masked men beyond were shoving people out of the way, tossing carry-on luggage out of compartments as they made their way closer and closer to Ruby and Goemon's hiding place. Quickly, Ruby began stacking more and more luggage in front of the door, hoping this might hold them off long enough to buy she and Goemon some time to make a plan of escape.

Things were about to get ugly. Even with Ruby looking to block the door, the samurai was ready to face the opposition without a second thought. Ruby winced as she watched Zantesuken leave its sheath. While Goemon and his sword always made her feel safe – it was a deus-ex-machina weapon, after all – fighting was rarely her first instinct, and after the previous night, she felt as though she'd had enough to last her a lifetime.

"There's gotta be a way off this train, right?" she asked. "H-How far until our next stop?"

"Not sure... but there is always a way off a train." Goemon looked at Ruby, his brows furrowed. "You're suggesting we run?"

"That's what I do when I encounter a Moblin on the road to Hyrule," said Ruby with a shrug. "I only fight when running away stops working." She hesitated as she looked at Goemon, then averted her gaze with a sheepish blush. "I guess I'm a coward at heart. But is it really so bad to try running away first?"

Goemon frowned as he considered reassuring Ruby that there was a difference between survival instincts and cowardice. Just because his instinct was to fight, did not make her instinct to run away wrong. For him, personally, when every challenge was seen as training, to run away was admittedly shameful. But when he considered Ruby's increasing paleness as of late and the knowledge of that concerning heart condition...

For a moment, Goemon just stared at her, and Ruby worried that he was regretting making love to such a cowardly young woman. She was so certain he was judging her and that he would insist on staying and fighting. But instead, Goemon gave a solemn nod.

"Let's go."

He took her hand and led her to the back of the luggage car, seeking an escape route. Ruby swallowed back the lump in her throat, feeling relieved. Goemon, it seemed, intended to do everything in his power to make her feel safe and comfortable. And if that meant ignoring his instincts to fight and trying to flee first, he was going to do just that. But just as Goemon tore open the back door of the cargo car, the door behind them came crashing open as masked thugs shoved down the tower of stacked luggage.