Summary: When the Great One asked, Lady Celi von Spitzberg gave up her first love and her dreams for the future of her nation. Her decisions as Maoh failed to prevent a war. The choices she makes at the end of her reign will shape the future of the new Maoh's rule and the happiness of her youngest son.

Rating: T

AN: I consider Lady Celi one of the more underestimated characters in the Kyo Kara Maoh world. She spends most of her time in the anime and the manga I've read so far on a search for free love. But this is a woman who ruled a nation for 200 years or more if I've worked out the timeline right – corrections welcome! She served as Maoh over a country at war with the human nations. She is considered one of the three most powerful women in Shin Makoku. There has to be more to her. This story explores possible reasons for her choices and explores her unique relationship with The Great One.

I do not own Kyo Kara Maoh or its characters. This is written for fun, not for profit. Enjoy and please review. Thanks!

The Maoh's Last Command

Chapter 1: A Call to Duty

The sun had never been brighter, the sky more blue. This, Celi decided, was going to be the first of many happiest days of her life. Today, Lady Cecilie von Spitzberg was taking the reins of her life and asking Raven to marry her.

She turned her back to the full-length mirror and peered over her shoulder to make sure the skirts draped just right. It really wasn't one of her favorite dress, Celi preferred solids to prints, especially floral prints. It was just one of dozens she'd worn to the interminable balls and formals of her youth where first her parents, then her brother tried to interest her in the many men so interested in her.

But she'd been wearing it the first time Raven told her she was beautiful.

Raven, like everyone around her, was chronically aware of the strata of Shin Makoku society. She refused to listen to his gentle hints and Stoffel's blatant statements that Raven was too far below her station for anything more than casual friendship.

Well, too bad. Celi intended to follow her heart and if that meant being shunned by people she didn't respect in the first place, that was fine with her.

Now all she had to do was convince Raven to see things her way.

A staccato knock at her door was all the warning Celi had before her brother burst into her room, manic in his excitement, sounding like the little boy he hadn't been in decades when he shouted, "Celi, come quick!"

"Stoffel! What if I had been naked?"

"Sorry, sorry!" His hands fluttered like a bird trapped in a windowless room. "But this can't wait. There's someone here to see you!"

Her brother grabbed her hand and dragged her unceremoniously through the door, down the hall, and to the head of the staircase. Celi looked over the railing…

"Brother, what is…"

…down into the foyer…

"…going on?"

…and felt her world end.

Three priestess of the Temple of the Great One gazed back at her with solemn faces and bright eyes. One held a folded stack of black clothing draped across her arms.

Through the open doors behind them, Celi saw a gorgeous black stallion weighted down in full regalia, waiting in the courtyard.

For her.

"No!"

She tore free from Stoffel and fled back to her bedroom. Celi slammed the door, shot the bolt, and wrestled a heavy arm chair in front of it. Within seconds, the door knob wiggled then Stoffel began pounding on the heavy wood.

"Celi, open this door at once!" His voice cracked with his effort to sound commanding and reverent at the same time. "There's no need to be upset. This is a singular honor."

"Go away!" she shrieked back. "And tell them to go away too!"

"I know this must be a shock to you sister, but don't you think you're overreacting?"

Celi paced back and forth, clutching at her hair, heedless of the hours she and her maids had spent getting it just right.

They wanted her to be the Maoh. Her? Silly Celi? Not even 120 yet and they expected her to lead a nation? It wasn't happening. It had taken her years to get Raven to the point of saying yes to the proposal of a Lady of a noble house. He'd drop in his tracks if she proposed as the Maoh.

"You don't know anything! Tell them to find someone else. I refuse. It's a horrible mistake!"

Another voice came through the door, this one soft, sympathetic. One of the priestesses come to take her away. "Please, Lady Celi. I understand how hard you are finding this to believe. Few people expect to be called by the Great One to rule." Just the right touch of humor flavored her next comment. "Those who believe so eliminate themselves from the start. But I promise you, it is not a mistake. The Great One sees farther and deeper than any of us can. You are called because the future of Shin Makoku requires you."

"Go away!" Celi screamed. "Or so help me I will burn this house down around us! Get out!"

Stoffel's outraged argument cut off, and after a few seconds of whispering, she heard his heavy tread as he stomped away. The priestess spoke again.

"This cannot be easy for you. We will give you time to adjust. Come down when you are ready."

"I won't be," she called through the door. "You're wasting your time. I'm not the Maoh. I won't be the Maoh! You might as well be on your way so you can find the Mazoku you're really looking for."

When no one responded and she knew she was alone, Celi slumped to huddle in her barricade chair. "I won't," she whispered to herself but with none of the ferocity or confidence of moments ago. She buried her face in her hands and wept.

Time passed, tears dried up, and Celi became aware that she wasn't alone in her room any more. She raised her head to find herself almost nose to nose with Shinou, First Maoh of the Demon Kingdom and Bane of the Originators. He looked almost exactly like his portraits down to the ermine trimmed cloak, except his eyes seemed…wiser, and he was translucent. And he was grinning at her.

"Hello!"

She squeaked.

Chuckling, he floated out of her personal space. An odd little squeak sound came out of her.

"I've gone mad, haven't I?"

The grin gentled into a smile, "No, you haven't. I'm real." He shrugged, "Well, as real as a spirit can be."

Celi stretched out a finger to touch his hand. It passed through nothing. She snatched it back.

"How can you be here? Aren't you bound to your temple?"

"Normally, that is true. But the priestesses carry one of my artifacts. I can use it to move about in the world wherever it lies. And even with that, only my chosen Maoh can see me outside my temple."

She refused to see that that implied. "I don't care. Find somebody else. There must be hundreds of Mazoku more qualified and more willing than me. I already have a life."

"So did every other Maoh I have called through the centuries. All have cried how unworthy they were; each one touted the better qualifications of someone else. It changed nothing.

Celi folded her arms across her chest and turned away. "I remember my history. Some of your chosen proved disastrous for Shin Makoku."

"True," Shinou agreed. "But each was necessary to bring us to this point, to this day. I've waited a long time for you, Lady Cecilie von Spitzberg."

At her formal title, Celi suddenly became aware of her tattered state. She smoothed her hair with trembling fingers, pulled the handkerchief tucked into the cuff of her left sleeve, and wiped her face. Ignoring her ghostly audience, she sought out her reflection in the long mirror across the room.

All the while, Shinou watched her with a sly expression. He recognized her stalling tactic and was prepared to wait her out. And being a ghost, he had a lot of staying power. Fine then.

"But why me? I don't see how my being the next Maoh is going to make any difference to our nation's future. Honestly, I'm the worst possible choi…."

The Great One drifted closer and interrupted her tirade with a question. "Do you want to?"

"Do I want to what?"

"Do you want to see the future of Shin Makoku if you refuse?"

That brought a scowl to Celi's brow. The Great One stared back, his face so serious that fear settled over her heart and a part of her knew. This was the point of no return. If she said no and let another become Maoh, her life went on as she'd planned, but with consequences she might not want to live with. If she said yes, she would accept and become the 26th Maoh. He would never have offered if it hurt his cause.

"Did you make the same offer to the other Maohs?"

"Every one."

"Did any say yes?"

"Every one."

Celi slumped, defeated. "Then I will be the first to say no. I don't think I can bear to see what convinced twenty-four strong-willed and powerful demon men and women to follow your dream instead of their own."

Shinou reached out toward her face, and though she didn't feel his finger touch her cheek, it came away with her tears glistening on the tip.

"Thank you, Celi. I understand how much I'm asking of you, what you are giving up. Let me give you a gift."

The Great One cupped his palms. From them rose a ball of pale light, very like a soap bubble. In its iridescent depths she saw herself, older in a scandalous black dress, with two other women, one a redhead, the other white haired but still young. They sprawled on a huge bed, giggling like little girls. Celi smiled, knowing in that moment that she and these women were destined to be together, a triad of friendship the like of which Shin Makoku had never seen and would never see again. The vision shifted to a flower filled garden where the eldest of three boys, gray haired and studious in an army cadet's uniform, sat under a tree reading from a text book and taking notes while keeping an eye on the pretend swordplay of two younger boys. The brown haired child paused to show the littlest one how to hold his wooden sword properly. While only the toddler looked like her, Celi's soul cried out that these were her sons.

The light bubble faded into dust mites, leaving her with a strange sense of yearning anticipation.

"A terrible time is coming, Celi Heika." Shinou spoke softly but it didn't stop her wince at the first use of the honorific. "Those children and one other are this world's best hope to survive it. There will be days when you curse the sunrise for the day it brings. But I promise you there will be joy as well."

"What about love?"

Her god shrugged. "Perhaps. That will be your choice."

"Oh, now you give me a choice."Her laughter sounded too much like sobbing so she stopped. "Only I can't choose the one I want."

"Not if those three are to be born. I can tell you this much. You will still be young when your successor's time comes. You will be free to wed as you choose. And," Shinou turned to the door just as a soft knocking began, "I believe he will be waiting."

Celi closed her eyes briefly heartily wishing people would leave her alone. "Who is it?"

Raven's voice called through the door. "It's me. Celi please let me in. Everyone's worried about you."

When she opened her eyes, Shinou was gone. Well, why not? He'd gotten what he came for.

Celi wiped her eyes again, blue her nose, and tossed the handkerchief into the basket for the laundry beside her dressing table. She tried to keep her room tidy. A room that wasn't going to be hers for much longer. The thought unleashed another flood of tears.

"Celi?"

Raven sounded frantic. Just how long had she been standing there being miserable without answering him?

"Just a moment." Celi wrestled the big chair out of the way – it seemed much heavier without the added strength her earlier panic had given her – unlocked the door and let him in, shutting it in defiance when her brother tried to sneak in with him.

But not before she saw the very real concern on his face.

She leaned her back against the dark wood, her hands clenched in front of her. Raven backed into her room, hands behind his back, everything about him screaming nervousness. Celi stared at her whitening knuckles. She didn't dare face him and what she had to say, not yet.

"You're hair's a mess," he told her, just to break the silence between them.

"It's been that kind of day. Did they tell you?"

"Yes. I think you will make a fine Maoh."

That surprised a real laugh out of her. "And I think you are a majority of one of that opinion."

Raven shook his head in slow denial. "I have known you a long time, Celi, and you have never failed to accomplish anything you set your mind to."

Celi felt stunned by and grateful for his faith in her all at the same time. "Thank you, Raven."

Their gazes locked when she lifted her head. What she saw in his eyes triggered too many emotions to properly express. Instead, she asked, "What are you hiding behind your back?"

Reluctantly, he pulled the bundle out in front of him. "The priestess asked me to give this to you."

Celi took the black clothing from him. "Will you wait? I'm going to need help with my hair."

"Of course, My Lady."

Impulse drove Celi to throw her arms around Raven's neck and hug him tight until he gently pulled away. It was worth the stern warning in his eyes. That hug was going to have to last her a very long time.

AN: Thanks for reading! When I first conceived of this story, it was going to be a one-shot comprised of a series of flashbacks to set up my next chaptered story. But it kept growing and it's been so much fun to let it. So far things are going really fast so I'm planning on posting a chapter a week. Now if only I can type as fast as I can write! ;-) Please review and let me know what you think.