The Airship they have taken was a lower class ship filled with your average citizens. It was a small ship that can carry over a hundred passengers and only a few seats were available inside so most of them sit on the floor. Once they have traveled far enough from the Kingdom a hologram conductor will appear in the middle of the cabin to scan their IDs. Only people who booked the flight can continue with the ride and if suspicious characters or people who booked the wrong ticket were found out, they will be automatically arrested on the next stop.
"Good Evening Everyone, I am your conductor for this airship, as part of our protocol I will now be scanning your ID's. Once we find people that do not belong in this flight, we have the right to arrest you until we reach the next stop. Please do not consort to violence for we have reserve soldiers and knights on duty inside this aircraft. Thank you"
"Are you sure your friend got us booked here?" Claude ask Tayne
"Don't worry, he's good at this kind of stuff"
The conductor raises his hand and a straight light starts to scan every passenger inside. Claude was a bit jumpy but when the scanning pass through them easily he gave out a sigh of relief.
"Told yah" Tayne smiled at him.
After everyone was scanned, the conductor confirmed the number of passengers on board.
"Thank you all for your cooperation we have now confirmed all 108 passengers on this flight booked and with no abnormalities. Please take this time to relax, this aircraft's final destination will be Calexo, before reaching there we will have three stops, expected time of arrival will be four hours from now, good night"
The hologram then turned itself off and the passengers continued to mind their own business while Claude's group sits in the far end of the ship where there is less light.
"Good job on the ID's Beck!" Tayne praised him
"Of course, when it comes to this you can count on me"
"Why are we stopping in Calexo brother? I thought were going home" Deck asks him
"There is no straight route from Saveria to Rosei, enemies remember?" Claude clarifies
Beck nods "He's right, once we arrived in Calexo, Darvan and Erika will meet us there, they'll be bringing a car to pick us up"
(Did he just mentioned Erika?) Claude thought
"Erika?" Tayne ask Beck
"Yup, she's the new member I talked to you about"
"I see..."
(So she's a merc? At least not the Erika I knew) Claude relaxed a little (I don't know how to react if it's her)
"By the way Beck, how did you and your brother went to Saveria from Rosei?" Tayne asked out of curiosity
"We did not come from Rosei at that time, we were in another town where ships have direct routes to Saveria"
"I see"
"I already beep the others with the details so they knew I'll be bringing Claude and Tseng" he looks at Tayne uncomfortably
"Don't worry, I'll be the one to talk to Darvan if you didn't mention me"
"I did mention you but Darvan --"
"It's fine Beck, he won't punish you"
"Thank you Tayne"
They decided to rest for the remaining hours until they reach their stop, the others were already asleep, as for Claude, he was still wide awake.
"Couldn't sleep?" Tayne asked she was sitting beside him
"No, you?"
She shakes her head. They were quiet for a while as they watched Tseng sleeping with the brothers leaning on both his shoulders.
"I'm sorry" Tayne breaks their silence
"For what?"
"For dragging you out of your Kingdom, you must be worried about Gus and Layla right?"
"Don't worry about it, he said they will be okay so I'm holding on to that"
Tayne smiled "He was really happy you know, when you defended them, that was a first"
Claude felt embarrassed remembering it "Don't make me remember that ever again"
Tayne was still smiling when she sees how Claude reacted to her teasing but she then turned her expression into something serious.
"There's something I want to tell you, Claude"
"What?"
"I finally got to remember everything why I jumped seven floors high from the hospital"
She got Claude's attention "You do?"
"Yes, it was really Duke Elizar who visited me that day and he was with Rell"
"What do they want from you?"
"I don't know but he knew your father hired me, he was asking me where I met him and he was telling me to leave the kingdom if I value my life, my broken arm was just a warning but I didn't listen to him so he got mad and decided to kill me there on the spot"
"So you jumped out of the building?"
"Yes, I won't die easily anyway, that's what I thought but I can still feel pain and thank goodness I fell on your car, it would hurt so much if I'd hit the ground, hahaha "
It suddenly sparks Claude's interest "You knew?"
Tayne nods "I knew what sir Vincent meant when he said he's fascinated to things he's unknown of, I must be a monster in his eyes"
Mentioning Vincent got Claude thinking how his friend is doing with all the commotion going in Saveria.
"He knew about his father and he tried to warn me but I was too late, the duke has him now and I don't know if he's safe or not"
"Don't worry, I'm sure Sir Vincent will find a way to communicate with you"
"Vincent thinks your special, not a monster those are two different statements. He's a die-hard doctor always thinking of others, he was curious how Etheria runs inside your body without making you insane... maybe it can help create a new medicine"
"I doubt that"
"Why?"
"I'm not ready to talk about that yet but I'm kind of relieved I told you about this, I start to feel anxious, you know, and quite amazed how you easily accepted it, just like your father"
"Hmmm. Just like him huh? Well, it's not that I don't have questions but I just felt like the answers will come sooner or later anyway"
"You're right. Thank you, Claude"
"Brat"
"Hmmm?"
"Back in the extraction room, you said something about this is not what my father wanted me to end up, did you guys talk before the incident? Was that the time I saw you in his studies with my mother present as well?"
Claude felt Tayne was uncomfortable with his question but he was determined to get an answer from her.
"You're right, we talked that time, rather than a talk they were giving me an order I cannot disobey"
"Cannot disobey?"
"If the time comes all of them dies I will prioritize your safety no matter the cost"
It didn't take long for Claude to sink Tayne's answer, he remembered what Caleb said that night as well.
*This is no time to cry your majesty, we already knew this will happen so we made sure you will have an escape route*
His words and judging from Mary's actions the morning before, everything all sums up. They knew he couldn't defeat Rell so for him to survive they must die? Tears slowly fall on Claude's face remembering the events again, now that he knew why they were acting so differently he couldn't help belittle himself even more.
"That's why I kept my silence for a while, I was so conflicted on your request and theirs. At first, I thought it's fine because I might be able to protect all of you ---" she bit her lips and starts crying as well
"I'm sorry, Claude, I couldn't protect anyone not even you, you suffered so much damage I thought you're going to die. I let your father down" she sobs
Claude patted Tayne's head until she calms down. He was supposed to be the one being comforted but instead he's comforting her. "You are such a brat, you know that? But -- it's not your fault, this happened because I am weak, selfish and blind... My family knew the outcome all along and I was so full of myself, that's why, that's why I have to get stronger, stronger than ever so that I'll come back and take back the throne"
Tayne saw Claude was controlling his anger that she grabs his hands, it caught him off guard, she held unto it tightly as she raises it near her face "I'm still keeping my promise to your father to never leave your side, so, I'll be with you on this journey" she smiles.
Claude was captivated, it was the genuine smile he saw last time and just for this moment it belongs only to him. He was surprised he never avoided her gesture, it was so innocent that he can't help feel at ease, and for the first time -- he loses himself from the comfort and closes his eyes, went into a deep sleep.
-----
"Mister? Hey Mister?"
Claude wakes up to Deck's calls, they finally arrived in Calexo and it was still dawn. He looks to his side and finds Tayne was no longer sitting beside him.
"The others are waiting outside"
"Right, okay"
He got out of the airship along with the other passengers, he saw Tseng and Beck down the rail waving at him.
"Sorry we thought you'll wake up sooner but seems you got a pretty good rest there" Beck apologize
"It's fine" he looks around looking for Tayne and saw her coming out from a store. She smiled as soon as she saw Claude and the latter avoided her gaze.
"Claude! I'm glad you woke up, here, I bought us food in case you guys were hungry from the trip"
"Yey! Burger buffalos!" Deck excitedly gets one and start eating it
Everyone was laughing while they were eating, except for Claude, he was still in disguise.
"Ah- right, you can turn off your holo now"
"Eh? Why would I do that? I'm a wanted man, remember?"
"I know but not many will recognize you here anyway, blondes and blue eyes are common in Rosei, and wearing holo must be wearing you out considering it takes a lot of your energy"
"Blondes are common?"
"Yup. You haven't been exactly to Rosei right?"
Claude nods.
"Well, it's very different from Saveria but I guess you should see that for yourself, for the meantime wear this mask it can at least cover half of your face" Becks hands him a black mask
The station starts to have fewer people now as they start to walk towards the exit to the main road.
"They should be arriving any moment now," said Beck
Tayne gives out a deep sigh
"This Darvan, what relationship do you have with him?" curious, Claude asked her
"Oh, hahaha, it's complicated really, when I left the group five years ago he was the angriest of them all"
"Why did you leave?"
"Well, I'll tell you some other time, Beck told me they thought I wanted to live a normal life so let's leave it like that for now"
"You have a lot of secrets to tell me"
"Right? Hahahaha, but don't worry, I don't plan on keeping them from you it's just that, this is not the right time to tell you about it"
"One secret at a time huh"
"Yes!"
Peep! Peeeeep! Peeep!
"They're here" Beck looks to Tayne
"Good luck..."
A huge black pick up truck arrive in front of them, once the car was parked a man with grey hair and black eyes came out, he goes to where Tayne was - beside Claude.
"Heya Darvan!" Tayne greets him but then Darvan pulls her out but Claude stops him by grabbing Tayne's other arm.
"This is none of your business, ex-King"
"Claude, my name is Claude and of course it is my business because this woman you're grabbing right now is my property"
"Property?"
"What -- Claude meant is I cannot leave his side because I'm his bodyguard. Sorry Darvan"
Darvan lets of her hand and glared at Claude "Whatever, I'm supposed to go all out furious on you but I'm not in the mood anymore"
He turns around and walks back to the truck "Let's go, we still have a long trip until we reach Rosei's border"
Tayne was looking at Claude, he has his mask on so she cannot really read his expression but when he mentioned her being his property she can't help but feel happy about it.
When the two of them goes to the truck as well they were surprised to see Tseng talking to a sexy chick.
"Yo! Erika! You fond of bald guys now?" Beck teases
Erika was beautiful, Tayne thought. She wears a knee-length pale blue long sleeve dress, the dress was fitting so her curves were very much visible - she has a great figure. Her neckline was open so Tayne sees a bit of cleavage there, it bothered her for a bit. She has straight shoulder-length hair and full-grown bangs hiding her forehead, her violet hair and eyes complemented her outfit and to match it all she wears three-inch blue heels.
(Whoa, so she's the new member Beck talked about, she's like a doll)
"She's beautiful isn't she? Claude?" She asked Claude, Tayne was surprised to see him removed his mask and had a shocking reaction towards Erika.
When Erika saw Claude she then walks towards their direction and with a sad look she hugs Claude tightly, she was much taller compared to Tayne but it caught her off guard when Erika hugs Claude.
"It's been a while, Claude," she said
"Wh-wha-what's going on here?" Tayne asked her
Erika finally took notice of her after hugging Claude.
"I'm Erika, nice to meet you"
"Yeah, I know who you are but why do you act as if you know him?" she pointed at Claude
Erika chuckled "Oh, sorry, I just got excited, it's been a while since we last saw each other"
"Last saw? Do you guys knew each other?"
"Yes" Erika confirmed
Tseng goes near the trio "She is Master's ex-fiance, Erika Dewey"
"Eh? Pardon?"
--- End Of The Chapter.