A light in the sky

Disclaimer: I do not own Last Exile, Claus Valca, Dio Elaclaire,
Lavi Head, any other persons, any inventions, locations or any such content
presented in the animè. That belongs solely to GONZO animation studios.

Seriously, if I had owned them don’t you think I’d rather be doing
something else with the bishies than daydreamin about them? Like, make another
animè dedicated to them, and them only. Oh well, on with the fic.

(Oh, one little thing before you go. As I’m really a japanime fan, I tend
to use some common japanese terms. As to make this fully understandable to
anyone, I have listed the japanese words with a star [*], notifying that their
translations can be found at the end of the fic. Thanks for your patience. ^^ )

A light in the sky

Chapter 3

The barely audible voice made Claus, who was just about to turn the
handle of the door and emerge, jump into the air, and as his heart pace slowed
down a little, he turned around looking over at the bed: “...D-dio?” he
stammered, praying to the sky that he had not heard wrong, that it really had
been Dio’s voice saying his nickname in such a fashion.

“...Immelmann.”, another weak whisper sounded from the bed, though
stronger than the last, and really more worthy of the title “half-speaking”.

Claus felt some of the tears he had been struggling to keep back welling
up in his eyes: “Dio...I thought you were...I mean, I...”

Principal Elaclaire was unfazed, and merely looked up into the roof as he
had before, a cute, bewildered look on his face: “Where am I? What happened?”

Claus looked down, the shame belongin to the rolefailfailed protector
burning inside of him:

“”We...we tried to fight the Guild, to fight you si.I m.I mean, Maestro
Delphine...I...I mean we, tried to save you from what you seemed to fear so
much...eh?”

The blonde pilot halted himself with a small, somewhat surprised outburst
as he saw Dio’s eyes widen in fear, and his already pale face turning the color
of chalk: “I...I’m sorry...I shoudn’t have mentioned that...I...”

Dio took a few gasping intakes of breath, before he closed his eyes: “I’m
fine.” He turned his head, looking outthe the window with his usual, calm eyes,
reflectine bye by now heavy rainfall outside: “Continue, please.”, he
whispered, his voice hoarse from keeping back the fear he obviously felt.

Claus looked at Dio, wondering how strong this boy really was. He had
lived with the knowledge that something terrible, something that would make him
the opposite of what he really was, or wanted to be, something that would
alienate him from the world he so wanted to be a part of, would occur suring
his 18th birthweek. And in spite of this, he had managed to keep his mind
bright, and his facade happy, curious and carefree.

And in addition to this, he had, just now, seemingly shaken off a mind
spell more that was, if one should interpret Dio’s behaviour in the Guild, and
all the dead bodies Rook Dio left in his trail, an infinite numer of times more
powerful than the one that had taken Alex Rowe, then unbreakable and invincible
battleship commander, captive.

“A lot of things happened...and...” Claus said, taking a deep breath:
“...I don’t thing we should dwell too much in the past. What has happened has
happened, and our weary minds, especially yours, has enough on them from before
on to start worrying about that. Just know that we saved you and got you out of
there, and that everything will be okay from now...on...”

‘For crying out loud, I’m such a lousy liar!’, Claus thought to himsellf,
clamping his eyes shut in frustration: ‘Nothing is allright, we are not gonna
be fine just like that, the crew of the Sylvana is lost to me...it really seems
as pitch black as the darkest night in my world.’

“Immelmann...”

Claus snapped out of his thoughts after a second, looking at Dio with
big, confused eyes: “Unh?”

margin-left:0cm;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:
none'>As Dio said his name, Claus felt a sting of jealousy towards the other
Guild member. Lucciora was just too perfect, too “made for Dio” for him. He
knew very well that Dio’s flirting with him, Claus, could just bmeanmeans to
annoy and have fun with Lucciora, not really meaning anything in the long run.
But though he knew, he tried to puch it as far back into the keeps of his mind
as he could, hoping it would go away, even when he knew the hope was futile.

Thus, without really meaning to, he answered Dio with a gruff voice: “I
don’t know what happened to him. He stayed behind to help us out of the
Maestro’s ship, and after that I didn’t see him. But no worry, I’m sure
he’s...”

Once more breaking off one of his sentences half in, he felt his heart
twist at the look of agony and pain in Dio’s face: “So...that old geezer was
right...”. He turned to look up into the roof, a bitter, resignated smile on
his face: “The old deserter Guild mechanic...oh, maybe you never met him. I
guess only me and Lucciora ever came down into the engine room...” his vision
spaced out a bit, but after blinking a couple of times he continued: “Anyways,
that old Guild mechanic knew some of the elder prophetcies concerning the royal
families, and he knew the one concerning Lucciora He said...that he would
sacrifice something dear to him to save something even dearer.”

A tear rolled down in cheek, and the agony deep within Claus’ heart grew
darker as Dio continued: “But I had no idea he would give his life...for me.”

Claus stood there, mortified, unable to think of move, as he saw Dio’s
lips move, and the words coming forth: “Thank you, dear Lucciora...”

He could feel his heart shatter into a million pieces, as vividly as if
it had actually happened. The rigid, razor-sharp fragments sliced his soul, and
it almost felt like it was bleeding, drawing his life away from him drop by
conscience-etching drop.

“Dio...he proclaimed, his voice chiked with emotion as a sudden urge to
be with the sorrowful, young man passed through him, a mad urge to hold him, to
protect him from the cruel world, to...to bere fre for him.

Acting mostly on impulse, Claus leapt into Dio’s bed and glomped him,
embracing him tightly, burying his head into the free-flowing, silken white
hair: “I’m here, Dio...I am here...if you want me to be. I have been trying to
deceiyselyself since they day I met you in person, suring the endurance race, but
my mind is filled with too many thoughts and worries for me to take keeping it
all in...”

“Immelmann...”, Dio said, apparently surprised beyond words or action, as
he laid completely still under Claus.

Claus lifted his head slightly, nuzzling the lobe of Dio’s ear with his
lips: “Daisuki, Dio...” [*]

On a closer concideration, he felt his face turning crimson red as he
laid perfectly still op oop of Principal Dio Elaclaire, nervous beyond
comprehension, waiting for an answer.

Though he had flirted and dropped hints, he might have forgotten, he
might have changed his mind, or he might even have been playing with him and
his emotions since the begin. In. In any case, he wanted to believe he would be
ready for any answer Dio could give him, though he knew he was most certainly
not.

A few more long, fleeting moments passed, and Claus’ mind raced in panic.
What had he done? How could he have been so stupid, as to tell Dio
straightforward how he felt? He closed his eyesin frustration over his own
stupidity, when he felt a hand being placed upon his back: “Hontou?” [*]

Claus’ heart stopped for a second, before he managed to force out:
“H-hountou ni, Dio.”

Another hand replaced the first one on his back as it moved over to his
shoulder, dragging him in closer to Dio: “I thought...I thought had disgusted
you, that you hated me for what I kept on doing. I thought I annoannoyed you,
Immelmann...” Dio said, voice shaking lightly.

Claus pushed himself up onto his hands, hovering over Dio’s face, looking
directly into his tear-filled eyes: “How could I ever hate you, Dio? You are
the light of my life...”

Lowring his head, he closed his eyes when his lips made contact with
Dio’s once again, and reality seemed to diminish into a somewhat annoying
backdrop, like some kind of crappy soundtrack, when he felt Dio’s velvety skin
against his own. And with Dio awake and responding this time, it felt a lot
better than before.

As the kiss grew more confident, and Claus started relaxing in Dio’s
arms, he tensed suddenly, at an unexpected, unfamiliar sensation of the tip of
the white haired boy’s tongue tracing over the loose slit formed by his cloed
lips.

He broke the kiss for a little moment, looking at Dio with uncertain
eyes, causing the mentioned bishie to smile a small, sexy smile: “It’s
alright...”

Tracing his index finger over Claus’ cheek, he leant in and kissed him
again, to be greeted by hesitant, opening lips.

As Dio’s tongue intruded his mouth, he could have sworn a circuit snapped
in his mind, and he let out a low groan from deep down in his throat, at the
feel of the other boy’s wet silkyness seducing him.

The sitation was overwhelming, to say the least. Claus felt as if his
skin had become a matting fed up with thousands upon thousands of
hypersensitive nerves, projecting every single sensation, every single touch of
Dio’s skilled fingers, running from his forehead, down his jawline, and to the
back of his neck, tickling the hair at the nape, in a thousandfold.

“D-dio...” Claus moaned as he broke the kiss, the muscles in his arms not
nearly strong enough to support him anymore, and he collapsed on top of Dio.

His moans were almost immideately replaced by a delightful gasp as he
felt the zipper going from his collar, down to the small of his back being
opened, and Dio’s fingers tickling down the soft skin covering his spine.

He had never dreamt of that this...the love he had heard about, between
adults...could feel so good. That it could feel like the wildfire that was
coursing through his veins when Dio touched him.

It felt even better than...than...

Blushing, Claus dug his head dwon on the side of Dio’s face and licked a
trace down from his shoulder to the sensitive bace of his neck, leaving a siny
trail of saliva after it.

“Immel...mann...” Dio moaned as he felt Claus glue himself onto his neck,
doing wonderful things with his slick, wet tongue, as it danced over his
pallid, delicate skin.

It all felt like a dream...how could such a wonderful dream of reality
come right after the kind of horrible nightmare he had endured?

^ end of chapter ^

-

That’s it for this chapter, folks. Sorry I’ve been really bad at updating
lately, but I’ve been to distant lands (Iceland), and I’ve had little time to
write. So, I bring you this chapter, plus some japanese words for your
enjoyment, and I’ve taken some time to answer a few of the questions you have
asked in the reviews. Enjoy, please.

[*] daisuki - a mix of two words, dai, or tai, which
means big or great, and suki, which is simply a term to express a
liking, or fondness. Daisuki is directly translated ‘big like’, and is a
way to say “I love you”

[*] hontou? - really?, and hontou ni, that means ‘really
really’. The explanation behind that one is quite simply that 'ni' means
'two', so it’s kinda like ‘really x two’

FAQ:

What happens in episode 27-28?

Well, supposing you mean 25-26 (that’s the end of the series, unless
something strange happened when it was released in the US), I will not reveal
everything, as it would be a direct spoiler. Instead, I will try to drop hints
in this fic, as I have done in this chapter. And as for the rest, get the DVD’s
and finish the series. They're being released in the US by Pioneer. It’s highly
recommendable. ^^

Why does Dio keep calling Claus “Immelmann”? Is it some sort of
nickname?

Yeah, it is. The first time Dio saw Claus flying his vanship, he
performed a quite difficult maneuvre that is called the “Immelmann turn”, where
the pilot first takes the plane into a 180 degrees vertical loop, and while
performing the half-loop does a half barrel-roll. (Note that this maneuvre is
very possible, and is a real, much-used move with small, personal airplanes and
firhet planes from WW2, and back. For a graphic explanation, go to
http://142.26.194.131/aerodynamics1/Lift/Immelmann.html and have a look.)
Apparently, Dio was mesmerized with Clau’s performance of this move, and
decided to simply call him “Immelmann” since then, as Claus refused to tell him
his real name.

See you again next chapter! *hugs*