A.N.: Hi, people! This is my very first, and I do mean VERY FIRST, fan fiction, so it might be a little awful. Sorry about that. Anyways, I hope you like it, and please leave reviews! (harsh is alright, as long as it is *constructive*. If you're going to be mean, justify it.)
The Untold Truth (Leviathan Fan Fiction)
Deryn
The Leviathan was drifting serenely over the fertile valleys and rice paddies of China as Deryn and Newkirk worked on the great whale's dorsal. The sun was almost set on their fourth evening since leaving the Ottoman Empire, and they were still two days from Japan, yet according to Newkirk, who had heard it from some other daft bumrag, the trip was only supposed to have taken three days.
Deryn tried to ignore Newkirk as he spouted even more blether about never again having the chance to walk on solid ground, but she quickly lost hold of her temper. "Dummkopf! If you're so barking desperate to get back on the ground, let me help you!" she made as if to push him off of the side of the ship.
"Watch it!" he cried.
"Mister Sharp! I will not tolerate such childish behaviour from my midshipmen. Go cool your head!" Mr. Rigby ordered.
Deryn obliged, muttering her indignations as she scramble down the ratlines, her back dimly lit by the fading light. Not even the beauty of the sights below could calm her down. She was frustrated with herself, with her situation, knowing she could change nothing. There were so many secrets she carried inside her that she thought she might burst. First there were Alek's; the secret of his heritage, of his position, of his inheritance, even of his secret love for the Leviathan itself.
And then, of course, the most pressing were her own secrets.
The voice of Doctor Nora Barlow startled Deryn out of her reverie; "Mister Sharp! I shall require your presence in Count Volger's cabin at twenty-one o'clock sharp! No pun intended."
Fifteen minutes later, Deryn was waiting alone in the room in which the count was being held. Nobody had arrived yet, so she made herself comfortable while she waited, but waiting wasn't very entertaining.
Volger's fencing foil, the one that he had used to threaten her into spilling what she knew about Alek, was leaning against the corner of the fabricated balsa wood walls, gleaming seductively in the candlelight. Deryn's fingers crept of their own volition towards the gorgeously detailed hilt. She wasn't much for fencing, but it was so much more beautiful, and, well, downright posh-looking, than the dull foils she was allowed to practice with.
In her hands, it was perfectly balanced. She swung it about, trying to remember what Alek had painstakingly failed to teach her. The foil cut effortlessly through the air, and, with an audible thud, smashed down on the head of a bemused Austrian prince who had only moments before entered the cabin unnoticed by Deryn.
Alek swore in German, clutching his head with both hands. Red liquid pooled between his fingers.
"Barking spiders, Alek! Don't sneak up on me like that! Here," she moved in close to him and held a wad of cloth to his bleeding forehead.
Alek narrowed his eyes, "is that the cloth Volger uses to clean his foil?"
"Aye," Deryn smiled, "wouldn't want His Princeliness to get blood all over his princely clothing."
He caught her wrist, the one that was holding the cloth to his wound, in one of his strong hands, and pulled it down. "Dylan?" he asked softly, "Before the others get here, did you want to tell me what you were going to earlier? You said it was a secret."
Deryn stared into Alek's deep green eyes, and she couldn't seem to look away. Everything else in the world came to a standstill; it was just the two of them. Alek leaned a little closer to her.
"Yes," she whispered. In response to what, she didn't have a barking clue.
Even closer he leaned, till their breath was intermingling, and all she could smell-hear-sense was Alek, Alek, Alek. Their lips touched, very gently, then a little more firmly. Electricity ran a relay race up and down her spine. Suddenly, it was if all of her worries and insecurities vanished and her future was perfectly laid out in front of her.
After what could have been an eternity, or maybe just a moment, Alek jumped as if waking from a dream and pulled away, looking completely shocked.
"I—I-I'm…. sorry, I have no…idea what came over me" he stuttered, looking completely, hopelessly adorable, and maybe a little terrified. Deryn felt her heart melt. It didn't even matter that Alek still didn't know about her.
Abandoning all rational thought, Deryn grabbed the front of Alek's shirt and crushed their mouths together. He seemed to struggle against her for a brief moment, but soon returned her kiss with equal passion. His arms wound around her waist, pulling her tight against him, and her arms reached up and twined around his neck, fingers combing through his soft hair.
Alek's tongue swept across her lip, demanding entry—
"Alek! Dylan!" cried Doctor Barlow from the opened cabin door. Klopp and Bauer were standing behind her, eyes bugging, preceded by Volger, who didn't seem to know whether to be amused or disapproving.
"Junge Meister…" gasped Klopp, horrified.
Alek looked as if his entire world was collapsing on him.
Don't forget to review! Oh, and should I keep going?
*(Shhh, my sister wrote this alternate ending below)
Dylan pressed the cloth in her hand more firmly to his head, but he smacked at his hand, annoyed and in pain, causing Dylan to stumble back in surprise, and trip over something behind him. Alek made to grab him, but his quick hands only grazed Dylan's waist as he toppled down on top of him.
"Oof!"
There was a sharp intake of breath from beneath him, his hand had landed on something quite soft, but in his disorientation he wasn't able to pinpoint what it was. He tried to get up, but his legs were tangled in some form of cord. He and Dylan struggled some more, Dylan more than himself, but after a while he gave up, it was only making the cords tighter and he feared he might lose circulation in his legs before someone could help them if they continued struggling.
Alek sighed and collapsed onto Dylan, slightly out of breath from his futile attempt [at] freedom, his face resting on his chest. Dylan's heart rate was erratic; he could feel it through his clothes, what now seemed a flimsy cloth, and his chest was so soft. He found himself wanting to feel more…. Alek's head snapped up, burning with embarrassment, he held himself up at full arms length, his eyes darting about, searching for something to focus on other than the large and warm brown eyes that awaited beneath him.
After ten minutes, he had found a target on which to focus his gaze, the door. But sweat was beading on his brow and he found himself wanting nothing more than to relax his arms and sink back down. But he couldn't! Dylan [was] a boy, and such stirrings in his heart were not for prince's to bear.
Five more minutes and his arms betrayed and crumpled beneath him, quivering slightly with exhaustion; his face once more buried in Dylan's chest. There was no obvious reaction to this, so he glanced up only to find Dylan had fallen asleep. He laughed soundlessly and laid a kiss on his cheek.
