Well, fancy seeing you here! This…was meant to be a oneshot. I promise, it was! I really tried! But then, it turned into an eight-shot. *Sigh* Now, I shall explain. This takes place in an AU where Deryn never went on the Leviathan and Alek, Volger, and the rest of his men ended up in Glasgow. Got it? So, off we go!

WARNING:

This story contains OCs. Many, many, many OCs. Following that logic, if you hate OCs, you probably shall not like this story.

DIIIIIIIIISCLAAAAAIIIIIMER!

I don't own Leviathan. But for once, I do own something. But those are only my OCs.

"Honestly, I don't understand why she can't just let me barking be!" Deryn ranted, trying not to trip on the curb. "If I wanna wear trousers, I should—Oh. Oh, blisters."

Finn, Deryn's best friend, stopped walking and finally began paying attention to her. "Hmm?"

Deryn tried to tear her eyes away. "It's…it's nothing."

He raised a hand and flicked her hard in the side of her head. "Oi!"

That was enough to break Deryn from her daze. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You weren't paying attention."

"Oh like you should…you should…" He was closer now. She could see the darker flecks of green in his eyes.

Finn followed her gaze. "Now, who in blazes is that?"

"I have no idea," Deryn sighed dreamily, then caught herself and said in a much less girly voice, "Must have just got—"

Finn was staring at her with a very curious expression. One of his eyebrows was quirked upward and he was thoughtfully stroking his chin. "How fascinating."

"Um…huh?"

"It appears that you've finally found a boy that you fancy! Congrats, Der!" He announced, clapping her on the back.

Deryn felt her cheeks heat up a little in embarrassment. "Shove off, Finn. I do not."

Finn was grinning now! "And she blushes! Only more confirmation that you loooooooo—"

Deryn smacked him in the arm hard enough to leave a good sized bruise. "Shush! He can hear you!"

"Oh, fine," Finn huffed, rubbing at his arm. However, soon the mischievous glint reappeared in his eyes. He began whistling not-so-nonchalantly, and when the mystery boy was only a few feet away, he gave her a good solid shove in the boy's direction.

Maybe, if she hadn't had all those barking skirts, Deryn would have been able to regain her balance. But instead, she tumbled over, effectively bowling the boy over. She found herself next, laying on top of the boy, face turning scarlet. "Blisters! I—I'm so sorry!"

The boy was looking quite a bit flustered himself. "It's quite alright, miss."

Deryn tried to roll off of him, ignoring Finn's barely suppressed laughter. The boy popped back up as soon as he could and offered Deryn a polite hand. Deryn grabbed onto it, pulling herself to her feet. "Thank you…Ah, who are you?"

He bowed stiffly and hurriedly. "Alek."

Deryn gave him a little curtsy. "Deryn Sharp." She hesitated. "Sorry, I…I tripped."

Finn grinned and shoved in between them, holding out a hand. "Finn McClaud."

"You mean Finley Sclymgeour McClaud," Deryn corrected with a smirk.

"Aye, that," he said, shooting her a glare.

Alek's dark green eyes flicked about nervously. "Ah, I see."

"Wait," Finn said. "Is that a clanker accent you've got?'

Now that he mentioned it, the boy's voice was a wee bit odd. "N—no," the boy sputtered. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

A mustachioed man swooped down on Alek, furiously whispering something into his ear. He nodded to them. "I apologize, but I must go. It was nice meeting you."

The man looked disapprovingly down his nose at them, then whisked Deryn's dream-boy away by his ear.

Finn laughed at her shocked expression while she huffed and stormed off.

"Now, what did I tell you about socializing with commoners?"

"They talked to me!"

"Ah yes, as I could see. On that topic, how dare you defile a young woman like that? I thought your upbringing would teach you better than to act on your ridiculous biological urges!"

"Of course I know better!" Alek cried, cheeks turning pink. "I didn't defile anything! If anything, she defiled me!"

"I can't leave you to your own devices for even a moment," Count Volger grumbled.

Alek crossed his arms in frustration and dropped down onto the couch. "Why are we even in Glasgow in the first place?"

Volger gestured to their surroundings. "We are in the heart of Darwinist land, Alek. No one will think us senseless enough to come here, and thus no one will think to look here. We are outsmarting them by being idiots."

Despite his annoyance at the man, Alek had to admit, it was a good plan. "It's flawless!"

"Unfortunately," Volger sighed. "No plan can be truly flawless."

When Alek was finally allowed out of the rented room, he was probably just as worried as Volger was. What if someone saw him and recognized him? Alek cautiously fingered the knife at his hip. It was really a quite simple task. Go to the market and buy some potatoes. It seemed easy enough, but the difficulties soon made themselves known.

"Hello," the girl said in a soft voice, batting her long eyelashes. "My name's Classandra Williams, but you can just call me Classandra. I haven't seen you around here. What's your name?"

Alek swallowed nervously. "Alek. It has been wonderful to meet you, but—"

She wasn't listening. "Girls! Come over and meet him!"

A crowd of young women gathered around him. "His name is Alek." Classandra said, running a finger down his cheek.

"Ah, hello," Alek said, blushing furiously as her finger trailed down to the collar of his shirt.

The girls around him repeatedly whispered his name, "ooh"ing and "ah"ing. Alek was very overwhelmed. Although the girls were all beautiful, (especially Classandra) the cloying smell of their perfumes was choking him, and he was almost sure that he felt a few hands under his shirt. Finally, he saw his chance of escape.

Deryn, the girl from yesterday, was walking into the marketplace, a tall boy who looked quite a bit like Deryn herself at her side. The both of them were remarkably oblivious to Alek's distress. Once Deryn was in earshot, Alek said to the girls…

"I apologize, but my…girlfriend is here. I must go."

Deryn's heart plummeted down to her toes. So this boy was already taken. Not that she cared about his love life, of course!

She heard various sighs of disappointment from the throng of girls around him, and yet again, Deryn felt a flicker of jealousy. What she would have done to join those girls, fawning over Alek…to be so close to him…to have his big, strong arms around her…

Deryn pretended not to watch as Alek worked his way out of the crowd. "Deryn!"

Her heart unceremoniously stopped beating. He was…he was…what? With an audible "whump," the girls turned to glare at her furiously. She could feel Jaspert staring at her too. Alek walked towards her, a tiny smile on his lips, his eyes begging at her to stay quiet.

Unable to speak, she just grabbed hard onto his wrist and marched him away from all of the prying eyes. Once they were in an abandoned alley, a good ten minutes away from the market, Deryn found her voice. "Alek, what in blazes are you talking about?"

Alek winced and gently pulled his wrist from her. "Oh, yes. Sorry about that. But thank you. You really saved me from quite a bit of trouble there."

"What do you mean?"

"I…those girls…they were asking too many questions. I couldn't have them find out who I am."

Deryn raised an eyebrow. "Are you some kind of criminal?"

"No! I just—I'm not exactly who I say I am."

"And I'm not going to get arrested for talking to you?"

"Not unless they find out who I am," he said with a shrug.

Deryn sighed and grabbed onto his wrist again. "Alright, let's go."

"Where are you taking me?"

Deryn began pulling him out of the alley. "Well, you did tell those girls that we were a couple. Probably best that we've at least gone on our first date."

AND SO BEGINS THE ADVENTURE! I hope you don't hate my OCs all too much. I myself am quite fond of Finn. So, reviews. Just so you know, I love them. They're like comfort food to me. I read them over, and over, and over again, and they make me happy whenever I'm sad, or in a bad mood. And so, even if you hated this story or want me to die in a miserable and painful way, just say SOMETHING, aye? Please? Thanks a ton for reading this, if you did. PEACE OUT!

Note from ChickWithThePurpleGuitar: Most of you guys know me, but yo to the newbies. I'm Bram's BFF and updater, so if she doesn't update for a long time, blame me, not her, cause she's finished this fic. The only reason she wouldn't update would be because I was lazy. So, yeah. Just thought I'd put that out there. Adios. Review for Bram's sake. Finn is my 34th fictional boyfriend. Peace out.