Beyond the Silence
By Orenda
Fandom: Kyou Kara Maou (Yuuri/Wolfram)

Chapter 3

A/N: Shorter this time, just a little. But thank you so much for all the reviews. This story has such a long way to go...

Gwendal sighed to himself, leaning forward to rest his head on his hand against the wooden desk. His head had been pounding for hours, but he couldn't get himself to stop working just yet. There was far too much to be done, and his mind wouldn't settle down to relax even if he wanted to. He felt the pressure weighing down on him with a mixture of guilt and worry and responsibility for his family and their kingdom.

For over two days, his youngest brother had been unconscious, battling with a poison that no one had ever dealt with in Shin Makoku. They hadn't even been sure if Wolfram was going to make it for the first few hours, having a fever at dangerous levels and he could barely breathe, but he'd pulled through and stabilized after that. It seemed that most of the damage was done internally, especially around his throat. Gisela suspected that he'd have a hard time swallowing for a few days, even with the healing, but they wouldn't know how bad it was until he woke up. Gwendal was promised that he'd receive word the instant something changed, and since there really wasn't much he could do besides standing around waiting, he'd placed all his efforts into the new situation they had found themselves in.

It appeared that Wolfram had never been the target in the first place, but rather the young Maou. Investigations had discovered that the server in question who had brought the tainted glass was nowhere to be found. None of the staff members had been reported missing, so it was assumed to be an outsider in disguise. It bothered Gwendal that someone had managed to break their defenses unnoticed, and he refused to take the chance on it occurring a second time. Security had been more than doubled in certain areas, and all food and drink was now thoroughly inspected before it was brought anywhere near the royal chambers. A second team was currently out investigating the town, and Yozak was attempting to track down the perpetrator on his own, but so far there hadn't been much luck. They had no plans on giving up, though.

On top of all that, there had been guests to attend to, although Lord Von Christ had quickly stepped into that role with practiced smooth words and reassurances. Most were kept in the dark about the details of what happened, as they were determined not to cause a panic or doubts in the treaty that had just been signed. A few still lingered now, but most had returned back to their country as planned, and all of them should be gone by the next sunset. Gwendal had never been all that fond of sweet-talking to foreign diplomats anyways, so he was quite grateful that Gunter could become completely serious when necessary and reminded them how he'd achieved such a position as royal advisor.

As for the king himself… Yuuri was taking the whole thing rather hard. They could tell that he blamed himself for Wolfram's condition, even though he was hardly at fault. Staying by his bedside for every moment that he could get away with, he only left when situations needed his personal attention. Gwendal had to admit that he was extremely proud of the fact that he didn't shut down and lock himself away, a testimony of how much he had grown over the last five years. He did, however, ask that all paperwork be brought to him so he could work quietly and still keep an eye on Wolfram, and most meetings involving the investigation were held in the room right next door. Even then, Yuuri tended to keep staring at the doorway, waiting to see if something changed.

Deciding that he probably wasn't going to get any more work done for now, Gwendal stacked up his papers and organized them neatly. His fingers twitched, wanting to stay busy as he gazed out the window for a moment. He'd never been particularly close to Wolfram in the same way Conrad had, and he wasn't good at expressing his feelings towards his little brother. But he did love him, and he really had been just as worried as everyone else. It was just better that he got done what needed to be, because he was the strong one, the oldest, the one the others fell back on… right?

Well, there was one thing left to be done still. Opening a desk drawer, he pulled out a ball of yarn and a pair of needles, leaned back against his chair, and quickly began to knit. For as long as he could remember, every time that Wolfram had gotten sick or injured, he had always made him a present, be it a blanket or a toy or something along those lines to cheer him up. He'd always gotten a warm smile for his efforts, even if Wolfram didn't understand what it was and Gwendal had to explain it (Just because his bear happened to have a pig snout didn't mean that it wasn't a bear). Wolfram would probably be expecting it after he woke up, and he didn't want to disappoint.

Gwendal let his thoughts disappear for the time being, shifting on to the next row and focusing only on the pattern of the stitches. If only the rest of their problems were so easy to solve.

The first thing Wolfram became aware of was the fact that the sun was far too bright. He tried to shut his eyes and block it out, only nothing was happening. And then somewhere his mind must have figured out that the problem was that they were already closed. That was bothersome.

"Yuuri, close the curtains," he tried to say… only that didn't seem to work either, and the words only came out inside his head. In fact, it rather hurt to try and talk, and nothing happened except for a gasp of air as he tried to make his throat stop burning. He heard someone speaking to him, but he couldn't identify the voice. Then he felt the familiar warmth of maryoku flooding through his senses, making the pain go away, and his muscles relaxed along with it. He drifted back into sleep for a while.

The next time he woke up, his head was much clearer, and after a moment or two he reluctantly opened his eyes. It took a little time to adjust, and he had to resist the urge to just go back to sleep. He blinked, realizing he was wrapped up in warm blankets and extra soft pillows, and he had no memory of how he'd gotten there. He started to sit up, but decided that he didn't have quite enough energy yet and soon gave up the effort.

"Wolfram, you're awake!"

His attention was caught by a very relieved pair of dark eyes as Yuuri climbed up on the bed, lying down next to him. Wolfram tried to say his name… but no sound came out. He winced a little, but the pain wasn't anywhere near as bad as the last time, so he begrudgingly reached out to grab Yuuri's hand instead, trying not to look upset by it.

Apparently that wasn't enough for his fiancé, because in the next moment Yuuri was hugging him carefully, tears falling down his face.

"You probably shouldn't try to talk, because Gisela said it was pretty bad… Oh, Wolfram, I'm so sorry! If I'd known I never would have given it to you, and I would have taken your place in an instant! We thought that… I thought that you…"

Wolfram wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he held Yuuri close to him, brushed a hand through his hair and found himself grateful for the close contact anyways. Yuuri had never been this direct before, except for out on the balcony when they had…

His eyes grew wide as memories came rushing back. The ball, the dancing together, their kiss, and then they had gone back inside, where he'd… done something. That part was still fuzzy in his mind. Had he been attacked? He didn't feel injured though, just completely drained. He did have that one drink, but that was… oh.

Having a fairly good guess on what happened, he leaned closer and kissed Yuuri's forehead, and the pout he gave the other boy seemed to say, "You shouldn't have been so worried, wimp." But at this point he didn't really believe it. Yuuri laughed upon seeing it, kissing his nose in return and quickly calmed down again.

They stayed together for another minute or two before Yuuri seemed to realize he'd forgotten something. "Oh! I'm being stupid… One second."

He crawled off the bed, walked over and opened the door, talking to a guard that was posted outside before coming back, quickly curling up with the blond again. "Sorry, I told everyone I'd spread the word when you woke up… You've missed three days now."

Three days? Wolfram tried to speak again, ignoring the pain, and started to grow angry when it didn't work. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he make any sound at all? Yuuri tried to calm him down, but that just made it worse as he tried yet again. By the time a tired-looking Gisela entered the room a few minutes later, Wolfram was trembling hard, and the only thing keeping him from losing it altogether was Yuuri's hold on him.

Something was very wrong… and he couldn't even tell anyone about it.

Gwendal heard another knock on his office door, where he'd spent much of his time since yesterday. He'd already been told of the fact that his brother was conscious again a few hours earlier, and for the most part had looked well, so Gwendal had spent the afternoon doubling his efforts to finish his knitting project; the only problem was that he kept getting interrupted for one reason or another.

He barely glanced up at the intruding sound, continuing to move the stitches over onto his right needle. "Enter."

This time, his interruption seemed to be in the form of his other brother. Giving Conrad a raised eyebrow, he waited.

"They finally finished the tests with Wolfram," he announced softly, sitting down in a chair facing the desk. "It seems that the poison damaged his vocal chords, so he can no longer speak."

"…Guess that means that it'll be quieter around here." Not that Gwendal meant anything bad by saying that; in fact, Wolfram's tantrums had drastically reduced in number, even though the young prince still had his bad days. He sighed before continuing. "Estimates on how long?"

"Gisela guesses a couple weeks at the least, most likely a few months. You can ask her to explain, but she mentioned some sort of psychological reaction even after the physical damage is healed… Just don't try telling Wolfram that. He's taking the news rather hard. And there is a slim chance that his voice might never return."

Gwendal took in all the information quietly, needles clinking away as he processed it. "So I'm guessing that you're here partially to discuss his military status, since you know as well as I that in case this conflict were to trigger a war that he would not be allowed to lead his troops in such a condition."

"He's going to be disappointed. And more frustrated than he already is." Conrad watched as his brother's fingers continued to work. He didn't bother to ask who the soon-to-be toy belonged to, since he already knew.

"Better that than having him doing something stupid and getting killed," he replied. "He can be given duties in the castle that will let him stay with His Majesty, perhaps keep him focused on their wedding plans."

All of the "inner counsel" knew the basic details of what had happened between them thanks to Yuuri's very reluctant explanation, but the announcement had not yet been made public knowledge; it probably wasn't going to stay that way much longer.

"Are you going to tell him that when you visit?"

A few more clicks, and then soon Gwendal was binding off the last few remaining stitches. There… All that was left was to add some stuffing and to sew it up. As for Conrad's question, he answered with an affirmative grunt. "Soon, yes."

"Wolfram and His Majesty were both asleep when I left, so I'd suggest after dinner. …Any word from Yozak?" Conrad glanced out the window to where the pigeons tended to land at.

"Nothing yet. Most likely there will be another report tomorrow. Whoever it was hid their tracks well, apparently."

Standing up, Conrad gave his brother one last sad smile before turning to leave. "Do you really think that this will lead to war?"

Gwendal sighed in response, about as honest as he could be right now. "We can't leave ourselves open for any more attacks, be it personal or against an entire village. But… for Yuuri's sake, I hope not."