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missaudreystiara · 2 years

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Prompt Bess × Audrey 10!

Anon I’m sorry it’s taken so long to reply! This prompt for my faves seemed to sad too write (screw you anon - jk) and I had no idea where to start with it, but then I remembered something Bess says in S2 episode 10 just after they’ve decided to use Audrey as a hostage and sort of ran with it! I don’t usually write angsty fics and I’m not sure it’s where my skills lie (I generally only write fluffy feel good mush) but I actually like where this idea went and I’m thinking about using it as a starting point for a series exploring the gap between S2 and S3 and attempting to delve a bit more into Audrey’s motivations/thoughts at this time. Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts 🖤❄️

10 - Things you said that made me feel like shit

How long are they going to leave me in here? Audrey wondered, sitting on the floor of a cupboard, still bound in handcuffs, still covered in her own blood - still alone. Was this what rock bottom felt like?

It seemed like hours had passed since she’d been locked back away in there after Layton and his merry band of pirates had stolen Snowpiercer from Joseph, and her along with it (not that he’d seemed as concerned about losing her as he had been about losing his precious engine). Losing the engine meant he was losing power, control, but losing her? That was a mere inconvenience by comparison. Audrey knew better by now than to be surprised, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt or that she hadn’t wished that this might have finally been the time he did surprise her. She hated herself for that.

To say that the pair had a complicated history would be… an understatement. They’d spent almost two decades together before the freeze, but they weren’t filled with the romance and laughter that Joseph liked to pretend they had been. For Audrey, it had been years of knowing that she was only safe for as long as she was willing to be what Joseph needed her to be, for as long as he felt like he was in control of her, body and soul. That was what the deal had been all those years ago when he’d spotted her working as an escort at a party on one of his trains. He had offered her a way out - to show her the world… to help her to record her music and share her talent… a life with him. A handsome stranger offering her everything she’d ever wanted, and all he’d asked for in return was loyalty. At 18 years old it had sounded so easy. She shuddered; the scar on her forearm was all the reminder she needed of what could happen if that loyalty was called in to question.

What would happen to her now? If Joseph had even the slightest reason to doubt whether her loyalty had remained strong while she was trapped here, what fate would await her when the two trains eventually reconnected? Christ! Just look at how he’d responded to Kevin after only a day aboard Snowpiercer. She’d alienated her friends and if she couldn’t rely on Joseph’s… affection… what was she going to do?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. A knock? She almost laughed Who on earth takes a hostage and locks them away, only to… knock before entering?

“It’s me, I’ve come to see if you’re okay” …Bess. She was the last person Audrey wanted to see. She remained silent.

After a pause, it must have dawned on the former brakemen that she wasn’t going to receive a reply. Audrey heard the key turn in the lock. She greeted the blonde with a raised eyebrow - as if she cared whether she was okay?

“I don’t know what to say okay, Audrey?” Bess shrugged and ran an anxious hand through her fringe. She took a hesitant step forward, “Are you okay?”

Audrey scoffed. “Like you care.”

Bess sighed “Please don’t make this harder, Audrey.”

“Seriously? You’re asking me not to make this harder?” She retorted.

“This wasn’t my idea Audrey” the former brakeman snapped “I didn’t choose to bring you with us.”

“Yes” Audrey agreed, “You’ve made that abundantly clear Bess. But whoever’s idea this was, you were the one who paraded me in front of Joseph like a puppet and then manhandled me in here - did this” she attempted to gesture to her nose, bloody and swollen, with her shoulder. It wasn’t easy in handcuffs.

At this, the blonde winced. “I am sorry about that. I hope it isn’t broken.”

“Fortunately for you, I don’t think it is” Audrey replied.

“Good” Bess nodded.

A beat passed. Bess took another few awkward steps forward into the cupboard, closing the gap between the two of them. “Look —” she began, her voice softer now “I’m supposed to be taking you straight to the library, but do you want me to take you somewhere to clean up first? Ben’s using the shower up in the engine, but I think there’s a bath tub in one of the first class cabins you could use?”

Audrey froze. “No” she said more firmly than she’d intended, “not a bath tub.”

Bess eyed her with confusion.

Still somewhat rattled, Audrey continued “Just — can you just take me to a sink somewhere or bring me a basin of water or something. Not a bath tub. Please.”

Bess continued to stare at her at her, mystified, but Audrey offered no explanation. “Why, does Wilford have a bath kink?” The blonde asked, seemingly in an attempt at a joke to diffuse the mounting tension in the room.

“Something like that” she replied, her expression full of disgust, “I — I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay, okay — err — I’ll bring you some water, just — just bear with me a minute” Bess replied awkwardly, quickly ducking back out of the cupboard, leaving Audrey alone again.

She let out a sigh of relief when the door closed. Too many old memories were resurfacing - old wounds re-opening - today, and she wasn’t in the mood to share them. If truth be told, she hadn’t ever been in the mood to share them.

The former brakeman returned quickly, knocking on the door once more. “Come in” Audrey responded this time. Bess had brought an assortment of goods back with her - a shallow bowl of water, a wash cloth, soap, antiseptic cream, and aspirin. She set the items down and sat on the floor opposite Audrey, rolling her sleeves up to her elbows.

“May I?” Bess gestured to the wash cloth and basin. “Sorry, I’m not allowed to uncuff you” she grimaced apologetically.

Audrey nodded, indicating for Bess to continue. The blonde dipped the washcloth into the water and brought it gently up to Audrey’s face - the water was warm. She worked in silence for a minute or so before Audrey broke it to ask softly “Why are you doing this Bess?”

“Doing what?” Bess shrugged, continuing to cleanse the blood from Audrey’s face.

“Pretending to care about me” she couldn’t meet the blonde’s eyes.

Bess stopped what she was doing and sighed “I’m not pretending, I do care about you Audrey. I’m disappointed and I’m mad and I want to shake you until every last thought of Wilford falls out of your head, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about whether you’re hurt or not.”

“That’s funny, because it didn’t seem to matter to you earlier” Audrey responded, still refusing to meet Bess’s eyes.

Bess frowned.

“I heard what you said Bess, before you took me to the aquarium, ‘Oh great, Audrey’s the hostage. Are we bringing anyone we actually want?’” Audrey elaborated, her voice rich with sarcasm.

Blood rushed to the former brakeman’s cheeks “Audrey, I —”

“I’m no fool” she interrupted, finally looking the other women directly in the eye. “I saw the looks you all gave me at that disastrous dinner party, I’ve heard all the track talk…” she took a breath, to steady her voice “… but to hear you say that? Well, it made me feel like shit, Bess.” It really had. She valued her relationship with the other woman more than she’d realised.

Bess floundered “Audrey — you weren’t meant to … I didn’t realise you heard… that.” She grimaced.

“That doesn’t sound very much like an apology to me” Audrey countered, an eyebrow raised.

Bess sighed “I’m sorry you heard that, Audrey - I wish you hand’t. But —” she shrugged, throwing her hands up in exasperation, “ But I’m not sorry I said it. Christ what did you expect?” She continued, frustration growing in her voice “We all trusted you — I trusted you, but you went back to him. Actions have consequences Audrey. Surely you can’t expect to choose Wilford over us with no repercussions?”

Actions have consequences… if only Bess knew just how painfully aware she was of this.

“It’s not as simple as that, Bess” she replied, gazing intently into the former brakeman’s eyes, a sad smile forming at her lips.

Bess frowned, “What do you mean?”

“I —” Audrey began, but was interrupted when the door to the cupboard was thrown open. Bess scrambled to her feet quickly, dropping the wash cloth as she stood. Layton entered the room. He looked from Bess to Audrey (and the various sundries on the floor) to Bess again, raising an eyebrow. “Why is she not in the library yet?” He gestured at Audrey, his voice heavy with frustration. “We need you in the engine Till - we’ve got plans to make”

Bess’s cheeks coloured pink once more. “Sorry we were just — I was just”

Layton closed his eyes and let out a sigh “It doesn’t matter, just hurry it up - get her out of here and meet me in the engine as fast as you can”, leaving the room as suddenly as he’d arrived.

Bess looked at Audrey as though about to pick up their conversation once more, but before she could Audrey spoke up: “A story for another day then, darling”, she forced her mouth in to a confident smile - her usual mask now firmly back in place as she allowed the former brakeman to lead her away.

... to be continued(?)

#snowpiercer #snowpiercer tv #snowpiercer fanfiction #snowpiercer fic #brakenight #brakenight fanfiction #miss audrey #bess till #bess x audrey #Audrey x bess #mr wilford #andre layton

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raggedy-dxctor · 3 years

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the urge to write fanfiction for snowpiercer rn...

#corrin.txt #snowpiercer #bess till #andre layton #melanie cavill #bennet knox #snowpiercer fanfiction

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troubledapocalypsetrain · 4 years

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Melanie: my stiletto heel has a shiv

All: we know

Layton: we really know

Ruth: I did not know!

our heels come with knives in them 😀?

Melanie: uh, no.

I made mine.

Ruth: why didn’t I get one?

Melanie: you would have stabbed me.

Ruth: 😌 I would have ❤️.

#incorrect snowpiercer #snowpiercer fanfiction #snowpiercer tnt #snowpiercer tv #snowpiercer #melanie cavill #andre layton #ruth wardell #jennifer connelly #alison wright

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nais0406 · 3 years

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Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Snowpiercer (TV 2020) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Melanie Cavill & Andre Layton Characters: Melanie Cavill, Andre Layton, Bennett Knox Additional Tags: Friendship or relationship as you like, Fluff, first fanfiction so sorry Summary:

When Layton finds a tipsy Melanie outside the Nighcar

#snowpiercer #first fanfiction #hope it's not too bad #Melanie cavill #Andre Layton

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ruthiesrambles2 · 2 years

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Considering this a successful naptime! Day 2 of Angstember complete by 3pm.

And in an unexpected turn of events it's Andre/Zarah!

#snowpiercer #andre layton #zarah ferami #snowpiercer tv #snowpiercer netflix #Snowpiercer fanfic #Snowpiercer fanfiction #Snowpiercer tnt

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valwrite · 4 years

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sinning / grieving; masterlist

status: on hold whilst i finish writing it

Hell has frozen over and, in it’s place, Snowpiercer has emerged. It’s many carriages carry secrets: affairs, murders, betrayals. And that’s only mentioning Andre Layton’s secrets. When a serial killer appears, Detective Layton is called on to the case. Though reluctant at first, he agrees to take on the case when he discovers the first victim is rumored to be a once Tallie, an ex-coworker, an ex-lover: Y/N L/N. What starts as a hunt for her killer quickly becomes a hunt for the truth behind her suspicious death. The Tail is uprising; his ex-wife is back in his line of sight; all eyes of the train are on him; and all Andre Layton can focus on is finding Y/N L/N’s body.

Series warning: Angst, Character Death, Smut, Infidelity.

Chapter One: pride / shock

Chapter Two: envy / denia

Chapter Three: gluttony / anger

Chapter Four: greed / bargaining

Chapter Five: lust / depression

Chapter Six: sloth / testing

Chapter Seven: wrath / acceptance

Related drabbles/oneshots: The Rock Between Us.

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valwrite · 4 years

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the rock between us; andre layton

masterlist

summary: the train changes everything: faces, futures, feelings.

warnings: angst, hints of infidelity.

fic style: drabble.

word count: 968

author’s note: okay, hear me out, there is not nearly enough andre layton related fics out there and it bothers me. so, i’m writing a seven part andre layton series and this drabble is a little peek into what the dynamic between andre and the reader will be. please know that the actual series will deal with dark themes such as murder and trauma, there will also be a theme of infidelity throughout the whole fic, which will be told from andre’s point of view for the most part and will alternate between the present time on snowpiercer and the past before the planet froze over. anyways, i’m excited to share the series soon but, for now, please enjoy this drabble. as always, any feedback is appreciated.

There’s an unusual quiet that’s fallen over the Tail, a place where the poorest souls of the surviving humanity are so often yelling and hollering for a chance at a better life. Tonight, it seems like the only things yelling are the train’s wheels as they squeak along the ice coated tracks below, shaking the cabins.

In this moment, she’s thankful she doesn’t deal with motion sickness.

A cringe takes over her features as she hears the unmistakable sound of some of the Tailies, the more sinister ones, chewing away at whatever comrade had overstayed their welcome. Andre brought it up last week- she thinks it was last week but, really, it’s becoming hard to tell the difference between night and day- and she has to silently praise him for it. He's the only one brave enough to bring up their monstrous behavior.

Erik would have never brought it up.

The dull pencil moves in her hand at it’s own will, branding the scrap of crumpled paper with swirls and lines and shades of gray. She knows she’s drawing a face- a man’s face - yet she carries no recollection of when it had even started to take shape. When her eyes flicker over her work in progress, she notices the little things about his face that have changed since the cold struck: his hair has grown out; the bags under his eyes have become more noticeable; he’s lost the softness of his cheeks, the drastic decline of daily meals taking it’s effect; his wrinkles are a little deeper when he frowns.

She used to draw him before the cold, too. When the dim light of a hotel room or the flickering bulb of the station kitchen was all that illuminated them both, he’d let her sketch him a portrait of what he looked like right then and there. The station sketches were always prim and proper, his badge peeking at the bottom of it and his so called “serious detective” stare encapsulated his eyes. The hotel sketches were more free, more messy. She’d sometimes add the tiniest detail of herself into them: her hand on his bare chest, her naked thigh draped over him, the tips of her hair splashed across his pillow. He always loved the hotel ones best.

“I see Miles gave up some of his paper, huh?”

Her eyes strip themselves away from the drawing of his face to his actual face. He’s waiting for her to invite him to sit next to her and she’s never appreciated his gentleness more. Maybe that’s why she pats the empty space next to her.

Maybe that’s what she tells herself to avoid the fact she’s missed being so close to him.

“He’s a sweet kid.” She doesn’t know what else to say. Conversation between them just doesn’t seem to come as easily as it once had. They always worked best when there was a case to work on or clothes to rid each other of.

“Sweet, my ass.” He grumbles jokingly and it almost makes her laugh. God, she misses laughter. “He’s got a crush on ya.”

“What can I say? The boy’s got good taste”

“Sure does.” The deeper meaning behind his answer isn’t lost on her but, what would she have to gain from acknowledging it? “Listen, I wanted to thank you. For earlier, with the rest of the Tailies.”

“Oh, yeah, no problem.” She’s folding the paper over now, hoping he’s not aware of her artwork. She knows, deep down, that he noticed it the second he arrived. “S’not a problem at all.”

“I know they all think we should leave the whole cannibalism issue alone. Think it’s easier because they haven’t killed us yet. But, I mean, it’s only a matter of time, right? Guess we’re the only two that get that.”

She thinks of how, when he was giving his big speech to the group, he seemed so much like the detective he’d once been. All self-righteous and justice seeking. If she hadn’t been missing him before, she certainly is now. “Sorry about Erik, by the way. You know he can be a little, y’know, quick to anger.” She misses speaking comfortably with him, as if there wasn’t constantly a pair of extra eyes on them. She wonders if Andre misses it too. Misses her too.

“I can handle Erik, don’t you worry.” He could handle Erik, and then some. “I know it can’t be easy to speak against your own husband. So, thank you, again.”

She knows that he’s focusing on that word just as much as she is. Husband. But, of course, there’d been a time where she was going to separate herself from Erik, in the same way that Andre was going to separate himself from Zarah. Unforeseen circumstances came in the way of their happiness.

She couldn’t help but feel it was karma for all the harm their little secrets would cause.

“Are you happy, Y/N?” It’s been so long since the last time she’d heard him say her name, as if he were fearful of using it. “With Erik, I mean.”

Zarah left the Tail a while back, and it wasn’t like her and Andre had been getting along before she’d left. There’d been a point in their history where she would have jumped at the opportunity to be with Andre. But there was Snowpiercer now, that was their life. A life where Erik would always exist between them, for better or for worse.

“As happy as I could be.” She swallows, fearing the disbelief for her own words will seep into her voice. “On Snowpiercer, of course. Erik’s just, uh... He’s my rock.”

“We all need rocks, don’t we?” Andre’s eyes are burning as they stare into her own. She’s always loved how he was so passionate. “You’re lucky, Y/N.” She bites back a plea to hear him say her name again.

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valwrite · 4 years

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O1 pride / shock; andre layton series

general masterlist

series masterlist

series taglist: @gollyderek @fanfic-addict-98 @lets-love-little-me

summary: hell has frozen over and, in it’s place, snowpiercer has emerged. it’s many carriages carry secrets: affairs, murders, betrayals. and that’s only mentioning andre layton’s secrets. when a serial killer appears, detective layton is called on to the case. though reluctant at first, he agrees to take on the case when he discovers the first victim is rumored to be a once Tallie, an ex-coworker, an ex-lover: Y/N L/N. what starts as a hunt for her killer quickly becomes a hunt for the truth behind her suspicious death. the tail is uprising; his ex-wife is back in his line of sight; all eyes of the train are on him; and all andre layton can focus on is finding Y/N L/N’s body.

series warnings: angst, character death, smut, infidelity.

chapter warnings: mentions of suicide, details of murder.

fic style: series.

word count: 4292.

author’s note: apologies for the delayed posting of this, i was on holiday and forgot to queue this post. the first chapter follows very closely the actual series but, the following chapters deviate and will follow their own plot, whilst still maintaining some of the show’s main plots. as always, any feedback is welcomed.

Of all the things Andre Layton had thought about when it came to life further up the train, smell was the last thing he'd ever considered.

Crouched over on the floor, he takes in a whiff of the air. There's no thickness to this air, unlike the Tail's air. There is no stench of sweat; or blood; or tears mixed in with the breath he takes. The air in the Tail tells a story of it's inhabitants struggle for survival, all the daily hardships they endure leaving behind a foul stench the Tailies had grown to find comforting. This air is clean. Perhaps a little too clean, the faintest hint of bleach is tickling at his nose. He knows from experience what the smell of bleach could be covering up but pushes those thoughts to the side, preferring to live in blissful ignorance for just this one breath.

His head is pounding, the very first headache he's had since, well, he's forgotten how long it's been, actually. There's always the thought of how maybe the headache is chronic in the Tail, never ending and, therefore, never beginning, bringing Andre to a numbness when faced with such pain. But it's been hours now since he had been forced out of his home, perhaps the quiet consumed him enough to remind him of a life without noise and headaches, only to snatch the rug out from beneath his feet and hand him the worst one he'd dealt with.

Andre's in disbelief still. He knows the Tail is in chaos. The chaos is what kept them all alive, what will continue keeping them all alive. But, uptrain? He's always assumed they were tranquil. What he's quickly discovering is that, while tranquility may have been the surface layer, if someone even begins to dig just slightly, they'd very easily stumble upon savage beasts wearing sheep's clothing. The Tail may very well be a dark and difficult place to live but all of it's travelers had learnt long ago to find empathy in each other, working together rather than just for themselves.

A murder has taken place. Well, actually, two. Possibly three, from the way Officer Till had been arguing in hushed whispers with her superior earlier on, after Andre took a few beatings from the British officer, who's name began with O and ended in asshole. The death tally isn't his main focus either way, rather the job they are attempting to enforce on him is.

It's not like he doesn't understand why or how they came to the decision of requesting - he believes they were more demanding - his services. They have a potential serial killer on the loose and they claim he's the only one on the train with experience in such a field. Of course they were going to come knocking on his door. Only, he's not technically the only one on board with familiarity of crime scenes, just the only detective. And, see, if it weren't for the fact he'd spent however many years has passed watching how the upper class men on the train came and stole food, medicine, life from the Tail, then maybe he would have been a little more giddy about stepping back into Detective Layton's shoes. Alas, they'd made their beds and it was about time they started to lay in it, because they weren't about to get any help from him.

For all he cared, the killer could have at them all till there was no one left but the Tailies. They were the only ones good for anything on Snowpiercer.

"So, you got a body?" Andre stares up at the Brakeman- Doshe? No, no, Roche! - and the voice of the train, the woman who'd introduced herself but he'd tuned out her name. He doesn't need to know the name of the woman who spoke for Mr. Wilford. It was bad enough the man had been too coward to ever properly address the Tail by making a physical appearance, never mind the fact he won't even speak to them over the announcer. He sometimes imagined Mr. Wilford, with a pot belly and a whitened beard, surrounded by nothing but lavish. "Good for you, keep it for yourself, like everything else you lot have."

"This killer is taking lives on board this train." The train's voice starts up again, staring down at him with not a wrinkle of emotion behind her callous eyes. He's met a few women like her in his life, who's eyes remained devoid and near lifeless even when faced with some of the most horrific acts a person could do. "Like it or not, you're a member of this train and-"

"That's the problem with your lot, the Tail's only part of the train when it's convenient to you."

"The tail was always part of the train, just not it's inhabitants." Roche fires out, his brows furrowed and he uncrosses his arms. "The rest of us payed to be here, as workers or as passengers."

"That means my people deserve to pay with their life?" He can feel himself becoming more riled up by the minute, the pain from his previous beating being pushed to a side as he contemplates the repercussions of brawling with the older man.

"Roche, that's enough." Melanie interrupts them, stepping in the way of Roche and giving Andre no choice but to stare back at her empty eyes. Upon further observation, he catches the first sign of humanity in her. The bags under her eyes, subtle yet there. Dark, wrinkled, pillowy. It seems that exhaustion unites them both, even if their reasons for it are worlds away from similar. "The people on this train need security, Layton. If they found out there's a serial killer on board, the classes would break out in chaos-"

"You seem awfully sure there's only one killer and not just a copycat." A serial killer requires a minimum of three bodies. They has two. Andre wonders if this Melanie woman is unaware of such a technicality and had used the term flippantly, or if there is another body, a third body, he's being kept unaware of. If so, who? And, why?

"All of this, everything Mr. Wilford has worked so hard to keep in order and working, will have been for nothing if we can't maintain the peace. I'm not going to beg for your help, Layton, but just know you'd be saving us all. Including the Tail. You're the only one on board experienced with this."

"Guess the rich didn't consider the fact they'd start killing their own."

"So, will you help?"

This was the question Andre has been asking himself from the moment they'd stripped him away from the Tail; from his people; from his family. He knew, from the second the blonde haired woman had called out his name and butchered their plans for attack, that there was something they wanted from him. It was the same for anyone else who got called up train, there was something needed from a Tailie and it was never something good.

He can perfectly picture the faces of the Tail all staring back at him as he demanded to be taken back, armed men using all the strength they could summon to pull him out of the way of the closing doorway. Some looked on in horror, fearing for his life under the watchful eyes of the rich. Others gave him nothing but betrayal and anger in their eyes, as if they seemed to believe he'd orchestrated everything to have himself rescued from the Tail. Maybe, Andre wonders, some of them believe Zarah had it planned out, especially after leaving the Tail herself. Perhaps there was someone else they thought had saved him, someone who'd only recently left the Tail.

If Andre were to choose between being rescued by Zarah or her, Zarah's name wouldn't even begin to cross his mind.

The Tail is angry with him, he knows that for sure. By pure luck, they'd seemed to elect him as their leader, even if they worked as a united force and not an army. If he wants a chance to repair any damage caused to his people, his only real hope is to find his way back home and stay there, until he can charge onward with the Tailies and claim the train for themselves. Leaving the killer out in their playground of terror may just assist him in collapsing the fragile system of the train.

"No." Finally, he has his answer and it pleases him to hear the confidence in his voice, the pride he has for his status as a Tailie shinning brighter than ever before.

"No?" The train's voice echoes as Roche simply shakes his head behind the woman, muttering some intangible curse under his breath.

"You heard me. Solve your own shit."

She pulls back from him, turning her back to now face Roche and though Andre can hear both their voices speaking in whispers, he can not make out exactly what they are saying. She'd walked out of the small room before he can even register what's happening and Roche has him standing back up onto his feet, a hand firmly grasping at his forearm whilst he carelessly shoves him back into the hall of the train.

The quiet settles in again and Andre's fleeting attention sinks into memories from life before the cold, a fairly common habit of his which seems to be happening more than usual as of late, since she'd left the Tail much like she'd left him at the park, and the sight of the mutilated body he'd been brought out to investigate which brought back every memory of every case he'd taken on.

In this current memory, Andre walked into an apartment.

The room was trashed, with smashed glass and flipped furniture scattered all over the place. Upon first look, he suspected a robbery gone wrong. All around him, officers pulled him each and every way, all sharing their tid-bits of information regarding the on-going investigation, from suspects to who'd discovered the body to begin with.

The body. God, he hadn't even seen it yet but there's already that sinking feeling settling in his gut, the feeling that arrived every time he witnessed another crime scene. It was comforting to him, though disturbing, that such a thing could still rattle his bones and disturb his soul, the overexposure to it not making it any easier to deal with. Andre enjoyed the fact he had an emotional response still, the very thing that proved he was very much human beyond his detective work.

The sinking feeling grew when he saw the victim. A young woman, probably no older than his Zarah, who he liked to think was smiling; or laughing; or simply breathing and alive as he viewed the sight of that deceased woman. There were marks all down her left arm and blood on her fingertips, suggesting a chance that the victim struggled and fought for her right to live. It' was only one bullet wound, right between her eyes, yet that one simple wound ended an entire life. Killed any future, diluted any past and destroyed any present the victim had.

But there was someone else in the room with him, another woman, though that one was breathing. Her hands were covered by medical gloves and she was crouching by the victim, a pair of tweezers in her hand as she picked at something in the victims hand.

"Who are you?" She jumped at the sound of his voice, staring up at him with a look of discontent and frustration.

"You made me drop the DNA sample, dude. Not cool." She went back to her tweezers work. "I'm the department's new forensic scientist, Y/N L/N. I take it you are detective Layton?"

"I am." He nodded his head once, taking out his notepad and pen as their task at hand came barreling to the front of his mind, reminding him of the fact there was a very clear murder victim between the two of them. "What do we know of the victim so far?"

They had made their way down a hatchet hole, with Roche in the lead and Andre a few steps behind, cuffed and with his head held high. His hair brushes gently against his back, a strangely comforting repeat of motion that accompanies his less than pleasant travels throughout the train's cabins.

"You gotta take me back to the Tail, man." He pleads after Roche announces he's not heading home but, rather, to the man's holding cell. There was a time where it was Andre Layton who would be the one dumping someone in a holding cell whilst proclaiming he would be returning home to his wife, but now he had no wife; and no cell; and no badge that mirrored his past. "The Tail's all I got in the world."

The lead Brakeman does nothing but shake his head in response and Andre sighs, tired of fighting but nowhere near ready to give up.

They're plunged into chaos suddenly, sirens echoing up the train as Andre feels himself be stripped away from Roche and slammed full force into the metal caging surrounding him. The fresh bruising on his ribs screams in pain but Andre only hisses, his teeth clenching to bite back the grunt of anger begging to escape him. A man, around the same age as Roche and the same stature as himself, stares back at him with pure hatred. He's dressed in blue armor gear and his knuckles are turning whiter as his grip on Andre's collar tightens. And when he speaks, he spits every word out: "Now we've got a hostage, too."

Even in times of utter devastation, mankind finds a way to create division between themselves. In his life before the weather changed, he was targeted for the color of his skin. Now, he's also chased after for his status on the train. A filthy Tailie.

"Commander! Let him go." The voice of the train comes from nowhere and everywhere all at once, and Andre is actually glad to see her when he feels the grip on him dissappear.

"The Tailies have revolted again." The small mouthed women, who Miles refers to as the Executioner but is actually named Ruth, speaks next.

"Yes. Mr. Wilford is aware."

"Look, whoever they are, I know 'em, okay?" He steps in, hoping to bargain with them. This may be his only chance to both save the Tailies and prove his loyalty to them. "I can help."

"Things are going too far with him-" Ruth's irritating voice pipes up again.

"Please." He continues nonetheless, focusing only on the voice of the train, who he'd heard be referred to as Melanie. "They'll listen to me."

The Commander is the one to lead him to the Tailies. His grip on Andre is tighter than before and it feels purposeful when he shoves his side into the wall. His Irish accent is distinct enough to remind Andre that he and this man have history, from the initial revolts started by the Tailies, where they fought to keep the very small space of the Tail. Many were lost in the war but it wasn't in vain, it helped the Tailies learn to rely on each other and be a family.

"You've got three minutes." The Commander gives him one last shove, right into a masked soldier's shoulder.

He's only in the doorway and already Andre can see just how much damage his people have done. It's what they'd been training and waiting to do for so long, he never imagined they'd fail. Bodies lay all over the place, some of Tailies but most of them soldiers. Blood splatter paints the wall in red and lights are flickering at the end of the hall. His people had fought hard. They'd now need to fight harder, once he revealed his very hazy plan to them.

"Tailies! Who's left?" He listens to his own voice echo down the train. "It's Layton."

It takes no more than a second for a familiar voice to chime in, calling back to him: "Layton, you're a coward!"

It's Pike, which doesn't really surprise him at all. The man had always questioned Andre, always been ready to point out his mistakes and share his wrongdoings.

"Pike?" He says, after a sigh and an eye roll.

Andre finally steps into the bloodied carriage, carefully placing each step on the ground as quietly as possible. So far, all he knows is that Pike is there. And there's no guarantee that man wouldn't try take Layton down given the chance, meaning he had to be subtle and careful in his approach. He steps over arms; and legs; and torsos, the stench of blood so thick in the air he can almost choke on it.

"We don't want you here!" Pike speaks again.

"I'm coming in."

"No, you're not!"

"Who's with you?" No matter what, Andre tells himself that finding out who remains is his top priority. And keeping Pike talking may just distract him long enough for Andre to disarm him in a sudden approach.

There's three of them on the other side of the cabin. Pike's at the front, blood drying on his hands and a makeshift weapon clasped in one of them. He's stewing in his own anger, on guard each step Andre takes. The other two are pretty much in the same positions, only the biggest of them all has a familiar, though terrified, woman captured in his arms: Till, one of the brakemen who'd been with Andre earlier on that day.

"How's it going?" He's trying his best to calm them down.

"Yo, Layton, where you coming from, man?" But the betrayal is already so evident in their eyes, their voices, their body language. To them, Andre is looking less like a Tailie than when he was dragged out of there.

"Uptrain, man." Honesty may be his best policy, if he plays his cards right. "Yo, they pulled me up to solve a murder. You believe that?" He sure as hell still didn't. "They're doing us a favor and killing each other up there."

"Bullshit." Pike is still angry but what's new? Andre knows he needs to redirect his anger off of himself and back onto those who are the real enemy. "You're a traitor! This will only end one way."

"Yeah." Andre's hand comes down on Pike's weapon, clasping it in his own strength and pulling it out of Pike's shaking arms. "They're gonna storm in here, and they're gonna butcher us. Everything we've fought for, everyone who's lost their life for this to even be achievable, it will all have been in vain."

"Two minutes!" The Commander's voice yells down the hall and suddenly they're all on edge again.

"I got a family, man. I can't die like this."

"Shut the fuck up, Z!" Pike's grip has returned to the weapon, widening Andre's eyes as he fears the man may strike him down in irrational anger.

"I got a wife and a kid on this train, Pike." Z fights back, enunciating each word with the passion of a devoted husband and a loving father. "Old Ivan offed himself, man. We're dong this for him. He hung himself with an electrical cord. That's what sparked this whole thing."

"Pike," Andre wants to grieve and break down, the loss of Ivan, a gentle soul in a world of unkindness, shaking him to his very core. But he can't. There's no time. "whatever happened between us, we're brothers." Pike's breathing slowly begins to deescalate. Andre loosens his grip on the spear between them both. "I think I got a way for us all to get outta this alive." At last, Pike lowers his weapon, his head shaking as he fights back his emotions. Andre seizes onward, making eye contact with the woman. "Hey. Till, It's okay. It's okay." It doesn't take long for him to convince the Tailie holding her captive to lower his weapon and, with an abrupt apology he wishes was sincere, Andre punches her in the face and watches how she falls down.

There's commotion straight away, with all three Tailies bringing their weapons back up and pointing them at Andre, the fire returning to their blood as they look at the man they would call traitor.

"What the hell, Layton!?"

"You need to surrender yourselves to the drawers!" He rushes out, before any of them can harm him.

"No way!" Pike says.

"It's like sleep! They put you to sleep!" He'd seen them himself, zombiefied in the drawers as different wires and tubes kept their bodies alive whilst their minds slept away the revolutions the train done around the frozen landscape.

"Okay. For how long?" Z seems more willing to cooperate.

"It's a goddamn coffin, Layton!"

"Listen to me! By my count, I went uptrain 130 cars today, okay? I seen shit none of us could've imagined, alright?"

"What? You seen your traitor wife!? Or your traitor girlfriend?"

"Pike, Old Ivan dreamed of this! I can piece together floor plans, maps, security details. Everything we could ever need to properly storm uptrain, all the way to the engine."

It's in utter tears that all three men throw down their weapons, Pike the most exhausted of all. "Look at the blood!" He cries, crouching on his knees. "I'm done, Layton! I'm done."

"One Tail, remember? It's only a matter of time until the day we take that engine, we're gonna need you waiting uptrain." Andre watches as the other man nods, standing up straight again and clearing his throat.

With the Tailies now in agreement, Andre finds himself stuck between the Commander, Ruth and Melanie, all demanding and fighting over what the fate of the Tailies should be. There's only one thing left for Andre to do, one last sacrifice of his pride to make.

"I'll do it." He speaks only to Melanie really, the others being drowned out in the sound of the train's wheels turning against the frozen track below. "I'll solve your murder. I will get your order back, and in exchange, you'll give mercy to the train."

"Mr. Wilford demands justice. But we can't afford to lose another life. Ruth will take an arm from a Tailie tomorrow."

Hours have passed since the agreement was made and in a small holding cell lays Andre, his muscular build uncomfortably fit onto a small cot. He misses his bed in the Tail, the bed in his house, the bed in room 322 of the Marigold hotel just down the road from the station. It was the luxury of feeling refreshed every morning; of having a cup of coffee placed on his desk, her familiar handwriting across the attached sticky note that he'd taken advantage of for years. Now, he never even sees her face outside of his own memories.

For the past half hour, he's been feigning sleep. Roche has been sat guard near his cell the whole time, though he believes the man should be on his way home soon, to his own bed and his own wife. The voice of the train interrupts this though, sneaking her way into the room so quietly Andre nearly opens his eyes and blows his cover.

"Nice work on getting him to cooperate." Roche is the first to speak. "How'd you know he would?"

"I could see it in his eyes. He'd do anything for the Tail, even if it means helping us." He hates the way Melanie speaks about him, like she understands every little thought in his head, every action he makes. Like he's a puppet and she's the puppeteer, moving him around with the strings she'd tied onto his limbs. "We'll get him started tomorrow with the proper investigation. I'll send you a list of anything and anywhere Mr. Wilford deems off limits."

"And what about the victims? Is he gonna get the full rundown or?"

"There's things he doesn't need to know about."

"Like the fact the first one was a Tailie?" Roche asks matter-of-factly and Andre swears he can see him cross his arms, that smug look across his face.

When the voice of the train speaks again, it knocks the wind out of Andre's lungs; stops the beating of his heart; freezes every thought in his head.

"The body of Y/N L/N is to be kept top secret.Detective Layton is not to even hear about her. Understood?"

He hasn't heard her name, her full name, in so long. He knows it's wrong but he loves to hear them call her by her maiden name, instead of by her married name. It's as if, on the moving life of the train, her husband doesn't exist, never existed. Perhaps reality would have been better that way, perhaps they could have survived longer to become more than dirty secrets reserved for nights of pleasure and mornings of ignorance. To even begin to fathom that she was no longer alive, on board the train, feels like more of a betrayal than when he'd last seen her walk out the doors of the Tail. He can remember it now, the anger he'd felt the next day when she'd never returned. It had stung more than when Zarah had left. To think he spent so long resenting her for abandoning them, when there's now the fact she's nothing more than a body in a serial killer case brings bile up Andre's throat.

There are secrets haunting the train. Between the murders and the politics, Andre begins to fear he's now stuck in the mess of it all, swimming blindly in a sea of lies and being expected to be an honest man. He knows his only hope is to tear the train apart, limb from limb, and peak into the darkness it's trying to cover up.

If that means uncovering Y/N L/N's fate along the way, so be it.

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