I finished reading Goliath today; it's really saddening to know that the series is over for good. T~T
Am I the only who felt like it was a rather bittersweet end? Yeah, Deryn and Alek got to be together (FANGIRL WIN), but they both had to give up what they loved and wanted most in the world to make it happen. No more flying for Deryn, no ruling for Alek like he'd always dreamed, and both of them had to leave the Leviathan.
I was also a little disappointed that no one on the Leviathan's crew found out about Deryn's secret. I mean, for obvious plot reasons they couldn't, but I'd still have liked to see their reactions. Which is why I wrote this oneshot. It takes place after the war has ended, and women are now able to join the Air Service and other branches of the military. Hey, if Scott Westerfeld tweaked history in his series, then I can too, right? ;)
Sorry for majorly slacking (again). Please enjoy!
June of 1917
"Deryn, what are you lagging behind for?"
Deryn turned from her letter to see Alek's lean frame silhouetted against the entryway of the train compartment, Bovril on one shoulder, light from the late morning sun spilling in behind him. She frowned. When had he gotten so tall?
"Nothing," she answered, folding the letter back up again and stuffing it in her pocket. She felt strange, wearing her Air Gallantry Cross while out of uniform. Alek wore his as well, so it was a little more comforting to know she wasn't walking about like this on her own.
"Do you need help with your luggage?"
She rolled her eyes, snatching her bags up in one hand as she walked past him imperiously. "I am quite capable on my own, thank you."
He grinned, following after her with his own luggage in tow. "Dr. Barlow will be angry at us for making her wait."
"Have you ever seen Dr. Barlow express any emotion before?" she snorted, trying not to roll her eyes again. "She'll just have to learn a bit of patience. After all, it wouldn't do for her to go without her assistants."
Alek's grin seemed to widen as he easily kept up with her fast stride. She remembered the days when she could outpace him just as easily, but with age came more height for boys, she supposed.
They emerged onto the busy platform of a train station, only to be instantly overwhelmed with the jostling crowd of people, strange scents of the vendors' goods just down the streets, and flashes of brilliant colors. Alek firmly took her free hand and towed her towards a less populated corner of the station, looking about for Dr. Barlow.
His eyes alighted as he spotted to her, waving to her and calling, "Dr. Barlow!" The boffin turned from her position by a crowded bench and beckoned them over before she even set eyes on them. Tazza was at her side and her loris perched on her shoulder, as always. Alek led the way again, his fingers twined through hers as he dodged a path through the mayhem of a freshly arrived train.
"Good to see you well," Alek greeted cheerfully. Tazza's tail beat furiously as he snuffled Deryn's hand and she pet him affectionately behind the ears.
"The same to both of you," the boffin said in return, nodding politely to each of them in turn. "It took you long enough to arrive."
"Told you." The joking murmur was barely above a whisper, only for Deryn's ears. She elbowed him beneath his ribs, but a smile had replaced her earlier expression, whatever it might have been.
"You two look to be in high spirits," Dr. Barlow observed with a raised eyebrow. She started walking to the street as she spoke, and Alek and Deryn followed after her with their bags. "Quite," her loris added.
"It'd be hard not to be excited," Deryn pointed out. "After all, we'll finally be going back aboard the Leviathan after almost two and a half years."
"Barking long time!" Bovril declared from Alek's shoulder, then giggled as it began trading new words and conversations with Dr. Barlow's loris.
"Please do not forget that you are there as my assistants, and not a part of the crew," the boffin reminded them sternly. "I don't need you two gallivanting about the ship and ignoring your duties."
"Aye, just as long as you don't forget that we'll be joining the crew on the trip back," Deryn reminded her, beaming at the memory of Captain Hobbes's letter now stowed away in her pocket. Her smile faltered for just a moment as she remembered the other thing she had to do aboard the ship.
"You never told them you were a girl, did you?" Dr. Barlow asked, though it sounded more like a statement to Deryn's ears. "Well, a young woman, now."
"Barking mind reader," Bovril supplied helpfully.
She ignored it. "No, I didn't—but women are allowed to serve in the Air Service now! As long as I'm able to convince the captain to let me stay, everything will work itself out."
"Yes, because your original reasoning of 'if I pretend to be a boy and serve, it'll be fine' worked out so well before," Alek laughed. Deryn gave him a hard glare and another jab to his ribs.
"Ow, ow, I give!" He rubbed his side and muttered, "Sometimes it's far too easy to forget you really are a girl."
"Is it really?" Deryn asked with a frown. Her hair had grown out since they'd first met aboard the Leviathan; it came just past her shoulders, a reasonable enough length that it didn't get in her way and that someone wouldn't automatically assume she was a boy. She had filled out more, too: she'd need more than her brother's oversized clothing to pass as a boy now. She word a more girl-like blouse, but she refused to wear skirts when trousers suited her just fine.
"It isn't your looks, it's your personality," Alek explained, one finger pointed in the air as if to make his case. Was she really that easy to read today?
She hid her annoyance with a scowl and turned to Dr. Barlow again. "What did you tell the captain about me and Alek?"
"I didn't mention that you're getting married, if that's what you're referring to," Dr. Barlow says, making both her and Alek blush. "I thought it might put a slight damper on your plans to tell them your not-so-secret secret yourself."
"Much obliged," Deryn muttered. It was hard to stay in a brooding mood, though: the airfield was coming into view now, and in a few hours she'd be back with her old crewmates. She'd kept in touch with Newkirk and even exchanged the occasional letter with Mr. Rigby, but she hadn't seen them or anyone else in years. No one onboard that ship knew about her being a girl, either.
She felt nerves squirming in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed them down and even quickened the pace so they'd get there sooner. But as soon as they were a few feet from the gates, she dropped back behind Dr. Barlow.
As the boffin exchanged greetings with the guard, Deryn looked past them to where the Leviathan loomed high above all else for miles. There wasn't anything else like it that made her heart skip fluttery beats like this.
From here, she could make out the dark splotches of flèchette bats where they rested on the giant whale's head, a few strafing hawks soaring idly in the day's cool winds. Men were unloading supplies from the back of a giant elephantine, though it looked like a speck of froth on the ocean surface standing next to the great airship.
Alek nudged her from behind and she looked to him, startled out of her reverie. "We should get going," he says, nodding to where Dr. Barlow was already strolling ahead with Tazza bounding around her.
"Right," she agreed, her happiness at seeing the ship again suddenly turning gloomy. It had been years since she'd been aboard the ship. What if it had changed so much that she didn't recognize it anymore? Would she get lost along the winding corridors and platforms? She'd kept all her sketches she'd drawn while stationed on the beastie and looked at them often, but even after all the time she'd spent confidently walking the halls of that airship, would it prove to be nothing more than faded memories now?
Her biggest fear was one she wouldn't put words to, though. What if it wasn't the Leviathan that had changed, but her?
The captain had already spotted their small group approaching and waved to them with a broad smile. Deryn felt herself shifting ever so slightly behind Alek, and though he raised an eyebrow in question, he didn't say a word. As soon as the captain was a few yards in front of them, she snapped to a salute.
"Ah, Dr. Barlow, Your Highness, Middy Sharp," the captain greets, his eyes skimming over them to ultimately rest on Dr. Barlow. "A pleasure to have you all on our ship once more."
"I'm only Alek now, sir," Alek reminded him. "I gave up my titles, remember? And Sharp is no longer in the Air Service."
"Ah, pardon my forgetfulness," Captain Hobbes apologized to Alek, then started to say something to Deryn when he finally noticed her change in appearance. His eyes narrowed, looking her up and down and finally settling on her face.
"Sorry I'm a bit different from what you expected, Captain," she said, gaze glued to the Leviathan over the officer's shoulder. She used the low boy's voice that she had always favored aboard the airship, though it was rusty now, then switched back to her normal voice. "I'm afraid I've been lying to everyone for quite awhile."
"Indeed you have, Miss Sharp," the captain agreed neutrally, his eyes swinging to Alek, to the engagement ring on her finger, and the medals on both their shirts. He let out a heavy sigh. "You have a lot of explaining to do."
"All of which can be done once we're in the air," Dr. Barlow said, waving her hand as though the whole matter were rather pointless. "I was told we would be leaving right away?"
"Of course," the captain agreed, eyes still locked on Deryn. He finally shook his head and added, "You can get one of the new middies to take your things to your rooms. I had originally put Aleksander and Sharp in the same room, but if you wish instead to—"
"Together is just perfect," Alek beamed, squeezing Deryn's hand. Heat crept up her face and she looked down at her boots to hide her embarrassment. Alek could be so daft sometimes.
"I see," the captain replied, and when Deryn chanced a peek up, she was surprised to see him actually smiling. "Well, then. We'd best be on our way."
"Yes, sir," Deryn answered, following after him with Alek dutifully. Dr. Barlow trailed behind a bit, watching the hawks overhead with that small frown she got when she was thinking deeply about something dealing with biology.
"Daye, Wright!" the captain called when they were at the ship. It was even grander now than when they had been back down the path; Deryn could almost feel it breathing in the air around her, the ecosystem woven through its entire being inhaling and exhaling as one.
It hadn't changed at all.
She looked over just as two middies came to attention directly in front of the captain. Deryn had expected to see two young boys, but one of them was actually a girl. Her appearance was that of a tomboy, her hair bobbed short and her posture rigid, but definitely a girl.
Captain Hobbes nodded to her and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Deryn. "Daye, meet your predecessor—the first female officer aboard this ship."
Daye frowned. "But sir, I thought I was the first."
"So did I, Miss; so did I." Deryn couldn't help the grin that spread across her face, though she wasn't sure whether it was out of relief or because of this girl middy standing right in front of her. The captain didn't seem to be mad, but then again, maybe years and the new laws passed had dulled the thought that Deryn had been lying to him for a barking long time. "Wright, you will be looking after Dr. Barlow. Daye, you will escort Sharp and His Hi—Aleksander to their room."
Daye's eyes widened. Clearly she recognized the names, which made Deryn wonder just how much the crew of the Leviathan talked of them once they'd left. Thinking back, she and Alek had pulled a lot of foolhardy stunts back then.
As Dr. Barlow handed her luggage to Wright, he threw a jealous look Daye's way, to which she stuck out her tongue like a child. She reached to grab Deryn and Alek's bags, but Deryn said, "We can carry them on our own."
"But this is my job, Miss Sharp," Daye said with a tiny frown, eyebrows knit together over her eyes. She seemed to be testing the name out, as though she wasn't quite sure it was right.
"I do believe your job is to escort us," Deryn corrected her. "Show us the way and we'll be fine from there."
Daye's frown deepened but she dutifully agreed and led them up into the gondola. Right before Deryn ducked in, she thought, I've missed this.
XXX
An hour later, Deryn was in the bridge; Alek stood off to her side, a step or two behind her, and the various officers of the ship were arrayed in front of her. She'd just finished explaining how she'd come to hide being a girl from them in order to fly and firmly reasserted her wish to rejoin the crew of the Leviathan permanently on the return trip home.
"Well," Dr. Busk said with a polite cough, breaking the heavy silence. "This is quite the surprise, Miss Sharp."
"Barking spiders," Newkirk muttered, shaking his head. Deryn had been surprised to see him in wearing a medal or two of his own when they first met again, but that had been nothing compared to the envy she felt. While she was off following Dr. Barlow's orders, Newkirk had been off on adventures, gaining airman experience, and rising in the ranks. Even if they allowed her to rejoin, she'd have to start over again as middy.
The only bright side was that Alek would be in the same position.
Still, she supposed that was nothing compared to his surprise at seeing her.
"As long as no one objects, I see no problem with allowing Miss Sharp back into the Leviathan's service," Captain Hobbs said, speaking up for the first time. "Aleksander as well, of course. Both served us well before circumstances required them to take their leave."
Deryn's chest swelled with hope as she searched the faces around her for any doubt, but it seemed no objection was forthcoming. Most of them just looked bemused, but a few were actually chuckling. One or two looked a bit angry, but she realized that she didn't recognize any of the people who seemed displeased. Her crew had held out for her after all.
The thought made her choke up, but she forced herself to salute, heels clicking together just as before. And suddenly, it was two and a half years ago, and she was a middy just starting out aboard this ship. "I won't let you down, Captain."
I have to say, I really enjoyed writing this. X3 I haven't written a fanfic in so long, and it felt really refreshing to do something new. Plus, I think it turned out pretty well for making it up as I went along. XD Well, the ending was a bit abrupt, but I wanted this posted tonight, and it seemed like a pretty good place. –shrugs–
To any of you who read Lost, I promise I'll try to have the last chapter done and posted by the end of the week. I'm halfway done now, but I just haven't found any motivation to finish it. I'm really really sorry. T~T