All I Have to Give
It had been a few months since Deryn and I left the Leviathan to start our new jobs at the Zoological society and thus far, everything had been perfect. It was true that the apartment Dr. Barlow had so kindly given Deryn and I was a little cramped. And she didn't pay us very much. Not to mention the fact that working for her could be a nightmare at times. Still, we were happy.
It was when we were on a walk through the city that I first felt it. We strolled past a wall covered with posters advertising commercial flights in fabricated airships. It was subtle, but I noticed Deryn's eyes lingering on the poster, filled with longing and sadness as we passed it by. Her nearly undetectable sigh made my heart ache with guilt. The price on the poster had not been particularly high, but as we were, there was no chance that we could afford it. If I still had even one gold bar, I could've taken Deryn on a thousand of those flights. I could've bought her an airship of her own. However, in that one moment, there was nothing I could do; nothing especially precious that I could even hope to give to the only girl I had ever loved.
I spent the remainder of our walk in a depressed slump. When we reached The London Zoo, Deryn pulled me over to a bench and drew me down beside her. We sat there a moment in silence.
"Alright mister, what do you mean by acting all miserable all of a sudden?" she said in her special way; rough, but strangely kind. I avoided her eyes out of fear of what she might see in my own. Deryn crossed her arms and gave me a hard stare.
"I'm sorry," I said, turning to stare at the ground. "It's just that….I can't give you anything that I want to. No gifts, no fancy trips in an airship…nothing." Deryn's eyes widened.
"If I was still an Archduke, then I might've been able to give you all of those things and more, but as it is…I'm useless. All that I have to give you is my love." I continued, tears forming in my eyes, threatening to fall. I loved Deryn, with all of my heart I loved her, and I had nothing to prove it with except words.
Deryn surged forward, her lips meeting mine in a soft, yet firm kiss. "You daft prince; all I ever wanted was your love to begin with," she said as she pulled away, her face resting on my shoulder. "It's true that I do miss flying sometimes, and Dr. Barlow is still an old bum rag….but," she paused, looking up from my shoulder. "To have you here, with me, like this is….it's like flying, it's so fantastic. If you were some daft, dusty, fancy-boots, Clanker Archduke or Emperor or whatever you might've been…..it wouldn't have been the same. There never could've been an 'us' in that life with all those bloody disapproving advisors and who-knows-what else trying to ruin it. I'm happy; truly happy like this, and I don't need any amount of gifts to keep me this way. Just you, right here beside me, aye?" She finished, smiling at me. I smiled back.
"Aye."
This is just a little scenario that popped into my head concerning how Alek might react to living as a commoner. Inspired by the song All I Have to Give by The Backstreet Boys.