Waking Up

Chapter one

489 Hours until the Death in the Engine Room:

Deryn awoke to the clatter of what sounded like a tray of food being set down. The lass pried open her eyes to see that she was correct, before her on a small folding table was breakfast. Eggs and Bacon was neatly splayed out on a clean white platter, beside that was a smaller platter with a hash brown and a Flask that smelled richly of fresh coffee.

This wasn't the middies usual breakfast, this was a meal fit for The Captain himself. "A Captain" she thought. "or a Prince…" The Captain didn't know Aleks secret, that he was the son of the late Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand. As far as the Captain was Concerned, Alek was just someone of Nobility. But maybe that was enough to warrant this amazing breakfast set before her.

The Midshipman frowned. "Why was the meal before her?" she pondered. This wasn't hers but Aleks breakfast… She then saw the note on the Bed table. It was written on blue paper and folded in half, siting on its ends with the crease pointed up. Deryn made out the words on the paper in neat, carefully written script:

"Dylan,

I though you might be hungry after your operation yesterday, so I got you breakfast. Please enjoy and relax. Do not leave the stateroom until I say, I need time to fabricate a story in order to uphold your secret…

Best Regards~

Alek

Suddenly the events of the previous day came rushing back to her with lightning fast speed! Alek and Deryn had been conducting their morning fencing lesson, when the winds were still and the major part if the ship's crew fast asleep. The only drawback was that it was barking cold out, Alek had given her his Piloting Jacket beforehand and was now adjusting Deryn's stance. Their bodies pressed together, she had felt hot and flustered at the time, feeling both of the Prince's swords brush ever so slightly against her backside. Generating involuntary but not necessarily unwanted reactions from the girl

That was when it happened, Alek suddenly stiffened behind her, the muscles in his hand tensing around her own. For a second Deryn had thought she had been found out, turning her head to see him in his firm but gentle grasp and saw that his eyes weren't on her but the vast horizon.

Following his gaze she spotted a distinctive shape only a kilometre away. She quickly grabbed her command whistle, sounding off loudly the sequence of "enemy airship spotted" and "Danger Close"

As this happened the German aircraft launched a Gyrothopter, the small scouting craft shooting towards the Leviathan, Rotors cutting the wind with a chopping sound.

It was halfway there when a Strafing Hawk had been released, the steel talons gleaming in the sun. When it caught sight of the approaching craft the fabricated beasts job began. Rushing to defend its home, the two collided only fifty meters up away from the Air Beast. Both of them coming apart from the sheer force of the collision.

But the pilot was smart. Jumping from the Gyrothopter a second before the aerial impact, landing on the Leviathan with a loud thump

Deryn had then blown the Full Alert sequence and a minuet later the Klaxon sounded off, piercing the still morning air with its loud wail. Alek turned to Deryn then. "Where did that zeppelin come from?" he asked looking out at the German pilot on the Spine. Deryn was about to make a smart retort and say "Germany you daft Prince."

But before she could get a word out there was a sound like a thunderclap and Deryn suddenly found it hard to stay upright, she teetered and toppled backwards hearing a shout from Alek in the process.

She came down hard, pain exploding from her chest and coursing throughout her body. She looked up and met Aleks gaze for a moment. Seeing the fear and concern, the sorrow and most horrifically to Deryn, the great burning rage springing up inside the green pools. It was then that Alek had attacked the pilot.

The brutal remembrance was causing the young midshipman to shudder with disdain. "Why had he acted like that when she was shot?" she thought. "Seeing a comrade go down in battle kindled anger no doubt but nothing like what he had expressed at the German soldier, this was pure rage…" her mind drifting to what he said before she fell down the ladder.

Alek had called her family.

"Family." Deryn said aloud. Then her stomach grumbled, reminding her of the hot meal set out in front of her. She decided it was rude to let it grow cold and dug in, relishing the flavour of the bacon and eggs. She was halfway through her hash brown and coffee when she realised that Alek was still in the room with her.

The prince was on the floor of the cabin fast asleep, a spare bed sheet draped over him, making him glow yellow in the dawn sunlight. "Dawn?" Deryn frowned for a moment, that had meant that they where going north. They had just passed over Austria that week, carrying out attacks on German camps placed around the borders of the country. The airship turning north would mean that they were headed towards The Mighty Russia But another thing dawned on Mr. Sharp; she had been unconscious for nearly over twenty-four hours.

"Barking spiders, a entire bloody day had passed?" she said aloud almost yelling. This merited a soft groan from Alek on the floor, his head rising slightly. Alek lifted his head slightly, listening for any sound.

Deryn contemplated waking the boy fully and talking with him but decided against it. She felt tired despite the twenty-four hours she was out. She glanced around the room and made a number of observations.

First off was that of the medical equipment on the desk. It had been thoroughly cleaned and sanitised, a bottle of alcohol indicated that the tools were clean as if they were never used in the first place.

Secondly was bloody bed sheets crumpled into a ball underneath the table, the bright red blood heavily contrasting on the white silk. She made out what looked like bloody bandages in the pile as well. Something she found odd until…

Deryn looked down at her chest.

Clean, neat, and wrapped carefully around her chest where new bindings. That in and of itself shocked Deryn, she also saw that the sheets on the bed were a different colour than last time she saw them, this time they were a dull green. Reminiscent of what the cilia on the Leviathan looked like after going out.

In the time she had been out Alek had taken it upon himself to change both the sheets and her bindings. Which meant that Alek had seen her topless, this troubled Deryn but she couldn't tell why. She wanted to be angry at him for seeing the diddies, but it seemed as if she understood why he did it. Dirty bandages close to a clean wound risked infection, and Alek hadn't done a bad job at redoing the bindings.

In all honesty Alek had done a better job than she ever did, it felt as if they weren't on her at all, she made another observation, she was wearing one of the princes button ups, it wasn't buttoned up at all, most likely because Alek didn't want to come into contact with Deryns breasts unless he had to.

Deryn buttoned up the shirt, put the breakfast table on the desk and settled into the bed. She thought she would sit there a while before drifting to sleep. But as soon as her head hit the pillow and her eyes shut. She was fast asleep.

2 Hours Later

Alek awoke to the sound of knocking on the door. A Gruff, Authoritative voice came through the door. "Your serine highness, may I come in?" Count Volger asked.

Aleks eyes darted between Dylan and the door. He knew he could trust the Wild Count, but late yesterday morning Alek had vowed to keep his friends secret at all costs… even if it meant the thrown of Austria itself.

"Not at the moment Volger, I have a discreet matter that needs to be dealt with". Alek finally said through the door.

The Count made what sounded like a chuckle and Alek heard footsteps retreating. Alone now Alek strode over to Dylan and peered down at her, she had eaten the breakfast he had gotten for her Alek noted. His eyes scanned the young lasses face, now that he knew she was a girl, Alek could see the feminine features Dylan possessed. His eyes traced down her cheeks, seeing how smooth they made her face look, he glanced at her mouth and noticed something.

"A tip for when one is pretending to sleep, one must remember not to hold ones breath." Alek said then realised he had paraphrased the counts words from the night of his escape.

Dylan opened her eyes, the blue circles staring up at Alek, "You bumrag!" she stated. "you undressed me last night didn't you?" the girl asked "Got a good look at the twins?" Aleks face felt hot and it didn't take years of tutors to tell that he was blushing deeply. He didn't realise that she was jesting with him and took it seriously.

"I had to" Alek began. "I needed to change your bindings after I removed the bullet. I didn't want to risk infection. I promise I didn't look at your…" Alek hesitated. "Breasts when I did rebound them." He was of course telling the truth, he had turned the lights off in the cabin when he had wrapped the bandages. It forced him to go slow, but it kept his mind clear during the task. He explained this to her of course. Making sure that she knew Alek was telling the truth.

After that it was then Deryns turn to explain. She sat up on the bed and motioned for Alek to sit down beside her. "Alright first off, My real name is Deryn" The midshipman then went on to recant her exact reasons for pretending to be a boy. With each word of her story, Deryn felt lighter. She hated lying to Alek, she told he that she almost told him on many occasions her true identity, but that fear had stopped her from doing so.

When she finished explaining she looked at Alek expectantly. The boy was silent for a moment, then another. The minuets ticked by as they sat in silence. Finally the Prince spoke.

"Dylan, er- I mean Deryn…" he started, looking deep into her eyes. "I vow to you that I will keep your secret and help keep it that way no matter the cost."

As Alek said this, he felt a great responsibility rest upon his shoulders; Alek had killed a man for Deryn. And the tight feeling in his gut told him that it wouldn't be the last time he would…