SHUKUFUKU NO CAMPANELLA: LOVE IN ERT'ARIA
Chapter 1: Leicester's Confession
It's the day after Leicester Maycraft and his band of adventurers known as Oasis stopped a major anomaly of El energy from destroying the world by having fixed the Hooded Waterwheel. Everyone has gone back to their normal activities in the busy trade city of Ert'Aria. Agnes Boulange is entertaining people with her automata puppets, Chelsea Arcot is at the cathedral with the other Sacred Knights as well as Fabious and Fiore Verritti, Nick La'Juck is in the market with Garnet and with the Tortilla sisters nearby, Minette and Miriam are spending some time together on a bench in town, and Aberdeen and Avril have gone back with Mizeh Altworth. Leicester is currently working on something involving crystite. Carina Verritti left a few minutes ago to perform her usual duties as Lady Carina, but Leicester currently has her on his mind.
Leicester is working on his project when Nina Lindberg, Oasis' maid, comes into the room. She apparently has to talk to Leicester about dinner.
Nina: Leicester, I’m about to cook dinner. Can you put that down for a second?
Leicester: (Looking at his work) Sorry, Nina. I’m a bit busy right now. I guess I've been since we got back.
Nina: Well, where is everyone right now?
Leicester: (Looking at Nina) They're all busy at the moment. Chelsea's at the cathedral, Agnes is entertaining guests, Nick went to the market, Minette's with Miriam, and Carina…
Upon saying Carina's name, Leicester mind trails off to thinking about his childhood friend. In his mind, he sees Carina giggling while looking lovingly.
Leicester: Carina…
Leicester is too imbued in thoughts about the Jewel of Ert'Aria to finish his maid's question. In fact, he's no longer looking in the direction of Nina.
Nina: Leicester?
Realizing that he's trailed off thinking about Carina so strongly, Leicester finishes his statement.
Leicester: Carina's off performing her duties.
Nina: Leicester, is everything all right? You trailed off there for a moment.
Leicester: Sorry, Nina. I was thinking about Carina.
Nina: What about her?
Leicester has gone back to thinking about Carina once again. In his mind, he sees her smiling towards him with her eyes closed.
Leicester: Well… I was…
Leicester can't get the image of Carina out of his head. It's as if his mind is stuck on the sweet girl who has always had a crush on him.
Nina: Are you having feelings for her?
Leicester is snapped back to reality upon realizing that he's trailed off again thinking about Carina, and apparently his maid suspects something's up with him.
Leicester: It's nothing.
Nina: Are you sure. You've thought about her quite a bit since you got back.
Leicester: It's nothing. Really.
Nina: Okay then. I’m going to go start dinner.
Nina leaves the room, once again leaving Leicester alone. Ever since he and his friends have got back to Ert'Aria, he's been thinking about Carina a lot. Earlier, when she was watching him work on his project, most of the time he was sidetracked looking at her instead of working. He could tell Carina was blushing while he looked at her.
Leicester starts to think about something he has once heard can happen sometimes.
"Even old friends can fall in love."
Apparently, this may be starting to become true for him. Leicester and Carina first met when they were children. Back then, Carina was a sick girl, rarely going outside and places. One day, Leicester made for Carina her magic staff, Montecchia. He remembers her saying that she will always treasure it.
Carina (Flashback): I promise to always take care of Montecchia. I'll never let it out of my sight.
Leicester now thinks about when he had decided to try and give Montecchia the ability to talk, and that it required El to be bonded with strong emotional bonds. Both himself and Carina worked throughout the night to achieve this, and in the end, they had succeeded.
Thinking about more of the times he had spent with her, Leicester starts to realize that he could be in love with Carina, and that he may had been in love with her for a while, but couldn't bring himself to admit it, despite the affection Ert'Aria's lady had given him over the years. However, with events such as Minette's discovery, incidents involving Agnes and Chelsea, a position that he had ended up with Carina at one point, Aberdeen and Avril, and the Hooded Waterwheel, Leicester had been quite busy. Now all of this has passed and everyone has returned to their normal lives, but Leicester feels incomplete now.
Leicester: (Thinking) Carina. Could it be that I… love her? Have I always?
Leicester can't hold the feelings he has for his old friend any longer. He now wants the two of them to be more than just friends. He knows he must tell her.
Leicester: (Thinking) I can't wait any longer. I need to tell her how I feel. She should be done with her duties at this point. I can meet her on the way back here.
Knowing that he has to tell Carina how he feels, Leicester puts down what he's working on and decides to head out and meet Carina. Along the way, he passes Nina, who asks the Oasis leader where he's going.
Nina: Leicester, what's up?
Leicester stops briefly inches from the door and turns back to Nina.
Leicester: There's something I need to do! I’ll be back.
Having answered his maid's question, Leicester starts heading down Ert'Aria's streets with the intention of confessing his feelings to Carina. It's now sunset and he knows that Carina is taking the same path back to the Oasis house.
At the fountains in Ert'Aria's square, Carina is heading back, knowing that dinner for herself and the rest of Oasis will be ready soon. However, she's stopped by Leicester, and upon seeing him, she wonders what he has to tell her.
Carina: Leicester, what is it?
Leicester: Carina, I'm glad I found you. There's something I need to tell you.
Carina: What's going on?
Leicester: Carina, I've known you since we were young, and I’ve known that we've shared a bond with one another. I'm sorry that it took me so long to realize it, but Carina…
Shocked that her longtime crush is telling her something she's wanted to hear for a long while, Carina starts to blush slightly, having a strong feeling of what he's about to say. However, she can tell that Leicester is a bit nervous about what he's trying to say.
Leicester: Carina… I…
Carina: (Blushing a bit more) Leicester, are you…
Leicester: I… I…
Realizing that what he's trying to tell Lady Carina cannot be described in words, Leicester decides to tell her in a much easier way.
Suddenly, Leicester kisses Carina on the lips. Shocked that her childhood friend has all of a sudden decided to kiss her, Carina is unable to react until the kiss is done. As Leicester pulls back his lips, Carina starts to blush deeply.
Carina: Leicester? Does this mean you…
Leicester: Yes, Carina. I love you. I guess I may have always loved you, but I was afraid to…
Carina cuts Leicester off by returning his kiss to her by giving him one while grabbing the middle of his arms. At this point it's official. Leicester has returned her feelings for him. As she breaks the kiss, they both realize that they're no longer friends. They are more than friends.
Now that their feelings for each other are the same, Leicester Maycraft and Carina Verritti embrace and share a long, deep kiss in front of Ert'Aria's central fountain. As the sun continues to set over the sky, they know that they have something new to look forward to.
Author Notes
As you already know, almost three weeks ago, I started watching Shukufuku no Campanella. As it turns out, I've become fond of the pairing of Leicester Maycraft and Carina Verritti. However, something that I've noticed is that there is a MAJOR lack of Shukufuku no Campanella fanfics on the internet (I couldn't find ANY of fanfiction.net, and even tried Google, with no results). As a result, I decided to go and put down an idea I have for such a fic.
For any of you that has watched the anime all the way through, this story starts at the very end of the series (with a small recap of what everyone had been doing during the final episode end credits), but goes on to have Leicester realize he has feelings for Carina and decides to confess them to her. They then go on to have a relationship with one another. This is only Chapter 1 as I'll try to continue the story.
Since I don't know if any of you here know about Shukufuku no Campanella, it's a visual novel that was later adapted into an anime. Basically, here's some stuff to help you understand the series better: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shukufuku_no_Campanella), Pics (http://www.zerochan.net/Shukufuku+No+Campanella?q=Shukufuku+No+Campanella), Anime (http://www.youtube.com/show/blessingofthecampanella)
Shukufuku no Campanella, Leicester Maycraft, Carina Verritti, and all characters are copyright to Windmill. Neither the visual novel and anime or its characters are mine in any way.