Chapter Text
I
Location: Uber Berlin
Time: “30 days to SkyFall”, morning, 7:00 am
Crossing his legs on the comfy chair of the cafeteria, Dietrich looked out at the busy street.
People were on their daily routines: the postman taking letters and packages out of the mailboxes, cars and horse carts driving on the brick-paved street, vendors calling out for passersby to take a look at their goods, and so on.
No one knew what would be happening in a month from now.
“Good for them.” Dietrich muttered, picking up his coffee and took a sip.
There was no use for them to know, even if they somehow knew, what could they even do? Crying? Screaming? Hoarding food? Protesting the government? Panicking and desperately looking for a solution? Escaping to outer space?
Nah, it was all meaningless. “Ignorance is bliss” was the optimal resolve for this.
Thinking of that, the brunet halted his hand, the coffee cup hanging just a hair’s breadth from his lips. Yes, those ‘normal people’ didn’t know, obviously, but he knew. He knew about it.
It was the top secret information that only the Silver Star ranked members of the Orden were allowed to know, which meant only three top people could access it - Dietrich von Lohengrin (Magister Templi 8=3), Isaak Fernand von Kaempfer (Magus 9=2) and Cain Knightlord (Ipsissismus 10=1). The brief plan for it, as passed down to him by the Magus, was for Cain to repair and setup all the offensive systems of the Ark, which was currently orbiting the Earth like the sword of Damocles, then activated them all on the day of ‘SkyFall’ before flying the Ark to crash into Earth. However, since Mein Herr Contra Mundi's twin brother was back on the chessboard, to leave Cain alone on the Ark would not be a safe decision. Thus, it was required for the Magus to step up and assist his Herr on the mission, arriving on the Ark just on the day of SkyFall to act as his Herr's right hand, operating the Ark while Cain would fight his twin Krusnik brother. Then what about Dietrich himself though?
"Mein Herr said nothing about the request for you to be on the Ark to assist him. So I believe you are free to act on your own, just don't intervene in the SkyFall operation." Dietrich recalled the 'Magician's' words while taking another sip of coffee.
Ah yes, of course, in their eyes Dietrich was still very much an immature little brat. Cain never took him seriously while Isaak, with all due respect, always kept him in the “kid zone”. It wasn’t like they didn’t send him on important missions - they did, a lot even - but if it was a real big operation, which usually involved Cain’s direct appearance, Dietrich would surely not be allowed to partake, perhaps except that time when Cain needed someone to hack the Ark system first.
Just thinking about that made Dietrich’s beautifully handsome face scrunched up in disgust.
He grabbed the sugar pot and dropped two sugar cubes into the coffee. Why suddenly it became bitter? Stirring the cup for the sugar to dissolve, the brunet let out a long sigh.
“...You know too well, Mr. Lohengrin. To them, you are just a means to an end.”
The mocking voice of that woman echoed at the back of his mind. That woman . Oh how he detested that conniving hag. Just the thought of meeting with her in the hallway could make him nauseous. Like a sore in the eyes, Caterina Sforza pledged her allegiance to the Rosenkreutz Orden around quite a while ago, not long after the Popes’ untimely (timely actually) demises. Perhaps the younglings in the Orden would have thought that was a huge victory as one big name in the opponent’s leader rank finally had succumbed to the Orden’s power, but Dietrich didn’t feel at ease, not even a little bit. She stated her reason to join the Orden as “hatred towards the current Queen of Albion” but Dietrich knew it wasn’t that. For someone who not only experienced deception but even being known as one master of it, the ‘Puppeteer’ could easily pick apart the blatant lie. Though when he told Isaak about that, the raven simply hand-waved a dismiss. What did he find in her that made him so interested in keeping her around? It wasn’t like Dietrich didn’t believe the ‘Magician’ was smart enough to not trust Caterina, but for him to still let her be around…
“Damn that old hag.” Dietrich made a loud hiss and slammed his coffee cup onto the table. His fingers unconsciously reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, the young brunet needed to find something to do to forget about that accursed woman.
Just when he was about to get up from the chair, the smell of cigarette smoke reached his smoke-sensitive nose. A tall and slim figure had just stepped into the cafeteria, strands of thin white smoke swirling around but never seemed to contact the figure’s clothes.
And just like that Dietrich sat back down on the chair. It was not everyday luck to actually see such figure to come out, let alone actually walking into a public place. Not that the man never walked out in public places, just that he tended to suddenly appear in a place and for some reason people would never notice him, and then he vanished just like he appeared. For him to literally walk in the cafeteria and pay for the drink, this must be a curious event.
As the brunet expected, the slender figure turned to walk towards his spot. The (very) long, silky and tar-colored hair of the man graciously but gently flew as he walked, with his intricately carved walking cane never making any sound on the floor. Dietrich waved his hands annoyingly as the cigarette smoke strand got thicker with the raven’s approach.
“Ugh, this isn’t a non-smoking area but can you just not smoke for once?” Irritatedly, Dietrich voiced his ‘greeting’.
“Guten morgen to you too, ‘Marionettespieler’.” The raven tipped his top hat that fit the color of his gloomy three-piece suit and gracefully took his seat on the parallel side to Dietrich, setting his cane on the side of the chair and his hat on his thighs. “‘Give everyday the chance to be the most beautiful day of your life’ - Mark Twain. I assume that you slept well.”
Dietrich made a huff at that.
“-Why?
-Hmm? Why what?
-You know exactly what, Mage. For all the time I am around you, this is one of the rare times you walk out in public and daylight.
-I am an old man, ‘Puppeteer’. Have to stretch the muscles and bones sometimes, you know.
-Meh, you are having something in your head. I know you too well.” Dietrich chuckled, picking up his coffee cup again.
The maid brought over the drink that the raven ordered and set it on the table. He thanked the maid with a polite nod and snuffed the cigarillo he was smoking into the ashtray.
“It is probably you overthinking,” the raven picked up his cup - it was cinnamon black tea - his long sharp eyes with jet black irises fixed on the surface of the substance in the cup.
“What meaning is there to scheme anything anymore when the world is about to end?”
…
Location: Londinium
Time: “30 days to SkyFall”, evening, 6:00 pm
The reconstruction of Londonium’s great bridge was closer to completion with full effort from the royal navy. The city was still recovering from the battles and yet, it was important to remind the civilians to not let their anger and rage take over their grieving mind.
That was why she was out here, overseeing the reconstruction of the most important bridge of the whole country. The Queen of Albion didn’t dress up in her luxurious royal dress with all those suffocating accessories, but in a very common simple dress that can be found in any tailor shop. The sun had long set but the construction progress of today would not end anytime soon, and as much as Esther wanted to give an order to halt it for the day, she didn’t want to deaden her people’s enthusiasm. Especially not in the current situation.
“Rrrrorrrrrrr…”
The sound of someone’s stomach growling loudly in her 5 o’clock direction made Esther almost jolted. Despite all those years being close to him, Esther still couldn’t get used to that.
“Fathe- Ehem, Abel Nightroad!” She exclaimed while folding her arms and turned round to stare at the silver-haired man in black priest clothes lying like a potato sack on the ground, with the eyes of people around fixating on him.
“I’m dying… Esther… Queen… please I need to write down my will” He clutched his stomach, it did sound like he was really dying.
“Stop being dramatic, you are just hungry.” Speaking only enough for the man to hear, Esther walked over and gave him a light kick at the butt. That was so embarrassing. He was clearly trying to make a fuss to excuse them out of the scene for whatever reason he had in his head.
“Oh my,” raised a deep female voice from behind. “Our honorable guest isn’t feeling well, Your Majesty?”
Esther finally felt like she was given salvation, turning round, she was met with the sight of a black-haired lady dressed scantily but with a large fur scarf wrapping around her shoulders.
“Duchess of Erin, thank you for your timely arrival. M-my guest, he got sick again, I-I will have to excuse b-both of us for the rest of the day…” Letting the excuse out of her mouth, the red-headed young lady had to take all of her effort to not stammer, but it failed magnificently.
The Duchess covered her lower face with her fancy hand fan, probably to hide a chuckle, and turned towards the royal maids, giving them a nod.
“Please escort Her Majesty and the guest back to Edinburg palace. I will take Her Majesty’s spot to oversee the rest of today’s construction progress,” She then gestured towards the potato sack in human form on the ground “... and buy him some apple tarts on the way back too.”
The maids all nodded their understanding and then hurried to escort the Queen and her guest out of the public sight, out of further embarrassment.
Once they were escorted into the car safely, Esther let out a sigh of relief.
“I can’t thank you enough, Jane, you are so helpful in these kinds of situations.” Talking about the situation “And you, Abel Nightroad! What was that for?”
As if she had dropped off all her queenly composition in the blink of an eye, Esther was now looking flustered, her front hair seemingly standing up out of anger, mayhap the fire in her eyes could even light the inside of the limousine if it wasn’t lit up already.
And just as she expected, it was all drama to excuse themselves. The man on the opposite seat to hers was already back in his normal composition, pushing the pair of glasses up close to his eyes.
“I do sincerely apologize for that, Your Majesty.” The “priest” sighed and looked out the car’s window, his eyebrows scowled lightly. “I don’t have any news, just that I really feel uneasy…”
Esther was somehow softened upon seeing the man’s expression.
He had just started to remember who he was and what happened not more than two months ago, when he staggered out to the street and nearly hit Esther’s car. She had never forgotten her promise that they should stay apart so that she wouldn’t be used to hurt him, but after Alessandro’s demise, the nuclear attack on Thimisoara, then Seth’s death… It was all too much to bear. The moment she met Abel again, she couldn’t stop her tears as she helped him up and into the car. And as Esther just couldn’t bear to lose another friend, she set aside the promise and asked Abel to stay.
“It’s been around 2 years since I fought Cain on the Ark.” The silver-haired man continued. “I believe the impact of the fight along with Seth’s final attempt at striking on Cain must have really killed him… but I still can’t keep the feeling of threat away…”
Then he turned to face Esther, his cold blue eyes met with her lapis lazuli eyes.
“You are concerned that he may still be alive, correct?” Esther asked, her face didn’t show any fear nor indecisiveness.
“Everything I remembered would conclude that he couldn’t survive.” Abel blinked. “But my instinct told me something is not right. It’s been two years and there hasn’t been any big retaliation movement from the Rosenkreutz Orden, as if after Cain’s death they just all disappeared. Especially those two , you know who I am talking about.”
Esther closed her eyes and nodded. Yes, how could she forget them? Dietrich von Lohengrin who used to pose as her caring comrade in Istvan, and Isaak Fernand von Kaempfer who used to pose as the friendly, helpful Mr. Butler. Their schemes had caused pain and suffering to so many people she knew. Thinking about them caused Esther a light flash of trauma but she had learnt to cope with it.
“I have been sending spies to scout for any information about them in Germanicus. But it seems like while the Orden is still having hands in manipulating Germanicus’ government, there is hardly any news about von Kaempfer and von Lohengrin.” Esther clenched the hem of her dress. “... and of course no news of Cain either.”
Abel nodded lightly with understanding. There was no point in pushing this at Esther, she did all she could to support him all this time.
“Rrrrrrroooooooooorrrrrrrr…”
Blue eyes opened wide.
“D-did the maids buy the apple tarts?” Abel stammered and searched around. There was nothing edible in the drawers, let alone tarts.
“Ahhhhhh! It was all your fault! They would have bought the tarts if I was the one who got hungry first!” Esther screamed in frustration and grabbed at Abel’s collar, shaking him like a ragdoll.
It would take around 15 minutes more to arrive at the palace, and the limousine continued driving. At least it was soundproofed and covered so no one outside could see or hear what was going on inside.
This was all too embarrassing.
…
Location: Byzantium
Time: “30 days to SkyFall”, night, 11:00 pm
The loud growling of a cat can be heard from the second balcony of the estate. Baybars must have forgotten to feed that gremlin again. And Ion couldn’t care less.
The blond Methuselah with the face of a teenager was sitting on the balcony of his room, looking to the sea. Chemiluminescent lights shone the coast. It had been two years after Augusta Vradica was announced dead and just like 90% of the Empyreans, Ion Fortuna still couldn’t accept it. The word “Empyrean” now sounded like a mockery on them all. Without the Empress, they were just a bunch of countries stitched together, like a train without the train tractor. They could continue on the train track but when to stop, what to stop for, where to go next, that was a whole new question for them.
Apparently, after winning wars on the Terran territories, the Empire had expanded rapidly, too rapidly for exact. Having left only Germanicus and Albion as Terran territories on the map, it was a huge problem to control the rest of the territories without accidentally igniting civil war. For now, the leaders of the cities had agreed on a voting system, any decision needs approval rate above 50% to be allowed in action, of course the equality between Terran and Methuselah was also approved to be in action long term.
While he knew some of the other leaders wanted to also war against Albion and Germanicus so as to annex the rest of the land into the Empire, Ion was amongst those who disapproved of that solution. First of all there were still many states with low loyalty towards the Empire, second the defensive force of Albion and Germanicus were beyond the scope for the Empire to actually war against two of them at once, if they warred with one, the other one may join in to attack and that would be a disaster. Not to mention that the rest of the Vatican, after the annihilation of Rome, had moved to Albion and pledged loyalty to the Queen, while Germanicus had always been the territory of the Rosenkreutz Orden.
Ion flopped his head onto his folded arms. He wondered why the bacillus in his body just didn’t give him the power to turn back time. Everything was so simple back then, Augusta Vradica was still alive and leading the Empire, Radu was still alive and…
The feeling of cat fur rubbing at his legs interrupted Ion’s reminiscent moment.
“Baybars still hasn't fed you or what?” The blond reached down to pick up the cat. “You are already too fat, I will have to put you on a diet.”
He turned to look towards the North East, where he supposed the Albion kingdom was located, and sighed with a soft smile.
“At least I know you are going strong there, Esther. If one day we can meet again, I do want to have a tea party with you.”