Title: The Sunshine Giver
Author: lavariel
Prompt: The giving and/or receiving of gifts
Summary: A little blonde prince seeks to understand the concept of war and what it means to be an orphan.
The atmosphere was quiet, rigid, almost overwhelming with repressed grief. War had broken out in the kingdom and thousands upon thousands had lost their love ones—husbands, wives, children, comrades and friends. The uncomprehending blonde-haired child tugged at his mother's red satin dress, curious eyes peeking above a loose array of curls. "Mother, why is everyone so sad?" the young prince asked, quite surprised that even his appearance at the courts didn't invite the ladies to pinch his cheeks or argue about what he should wear next. Women have an annoying way of fawning over gold hair and green eyes, the child thought.
"Oh, baby," Queen Celi replied sadly, running her hands on his youngest son's nest of sunshine. "You'll understand someday. For now, go play with the maids or draw something for mama to put up on her wall? Go on, dear. I'll go tuck you to bed tonight if you're good," she continued with a gentle, motherly smile that was only reserved for her beloved sons.
The young prince pouted, annoyed at having been dismissed. He hated not knowing things. Even the things that make mother cry or little big brother go away or big brother stop spending time with Wolfram. It wasn't fair, he thought. Everyone thought that he was too young to understand but he wanted to. The little blond wanted to be part of whatever everyone was moping about.
"Will you read me a bedtime story too?" he asked, batting his eyelashes for effect as he resigned to his fate as the not-so-important prince who was supposed to draw while the whole kingdom was sad.
The Demon Queen laughed, bending over to place a chaste kiss on his son's forehead. "Of course, Wolfie," she replied affectionately, pinching the blonde's cheeks.
As the youngest prince strode off in his white, gold-rimmed child-suit or whatever they called it, he thought about why his mother had forgotten or had not bothered to put on her favorite nail polish these past few days. He was going to figure things out or he'd ask her later.
"Ne, little big brother, why won't you play with me?" a snobby, young voice echoed in the dimly lit office.
Tired brown eyes locked in with emerald and sighed, "Wolfram, a war's broken out and people are badly hurt. And your mother, Gwendal and myself are trying our best to make everything better. Please understand. I promise I'll take you to a picnic when all of this is over." He smiled affectionately at his baby brother who barely reached the height of his desk.
The blonde seemed to be in deep thought, Conrad noted, noticing the way his lips were pursed cutely to the side. Reaching over and temporarily forsaking his paperwork, he ushered his brother to sit on his lap. "Little big brother, maybe if Wolfram can help, things would be better sooner and we can play more!" he turned to face his older sibling, a bright smile beaming on his face.
Conrad seemed to lighten at the suggestion but the sad smile that graced his features a moment ago returned, "It's not that easy, Wolf. It's very hard to explain this to you and I'm not sure that you'd understand--"
"Don't belittle me. I'm not as child-ish as you think. I wanna be a grownup too someday. I wanna help other people as much as you and big brother do. I'll be a good soldier and lead my own army and make everyone happy! And then, we'll all have a giant picnic together!" the blonde retorted defiantly, a look of adorable determination on his slightly flushed face.
The brown-haired teenager chuckled, Shinou, how he loved his cute baby brother! Then, leaning over to Wolfram, placing his chin on top of messy tousled golden curls, he said, "Hmm… since you want to be such a nice little boy today, why don't you help make the orphaned children happy by playing with them and sharing your toys? I know they'd love that."
Confused green eyes peered up to little big brother and asked, "What does 'orphaned children' mean?"
"It means children who have lost one or both of their parents. Sometimes even their brothers and sisters and other relatives too."
"Oh." A thought and a shiver. "I wouldn't want to lose mother, little big brother or big brother either!"
With a slight push forward, Wolfram broke away from his makeshift throne in his sibling's lap. "I know what to do! Little big brother!"
Surprised, Conrad replied quickly, "Yes, Wolfram?"
"Assemble all the kids on the Great Hall in two hours! I'll be meeting them by then! See you later!" with that, the blond left quickly as fast as little child-steps could take him, leaving a curious Conrad behind.
There was already a long queue of children in the Great Hall, some were accompanied by their mothers and others lining up, clutching an old makeshift doll or a tattered remnant of a toy. The castle guards had been surprised at Conrad's request and even more so when the latter said that it was the youngest prince who had instructed him to do so. Speaking of which, the brown-haired teenager was standing near the entrance with Gwendal who looked equally confused. "If this is another one of his tantrums or attention-seeking gigs…" the eldest brother trailed, but there was no tone of spite in his voice. Conrad had noted that Gwendal had temporarily stopped frowning.
With the sounds of the massive oaken doors creaking to reveal a petite prince with sunshine hair and forest-green eyes, everyone's attention turned to the Maou's youngest son. He stumbled a bit as he strode up the stairs to the royal platform. "Hello. My name is Wolfram. You can call me Wolf or Wolfie like my mother does. I like the color blue. I should have worn blue today instead of white. Oh well," his small little child-voice amplified by the sudden silence in the Great Hall.
"So, uhm, little big brother told me that something not very nice has happened and that makes everyone so sad. So I told all the kids to come here so I can make them happy!" he said, smiling brightly.
Then, as if on cue, a dozen or more servants carrying humongous bags of 'something' entered and as they were laid down on the floor and opened, the children gasped in delight as it contained the most beautiful and expensive toys that they had ever seen in their entire lives! Some bags even contained clothes, coats and boots for the upcoming winter. Some were even wrapped with frills and ribbons, probably from the blonde's cache of unopened presents. Then, on the signal from the little prince, the servants were instructed to give toys and clothes to each child, who was teary-eyed with surprise and joy.
No one was more proud of the deed than Wolfram, He was smiling brightly and shook the hand of each child who got his portion. Sometimes, he even received a few sloppy kisses from the mothers, thanking him for giving a new hope for their devastated family and making their children happy. Then, the recipients and their companions were catered to a special 'sweets, cookies and milk' feast (as the prince had named it), which Wolfram had used his cutely charms to persuade the maids into preparing in two hours.
As the blond helped out in the distribution, his two brothers were busy wiping proud tears from their eyes. Even Gwendal who pretended not to be touched by the whole act had remarked, "He's really grown up, hasn't he?"
Conrad replied, flashing a smile at his baby brother who caught sight of him, "Yes and I'm sure he'll be a great prince and soldier. I think he's even surpassed everything that we've done for the civilians."
And as the line mellowed down and eventually died down, a sleeping little prince was curled on the throne seat, a dribble of saliva on the right side of his pink lips, tired and exhausted from not having his usual afternoon nap. But a bright sunshine smile was affixed on his face, rendering him completely adorable.
"Mo-mother?" a sleepy-eyed prince grumbled, rubbing those offending golden strands away from his eyes.
Queen Celi leaned over to his youngest son, kissing his forehead, "Oh, Wolfie, I've heard that you've done a really nice thing today." She flashed him one of her coy smiles, as if trying to embarrass him.
It worked and the figure on the bed blushed a little, muttering, "I just wanted everyone to be happy. Little big brother gave me the idea."
"I'm so proud of you!" his mother squealed, enveloping him in a tight embrace before letting him go and kissing him again on the forehead. "Would you want me to read you a bedtime story, dear?"
"Aw, mother, I'm sleepy already. But promise to read me one tomorrow, okay?" the prince replied, yawning widely and automatically falling back to the pillows.
Celi giggled at his youngest son and tucked him into bed gently. As she stood up to leave, she heard him mumble, "I think I understand now why you haven't been putting your nail polish lately."
Indeed, the little Bielefeld prince was a little bundle of surprises and the whole kingdom of Shin Makoku was sure that they had been blessed by Shinou (blonde hair and all but with not-so blue eyes) and all the children would have a story to tell about Wolfram, the youngest of the Demon Brothers—the Sunshine Giver.
Author's Notes: I just can't help writing about the Demon brothers as children and how they could have spent their years growing up as royalty. And chibi!Wolf is just so adorable! Also, for those who have been reading my darker story, Clandestine, I have lost my outline for the next chapters and am currently rewriting the remaining parts.
Teaser: For Yuu/Ram fans, good news! I'm planning to write a new multi-chaptered story set in modern Japan. College, rock n'roll, fangirly-ness, booze and live performances... piece 'em all together and you'll get what I mean. 3 'Till next time then, thanks for reading!
Please review. :)