Disclaimer: I don't own Last Exile or any of the characters, they are all owned by GONZO. However, the original characters in this series are mine.
Author's Notes: SPOILER WARNING DON'T READ IF YOU HAVENT FINISHED THE SERIES
Anyways, I changed the ending of the last episode to better suit a follow-up fanfic, it is alluded to in the story. I wanted to make this as much in the spirit of the original anime as possible, so I used a mix of action/drama/romance/etc. (although I'm nowhere near as good as blending these elements as the original writers). I also used the Geneon names for as much as possible, for the sake of continuity, but if you see an odd name slipped in that looks like a character you know, its probably just a translation difference. Please note that this fanfic changes perspectives, if something is confusing you, please get in touch with me, I'd be more than happy to clarify (it's definitely my fault anyway). First fanfic…please R&R. Feel free to email me at macbethxhotmail.com to ask/comment on anything; it'd be appreciated!
Rated PG-13 – Mainly for violence (in this chapter).
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Chapter 1: Old Friends and New Enemies
Lavie stood over Claus's sleeping body, preparing herself for another battle to wake the sleepyhead that he was. It was already getting later in the morning, and if Claus didn't wake up quick, he ran the risk of missing breakfast. Lavie sincerely hoped that wouldn't happen; Claus was always cranky when he missed his breakfast, even though it was his own fault.
"Lavie, hurry up and wake up Claus! Breakfast is getting cold!" Al's voice called from the kitchen below.
Hastily, Lavie pulled out her trusty mallet and metal sheet, and began to bang the mallet against the sheet. The ensuing clanks and crashes had little effect on Claus, however, which didn't surprise Lavie at all. The vanship pilot merely turned over and groaned groggily. "Get up sleepyhead! You're going to miss breakfast; you wouldn't want that now would you?" Lavie inquired to the half-asleep young man on the floor.
"Aww, you wouldn't let me miss breakfast Lavie, would you?" Claus retorted sleepily.
"You bet I would! So get up and get down to the kitchen, Al has your breakfast ready," Lavie answered wryly. Reluctantly, the ace pilot rose slowly from his bed, wiping the remnants of sleep from his eyes. He stretched his arms out and straightened out his clothes, slowly making his way towards the door. "Now that's better, can't have you sleeping until lunch now can we?" Lavie remarked to herself before exiting the room herself and descending the stairs.
Upon entering the kitchen, Lavie saw Claus and Al sitting around the modest table that the two orphans used for dining. Al had just finished preparing plates for the three of them, with generous helpings of everything that she and Lavie had prepared earlier. "Oh, thank you Al. I'm completely famished!" Lavie told Al with a smile.
"Oh, it's my pleasure Lavie! I thought I would go ahead and set up the meal since you were dealing with sleepyhead over there, right?" Al said with a laugh. Claus groaned at the jab and began to eat his meal.
Lavie giggled in return, "Of course, that was good thinking Al." Turning to Claus, Lavie joked with a smile, "See what you've made Al go do? Now she had to set up the meal for us just because you like your sleep so much."
Claus seemed a little embarrassed about that fact and apologized by saying, "Oh, I'm sorry Al; I didn't mean to make you do any extra work."
"Oh, it's no problem, I'm used to it by now," Alvis said with a joking smile on her face. All three laughed and sat down to their meal; going back and forth about everyday things. In truth, it had been 9 months since the Exile had left Prester; carrying a group of brave individuals who wanted to see what the new world the Exile promised was like. Claus and Lavie, however, had decided not to go to the new world. Prester was where their families had lived; it was the world they fought to save, and there was no way that they would leave it. Much of the population of Prester felt the same, only a small percentage decided to risk the journey to the blue star onboard the Exile.
"We're going to have to fly quickly today Claus, we're running behind and Mullin is expecting us soon," Lavie said.
Prester itself had become peaceful since the end of the war and the destruction of the Guild; the weather was much less extreme than before the Exile had left, and people generally seemed to embrace each other more openly. There were exceptions, however. Survivors from the Guild received a mixed reaction from the general public. Some saw them for what they now were: lost individuals with no place left to go to and no one to turn to, and opened their arms to them. But others could not get past the atrocities that the Guild had done to Prester, and treated the survivors as the scum of the world. Claus and Lavie didn't find it difficult to accept the old Guild members, as most of them more closely resembled Dio and Luciora than Maestro Delphine, personality-wise. Most of the technology from the Guild was destroyed in the attack by the Allied forces of Disith and Anatoray, but the surviving ships, including the Sylvana, still existed. However, they now had a life as more of ceremonial ships used for Imperial parades and such rather than as machines of war.
"Don't worry, we always make it on time, right?" Claus countered with a joking smile.
"True…but we still should finish up eating soon; we don't want to upset Douna and Mullin," Lavie said.
"Aww, don't worry about Mullin, he's accustomed to waiting after all. He had to wait years just to find a girl that liked him!" Claus said laughing.
"I guess you're right!" Lavie answered, roaring with laughter. Secretly, Lavie winced at that remark. The last nine months had been the best time of her life, spending the peaceful days with Claus and Alvis in their modest home, but part of her wanted something more. The truth was, she loved Claus and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. But no matter how hard she tried, Lavie couldn't figure out whether Claus felt the same way about her. Sometimes it seemed like he did, but other times he was distant, as if he was thinking deeply about something. Lavie wanted very much to openly state her feelings to Claus, but she didn't have the courage. She wouldn't risk their lifelong friendship on a gamble that Claus loved her back. And then there was Tatiana, to make matters worse. She still kept in contact as the top ranking official courier to Empress Sophia, but the group rarely saw each other face to face.
Shaking all of the thoughts out of her head, Lavie finished her meal and started, "We should probably get going now, even if Mullin can wait, I'm sure Douna and Morris would worry if we were late."
"Yeah, you're right, let's get going. Are you ready Al?" Claus replied.
"Uh-huh!" Alvis responded with a nod.
Together, the three of them walked towards the vanship that they had flown across the Grand Stream. Claus and Lavie still flew their vanship daily, if for nothing else than to enjoy the blue skies and the wind through their hair. They still raced for fun, in fact, they had won all of races that they had entered in since the war had ended, earning themselves the nickname of "The Silver Aces." With Claus piloted and Lavie in the navi seat, the two prepared for flight as they had so many times before.
"Throttle off, check! Verify check, clear!" Claus communicated to his most trusted navi.
"We're ready to go, activate the engine!" Lavie replied.
"Engine activated…cut the air!" Claus yelled to Lavie after a moment. Lavie did so and got in the navi's seat with Alvis in her lap, Claus would have to give the vanship a pushing start on his own, as he always did when the two took Alvis aboard. After a small amount of pushing, Claus seated himself in the front of the vanship. Lavie instinctively increased the engine output for takeoff, and soon the group was flying into a sea of blue sky above Norkia.
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Decio saw the four flashes from the next battleship over, the Winges, and motioned for his unit to get in position. A group of about fifty shadowy figures approached the entrances to the Anatoray battleship in front of them, the crown jewel of the operation, the Urbanus. The repaired Urbanus was even more magnificent than the old version. Although it was only used as the Empress's official transport now, it was still armed to the teeth with powerful weaponry, which was all Decio was interested in. He saw the four paltry guards stationed at the main cargo entrance and signaled his group to get ready to dispatch them. Faint shadows, nearly invisible to the eye, danced in the dim moonlight as the Guild exiles prepared to begin their assault on the ship.
A small hand signal from Decio, unbeknownst to the guards, was all that the group needed to begin their stealthy strike. One Guild member for each guard commenced a lightning quick dance of bloody death, moving far too fast for the guards to react in time. Using their blades, the Guild members effortlessly dispatched the guards with quick slices to their throats. Blood ran down the cargo ramp and pooled at the bottom as Decio boarded the craft. He didn't expect more than thirty people onboard the ship, since during docking periods only a minimal crew was needed, as there were no longer any wars that the ship would be needed for. Decio felt no remorse for the fallen guards; they were just as guilty as the rest of the world that claimed to live in peace and harmony yet contradicted their own beliefs.
Quietly, Decio's group boarded the Urbanus and split up into four different groups, one for each major area of the ship: the hangar and cargo hold, the engine room, the bridge, and the weapons gallery. Decio, as leader of the group, went with five of his most trusted lieutenants to the bridge. They traveled lightly and silently through the corridors of the Urbanus, with only their Guild robes and blades to protect them. Decio stopped the team suddenly with a hand signal, and put his back against the wall of the passageway just before a four-way intersection. With a peek around a corner, Decio saw two guards conversing with each other about twenty meters down the cross-hallway. Decio signaled his group to stay put; he wanted these two for himself. With two knives at the ready, Decio quickly executed a flawless display of violent grace. The only thing the guards had time to do was let out small yelps of shock before each one had inches of steel buried into their throats. After wiping the bloody knives off on the fallen guard's uniforms, Decio returned to his group and continued towards the bridge.
Several minutes later, the group reached the door to the bridge of the Urbanus, the very control center of the massive capital ship. Carefully listening, Decio discerned that there was likely no one on the bridge, especially at the odd hour and relative disuse of the massive chip. However, he decided to err on the side of caution despite being relatively sure of himself. He was too close to his objective to fail now. Slowly, he opened the door into the bridge as quietly as was possible, signaling to his group to have weapons at the ready. With the door fully open, Decio's group entered the bridge of the Urbanus, only to find it completely devoid of any Anatoray personnel.
"Well, here it is, the most powerful ship in the Anatoray Navy: the Urbanus. And now, it's all ours. Soon the world will feel what we have for the past nine months; and quake at their sins!" Decio erupted in a low voice filled with anger and hatred, but also determination. "There's only one thing left to take care of, and I'll deal with him personally," Decio said with anticipation as he left the bridge. The rest of Decio's crew stayed behind to meet the other members of the assault when they came to the bridge to report.
Decio left the bridge and ascended a flight of stairs to arrive at his objective, the Captain's Quarters. Knowing that the captain was inside, since the captain rarely left his ship even at nights and during maintenance, Decio forcefully opened the door with his shoulder and came face-to-face with the captain of the capital ship. Decio was surprised; this was not the man he was looking for. He was expecting Vince, the war hero of Anatoray. Instead, Decio was greeted by a lowly captain, probably just promoted to fill Vince's position as captain while Vince pursued more worthwhile avenues.
"Who the hell are you?!" the captain of the Urbanus said, obviously shocked at the uninvited guest. Decio himself was relatively unassuming, for a Guild survivor. He was in his mid twenties, still relatively lanky, with white hair that ran down to his shoulders. By far his most distinguishing feature was his skill with a blade, however. Nobody could match Decio's prowess with a short blade or knife, especially not this lowly captain.
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Decio responded in a cold voice.
"I'm Ricen Polax! The captain of this majestic ship, and if you don't tell me who you are and why you're here right now, I'll have you arrested…" Captain Ricen's voice trailed off as he noticed the blade clutched in Decio's right hand.
"I don't care who you are, you'll die the same as any other worm that tries to oppose me. You're all the same, act polite towards us in public, scorn us and starve us in private," Decio replied with a growing anger in his voice.
"Now wait…you don't want to do this! I have a family, a daughter! Please don't take me away from them; I'm begging you," Ricen pleaded to the robed man.
"I had a family too, it didn't matter!!" Decio ferociously replied as he jammed the blade into the captain's chest. Letting out a grunt of disgust, Decio turned and left the captain's quarters; he would have his revenge soon.
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Claus disembarked the vanship as it settled down in front of Mullin's farmhouse. "I hope we're on time, I didn't think we would need to stop for fuel," Claus commented with a slightly worried look on his face. Lavie and Al also got off of the vanship and joined Claus at his side.
"I think so Claus. After all, you have me as a navi, so we definitely got here the fastest route possible!" Lavie said back to Claus teasingly. As the group was walking towards the house, three figures appeared in the doorway: Douna, Mullin, and their young adopted son, Morris.
"Hi, everybody! Welcome back to our humble abode!" Mullin called from the entrance to their house. The home itself was rather humble, although Mullin often boasted about all the work he had done on it (it rarely ever materialized). However, that wasn't the main draw of this property. The real reason Mullin bought this property was that surrounding the main house was a beautiful farm of many varieties of grains and vegetables, which he and his family worked very hard on. Claus noticed the plants were growing well and were nearing their harvest time; farming had become much more popular after the Exile left and the weather changed to more hospitable conditions.
Claus waved to the family and increased his pace to reach them faster. Upon reaching the front porch of the house, hugs and welcomes were exchanged by all members. "Uncle Claus! Uncle Claus! Are you gonna take me up in your vanship this time?? You promised me you would when I was bigger! Mommy and Daddy said I look taller than I did last time you were here, please take me up!" Morris, Mullin's adopted son, gushed out as he rushed out of the house to greet the visitors.
Claus blushed slightly and reached for the back of his neck, as he often did when he was embarrassed. "Well, that's up to your parents," Claus replied with a smile and laugh. The young boy was growing though, there was no doubt. The nine year old boy now had a couple of inches to add to his height since the last time Claus saw him, about two months ago. It had been about six months since Douna and Mullin adopted the boy from an orphanage in Norkia. He now had his brown hair cut in a replica of Mullin's, as well, and his bright blue eyes were slightly dimmer now. "I think you're big enough now though," added Claus, which caused the boy to erupt into a frenzy of excitement. In fact he was only slightly shorter than Al when she first rode in Claus's vanship.
"It's okay with me, but we should eat first, you must be starving after that flight," Douna answered with a motherly voice. "I started preparing a big meal, but it's not quite ready yet, so can you please wait for me to finish?" the mother asked, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh, of course! Allow me to help out, I love making food," Lavie replied enthusiastically with a big smile on her round face.
"I'll help too!" Morris and Al chimed in simultaneously.
"I couldn't impose, really, thank you though," Douna answered.
"It's no problem, don't worry about it!" Lavie countered and began towards the kitchen. The rest of the cooking crew followed, leaving Mullin and Claus on the porch.
"You know, Morris has been asking me when you would be back ever since you left. He wants to be a vanship pilot, just like you!" Mullin told Claus with a chuckle.
Claus blushed again at the comment, "He certainly was excited to see us today." Claus always found it embarrassing how the boy idolized him.
Just then, an exclamation of pain came from the kitchen in Lavie's voice, "Ow, stupid stove! I didn't think it was that hot yet!" An uproar of laughter proceeded from the kitchen and the porch.
"She's definitely one of a kind, eh?" Mullin commented to his company.
"Yeah, that's for sure."
"She's in love with you, you know that, right?" Mullin stated, as if it meant nothing. Claus was visibly startled at the frankness of his friend's comment, and was unable to come up with any response. "I can see it in her eyes when she looks at you, there's no doubt," the ex-rifleman added. In reality, Claus knew what Mullin was saying was true, but something inside of him kept him from talking to Lavie about it. "You need to talk with her, even if it's only to tell her that you can't return those same feelings. Despite how much something like that would hurt her, waiting for you to do something is taking a heavy toll on her too," continued Mullin. Claus knew this was true as well, he could read Lavie better than anybody else.
"Lavie…" was all an exasperated Claus could manage in reply to the older man's comments. He just wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment yet, and he wasn't sure what he felt for Lavie. Part of him returned her feelings, but another part still saw the childhood friend that he had relied upon all of his life.
"Hey, what's that?" Mullin inquired while pointing out a small red speck in the sky.
"That looks like, Tatiana's vanship?!" Claus replied with unhidden surprise in his voice. Putting his head through the doorway to the house, Claus called, "Lavie, everyone, come look! It looks like Tatiana is coming!" The four chefs came out onto the porch as the vanship prepared to land. It was definitely Tatiana; there was no doubting the red paintjob and Imperial insignias on it. Tatiana's ship landed gracefully next to Claus and Lavie's, and indeed, Tatiana and Alister jumped out of the ship and waved to the crowd.
"It's good to see everyone together again, it's been a while," Tatiana said as she approached all of her old friends.
"Sorry, if this is a little sudden, but we have delivery to make. You two got awfully lucky that we remembered sometimes you were here instead of your home in Norkia." Alister announced. Indeed, in Tatiana's outstretched hand was a golden commission tube.
"It's for you Claus, it's from Sophia. She requests that you take on this commission tube," Tatiana said.
"For me? From Sophia?" Claus repeated, with a great deal of confusion. He had only gotten to speak to Sophia in the weeks after the destruction of the Guild briefly; she did occasionally send letters, though. However, the last one from her came just four days prior to this one, which was very odd. Sophia usually only sent letters every three or four weeks, despite always saying that she wished she could write more often. Claus looked at the tube more closely; the seal was the official Anatoray Imperial Seal, something that Sophia didn't use in her personal letters to Claus and Lavie. Something else caught Claus's eye though; the tube had eight stars on it. "Eight stars?!" Claus exclaimed.
"Eight?!" Lavie echoed with a hint of fear and shock in her voice. Claus opened the tube; inside was a letter addressed to him from Sophia.
Claus,
I know this is sudden, but I need you to come to the capital immediately.
There have been developments recently that endanger all of Prester.
Bring Alvis, please. You shouldn't be in any immediate danger.
I will give you all of the details upon your arrival, I'm sorry I can't be more forthcoming yet.
Sophia
"Let me read it," Lavie said, now visibly shaken by the sudden news. "No…this can't be happening; not again," Lavie said, holding back her emotion with as much effort as possible. Seeing the tension, the rest of the crowd left Claus and Lavie in privacy.
"I have to go Lavie, please, stay here with Mullin and Douna. Al can be the navi on the way to the capital, there's no need for you to come if you don't want to," Claus said to Lavie. Secretly, he would enjoy her company on whatever they were about to get into, but he wouldn't risk his best friend getting hurt again.
"Are you crazy!? Of course I'm going! Who's going to take care of you if I don't come anyway?" Lavie replied emphatically, obviously having already made up her mind. Claus could see the look of fear and despair on her face though, no matter how hard she tried to cover it up.
"Lavie…please, I don't want you getting hurt," Claus reasoned as he futilely attempted to change Lavie's mind.
"Claus, I don't want to hear it. I'd rather be near you and be in danger than be far away and safe," Lavie said softly, then quickly added, "Now come on, we need to eat before we go! There's plenty for Tatiana and Alister too." With that, Lavie went back into the house before Claus had a chance to give any sort of reply.
The meal was certainly as big as Lavie made it out to be, there was plenty for everybody, and seconds were even available. Conversation centered around the letter at first, with Claus and Lavie explaining the contents and what needed to be done. Soon enough though, the tone became much lighter as Tatiana and Alister told stories of what they had been doing the last two months. Lavie had a removed look throughout the entire meal though, and Claus knew exactly why. Mullin's words weighed heavily on him at that moment, but Claus still wasn't sure of his feelings, especially after seeing Tatiana again.
"Well, the meal was wonderful Douna, thank you. I think we should get going though; we have a pretty long flight ahead of us and we want to make it before evening," Claus concluded.
"Aww, no! You said you would take me for a ride this time Uncle Claus!" young Morris pouted.
"I know, but I'll make it up to you next time, I promise. I'll even take you for an Immelman Turn, how's that?" Claus said with a sympathetic smile. Morris's eyes lit up at the prospect of being on a vanship during a stunt like that.
"Really??" Morris asked for confirmation. Claus nodded his head as he got up from the table. The rest of the group did the same, Douna and Mullin had slightly concerned looks on their faces.
"Please take care of yourselves, and come back soon," Douna said in her caretaking tone.
Mullin pushed Claus to the side and whispered to Claus, "Take care of Lavie, and remember what I told you, ok?"
"I will, I promise," Claus replied a little nervously.
"Are you all ready to go?" Tatiana asked to the travelers, to which she got a simultaneous affirmative response. "Okay then, let's head out!" she added as she and Alister boarded the red vanship.
"Well, it looks like we might be setting off into another adventure huh?" Claus said as their vanship was prepped for takeoff. Lavie and Alvis nodded their heads, but none of the three seemed particularly excited at the prospect. As the vanship took off, Claus could see Mullin and his family waving to them and shouting calls of "Good luck!" and "Take care!" Secretly, Claus wished he and Lavie could live like that, with no real worries on their minds, but it never seemed to work that way. Claus sincerely hoped that this was all a false alarm, but he knew that something was definitely wrong for Sophia to send an eight star letter to him. He didn't even want to think about what could have happened.
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Note: Well, there you have it. It ran a lot lengthier than I had anticipated; I can only hope I'm not getting in over my head ; Please, R&R, this is my first outing as a fanfic writer, so the feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping I can get chapters up on at LEAST a bi-weekly basis (although this could be easily shortened depending on my work schedule/how well planned I have everything in the next chapter.) Please e-mail me if you have any questions or need any clarification on anything; I'd be more than happy to help. Thanks for reading!