Wild Birds

Summary: Claus, and Lavie are lost after flying lessons go horribly wrong.

Warnings: none

Disclaimer: I do not own Last Exile, no money is being made from this use.

Lost

Alex paced in his quarters trying to keep himself together. He stopped and turned abruptly as there was a knock on the door. A young and very nervous ensign entered saluting. "Still no sign, Sir. The pilots asking permission to expand the search area into the forest."

"Fine, tell them to do what ever is necessary. We are not leaving this area until they are found." Alex replied, shocked at the steadiness of his own voice. The ensign saluted and left leaving him alone once again. Alex walked over to his desk and sat putting his head in his hands, he let out a shuddering sigh. It had been over five hours since the surprise attack, and now night was falling. A small fleet owned by some glory seeking nobleman had somehow discovered where the Silvana was heading and had been laying in wait for them. At the time Claus and Lavie had been out on one of their now frequent flying lessons with Frank Kerling, and his navi Charles Brom. At the first shot fired Kerling had immediately headed away from the battle knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to the ship safely. They lost contact with the vanship sometime during the battle and now with the wreckage of the fleet left burning on the surface, and the Silvana in need or too many repairs to count there was no sign of Kerling's ship anywhere.

Alex found himself thinking back to the first battle the Silvana had ever been in. Lavie terrified of what was happening had run onto the bridge and nearly knocked the wind out of him as she unexpectedly leapt into his lap crying. It had been the first test for the inexperienced crew, even more so for Alex. They had gotten through it though, and afterward as they celebrated their first victory he had quietly carried Lavie back to her room and sat comforting her until she finally fell asleep. Even now at the age of twelve she would still rush to the safety of the bridge at the first sign of trouble. This was the first battle she hadn't been sitting in his chair while stood beside her giving orders.

It wasn't until he felt the dampness soaking into his gloves that he realized he had started crying.

Lavie and Claus sat near as they dared to the small fire Charles had made. The vanship had been hit by shrapnel from an explosion aboard one of the fleet ships knocking Frank out, Claus had saved their lives making a crash landing on his own. Unfortunately the radio was too damaged to work. They had no way to contact the Silvana, and no idea what had happened. Frank had come to but was lethargic, and somewhat incoherent leaving Charles to look after him and the kids alone until they were found.

He imagined the captain was having the mother of all anxiety attacks at the moment. Nothing was more important to the captain the two kids sitting on the other side of the fire, if Alex was still alive he wouldn't stop looking until he had found Claus and Lavie. Not that the rest of the crew was much different, but as far as the captain was concerned if anyone did anything to hurt Claus and Lavie they might as well be signing their own death warrant. He tested the water in his canteen. It was cool enough to drink now, it had been Lavie who had remembered the water from the nearby stream would need to be boiled before it was safe to drink. He got up and walked over handing it to Claus. "Here you go. You two first." He grinned trying to stay cheerful as he sat beside them. "We've got quite a story to tell the captain when we get back, don't we?"

Claus frowned handing the canteen to Lavie. "Is Mister Frank going to be ok?"

Charles sighed ruffling the boy's hair. "I don't know. He was hurt pretty bad, he isn't going to be able to fly for a long time. I know that much." There was no point in trying to sugar coat anything. They were both orphans, and over the years they had seen crew members lose their lives. It was still and unpleasant thing to talk about. "You saved our lives with that landing you know." He said to change the subject. "The captain will be really impressed when he finds out."

"No he won't." Lavie said handing the canteen back to Claus. "He'll freak out, he's probably freaking out right now."

"Well... Yeah." Charles conceded. "But after that he'll be really impressed." He smiled when both the kids laughed a bit. It was at this point they heard the approaching vanships.

"You put something in this didn't you?" Alex asked, glaring suspiciously at Sybil Loring the chief medical officer on the ship, as he held an untouched mug of tea in his hand.

Sybil glared back. "It's just some herbal tea to help you calm down before you have a aneurysm."

Alex stood up about to make some sarcastic reply when he was interrupted by the ships intercom system. "They found them! Frank was hurt but everyone else is fine!" Alex and Sybil could hear the cheering coming from all over the ship.

There was some murmuring over the line before a quiet conversation broke out. "He said Frank was knocked out cold! Claus made a crash landing on his own!"

"...Do you think we should keep that from the captain? He might have a heart attack or something."

"Er.." came the tentative voice of Wina Lightning the Silvana's new listening officer. "You forgot to shut the comm off... He probably heard all that.."

There was some muffled cursing before the intercom went quiet. Sybil turned to Alex who had fallen back into his chair, a blank expression on his face. "Sounds like I need to get prepared for when they return. I'll be by to check on the kids later." She said picking the mug up and handing it to him. He drank it in one gulp wincing at the bitter taste, but remained seated saying nothing.

He had no idea how much time had passed between Sybil leaving and Claus and Lavie rushing into his quarters talking simultaneously, and excitedly about the day's events now that the danger had passed. Falling out of his chair onto his knees he pulled them both into a nearly crushing embrace. The children quieted Lavie hugging him back the best she could manage with her arms pinned like that. Finally Claus broke the silence. "We're still aloud to have flying lessons right?"

Not trusting himself to speak Alex just nodded.

AN: YAY! Another one finished! Right now I only have two more stories planed for this. One with Sophia, Tatiana, sand Alister arriving, and one for Alvis' arrival at the beginning of the series.

I'm having terrible writers block for the next BtS fic so I don't know how long it will take me to even get the first chapter posted. I'm also getting several other ideas I want to work on in the meantime, so frustrating.