Fire. Smoke.
Everywhere.
He could feel the inferno licking his body, singing his hair and feeding the heat blisters. The desperate cries of his dying family echoed in his ears as they burned alive. The smell of burning flesh penetrated his nostrils, singing its way into his sinuses. Up the blazing hall, he could see his mother, with her blackened body and frantic eyes, silently telling him to flee. Just beyond her was his eldest brother Gwendal, already perished.
"Conrad, take Wolfram and RUN!"
Conrad still had no idea where the voice had come from. It couldn't have been from his mother. She was far too badly burned to make any sound above a weak rasp. Nor could it have been Gwendal for obvious reasons.
Nevertheless Conrad obeyed that voice. He grabbed the crying toddler and ran as far as his spindly legs would carry him.
He refused to look back, the mysterious voice urging him forward. Forever that deep baritone would echo within his head.
Try as he might, he couldn't forget.
Conrad sat by a narrow cot, silently clutching the hand of a seemingly his seemingly sleeping brother. His shaggy chestnut hair fell into his eyes, but he made no move to brush it back. Rather, he tucked a blond strand behind the motionless boy's ear. His hazel eyes were foggy, staring at the molding floorboards of the small cabin forlornly.
Why did the Shino have to be so cruel? At first he thought he had been merciful, leaving him one last family member for him to protect and coddle. But he hadn't even let him keep that, simply snatching his last granule of happiness out of his desperate palms. Wolfram was the center of his life. He was a wonderful child. A wonderful, dead child.
"Let him go, Conrad. There's nothing you can do." Conrad's head snapped up, his grip on the young boy's hand unrelenting. He glowered at the lithe man standing at the base of the bed. The man glared back, his large spectacles reflecting what little light flowed into the cabin. A few moments passed before Conrad lowered his gaze, conceding to the healer. Ken's gaze softened.
"He was good patient for me, a good friend to Yuuri and a precious brother to you." Ken paused, choosing his words carefully. "But he is with Shino now. It's out of my hands." Stepping forward, Ken placed his hand on the brunettes shoulder. "I will let you be for now. Take all the time you need." Turning on his heal, he prepared to leave small cabin, but was stopped by a straining voice.
"Ken," Conrad's voice started weakly, "Please, bring him back to me." He stared pleadingly at the younger man. His gaze briefly lowered to the motionless boy on the large bed before snapping back to Ken. "I know you and I have never seen eye to eye, but you still care about Wolfram, right?"
Ken opened his mouth prepared to respond, but closed it with an audible click. What was he supposed to say in reply to the pleads of a grieving man? Conrad was already in a fragile state. Lighting a spark of hope in the older man's heart would only succeed in furthering his agony. Instead, Ken slowly shook his head, his entire countenance exuding thoughtfulness. Shaking his head lightly, as if berating himself, Ken opened the heavy door and strutted out.
Raising Conrad's hopes only to crush them in the end? Ken couldn't imagine the amound of cruelty a being would have to possess in order to do that.