Chapter Text
Even now, as she lay dying and with the last remnants of her father’s kingdom collapsing around her, she still had the strength, the audacity, to smile up at Claudine as if this was just another one of their stupid dates.
“That was a very good fight Saijou-san,” She complimented, and Tendou Maya, the most skilled and powerful swordswoman the world had ever seen, finally let go of the shattered remains of her blade. “I dare say it was worth losing Odette if only for that bout of ours.”
Claudine, running on fumes, lost her hold on the last of the magic remaining in her body, and the spell supporting her blade disappeared immediately after, leaving her with little more than a handle and some sharp bits of metal remaining. Upon seeing it, Maya threw her head back and laughed. “So I was a few seconds off from victory I see,” Maya said, somehow sounding immensely satisfied at the revelation. “I suppose if I had to lose, it would obviously have been to you.”
Claudine, throat parched, lips cracked and bloody, continued staring down at Tendou Maya, still desperately heaving in lungfuls of air
“I would appreciate it if you could say something Saijou-san,” Maya continued blithely, “It is awkward trying to carry on a conversation by myself.”
“I beat you,” Claudine finally said, barely more than a whisper, tasting the blood inside of her mouth.
Maya, as best as she could given that she was laid down on the ground and with Claudine straddling her body, tilted her head at Claudine in respect. “No other person could claim to be able to say that. Not even Yukishiro-san or Yanagi-san at their peak could accomplish what you have done today. Stand tall and stand proud for doing so.”
“I beat you,” Claudine continued, staring straight into Maya’s eyes. Even now, in defeat, Maya still managed to carry her trademark pride of hers within every inch of her soul while still giving Claudine praise for defeating her. “We did it, we actually won.”
Claudine saw the amusement creeping into Maya’s gaze. “Congratulations Saijou-san, you have grown in truly extraordinary ways, I could not possibly have asked for a more fitting end for me. Know that you were the lynchpin for your movement succeeding in its goal." Maya hummed. "I suppose that Hoshimi Junna will be crowned Queen?” Claudine nodded at her question. “My father will be executed of course?” Claudine gave another nod. “I see.”
“If I might be so bold as to request a favor from you Saijou Claudine,” Maya said, closing her eyes and letting her head fall to the ground. “Would you please kill me, right here, right now?”
Claudine snapped to attention, glaring down at May in shock. “What? Why?”
“Hoshimi-san is not so unwise as to kill my father, and let his true-blooded heir run around the world, alive. It would be a foolish risk to take, to leave the Tendou a way to stage a rebellion against her rule in much the same way you did against our family.”
“You aren’t that kind of person though,” Claudine whispered. “I know you, you’re not that kind of person!”
Maya’s lips curled into a smile, eyes still shut. “No I am not,” She accepted. “But the people will not know that. Keeping me alive would split them into those who would fear me for any possible uprising I would cause, or would support me in a possible rebellion. Either way it would cause a schism in both the common people and nobility alike, not the kind of start Hoshimi-san would want for her rule.”
“I can convince Junna to keep you alive,” Claudine argued, “I can convince everyone that you’re not a threat to the peace. Everyone would understand.”
“It would not work, unless she knows of a spell that would let everyone in the kingdom forget my name, and even she is not that good a mage I would assume. I apologize Saijou-san, but I truly do not know of a way this ends other than with my death, either through your own hand or through public execution, and if I am being perfectly honest, I would rather that you do the deed yourself and spare me the shame of dying in front of other people.”
Claudine screamed, to the world, to the defeated warrior underneath her, to whatever cruel god was out there that forced her and Maya to meet across the battlefield, and slammed her shattered blade down. She grit her teeth, hands clenching the handle of her sword so hard that she felt her blisters crack open and bleed.
“You missed,” Maya pointed out, opening an eye to peek at Claudine. “I do hope you hit your mark next time, you look positively dead on your feet, and it would be terribly embarrassing for the both of us if you keel over now just when you’re about to finish the deed.”
Claudine left her blade on the ground where it was stabbed next to Maya’s head, and straightened her back as much as she could past the exhaustion, the pain and aches from her battle with Maya. She reached out and grabbed the splintered front of Maya’s armor, bringing her close to Claudine’s face.
“Why would you just give up like that?!” Claudine snapped, “You’re still strong enough to push me off of you, you can still get your sword, you can still hurry and make it before Nana kills your father!”
Maya’s lips twitched in amusement even as she raised her eyebrows at Claudine, “Do- do you want me to go and kill your friends?”
“Of course not!” Claudine snapped, “But you’re not the type to just keel over and die! You’re Tendou Maya, I’m expecting you to do something ! Pull out a goddess you’ve been keeping in your back pocket, summon a titan or a giant, transform into your secret form or whatever, I don’t know, but just do something !”
“It may not seem like it due to my dashing good looks and confident demeanor, but you did shatter my right leg in that final attack of yours and I am in quite terrible pain. I would not be able to stand up straight even if I wanted to, nevermind reaching Daiba-san.” Maya paused then shrugged apologetically. “Sorry to disappoint.”
“Why,” Claudine whispered, both arms suddenly going limp, bringing them both down. Claudine pressed her head against Maya’s chestpiece. “That day, two years ago. You could have killed me, should have killed me. Why? Why did you let me go?”
“A whim I suppose,” Maya hummed through bloody lips. “Perhaps I never guessed that you would be the one to hand me my first defeat. ”
“And after that?” Claudine demanded, “We’ve met thrice off the battlefield, and you knew what I was by then. I killed Yanagi Koharu, I killed Yukishiro Akira, it was your duty to kill me!”
“Duty,” Maya whispered, almost melodically. “Maybe sometimes I don’t want to be the perfect general. Maybe sometimes, I just want to be me. Maybe I just wanted to talk to you, get to know you as Maya, and not the daughter of the king, not as the general of the army.” Maya suddenly jerked as if she had an idea. “Saijou-san, if you’re not going to kill me right now, can I make another request then?”
“What is it now?”
“May you please put my head on your lap? This current arrangement of ours is not doing any good to my leg I’m afraid.”
“That's a weird request,” Claudine scoffed, before shakily getting off where she was basically sitting on Maya’s waist, biting a groan of pain before making her way to Maya’s head, and slowly, gently, placing Maya’s head on top of her lap.
“This is nice,” Maya commented with a grin.
“For you, this isn’t exactly heaven for me,” Claudine groaned, resisting the urge to massage her everywhere that flared up in pain with every minor movement. “Did you really have to hit me in my thighs? Lucky I had Yukishiro’s greaves on me, would have killed me outright if I didn’t have them.”
“You pull them off well, your legs clad in boots were almost tantalizing enough to distract me during our fight.”
Claudine stared at Maya. “Wait, Maya are you… are you into girls?” Claudine could not describe the relief and elation that the realization brought to her heart, immediately brought back down by the realization that Maya was in very critical condition brought about by her.
“Well, I’m into you . Did I not make that obvious?” Maya said in surprise. “I thought I made it obvious. I could have sworn you were flirting back when we first met.”
“That was flirting ?” Claudine blurted out. “You basically frogmarched me into watching a theater show and dinner with you, and you call that flirting!?”
Maya pouted. “I gave you an option to refuse.”
“You’re the strongest swordswoman to ever live and we were on opposite sides of a war, I don’t think refusing you was an option for anyone !”
“I did not think of that,” Maya admitted. “I just wanted to spend time with you.”
Claudine groaned, the image of the implacable warrior she was fighting just a few minutes ago being replaced by the memories confirming that Maya was an idiot. “You annoying woman.”
Maya smiled at Claudine, reaching up to caress her hair. “Do you have much regrets Saijou-san?”
“Why the sudden question?” Claudine said, loving how Maya’s fingers brushed against her skin, even through the dirt and grime and blood that covered them both..
“Just answer me please.”
Claudine hummed and began to think, thumbs idly running across Maya’s cheeks. “My mother I suppose. I loved her, I truly did, but I regret that I’ve never spent as much time with her as I did my father before they…they passed away.”
“I’m sorry,”
“What about you?” Claudine turned the question around before Maya got guilty because, as general of the army, she technically was responsible for the death of Claudine’s parents, and that was not something she wanted to think about any more than she needed to. “Any regrets, as the child of the king?”
“I wish I had more courage to stand up to him,” Maya admitted, “I recognize that it was my biggest failure to let things go this out of control, and that I should have done more to stop him“ Maya blew an errant strand of hair away from her eye. “I guess I regret being a coward most of all.”
“Don’t we all,” Claudine said softly, hesitantly arranging Maya’s hair as well as she could. “But you were just a child when he took power Maya, I don’t think anyone would blame you, could blame you for not standing up to him.”
“Claudine,” Maya said in her place on Claudine’s lap, seemingly ignoring Claudine's words to her, “If I had asked you to run away with me the last time we met, leave all of this behind and go west, throw away my father’s name and start a new life together, would you have said yes?”
Claudine bit her lip at the question. Would she have been able to walk away from her responsibilities? From Junna, from Nana, Hikari, Mahiru, Karen, Futaba, Kaoruko. Would she have been able to leave them behind? The last time Maya and Claudine had met was half a year ago, in the westmost port city of the country. That was right after Claudine had secured the Staff of the Sun, the last thing Junna needed to be able to have enough power to protect their army from the magecraft of the king.
Claudine met Maya’s eyes, staring back at her with undisguised hope and expectation, and she knew the answer. “Yes.” Claudine whispered, because that was the truth. Even in just their few meetings, Claudine and Maya had clicked in a way that she never felt with anyone, not even with her best friends Futaba and Karen. The pragmatic side of her, trained by Junna herself, told her that going with Maya would have been the smart choice, as it took her out of the battlefield, arguably the last true piece of resistance that the king had that was preventing them from moving further into the heart of the capital
But Claudine was never the type to lie to herself, and she knew that the reason she would have said yes was because her heart would have demanded she do so, her brain would have demanded she do so, and looking into Maya’s eyes, Claudine just knew she would never be able to say no to Maya. “Yes,” She said. “I would have said yes, a thousand times yes.”
“Shame that I didn’t have the courage then,” Maya whispered with a pained smile, “Saijou Maya sounds lovely.” Maya breathed in and closed her eyes. “I am growing a bit tired, Claudine, let me just rest my eyes for a few minutes, and we can let your friends decide on my future once they get here.”
“Of course,” Claudine said, choking out the words. She leaned down, pressing her lips on the top of Maya’s head, whispering words that her mother would always say to her whenever she was tucked asleep. “Je t'aime.” With Maya still on top of her lap, Claudine closed her eyes and let sleep take her.