Beyond the Sky: Blood Rose

by Tasogare no Hime

Summary: Over a year after the war has ended, Exile is finally returning for the rest of the people of Prester. However 'Delphine's' army has not yet given up the fight, and what they have in store is far more surprising than anyone ever expected.

Warnings: Some violence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Last Exile. No money is being made off this use.


Chapter 6: Battle

"So that's it?" Alex asked looking out a window over the area the base was located in. You would never know it was there by sight. Even knowing the coordinates, it was nearly impossible to see it hidden in the snow-covered cliff. "They did a good job hiding it. Break it open."

Behind him Sophia nodded picking up her speaker. "Prepare the main cannon to fire!"

Augustus grimaced, looking at the codes on the screen. "No mater what I do, I can't alter it to get control.. There must be some way...Ira! Will you stop that? If she wakes too soon, she'll be completely useless to us."

Ira frowned and was about to reply when a huge explosion ripped though the outer walls of the complex, causing tremors that knocked them both off their feet. The chamber Ira had been standing in front of shifted a bit but remained in place. The woman inside was still 'sleeping' but there was now a look of discomfort on her face.

A boy ran into the room. "Sir! We're under attack! It's an armada. We are out numbered! What should we do?"

Augustus stood, and glared at the boy. "Fight them you idiot! Get all the ships out there and destroy them!" The boy gulped visibly, but bowed and left to follow the orders he'd been given.

Ira stood, and dusted himself off. "I was wondering why Cicada hadn't reported in yet. They must have failed." He said in an absurdly cheerful manner considering the circumstances.

Augustus looked at him murderously. "How can you be so calm? They are trying to destroy the base!"

"You win some, you lose some." Ira replied calmly.

Augustus wished he could strangle the android. "You stay here and guard Orpheus! I'm going to lead the attack. I've come this far. I will not fail now."

Ira watched him go before shrugging to himself, and turning back to the clone chamber.


Tatiana felt a bit odd listening to the new Flight Commander give orders.

"Our objective is to guard the entry team to the compound. Once they are in, we are to remain close and keep a path of escape open for when they return. We don't know what kind of defense the base itself has, but we know from past engagements we can expect a large number of starfish." The boy was interrupted when enemy fire his the side of the ship knocking everyone off balance.

After regaining order everyone went to their ships preparing for take off. Lavie, and Alvis stood beside Claus' ship. "Be careful." Lavie managed to get out between biting her lips. Claus gave an encouraging smile. "I will. Don't worry, I'll be back and we'll all go home together. It's a promise." Lavie nodded, smiling despite herself, Alvis was trying not to cry.

On the bridge; much closer to the point of impact things had been a bit more hectic. Alex was glad he'd been sitting again when the shot hit, several officers had been thrown off their feet. Wina had been thrown into a wall and hit her head, but insisted she was fine. He had ended up with Sophia in his lap. It had taken them a few minutes to get straightened out, and she lost her glasses. "Why the hell are they focusing on us when the guild ships are doing more damage?" he growled out as they escaped another shell with a near miss.


"Why are you focusing on the Silvana? Take out the guild ships you idiots!" Augustus shouted watching another blood rose ship sink.

"The Empress, and Row are most likely on the Silvana, Sir." A girl stated calmly.

"Idiots! All of you! They won't quit fighting if you take out their leaders! Attack the guild ships! Don't worry about the Silvana for now." Augustus ordered. He was beginning to wonder if the gods had some personal vendetta against him to be surrounded by such stupidity.

"Sir! Enemy starfish, and vanships are heading for the base!"

"Damn! Send all available fighters out at once! Do not let them enter!"

"Incoming enemy starfish!" Alis shouted to Tatiana. "We're already surrounded!"

"Break formation! Engage the enemy!" Came the voice of the flight commander over the communicator. "We're nearly to the compound. We just need to give the entry team time to get inside!"

Tatiana had trouble keeping track of everyone else in the ensuing dog fight. She was relieved to hear when Lucciola, and Dio had gotten inside. Now they just had to worry about keeping themselves alive. More Starfish, and vanships were coming to aid them now. In the distance the Horatius shot down another Blood Rose ship.

Lucciola fired again taking out the last of the men in the corridor. He turned to the others and nodded. Just as Sophia had hoped, the base itself was left sparsely defended, they had not expected the air battle to be a diversion. This was only a small relief to the entry team. They had lost two on the way in, and there had been five deaths inside, and several injuries. Andrea Actias, Dr. Actias' wife had taken a shot to the arm, but was still able to fight. At the moment she and her son Atlas were leading the group that was covering the rear of the entry team.

They had come in through the opening the Silvana's armor piercing shell hade made, and it had been enough to get them down several floors. They still had a way to go before they would reach Orpheus however, and no one was sure of how many had been left inside the base.

Moving forward Lucciola could hear more solders in front of them heading in their direction. He took a few moments to reload his gun before turning the corner, and firing at the first person he saw. Dio behind him pulled him back to avoid the return fire.


Augustus clenched his fist so tightly his knuckles had gone white. Everything was falling apart around him. Most of his fleet was now sinking to the Disith snow fields. The enemy had made it inside the base where there was too little defense. There was panic all around him on the bridge. The ship had taken a lot of damage, and a fire had broken out, and many of the crew were asking if they should evacuate. Several were already running without waiting for orders.

Unheeding Augustus stood on the bridge as a direct hit was made. He didn't seem to notice at all as ship exploded around him.


"Claus! We've taken too much damage Alis, and I are heading back to the Silvana." Tatiana said over the communicator maneuvering out of the way of an enemy. Claus took the starfish out with a few shots.

"All right! We'll cover you. We're getting low on ammunition anyway." Claus said pulling up beside the damaged vanship. After informing the flight commander they headed back toward the Silvana. "I hope Dio, Lucciola, and the others are ok in there."

They had no trouble till they had nearly made it to the Silvana. The attack came from above. A lone starfish firing as it came at them full speed. Claus, and Tatiana separated, Claus telling her to get back to the ship as he turned to face the enemy. He managed to get the upper hand just before he ran out of ammo, but the starfish managed to get out one last round of fire. Pain exploded in Claus' shoulder, and he couldn't get any word from his navi. He headed back the Silvana as quickly, and carefully as he could, blood soaking through his flight suit. He managed to land but his vision was getting blurry, he could hear several frantic voices around him as he was pulled from his seat and forced to lie on the ground. He looked back toward the vanship to see Ethan and Gale lift his navi carefully out of the ship. The older boy was also covered in blood. He could have sworn he heard Lavie call out to him, but everything faded to black before he could find her.

Lucciola looked around the room this gun raised. Dio and several others had followed him in while others stood guard at the door. They were surprised to find no one in Orpheus' room. As they walked toward the machine no one noticed that the door of one of the empty clone chambers was slightly ajar.

Placing the explosive they left the room, and waited as Andrea used a device to seal the door so no one would be able to enter to easily. "I don't know how long it will last. We need to get out of here quickly."

The boys nodded and they began to head back the way they came. When they arrived at the entry point, they noticed one of the starfish had been stolen. Knowing nothing could be done about it they loaded up the surviving injured, and left the base.

"Everyone move away from the base! I'm setting of the detonator!" Dio took the detonator, and pushed the switch. The resulting explosion shook everything even the fleeing starfish, and vanships. "Waaaahhh! So much for containing the explosion! I'm glad we weren't in there!" Dio frowned accusingly at the small device in his hand. He blinked hearing Lucciola chuckle a bit.

"Let's get back to the Silvana ...Dio"

Dio blinked again, and then smiled brightly. "Roger!"


It had over a week since the victory over Blood Rose. There were still rebels hiding out there, but from the information they had gathered their forces had been decimated, and were no longer a huge threat to Prester. Alex was still worried however as a few days after the victory Cicada somehow escaped the guild prison alone. No one knew how he had done and there was no clue to where he had gone. For now Alex made himself content with the knowledge that the people he cared for were safe. "Well if you're lucky that will be the only time you ever get shot. At least you aren't whining like Vincent did." He said not looking up from papers he was looking over.

Claus frowned at Alex, he could already feel his face going red. Sophia smiled a bit, leaning over in her chair she whispered in his ear. "Don't let him fool you. He was worried sick when we were told. The moment the battle was over he went to the infirmary to check on you." Somehow that made everything even more embarrassing. Claus wondered where Lavie, and Alvis were.

He was resting in his guestroom at the palace. The bullet had gone straight through the left shoulder, and caused a lot of bleeding and tissue damage. He wouldn't be flying for a while but Dr. Actias had ensured him he'd make a full recovery. For now his left arm was stuck in a sling. At least he'd have something to share with Mullin when they got back. His navi hadn't been so lucky. The young man had survived, but was going to be laid up for months. Despite this he was still ecstatic about having flown with the Claus Valca, and was determined to get back in the air again as soon as he recovered.

"What's all that for anyway?" Claus asked motioning to the paperwork Alex had. It annoyed him a bit that the man still seemed to be working even when taking the time to visit him.

"It's for you, Lord Valca." Alex said handing him some of the documents. Claus blinked, and sputtered, not sure what to say.

Sophia smiled sadly at him. "We've been trying to find out just how much was left your parents' estate. We were lucky to find anything, Marius, and Alex weren't the only ones Father decided needed to be punished..." Her face darkened for a moment as she spoke, the bitterness in her voice left hanging in the air after she finished.

"Sophia started looking into things after you left for Earth. You, and Lavie never should have lost that farm, even after Justina died. I never had access to anything, as I only a servant by law. I had no idea what the emperor was up to. When Marius informed me the two of you were going lose the farm I told him to sell my vanship, and whatever else was left in my name so you would still have a home." Alex was quiet for a while, remembering. Marius had contacted him again afterwards to tell him the children had given up the farm to keep the vanship they thought had belonged to their fathers. He recalled getting very drunk after hearing that. Claus didn't need to know about that part.

Claus read over the documents carefully. "You mean...all this is mine?" He asked feeling slightly dazed. It wasn't a vast fortune like the Mad-Thane's had but it was more that the boy had ever imagined he would own. Sophia nodded. Claus sat staring at the papers for a few moments, and was startled when Alex waved a hand in front of face. "Eh?...What?"

"Oh good, for a minute I thought we broke you." Alex said, looking slightly amused at Claus' shock.

Sophia smiled again, though she still looked a bit sad. "That's all we could find, and we couldn't get a lot of your parents things back. As long as you're careful you shouldn't have to worry about the future though."

Claus nodded. "Thank you, but You didn't have to do all this."

Sophia shook her head. "There were so many terrible things my father did. Things even Marius never knew. I'm glad to be able to fix what I can."


"And then, you know what they did Euris? They went right back to work! The rest of us are trying to celebrate victory, and they're hold up in an office doing paper work." Vincent paused taking another drink of coffee. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able stand this... If Alex doesn't open his eyes and do something soon, I'm going to do something, ...and probably regret it." Sighing he looked down at the memorial stone again. Some of the plants had been moved away already in preparation of storing it on exile. For Alex, and Sophia it was a way of bringing Euris with them, rather than having another stone made when they reached Earth. "Well I'd better go make sure they aren't working them selves to death. I'll talk to you later."

He paid little attention to the now familiar surroundings as he stepped through the door into the hall. He hadn't gotten very far when something landed on the top of his head. He could hear an apology shouted from the walkway above him, but didn't know who it was as he was trying to get the spots out of his eyes. When his vision finally cleared, he looked to see Father Jamieson's very old, and worn bible laying on the floor in front of him. A small book mark had fallen out of it. He picked them both up. The book looked no worse for the fall, and the book mark looked fine as well. It had 'Patience is a virtue.' printed on it in worn gold leaf. He stared at it for a moment and then turned, looking back toward the garden. He could just see the top of Euris' memorial over a small bush.

"I'm terribly shorry, it jusht shliped from my handsh." Father Jamieson lisped, looking apologetic.

Vincent handed the book back to him still a bit distracted. "It's ok. Eh...no harm done.. your book mark fell out though...Er...You've forgotten your teeth again."

The priest blinked at him, before smiling. "Sho I have. Don't worry about the book mark. I know eshactly where it bleongsh. I wash reading the book of Exshodush"

"Exsho..Exodus?" Vincent asked feeling slightly embarrassed about having to do so. The old priest nodded.

"It ish kind of shimilar to what your people are now doing. Heading to the promished land."

Vincent remembering the story nodded, but paused remembering something else. "...Didn't they get lost in a desert for forty years?"


The girls were looking through the wreckage of Claus, and Lavie's old house in Norkia. So far they hadn't found much, but Lavie had discovered a few trinkets she was glad had not been lost forever. Placing some things she and Claus had saved from the farm into one of the bags they had brought with them, she paused to wipe her brow. Tatiana walked over and joined her.

"I don't think were going to find much more." She said holding out some old clothes that had ben saved since they were children. They still looked in good shape, and with a little work would probably make nice play clothes for Dunya's siblings.

Lavie took them and nodded. "Yeah, I think we've found all we're going to. We should head back...It's getting so hot again already isn't it?" She jumped when a stray cat dashed from a partly opened cabinet. Alvis, and Alister walked over with the last of what they had found. They paused watching the cat slink off.

Alvis frowned "What's going to happen to all the animals they can't catch? They're going to stay here aren't they?"

Lavie nodded frowning. "I wonder how long they'll have." She said quietly.

"Alex thinks some of the rebels that escaped will stay here too, even though Sophia has offered them asylum if they turn them selves in. Only a few showed up to be taken into custody." Tatiana said picking up a bag. "Even though they are still enemies it's terrible to think they'll just stay here and die."

It was a terrible thought, and none of them were sure what to say. There was still time however, perhaps more would come to their senses.