Fanfiction title: The little moments
Fanfiction summary: One-shot series in which Yuuri gets to hear from people in the castle stories about the former Maou's three sons and the moments they remember the most from their early years.
Chapter title: Winged Promise
Featured brothers: Wolfram and Conrad
Story teller: Gisela
Chapter number: 3/11
Authoress: BlackArcticFox
Disclaimer: I do not own Kyou Kara Maou! Or any of the characters in this story.
…..
Chapter 3: Winged Promise
"Wow, I can't believe I finished so early. I'm getting faster at reading Mazoku and it's much easier now!" Yuuri said to himself walking towards the garden smiling widely and feeling accomplished after finishing all his paperwork almost half an hour earlier than expected so now Greta, Wolfram and Conrad wouldn't be waiting for him to finish his work as always; it would be him waiting for Wolfram to be done with his training, for Greta to be done with her "princess classes" of the day and for Conrad to be done watching over his little brother as the training progressed "I hope they don't take too long, I really want to go into town today and have some fun."
He reached the garden soon enough wondering what to do with his spare time now that he actually had some. There were no real ideas in his mind so any kind of distraction from anyone would be well accepted.
"Good afternoon, your Majesty." Yuuri's head snapped towards where the voice had come from finding a certain green-haired healer standing near Lady Celli's special collection of flowers smiling kindly at him. He smiled back pleased to find the distraction he had asked for.
"Hey there, Gisela." The Maou went to stand closer to the woman so he could start a conversation with the female more comfortably "What are you doing here?"
"I am waiting for his Excellency to finish his training so I can check upon the soldiers in case they need my medical services." She answered gently, so it wasn't only him who was waiting for Wolfram to finish his training, admittedly, for entirely different reasons "What are you doing here, Heika?"
"I have a ride through town planned with Greta, Wolfram and Conrad so I'm waiting for them to be done with their chores." Gisela nodded at his answer "By the way, how is Günter today? I haven't seen him in two days."
"Oh, he is perfectly fine and will be able to resume to his activities tomorrow." The green-eyed Mazoku answered with a wave of her hand "And he shall stay healthy unless he lets himself be caught by Lady Von Kabelnikoff again."
"Yeah, I'm surprised it was him the one who got the "honor" to be guinea pig this time." Surprising due to the simple fact Gwendal was also in the castle at the time and would have been just normal for Anissina to get him to power-up the new invention she had been working on leaving Günter as a second option. Gisela chuckled at his comment before looking back down at the flowers next to them fondly.
"The castle seems very peaceful, does it not?" The half-breed gave a nod agreeing with her while looking down at the flowers as well, he was at this moment standing in front of the spot where the Beautiful Wolfram and the Conrad stands upon Earth met; it was his favorite spot since both flowers clashed nicely against each other, in his personal opinion at least.
"Whaaaaa!" Yuuri suddenly yelped jumping back the moment he saw something flying out of the flowers and just above his head. Following the unknown flying object with his eyes he quickly realized that the dangerous creature… was a small brown bird. His embarrassment upon the discovery only grew after he became aware of Günter's adopted daughter giggling at him.
"Please forgive me, your Majesty." Gisela apologized between giggles as she noticed her king's face turn yet another shade of red; but she couldn't help it since her king had sounded anything but manly with that yelp… Much like her father when he got too excited or distressed.
"I'm sure that was pathetic." The double-black admitted sheepishly, he could have sworn he heard a voice calling him 'Wimp' from somewhere in the castle… The training grounds to be more precise and he barely caught himself from automatically replying to that statement "But how was I to know a bird was among the Wolfram's and the Conrad's?"
"I actually believe a bird among those two flowers is quite special." A dark eyebrow was raised at that, midnight eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Why special?" Gisela lowered herself to her knees near of where the monarch was standing at and sighed.
"When I was younger I was able to visit the castle every other time. By the time my father adopted me, his Excellency Gwendal had already started his soldier training in the same school my father would be instructor at someday: The Shin Makoku Military Academy." Yuuri nodded remembering that school, how could he not? Conrad and Günter had an interesting spar there some time ago, that was also the place Gisela had graduated from. Günter had claimed it was there where he had first met Conrad and he now knew that was not the case or not completely true at least being that the last time Günter had seen Conrad before the latter's admission into the Academy was a little before Wolfram was born, the one who got to actually see the brunette was Gisela "Back then he was training so he could become the instructor though, with the man who was currently in charge of that position; Gwendal-Kakka's uncle himself."
"I didn't know that." The teenager said thoughtfully, he never knew who was in charge of the classes at all apart from Günter, he knew the school was being managed at the moment by the Roshvall family but he never really went to research through the past instructors or anything. Gisela looked at him for a brief moment before returning her gaze to the display of colors in front of her and continuing softly.
"Whenever my father needed to leave to meet with Lord von Voltaire and there was no-one home to take care of me he would bring me here since I am just a little younger than Lord Weller. It was one of those times that I found the two younger brothers sparring here in the garden; this happened a week before his Excellency Conrart left for what would be his last journey with his father…"
Flashback
Gisela smiled at the sight of the young princes practicing with their swords from her spot at the steps leading to the garden, Wolfram's sword was smaller than Conrart's since he was still not strong enough to carry one like the one his brother had. Wolfram's body was still too lithe at his thirty-eight years old resembling to that of a seven-year-old human, his older brother looked like an eleven-year-old human already at his fifty-two and she was just a bit younger than the brunette; having forty-nine years of living she presented the body of a human girl almost reaching her tenth birthday.
"Never lower your guard, Wolfram." Conrart said to the blond who nodded once before throwing another attack with a small battle cry. The youngest sibling looked already tired and was panting but still feeling willing to keep going until he did it right, his opponent was barely breaking a sweat.
The match continued for a few more minutes until they heard a strong "Bad Omen" cry from above. The attention of the three people in the gardens was brought to the sky where they saw one of those strange, yet common, blue birds chasing after something much smaller over the place they were currently standing at. They weren't able to see the object clearly but, by the desperate chirps that came from it, it was obviously a small bird that was destined to become its chaser's lunch.
"Hey you! Leave it alone!" Wolfram yelled at the blue animal, his yells went unheard as the aerial chase continued before their eyes.
"I am afraid we cannot save the bird." Conrart said sadly resting a hand on his baby brother's shoulder. The green-eyed demon looked at his sibling with sad shock before returning his gaze to the bird just in time to see the bigger beast closing its beak capturing its desired prey. Wolfram gasped and without a second thought threw his arm up with his extended hand directed towards the sky letting out a fireball the size of his head aimed directly at the Bad Omen bird, the sudden movement and appearance of the fire made Gisela cry out in surprise and made Conrart jump away from the small Mazoku; the fireball hit its target square on its chest.
The animal opened its beak to let out a cry of pain, the captured prey was freed of the deadly prison just to fall towards the ground without giving any sign of being able to stop itself. Gisela and Wolfram gasped at the same time as the bird came crumbling down, however Conrart was able to recover from the shock and ran as fast as he could to the center of the garden cupping his hands and throwing himself in time to catch the small creature before it hit the floor unlike the brunette's body which fell flat on the ground. The green-haired female ran down the steps she had been standing on and reached the Maou's second son's side at the same time the third son did.
"Are you unharmed, your Majesty?" The female demon asked as the questioned prince sat up keeping his hands enclosed around the fallen bird, he turned to smile at her.
"I am perfectly fine Gisela, thank you." Wolfram kneeled in front of his half-brother looking intently at the enclosed hands. Conrart opened up his hands to allow the blond to take a look at what was caught. Green eyes widened at the sight of the small brown feathered body matted with some blood coming out of gashes it must have gotten from the sharp teeth the Bad Omen bird possessed.
"Oh no, it is badly hurt." The fire-wielder breathed out worried over the bird, he quickly turned to the only girl there "Gisela, can you help?"
"I… I am not sure, I just started to train my healing Majutsu recently and I haven't had much practice yet." She confessed timidly. The brown-eyed boy stood up and faced her with a soft smile.
"Do what you can and we shall worry about taking care of it afterwards." Gisela looked at him for a few seconds surprised he actually seemed to trust she would be able to do something, finally she sighed defeated still not quite believing her own abilities but willing to try for the royal family.
"Let us take it inside first."
They were fast in taking the bird inside the castle, Conrart had asked a maid to bring an empty cage of the ones used for the pigeons they trained to send messages. The cage was brought to Wolfram's room and the bird was promptly settled inside it. Gisela got one of her hands in the cage through the small door without difficulty and held it over the animal's battered body. The pair of half-brothers looked intently as a vivid green glow surrounded the female Mazoku's hand and stared amazed as the cuts in the bird's body started to slowly disappear as though they had never been there.
They stood like that for a couple of minutes before the glow dissipated and the rookie healer exhaled feeling somewhat drained but pleased and satisfied with herself; being a very small patient she had been able to heal each and every wound the bird had received from its predator's teeth and beak but it still was draining enough to make her feel as if she had been the one sparring with Conrart earlier that day and not Wolfram.
"I believe it should be fine now but rest is needed, a couple of days should be enough." She announced at last with a proud yet gentle smile, Conrart smiled thankfully at her while Wolfram let out an audible sigh of relief before crawling up next to the taller girl to get a better look at the healed animal which was now on its feet giving small skips around the cage looking just flawlessly adorable.
"Little Big Brother," The blond called turning to his mother's second son with a curious glance "What should we feed it with?"
"It is a grown-up bird so the food for our pigeons should be enough for this little one as well, we can keep watch until it eats to make sure it has no problem with those seeds. We will also need to bring water and if it gets dirty with blood should the bird decide to bath we shall change it for clean water." The middle prince went up to the door to tell the four guards standing outside –Stoffel's orders to have four of them stationed outside every bedchamber occupied by the royal family whenever he was out with explicit orders of not allowing cats in- to ask the maids to bring a small bowl with seeds and another with fresh water before returning to his brother's side. Once seated he turned to the green-eyed girl "Thank you Gisela, you did an outstanding job."
"Thank you for the compliment, your Majesty." Gisela stood up with a small bow of her head and went to sit on a chair near the door; her father had told her that, whenever it was an animal she was treating, she had to stay for a while with a healed patient in order of making sure everything was actually working well but the healer trainee also knew the males needed privacy at the moment.
"Wolfram, what you did was very dangerous." Conrart suddenly said sounding dead serious gaining the full attention from the youngest prince "You know casting your Maryoku so suddenly with so much strength could be dangerous for you since the power could turn against you; that is why you were given a chant. Fire is the most unpredictable element and you should know that already."
"I do know that, Little Big Brother." The scolded demon admitted ashamed but looking up into his brother's eyes hopefully "But if I had used the chant I would have not been able to save the bird and I wanted to save it, I really did. Besides, I know you and your father have saved lives in your journeys and I was hoping it would help me be more like you."
"I have never saved lives by putting myself in danger." The elder explained calmly not quite frowning but not smiling either despite the fact he wanted to after hearing such words from the blond "I do not have that necessity for the time being, neither do you and I hope you will never have to risk your life for anything or anyone else; not while I am by your side."
"But I will receive military training like the one Big Brother is receiving now, will I not? And so will you." Emerald eyes looked curiously into brown ones "What is the point in that if I will not be able to ever use my training?"
"You are taking them because there is always a chance you will have the necessity to defend yourself and because mother needs trustworthy leaders for our soldiers to protect the country from any danger." Conrart explained easily, he never did want to think on the day Wolfram would start battling against others though and even less in a war if it were ever to happen; he would rather keep the blond caged in the castle if a war ever started than commanding his own troops "But that does not mean you have to worry about that yet. You shall not start your training for a few years still and you most definitely should not be worrying about saving someone else's life yet either and until you have graduated."
"Even if it is you I wanted to save?" Gisela noticed Conrart's eyes soften in a way she had never seen before, she herself was very much touched by those words; Wolfram was sometimes bratty, she knew, and didn't tend to be polite with people who were not part of his family but there was no doubt he was the most adorable creature when it came to his brothers. Conrart's smile seemed to shine brighter than ever right then.
"Even then, because saving your life is my job." Wolfram smiled back at his brother who pulled the blond closer to him by his shoulders with one arm in a half-hug being tender and playful at the same time and even while watching this Gisela didn't feel out of place but remained silent respecting the moment. A knock at the door broke the comfortable silence that had fallen upon them after the last declaration; the female was fast to answer it trying to leave the brothers as undisturbed as possible but the hug had already been broken by the time the maid handed her the couple of bowls the middle prince had requested.
The young healer took the recipients thanking the woman and running up to the cage in which the bird was now perched upon the wood stick that went from one side of the cage to the other chirping calmly. Conrart took the bowls from the female Mazoku with a "Thank you" and moved as carefully as he could to get them into the bird's temporary home; the animal noticed the motions but made no attempt to move as if it had already started trusting these people enough to let them that close; a rare behavior coming from a bird but well-accepted.
"We have to inform mother about this, it is very fortunate her brother is back at his castle for the week or he would surely reprimand us for this." The oldest person in the room said decided. The other two nodded in agreement and went to look for the Maou right away knowing she would have no complaints on their little companion staying with them for a couple of days.
The next day Gisela found herself again inside the Bielefeld heir's room checking up on her small patient. The Maou had told them they could keep the animal for as long as needed until it fully recovered so they were not worried on hiding it from anyone; none of the guards would say anything to Stoffel since they all liked the man as much as they liked getting sick during their favorite holiday.
"It's looking much better than yesterday; tomorrow we can let it free." The rookie healer said happily. Conrart was also smiling at the small animal but the youngest demon there was staring thoughtfully at it.
"Little Big Brother," Wolfram called looking up at the brunette who regarded him curiously "Is there any possibility we could train this bird to deliver messages?"
"I do not believe that is possible, Wolfram." The questioned boy answered honestly with a small apologetic smile upon seeing the disappointment in his brother's deep green eyes, he cocked his head to the side in an inquiring way "Why would you have liked to train it? What for exactly?"
"Well I just was hoping I could use it to send letters to my father since it has been too long since I last saw him." Gisela flinched a little at the hard expression that appeared on the young Weller's face.
She remembered her father told her not to mention Wolfram's father at any cost. Since the blond was born the head of the Bielefeld family had shown great distaste for his own son for a reason unknown to her, unlike Lord Waltorana who was delighted with the newborn as if it had been his own. Lady Celli had insisted her third husband to give a chance to their child an so Lord von Bielefeld stayed in the castle for a few years until he disappeared one day without a word to go back to his own lands refusing to know any more about the still far too young blond demon. The divorce soon came and that was the last time Wolfram had heard of his father. Gwendal and especially Conrart held a strong grudge towards the noble only amplified whenever their baby brother mentioned his desire to see his progenitor once more. Only until then did she see the kind of reaction the mention of the fire-wielder's father generated from his half-brother.
"I am sorry Wolfram, but this bird cannot be trained for that and I am sure Lord von Bielefeld must be busy so let us not bother him." The brown-eyed prince said trying to sound like he really meant his words and as if he was really sorry for denying something to the spoiled demon and not to let show how irked and furious he really was. The blond seemed to believe the tone that had been faked but Gisela didn't and she had to suppress a shudder from how cold she suddenly felt despite the summer weather.
"I wish he would spend more time with me like your father does with you." Wolfram confessed sadly before turning to the other demon, she was surprised he acknowledged her at all since he hadn't glanced at her since she entered the room to check on the bird a few minutes ago "You also spend time with your father, Big Brother is not able to because his father is no longer alive but mine is alive and yet I don't see him anymore. I can barely remember how he looks like."
"Let him be, if he wants to see you he will come to you." Conrart put an arm around his sibling's shoulders and pulled the smaller body to his own much like he had done the day before but it was noticeable to the doctor-in-training that this embrace was not a love demonstration like last one; this showed the protective side of the brunette which could even be considered possessive judging by the hard expression the second son was wearing as if his brother's father was in front of him looking down to them and listening to every word, Gisela relaxed though when he heard the older male's voice soften as he continued talking "But in the meantime you have us, Gwendal and I, to be there for you and we will stay by your side for as many days as feathers has the bird in front of us."
"And how many feathers does it have?" The question was quite expected but it still made Conrart smile down at his brother who had freed himself from the embrace and was now looking up at him with an inquiring frown and a small pout; he still could pull them off and look way cuter than most Mazoku his age.
"Enough." Was the simple answer, the pout grew as the blond folded his arms over his chest with a childish "hmpf".
"I want to count them then!" That earned him a chuckle from the Weller heir, the green-haired girl couldn't help but smile amused at that.
"You cannot keep the bird here; it needs to be free." Wolfram sighed at that accepting defeat rather quickly as he often did when talking to either of his brothers.
"I know but... Make your words a promise!" The small boy looked once again into brown eyes with determination written all over his face leaning a little to the front as to look more demanding "Promise that what you just said is true and on your honor you must never break this promise!"
"I promise I will always be true to my words." The seriousness the blond had used really touched Conrart, his smile going from amused to soft in just a second when he made the promise. The brunette then rested his hand on Wolfram's head gently mussing the soft locks "And when Gwendal comes back I will make him promise this as well."
"Good." The green-eyed male nodded satisfied moving away from Conrart's hand and trying to fix his hair to the way he had it before his brother's action "It is too bad Big Brother is not here at the moment, he would have liked this animal very much."
"Yes, he will be very jealous when he hears this." Conrart agreed with a nod "It is past noon, say Gisela would you like to join us for lunch? It shall only be the three of us since mother has to eat with the visiting nobles that arrived this morning. We can get some of those sweets Lord von Christ won't allow you to eat at home."
"With pleasure your Majesty." She answered with a bow of her head, she was glad she had mentioned she wasn't allowed to eat too many sweets back home because she was always served a good quantity of them in Blood Pledge Castle "Thank you."
Ends Flashback
"The next day the bird was freed and three days later, when Gwendal-Kakka returned to the castle for the summer break, Conrart-Kakka made him promise their brother the same thing he had promised after they had told him about the little adventure with the small animal." Gisela finished her story with a happy smile looking at her king.
"Now I get why you said 'special' before." Yuuri nodded with a smile of his own "It's a promise started by Conrad to Wolfram in which they added Gwendal."
"Exactly, Heika." The double-black brought a hand to his chin in thought with a small frown.
"I still can't believe Wolfram's father could leave him just like that. The only thing he left to his son before he ran away was his hate for humans and his apathetic attitude towards other people's problems." He said very disappointed on the man, maybe it wasn't polite to speak that way of a man who was now dead thanks to a sword wound during an attack to the Bielefeld lands quite a few years back but the man had done nothing to earn his respect in his opinion "I'm glad Wolf's back to good terms with Conrad though; he never did break his promise to Wolfram despite the way he was treated for being a half-breed… And the few slips here and there."
"Before going to Earth Lord Weller was such a distant person caused by his father's death and the way he was treated by most pure Mazoku nobility in the country as he grew up." The healer said sadly before smiling again "But when he came back he was a totally different person and it has only gotten better since your Majesty finally arrived to this world."
"Thanks, Gisela." Yuuri thanked her rubbing the back of his head blushing at the compliment.
"Yuuri!" Turning around the after-mentioned teenager saw Greta running down the steps that led from the hallway to the garden, he spread his arms to receive his daughter in his embrace. Due to the force of the impact he almost feel backwards and on the precious flowers but managed to keep his balance long enough to stay on his kneeling position as the human child pulled away to look at his face.
"Hi Greta," The monarch greeted with a smile "What are you doing here?"
"Wolfram and Conrart are done with their work and told me to fetch you while they got the horses ready but you were not in your office so I came to the garden to look for Gisela first like Wolfram asked me to and was a surprise to find you here as well." Greta let out in one breath before turning to Gisela "Wolfram said a soldier got a small burn in his hand during training so he would like you to take a look at the wound please. The rest are tired but fine."
"Will do princess, thank you for letting me know. I assume he has been sent to my medical wing." The adopted princess nodded vigorously as reply "Very well then, I shall retire now. Have a nice day Yuuri-Heika, Greta-Hime."
"Likewise, Gisela." The green-haired demon gave a small bow and walked off towards her office and medical wing. Yuuri stood with Greta ready to make his way to the front gates of the castle to meet with the two ex-princes only to be stopped by the human kid tugging at his hand and pointing at the sky animatedly.
"Look Yuuri!" She exclaimed "There's a bird there."
Yuuri looked up and saw a small brown bird flying towards the flowers that stood behind them, they followed the animal with their gaze until it got lost in the colorful flora.
"Did you know that's Conrart's favorite animal?" Yuuri let out a chuckle at that.
"I might have been able to guess."
….
TBC~
