Rolando had just finished his meal and now he was walking back to his cart. He had a full stomach and could see himself taking a nap for a few hours. As he passed by the second cart, he overheard two ruffians talking about Vincent, Risa, and himself. He tried to listen to what they were saying by walking slowly. They said they were troublemakers and were going to get them in trouble because they had grudges against Vincent or something to that effect. Or that was a summary of what he had heard.

He sighed softly making his way back to the cart after pausing to hear what they had said. Were they ever going to get a break? It seemed like they were cursed. Trouble followed them everywhere they went. "Like we need any more trouble." He walked into the booth and looked at the two young adults who were gazing out the window. "We've got a slight problem." He began to say.

Vincent looked over at Rolando and turned himself to face him. He wondered what was the problem. It could have been something so trivial. "What is it? What is going on?" He asked, not the slightest bit interested in what was going on. Whatever it is, he was probably going to be overdramatic about it like he normally was. Or at least in his eyes.

Rolando sat down beside Vincent. "I overheard two ruffians - who seemed to be old pals of yours - talking about getting us kicked off the train because they said we were causing trouble. Which is something we haven't done but knowing the people you hung out with, I wouldn't put it past them to plant something on us." He explained grabbing his bag and stuffing his notebook into it.

Vincent pursed his lips, didn't quite know who he was talking about. Hadn't seen anyone on the train he had known. If he had he would have probably avoided them at all cost. He wasn't on the best terms with anyone he knew. "Please tell me you are joking? I don't want to leave this booth, it is so warm and comfy." What else could go wrong on this trip? It was the common question.

Rolando gathered up his suitcase in his hands. "Get our luggage and get to the storage cart, right behind the engine. We will be safe there until the train stops at our destination." He explained, not liking the idea of having to leave the comfort of the booths, but it was something they had to do. He was in no mood to get into trouble whether it was his fault or not.

He turned to Vincent, knowing if he didn't make so many enemies they wouldn't be needing to move carts. "If they try anything we'll be gone and they can not hurt us now can they?" He rhetorically asked, simply raising an eyebrow at Vincent. He continued to speak even though Vincent was not listening to him. "Vincent, can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked, hoping you have a word.

Vincent stepped closer to Rolando, crossing his arms over his chest after pulling on his coat. He rolled his eyes and huffed. Of course, blame everything on him. "Oh Rolando, do I have to listen to what you are going to say to me? Can't it wait?" He was in no mood to be grilled about whatever.

Rolando frowned at what Vincent had said, that was not nice. "You know those two ruffians, you told me they had run away to Russia. Now they had found and followed us to this train. Now they will be giving Risa and I payback for whatever you did to them." He whispered in a very upset tone.

Vincent looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "Which ones? You know I had a lot of "friends" who I only used because they had what I wanted." He said stuffing his hat on his head, before pulling out his gloves and putting them on his hands. He had no clue which ones he was talking about. That did make him look worse, and his voice seemed to hold contempt.

Rolando shook his head, he knew he had a lot but he couldn't have made every one of them hold a grudge did he? "It was I believe Paul and Jacob, the two rotten eggs who did like throwing eggs at people's houses. Can't say for sure but now that I think about it, the similarities are striking." He never did like those two boys, always causing trouble and being chased by the police.

Vincent just shrugged, gathering up his suitcase so they could leave. He was not about to be grilled about old friends and choices he had made in the past. Whatever grudge they held. It wasn't his fault, he couldn't control what others did in their spare time. Yet that was what he told himself to justify his past actions.

Rolando frowned a little at the way the boy reacted. 'What am I going to do with this boy?' He thought to himself walking out of the door and down the empty hallway. That boy was going to end up in prison just like his father. Even though he didn't remember who he was he was going down the same path.

Risa followed Rolando, and Vincent followed behind her after she had gathered up her suitcase and picked up her dog. She didn't know how to feel about this. It was Vincent's fault because he had to double-cross everyone he knew. She didn't want to leave the nice, warm, and comfortable booths for a freezing-cold car with no heat. 

She set her suitcase down on a crate in the storage room, then set Loyal down beside the suitcase. "Hey, Rolando, Vincent? What's the difference between the baggage cart and the storage cart?" She asked curiously, always having thought they were the same thing.

Rolando looked at the young girl and answered. "The baggage cart is for the passengers' baggage and the storage cart is for extra coal, the train workers, and other things that are being transported that people don't want others to find out. There is a specific name I think for them but I can not remember it." He said setting down his suitcases on the ground.

Loyal rolled on her back and let out a little sigh. She was exasperated with what was going on. 'What else could go wrong on this trip to France?' She thought to herself, not understanding why everything was going wrong. It seemed like someone was trying their best to make the whole trip miserable or better yet, stop them from doing it anyways.

Risa was a little worried about this whole situation. "What if they find us here?" She did not want to be found by two guys who were trying to get them kicked off the train. They were in the middle of nowhere, at night, while it was freezing, and no it wasn't snowing, but it felt like it could.

Vincent rolled his eyes at the orphan girl and how worried she was. "They won't find us here. The only reason they would be here is if there was a problem with the train. Since there is nothing wrong with the train they will not need to come up, and by they I mean the train workers." He hoped she would stop worrying by his words.

Risa was not relieved or comforted by his worse, they only made her feel worse. "You don't know that! What if something goes wrong with the train? Then what are we going to do?" She was maybe panicking just a little but who could blame her, with all that had happened on their journey, now this.

Vincent rolled his eyes once again, which was all he was able to do because if he had his way, he would be yelling at her. "Risa, we'll be fine. Stop worrying so much, you're giving me a headache." He said pressing his thumbs into the side of his temples, rubbing it gently.

Risa sat down on a small crate and looked up at him. "I have a right to be worried. Look at all that has happened so far with us trying to go to Paris to find my family. It is like someone doesn't want me to find my family, perhaps it is a sign." She sadly spoke the words she dreaded thinking.

Vincent walked over and sat down beside her, only because Rolando was giving him looks. "Just take a deep breath, alright? I am sure no one is trying to make us not find your family. Please try not to worry about all this." He said resting a hand on her shoulder.

Risa's eyes widened and she just looked at him like a deer in the headlights. Was he trying to comfort her? He wasn't doing a very good job about it. "Vincent, you don't understand what I am going through, you never will." She said then she looked down at her lap.

Vincent was in no mood to continue so he changed the topic as fast as he could.     "Are you still reading the book?" He asked ignoring all that she had just said like she hadn't said it at all. It was best to ask about something else and get her on that subject instead of their previous one.

Risa slapped her hands on her side after throwing them up in the air. "What? No, I don't have the book. I recall handing it back to you and whatever you did with it is on you. Why are you blaming it on me?" She sighed leaning back on the crate, resting her back against another crate.

Vincent quickly replied to what she was saying, shaking his head. "No, you didn't! It's not in the bag." He said after having rummaged through his bag, and the book was nowhere to be found. "The only book I have is the passport. Other than that I have no other book, so, therefore, you must've done something with it." He sneered with a frown.

Risa looked towards Rolando, maybe he had a book, perhaps he picked it up and put it in his bag. "Rolando, do you have the book?" She asked, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her lap. She was praying he had the book, she was not going to be blamed for losing a book.

Rolando looked through his bag and shook his head, closing it back. " No, I have no book about Paris, just my notebook. Why?" He looked between the two young adults. Was Vincent trying to blame her once again for something she hadn't done? He could never accept that maybe he was at fault.

Vincent suddenly blurted out-of-the-blue pointing his finger at Risa. "She lost it. She was the last one to have it in the booth." He said like a child blaming someone else for doing something they had done. Pointing fingers was mature. 

Risa frowned, he was blaming her for losing a stupid book. "No, I didn't. You were the last one to have it, it probably fell on the floor." She suggested having no other idea on where it could be. She had handed it back to him, she had had her back to him when leaving so she didn't know what he had done with it.

Vincent rolled his eyes and began to walk over to the door. "I'll run back quickly and grab the book." He said as he put his hand on the handle but the cart they were in jolted, making them all stumble. He pulled the door open and gasped. "Oh no, this isn't good." He said with wide eyes looking at the sight before him.

The baggage and other carts were slowly going farther and farther away from them. Vincent's old friends were standing there, waving with a smile on their faces. If they couldn't get them kicked off might as well detach them from the other carts. This was sorta like payback, and they could care less what happened to the trio.

Rolando ran over to see what was happening. He could not believe this was happening to them! What else could go wrong? "Oh, this isn't good. I knew those two were not to be trusted. They detached the engine and the storage cart from the others." He groaned running a hand through his hair. 

Risa stood up and tightened up her coat and put on her scarf, the cold outside was not fun. She shivered a bit walking over to see what was going on. "What are we going to do now? Oh, what about the conductor? I am sure he can stop the carts and back up to reattach the others." She exclaimed happily, finding a good idea.

Rolando turned away from the open door and walked over to the other that led to the engine. She had a good point, perhaps the conductor could put the engine in reverse and back up to the other carts. "Yes, I'll go get him." Once he had opened the door, the only thing that was there was the link that was holding both of the cars together, which had about a three feet gap. "We have a problem?" He said, his eyes going up.

Vincent did not want to hear those words, they were the major thing he never wanted to hear again. "Again?" He exclaimed face palming as he walked over to Rolando. "What is it now?" His voice held so much disappointment. He was upset that more things were going wrong.

Rolando pointed to the bellows of black smoke coming from the smokestack. "That, that is what I am worried about. The smoke should not be that thick and that black, it looks like when something has exploded or is getting ready too." He pointed out to Vincent. He knew a little bit about trains, and anyone with common sense would know that was not normal.

Risa nodded standing in the middle of both of the men. "How is someone going to get to the engine? Look at that gap. Jumping would be crazy. Balancing would be crazy. Making a human chain would also be crazy. There is no way whatever is chosen isn't going to be sane." She pointed out stuffing her hands in her pockets. 

Vincent looked over at Risa and raised his eyebrows. "Well someone has to jump over, climb up the rungs right there and over the coal bed to the engine to take a look to see what's going on? It is what is got to be done. It may not be smart but it is just how it is." He said with the utmost pride between the two.

Rolando put his hands up and shook his head. Were they suggesting that he attempt to try? Did he look like he could handle that? Yeah, no. "Don't look at me. I'm not in the best shape to go climbing up and over things.  Possibly if I was able to get over there, there's a good chance I would not be coming back." He was not young like he used to be and he wasn't limber like he used to be either.

Risa knew Vincent would not be offering because even though he had gotten them into this situation he would make every excuse to not do it. "I'll do it. I will jump over and climb up the rungs, into the engineering room and check it out." She stated as she started to take off her coat. She could not be climbing over with such things on. A scarf could also get her strangled, not something she wanted.

Vincent shook his head. No, he had not offered, but it would make him look back to make her go without at least offering. "No, no, no. I'll do it. I don't care if you get hurt. Besides, we need someone skilled in doing risky things, like I do, for money that is." He said, also taking off his coat and scarf. He knew that she would stop him and insist on doing it so all he was doing was putting on a big show.

Risa sighed and shook her head, not believing what he was saying to her. "Look at me; I'm smaller than you and I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid to take a risk, even if my body is telling me no. I am the only one the perfect size to be able to man -"  She started to ramble just a little when the train jolted again. "Ugh, manage." She huffed as if jolted yet again.

Risa, Vincent, and Rolando toppled over on top of each other, at this sudden jolt, which made the train speed up. They all rolled off of one another and got up slowly, holding onto the side of the creature slowly getting back to their feet after feeling a little bruised.

Vincent was going to let her do it, now. He was not going to risk his life for something that didn't involve money, which the duchess did, but that was beside the point. "Fine, if you want to go then go!" He yelled over the sound of the wheels clicking on the train track.

Risa said nothing as she took a few steps back, then darted for the door jumping over, and managed to grab onto the rungs. She had struggled for a few moments, and the cold thick air did not help her panicked nature. "If I don't come back in fifteen minutes, then something is wrong and Vincent needs to come to get me." She called back.

She climbed up the rungs, glad she had her gloves on or else her wet palms would be sticking to the cold rungs and when she pulled her hands away, the skin would be left behind. She was in no mood to hurt her hands and not be able to use them for heaven knows how long just to check something out.

When there were only two left she flung her leg over the ledge, then rolled onto the coal bed. She took a few deep breaths into her hands just to calm her shaky body down. She could not believe she just did that. At any moment she could have just lost her gripping and then she would be dead.

She shook her head and crawled on her knees over to the end of the coal bed. "I don't think we were ever meant to crawl on our knees. Oh boy, does this coal hurt." She groaned flinching with every move she made with oh so many 'ows' escaping her lips. She would no doubt be feeling the pain later. Perhaps she would have bruises and even cuts.

Once she got to the edge, more rungs were leading into the engineering room. She was beginning to hate rungs and after this would be so happy to never see them again. "Mental note for myself; never will I ever use trains again. Walking or riding a horse-drawn carriage will be my only transportation until I die!" She vowed.

She climbed down the rungs very carefully and was super glad she didn't have to jump over another gap. She was in no mood to jump over any more gaps after this train ride. When she made it to the last one she jumped down and then she turned around to see what was going on. 

What she saw before her eyes, was something she had not anticipated. She knew someone had sabotaged the furnace. Flames were coming out of the furnace, which was not what was supposed to happen. There were heaps of coals laying on the ground that seemed to have fallen out with a burning shovel inside the furnace. The fire was so hot and bright, it was hard to see and even breathe.

The conductor was nowhere to be found in this little room. She saw the door leading outside open, just flapping in the wind which was not particularly good. She ran over to it, then a thought popped into her head, the conductor jumped off the train. Then she saw footprints on the snow on the steps leading off the train. 

She frowned and closed the door knowing there was no need for it to still be open. "Such a coward to leave and not being able to stop things, unless he was forced off and someone else had done the sabotage. Either way, she did not have a very good feeling about this whole thing.

When she turned around she was greeted by what looked like the conductor. It was hard to see who it was due to the heat making her eyes all watery. They had a metal pole in their hand, ready to swing at Risa. When he had taken a swing at Risa she had barely enough time and rolled out of the as it smashed through the floor. 

She got up quickly, scrambled to her feet, that could have been her, knocked unconscious and perhaps even bleeding. That was enough to make her heart pound against her rib cage as she tried to calm down her nerves. Never before, had just felt so close to death, not even falling into the water felt this close to death.

He ran over to her, swinging it again as she just again barely managed to roll out of the way. "What is it with people and want me dead! Why are you doing this?" She asked ducking once again, trying to keep away from the open furnace.

The man smirked evilly, there wasn't much to tell of his appearance, he surely was not the conductor. "You'll soon find out, but I have a job to do and I will finish promptly!" He said sending chills down Risa's back, baking her up into a corner where she would be unable to fight him.

Risa swallowed harshly. Maybe she should have said five or ten, not fifteen. They would probably be all dead by that time. "You still didn't answer my question!" She shot back at him, trying to suppress her nerves which showed in her high pitch voice. She was truly going to die.

He laughed a deep laugh, one that was creepy and almost an evil villain type laugh. "Do you have nine lives? I need to finish this job and you're not cooperating with me!" He grunted and swung again, aiming for her head to knock her unconscious.

This time she was able to grab it from his hand, it stung so badly, but she had grabbed onto it. She jerked him to where he fell on the ground and rolled out of the way, which she used the pole to open the door and he rolled right out onto the deep snow.

She cast off to the side of the pole, standing there for what felt like forever, but was a few seconds, trying to comprehend what just happened. Someone truly did want her dead, no one else, just her, and that broke her heart to hear. Would she ever find her family?

She shook her head, snapping out of her thoughts as she ran over to the rungs when she grabbed onto it. She yelped and pulled back her hands, her gloves were smoking just a little. The rungs were hot from the flames and went right through the thin fabric. 

She bit her lip and groaned. "I've got to find something to get back up with so my hands don't get burned?" She looked around looking for something, then she saw leather gloves laying on the floor. "That will do." she picked them up and put them on so that it would give her better protection.

She climbed up making sure she didn't burn anything on the hot rungs. When she made it to the coal bed the cold snow and wind made the sweat on Risa's clothes made her feel freezing. "I didn't think I sweated at all, and now I know I did." She mumbled as she crawled fast over the coal bed.

She climbed down the other rungs and somehow managed to jump over, having both men grab her arms and pull her into the car they tumbled back and Risa fell on the ground, but she was okay. "Thank you." She said standing up and taking a deep breath.

After gaining her breath she began to explain what she had seen. "Alright, someone, who was not the conductor and I had a battle. He kept telling me he had a job to do which was trying to kill me and if that's not the icing on the cake this is: someone sabotaged the furnace. It's had flames coming from it and there was coal everywhere and the shovel was inside the furnace." She explained taking off the leather gloves then she put them in her small suitcase.

Rolando was wide-eyed and shocked at what she had said. "I'm just glad you're alive and unhurt. Now, not that I don't care about you, I do, it's just going faster and faster every second! We have to unlink this car from the engine. If we don't we could probably derail and crash, dying." He didn't want to be the bearer of bad news but it was a fact.

Vincent buttoned up his jacket, paying no mind right now to someone trying to kill her.  "Risa and Rolando find something to unlink it with when it comes time. A crowbar or ax, something that will break it apart. So we won't derail and crash because, chances are, if that happens we will be dead." He said as he started to look along with the others.

They looked around for a few minutes and came up with nothing so far. "Seriously for a storage car they don't have much stored here," Risa commented using the crowbar to open up the crates. A crowbar could not get apart from the link, it would not work, and there was a good distance between the two cars.

Vincent looked in another crate, only seeing rope and other tools, nothing that could be used to detach the cars. "Come on! There has to be something around here to unlink the two trains?" He exclaimed, kicking the crate with his foot before sitting down on it after he had closed the lid.

Risa walked right beside the box with a tarp covering it. Her shoe got caught on the edge of the blanket, sending her crashing down on the floor with the blanket on top of her. "Ow! That hurt!" She groaned as she untangled herself from the blanket and rubbed her head.

Rolando walked over and offered out a hand to the girl. "Are you all right?" He was very concerned for the girl. He hated seeing her get hurt, anyone getting hurt for that matter. He didn't understand why good people always ended up being hurt the most it was unfair.

Risa took his hand and pulled herself up and smiled. "I'm fine." She brushed off her dress and straightened up, looking over at Vincent before looking into the crate. She pulled up some matches and smiled. "Hey, I found matches, could we use them in any way?" 

Vincent shook his head and sighed. "It's a few tiny matches, that's not going too much. Though keep them, we may end up needing them sometime later." He suggested running a hand through his hair. This was just awful, really awful that they could do nothing.

The trio once again fell backward on each other as the storage car jolted. This was not what they had planned on to keep happening. Every time the car jolted it sent them falling on top of each other. "Okay, now what do we do?" Risa asked, getting up and brushing her dress off. "We can't keep falling."

Vincent looked around and walked over to the back of the car. "Well, we might have to jump off this train and into the snow. It won't hurt us, but there is no way we are going to be slowing down this train." He explained grabbing his bags and making sure they were close to grabbing.

Risa blinked a few times and saw how fast they were going. "I am not jumping off the train going this fast. That is too much for me to handle, and I have handled a lot so far." There was no way she was jumping off a moving train. She didn't care if it was in the snow, she was not going to jump. 

Rolando looked at Risa and picked up Loyal in his arms. "I recall we were supposed to change tracks because the bridge was out. That's what I overheard some people say; that the new bridge was not completed yet and the workers were working on it now. We still have to go a long way before we would have to stop, if it jumped the tracks if we could get the car detached which we can't."

Vincent groaned and looked out the side of the car by opening the side door. "What? You couldn't have told us sooner? We're coming up on the bridge in maybe ten minutes or so?" He said pointing to the sign that they passed said what he had just told them. "We are going to have to jump soon whether you like it or not."

Risa felt her heart spot at what he said. She prayed that was not what he had just said. "Jump?" She asked, hoping she misheard him in saying something else that was less dangerous." She looked around for something else they could do. "Uh, why don't we try to use this chain with the weight at the end to anchor the train to a stop." 

Vincent looked over to what she had pointed to after she had pulled on her coat. "That could work, it looks heavy enough and I am sure it will catch onto something. Though it may end up bouncing along the tracks or even snapping off and taking a big chunk out of the train." He was not going to do that.

Risa rolled her eyes and looked at the side which said five hundred pounds. That was way too heavy for her to pick and she was shocked it hadn't weighed down the part of the car it was sitting on. "Wow, no wonder I can't pick it up. It weighs like a hundred times my weight, figuratively." She wasn't being serious.

Vincent sighed, he knew it could work if they just tried. "I will need everyone to help push this off okay?" He grabbed the chain part and then he laid down on the edge of the train's entry door's platform and hooked it up to the loop on the link. He wrapped it around a few times to make sure it was good and secure so they wouldn't have any problems with the weight. He prayed this worked.

Rolando and Risa pushed it off the edge, then quickly stepped back as it jerked the car a little bit every time it bounced along the tracks. then threw the weight onto the train. "I don't think this is working? For five hundred pounds, it's not that heavy compared to how fast we're going."

Vincent glanced over at Risa and threw her a cocky smile. "Nice thinking maestro." He said sarcastically, his pride once again rearing its ugly head. Did he always have to put her down? Why yes, yes he indeed had to since after all, it made him feel better.

Risa groaned, grabbing her bag in her hand and picking up her precious dog in her arms.  "You know you're a jerk right? I tried to come up with an idea to help us, it doesn't work, so what? Everyone makes mistakes Vincent." She exclaimed unhappily with how he was treating her.

Vincent looked over at her from grabbing his suitcases and said condescendingly. "One of the best you know!" He was not letting her bruise his ego, she was just a silly little girl. "Well, I think we should go back to my idea and jump." It seemed to be the best option for all of them.

Rolando gave Vincent a glare grabbing his bags. "Sometimes I regret not sending you away to an all-boys boarding school. It may have done you some good and straightened you up a bit." He told the young man. Maybe things would have been different if he had gone to someplace structured.

Risa looked at Rolando with a puzzled expression on her face at his first comment and then asked. "Wait you were going to send him to an all-boys boarding school?" She laughed at the thought of Vincent being at a place like that. "Oh, how I would have loved to see that if it happened. Imagine Vincent in a uniform, listening to people and being a gentleman who wasn't so cocky and scheming." She teased laughing.

Vincent looked between the two who were talking then out at the bridge that they were three minutes away from giving it take. "Why are you standing around talking? We're just going to have to jump into the snow if we want to live." He walked over to the door and took a deep breath.

Risa was worried, the anxiety she was getting jumping out the side of a train going as fast as it was.    "You know, I don't want to die today. All I want to do is find my family and so far, I have always died so many times." She was panicking a little, but who wouldn't panic.

Vincent sighed and looked over at her finding her little panic annoying. "You won't die! Now on the count of three, we're all going to jump at the same time okay." He said as they all nodded. "One . . . two . . . three!" He called as they jumped out of the car onto the snow that they sunk right into. 

The engine and the storage cart kept going straight for the bridge. The workers saw the two carts coming toward them. They all ran out of the way and took cover behind some boxes that had tools and stuff in them. They were scared out of their wits at the oncoming train carts. They didn't know if anyone was driving or not, it didn't seem as if anyone was.

It then hit a rock, jumping the tracks and detailing. It rolled down the side of the snowy mountain like an apple rolling down a hill. It hit a few trees before dropping off the gorge and crashing down. A loud explosion was heard followed by billowing clouds of thick black smoke. At least it had missed all the people working on the tracks and hadn't messed up anything.

Risa fell back on the snow, taking a few deep breaths and rubbing her shaking mutt's head. They were alive once again, and she couldn't have been happier. Now they would be having a very long walk ahead of them to be back on the right track to get to Paris. It was not going to be a walk in the park.

❅~❅~❅~❅~❅~❅~❅~❅~❅~❅~❅

A/N:
Finally this is done and sorry this may be a little longer than my others, but I did not want to take any out. My fingers ache because I did my best to finish the rest today and just get this published. I am so sorry for making you weight, I am working on my other novels so ever feverishly.

Chapter talk:
Once again someone tried to make sure Risa doesn't find her family. Medusa is really working hard without even knowing who she truly is. For all she knows she is the wrong person, but because Hans said he thinks she might be Medusa is waging war on Risa.

The reason I didn't at the guy on the train, or Vincent's two friends to the characters because they are not that important. They didn't have any interaction with them that much and I just didn't want to write up profiles for people you will never see again. (The three guys on the boat is different, they were in more than one chapter)

And lastly, anything else I forgot ask away my pals. I am happy to answer anything!

In closing, all rude, impolite and mean comments will be replied to in a diplomatic way, reported or deleted if I feel like it is attacking me personally.

Thanks for reading!