Over on questionablequesting user Bladist had created yet another incredible Omake. I should have the new official chapter up by tomorrow as usual. This one is non canon, due to the fact that Claire, Louise, and Deirdre all stayed behind in Alzer.

Fan Omake: I Just Wanna Talk To Her...
Claire rolled to the side, panting like she had just finished running a marathon while also winning the Bushin Festival by fighting off every other participant at once. Which, given her recent activity, she might as well have been.
Next to her, her beloved fiancee was also breathing hard; while not as out-of-breath as she was, he was at least spent. Which Claire was willing to count as a victory, given how it normally took two of Leon's lovers working in tandem to match his sexual stamina.
"Ah, wow..." Leon reached for a nearby bottle of water with his free hand, his other already reflexively curled around Claire's shoulders. "You were pretty vigorous today, Claire."
Claire accepted the bottle from him, taking a swig as she relished the near lack of feeling from her waist down. "Yeah, well, I just had some things I needed to work out."
"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Leon's voice had already taken on that subtle shift that signified he was second-guessing the validity of the successes he had achieved.
'Impostor Syndrome,' his familiar had called it. Something that Leon had seemingly moved past, if not for...
"Yeah, I know, but I'm not sure how much someone else can help out with a problem like this," Claire admitted. "It's just, you know...that woman. Your former lover."
"...You mean, Yuna?"
"Her. I won't claim to know what that whole 'reincarnation' thing means, but I do know that she left you over a misunderstanding, because she chose to trust someone else instead of the one she was sharing a life with." Her hand crushed the bottle, sending water everywhere. "And then, after all this time, she comes back and tries to talk with you as if the last time you spoke she didn't rip your heart out and smash it to pieces!?" Even her own parents, dysfunctional they were with her pushover of a father and her frightening, overbearing mother, weren't that bad.
"Claire..."
"I know! I know we talked about it before, but still! I can't just let it slide past like nothing's wrong! I just...I just wanna talk to her."
She faltered, the head of steam she had built up tapering off as she aired out her grievances to her beloved. Leon's grip tightened, pulling her closer, and she buried her face in his shoulder.
"...You're afraid that if I let her in, she's going to find some way to hurt me again." Leon's voice was soft, almost a whisper. "You want to warn her off before that happens."
"When you let her in, not 'if,'" Claire corrected. "But even if it's not me, one of the others will do it."
"Yeah, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But maybe we'll hold off on giving the full story to everyone else all at once; ease them into it so they're not hostile off the get, y'know?"
Claire said nothing.
"Claire?"
Claire again said nothing.
"...Claire, who did you already tell?"
"...us' a f..."
"What?"
"Just a few people."
"...Who?"
"Well, Deedee found out pretty much immediately after we got back from the Rault estate..."

"And this will be your room, Lady Rault. Right across from Miss Noelle's, in case either of you wish to find the other. I hope you find our voyage to Holfort to be enjoyable."
Deirdre spun on her heel and left the guest section with a fair bit more ice than she normally would have. It was to be expected, though, as she, nobility or not, was not in the greatest of moods at the moment, and one does not become close to Leon, Claire and Olivia and not let yourself feel your own emotions.
She tracked down one of Luxion's service robots, the machines through which the living Lost Item monitored and maintained Leon's impressive array of ships. Of course, the floating eye could communicate through them, as well.
"Sir Luxion," she began, tapping on the red lens that served as the machine's eye, "are you available?"
[What is it, Deirdre fou Roseblade?] came the familiar's bored, monotone voice.
"Please inform the cooks that, for the duration of our voyage, all of Lady Louise Sara Rault's meals are to be prepared with robust amounts of garlic, as she has requested."
[...You are aware that vampires' being repulsed by garlic is nothing more than common superstition, correct?]
"Oh, I am well aware. However, I insist you do it anyway."
[...Very well.]
The machine returned to whatever task it was performing before being interrupted, and Deirdre resumed her walk towards her own private room. Of course, she knew that garlic didn't do anything to vampires. However, she knew that Louise Sara Rault was a Noble Lady, and that, thanks to an incident involving one of her sister's retinue years ago, that garlic has a very pungent odor. The vampire "princess" would find the stench sticking to her and her clothes, and as Noble Ladies could not be emitting a bad smell, would move to a secluded area to address it.
Whereupon Deirdre would corner her in private. Not for any sort of bullying, though; she wasn't one of Lady Angelica's disgraceful former followers, hanging onto the Redgrave name. No, she was a Roseblade.
She just wanted to talk to her.

"I sent a message to Angie and Livia through Cleare..."

Angelica paced back and forth in a furor, desperately clamping down on her magic with an iron will that was slowly becoming red-hot.
To let her magic leak out in anger was something she had been trained out of by the time she was five. To do so now would besmirch the efforts of not only her father and dear older brother, but also the teachers and tutors that had seen to her training.
Plus, it wouldn't be good for the baby.
Next to her, Livia sat calmly, drinking a cup of tea prepared by Leon's "Tea Master". Her sister-wife looked positively serene-something Angelica couldn't wrap her head around, since she knew that Livia was just as incensed as she was. It could simply be the difference in hormones, but Angelica knew that the commoner-born girl was even more caustic and anger-prone than she was, when Leon was involved.
And yet the girl looked absolutely calm, as if it were just another lazy Sunday afternoon. Something Angelica voiced aloud.
"Oh, you're right that I'm absolutely livid, Angie. But there's no point in getting worked up about it right now." She took a sip of her tea. "After all, Leon's bringing her here to Holfort."
"True, but-"
"Think about it, Angie." Livia set her cup down and steepled her fingers. "She's looking for Leon's forgiveness. That means she's going to find out about us, and come straight to us of her own accord. And when that happens, well...I've got some choice words to say to her."
She smiled sunnily. "Coincidentally, did you know that, traditionally, undead creatures such as vampires are vulnerable to Light and Fire-based magics?"
That got Angelica to calm down. She had a few choice words to say herself, after all. Accepting her own cup of tea and sitting down across from Livia, Angelica noted how sore her feet were from a bit of simple pacing-an effect of her increased weight due to her pregnancy. But she didn't think any bad thoughts about it-it was physical proof of her and Leon's connection, after all. Same with Livia's baby. Something that woman-Louise or Yuna or whatever her name was-wouldn't get to know for a long time.
So Angelica found herself swept into the lazy calm of the warm Sunday afternoon. And if Livia suddenly giggled and smiled like she had when her memories as Mary were first awakening, well, Angelica wasn't scared, instead letting her own mind fill with plots against their husband's ex. Nothing nefarious, though.
They just wanted to talk to her.

"Oh, Princess Iris is still technically the Princess of Midgar, and since my house is from Midgar they answer to her, so I sent her a report about it."

The training dummy flew into the wall, smashing into so many cut-apart pieces to join the mass grave of its fellows at the same spot.
"Dammit!"
Iris leaned on her sword, panting heavily as sweat soaked through her uniform. Despite her physical exhaustion, though, the oily, icy firestorm in her heart hadn't abated in the slightest.
"That...That harlot!"
She swung her sword again, demolishing another metal training dummy in a screech of metal and shower of sparks. She wasn't even using her magic at this point, just physical strength; her sword was starting to less resemble a magic steel weapon and more a battered steel rod. Iris didn't care though; she just wanted the tempest of her emotions to cease.
Claire Kagenou had sent her the report on Louise Sara Rault. A woman, a reincarnator like His Highness Prince Leon, and the man's former lover in fact. A woman who spurned his love-that they all had to work for-over a false rumor she didn't even bother to verify. The very thought made the firestorm burn even hotter.
What made things worse was that Louise was using that past connection to Leon to attempt to worm her way into his good graces again. On top of that, she the heiress of House Rault-effectively the crown princess of a foreign nation. As much as Iris wanted to fly over and beat her face in with the blunt of her sword, doing so would obviously provoke an international incident.
Leon wasn't invincible. Iris had been in that position before, believing herself indomitable. Leon quickly showed her how untrue that was, and even now after years of training together she had yet to catch up to him. But Leon had his own weaknesses, and now a poisoned needle was aimed at his heart. Every one of Iris's knightly instincts demanded she jump in the way and cut down the would-be assassin before they could even move.
But that wouldn't work here. Rault was coming here on a diplomatic mission.
Fine, then.
Iris would have to be...diplomatic about things. She could do it; despite being famed for her sword skills, she was the crown princess of Midgar in her youth, and as such trained in all sorts of courtly matters.
Iris threw the remains of her sword like a javelin. The dulled blade pierced through the head of the training dummy, the sheer force carrying it backwards until it was pinned to the wall.
Yes, words were to be her weapon of choice in this battle. After all, anyone who didn't know her personally would think she just wanted to talk...

"...It kinda slipped out by accident when I was complaining to Clarice..."

"Miss Clarice?"
"Yeah, Dan?"
Clarice leaned back from where she was working on the airbike. Her hair was pulled back into a bun today, and her shirt was tied around her waist, revealing her thin, sleeveless shirt to the world (a tank-top, Leon would have called it)-or at least the garage. There was a spot of grease on her cheek, but she resisted the urge to rub at it; it would only smear.
"Is that one of the training bikes?"
Clarice nodded; it was indeed one of the orange-painted training bikes used by the Holfort Academy. Not every student had money or access to personal airships or bikes, so at Leon's suggestion the Atlee family provided specialized model airbikes to the school for use in special training classes. These bikes had a much lower top speed than standard models, as well as an automatic balancing system to prevent the bike from rolling too far to one side.
"Yeah, I figured the Princess of a place like Alzer has never ridden a real airbike before. She might like to try one out while she's here, so I'm making sure she gets one that's in perfect shape for her."
"...I see."
"Mm-hm."
"Miss Clarice?"
"Yeah, Dan?"
"Why did you disconnect the training bike's braking system?"
Clarice followed Dan's finger to where the bike's braking control was indeed disconnected from the braking system; the wire hung loose, but it would only be noticeable to someone used to working with airbikes.
"Huh, so it is." Clarice acknowledged her subordinate's words-and then continued working on a different part of the bike.
"...Miss Clarice."
"Look, I get what you're thinking, Dan. And no, I did not sabotage the brakes. I merely made them...what's the word Luxion used? 'Remote Control?' Right, I made them remote-controlled."
"...Why?"
"Because the diplomat coming here from Alzer knew Leon in the past, and she hurt him. Just like..."
She trailed off, and Dan, ever observant, filled in the blanks.
"Ah, say no more." With that, Dan walked off, leaving her to her work.
Clarice continued with her work single-mindedly. Everything had to be perfectly set up for this to work. That woman might be a veritable princess in her own land, but up in the deep, dark blue, behind the handlebars, Clarice was Queen.
And if the princess freaked out upon realizing her brakes didn't work hundreds of feet above the clouds? Well, people tended to say more than they realized while panicking, and Clarice would certainly be in a questioning mood. She'd be certain to keep the remote-control for the brakes close at hand, though; it wasn't like she wanted to kill the Rault woman.
She just wanted to talk to her.

"...And you know I never hide anything from Cid..."

Cid swirled glass around in his hand pensively. Rose had given him a bottle of one of Oriana's more famous wines, and he intended to savor the fine vintage in a moment of rest between his trials/bouts formed from Minoru's memories.
Only he couldn't, and the reason for that was down the hall. Even four rooms away and through eight walls, the smell the woman was giving off was enough to sour the taste of the wine. Figuratively, not literally; it was still a damn good wine.
He sighed, in a rare moment of not being Cid, or Shadow, or Minoru or Kageno, just...him. He tried to picture Angelica or Olivia or Claire abandoning Leon. Tried to picture any of the Shades abandoning him. Tried to picture someone with his face, abandoning Alpha-
The glass shattered, sending fragments and wine everywhere.
"Such a waste..." he muttered.
He contemplated having Shadow make an appearance, perhaps corner that woman after everyone else had gone to sleep for the night. Someone like her probably didn't properly fear the shadows despite always hiding in them, and he could do well to put the fear of Shadow into her.
He couldn't do it here, though. Not with Luxion's own ship, with his eyes everywhere.
"I could use a slime body, pretend to be Shadow again," Violet offered.
'Nah, wouldn't work. You can't quite get Shadow's shadowy mien down.'
"Then I could use the slime body to pretend to be you, and you make an appearance as Shadow."
No. Shadow wouldn't have a reason to get involved; the woman wasn't a cultist or a bandit. But 'Cid' would have a reason to care.
...Cid did have a reason to care.
"Well then stop moping and let's do something already! That Louise woman can't think she can get away with what she did."
No. Not here, not yet. Cid would wait until they landed at Holfort. He'd slip off while everyone was disembarking, and then the vampire woman would find Shadow waiting for her at her temporary place of residence, ready to tear her a new one.
Even better, he could have Violet puppet a slime body, pretend to be him and volunteer to personally escort the woman to her room.
Cid stood and walked to the window. His magic-enhanced vision searched for any hint of red or pink amidst the light of the rising moon.
Yeah, that would work...Violet was also pissed at the woman for some reason, and so they'd attack the woman from both sides. They both had things to say, after all...

"And since Cid knows, it's only a matter of time before Alice knows, too..."

*SHIIINK*
*SHIIINK*
Alpha hated being pregnant.
Oh, she loved the idea of her and Cid starting and growing a family, make no mistake. The physical representation of the bond she and Cid had formed was growing in her belly, occasionally kicking. It reminded her that her current life wasn't a mere dream, that she wasn't still a rotting mass of flesh locked in the back of a cage, that salvation had come for her and it had black hair, black eyes and a flair for the dramatic.
*SHIIINK*
*SHIIINK*
She loved how tender with her Cid had become. How the man with vision and foresight to seemingly manipulate and guide the whole world turned into a doting, nervous mess if she expressed even the slightest chill.
(She also loved how her breasts had swollen. She still wasn't anywhere near Beta or Epsilon, but she had at least begun to catch up to Gamma.)
No, what she hated was that while Cid and Beta were out gallivanting in foreign lands, she was stuck here at home. And when someone threatened part of her family, she couldn't don her slime suit and rush out to aid them.
She wasn't sure when she began to view Leon as family. She wouldn't deny it, though; even if he wasn't engaged to Cid's sister, her husband still viewed the man as an older brother, a sentiment the nascent crown prince clearly returned. She would go to war for the sake of her brother-in-law, and the only one who could talk her down from it would be Lord Shadow.
So when word came in that the young lady of the most powerful ruling family in Alzer was actually Leon's ex-lover from a past life, similarly reincarnated, and she had hurt him deeply before their deaths, well...Alpha had leapt to her feet, only for the annoyed kicking of her unborn child and a wave of nausea to force her back into the chair.
Aunt Beatrix had been in the room with her, and had fussed over her no small amount. Alpha found her aunt's hovering and doting endearing at first, but now it was becoming a bit stifling.
*SHIIINK*
*SHIIINK*
What's more is that she couldn't nap, because Beatrix had brought her bastard sword into the room and begun sharpening it!
"Auntie, I love you, but must you do that here?"
"Apologies, my little dove, but I haven't maintained my sword in a while. I must remain on hand, that I can assist you with whatever you need, so I will remain in here as I sharpen it."
That first part was a lie; Beatrix was even more of a sword-head than Princess Iris Midgar, and no small number of the members of Shadow Garden hidden here at Mitsugoshi had been using the sounds of her whetstone as an alarm clock, Alpha included.
"Besides, I can tell you are upset about what happened to His Highness Prince Leon, and would no doubt rush off to aid Cid in exacting whatever revenge you saw fit were it not for the new life growing inside you. Worry not, though; you and Prince Leon are family, and you and I are family, which means I and Prince Leon are family."
*SHIIINK*
*SHIIINK*
"I will help to extract our pound of flesh from this Louise Sara Rault, so that you and Cid and Prince Leon may all rest easy."
Beatrix stopped running her whetstone along her blade, turning her sword to the side and holding the stone above it. She dropped the stone onto the edge, and the quartz split like it was a soft pat of butter, both pieces clattering to the floor and steaming slightly.
"Auntie, Lady Rault is a foreign noble. We are affiliated with Midgar; you can't just swing your sword at her."
"I did not mention using my sword, little dove. Do not forget that I am the sister of the woman who gave birth to you; I am more than capable of using my words to win a fight."
Left unsaid was that Beatrix was rather taciturn when not engaged in battle. Alpha could not imagine the woman saying more than five words without unsheathing her sword.
And yet she found herself not really caring. If Beatrix wanted to "talk", then they would "talk", and if it were in the one language Beatrix was truly fluent in, well...
Alpha could only hope that, after everyone else got their turn with Louise, that there would be enough left for her. She wanted to "talk" to her too...

"And then I'm pretty sure Natsume-"
"Hold on, hold on," Leon cut her off. "Is there anybody you didn't tell?"
"...Well, I'm pretty sure Queen Mylene doesn't know."
Luxion chose that minute to enter the room, the (frankly adorable) red-eyed orb floating several feet above the ground.
[Good, Master, you are finished. You have a call waiting from Mylene, and she sounds upset.]
Leon stared at Luxion, then at her.
"...Looks like Mylene does know. Should I be worried you all might try to start an international incident?"
"...No." Left unsaid was that they all absolutely would, for the man who had earned not just their love, but their friendship, and their respect.
"Aw~," Leon cooed, pulling her even closer, wrapping both of his strong, manly arms around her and kissing the top of her head. "Some days, I feel I don't really deserve any of you, but I do my best anyway."
Leon let her go, and swung his legs out of bed so he could get up. "I appreciate all of you being so ready to go to bat for me."
He accepted his pants from Luxion, and Claire watched as his tight, muscular ass and massive Balmung disappeared into his trousers. "But I better do what I can to contain this fire." He picked up his communicator. "Starting with hearing out Mylene. Hopefully I can deal with this before one of us accidentally starts another war."Julius pushed off from the wall, half-jogging down the hall to ensure that he was well out of sight before Aniki left his room and realized he had been eavesdropping. He had heard nearly everything, though.
His feet carried him towards the room of the Alzerian noble, Louise Sara Rault. Aniki's former lover, or something like that, who spurned him over an unfounded rumor. The nerve of her to scorn another like that! Julius would admit that he wasn't the authority on fidelity, having begun courting his darling Marie whilst he was still engaged to Angelica, but even he would never put stock in baseless gossip and unverified information!
Julius stopped to rub his suddenly-burning ears.
He stopped in front of the door, hesitating. A part of him, his oft-ignored common sense, advised him against starting an incident, reminding him that he was no longer Crown Prince of Holfort, and was only still part of the royal family for Mother and Aniki's efforts.
But Aniki was Aniki. He knew what it was like, to have your life defined by a lie told by others. To know what it's like to be trapped by the circumstances of society, tricked into something you don't want by people who believe that because your station is higher than theirs that your personal problems don't matter.
But Aniki wasn't invincible. No one was, when they were alone. As this woman had left him.
Julius forced his arms to relax, and his fists to unclench even as he raised a hand to knock on the door. He was getting too worked up. Frankly, he was glad Leon and Luxion had made it a habit of confiscating their weapons whenever he and Marie's fellow suitors were brought onboard. If he had his sword on hand, he may well have drawn it already.
But a sword wouldn't be needed here. He just wanted to talk, after all...