The third night was already looking to be as bad as the ones before it. They'd hit the foothills late in the day and already the temperatures were getting colder. Yuuri couldn't yet see his breath but he definitely felt the chill in the air. The cold disposition shared by Conrad and now Yozak didn't help matters much either. Yuuri had never been more appreciative of the fact that Wolfram was with him than he was in the company of two grown men who seemed to enjoy playing a game in the daylight hours that's only rule was to pretend nothing was wrong. Yuuri had his own games to play to pass the time, most of which involved trying to get a rise out of Wolfram which led to a few impromptu chases to break up the monotony. By nightfall all their cheeks were red but only half of them from smiles or laughter, faces chapped by cold winds flowing down the mountain instead.

The night watch was broken into two shifts again but this time, at least, Wolfram was prepared to be left out. He still wasn't pleased but he wasn't as insulted as he had been before. Alone in their tent, the two of them huddled closer for shared warmth and whispers in the dark, both turned towards the middle of the tent so they faced one another.

"What do you think is waiting at the top of the mountain?" Yuuri asked, beginning to become excited again as the focus of their quest came closer to the foreground. That, at least, would be something he could actually target. He didn't feel nearly as out of his league as he did when thinking about the conflict between his friends.

Wolfram shrugged, buried up to his chin in blankets but still mostly visible over their lip. "I don't know. Maybe a sorcerer?" he guessed.

That would certainly earn them a bit of excitement if not outright danger. "They said it's been happening for thousands of years. So maybe a really powerful spell?"

"We'll see," Wolfram said, his long lashes fluttering across the tops of his cheeks. It was amazing, really, how tired one could get after doing nothing but riding a horse all day.

Yuuri sighed. He wanted to stay up and visit, really, but it was rather counter intuitive to the task at hand. They needed sleep for the day ahead, even if the day ahead promised to be just as boring as the ones before. Wolfram certainly didn't have any trouble shutting down. "Wolfram?" he whispered, watching the mazoku's green eyes peek out from his lashes again. "Do you think there'll be fog up there?"

"Mm," he hummed affirmatively. "Probably. But we're not the ones who need to worry."

That was certainly true. Whatever wasn't being said now was almost guaranteed to come out in a day or more. Yuuri was almost looking forward to it, though. Someone needed to say something by now.

As with the night before, shadows spread across the canvas of their tent from the campfire outside. Conrad was first again, his thick form blanketing them in darkness. And like the night before, he did not stay as a lone shadow as another form darkened their tent as well as it joined the steady silhouette.

Yuuri bit his lip. He didn't want to eavesdrop on them but it was almost impossible not to so long as he was awake. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to hurry up and lose consciousness. This wasn't any of his business. He didn't need to hear whatever was said. But even with the best of intentions, he still found himself trying to breath even quieter so as to not miss the whispering sounds of conversation carrying over on the wind.

"You're either going to explain what's going on, or I'm going to punch you in the face. Your call, Captain."

Conrad's voice was nearly inflectionless. "There's no need for that."

"Do you want me to give you to the count of three or just start swinging?"

"Yozak. Enough."

Yozak's snarky tone carried over into his exhalations. "Even the kiddo is tired of your bullshit," he warned, the spy continuing to be as observant and tactless as ever.

"I can take care of this on my own. If you've got a problem, you can leave."

"What, and be like you?"

There was a sever drop in temperature that seemed to freeze even the air. Everything seemed to quiet-even the fire. Yuuri swallowed, wondering how long the silence was going to last, afraid he'd missed some whispered words and yet also afraid he hadn't. This wasn't any of his business, he kept reminding himself. This had nothing to do with him. He focused harder on trying to nod off while even the insects forgot to chirp in the night.

"Tch. It's not even worth it," Yozak said at last, accompanied by the sound of a boot toe striking softly at the embers outside. "You know, I thought you'd stopped being this guy."

"You used to like me just fine this way," was Conrad's dull reply.

"Yeah. Back when I understood why. Right now? I don't get it."

"I'm not asking you to."

The next sound, the sound of a fist striking hard against flesh, was impossible not to hear and even harder to ignore. Yuuri's eyes flew open, his body ready to rise into action. Wolfram's green eyes were staring back into his though, and his hand caught Yuuri's in the dark to keep him still. The shadows over them showed nothing more past the single blow and despite the heavy beating of his heart, Yuuri stayed as still and as quiet as the dead. He kept his eyes focused on Wolfram's which were as demanding as they were full of sympathy, his fingers gently holding Yuuri's hand with his palm across his knuckles.

"You never learn!" Yozak was saying harshly, his tone no longer favoring a whisper. "I'm trying to help you, but you never let me! You always act like you have to do things yourself and then what happens? I mean, don't get me wrong, I sometimes can't stand the man you became on the best of days, but at least the man you were confided in me."

Conrad's shadow seemed to spit, a hand rubbing roughly as his jaw. "I grew up. You should try it."

"Grew up? You ran away! No one saw you for years! All the half-mazoku soldiers except you and I were dead, Julia was dead, everything was a mess, and you left us. And if you ask me, you never came back! Shinou knows it was good to see you smile again but it's been everything for the kid and nothing for anyone else ever since. Your arm, your life, hell if either the kid or Shinou had told you they wanted the key to Hellfire, you'd have cut the still beating heart from your brother's chest without hesitation. Because no one else matters. You've got your fealty and nothing else because the only thing that came back from that other world was a servant to the crown. And you're just so damn proud of it too."

Yuuri's hand turned under Wolfram's grasp, fingers curing around in a returned embrace.

"Would you have had me turn by back like Adelbert instead?"

"I'd have more respect for you if you had. The day you learned why Julia died, you gave up your free will. At least the rest of us still remember what it's like to do more than follow orders blindly."

"Go to bed, Yozak," Conrad ordered, sounding tired in more ways than one.

Yozak shook his head, his shadow retreating slowly with arms raised in surrender. "Right. Why should you talk to me? I'm just your friend. Thought I was, anyway. Then again, I thought I was a lot more than that at one time too. Shows what I know."

Yuuri hated this. Yuuri absolutely hated this. He'd thought... well, he didn't know what he'd thought. That there had just been some kind of misunderstanding? That they just hadn't been honest with each other? He never expected there to be so much pain involved in something so simple as being in love. It was like it was real. It was real. It just hadn't seemed that way before.

Yuuri's heart skipped a beat as Conrad's shadow grew over them, the sound of footsteps nearing their tent making his destination obvious. Wolfram quickly closed his eyes, and Yuuri immediately followed suit. He heard the flap to their tent open, then, after a pause, fall back shut. The footsteps left and in the dark he could feel Wolfram give his hand a squeeze.

Yuuri didn't bother opening his eyes anyone for the night. He'd already been up later than he ever wished he had.