Hello, no this story isn't dead I just got very caught up with the back half of senior year, triathlon training, getting ready for college, college and swim team, I will keep this story going I'm sure this will be a shock to those of you following to see this little notification pop up after a year and some change, I hope you enjoy!
~*Years Ago*~
My Father Francis Ferdinand Hohenberg and my mother Sophia Chotek Hohenberg, they were diplomats in the Austrian Government. Sophia Hohenberg was part of the Austrian national council, and Francis Hohenberg was the Vice Chancellor of Austria. Ever since Serbia broke from the Austrian empire there have been hostilities between the two and after Serbia attacked Bosnia a rebellious sect formed and wanted to reclaim "lost territory" from Austria. Fast forward a to recent years and the border disputes and fighting had reached a fever pitch. Vice Chancellor Francis Hohenberg took it upon himself to meet with the Serbian Prime minister to discuss the increasing attacks and conflicts. My mother came along on the trip to add more diplomatic pressure. The talks turned quickly to peace under the vice chancellor's guidance and willingness from the Serbian prime minister to remove the rebels from military strength. after a brutal bombing campaign, had left many Serbians and Austrians dead the Serbian government was ready for peace. Leaving successfully from peace talks the two diplomats were stopping for a routine check at a border crossing back into Austria. The Serbian rebels had learned that two high ranking diplomats were in the country and decided it wasn't an opportunity that they could miss. They detonated a bomb at the checkpoint and surrounded the car in a surprise attack. No one was left alive. Both countries leaders were horrified and met at the United Nations to discuss a future of peace and prosperity in which the countries worked together and not against the others. The ratification of the Hohenberg accords came three months after they died, and are still in place today.
Since I was eleven my uncle Ernst Volger has been raising me, and once I turned 17 I applied to LSA and here I am.
Sitting on the bed next to him I was stunned. He had tears in his eyes and were looking off to the drawer by the side of his bed where he kept what I assumed was the photo of his parents. In the silence, all I could do was raise my hand to his shoulder. It brought a sad smile to his face as he turned to me.
"Alek, I'm so sorry, I know how hard it is to lose a parent, but I cannot fathom what it would be like to lose both," At the mention of me losing a parent his face turned from that sad smile to a mix between concern and sadness that I may have experienced a lose like this. "It was My da." Alek nodded in understanding and brought his hand opposite the shoulder my hand occupied up to it and placed it on top of my hand. He looked like he was about to say something, a condolence maybe but I interrupted his unspoken words.
"It was a ballooning accident, Me and him were going to go up in his balloon when something caught fire as we started to ascend. The next thing I knew my Da pushed me out of the balloon and it broke free of the mooring line, all of the heat caused the balloon to rocket skywards." At this point we both had tears slowly leaking out of our eyes. He gave my hand a squeeze.
"I'm so sorry Deryn." I closed my eyes and nodded.
"Aye, me too" He shifted my hand off his shoulder and brought it around me and pulled me into a quick side hug. As we separated Alek nodded and turned giving a slight smile, and despite the emotional day it still warmed my heart. Everything Is going to turn out alright, He knows the truth and there aren't any secrets.
Comfortable silence followed which was quickly broken by the loud rumbling of an unfed stomach. I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing, the timing was perfect, if not inappropriate after the recent conversation but it still broke the sad atmosphere, as Alek started to laugh as well.
"I guess I didn't really eat when I was out earlier." I stood from the bed and extended a hand, which he took and hoisted himself off the bed.
"Well then we better hurry the dining hall is gonna close soon." He nodded and went to put on his shoes. I grabbed my dorm keys off my desk and took my coat and phone out of my open travel bag. That was when I realized, "so that is why you aren't going anywhere for break." Alek stood and swung his coat around his shoulders.
"Yea, Volger isn't the nicest of people to spend a holiday with. He is a rather condescending fellow." I laughed at this.
"I mean with a name like Volger you probably aren't the most charming person." But then an idea struck me as we were leaving the dorm.
"Are you going back to Austria for Christmas?" He shook his head no. "Well," I began the framework of a plan began laying itself out in my mind. "Since it is too late to fill out the liability and permission forms then you can't travel with me to Scotland for Thanksgiving, but you are going to come celebrate Christmas in Scotland with the Sharps. No one deserves to spend Christmas cooped up in a dorm room." Alek turned back about to protest as he held the stairwell door open to me.
"That is final, you will not be imposing, so don't try and get out of it you bloody clanker." He chuckled at that.
"Well I appreciate the offer and accept even though it seems I have no choice, but you were quite rude near the end." I laughed and with that he started laughing.
"Well, either you come with me, or I'm staying here with you, no matter what, no one deserves to be alone." Especially you. We pushed our way out into the cold of this Pre-winter frost.
"Also, Alek, thank you for trusting me with the stuff about your parents." He turned to me a slight smile on his face.
"It was good to talk about it, and again I'm sorry about how I reacted earlier, it was uncalled for, I should be thanking you for staying my friend." Smiling I responded,
"No problem your daft prince, but let's agree no more mind-blowing secrets between us." He looked determined as he agreed whole heartedly. He stuck out his and I grabbed it and we shook, to honesty, and then went and almost missed getting dinner.
Despite waking up early Sunday morning with a pillow being thrown at me, it was considerably better than waking up with a head splitting hangover. My flight back to Scotland for thanksgiving holiday was in three hours at Heathrow. We don't celebrate it, but the American students do, which allowed an excuse for a trimester system to have three breaks making it easier for planning for the school.
Pulling the thrown pillow off my head I threw it back blindly towards where I thought Alek might be. I heard a loud clanging and a loudly exclaimed "GAH" as my pillow hit the tin coffee pot on Aleks dresser onto the floor. I opened my eyes and propped myself up on one arm to see Alek scooping loose change back into the pot, he was dressed in a ratty t shirt covered by a purple LSA sweatshirt, and grey jogging bottoms. Turning slightly, I looked at the clock which displayed almost to brightly for my sleep filled eyes 6:45. Groaning I swung my feet out of my bed and sat up slumped forward slightly.
"To early for you sleepy head?" I straightened up my back and stretched.
"Not in the slightest your princeliness, just not looking forward to another flight on Huxley air, I bet our final project will be more flyable than their planes."
"I doubt we could build something that can fly and hundreds of miles per hour in a school's hanger, but I mean with confidence anything is possible." I nodded at this and stood leaving behind my last vestiges of sleep. I grabbed my pile of clothes next to my travel bag which I had set out the previous night. A pair of blue jeans, boy shorts, converse, a red LSA shirt, a tan and black flannel and to top it off one of the binders Alek had gotten after he stormed out. I made my way into the bathroom and began to change and fix up my hair from the treatment sleeping gave it, dry shampoo and a small bit of gel to smooth down the sides and push the top back into place and get the random bits of hair sticking out randomly back in line.
After changing the difference between the binder and the bandages was incredibly noticeable, the usually uncomfortable uneven squeezing was replaced by a slight pressure and now I won't have to worry about the bandage becoming untucked. The binder kept everything flush to my chest without the unnecessary pain. I pulled on the flannel and exited the bathroom. Alek was sitting on his bed reading a book assigned by Barlow to help him with animal care because he was not well versed in how to hold certain animals such was the case with a chinchilla he almost picked up like a rat. He got a forty-five-minute lecture on floating ribcages and three extra book assignments.
"How's the reading going?" Alek put his book down and the look he gave me was nothing short of annoyed.
"It's interesting enough but its overkill, one little mistake leads to over 5,000 words of reading and assignments," He looked at the clock and back to me. "You ready to go?" I turned to the clock to see the time 7:00. The busses chartering students to the airport left at seven twenty
"You shouldn't have been such a dummkopf then, and yea let's go." I picked up my travel bag and a bag of toiletries from the bathroom and was out the door with Alek making my way to the main gate. At the dorms entrance we said our farewells for the week to come. Promising to text and to continue the Civ game we had started.
"Well I'll see you in a week, Mister Sharp." Then with a wink he turned and walked off. Despite no one being around and the fact no one would be able to understand the insinuation he made it still got my blood to boil. The audacity of that Barking Prince. Before turning to go the main gate, I shouted after him
"Dummkopf!" as fast as I was walking I could still hear his laugh at my response. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, two quick buzzes, Alek. I ignored it, and found my way onto the busses and sat in the front seat.
On the way to Heathrow airport I begrudgingly checked the text he sent. I apologize I thought it would be funny I was obviously wrong. I sighed, setting my phone back down, such a formal text no wonder it takes so long for him to ever respond. The rest of the ride passed slowly, texting Alek and Newkirk a bit, Alek could respond to the texts until he got to the pool. He wished me a safe trip and went radio silence. There was a bit of commotion on the back of the bus as Fitzroy and his cronies were acting up. It was good that Fitzroy was leaving for thanksgiving break so that he wasn't on campus with Alek without myself around. It's stupid, Alek can handle his battles himself, he's not a damsel in distress, well he may not be a damsel but every prince charming needs rescuing sometimes. I did not just compare him to prince charming. I don't want to be some girl twisting her skirts every time we talked but it's hard to deny that I have fallen for him, and now he knows my secret, so anything goes ... My thoughts were abruptly halted as the bus stopped and it was time to get off.
I pushed up and into the hallway of the bus and bumped Fitzroy as he walked by smirking at him. Either he didn't notice or didn't care he had a flight to catch and so did I.
Compared to the rush and the lines at the airport when I left Scotland this morning at the airport was a breeze, excess time to take it not necessarily slow but not in a rush either. The lines weren't long at Heathrow despite it being a Sunday morning at an international airport. By the time I was past the security check and at the gate I had an hour until they started to call for boarding. Leaving my stuff on an empty chair that I could keep my eye on I walked to a Costa nearby my terminal and bought a coffee and returned to my stuff. While boarding I received multiple texts from Alek about how much he didn't want to work with Barlow while I was gone due to the Doctors… Favoritism. The Intercom started up calling for electronics to be put into airplane mode as we were clear for departure to Glasgow.
Unlike the first flight flying out to London there was hardly any turbulence flying back to Scotland. Landing was simple and so was departing but now the real turbulence begins. I found the girls bathroom and locked myself in a stall. Pulling open my suit case I removed from it a uniform for the school minotaur prep school, an all-girls school in London, where my mother and aunties think I am attending. A quick change into different clothes left me feeling strange and out of place, please let the trip home be fast so I can change. Stepping out of the stall the clothes I left leviathan in stuffed into my bag.
I stepped outside into the brisk November air of Glasgow, looking around the outside terminal to find a taxi was quite simple and to just take a taxi would have been so much simpler but there with a bloody smirk a mile wide was Jaspert Sharp standing next to ma's car. What the hell is he doing here. Tugging my skirt down to try and cover my knees I walked forward and almost spat at Jaspert,
"Why are you here?" He looked somewhat taken a back.
"Jeez what did you and Alek break up? Come on sis I thought I'd be nice and pick you up from the airport."
"We aren't even dating, and you know that!" He smiled wider,
"So defensive, you should get in the car, cause the wind is turning you bright red... or is it that ginger kid." He hopped out of the way of my fist as I swung at him and hopped in the car closing the door, I opened the back door and stepped in not wanting to sit shot gun to him.
Arriving home was surreal, returning home to a place I haven't lived in many months should be normal, but it wasn't it felt alien in a strange way. Jaspert retrieved my suitcase from the trunk and I took a photo of the place I called home and sent it to Alek with the caption This is how us peasants live. My house was in no way a peasant's home I just couldn't miss a chance to tease Alek. Moving from the car up the drive to the door led to a lot of anxiety, what if they found out about my schooling at leviathan instead of minotaur, and suddenly all thoughts of that were swept from my head as I crossed the threshold into my home. The smell of ma's cooking invaded my senses and being home felt normal again it felt real. This was not a 12 by 19-foot cube that smelled of deodorants and faintly masked gym shoes, I picked up my pace and entered my kitchen to see my mom at the counter putting together haggis, neaps and tatties, for a late dinner before a supper out tonight. My aunties were sitting at the kitchen table laughing and talking as my mom worked. My mother stopped as I walked in and pulled me into a hug for a quick reunion before she pulled away and asked where all my letters to home went to. My face went red and my aunties all had a good laugh.
It was late when I returned to my room, full of goof Scottish foods and a relief that comes with being in your own space. I looked around my bare room to see all my old drawings of zeppelins, airplanes, jets and other flying contraptions. Art journals covered my bookshelves and my bed was made. Most of the plants on the three windowsills in my room were dead. I always forgot about those, maybe I will let my mom into my room when I'm gone this time. I put my suitcase onto my bed and sat down taking it all in. I looked out of my window onto the plot of land our house sat on. The trees bare from the winter winds and the ground snowy and white. My Da's shed on the back of the property stood solitary and in disrepair. In an instant the nice feeling of being home was shaken away, memories of my da flooded me, and I sat back in bed. This is going to be a long night.
Somewhere around 12 I got back to Aleks texts he sent during the day about how the ferret was doing and how it was very close to the end of the pregnancy. Alek was worried, what's new, that when Dr. Barlow left for the next few days the baby would be born, and he would be entirely unprepared. By the time of my response Alek was most likely sleeping after his long day of watching a pregnant ferret, very exhausting indeed.
I had been tossing and turning for hours into the night and decided it was one of those times. I slid out of bed and walked barefoot out into the second-floor hallway to the trapdoor that lead to the attic, I pulled it down quietly and made my way up. The attic was dusty dark and relatively cold, but it held most of father's possessions that mother couldn't bear to see anymore. On nights like these I would always come up here and sit in my father's armchair and I would finally find sleep, but tonight's routine went slightly differently. Instead of going right to sleep I debated for the longest time calling Alek. I wanted to talk but it was so late. In the end I did call him to a tired and confused response with a lot of, "What's wrong?" and "Is everything okay" after assuring him everything was fine, I started talking with him about my dad and all the stories he told her as a kid as Alek listened on either asleep or so attentive he didn't make any noise, either way it wouldn't have mattered in some form he was there and she was able to talk, an option unavailable for the longest time.
