Soul Chains

Chapter 42: Cash or Credit

"Are you ready?" Reine asks as she reaches up into one of the luggage compartments in her green army pants with her black thigh holsters, a pair of black over the knee boots, and a black sweater with a black infinity scarf and an army green jacket.

"Yeah," I sigh and run and hand though my hair, my luggage bag thrown over my shoulder.

"Nice outfit, by the way," Reine smiles wryly as she turns around, her bags in her hands, "it suits you."

I glance down at my dark grey ripped jeans, timberland boots, dark grey jacket with a black rune pattern on the left sleeve, and white long sleeved v-neck and shrug.

"It's no different than what I normally would wear, but thanks," I chuckle, "you look nice too."

It's about four in the afternoon and our stop is coming up soon, which is why we're gathering all of our luggage and getting ready to get off of the train. The town we're getting off in is called Saintway and it's one of the middle towns in the Winter Sector.

"I'm ready for winter," Ciana says as she enters our cabin, her bags thrown over her shoulder, in a puffy white jacket with tan fur in the hood, white calf-high boots, coral colored thigh-highs, jean shorts, and a long coral colored sweater with white horizontal stripes on it, her necklace hiding underneath the sweater where it's tucked in for safekeeping.

"Are the others ready?" Dimitri asks as he ties the laces in his black combat boots while sitting on one of the booths, his black jacket resting beside him and matching his deep maroon colored v-neck and dark grey jeans.

"You two really do sound like siblings," Mikasa giggles as she tucks her book in one of her travel bags, wearing a white and violet winter dress with white leggings, white boots, a violet infinity scarf, and a white jacket with white fur in the hood and fluffy balls of fur hanging from the strings on the jacket.

"Shut up," Dimitri and Reine say simultaneously, only further proving Mikasa's point.

"Yeah, yeah, we're here," Ayette sighs as she appears in the doorway in a black and electric blue winter outfit behind Ciana with Nathan, who's wearing a black beanie with a skull on the side, dark blue jeans, a white long sleeved shirt, and black vans, his white jacket resting in his arms.

"She's not too excited to go outside," Nathan chuckles and Ayette elbows him in the ribs.

"Nobody asked you," Ayette pouts.

The train slows to a halt and we glance around at each other before Dimitri looks out the window and sighs, picking up his stuff as he stands.

"That's our stop," Dimitri says.

"Wonderful..." Ayette mutters as the seven of us shuffle out of the cabin area and head toward the train's exit, a few other people exiting as well.

Upon stepping outside, the cold winter air blows against us and I shudder as we descend the stairs to the platform and Mikasa wraps her scarf tighter around herself and pulls in her jacket. Dimitri wraps an arm around Ayette's waist whenever she almost stumbles off of the stairs and she looks at him gratefully, placing a hand on his chest. Dimitri smiles fondly and doesn't remove his arm in order to make sure she doesn't almost fall again as they keep walking.

The town in front of us is full of tall buildings and an occasional few shorter buildings here and there, and the streets are completely covered in snow. Sleek black lampposts line the streets and as the train begins to start up again and rush by, I notice that there's a harbor behind us that goes under the elevated train tracks.

"Come on," Reine breathes out, her breath forming a cloud in the air, "let's go see if we can find a method of transportation."

We head into the town and stick to the snow covered sidewalks, passing by multiple homes, shops, hotels, and businesses. We even pass by a giant mall complex on the right of the sidewalk and Ciana's eyes stay glued to the window as we go by, longingly looking at pairs of boots. Outside of a burgundy colored home, two children--a boy and a girl--are making a snowman in their front yard and I smile at the sight, missing the normality of the human realm.