Disclaimer: I don't own Last Exile.

His first memory is of being scared of his sister. Nothing more than a vague feeling a fear, but that is his earliest memory.

When Delphine gave him Lucciola, he felt true fear, for in giving him a gift of this sort, she now had something worse to punish him with. For now when he was bad, it was Lucciola who was punished, not him, and Delphine made sure he watched.

The day he told Lucciola they were friends was a stepping stone for him. Lucciola cried, which had confused him, until Lucciola reassured him that it was because he was happy that he shed tears.

His first meeting with Immelmann was another such stone. For now he had two friends, he thought that Lavie also counted and Al. Four friends, who would have thought?

Lucciola's betrayal was like a knife in the back, not the kind that killed, the kind were they just missed that vital spot and you had to endure the pain.

When he realized that Lucciola would not save him from the machine, he almost welcomed the oblivion it would bring. How could he continue, knowing that his dearest friend had abandoned him?

Now, as he falls through the clouds, the wind rushing past, his head clears, and his mind is whole, he knows soon that Lucciola and himself will be reunited once again. For Delphine would never allow him to live. Smiling, he closes his eyes, and...

Hee hee. Cliffy.