Eratos
Pt Three: Departure





"Leon?" Karl shook him gently, the handsome arch-mage turned around to face his fianceé, opening his eyes slightly. "The Great Whales are here."


O'Connell hugged Wilson and smiled, his sack of belongings over his shoulder. "Bye, Wilson. Hopefully I'll see you around."

"Political refugees. I don't like that, Jake. You always been one for the Republic. What did you do to fall astray?"

"...fall in love." O'Connell replied, then petted Scout. The 12-year-old Collie whined but remained at Wilson's side.

O'Connell walked to the convertable with Hermann and got in, he watched as the Imperial zoids were starting to file into the Imperial-marked Great Whale. Karl yawned, then stretched. After the Iron Kong Mk-II was parked in its' proper hangar, he got out. Next to Karl was the König Wolf and beside that was the DiBison. It was still only 5:30 in the morning, the sun hadn't rose yet. Walking to a comfortable spot, Karl lied down, taking off his uniform hat. Leon walked up and set a few pamphlets down beside him. Sitting up, Karl took a pamphlet in his hands. "What are these?"

"Wedding planner." Leon smiled at Karl, his hand on Karl's cheek. "I know you want to be married in your uniform, that's fine by me. But I'd like to have the other things planned out in a romantic fashion."

"I'll look them over." Karl smiled, then patted the seat next to him. "We got a way to go in the Great Whale. Why don't you sleep with me?"

"Anything for you." Leon smiled and lied down beside Karl, the beautiful colonel wrapped one arm around his betroth's waist. He fell asleep rather quickly, but Leon remained awake, just to watch Karl sleeping.




6 months before Chaotic Century...


"Leon! Hold on! I'll get you out of there in a jiffy!" Karl called out down the hallway, machine gun still in hand.

"No you don't!" The tonfa-weilding bandit smacked Karl's machine gun out of his hands. Karl staggered a bit, but the bandit continued to wail on the lovely Major. Karl shielding the blows with his arms, but he was getting badly battered. Finally the bandit gave Karl one helluva sucker punch, knocking him to his knees. A small trail of blood trinkled down from the corner of Karl's lips. He looked up at the bandit, looking at his mocking face.

"B-bastard."

The bandit grabbed Karl by the locks of his blonde hair and yanked him upward. He grinned and held a knife to Karl's throat. "You're a pretty one. Do the Empire actually hire to pretty boys? Or are you one of those 'Companions' in the uniform of an Imperial major?"

"...."

"If you are a hired companion, suck my dick for 50 Marcs."

The bandit was in the process of unzipping his pants, his hand still holding Karl up by the hair. The bandit's henchmen were behind him, laughing at Karl's dismay. "Suck, bitch!" The bandit laughed, forcefully shoving Karl closer to his erection. But before anything was going to happen, the bandit was castrated by a bolt of electricity. The bandit screamed, falling down, holding his bleeding area. The others aimed their machine guns at Karl as Leon approached. Leon looked badly ripped up, he was wrapped in barbed wire for an hour. Cuts were aquamarine, not crimson. The bandits opened fire on Leon, Karl looked up in horror to see Leon getting battered by the barrage of bullets. The bandits stopped, laughing, they expected Leon to drop. But soon they stopped, staring at the arch-mage as quintessence leaked from the bullet wounds. The quintessence immediately dried, healing the wounds.

"What the--!? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!?"

"...pissed." Leon's eyes glowed green, the gem appeared on his forehead. The bandits looked up, only to be bitten in half by their own Command Wolves. Leon fell to the ground as the rain began to fall on their bodies. Karl's arms pulled his Lieutenant friend to his body, Leon's head in Karl's lap. The rain felt so good against their wounded bodies. Karl looked up at the dark sky, the rain hiding his tears.

"I shouldn't have dragged you into this, Leon... I'm sorry."

"You... you knew these bandits were going to be more than a handful, why did you follow them alone?" Leon whispered in a low, weak voice.

"I had to, I'm an Imperial officer. It's my duty to uphold the law."

"I don't need you dead, Karl.... not now, not ever." Leon's voice was lower, softer and emotional.

"But Leon." Karl whispered so softly, his fingers in Leon's slate-blue hair. "...I want you close to me. That's why I wanted you to be with me."

"Hmmmm?" Leon looked up at the blonde Major, seeing the pent-up emotions in his green eyes.

"Leon, I.... I...." Karl buried his face in Leon's shoulder as he spoke. "I love you."

"Y-you.... you love me?"

"Yes. Please don't.... don't be offended."

"Karl..." Leon smiled, his hand slid softly against Karl's cheek. "I want to love you.... I really do...."

"B-but....??"

Leon didn't respond to that, Karl opened his eyes and looked down. Leon had lost consciousness, causing the major to break down inside. He pulled Leon close, shielding him from the rain, praying back-up arrives.




//I really did want to love him then.// Leon thought to himself, gently brushing tufts of blonde hair from Karl's enchanting face. His lips kissed Karl's tenderly and lovingly. //But I was still so dark, I didn't want Karl to learn what had happened only years before... how I ended up in Zi to begin with. I didn't want to lose him. I still don't.//



"Leon?"

Slowly, Leon opened his eyes to see Karl browsing through the pamphlets. The one in his hand was the hor d'ourves and catering planner.

"How do you feel about shrimp and Petit Fores?"

"Odd combination." Leon stretched, then sat up to give Karl a smooch on the cheek. "How about that?" He pointed to Shrimp and seafood neuburg.

"A seafood reception?"

"Why not?"

"The Republic is the fishing capital of Zi, this'll cost extra."

"True. Didn't think about that. How about a sweet one?" Leon flipped the page to all the desserts.

"Makes my sweet tooth ache just looking at it." Karl chuckled and looked at all the sweets.

"Karl..." Leon spoke in a soft tone of voice, kinda sorrowful, but still emotional.

"Yes, Leon?"

"That night when you confessed your feelings to me, when we chased the bandits in the Command Wolves.... what were you really thinking when I told you that I wanted to love you but couldn't?"

"That was over 4 years ago, Leon." Karl looked at his magic lover, confused. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I knew then that I had really upset you... I was haunted by that for a really long time."

"I understand now that it was your long past that troubled you and you didn't want to open up then... especially to someone you knew for just a year."

"True."

"Leon, I don't care if you killed a universe out of spite, I still love you."

"..." Leon pulled Karl in his arms, the green-eyed colonel dropped the pamphlet to slide his hands on Leon's chest. "I'll make you a promise."

"A promise?"

"As long as I'm alive, you won't have any pain."

"I don't understand what you're promising me." Karl was interupted when Leon kissed him deeply, his eyes widened. Then to Karl's displeasure, he saw crimson under Leon's eyelid. He held Leon close, his eyes fluttered shut, just as blood tears fell down Leon's cheeks.




"Leon, you'll like him. Trust me." Karl smiled, his hand on the doorknobs of Vaskuyard University. "He's not the most enchanting, but at least he has a heart."

"True." Leon was behind Karl, entering the halls of the nicely decorated academy.

Karl knocked on the wooden door of a dorm room, a girl with black hair answered it. She was still in bra and panties, seeing the Major and the Lieutenant there, she blushed and ran for the bathroom to get dressed. The young man in the room was not Thomas, instead he pulled up his pants upon seeing the higher ranking officers there.

"We interupted Nookie-time, I see." Leon commented as they stepped inside.

"Uh.... Major! I didn't know you were entering! I'll get Thomas, sir!" The Cadet was fully dressed and made a beeline for the door. Karl breathed a sigh of exasperation and sat down at the desk. On the desk were pamphlets for places to spend Spring Break and on occassion, magazines for mechanics and electronics. The place was more of a workshop and not a Cadet dorm. The Imperial flag hung on the wall, facing the window. A few minutes later, Thomas walked in wearing a Cadet uniform and a beret with the Imperial insignia. He saw Karl and saluted, still feeling goofy about the situation.

"At ease, Thomas." Karl smiled, pulling out a present from his small backpack. "I brought you a present for your birthday."

"Thanks, bro." Thomas opened it up and smiled upon pulling a few comic books from the box. "Thanks!"

Karl chuckled and looked at Leon. "Thomas, meet my right-hand man, Leon Aethelwulf."

"Hey." Leon nodded once while leaning against the wall with his arms folded.

"Yo." Thomas waved with his hand, smiling.

"Where are you going for Spring Break?"

"Hadn't decided yet, might go back home for it."

"I see."

Leon stood up and looked at Karl, clearing his throat. "I'll be in the cafeteria, want anything to drink?"

"Just coffee will do."

"A can of Shasta." Thomas piped up, smiling. Leon nodded and walked out, closing the door with his hand.

"Karl, your second-in-command seems to have lots on his mind."

"Leon always looks like he's troubled. I can't help but feel that something is troubling him. He won't talk to me about it, he shuts down when I ask 'What's wrong?'."

"Maybe you should ask with charm."

"Tried that."

"If you're concerned about his happiness, you should be upfront about it."

"Tried that too."

"..."


Leon walked down the hallway when he came to the auditorium, he stopped to listen to the choir and the band playing in harmony. The song was sorrowfully sweet, causing Leon to stand there enraptured. The music was most elegant, it brought Leon to tears. Images of his past flashed through his mind, he couldn't hide the pain any longer. The band instructor turned around to see the Lieutenant bleeding. He stopped the practice to rush to Leon's side.

"Lieutenant! You're hurt!" He saw the blood on Leon's cheek, Leon slowly pushed him away. His hand on one side of his face. "I'll be fine, as you were."

He walked down the hallway, trying to wipe the blood away.

//I'm surprised I hadn't resorted to drinking yet...//





-Continued-