3 Years Ago

"What's that?" Allen asked, peering over Mary's shoulder. The two kids were in the young girl's room. Allen had been asked by one of the nuns to wake her up, but when he got there, she was already awake and fiddling with a small wooden box.

"Oh, this?" she looked down at the flower-engraved box. "It's a music box. I got it a long time ago, but..." she frowned. "I could never open it."

Allen sat down next to Mary on the floor. He stared at the box. It had a metal keyhole.

"Don't you have a key?" he asked.

The periwinkle-haired girl shook her head. "No. I never got one. I've thought of breaking open the box, but I'm worried I might damage the inside. It's pretty isn't though? At first, I didn't know what kind of flower it was, so I asked Miss T. She told me it was a poppy. You don't see them much here. They're more common in the Lowlands."

"Hmm... Can I look at it for a second?"

"If you want to." she handed the box to the auburn-haired boy.

He stared at the music box, furrowing his eyebrows. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he turned his head to face the girl sitting next to him.

"Can I borrow one of your hairpins?" he asked urgently.

"Huh? Oh, sure." she carefully pulled a pin out of her braid. Mary would have to fix it before she went out, or the nurses would scold her.

Allen inserted the pin into the keyhole. He moved it once, twice, three times. The music box sprung open in a flash. Revealing the mechanism and a message on the top: 'Among the grey ashes the flames exhibit life.'

Mary's eyes widened, and her lips formed a wide smile. She held up the opened wooden box.

"You opened it!" she exclaimed, looking at the box in awe. Then she turned to Allen.

"Where'd you learn to pick a lock?" she inquired.

"Ah..." the boy in question scratched the back of his head. "It's a long story."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but then quickly veered her pink irises back onto the music box.

"Thanks, A," Mary said as the two listened to the soft melody. "I never thought I'd get it open."

"We're friends, aren't we?" he hugged his legs and rested his head on top of them. "And friends help each other."

Allen stared at the music box in the older girl's palms. The melody wasn't what piqued his interest though, but the words engraved onto the wooden box.

-

Present Day

"—y!"

"-ary!"

"Mary!"

Mary's eyes slowly opened. She blinked. Maria and Georges were standing in front of her. The former shook her. The young teen rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Did I fall asleep?" she asked sleepily.

"Yes, and you were awfully hard to wake up." Maria put her hands on her hips.

"Oh... sorry." Mary smiled apologetically.

"No need to apologize, dear," Maria said, grabbing her bag from the train floor. "I'm sure you needed that sleep."

Maria wasn't wrong. Mary was never much of a sleeper at night, not because she didn't want to sleep, but because she couldn't. Instead of simply laying on her bed staring at the ceiling, however, she preferred to gaze at the night sky, or if they were near the coast, the ocean, but unfortunately, that came at the cost of losing sleep.

The teen looked around. Besides her group, the rest of the train car was empty. No one was there! Not outside, not inside.

Seeing Mary's shocked face, Maria laughed.

"This is as far as the train goes, and no one ever stays this long in it," she explained.

Mary stood up, her legs were cramped from sitting for so long. They were back in Prussia, more specifically, northern Prussia. While Maria hadn't been back to the European Branch of the Order since she took in Mary, Georges regularly (as in every several months) would return there. The brown-haired man came back after his last trip with a new mission for the General. How did he always know where Maria was? Mary didn't know. Why didn't the order simply use Ur-Canpy (because Maria had told her the Order used golems for communication) to give her the mission? She had no clue.

Mary rubbed her temples. Thinking about those questions gave her a headache, and yet they persisted in her mind.

'Just go with the flow, Mary. Go with the flow...' she thought to herself.

The trio walked off the train and into the dark forest in front of them. The forest gave her an eerie feeling, sending shivers down her spine. No birds were chirping, no squirrels running around. Not a sound except the cracking of the dying leaves. They were following a path, with Georges leading the way. In his hand was a worn-down map.

"Georges, are you sure we're going the right way?" Mary questioned, peering over his side to the map in his hands. It wasn't in any language she could read well, but Mary recognized several phrases.

"I never knew you spoke French!" Mary looked at him with wide eyes.

Georges smiled. "France is my motherland. Though I'm surprised you didn't realize from my name. Both my first name, 'Georges' and my surname, 'Labelle,' are French."

The periwinkle-haired girl looked away, embarrassed. "It's not like I'm very familiar with French names. I haven't even been to France! Besides, when you speak English, you sound exactly like an Englishman."

"Ah, that is true. It's most likely because I haven't lived in France since my youth." he closed his eyes. "I lived in Gascogne with my mother and sister. We weren't particularly wealthy, but we lived."

"You have a sister?"

"Yes. A younger one. She's been married for quite some time now, and has a 2-year-old son." The Finder stopped in his tracks. "I hope to return to Gascogne one day. It's been too long since I've seen her in person. Although I am older than her, sometimes it felt like she was the older one. As a child I was a brat." he grinned. "She always scolded me. It was mortifying, being scolded by your little sister and all, but I deserved it."

"Wow... I can't imagine you acting like...like a rascal!" Mary exclaimed.

"I've changed a lot since then." the be-speckled man replied. "I'd like to believe for the better."

Mary nodded in agreement. "I think so."

Maria, who's as walking behind the two, suddenly quickened her pace and caught up with Georges and Mary. She smiled, eyes shielded by the glare of her glasses.

"Are you telling Mary here about your past?" she inquired.

Georges chuckled. "I guess it just slipped out."

"I'm glad you told me, Georges," Mary said. "By the way, what's your sister's name?"

"Gabrielle Labelle," he began. "although now she's Gabrielle Tiedoll." he replied.

-

*old* A/N: I'm back! This chapter is the introduction to the next mini-arc, and also gives some more info on our local Finder, Georges! I wonder who Gabrielle's son is ;). Hopefully, I'll be able to finish the next chapter soon as it was supposed to be part of this chapter (but unfortunately/fortunately(?) I stretched this chapter out)

Thanks for reading! Votes and comments are always appreciated. They're part of what keeps me motivated :D