The Last Chevalier of the Songstress
Set after the events of Towards the Future
I. peaceful days
Saya Otonashi closed her eyes, leant her head back against the solid warm mass of Hagi's chest and exhaled a contented breath. Her feet trailed along the two sides of the cool marble block that served as a bench for the family. She felt strangely at peace, despite the ruckus Diva's twin daughters, Rhea and Deanna, were making by having an all-out pillow fight around the house. The continuous giggling and screaming, with Kai thundering at them from his room to keep it down—to no effect— melded into a warm and pleasant buzzing and settled around her like a comfortable blanket. This time the peace was real, the memories, clear and joyful, untainted by blood or despair.
The noisy fracas poured from the living quarters into the restaurant area of the Omoro, the pillows flying thick and fast. Hagi turned to look at them, arms wrapped around Saya's waist, but did not otherwise react.
Then a stray pillow flew towards Saya's face. Before it hit her, Hagi's hand flicked upwards and deflected it away with a dull thump. Saya opened her eyes and turned to glance at the horrified twins, who had stopped tossing pillows and were looking over with horrified, widened eyes. Hagi's chest, behind Saya, vibrated pleasantly with the sound him clearing his throat. He dropped the pillow into Saya's lap.
"Girls." Hagi said, in his implacably serious voice, the only one that the twins listened to these days, "That's enough."
Saya patted Hagi's cheek with one hand, and placed her other on the arms around her, "It's okay, Hagi. I don't mind."
"You're spoiling them." Hagi said, frowning slightly at her. She chuckled softly, and tipped her head back to look at him with her large brown eyes, then pulled a face at him.
"Just a little. There's nothing wrong with that." Hagi sighed inwardly at Saya's irresistibly adorable wrinkled nose and pouted lips, knowing he would give in to her—even if he didn't have a centuries-old habit of obeying her, he doubted any man who loved her would be able to resist that look.
"Hmm." He was about to agree when a pillow hit him in his face. The two older Chiropterans turned to glare at the twins, two slight sixteen-year-old-looking girls dressed in dark, slim-cut dresses, who were both looking as innocent and picture-perfect as they could.
Saya and Hagi exchanged a glance, and then as one, the battle-seasoned pair returned the two pillows which had been flung over by the twins. The air grew thick with flying cushions again, punctuated by girlish laughter and the occasional soft snort of amusement from Hagi.
"ALL RIGHT, THAT'S IT!! THE FOUR OF YOU KNOCK IT OFF, BEFORE I SHOOT!" Kai, now nearly forty, with orange hair turning grey, yelled from the door, his gun poised to fire.
"And riddle your own pillows with holes? I don't think so." Saya retorted. She tossed a pillow at him, and it ricocheted off his face.
Kai glared at her, "You know, I liked you better when you were asleep."
Saya stuck her tongue out at him, as Rhea threw a pillow at Kai as well. It hit his legs and dropped onto the floor.
"Rhea! You shouldn't have done that!" Deanna exclaimed in mock-anger. "You should have done this." Her pillow bounced off Kai's still trim, but expanding, waistline, and his eyes narrowed.
"That's it." He stuffed his gun into his holster, picked up the pillows and –"Eat this!"—pelted the four Chiropterans with it.
The fight lasted for another five minutes or so, in which Hagi and Saya temporarily allied with the two twins against Kai. When the twins broke the truce, the offended pair teamed up with Kai in revenge, and together, they drove the girls, who were screaming more vulgarities than Saya had believed existed, further back into the Omoro's kitchen.
"Oh dear me, am I interrupting something?"
An effeminate—and uncomfortably familiar—voice called from the door. The pillow-fighters froze instantly and pivoted towards the door, immediately battle-ready. Saya's eyes widened in shock, even as Hagi instantly took up his defensive position in front of her. The bandages that bound his clawed hand fell off and fluttered to the ground. A foppish blond, dressed expensively in frills stood at the door, smiling at them.
"Nathan Mahler!" Saya exclaimed in disbelief.
II. faces of the past
Kai's eyes suddenly widened with recognition in a manner that was almost comical, and then narrowed into a dangerous glare all at once. Stepping in front of his adopted daughters protectively, he held up his gun.
The newcomer held up his hands, "Oh dear, all hackles raised, I see. I assure you, I'm here in peace."
Saya stepped towards Hagi, who was a split second away from attacking, and put a gentle restraining hand on his arm. Hagi stepped back slightly, but ensured that he remained between Diva's last Chevalier and Saya. Kai, however, kept his gun trained on the blond.
"Nathan Mahler…?" Deanna asked, her eyes wary.
Rhea frowned at Kai, "…wasn't he one of our mother's Chevaliers?"
"Yes, he is." Saya replied, her eyes troubled and wary. "But thirty two years ago, I stabbed him with my blood." She turned to him, frowning, "Are any of the other of Diva's Chevaliers alive? I-is Diva still-?"
The Chiropteran smiled mysteriously. The people in the Omoro jumped slightly when he replied, as his voice had dropped nearly an octave in pitch, and lost all feminine speech patterns and intonations. "…Diva's….Chevalier? Yes …you would think that. But…" He turned around and bowed.
"M'lady? Will you come in?"
Saya tensed, as a beautiful, clear voice, replied from the outside, "Oh, Nathaniel, I daren't go in. Tell them for me." It cannot be! Has she, too, survived?
"M'lady, I can tell them the facts, I can tell them what happened. But I cannot tell them what you felt, or believed, or suffered. I cannot unburden your heart. I cannot tell them for you." His voice was nowhere like Nathan Mahler's any longer, now it was stronger, tenderer, and more intense.
It reminded Saya unnervingly of Solomon, Solomon who had loved her and died defending her; it reminded her sweetly, too, of Hagi, his gentle supportive strength even before they became lovers, Hagi whom had surrendered all to her when there was nothing for him to gain. Like a devoted Chevalier, one who truly cared.
"Nathaniel …" The voice was half-exasperated, half-pleading.
"I am with you, Lady."
There was a pause, then a sigh. Then, led by the Chevalier, a woman stepped in, dressed entirely in black, staring pensively at the floor, her long dark hair rippling around her face and neck. Saya let out a breath in relief. It is not Diva.
The relief lasted till the woman looked up at Saya for a moment before quickly lowering her eyes again. Age, that single glance screamed at Saya, eyes that have seen too much, too long. And a single word thundered in her brain. Chiropteran!
The former Nathan Mahler smoothly assumed a defensive position in front of the woman. The nuances were not lost on Hagi, who lowered his guard further.
"Hagi?" Saya asked in a curious whisper.
"He serves the woman now." Hagi whispered back, slipping his arm around Saya protectively and possessively, "and I don't sense ill intent from her."
Nathan Mahler bowed in a courtly manner, "My name is Nathaniel Miller, the First Chevalier of Lady Bianca, of the 43rd generation of Chiropteran Queens. This is m'lady Bianca, a Queen of the Chiropterans. M'lady?"
The Lady sighed deeply. "I know. This is something that I decided to do." She took a deep breath, looked up at Saya and said, "There is a story I must tell. Perhaps if we could all relax--?" Her voice trailed off when she finally noticed Kai's gun and glare.
Saya turned to look at her brother, whose eyes glowered with protective fierceness, "Kai, maybe we should all just relax."
Kai slowly lowered his gun. "Fine. We'll hear you out. But I still don't trust them."
The Lady smiled mysteriously and slightly sadly in response, but began her story.
to be continued
Disclaimer: Blood, its concept and characters are the intellectual property of Production IG and Aniplex. This piece of fiction was written for non-commercial enjoyment.