Chapter Text
|19 Months Ago. Count Saazbaum’s Landing Castle.|
Inaho didn’t know what to say or feel. Slaine was even softly wiping the blood over his eye, the touch making him shiver. His vision slowly cleared, and he could see Slaine’s words weren’t empty; his face showed no signs of blaming Inaho; only deep sadness and self-guilt.
There were so many things Inaho needed to say and ask. How did you escape Cruhteo? How did you manage to reach us here? Are you okay, physically? I love you.
But more importantly right now…
Slaine’s face had clear tear stains and it seemed more were about to fall…
Turning sideways hurt –a cracked rib, probably– but he did so anyway so he could reach out and touch Slaine’s eye with a shaking hand.
“It wasn’t your fault either. You did all you could, and more than you should have been able to,” Inaho rasped. He paused for breath and would have said more but a sudden wave of dizziness overcame him. He felt himself falling forward, only to be held by Slaine.
“Inaho!” he heard him yell through the haze. Things got too blurry then, and all Inaho knew was that he could feel himself being moved.
Quickly as it had come, the blurriness was gone, and Inaho found that he was now laying on the ground, head on Slaine’s lap. The blond was looking down at him and crying.
“Please…” he sobbed. “Please don’t die too.”
“Don’t say…things like that. Of course I won’t. Not when I...managed to see you again.”
That made Slaine smile faintly for a moment, but then he frowned, fingers brushing against Inaho’s eyepatch.
“What happened to your eye?”
“A martian shot it when I was running back to the Deucalion...that day.”
“Oh Inaho.” It seemed as if a fresh set of tears would fall, but Slaine controlled himself and looked at their surroundings.
“What now?” he wondered.
****
****
|Present Time. Satellite Belt.|
“Multiple high density satellites! We can’t hit them at this range!”
A few soldiers grimaced while most tried to keep their faces stoically blank as they watched the terran scum approach them, managing to avoid most of their attacks due to the wind.
“Don’t hold back on the bullets! Keep firing!”
After a few seconds of frustration, seeing most of their bullets miss the mark, a terran kat suddenly exploded, then another.
Someone outside their base was firing at them and landing the shots despite the conditions.
“What in the world?” A martian wondered, nonplussed before focusing on the monitor he was in charge of. “Intense thermal reading approaching!”
“An enemy?” His superior demanded.
“No, sir!”
“That’s...the Tharsis!”
A communication line opened and its pilot sent them a message. “Please get clear. I’ll handle them.”
“Sir Slaine Troyard...” Relief flooded the command room as they recognized the voice.
*
“The blessings of my lady, Princess Asseylum, are upon me. Slaine Troyard has come,” Slaine said in the aftermath, making sure communication was open, as his words were for the benefit of the martians, not himself.
He barely cast a glance at the deaths he had singlehandedly wrought.
He had found it easier to deal with this way.
Besides, none of them had seemed familiar.
*
“Ever since I was young I idolized Earth. Its blue seas. Its blue skies.”
Finally managing to catch the pirated feed decently, Inaho stilled all movement, paying attention to it and nothing else.
“That world has the privilege of water and air and sunlight, and is blessed with an abundance of life and natural resources. I once lost my life on that world of Earth. And then, my eyes were opened to the truth. How outrageous it was for the terrans to live among that bounty without appreciating it.”
As if martians are any better. How much nature have they destroyed in this campaign already?
“A foolish race that covets resources, destroys nature, and is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure.”
Martians are doing the exact same thing. You are not at all different from us.
“We mustn't allow them to have their way with this precious world of Earth. I, Asseylum Vers Allusia, Princess Royal of the Vers Empire, praise and commend all those brave Orbital Knights who have died in the name of that noble cause.”
The connection fell after that, and didn’t return. Mouth slightly pursed, Inaho put down his device.
It looks like her, and the voice is the same. Yet the words...has Asseylum truly changed so much? He reflected, and tested using the device implanted in his brain to think of all the myriad possibilities behind it. Most of them were extremely undesirable.
Too many possibilities. I need more information.
Thankfully he would finally get his wish; they had finally deemed him fit enough to return to the front lines. Or perhaps they were desperate enough they couldn’t afford to give him any more time.
The reason didn’t matter; Inaho wanted to be back in action already. The sooner he was, the faster he could gain more intel on the situation and go after Slaine.
*
“That landing was so skillful, one would never guess we are in an uneven gravity field. Your skills have improved even more, Slaine.”
Stepping down from the Tharsis and bowing, Slaine found it alarming how, these days, rather than needing to feign being honored by compliments from Saazbaum, he was now needing to hide how touched he was by them.
Not that he had forgotten, or forgiven, what the Count had once tried to do, and since Slaine did not feel his personal comfort was not more important than the two people in his heart...he would not let the past go.
“Your compliment honors me, Count Saazbaum.”
“Granting you the title of knight was a wise decision,” Saazbaum continued to commend him. “How did the battle go?”
“I destroyed some four enemy units.”
“Quite a coup, Milord Slaine,” his new servant Harklight said, and Slaine had to make an effort not to wince.
He hadn’t wanted a servant. He understood the use of one but...Slaine still felt uncomfortable, having someone in the position he had once been to Count Cruhteo.
Besides, the secret he kept was too large to risk a servant finding out. Saazbaum had hand-picked this one and assured him of his trustworthiness, but having someone loyal to the count dogging his steps didn’t assuage Slaine much.
“Stop that, Mr. Harklight,” he said with a little laugh. “There is no need for ‘milord’ with me.”
“That won’t do, Milord,” Harklight replied, surprisingly insistent over such a thing. “I am your manservant.”
“But you're older than I am, and...I’m terran.”
“That does not change the fact that you are a knight, Milord Slaine. And I ask you to refrain from using ‘Mr’ with me, Milord Slaine.”
Saauzbaum’s lips twitched and even Slaine couldn’t help smiling at his new manservant’s implacable attitude. He was...strangely likeable.
Well, there should be no harm in keeping him around, for now.
*
They immediately reconvened to where Princess Lemrina was. Harklight with them, as he was already aware of her true role, since Saazbaum had made use of him before giving him to Slaine, so he bowed and treated the meeting as something common.
Eddelrittuo stood behind her, expression as serious as always. Slaine pretended not to notice the lack of liveliness in the maid now that she didn’t serve Asseylum. He couldn’t blame her for it; though he liked Lemrina, she and Asseylum were nothing alike. So long as Eddelrittuo did her duties perfectly, Slaine felt calling her out on her clear emotions was unnecessary.
A stern word from Lemrina took Slaine out of his reverie, and he focused on the scene to find Saazbaum looking on pityingly as Lemrina put herself down.
“I have never been pleased with the blood flowing through my veins. On the contrary, I find it repugnant. Am I only being kept alive by the value of my blood? To merely be a tool that exists to awaken Aldnoah?”
Of course you are, Slaine thought bitterly while maintaining an expression of sadness. Count Saazbaum has no qualms about murdering young, innocent girls for his revenge. He’s only kept you alive for that sake.
“My apologies,” Saazbaum said, with a face too openly contrite for Slaine to believe in.
“No, I understand,” Lemrina assured him. “It was you that extended the hand of friendship to me, Count Saazbaum. Even if I curse my blood, I am grateful to you.”
Slaine felt a pang of sorrow at that. To think that Lemrina had been so isolated that despite being aware of Count Saazbaum’s machinations, she still felt grateful to him. Making her that dependent on him and his views was likely planned too. I can’t forget who I’m dealing with, just because he treats me well.
“Slaine,” she said, now turning to him, and Slaine forced himself to smile lightly.
“Yes, Highness. What is it?”
“Will you teach me of Earth again?”
“Gladly,” he replied smoothly. It wasn’t a lie; there was something he hoped to impart on her that had a small chance of furthering his goal…
*
|Earth|
Listening in on the increasingly dangerous situation his friends were in, fighting the martian Kataphrakt, Inaho felt it was time to step in.
“Measuring bullet trajectory,” he said to himself, as he was still learning to give orders to his analytical machine without needing to say them outloud. Only then did he focus on the others. “Fall back, you two.”
“I get it,” he said, analyzing what he saw of the enemy with his machine. “The warheads entered a superconductive state and were deflected by the Meissner Effect. Let’s see how airbursts work.”
In the end he’d needed to shoot bullets to keep the air warm around him as he engaged the enemy, but it worked within his calculations.
Gun inches from the martian cockpit, he paused, fingers on the trigger.
“Oh, well done,” the martian said defeatedly.
It wasn’t a voice Inaho recognized. That too was within calculations, but sentiment had made him hesitate until he was certain. He fired at will.
“I took more damage than expected,” he reflected, looking at his stats while fire raged around him. “I wonder if Calm will be mad…”
As the fire died down, he noticed Rayet and Inko approaching and descended from the kat.
“Inaho! Inaho are you alright?” Inko asked immediately. The analytical machine told him her heart rate was more accelerated than it should be for that little run. Inaho turned it off to avoid overly exhausting it.
“Ensign Inaho Kaizuka reporting. Per orders from General Headquarters, I have been assigned to your ship,” he saluted.
Strangely, stating said fact had Inko and even Rayet smiling with strange looks on their faces.
“Come now, what’s with that?” Inko said, voice cracking slightly. “You never change, Inaho.”
“Back at you, Inko,” he replied, smiling slightly now that he has gauged them to be fine. “I’m glad you’re looking well.”
“You have changed. Quite a bit,” Rayet interceded. “You can make polite small talk now.”
The statement pains him a little. “I simply had ample time to practice what Slaine taught me.”
That had Inko’s eyes growing clearly teary before she threw herself into Inaho’s arms, hugging him tightly.
“Welcome back...Welcome back Inaho,” she half sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m sure...I’m sure everything will be alright!”
Inaho had, again and again, calculated the odds of that and knew her statement defied probability.
However, he didn’t want to upset her more than she already was and, more importantly, he didn’t want to upset himself by speaking of it.
He still managed to smile at being able to see her again and at her attempt to cheer him up. “It’s good to be back,” he said truthfully.
Hope was irrational but he could not let go of it.
And it was impossible to not hope when, against all odds, the UFE database told him Slaine was not only fine, but climbing up through martian ranks.
****
****
|19 Months Ago. Count Saazbaum’s Landing Castle.|
“What do we do now?” Slaine wondered.
When Inaho had no reply to give him, he gently removed him from his lap with a promise to return and walked over to Asseylum’s body.
Inaho could feel himself recovering a little, so he tried to sit up. He had just managed to do it when Slaine came running back with the girl’s body in his arms.
“Inaho! Inaho she’s alive!” he said, sounding as if he couldn't believe his own words, setting her down carefully next to Inaho.
Rather than question his sanity outright, Inaho looked at the body. After a moment, he noticed it moving, as if barely still drawing breath.
“It’s true. But how…is it aldnoah?” He speculated. Slaine laughed, giddy with relief.
“Maybe? Who cares! We can still save her!” Slaine’s glee quickly left him as he became serious. “How do we do that though?”
Inaho had already begun considering the best choices. “The Russian base has been taken over by martians, so that isn’t an option. The nearest still populated place is too far for someone in her state. Even if we took the kat you just piloted–” he wanted to know how Slaine had managed it, but it’s something he’d need to leave for later. “–we’d take too long and I’m not sure the facilities will have enough technology or blood supplies to save her.”
“T-Then what do we do?”
“...How advanced is martian medical technology?”
“Very. But this castle is in shambles and the Aldnoah drive deactivated. I don’t think we’ll manage to save her here…”
Inaho could see only one way out now. “The Moon Base. Someone should take her there.”
“Someone? Why not us?”
“They’ll harm us if we appear with Asseylum nearly dead in our arms.”
“That’s true...no, wait, Count Saazbaum said the Moon Base was staffed with those in league with him. I’ll threaten him, take him along and have him help her. He doesn’t hate me.”
“Really? He seemed to despise terrans.”
“My father saved him, so it seems I’m the exception. So, let’s go–”
“No.” Inaho loathed what he’d have to say next. “Go without me.”
“...What?”
“Saazbaum hates terrans and Asseylum. You’ll have a hard time as it is protecting her from him, not to mention convincing him and others you are on their side, and that will only worsen if you take me along.”
“But–”
“Simply healing her won’t be enough, and we don’t even know how long that will take, not if she’s in the hands of people that are willing to kill her. She’ll need protection, and neither of us will be able to that if we’re locked away somewhere. Since Saazbaum favors you, you have a chance I do not.”
Slaine didn’t fight it, but he pursed his mouth, shoulders sagging as the logic of Inaho’s plan sank in.
“But Inaho, in that case, to prove my allegiance to them, I’ll likely have to fight alongside them at some point.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be fighting terrans!”
“Yes, it’s probable.” Inaho knew what he was about to say was cruel, but they were running out of time and couldn't afford to spend it going around Slaine’s conscience. “Are those lives more important than Asseylum’s to you?”
Slaine flinched and visibly recoiled. “Of course not! I don’t like it, but I’ll do it for her. That’s not it. Inaho, if I go and you stay and I have to fight terrans...I might end up going against the Deucalion, or you. I...I can’t kill you.”
Despite everything, Inaho chuckled warmly, ignoring the pain in his ribs as he did so. “Thank you. For you to say you can’t kill me even for Seylum… I think that can be deemed romantic?”
“No! It can’t! And don't avoid the issue–”
“I’m not. The Deucalion is done for. Without Asseylum to reactivate it, we will never be able to fly again. My friends and sister will be safe. As for me...you think too highly of your skills if you think a fight between us will result in your victory. I shot you down last time.”
“Inaho, that’s not the same…”
“Slaine, enough. We don't have much time, with every second Seylum’s life seeps out and an enemy could come here. Not to mention Saazbaum may be dying as well. Trust me. I don’t want to be killed by you either. If that is your only issue, and not the terran lives you might have to take for this to work, please stop.”
“...This plan is insane. So much could go wrong…” Slaine glanced at Asseylum’s body before squeezing his eyes shut and letting out a shaky breath. “But I owe her too much, I can’t get let her die and I trust you. You’ll make this work somehow.”
“We will. Trust yourself a little too. You’re intelligent as well. Between our intellects and our knowledge of each other and the planets...we’ll manage to work it out, even apart.”
“We can’t afford not to.”
“Precisely.”
Slaine said nothing else. Instead, he leaned down and kissed Inaho gently on the lips.
“I’ll go. Inaho, just one last thing. I’ve only known you a short while and it could be months...maybe years before we meet again but...I won't forget you, nor will my feelings change.”
“I would consider that highly illogical if I wasn’t feeling the same. Don't worry, I captured you once, I’ll do so again.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
*
Desperation made it easy to school his emotions and kneel in front of the man that had nearly murdered the two people he loved and forced their separation.
“Please forgive me for all the wrongs I have done to you in the past, and am sure to do in the future…Count Saazbaum.” Because no matter how long it takes, I will get you back for this.
He pointed the gun at Saazbaum’s head. “Many terran troops have already breached the castle. Let’s escape on the Tharsis, and take Princess Asseylum with us. I am the only one who can save you now, Count. Will you die with your ambitions unrealized? Or choose to live with princess Asseylum? Your decision, please.”
*
His sister and Inko found him moments after the Tharsis took off, still staring at where he last saw it.
Tired and slightly dazed, Inaho had to be helped by the two back into the Deucalion, where they found the command room in shambles and Dr. Yagarai attempting to patch everyone up.
“Slaine and Princess Asseylum...where are they?” Magbaredge asked, voice frail, still weak from the head wound she sustained.
Yuki shook her head.
“We should leave to tend to everyone,” Inaho said, managing to focus on the destruction around him, and his barely conscious friends. “It’ll be a simple matter now, the martians no longer have the landing castle or their Count.”
“But…” Magbaredge’s voice failed, but she glanced at the deactivated aldnoah drive.
“I don’t mean with this, of course,” as he spoke, Inaho felt something roll into his mouth. It wasn’t salty like sweat but metallic. He ignored it. “We will need to-”
His body suddenly started glowing with a familiar light.
“That’s…” Yuki began, confused but mesmerized.
It took Inaho one second to understand. “It’s aldnoah.” That metallic taste...it must have been her blood. I see, between that and perhaps the mouth to mouth i had to give her before, the aldnoah was…
Wasting no time, he walked to the drive and touched it.
The Deucalion activated again.
The cheering was small, as most had barely any energy at all left, but the joy in the room was clear.
Except for Inaho. As relieving as it was to know they could use the Deucalion, mostly he felt something twisted and angry.
He’d been splattered with her blood earlier, why only now did it fall to his mouth? Had he known that earlier, he might have managed to formulate a plan that didn’t require sending Slaine away from him, and into enemy territory.
****
****
|Present Time. The Deucalion. EarthSpace beyond the atmosphere|
“The terrans who so foolishly squandered the goodwill of the Vers Empire are even now biding their time to steal our lands from us. The Vers Empire must exterminate them out of mercy.”
“Even if Slaine is only doing what you two planned,” Inko whispered hesitantly, “We’ll still be fighting her. Is that okay, Inaho?”
Inaho ignored her, not wanting to miss any second of the transmission.
“Let us liberate this world,” the wheelchair bound Asseylum on the screen proceeded, “which possesses air and water in such quantities that it diffracts light and makes the sky and seas appear blue.”
“It’s wrong,” Inaho said out loud before he could stop himself, heart beating a little faster now. “It’s Rayleigh scattering that makes the sky blue.”
Asseylum had known that...and so had Slaine.
And no one but Slaine had taught Asseylum about the world, meaning the chances of someone else telling this girl that specific wrong answer was...slim.
Slaine...are you sending me a message?
He pushed aside the warmth he felt at the thought that Slaine might not have forgotten him, and instead began analyzing the new information.
*
“Masterfully done, Princess Lemrina,” Slaine said with utmost sincerity when she asked their opinion of her speech.
Yes, masterfully done. She’d mentioned light diffraction. He had repeated that lesson a couple of times, as well as added that information to the speech drafts, hoping it would be mentioned. And it was.
Inaho was alive, Slaine was sure of it. Someone skilled as him wouldn’t silently go down somewhere, and it's not as if Slaine would be able to handle it if he had.
These transmissions to the martians were easy enough to hack, so surely the UFE would be listening in on them...and so would Inaho.
The chances that Inaho just happened to be listening to this one are small but...if he was...if he was he’ll notice there’s something wrong with what she said. It’ll keep him on guard regarding ‘Princess Asseylum’ from now.
He barely payed attention to what he said before excusing himself.
Hope. It was a frail thing to rely on, especially when so many things seemed to depend on luck.
And yet...hope was all he had left to go on. Hope that Inaho and the Deucalion crew were alright. That he and Inaho would meet again. And hope that…
His feet knew where to go. Soon, he was standing before a familiar person, kept inside healing waters. He kneeled.
“I’ve returned, Princess Asseylum,” he smiled at her. “I see that you are in good spirits again today.”
Hope that the last nineteen months hadn’t been in vain. Hope that she would wake up again.