The Maid and Her Princess

The Heartbroken Maiden (part 3)

III.

1. More Unreachable Than An Empress

It started with a soft muted purr, making Madoka stir ever so slightly, then began to evolve into something like a seismic roar. Then, the roar maintained itself and bothered her, undulating like a sine wave bariolaging itself in her ear drums. She did not know what her thoughts were even coming up with. Were any of those even real words? The rumbling ignored her and carried its chaotic rhythm. Wheels, she determined without opening her eyes. Based on the whiteness smothering and attempting to claw itself through her tightly shut eyelids from the outside, she dared not even attempt to wonder what situation she has found herself in. The wheels crushed the tracks below her and another horid noise rang above the chaos, a melodic and persistent swooshing followed by a clanging... chooing noise.

Choo-choo!

It screamed for her to open her eyes and rattled glass beside her like a persistent ghost, so Madoka begrudgingly willed herself to wake. The first thing that greeted her was a stinging brightness. The second was not sight attacking her eyes, but the foreign feeling of cold and smooth cheap leather scratching underneath her palms. She knew this disorienting feeling all too well, however, it still felt just as bad every time and this time was no exception.

Madoka knew she was dreaming up one of those strange kind of visions, but the question was whether this scenario was going to end up as a nightmare or not. She was in a train barreling away from a city of some sort as if it was a snake shedding away old skin in retreat or perhaps some other reptile cutting loose its own tail to escape. She knew why this air of desperation mixed in with the cheap scent of indoor smoke from cigarettes battling the sterile scent of clean, uncomfortable coach seats for her nose's attention. Yet, Madoka did not know or care to know how she knew what any of these descriptions meant or the things all around her were. Glancing to the side, she saw her. A tiny girl, but safe at last. This train has firmly placed a barrier between the two of them and the cold hearted people the girl was apparently running away from. But who was she in this dream?

Audrey glanced at her nervously, clutching the notebook to her chest as if it was a life jacket keeping her afloat. It was quite fitting since the cab was quickly dowsed in rain water as the train let out its melancholy and mechanical horn again. The droplets wobbled in their paths as the glass shook again, swiftly distorting the view of the desert outside. A few rows ahead of them, someone was chatting quite loudly on a phone or to another person, but other than that they were alone.

"I'm... I'm free," Audrey hesitated. Her voice was devoid of any shred of the girl's normal quirky and scheming confidence. Instead, a quiet fortitude replaced it. "We're finally out of that damn place."

"Mm," Madoka found her dream self agreeing silently. "You made it."

"I have a plan, not just bullshitting. This time it is for real," Audrey declared as if Madoka had doubted her before. Her voice raised slightly as courage began to break through. "I swear."

"I know, Audrey," Madoka agreed to whatever she was saying. "They don't deserve you, not even a thought of revenge."

A tear threatened to slip out of Audrey's slightly reddened eyes, but it did not. She peered at the notebook again. Checked it twice and Madoka eventually heard the book shut like a coffin lid. One chapter in the middle concluded with finality, but here in this cab was a brief respite before the writer inevitably had to open it and begin recording once more. Madoka wondered if she knew who she was going to end up being, whether as a Princess or someone completely else. She stared out the window as they whirled by a wreckage from the war. Another unknown memory slipping inside her mind, a vision or scattered unnecessary detail tucked in this dream of hers.