Gilbert

"Puh, endlich," I murmured, watching the battlefield on the sea which was getting clearer as the fog slowly disappeared. Sakura lay in my arms; I had caught her the moment I had seen her eyes rolling back; Her nose was bleeding, she was shaking and her forehead was extremely warm. She was completely worn out and had caught a fever.

"Kirkland is going to kill me," I grumbled. I could already feel the admiral's fists clenching. But I did not judge him; If Elizabeta had been in the same position as Sakura, I would have gone berserk – which I did . . . I had somehow used Sakura's and my bound to summon the dragon. Still, I had therefore risked Sakura's life. Her magic and energy depended on the actions the dragon took. If I would explain this to Kirkland, he would want to have my head for this.

The communication between me and my army did not function: Sakura was responsible for the patches and due to her bad condition this kind of tool for receiving information from any of the admirals was failing. The only aspects which remained – and signalled that magic had been a part of this short battle – were the mermaids at the port who supported my army. I smirked, thinking about how a lot of my sailors would want to know who they were. Being a mermaid attracted many men – one did only have to ask Kirkland. I would give him the task of giving them the answers. At least then he would not be obsessed with the idea of wanting to punch me. I knew I was overthinking it, but I did not want to risk facing that angry blonde. Not today.

A light roar sounded through the air and my eyes caught the flying dragon that was flying closely towards me.

"I thought he had vanished when Sakura had fainted . . ."

The creature softly landed on the roof, staring down at me and the mermaid. I slowly laid Sakura down, putting my cloak on her form before I warily walked to the dragon. It did not speak, and if it did, I would have panicked. But it did not need to form any words with its mouth. The blue of its eyes was intense enough to talk. The light blue shade was the same as my brother's eyes; and the same as my mother's . . . I was not scared by its appearance . . . It was fascination and a strange feeling of familiarity. The more I observed it, the more I thought that it was smiling. I stepped forward, the distance between us shortened and I was able to lay my hand on its nose. The warm breeze blew some of my strands from my face.

"Thank you," I whispered with a smile, "Thank you for fighting."

I was not certain . . . Was I imagining things? In a second, the face of my mother flickered in front of me, before disappearing again.

It nodded lightly before taking off again. I watched how it flew into the sea, leaving a light sparkle in the air and on the water surface.

"Wow."

My feet took me back to Sakura, who still had not woken up. I took her head and put it softly on my lap, waiting for her to open her eyes.

We won . . . Roberts and Edelstein were in our hands. And I was glad that the war had been a very short one. My father and I would decide what the two of them would face. Roberts would probably be hanged or imprisoned, while Edelstein would be taken to court for treason and the fate of his whole family and his country lay in his hands. I would not risk another war with his country: death, poverty, exploitation . . . I did not want to see such misery among the population; whether it was my people or not. If we would have another war with Eastdorn, we would fuel hate.

The world will learn of this war and the possibility of summoning the dragon. But the kingdoms with their respective dragons had alliances. For centuries, we had fulfilled our mission in keeping peace. In addition to that I knew that the dragons would not wage a war against each other. They had more sensibility; humans tend to be greedy. Their urge to be rich and powerful had caused so many wars. As I had just experienced, I could tell that those dragons did not fight for the same purposes as humans did. Those who were in possession of the amulets of the dragons were peacekeeping countries. People like Edelstein had no possibility of gaining the power of a dragon if their blood was involved with their respective families.

Either way, I would not stop until peace it restored . . . And it started by taking war criminals to court.

Time passed as I reflected on the future and this war. So much had changed during the past month. I had never dreamed of witnessing such events. I was taken away from a boring ball for the sake of being abducted. From then I created alliances and befriended pirates before going into a war with dragons and mermaids. Who would have thought that this would happen to me?

"Gilbert!"

I turned around after hearing the voices: Elizabeta and Kirkland – which did not surprise me in the least. Sadly, Sakura was still unconscious and I picked her up to give her to Kirkland, who had nervously rushed towards me.

"She is all right, but needs rest, I – "

"You cannot be bloody serious!? All right? She is unconscious, bleeding and her forehead is burning!" Kirkland hissed as he took the mermaid and enclosed her protectively in his arms.

Eliz on the other hand wore a big smile on her face, probably growing familiar to this sight: The fearless Captain Kirkland having a tantrum because of another person's well-being.

"How are you doing?" she asked and I could not hold myself back as she stared at me. I had been so worried after hearing that Roberts had injured her badly. I pulled her in my arms and mumbled in her hair. "I am fine . . . and relieved that you are fine as well."

Her smile grew and I detected some tears in her eyes; I knew it were tears of joy, of relieve . . .

"I love you," I whispered, not realising what I actually wanted to say. Tightening my arms around her form, I let the words sink in. I felt warm and uncertain at the same time. Those three words had burst out of my mouth before I could prevent myself from stopping them.

"I love you too," she answered in a soft tone.

Had she any idea how much those words meant to me? My pulse was racing, my cheeks heated and all I wanted to do, was proving my love to her. I wanted to kiss her.

"I am so glad," I whispered before releasing her. Elizabeta grinned, her blush just as red as mine before she pulled me down to her height. Even now, she was taking the initiative and I did not protest. Our lips met and I forgot everything around me; it was only the two of us. Every fibre of my body was feeling the emotion; the sparkle, the butterflies, the magic, the happiness.

She was the one I wanted to be with; the one who had not only abducted me but also stolen my heart. As her lips parted from mine, I refused to let go of her. How could I not want more of those wonderful feelings? To feel save and loved by the one who shared those same emotions.

I now knew what it felt like to know that my future could be filled with happiness.

[A/N: After the action comes the romantic ~ :D. A-and what this has over 70k words :'D how did that happen :'D?]

Translation:

Endlich - Finally