"Goodbye Alek."
"Goodbye…Dylan."
The two friends looked at each other as Alek stepped off the Leviathan for the last time.
5 years later
A knock sounded at the door of the Sharp family, and Jaspert rushed to answer it. "Who might you be?" Jaspert asked the stranger with dark hair and green eyes.
"Emperor Aleksandar Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary," the stranger announced. "I'm here to see Miss Deryn Sharp."
"Sorry, she's not here now," Jaspert replied. "She will be back in a few minutes though. Would you like to wait?"
"Yes, thank you."
A few minutes later, a red-cheeked Deryn opened the door. Jaspert rushed up to greet her.
'Deryn!" he exclaimed. "How was your day with Lauren?"
"Oh, it was loads of fun. We went shopping, and I got at least 5 new dresses-"
"You hated it, didn't you?" Jaspert interrupted.
"Yes. Anyway, what's going on? You never greet me at the door."
"There's a visitor here to see you."
"Is it another suitor? Because, if it is, tell him-" she stopped short. "Alek," she said frostily. Deryn turned back to her brother. "Like I was saying, I don't want to see him."
"Why not?" a confused Jaspert asked. "He told me that you were friends on the Leviathan-"
"Just because we were friends 5 years ago, doesn't mean that we're friends anymore." And with that, she swept up the stairs.
'What's with her?" Alek asked.
"I'm sorry. She's been very frazzled, what with her wedding coming up and all-"
"Wedding?" Alek interrupted.
"She didn't tell you? Ah, well, I guess if you're not friends anymore, she would have no reason to tell you, right? Well, have a nice day, Mr. Ferdinand."
"That's not-" Alek started, as the door was slammed in his face. '-my last name,' he finished in his head.