Title: (un)divided loyalties.
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: Pg
Length: 2500 words
Content notes: n/a
Author notes: Lantis, at the end of the manga, and the relationships which have been strained on his way there. Lantis/Eagle(/Hikaru), far too much Clef, Eagle's unconcious the whole time. This was meant to be about Lantis and Geo and Eagle, but I am utterly incapable of keeping Clef out of anything. It's a problem!
Another thing set before the start of the Clef/Umi epic which I still haven't finished... and I still can't title anything, so I'm going to distract people with the inanity of my brackets! UH.
Also for cottoncandy_bingo, 'making up'.
Summary: "For a moment, he was just so glad to see them returned to him that nothing else sank in, but after a moment he knew something was still wrong – no matter the smile on Hikaru’s face."

oOo

For a moment, he was just so glad to see them returned to him that nothing else sank in, but after a moment he knew something was still wrong – no matter the smile on Hikaru’s face.

Eagle was too light, in Lantis’s arms. Not as light as Hikaru, who seemed barely touched by gravity right now, the radiance of all Cephiro gleaming about her in the aftermath of her re-ordering of the entire world, but lighter than he should be, had been. But the most frightening thing was how still Eagle lay. It was wrong – Eagle was never still. Even in sleep, smiles and frowns would flicker across his face too fast for a watcher to follow, his fingers twitching as he grasped dream-items. But he rested against Lantis’s chest without moving at all.

His face was deathly pale against the stark black of Lantis’s armour, and his cheeks were visibly hollow now he wasn’t disguising them with a smile.

Somewhere close by the NSX was waiting, and Lantis knew beyond doubt that Geo had already abandoned the ship. Zazu too, probably. Had they known? That Eagle was doing this to himself? Because this…

Lantis’s fingers ran over the sharp line of Eagle’s jaw. Even the test and the passage back could not have drained Eagle so thoroughly that not even a hint of his will was apparent. Lantis had lived in Autozam long enough to know what fatigue syndrome looked like.

“Eagle’s going to be okay, Lantis.” Hikaru said, standing up as he sank to the ground, cradling Eagle close. Lantis let her tip his head up so their eyes met, and the strength of will in her words and her smile was the exact match to what should have been in Eagle’s, and wasn’t. He didn’t have the words to ask for an explanation, to ask how she could be so certain, but Hikaru must have seen the questions somehow. She flung her arms about his neck, and held onto him for a long moment. “He will be alright! We’ll help him, you’ll see.” She promised, and though Lantis knew there was no cure for the fatigue syndrome, he still found himself beginning to believe her.

Then Hikaru was stepping back, and turning as her friends called to her, and Lantis didn’t call her back - and when she moved, the Guru was there behind her, practically glowing with the same joy in this moment which Lantis could feel emanating from the ground beneath them, from the people spilling from the Castle onto the rejuvenated garth. This was a whole new knot of worry, because this was another old friend who he had betrayed – who he had left to face the consequences when he saw what was growing between his brother and Princess Emeraude, who he had not confided in since his return. Mokona had announced Lantis’s intentions to everyone who was listening – his plan to betray his land. How could that be forgiven?

Clef paused before him, and his expression was… uncertain. His circlet vanished, Cephiro singing almost audibly though him as she did through Lantis, you could barely tell he had been pushing himself to the edge of collapse – not like Eagle, so very very still, and the moment of anger Lantis felt at that thought had him dropping his head, ashamed.

But Clef dropped to his knees in front of them, reaching out. “May I?” He asked, and he was gesturing to Eagle, no censure in his face at Lantis clutching the man who had been the enemy such a short time ago.

“…Yes.” Lantis nodded, once. “Please do.”

Clef lay one hand on Eagle’s forehead, the other reaching for the pulse point in his wrist, and his eyes shut. It was… unsettling, to see his teacher in full robes, but without the circlet. (An inane thought. Perhaps he was going to have nothing else until he knew what would happen to Eagle, what Hikaru had meant. Until he had processed at least part of everything which had just happened.)

“Did you see the signs of this before?” Clef asked, softly. “The fatigue? I know it has grown more common, on Autozam. I did not think things had grown so bad they would send someone suffering with it to invade.”

“No. I didn’t see. But…” Lantis looked down at Eagle, choosing his words with care. “He could have been hiding it from all of us. He would not have wished to distress his… friends, and his will is strong enough to conceal most of the symptoms. This invasion… he came for his own reasons. Eagle never does anything else.”

“I see why he was a final candidate, then.” Clef said, softly. “And why he’s your friend.”

Lantis hadn’t told him that. He supposed it was obvious. “Hikaru said-“ Lantis stopped.

Clef opened his eyes, and looked up at him, with a small fond smile Lantis remembered from countless training sessions, one he’d not thought he would see again. “He’s going to heal. He will be well again, Lantis. I’m not certain how Hikaru and the Knights have done it, but this new Cephiro – she’s giving energy to everyone contained within her, even as she is created by them. Hikaru’s wish for everyone to be happy, for Eagle to be well – Cephiro is restoring everyone, not only herself.”

Lantis closed his eyes, and let go one long breath as that reassurance sank into him.

“Do you think he would consent to being connected more formally to Cephiro, for a while?”

Lantis blinked. “…You would make him a mage?”

“No, at least – I don’t propose to give him that strong a connection, just something to make the transfer of energy a shade more efficient. His healing will take a very long time, either way, but I believe it can be reduced – a master healer would have to confirm my suspicions, of course. I’m no expert in such things!”

And that was the look Clef had worn when promising that his brother and he would both become more powerful than Clef, one day, but there was no rush to get there – usually while patching up some graze Lantis had earned attempting to keep up with his brother. Lantis supposed that that had happened, now. But with Cephiro reformed, and Eagle healing, he suspected the situation was once more reversed.

“I… do not believe he would mind. But Geo will know. He will be Eagle’s proxy, both for the ship and in private matters. Geo is Eagle’s closest friend, as well as his second in command.”

“He’s the one coming down from the ship?”

Lantis nodded, and looked down again, away from the curiosity Clef wasn’t hiding. “Geo Metro. He may also bring Zazu Torque – the NSX’s chief mechanic, and their friend. But perhaps not. Zazu is still young, I doubt he will have known Eagle was this ill.”

Clef hummed quietly, acknowledgement of the words while he worked, and Lantis could feel something wrapping about Eagle – not a spell, precisely, but… an awareness of Eagle, to pull Cephiro’s attention closer to him. Clef was, after all, the Guru; after the Pillar, he was closest to the land, in the same way as the Soru held the closest bond with the people. Now they had no Soru, and no Pillar – or hundreds of minor Pillars. Perhaps Lantis could learn to do this, pull Cephiro’s attention about Eagle and his need for support, reminding her of the need for gentleness instead of the great waves of power currently screaming through the broken land and dragging it back to life.

A screaming matched by the whine of the GTO’s engines as Geo brought her down, as close to Eagle as he could get without landing on anyone. Lantis looked up at that, but LaFarga was already there, calming people down and getting them out of the way of the figure charging across the grass, calling Eagle’s name.

Geo had brought Zazu.

While Geo was stuck in the cockpit to oversee the final moments of the GTO’s shutdown, Zazu had already flung himself out, and now he tumbled down beside Clef. “Lantis! Is Eagle hurt? Is he-“ Zazu choked, and his hands hovered uncertainly over Eagle’s arm. “Is he-“ He gasped again, turning terrified eyes on Lantis. “What happened? He came back, that girl brought him back, I thought he was going to be alright but his readings-!”

“Your Commander has exhausted himself for the moment , with the trial and the passage back. But do not worry.” Clef answered for Lantis, not looking up and not turning, but pitching his voice loud enough for Geo to hear as well as he approached at speed. “With Cephiro’s help, he will be able to heal. It will take time, but-“

“Who’re you? What’re you doing to him?” Zazu demanded.

“Zazu, Geo.” Lantis said, as Clef finished off his not-spell and turned to face the two men. This is Guru Clef, Cephiro’s foremost mage.”

“Oh! You’re the one who taught Lantis?” Zazu said, blinking as he took that in – then he relaxed and turned back to fussing over Eagle, apparently satisfied he could trust what Clef said. Geo nodded more warily, and Lantis was very aware of how awkward this could become – Geo was, after all, now the head of the invading force, and this might look like they were holding Eagle hostage against them.

But… “You can heal the fatigue syndrome?” Geo asked, and it was Lantis he was looking to, with hope and suspicion all wrapped together.

“Now, yes, it seems we can. Before… I did not think so. Perhaps we could have.” Lantis looked down at Eagle, tried not to wonder what would have happened if he’d told them that Cephiro had a cure. Whether that would have stopped the invasion, or caused it. “I would have mentioned it.” It would have been worth the risk.

Zazu was staring wide-eyed between the both of them. “Eagle has-“ he said, voice shaking not so much from shock, but from how much sense it made, if Lantis knew him.

Geo ignored him, for the moment, looking at Clef, at Lantis again. “What do you want in return.”

Clef pushed himself to his feet. He looked tiny, beside Geo. “Will you promise that your ship and its forces will not invade Cephiro again, for as long as you are in charge of them?”

“…That’s all?” Geo demanded, incredulous. Clef smiled up at him, and Lantis hadn’t seen him smile so much in… so many years. Possibly ever. It was verging on unsettling.

“That seems enough to me. Then we will be on equal grounds, will we not? If we are at peace, perhaps we can attempt to help each other solve our problems – but Cephiro will not demand such things in payment for Eagle’s treatment.” Geo hesitated. “I can promise you, there is no one currently able to overrule my vows, unfortunately.” Clef said, a laugh hidden in his voice. Which – yes. That could prove interesting. Without a single Pillar…

“Thank you.” Geo clasped Clef’s hand in both of his, until it vanished entirely. “Thank you, Guru Clef-“

“It is Hikaru you should be thanking. She rewrote Cephiro to make this possible. For now – Lantis, would you settle Eagle inside the Castle? I will find you once things are more settled.” His glance about had Lantis looking up and actually taking in the joyful, chaotic spill of people about them – spirits and fae and beasts, as well as humans, able to leave the castle for the first time in so many months… Lantis did not envy Clef and the Guards the task of organising them. “Will that be alright?” That to Geo, who nodded. “Then, Lantis, if you would…”

“Yes, Guru.” Lantis shifted, gathering Eagle tighter in preparation for standing. Then there was a hand on his shoulder, and he froze as Clef looked down at him, then leaned forwards to press a kiss to the top of his head.

“…Guru Clef?”

“I hope these changes will let you be happy now.” Clef said, softly. “I was glad you came home to us, but I could not be glad for the reason, or my part in it. Will you forgive me?”

“There is nothing to forgive. You did what had to be done. What I should have done. If the Princess could not see another path… I am the one who must ask for forgiveness.”

“You have never needed to ask that from me.”

Lantis didn’t know what to say, staring up at his teacher – apparently still his friend – and it was, perhaps, a good thing that the Water Knight chose that moment to dash across to them and half knock Clef over as she tackled him into a hug.

“Clef! Isn’t it wonderful!” Umi declared, spinning them, and Lantis could just about make out Clef’s resigned, somewhat amused expression as he let himself be dragged away.

“Wonderful or not, if you do not stop spinning me about I am going to make you-“

Which left Lantis with Geo and Zazu, Eagle unconscious across his lap.

“Shall I take him, so you can get up?” Geo asked, quietly, and Lantis made himself let go as Eagle was lifted from him. He wasn’t expecting, when he stood, for Geo to offer him back. Which seemed entirely too literal to be taken symbolically, but Geo looked like he meant something by it. “I trust you.” Geo said, into the awkward pause as Lantis stared at him. “And I know Eagle has always trusted you. It hurt him, to act against you, but for Autozam’s sake…”

“I’m the one who left.”

“Yeah, but you went home. We followed and tried to take it over.”

“You were following Eagle. And Eagle had reason.” Lantis looked down again, at the head resting against the hard curve of his shoulderguard. “I always understood that.”

“You don’t hate us, do you, Lantis?” Zazu asked, quietly. Lantis shook his head, and was glad when Geo leant down, the awkwardness melting away for the moment as he ruffled Zazu’s hair.

“He might do if we make him stand about holding Eagle up for hours! We’re going to the Castle, right? How do we get in?”

“Oh, I know that!” Zazu said, brightening and bouncing in front of them, while Geo walked at Lantis’s side. “I was watching all the people come out as we came down in the GTO – say, Lantis, where did those other mecha go?”

“…The Mashin?”

“Yeah, them! Could I see them? Up close? Are they really living creatures?”

As they stepped through the doors of the Castle, Hikaru’s reborn Cephiro bright about them and Zazu babbling away, the promise of Eagle’s recovery still warm in Lantis’s thoughts – things felt right, as they hadn’t for a very, very long time. He needed to talk to Eagle, but… he trusted that they would be able to make things right. This was Eagle. For now, he caught Geo rolling his eyes at Zazu’s fascination with everything they passed, and Lantis smiled, holding Eagle close.

oOo

end

oOo