Chapter 13: Crimson Glow
"As I aimlessly stop going and close my eyes, the image of yours comes into and goes out my mind..."
The flashbulb on the photographer's camera illuminated the stage around the red-garbed brunette in the small concert hall. Just the right light, just the right pose, just the right moment…!
"If I can stay by your side, I don't need anything else… Now, my heart aches in blueness for being separated…"
'Who comes up with this pap?' the photographer thought to herself. 'Aches in blueness? Pathetic.'
All of a sudden, she saw the perfect frame and snapped a fresh photo.
"You warmed me... as I didn't know anything, you put yourself at risk and protected me..."
In theory, none of these photos mattered. They were just cover anyway. But in practice, how could she waste taking photographs of one such a well-commended singer and not turn each one into a work of art?! Besides, selling the good ones to the newspapers might pay better than her real job.
'AH!'
The singer crossed a gloved hand along her chest as she touched the microphone, as if guarding her own heart.
"But you changed my chilly way of life. As it's distant now, I'm wistful and lonely… As I've yearned and yearned for seeing you… I was looking for you at dusk on that day…"
SNAP!
When the show ended, the photographer waited to be waved into the dressing room as per usual. After the singer was done talking to the men that wouldn't stop fawning over her. A professional in every way, calmly flirting, teasing them, making them remember her face without committing to a single one.
Then it was her turn. The singer sat at her powder table, untying the black hair ribbon and beginning to loosen her corset. "Oh! There she is, my flashbulb. Was tonight a good night?"
"Mmmm."
The photographer went over to her film bag, preparing to pull out the chemicals she needed. "Ohhh, it must have been if you're already planning to develop them."
They'd only been working together for two months and this woman seemed to know her inside and out. "The light was good," the photographer said gruffly.
The assignment had started simply enough. She'd already been working with the Intelligence Service for a year before it was thought to try and convert the singer. She had an ease with everyone around her that seemed to get her into places she normally shouldn't be able to, and the photographer could thus document everything.
But the singer was everything she wasn't. Social. Inquisitive. Warm. Not like the photographer, who couldn't even show warmth when she was engaging in her beloved hobby.
And yet, as she darted into the bathroom to convert it into a makeshift lab, pinning the photos to the line after the alkalide solutions had done their work… she watched the images form. The suspected foreign agent had been right in the front row, and she now had pictures that had caught the image of a telltale document in the pocket. She cracked the door open, just enough. "Call the station, have them pick up Bowler before he gets out of town."
The singer laughed as though the espionage going on during her concert were just a game. "And to think he was a fan! Oh, should I send him an autograph when they put him in jail?"
As the photographer continued to examine the photos on her line, one in particular practically leapt off the photo paper. The singer with her arm crossed along her heart. The sadness tempered by hope in her face.
The newspapers could have another one. This one was hers.
Luka adjusted the patch over her eye with deliberate care. She shouldn't worry about being so superficial right now, but she was also concerned about standing out so much by wearing bandages on her head now that she was back on dry land and trying to blend in. After the bombing of Saint-Urbain, everyone in the port village of Bonneau was on edge.
According to the official story, the city had been attacked by Nordland, who the General claimed had been threatened by the fall of the Shion royals and retaliated. But the story made little sense – Saint-Urbain was important to Westheim, but not a strategic location to attack flying in from Nordland.
Besides, she already knew the truth when she heard the panicked SOS coming in over the radio from the Zola when Gumi had started to pull back to the coastline.
The Faerie Dust had been dropped on the city. Hundreds dead from exposure.
Three more innocent Sudlanders losing a home, this time at the hands of people they'd trusted.
Nordland had never been the target. Somehow, Luka knew it had to be the Prince. Which meant that the gas might well linger in the area if they were hoping to kill him.
Naturally, this meant no return trip to where they came. Gumi's photos of the Zola's maps revealed this tiny fishing village, and so they'd headed out to somewhere lower profile.
Nobody questioned why injured people were escaping to Bonneau. They just kept their heads down, hoping they wouldn't be next.
"I think you should stop fussing with that patch. You look quite lovely if I do say so myself!"
In the week since Saint-Urbain, Gakupo seemed on track to make a full recovery, and now Luka was having trouble figuring out how to handle him when he started in like this. He was already up and about wandering their inn room. "It's not for aesthetics!" Luka snapped, "I just need it to stand out as little as possible."
The first time Gakupo had taken a nap, she'd thought the man had died from how still he was. Given his health, she'd found herself violently shaking him, near tears at the idea she'd failed to preserve him.
Only for him to wake up with a stupid look on his face, asking why she was so worried.
Apparently, this doctor could sleep through an air raid siren even at peak health, she learned.
But even for someone that liked a good nap as much as him, the mandatory bed rest was doing him little good.
Luka had already changed into more casual clothing – a black shirt and loose white pants under thick black boots. She knew walking around in trousers might in fact draw attention to her given the fashion, but she didn't want to be bothered trying to possibly fight off a Cinderella or worse in a dress.
Gumi was already off in town trying to scrounge up any sign of intel they could use to plot their next move. If Kaito was heading for Westheim, he would have been stuck in Saint-Urbain. She didn't even bother to consider that he might have died there – at this point, she simply took it for granted that he'd scraped by as per usual.
But now Luka was growing restless herself – Gumi may be a spy, but Luka had been a Cinderella. Keeping her ear down was a talent of hers. She'd only stayed at the Inn to keep an eye on her recovering patient.
"Gakupo, can you handle cooking for yourself or are you still a little light-headed?"
"Hmmm. Well. That."
Gakupo ran a hand through his long ponytail. "I think I can manage if it's simple…"
"You're still sick?"
He laughed nervously. "W-well, it's more that… well, as Rin would say, I'm kind of a disaster in the kitchen on my own."
Luka examined the doctor more closely. How in the world had someone like this gotten so far in life, let alone possessed the kind of talent he had in saving lives under extraordinary circumstances?
'Hmph… it's because he's clever in odd ways.'
She recalled how he'd easily defeated her with a smoke bomb stuffed full of ether back in the Rhune.
The door to the room popped open as Gumi filed in, taking off her long green coat and tossing it aside. The girl's normally quiet manner made her hard to get a good read on, but even Luka could tell she was dejected. "This town has been a bust… we're just too far out in the sticks!" she muttered, "Nobody worth anything out here… we'd be better off moving on. Maybe there's a way to sneak through to Westheim… it's not a big border like Saint-Urbani, but it's still a checkpoint…"
For a spy, Gumi was surprisingly stumped at gathering intelligence. Then a thought slipped into Luka's head. "Gumi… you're not talking to everyone here in Estmarchian are you?"
"It's the only language out here I know," she fumed, "What else could I use?"
Of course… to truly get close to strangers, to truly trust her, they wouldn't talk to an outsider. They'd trust someone who spoke their own tongue.
"Gumi, did anything strike you as odd? Anyone in particular that seemed like they were out of place in this city?"
The photographer rested her camera on the table. "I have some photos to develop of the docks that I snuck out. Someone seems to be loading up an awful lot of supplies, but I don't know where they're going or who they're for."
"Good. Develop the photos, and Gakupo and I will investigate the docks."
"Eh?!" The doctor sounded shocked. "What do you expect me to do in all this?"
"You're going to make me look less odd. You have a rather innocent look about you. And I'll handle the important part. The Sudlandian."
"Innocent? More like idiotic," Gumi said, "But that might work even better. Okay, I'll get to work on the pictures, we'll see what we come up with."
Luka grabbed the doctor's hand before he could resist. "Come now, we'll have a little convalescence. I promise, we won't be running for our lives, so you should hold up just fine. I'll even throw in a nice breakfast for us so you don't kill yourself from scorching oatmeal."
Miku stared out the window of her and Kaito's room as she watched the morning mist rise up out of the valley below. A whole week with the Confedere had passed. She'd quietly worried that somehow things would turn sour – that when Kaito's identity was revealed, someone would change sides and try to hurt him. But so far… everything had remained calm.
No bombings.
No Cinderellas.
But nobody could return to Saint-Urbain thanks to the contamination from the lingering gas. The last evacuations took far too long given the lack of gas masks to use for civilians. The route into Westheim was now even more complicated – yet it was so close. She'd promised to see Kaito to safety, and she'd nearly completed it.
"Nice view, huh?"
She turned to see Meiko wandering in, puffing on a lit cigarette.
"If you're looking for Kaito, he's meeting with the Commander right now," Miku said, "Against my better judgement, I'm letting the two of them try to work things out. I can't imagine it's easy for her to speak to the son of her parent's murderers'."
Meiko leaned out on the window sill, watching the mist rise with Miku. "She's a pragmatic sort," the brunette said, "He made a good impression before. I like to think he'll get this diplomacy thing down once he's dealing with more genuine actors."
As the woman leaned out, Miku noticed the red silk flower pinned in her hair. Looking at it more closely, she realized Meiko had worn it the night of the ball. Why had she hung onto something like that this long? But everything about Meiko seemed strange to her. "Why are you still here?" Miku asked.
Meiko took a long drag on her cigarette. "Because I had a mission to help the Crown, you know? And in the long run, a mission to spare Nordland from war. I'm pretty sure if we can get Kaito on the throne of Estmarch, we'll finally have some semblance of peace out here again."
"Just nationalism?" Miku asked. Meiko didn't seem the type.
The singer cracked a smile. "I became a spy because there's people I want to protect. I was willing to give up my dream for a while to do that. And I was willing to risk coming here and getting caught in a war because there's one person I want more than anything."
She looked back to Miku and smirked. "You can't tell me you don't understand that, given how close you are to him."
Meiko was only trying to make conversation. She wasn't judging her. But somehow… having it pointed out made Miku feel uncomfortable. "I… I promised to take him to Westheim…" she said.
"Right…" the singer said, clearly doubting her.
"And I'm not with him right now because…"
She swallowed.
"…because I'm not necessary for his discussions with the Commander."
"I see."
The doubt in Meiko's voice started to unnerve her, but she got some relief when a familiar voice calling out to her.
"Miku, we finally made it!"
Two familiar blonde twins entered the bedroom and rushed over to her. "Len, Rin! You're both alive!"
Some of the tension released – she hadn't witnessed their deaths. "But how did you get up here?!"
Rin smiled proudly. "Len and I came up with the last of the evacuees from the university's hospital now that they're all well enough to travel."
"The hospital? Wait… you were in Saint-Urbain?!"
She looked both of the teenagers over carefully. "But how did you survive… twice?!"
"Rin yanked me out of the car before it blew… and we managed to grab onto what was left of the bridge supports," Len explained.
"Heh… so that's why I didn't run into you in the gorge," Meiko laughed, "And then you just managed to not catch a bomb to the face."
Len patted his sister on the back. "Better than that… Rin here was the one that came up with the cure for the Faerie Dust!"
"So… Kaito owes you another favor then," Miku said, a rare smile crossing her face.
"Wait, seriously?! How did he get gassed, you guys should have come in through the mountains!" Len said in disbelief.
"Because he insisted on running into a clocktower in the gas zone to save a child from a burning building," Meiko added as she took another drag from her cigarette.
"Oh… should have guessed. Suicidally protective as ever," Len quipped.
"Well then I'm glad I was able to help him out," Rin said, "There were plenty of people that… didn't make it."
It was strange to see someone as used to death as Rin was becoming unnerved by it. 'But Rin's been out of the Godmothers for years,' Miku thought to herself, 'I guess she's had time to lose that level of apathy.'
"LEN! RIN!"
"Hey, I wonder who else is coming through that door next?" Meiko quipped as Kaito burst in, nearly out of breath.
"Ah, Kaito, are you sure it's safe for you to be running around like that?!" Miku said with worry, "Just a week ago you were barely breathing!"
He bent over and gripped at his thighs a moment to steady his breathing. "S-sorry… it's just that word reached me and the Commander that there were two individuals seeking me out and when I realized it was you…"
The Prince straightened out, smiling brighter than Miku had seen in days. "I'd thought I'd borne witness to your demise… I'm eternally grateful you survived. And if I understand correctly, I owe you my life twice now."
"Well, Rin's the one that did the hard work, I was laid up coughing up my lungs," Len said, blushing.
"No way Len! If you hadn't gotten the Confedere out there to help, I never would have gotten the plants home safely! Hee… you're still my Knight…"
The boy's face turned even redder at being called a "Knight."
"Kaito, what came out of the discussions with the Commander?" Miku asked, "Is the Confedere able to help us any further?"
"Right… about that…"
Kaito's jubilance tempered, tipping Miku off to the situation becoming more serious. "We came to a mutual agreement. The Confedere is willing to get us to Westheim. And they're even willing to back my claim to the throne… but on two conditions."
"I assume one of them was freedom for Sudland," Meiko said knowingly.
"But of course," Kaito replied, "I see no reason to keep Sudland an Imperial territory. But the more immediate concern is… she wants to test me one more time."
"What?!" Miku shouted. How could anyone think Kaito wasn't loyal after what he'd already done?! "You've already nearly died for them, what more do they expect?"
"Well, we've started to gather intelligence – thanks to Meiko –"
The singer gave a playful wink.
"- that's given us an indication of where the Faerie Dust is being manufactured. They want to raid it… and Lily wants to know how well I can command my own unit. She said she can't possibly trust the lives of Sudland to someone that doesn't know his way around an army."
"B… But you don't! You never even left the castle until the coup!"
Miku realized how insulting her statement sounded, regretting Kaito's rather hurt expression in response. "I mean… I studied military strategy. I may never have lead an army before, but I think the small squad Lily is putting me in charge of should be more than enough to get a feel for it."
"Just a squad… good…" she said quietly.
"Do you really think I can't handle it?" Kaito asked quietly, only further making Miku feel guilty. She was just worried for him – of watching him die in battle, even if it was only inevitable.
'We… we have so many enemies… what if it's a trap, or a Cinderella shows up, or…'
"Hey, you'll do fine, you've made it this far. Besides, it's not like Miku or any of us won't back you up."
Meiko flicked her used cigarette out the window. "You make the decisions, and we'll make sure they get done. That's what a leader does."
Kaito appeared relieved at the vote of confidence. Of course, Meiko was right… it's not that Kaito would be alone.
But still – the more he was in danger, the more Miku would worry. If something did happen… she'd already nearly lost him due to poor preparation in Saint-Urbain.
Her regular nightmares had yet to cease – that Kaito would die, and she would bear the responsibility. She would appear garbed in white and steal everything from him with her knife, even as the thrones of his true murderers lay empty.
She could steal hear the voice whispering in her ear…
If Kaito died…
If she wasn't there to save him…
"The operation begins tonight, at sundown. We should be able to move into position by then."
"Haaa… so unlucky… I come all the way to Sudland and nobody's selling macarons…" Gakupo grumbled. Ever since he'd started to recover from his anemia, he'd developed quite the proper appetite again.
"Why do you keep fixating on that?" Luka whispered, "They're just a pastry."
"Welllllll because I've never had one of course."
"Then how can you be upset?!" Luka scolded.
He laughed cheerily. "Well they look so nice in pictures! But nobody in the capital favored Sudlandian pastries so I just had to imagine what they tasted like…"
Luka's frustration with him only seemed to grow as they walked through the barren streets. But he couldn't help himself – as dour as everything was around him, he had to maintain some sense of cheer. It kept him from dwelling too much on his own demons. "You were a baker in your old life right? Did you ever bake them?"
Luka didn't seem to blush easily, but right now she was. "I… well, my mother had her own recipe for it but… I never learned it before the fire."
"When was the last time you got to try one?"
"The fire," she said sharply.
"So they even deprived you of sweets… how cruel…" Gakupo murmured.
"Shh! Those trucks over there, they look off…" Luka murmured, "Okay, we need to get closer. They're speaking in Sudlandian, and I need a cover to eavesdrop. Can you manage that?"
"Ah, but what kind of cover? I don't speak a word of it…"
But the doctor found himself dragged along close to the docks, not exactly sure how he was supposed to be Luka's cover but going along with it all the same.
"Hmmm… they're not locals. They're trying to blend in…" Luka murmured.
Gakupo tried to strain his hearing more, but it did him little good as the men loading the truck up were speaking in swift Sudlandian. "The question is how to get something out of them…" Luka said.
"Ah! No, I have a better idea! You don't need to talk to them, they need to talk to you!"
"What!? Gakupo, we can't just!"
"Shhhh… just pretend to be mute!" he said.
She didn't seem happy taking directions, but she did seem to start following his odd logic… as Gakupo grasped her hand and lead her directly along the water front. "Now, see Luka?! Isn't this a lovely view of the ocean?! Surely this convalescence will do wonders for your recovery!"
One of the men, confused, walked up to Gakupo and stood in the way of his path, shouting at him in Sudlandian. "Um… pardon?" he said innocently. Which wasn't hard given that he couldn't speak the tongue at all.
The man looked confused, then barked something at Luka. She took her cue well, shrinking back from the man like she were some innocent young waif. "Um… I'm sorry sir, you don't happen to speak Estmarchian do you?"
The man looked annoyed. "Merde", he muttered under his breath.
Gakupo wasn't sure what that one meant except that Luka would occasionally say it when she was angry enough, so he was pretty sure he understood the intent.
"You and the girl… you both need to leave. We are busy. We have enough trouble around here without your type."
"What is the matter, can your girl not speak?"
Gakupo clicked his tongue. "I'm sorry to say, the two of us are just getting a walk in along the waterfront. She's a patient of mine. We're both refugees from the Loyalist fighting and I had to patch her up. But the shock of her injuries and the trauma of the fight has rendered the poor girl mute, you see."
The lack of focus in Luka's gaze only seemed to further underscore the point. "Sorry, we'll get out of your hair, we just wanted to see the ocean!"
The man harrumphed but let Gakupo pass. He and his "mute" companion walked past the truck. "Ah, see Luka! My, just think, there might be ice on these shores when the water chills enough!"
He could hear the conversation continuing unabated, making sure to settle down close enough to the dock that he could still catch snatches of the foreign tongue. Suddenly Luka grabbed his hand tightly and he hoped that meant she'd heard all she needed as the truck pulled away.
"Those supplies… they were several crates filled with Saint Maribel's Vines… and they're taking them to industrial Sherbrooke."
"Wait… Agathea merinosa?" Gakupo asked, recalling the scientific name, "But why?"
"Because it's a toxin… induces immediate blindness and can choke out the lungs…"
He realized what Luka was implying. "Is that… is that what you think they make Faerie Dust out of?"
She looked around the port for anyone else. "Let's grab Gumi, I think I can work out where they're going… we still have no leads on the Prince, but if we were to take out a facility that creates Faerie Dust, he has a much higher chance of survival. So, Gumi and I will head out and-"
"No."
She looked at him suspiciously. "Do you intend to stop me?" she asked coldly.
"No, I intend to join you."
She gaped at him. "You were inches from death a week ago! You still have anemia symptoms! If you go running around out there…"
"You had major surgery a week ago, lost an eye, and I'll remind you I'm anemic because of your critical blood loss. We're both in quite ill health."
And he wasn't going to send people to die again. If she would risk her life, he would do the same. "Now, unless you want Gumi to do this alone…"
"Stubborn. Idiot."
She pulled a pistol out of her jacket and placed it in his hand. "This is my condition. Only come with me if you can use this."
He stared at the lump of metal in his hand, trying to imagine himself pointing it at another human and drawing blood. 'No, I'll be clever like last time… I don't have to kill anyone if I do it right.'
'But I won't be a coward again, Luka. I promise.'
"Oh, what a show! You never get tired of the sound of applause, do you?"
The singer reclined on a small couch in her hotel room, the photographer following close behind. "Well, I kept the ambassador's eyes on me all night, how did it go for you?"
The photographer set down her camera bag and began to root through it. "We'll know soon enough," she said matter-of-factly, "I wonder if I have enough for color…"
The singer was already pouring herself a glass of wine for a job well done. "Eh? I thought you weren't wasting the color chemicals on work."
"I'm not."
The photographer carefully removed a small box from her bag, showing uncharacteristic nervousness as she approached the singer. "You… you don't look right… with just that headband…"
"Really?" The brunette looked intrigued.
The photographer handed her the box, her fingers trembling as the singer opened it up.
Inside was a lovely red silk rose hair pin.
"Red… the photos of you… look better in red…" she stammered.
Was she being too forceful? What was she supposed to say?! She had no idea what was expected…
The singer removed her headband and pinned the flower into her hair. "Well?" she asked, "How does it look?"
For a moment the photographer hesitated… before reaching out and grabbing the flower, adjusting it to the perfect symmetry with her face and trying not to blush as her fingers wove through the singer's soft hair. She didn't even stop her – most people acted shocked when she'd behave like this, scolding her for her misunderstanding…
But not the brunette. "Did you want one last photo?" she asked.
The photographer found her words catching in her throat. She stepped back and raised her camera. Through the lens, her shield from the world, all she could see was the brilliant color red and she wanted nothing more but to drown in red as she snapped the shutter…
Infiltrating the area had been surprisingly easy – between Gumi and Luka's skills, even Gakupo had no trouble slipping in behind them. Now his only worry was the same that the others by his side would struggle with.
How to safely remove the chemical manufacturing facility without killing everyone inside of it. After all, blowing up the tanks would inevitably release the toxin so quickly that anyone not already masked up would die in moments.
On the other hand, this was still a military operation, as the watchtower close to the facility indicated. Every few minutes orders would be barked out in Sudlandian. So possibly killing that many soldiers would make their escape easier… but there were almost certainly civilians inside as well…
Right now the three intruders had gathered just out of sight of the factory, hiding behind a massive truck. "I don't have much in the way of munitions," Gumi said, "Probably just enough to start blowing up the tanks. But I still need some kind of distraction to get in…"
Luka peeked out around the side with her good eye. "Hmph… they're going all out. Seen the mounted machine guns?" Luka said as she pointed at an installation along the thick wall surrounding the complex.
"Hmmmm… how to get it and get everyone out before we blow it up… my, terrorism is awfully complicated…" Gakupo commented.
"I highly doubt you have enough ether to knock them all unconcious," Luka said cheekily.
"He did what?!"
"Eh… well, it was a bit reckless but everyone survived! I was even able to get Rin's leg patched up before she woke up!"
Still… he didn't have ether but he did have something in his medical supplies…
"Ah, did you see any kind of ventilation outlets?" he asked.
Luka peeked out again. "Ah… yes, up there…"
She pointed towards a conspicuous pipe on the roof of the building.
"Gumi or I could infiltrate from there and plant the explosives… but…"
Gakupo dove into his bag of medical supplies with an excited smile and pulled out a small jar of a faint green liquid. "Wait, that's an antibiotic!" Luka said, "How is going to…"
"Well, didn't the reports say the gas smelled like mint?" Gakupo said with a grin, "I can't put anyone to sleep with this, it's just a bonding agent for casts, but when you burn it… if we were to slip that into the vent, the mint smell would go everywhere and make them think there's a leak!"
"… so this is a two part plan then," Gumi said, "We need someone to plant the gas and someone to take out the gate guard and sound an evacuation."
"Okay… Gakupo, follow me up into the tower," Luka said, "The announcer is male, so they'll be suspicious if a female voice suddenly calls it out."
"Wait, what?! I'm supposed to get up there?!"
"You should be able to see the vent from the roof too," Gumi added, "Give me some kind of signal over the loudspeaker and I'll use that to determine when to head inside."
The men were always surrounding her. Wanting a part of her. Wanting to possess her. They didn't understand what truly made her shine every night on stage!
Why did any of this matter? Only the missions mattered. She wasn't here to be the singer's friend, boon companion, or anything else. She was hear to protect Nordland. To keep war from disrupting her home. The long peace was something she wanted more than anything, and she was willing to give up her beloved photographs.
And yet as the man with the thin mustache stroked at the singer's chin while she laughed playfully, an uncharacteristic fire burned in the photographer's heart. How dare he?!
How dare… she?
He began to touch the rose in her hair and the photographer felt her eyes begin to sting…
The singer slapped his hand away, carefully stroking the rose.
"I think we're done here."
The singer's playfulness grew cold. "B-but wait! My hotel room is open to you! Please, I must have you-"
She turned around and eyed him coldly. "I don't belong to any man."
Her hand touched the photographer's shoulder, beckoning her along. Silently, she followed in her footsteps, until they were alone in their hotel room. Finally, the singer's tension released.
"I'm sorry… I blew that, didn't I?" she apologized, "I just… don't want him touching this."
"The rose?"
The photographer's cheeks heated up as the singer looked over to her. Was she… nervous?
"Yes, it's something very important! The most important gift I've ever gotten!"
Her emotions began to clutter – she was so used to being able to hide herself behind the camera as a shield, but she felt completely naked under the singer's vulnerable gaze. What was she supposed to do?
"I… I'm sorry, maybe I misread things," the singer said, turning away quickly, "This is just a mission after all… we don't really know each other and…"
"NO!"
The singer's brown eyes returned to the photographer. She'd never seen the girl raise her voice before.
"You… you haven't… I… I… I…"
But the wretched words, the tongue she needed to stay steady, it still wouldn't come even as tears started to fall from her eyes.
She felt the singer's approach as she drew the girl into a soft, comforting hug. The tears fell more freely now, but not from fear. From the release. She leaned deeper into the hug, welcoming the embrace of red…
Another car trip – and for the first time, Miku didn't have Kaito with her. Though neither of them had wanted it, it only made sense for him to ride up with the other squad leaders this time. She would rendezvous with him later. She had to accept this – if he was stepping up to become a Prince, there were places he had to be that she wouldn't be able to join him.
Besides… she'd already hurt him…
"It's hard as hell sending the person you love out to war isn't it?"
She glanced up to the brunette sitting at her side. "I… well…"
The singer laughed. "Hey, you don't have to say anything. I know a couple in love when I see one."
This only made Miku blush further. It was one thing to be open and honest with Kaito but it was still strange being open about it with other people… people who would judge her…
"You want to be out there, at their side. You want to protect them from the world. You know at any minute you could die and you accept that, but you know you'll fall apart if they die…"
Miku took note of the flower in Meiko's hair. Was she planning to wear that right onto a battlefield?
"How do you handle it? You and Gumi, you're both spies… you had to know this was going to happen…"
Meiko folded her hands into her lap. "This was the first time it became real…" she said. Despite her somber words, Meiko still smiled. "We… we almost quit actually. Part of my cover required that I appeal more to men, and I couldn't do that if they knew I was taken. We were about to make the announcement and then… a certain Prince's invitation showed up."
"Wait… you hid your relationship because of Kaito?!"
The singer's hands tightened together, her fingers interlocking. "Sometimes… and you'll know when that time is… you'll have to make a choice. Between your happiness and something greater. We were going to retire after the war, so what did one more mission with me tempting a lovestruck prince matter if it meant ending that war before it had a chance to start?"
'Kaito… would feel terrible if he knew he'd kept Meiko from happiness…' Miku thought to herself.
"We never planned on this… but we were trained. Infiltration, warfare. We never knew when we would need it. So… so what I do… is I have faith in her. That everything we were together, we can still be apart. Because we're both still alive and somewhere out there, Gumi's fighting and worrying just as hard as me."
She looked back over to Miku and tilted her head at her. "See, you just keep Kaito in your sight and he'll be safe. Promise!"
Now Miku wasn't entirely sure if the pep talk was actually intended for herself… or for Meiko. But she tried to take some comfort from it. Loving Kaito was entirely different from defending him.
"There's the site!" Meiko called out, "Okay, get ready, we're coming in hot!"
Gakupo stayed steady behind Luka as they snuck into the watchtower. Somehow she'd led him out of sight… so that was one step down. They just had to keep climbing.
Luka burst in through the door at the top – Gakupo couldn't believe how fast she moved as she took out the two guards left inside. 'Was she practicing how to balance all over again while I was recovering!?' he thought as he watched her disable them in seconds, all without disturbing the microphone.
She gestured to the panel. "Your move. Gumi should be planting the smoke bombs."
He took a deep breath and stepped up to the microphone. "Attention all personnel! Evacuate the chemical compound! There's a chemical gas leak and we don't have much time! I repeat! A gas leak is spreading through the facility!"
He held his breath, hoping it would have the reaction he wanted… when he saw people begin to stream out. "I was right…" he said with the microphone off, "Most of the people leaving aren't in uniform… they were just civilians."
He heard Luka's tortured gasping and whirled around, seeing a man holding her in a choke hold with a pistol to her head. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" the intruder shouted, "You're not Dawn! Put your weapon down or I'll blow her damn head off!"
Gakupo tried to hold up his own pistol… he tried to will his fingers around the trigger… he knew where the heart was on him and how precisely he could hit it without hitting Luka… but… his fingers began to shake…
And then the enemy sailed over Luka's head as she recovered and flipped him to the floor, the gun going off and shooting the radio, creating a loud radio feedback in the process. Gakupo dropped his own gun and covered his ears as he watched the man drop as Luka choked him into unconsciousness.
"Dammit… I couldn't do it… I was a coward… I wasn't…"
Luka picked up the gun off the floor and handed it back to him. "You were a distraction to him. It worked out fine."
She grimaced. "Come on, let's go. Gumi said she could handle the rest."
Gumi kept her gas mask on tight as she set the last timed charge on the gas tank. She'd already calculated the size of the explosion would largely contain the toxin inside the building… rather than just releasing a massive poison cloud over the whole area.
"Ready… run!"
She set the timer and began her wild sprint. The clockwork mechanisms only gave her four minutes.
In training, she'd been able to beat timed smoke bombs in three.
'But that was with Meiko…'
She tried to imagine Meiko waiting for her to hear how the mission had gone… and her footsteps picked up. She just wanted to return to her and be done with hanging around strangers that didn't understand her.
She followed the last of the fleeing workers as the "gas" smoke continued to flow…. And she ran out into the sunlight, ready to meet her comrades…
The size of the explosion in the facility almost knocked her to the ground as glass shattered above her. She ducked down to avoid the shards. "It… it shouldn't have been that big!" she gasped, "Was the liquid form more flammable than we thought?!"
She saw a burst of fire fly out as the roof caved into a massive hole.
"Gumi, come on! We need to go!" Luka called out, "We've drawn too much attention as it is!"
She got back to her feet and tried to maintain her momentum. Fine, they'd have to deal with more soldiers but the gas was gone. She'd still succeeded! She could hear gunfire in the distance – coming her way…
"That convoy, over there!" Gakupo shouted, pointing to a massive truck, "We can take that out of here!"
That was when Gumi heard the sound of a plane's engine… she slammed into the ground to try and get out of the way of the gunfire as it riddled the pavement…
She found herself staring right into the guns as the plane looped around for another pass at her and she… she felt tears. She was never going to see Meiko again.
The plane was suddenly riddled with mounted machine gun bullets. Gumi managed to get out of its path as it crashed, the frightened pilot bailing on it before it exploded.
"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Gumi looked up at the woman at the gun and her heart leapt for joy as she saw the familiar red coat and brown hair… and the brilliant red rose…
"MEIKO!"
The woman leapt away from the machine gun as it soon as it was under fire, but Gumi forgot all sense of safety as she rushed up to her, tearing away her gas mask. There may as well not have been a battlefield as she wrapped her arms around her beloved, tearful and happy as her emotions melted.
"God… you're alive…" Meiko whispered.
There were no more words as Meiko drew her partner into a swift kiss. "Come on, chin up… we've got a battle to fight!" she said with a laugh.
"Fan out and cut off their escape! Make sure to let the civilians get past!" Kaito barked out.
The feeling of people actually listening to him was exhilarating as the small squad of Confedere troops with him took up formations at his word. He'd sent Meiko ahead to try and scout out where the factory might be – a useless gesture as she was just barely out of sight when he heard the explosion. "Kaito! These people don't have much of a will to fight!" Miku shouted as she surveyed the field.
The sound of a plane crashing drew their attention further away. "I… I suppose Meiko might have been involved in that…" he said with a small laugh.
He glanced back and saw that the Confedere had effectively set up blockades at the exit. This installation was surprisingly sparsely guarded. 'That could well mean it's not their only one,' he thought grimly, 'They could afford to lose this one… or… possibly…'
So many of the voices in the city spoke Sudlandian. Did they even know what the poison was for? Did they have the news of what happened in Saint-Urbain, to their own people?
"S-Stop right there, you monster!"
Kaito found his path forward in the city's streets blocked by three unruly young men, each with their guns drawn. "You think we didn't recognize you?!" the black-haired youth shouted in a thick Sudlandian accent, "You butchered Saint-Urbain, didn't you, you dog of Shion!"
"I assure you, I had no role in the bombing of Saint-Urbain!" Kaito protested, "I'm here to stop another one from happening. The Dawn…"
"The Dawn told us you've infiltrated the Confedere! That you hijacked the plane!" the blonde yelled, "It was going to go to Nordland! It… it wasn't supposed to…"
"The lengths Tonio is going to cover up his misdeeds…" Miku said, "The pilot might have been a Cinderella herself…"
For a moment he saw the same hate in their eyes that he remembered in Luka's. The eyes of someone who'd lost everything. They were about his age, all of them. And he knew the pain they were suffering now. "Did you have family there?" he asked innocently.
"D-Don't speak of them! You… you can't…"
The brunette looked nearly broken down. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said calmly, "I repeat… I had no involvement with the bombing. Commander Lily took me in with the Confedere after I survived the bombing myself. I'm helping her to liberate this city… and I intend to rid the world of the Faerie Dust so no one else suffers to it."
He saw Miku tensing up her muscles – she was ready to leap into action if she had to.
"Prove it then. Go up to the watchtower… and claim this city for a free Sudland."
The black-haired man looked stern. "We're tired of being lied to."
Finally… Kaito's compassion had worked. "Let's go Miku," Kaito said, "Lead the way."
The loud speaker screeched to life one last time, bringing the news to everyone in Sherbrooke, soldiers and fleeing civilians alike.
"People of Sherbrooke. The Confedere de Lys has arrived to liberate your city from the Emerald Dawn."
"No… no more liberators… no more!" screamed a crying woman as she huddled with her children.
"We only have one demand – that the chemical weapons factory stay out of production. The attack on Saint-Urbain was a wretched atrocity that cannot be repeated."
Miku watched Kaito carefully as he spoke clearly. Only she was attuned enough to him to notice the stress in his face as he tried to express his heart. She placed a hand on his shoulder – she was not to speak, only to provide comfort. She believed in him – the Prince who had survived every attack slung at him entirely out of the belief in the righteousness of his cause.
"As of today, there will be no more war in this city. Your people will be allowed to live their lives in peace is they so choose. We will not draft your soldiers. Everyone that lays down their arms will be… free to go."
'Lily's not going to like that,' Miku thought to herself, 'She probably didn't count on Kaito's forgiveness…'
"I… I am Prince Kaito, last scion of House Shion. Words alone cannot repair the crimes committed against you in my family's name. But I promise that I will not stand in your way. The war in Estmarch will end… today, Sherbrooke becomes the first freed city of Sudland."
He released the microphone and let out all his breath at once. "I hope it worked…" he said.
Gakupo was sitting in the bed of the convoy truck with Luka, taking in the speech he'd just heard. "Incredible," he said, "I wish I was that smooth with words, it'd do me some good!"
Cheers began to erupt in the streets. He took a chance to peek over the truck and saw… the Dawn soldiers beginning to lay down their weapons, surrendering to the Confedere.
"It worked… he really did it…" Gakupo whispered.
"It's better this way…" Luka said.
The doctor looked over to her and saw her wiping a tear from her eye. "Maybe he really can do what he thinks he can…" she said softly.
Gakupo turned back to watch the streets as the tension from the fighting ended, people desperately coming out of their homes to try and make sense of the scene that had just played out. "Luka… I'm sorry I lost the nerve…" he started to say, taking the pistol out of his coat and setting it down in the truck bed.
"No. You shouldn't have to stain your soul the way I have."
She wiped the tears from her face and stood up, reaching out her hand to Gakupo to help him stand. "We should probably catch up to him. There may still be a place for us yet."
"Dammit… I can't believe you really said all that…"
Lily was seated at a long table in a local pub with Kaito on the end. The Confedere had requested the space to meet away from the crowds. After the speech Kaito had given, he'd barely had a moment of free time as the people clamored over, trying to confirm that the man who'd promised them freedom was truly the same prince that had been declared dead and forgotten.
After so many years of being sequestered from his tasks, from being sheltered and hidden from the world, from having his every word deflected and ignored… Kaito was finally starting to feel important.
"I just spoke earnestly," he said, "Sudlanders shouldn't be forced to fight each other. And I meant what I said – I intend to see to a free Sudland."
"Heh… you remember the other countries your parents swallowed up too, right?" Lily reminded him, "Estmarch is going to get a lot smaller if you're serious. Can you handle that?"
His parents had always spoken of the great empire he would one day inherit. Maybe they never truly intended for Kaito to rule – maybe somehow they'd always planned on disposing of him after making him into a symbol. "To me… that empire… is built on blood. It would never stand. The crisis now is quite manufactured, but the people that joined the Dawn and the Confedere would have risen up. Even if it were not my conscience compelling me, surely it would be more pragmatic to release them?"
"So you can still talk a good game," Lily said in awe, "Well, you've earned my allegiance. I'm pretty sure after today the Confedere will back you too. You're still planning on Westheim though?"
"Of course… my uncle is there. He should be able to help-"
"Westheim isn't a monarchy, Prince," Lily interrupted gruffly. "They've been a democracy for over a hundred years. And they cherish their neutrality."
She crossed her arms tightly. "They didn't lift a finger for Sudland even when the war pushed right up against their border."
But her expression softened. "Still… they say it's a place where all voices carry the same weight. Maybe Sudland should be like that when it comes back…"
"You don't intend to become Queen?" Kaito asked in surprise.
"Sudland… has lived eleven years without the LaFleurs. And my parents' cowardice condemned them to fall. I can't impose royalty on them again."
A knock on the bar door led to a stop in the conversation. "Who goes there?" Miku called out.
"Why, it's your doctor here, ready for your latest checkup!"
At once the serious conversation fled Kaito's mind. He rushed to the door and flung it open himself. "Gakupo, Luka… even Gumi! Meiko… you must be happy to have her back."
He beckoned the four of them inside. "Commander LaFleur, these three… they were instrumental in my escape from Estmarch."
Luka blinked as she looked over the Commander. "LaFleur?" she said, "So the rumors are true… you even look like the Queen…"
"I don't suppose it was you three that…"
"Ah, well, that was Gumi that did the explosions," Gakupo said with a nervous laugh, "Luka and I just played around with the speakers in the watchtower to evacuate the factory first."
"So that explains the lack of casualties… good thinking," Lily said, "Plus that stunt of yours really screwed up their defense. All that chaos broke us through much quicker than we anticipated."
She stood up from the table. "Well, I think we've said our piece. Tomorrow we'll plan how to enter Westheim. Tonight, we're going to take a much-needed rest. We need to recoup after the battle… find out if anyone here is interested in joining up… figure out supplies… and do some good old-fashioned drinking."
Meiko seemed to perk up at the mention of alcohol. "Oh, is there any decent wine here?" she asked cheerfully.
Kaito noticed how tightly Gumi seemed to cling to Meiko. Like she feared ever being separated from her again.
He looked back to Miku who seemed lost in thought at the table. For all he'd given her, she still possessed the same sadness in her hear that was there when they'd first met.
'Miku…'
'Miku… this war will end. And then you and I… will have nothing else to fear.'
"Even if my way is thorny, I'll protect you whom I like… I like… I love…"
The photographer's shutter captured the red rose in the singer's hair as she performed on the stage in the royal palace, surrounded by white masks. In the audience, in rapturous attention, was the blue-haired prince.
The man who had delayed so many things.
The man that would decide their future whether he realized it or not.
She circled around, making as if she was gathering more angles on the singer, making sure to get a few shots with more of the crowd. Even with the masks of white, there was always a chance any one of these aristocrats could matter.
"Even if I get broken… The sky of redness endlessly spread…"
Red… red, the color that swallowed her up and soothed her. Red, the color that excited her heart and filled her with life. Red, the color that she would die for.
"Though it's a hopeless world... I love you…"
The singer's eyes tracked straight into the shutter and for a moment the photographer thought her heart would stop.
"Forever and ever…"
She closed the shutter, capturing the glorious red that was the person she loved…
A/N:
Gakupo's macaron (aka macaroon) obsession is actually just me injecting more of my real life into this story – there's a lot of nice pastries in Montreal, and well, the French are known for their baking!
So in approaching Meiko and Gumi's relationship, I'll chat a little about how it came about. I always intended for them to be spies working together – it was much later that I liked the idea of them being a couple drawn together by the approach of a war. It's not a "ship" that I've ever encountered or one I'd think of, but for this story and their characterizations here, it's been a fun one to think about. Love blooming out of common purpose. But that left me with a quandry – in the actual early 20th century, homosexuality was a straight up crime in Europe. Do I portray this honestly and show the struggles of two people trying to love each other in a time period hostile to that?
I chose the fantasy – this is already a world with made up countries and laws and even poisons and weapons. So I simply decided that in this universe, it's as mundane as any relationship. So people can read this story and actually see a lesbian couple participating in history, in leading roles, in a way that a completely historically accurate work could not.
The MeiGumi flashbacks came out of me waffling on doing a side story about how Gumi and Meiko meet and fall in love. The scenes you see here are what I'd come with for that hypothetical – and my realizing that I didn't have enough of a plot for a one shot out of just those, but they would work integrated into this narrative if given their own chapter. And you have no idea how long I've been waiting to get to Meiko cursing out a plane while firing a machine gun ;)
Song Credits: The song interspersed throughout the story is Maya's "Red Reflection." If you couldn't tell from the "blueness" lyric, it's actually a pretty obvious KaiMei song (the PV make it even more explicit), but it is sung only by Meiko, and I liked the theme of the color red for this chapter. Maybe that's why Gumi got jealous about the song ;)