A/N: Well, if I was to be chronological, this story was actually started before The Lochian Tales, as I'd been working on this since last summer sometime, however, I never really liked what I wrote, so I kept scrapping everything. Here's to hoping someone out there enjoys this!

Chapter I

Old Friends Never Really Fade

The sky was colored a myriad of blues, purples, oranges and reds as the large burning star that they called the sun began to set. The loud roaring of metal against metal could be heard in the distance as a rather large locomotive sped along the tracks, steam billowing out of the smokestack at the top of its front most car.

A rather lithe and overall unimpressive male sat alone in a compartment; his legs crossed. This man was truly the epitome of normalcy. At least to the naked eye... He had scruffy jet-black hair and half-lidded crystal blue eyes. His mouth appeared stuck in the shape of a half-bored, half uninterested line as his smooth, somewhat tanned fingers flipped a page in his book. His attention seemed occupied upon a rather small and beat up leather-bound book that he held in his hands. Turning a page, his eyes attempted to see past the rogue set of bangs that had fallen in front of his eyes to no avail. Taking a moment, he paused from his reading to fix his hair, only to hear the sudden screeching of the train's brakes.

Sighing, he seemed to dig around his pockets before pulling out an abnormally long chain with a pocket watch attached to the end. Pressing down the opening mechanism on the end, his eyes darted over the numerals extremely quickly before - in one swift motion - he returned the pocket watch to his pocket and began re-reading his book. Right on time… He thought to himself as the train came to an abrupt stop. This was their last stop before the final destination, which was his intended place of departure.

There was a fizzling over the intercom of the train as the conductor began to speak. “We'll be taking a bit of an unexpected stop here at Ivilan Station, it appears we're having mechanical troubles with the train.”

Scoffing, the man turned another page in his book, obviously none too happy with the current state of things... He had half a mind to simply deboard the train right then and there, but then he'd have to walk almost a good 7 miles to his destination, and he didn't have money to waste on any other forms of transportation, so he simply stuck with it.

Within another thirty pages (roughly fifteen minutes), the train had begun to move once again, and picked up considerable speed before beginning on the final leg of its journey. The train picked up speed relatively quickly and began chugging its way along the metallic tracks. “Heh...” He chuckled as his eye crossed a specific line in the book. However, as he turned the page, a loud noise disrupted his focus.

It sounded like a door being blown off its hinges…

“EVERYONE GET INTO THE AISLE AND GET ON THE GROUND!”

The voice was gruff, and rather boorish, and honestly, it made the man flinch when he heard it. However, his voice was nowhere near as irritating as the shrill screaming he heard coming from the women on board. Sighing, he flipped through another page in his book. Don't draw attention to yourself...

He figured it was best to follow along with these people's plans for now. Granted he hated being bossed around. He wasn't a dog that you could tell what to do. No, not anymore...

Getting out of his compartment, he straightened the creases out in his suit before kneeling to the ground in a calm fashion. Not bothering to catch a glimpse of the group of vagabonds, he laid himself out on the floor, his hands over his head.

“DON'T MOVE!”

The same voice shouted, and honestly, he was getting tired of the voice. It wasn't as annoying as before, but it was still annoying nonetheless. He could hear a bit of dialing from above his head and soon heard a less...masculine voice. It wasn't exactly a woman's voice...but a very feminine man. “Good day to you Mibelle Police Force...in case you haven't heard. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you don't know...” He said, pausing to chuckle. “We've got train thirty five on lockdown and we've re-routed the track. We're heading straight for the Mibelle First Bank. And if you don't give us what we ask for...well...” He paused again, apparently firing a shot from a gun; a woman screaming in response.

“We're going to take it. Times a-wastin'! Better get a move on!”

And with that, he hung up.

“So, how was that, hmm?” The feminine man piped up. “Not bad...glad I brought ya along...” It seemed as though the gruff man was the appointed leader. Which made sense, sort of. Usually the loud and rambunctious ones were the front men. It was just a sort of mold they had to fit. Not that it was always the case.

Shifting a little, the black-haired man still lay on the floor, wondering exactly how this was going to end... The police were smart; he had no doubt about that. But situations like these never really ended well, one way or the other. He shifted again, though this time, someone noticed. “Hey! We told ya not to move!” This voice sounded more like a female...a brash one, but a female either way.

Within the time for him to blink, he'd opened his eyes to the sight of a rifle in front of his face. Namely the butt of it. Looking up, he met face to face with a rather...grotesque looking woman. Her hair was cut short and shaggy and her face was smudged with what appeared to be dirt and grime. It was hard enough to look at her and now he probably had to talk to her. “I was attempting to get comfortable. Excuse me.” He said politely, shifting once again. The boorish man came up this time, apparently interested in the situation. “Well, just to make sure it don't happen again...” He paused before shifting around in a bag that they'd apparently brought with him.

Brandishing a rope, he looked over at the girl, nodding. “Well, git up then!” She shouted, nudging him with the butt of her rifle. He groaned, sitting up. Looking down at his suit, he grimaced. “Now look, you went and got dirt all over my suit...” He complained, holding out his hands. Best play along for now... He thought to himself. “Oh, shut yer mouth.” The woman said, hitting him rather heavily across the head with her rifle. The resulting damage wasn't a bleeding wound, but she did leave quite the obvious bruise. Crouching down, the leader yanked on the rope, grabbing at the man's hands before tying them around his back tightly. “Now then...ya stay put, got it?” He asked, though it obviously wasn't a question.

However, their attention was drawn to the ringing of the other member's cell phone. As he looked over it, he nodded at the other two hijackers. “It's them.” Picking up the phone, he spoke into it. “Why hello officers, to what do I owe the phone call?” He asked, obviously feigning ignorance. The voice on the other end was incomprehensible, but that may have been because he was so far away. However, he seemed to have gotten a clue from what the hijacker responded with. “Our demands? Well, we'd like fifty million yurels within the next two hours, or we crash this train into the bank and take the money ourselves.” He said; a rather sadistic grin on his face. “For every half hour that we don't get our money...a person on this train will die.” The response to this was screaming and crying from the various passengers, though the restrained man simply kept quiet, listening intently.

“Time starts...now.” He said, hanging up the phone.

The hijacker laughed maniacally as he put the phone away, it seemed as though he got some sort of enjoyment out of this. “So...” He looked at his boss, still grinning. “Who should we kill first?” He said, already anticipating what would happen. “Hmm...” He walked through the aisles, looking down at the people. “Ah!” He giggled, picking up a woman by her hair. “How about you?” Smiling, he looked over her face; she however, didn't dare look at him. “A nice pretty face...” He said, running a hand over it slowly. “I wonder how it looks when it's screaming in pain?!” He shouted at her. She cried in response, fearing for her life. The hijacker then threw her to the ground, quite forcefully too.

About twenty-five minutes later, the hijacker picked up his phone once again. After dialing, he spoke into the receiver. “Hello again officers. It's nice to hear your voices...” He joked. “Ah yes, about that ransom money...how is it coming?” He asked, walking back down the aisle to the same woman he'd frightened earlier. “Oh? No luck? That's too bad...” He glanced at his watch. “You do remember the consequences of failure, don't you?” He spoke into the phone. “Ah, good...so I suppose you know what happens next, right?” He smiled, picking up the woman by her hair. “Oh, pleading won't do you any good...” He spoke into the phone. “I'm a man of my word, and I do believe I told you what would happen if you didn't give us our money.” He chided. “Now if you'll excuse me...I've got a date with a rather beautiful lady here.” He giggled, hanging up the phone.

The woman was literally sobbing now, her body trembling beneath her assailant. “Aw...don't cry now, it'll only hurt a lot.” He said, brandishing a knife and holding it up to her face. “Oh, will ya just hurry it up, already?” The female hijacker said, looking at her colleague with a bored expression. The man snarled at her, grunting. “Oh, be quiet. I'm just having fun. You should try it once in a while.” He said, holding the knife to her neck.

“Pl-please...” The woman pleaded, staring down at the knife, frightened. “Don't do this...” She begged. The hijacker sighed. “Tsk, tsk, tsk...” He shook his head. “Begging isn't becoming of a pretty lady like you...” He reprimanded, pressing the knife against her harder now. “P-please...” The knife began to break the skin, and soon enough, blood was oozing out of the wound.

Still tied up, the man sat looking over the scene. Jeeze...I hate it when I'm right. He thought to himself. Closing his eyes, he seemed to disappear from his spot, reappearing behind the hijacker and his victim. “Hey...” He whispered into the hijacker's ear.

“What the-” His confusion was cut off by a rather solid kick to the face and he landed on the ground, clutching the wound that had been left there. “The hell?!” He shouted, looking up at the attacker. Sighing, the bound man looked at the other two attackers, his bored expression still planted on his face. “How the hell did you do that?!” The female hijacker said, looking from the spot he'd been sitting to where he was now. “Magic.” He said, obviously joking. The leader obviously wasn't one for explanations, as he had begun charging straight for the man. Swinging rather heavily for his head, the bound passenger dodged to the side easily before he noticed another swing from the female hijacker, flipping over a nearby seat and landing on the opposite of the two of them. “Ugh! You little...!” The woman shouldered her gun, aiming straight at his head.

Firing the trigger, he ducked as the bullet went through a window and harmlessly flew outside. Oh yeah...I forgot she had a gun... He thought, instantly moving to disarm her. She began to fire once again, and he seemed to dodge each bullet effortlessly. Once he'd gotten in range, he jumped into the air, landing a spinning kick straight at the side of her face. There was a sickening crack as her head spun out of alignment and she fell to the ground wailing. “That's two down...” He said, kicking the woman as she writhed. Turning back, he looked at the leader.

“So...” He took a step towards the hijacker and he took a step back. “Wh-who are you?” He stuttered, stepping back a bit more. “Oh yes...I suppose it is formal to introduce yourself to your opponent...” He sighed. “Where are my manners?” He shook his head. “The name's Dmitri.” He said, taking a huge step towards the leader. Before he could take a step back however, he was sideswiped by Dmitri. When he hit the ground, Dmitri's foot was already at his throat and he pressed down on it rather hard. Within a few minutes, he passed out from suffocation, and Dmitri then took this time to press down on his neck harder, before an eventual snap was heard.

Sighing, he looked over the passengers. “Well, I guess that's that then.” He said. “You all can get up now!” He exclaimed to the passengers, heading over to the woman that the hijacker had attempted to attack. The knife hadn't left a large gash, though there was still one there, and by now, her shirt had become pretty soaked in blood. One of the passengers approached the two of them, looking down at Dmitri. Upon feeling the presence of another person, Dmitri looked back. “Hey, do you mind untying me?” He asked.

The passenger agreed, and soon enough Dmitri's hands were free. Looking down at the woman, Dmitri sighed. “Does anyone know where I can find a first aid kit on this thing?” He said, looking around. “There's one here!” Someone shouted from the front of the car, before running down to the scene. “Well, make sure this woman gets patched up. I'm going to try and figure out how to stop this train from crashing...” He said, heading over to the feminine hijacker and taking his phone.

Dialing the number for the police, he headed to the front of the train. “Hello?” Dmitri spoke into the receiver. The police officers on the opposite end sounded quite frightened as they spoke. “Look, the hijackers are taken care of, I'm going to try and stop this thing, but I'm going to need your help.” He said, now at the front of the train. The driver had been stabbed and positioned against the side wall, slumped over. They'd somehow managed to set the course for the train and had put it onto auto-pilot.

It took a while, but the police and Dmitri had finally managed to reroute the course for the train and after going around in a rather large circle, the train had arrived at its original final destination. The police were there waiting along with a medical staff to help the passengers on the train. When the police boarded the train looking for Dmitri, however, he was nowhere to be found...

“Well, where could he have gone? I mean, it's not like he could've just disappeared, could he?” One of the officers said, obviously confused with the situation.

Dmitri sighed as he appeared outside the train station, just behind the crowd of people who'd gathered around the taped off area. Looking over his suit, he ran a hand through his hair. “Dammit...I can't go like this...” He said. His suit had been covered in dirt and blood, and wrinkled all over. Shifting through his pockets, he pulled out his wallet and looked through it. “I've got barely enough to cover my trip over here…” He groaned, looking himself over. “Well, here's to hoping that she's got some money to cover my ass...” He murmured, stepping into a nearby clothing shop.

Within about thirty minutes, he came out in a completely new suit, perfectly clean. “I can't believe I spent all my money on one goddamn suit...rip-off artists...” He sneered looking back at the store before continuing on his way.

“Where is he?” A woman said, tapping her heels against the pavement. “I swear, if he doesn't get here in...” However, her attention shifted as she noticed a lone man walking down the street. He was dressed in a rather clean and well-pressed suit, as if it had just been made and given to him. When he'd managed to get within viewing distance of the woman, her expression of curiosity immediately changed to that of anger.

“God dammit, Dmitri!” The woman shouted, literally slapping him across the face. The resulting collision of palm and cheek resounded in a loud SMACK throughout the air. “Don't you know of something called punctuality?” The woman asked, her hands on her hips. “Or have you lost your professionalism?!” Her loud and rather...abrasive tone had managed to grab the attention of almost everyone on the street. Dmitri sighed, rubbing his cheek. “Nice to see you too, Illyana...” He retorted, his voice oddly emotionless. “But I got a little...held up.” He commented, a small smile playing over his face. “Let's just get this over with no? I need the money to pay off this darn suit...” He grumbled, watching the woman intently.

She sighed, pushing a few blonde strands of hair out her face, nodding in agreement. “Just let me do all the talking...you never were good with people.” Opening the door, she walked inside, soon to be followed by Dmitri. Making their way to the booth in the back of the store, Dmitri noticed a rather frail-looking woman sitting inside the booth, taking the farthest seat she could, putting her against the wall. Looking up at the two of them, she smiled albeit rather weakly. Dmitri sat down across from her, Illyana soon following suit. When everyone was situated, Illyana began the opening formalities. “I do apologize for my acquaintance's late arrival. But let's get down to business, shall we?” She began, pulling a rather thick manila folder from her even larger purse.

“Oh, it's quite all right, so long as you're here, right?” Dmitri had to resist the urge to scoff. It's not like it was his fault! Damn terrorists and their half-baked schemes... Closing his eyes, Dmitri slouched into his seat, pulling a lollipop out of his pocket in the process. He then proceeded to unwrap it, and stuck it in his mouth. Illyana then glanced at Dmitri, immediately seething. His whole disposition really irked her. How he could be so...rude? Heaving a mental sigh, she continued. She knew she was a professional.

“So, you want us to deliver a letter for you?” She asked, looking over the stack of papers in her folder. The woman nodded. “I'd do it myself...but I'm much too sick...” Illyana had to resist the urge to comfort the woman. She couldn't imagine what she must've been going through. “All right, we'll take care of it for you.” It was then that Dmitri scoffed. “Yeah...right, we.” He whispered, shifting a bit in his seat. Illyana looked over at him, a snarl quickly appearing on her face. No...I have to maintain my composure in front of the client... She told herself, quickly regaining her composure. “I've also paid in advance, so you should receive the money within a few days at most.” The woman informed them before subsequently going into a fit of coughing.

“Are you all right?” Illyana asked, reaching over the table to the woman. The coughing soon died down, and the woman waved off Illyana's concern. “Oh, I'm fine. It happens occasionally, it's nothing worry about.” She reassured Illyana. Dmitri, on the other hand, seemed to have fallen asleep, as he looked rather unaffected by the issues going on around him; causing Illyana to get even more irritated at him. “Well, you've sent us all the information we'll need, so I think you should get going now, we'll handle the rest from here on out.” She said, effectively concluding the meeting. The woman smiled feebly in response before getting up slowly and heading for the door, Isabelle and Dmitri following suit.

As the three of them stepped outside, Illyana and the client exchanged goodbyes (Dmitri was too busy staring at the other people to care), with the two of them headed off to the train station. The client rounded the nearest corner, taking a moment to pause and check back behind her. When she saw that Illyana and Dmitri were out of sight, she continued her stroll, taking a sudden right turn into an alleyway.

“I was wondering what took you so long...”

She smirked, looking at the concealed man with an obvious evil intent in her eyes. “Well, I apologize.” The woman responded, bowing to the person. “It happens occasionally? It's nothing to worry about?” As he repeated the woman's words, a smile crept across his face revealing a set of pearly white teeth. “You think I laid it on too thick?” The woman asked, before the both of them laughed rather loudly. “Well, that doesn't matter now. With everything set in place, there's no doubt that those two won't have any chance of getting back alive...” Taking a moment to laugh again, the man reached a hand out from his concealed position, resting it on her shoulder. “Come, we've much preparing to do.” He said, before the two of them disappeared under a shroud of darkness.

A/N: To me, the ending of this chapter felt a bit cliche, but I didn't want to drag it out any longer than I felt it necessary. I promise the second chapter will be a lot better!