Disclaimer: I do not own Kyo Kara Maoh.

Pairings: Yuuri x Wolfram

Our Once Upon a Time

By V. Shalyr

10. Chance Meetings and Fate

What had been supposed to be a simple trip home turned out to be an adventure in itself. Getting the hang of creating portals proved much trickier than Yuuri had anticipated. Making the portal itself was easy. It was making sure that that portal took them where they wanted to go that proved the real challenge.

Appearing from the whirlpool into the middle of a women's bath had been the most embarrassing experience of Yuuri's life. Once he'd realized where they were—it was hard not to with the screeching and frighteningly underdressed females all around them—even Wolfram had blushed in utter mortification. And Yuuri had grabbed him and hurriedly yanked them both back into the water.

Their next attempt found them splashing to the surface of a wide river. Thankfully, the current here was slow and they were able to tread water and get a good look around, spotting a few women washing laundry near the bank. Judging from the clothes, they could at least be sure that they were somewhere in Shin Makoku, if not exactly where.

"Good morning," Yuuri called, donning a smile in an attempt to ease their startled and nervous faces. "I know this might be a strange question, but can you tell us the date?"

The women exchanged looks as though trying to decide if they should answer or not. Wolfram suspected that they thought the two young men were crazy, but at last, one of them cupped her hands around her mouth and called back a reply. When Wolfram heard her words, he felt numb. A year! They had been gone for an entire year? Beside him Yuuri swore and they were off again.

Then there had been someone's private bathtub—thankfully empty, then that lake back on Earth where Wolfram had first arrived, and finally a freezing stream in the middle of a forest Shinou only knew where. The two of them sprawled on the grassy bank, exhausted and dizzy from the quick succession of transportations

"I'm sorry," Yuuri sighed, resting an arm across his eyes, still a little out of breath from this unaccustomed use of power.

"Don't apologize," Wolfram grumbled, panting as he struggled to get enough air into his lungs and settle the roiling in his stomach. "Just get it right."

Much more of this and Wolfram was afraid he'd reacquaint them both with the remains of his breakfast.

"Right." Taking a deep breath, Yuuri let it out slowly and cleared his mind. Picturewhereyouwanttogo, he reminded himself, andconcentrate. Trying to recall the fountain in the middle of Shinou's Temple in as much detail as he could remember, Yuuri reached out and grabbed Wolfram's hand, indicating without words that he was going to try the portal again. In silence the pair clambered wearily back to their feet and all but fell into the water once again.

When they opened their eyes once more, they were relieved to finally, finally find themselves staring up at a familiar, intricately carved ceiling. The relief, however, was short lived as the sound of applause reached their ears. Sitting up, they spotted an all too familiar ghost standing between two of the pillars that stood around the temple fountain.

"You're back," Shinou stated calmly and rather unnecessarily. "That's good."

"You bastard!" Wolfram snarled, shaking off his travel sickness in favor of storming out of the shallow water towards the aforementioned ghost. "Do you know how much trouble you put us through? How dare you! And what if we hadn't been able to get back? It's been an entire year over here. A year! Who knows what could have happened!"

Still sitting in the fountain, Yuuri grimaced as his angel's voice escalated into one of his full blown temper tantrums. Only Wolfram would dare to address the Great One with such great disrespect. Granted, the blonde fire wielder did have a point, and he and Shinou had a rather rocky relationship. Yuuri could clearly track Wolfram's dislike of the ghost to some years ago when Shinou had "borrowed" his body in order to play a prank on his dear future Sage—and prevent an assassination attempt on Lady Celi. That latter part had gone some ways in mollifying the fiery blond Mazoku, but only a little. The problem with being related to the Original King by blood was that it made it easy for the ghost to influence him with his powers, and even though Shinou had only taken advantage of this fact to possess him once, Wolfram was very good at holding grudges especially against people he didn't like and so had no desire to forgive.

"You did make it back in one piece though," Shinou pointed out, completely unruffled by Wolfram's wrath. He was already dead after all, and a spirit at that. There wasn't really anything the fire wielder could actually do to harm him.

Fire blazed into life in Wolfram's hand. "That's not the point!"

Shinou seemed to consider this, a mock expression of deep contemplation settling over his semi-transparent features. This alone should have caused alarm bells to go off in their minds, but as it were, they were both too tired—and in Wolfram's case, too angry—to register it for the danger signal it was. "No, I suppose you're right."

This made Wolfram pause, his scowl turning into one of confusion. "What?"

"I said you're right," Shinou repeated, a smirk crawling onto his face as he leaned forward to catch his cute descendant's chin with long, pale fingers. Wolfram jerked a little in surprise when he actually felt the whisper of a touch on his skin. "Let me, ah, give you a gift to make up for it."

Before Wolfram could back away in alarm, blue eyes caught his own green ones and he couldn't look away. A strange sensation swept through him, sinking right into the marrow of his bones, and he only just registered the strength draining out of his knees before the world went dark.

At this point, Yuuri shot to his feet and splashed up the fountain steps. He gathered the unconscious fire wielder into his arms and glared over the golden locks at Shinou. "What did you do to him?"

The spirit coughed. "Don't worry, the spell just exhausted him. He'll be fine with a bit of rest. Think of it as an, ah, early wedding present to the both of you—and an apology for sending you two away so suddenly of course."

Yuuri frowned in bafflement, getting to his feet and cradling his slightly smaller companion against his chest. He couldn't sense anything different. "What spell? What did you do?"

"I'm sure you'll find out." The ghost merely offered him a sly wink before beginning to fade away. "You can thank me later."

Still not understanding Shinou's words but resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get any more information out of said ghost, Yuuri shook his head and started towards the temple entrance. He had only just made it out into the courtyard when one of the priestesses spotted him and dropped everything she'd been carrying to clap excited hands to her mouth.

"Your Majesty! Is that really you?"

Pausing at the foot of the front steps, Yuuri offered her a reassuring if tired smile. "I'm sorry we've been gone for so long. Everyone must be worried sick. Please send word to Lord von Voltaire as soon as possible. I would like to speak to him, Lord Weller, and Lady Celi as soon as possible at the Shibuya mansion."

"I'll do it at once!"

She made to run towards where the messenger birds were kept but Yuuri stopped her before she'd taken more than a few steps.

"Oh, and one more thing. I'd like to borrow a horse, if it's all right."

"Of course, your Majesty. Do you need someone to show you to the stables?"

"Ah, no, that's all right. I think I remember where they are. Thank you."

.

When Jennifer opened the door to find her son and his intended on the doorstep, all she could do was scream and throw her arms around them in a storm of relief and happiness. "Oh, Yuuri, I was so worried! It's so good to have you home again!" Finally pulling away so she could give Wolfram a concerned look over, she added, "Is Wolfie all right? What happened?"

Shifting the blonde in his arms, Yuuri considered telling her what had actually happened and just as quickly discarded the idea since he still hadn't made sense of it either. "He's just tired. We've had a really hectic few weeks."

"The poor dear! You'd better take him upstairs at once. Are you hungry? Thirsty? I'll make something right away and bring it up for you."

"Thanks, Mom."

"It's Mama, how many times do I have to tell you that?"

It felt good to be back in his old familiar room and Yuuri let himself really relax for what seemed like the first time that day, and what a long day it was turning out to be. And with Wolfram's family hopefully on their way over, it could only get longer. But Yuuri wasn't going to think about that right now. He preferred to look on the bright, optimistic side of things—for the most part.

Wolfram stirred when Yuuri placed him on the bed, rolling onto his side and curling into himself before drowsily opening his eyes. He felt so warm and comfortable and sluggish somehow. "Where…?"

"At my parent's house," Yuuri answered, the bed dipping as he sat down beside him. "Are you okay? Do you feel, um, any different?"

Emerald eyes blinked lazily up at him before memories finally caught up and Wolfram frowned a little, taking a few moments to take stock of himself. "I…don't know."

Aside from the warm, tingly, rather pleasant feeling inside, all he felt was tired. The nausea from all their world hopping and messed up arrivals had completely disappeared, leaving not even a hint that it had ever been. If only there was something he could do to make seasickness go away this fast.

"Oh well, I guess that's okay then." Sighing a little, Yuuri shook his head and smiled. "Come on. You'd better get up and eat something before Conrad and the others arrive. Mom made curry."

A lot of the different foods on Earth had been great and they'd both acquired several favorites, but still, nothing could ever replace the things that you had grown up eating. Strange as it may sound, Yuuri rather thought that it hadn't really hit him that they were back in Shin Makoku until that moment in his familiar bedroom with a giant plate of his mother's famous recipe. They ate in comfortable silence, just enjoying the moment and preparing themselves for what was inevitably going to come after.

"Wolfie!"

Lady Celi's excited cry alerted them to the arrival of their visitors and Wolfram hurriedly pushed his plate aside just in time to be tackled by his mother and smothered against her ample bosom.

"Thank Shinou you're both back! You've got to tell us everything—well, when there's time of course. We've just got so much to catch up on."

Wolfram struggled out of his mother's suffocating embrace and glanced over to where his elder brothers stood just inside the doorway. Conrad smiled back at them in relief beside the dark figure of Gwendal who seemed to have added another crease to his forehead during the time they'd been away. Beyond them and crowding them further into the room were Yuuri's parents along with Shori who was rubbing his temple and grimacing. Wolfram wondered idly what had brought on the older man's headache.

"You all seem to be taking this rather well," Yuuri observed, voicing Wolfram's thoughts before he could.

"His Eminence the Great Sage informed us of where you were," Gwendal said flatly. "I trust it was time well spent?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, it was." Straightening his shoulders, Yuuri gestured for everyone to sit, his expression turning serious. "But enough of that. I suspect that stories of our trip can wait. How are things here right now?"

Silence reigned for several uncomfortable moments until Conrad sighed.

"I guess I'll start with the not-as-bad news. A few weeks ago, Rawsha's king and queen were assassinated. The crowned princess Rakell Rawsha disappeared with her baby sister the night of the attack. Yozak believes that they are still alive but in hiding."

That was…not good.

Yuuri frowned uneasily. "So what's the bad news?"

"Well," Shori started grimly, "the group that's currently taken over the kingdom—which also happens to be the group we believe responsible for orchestrating the assassinations—has somehow obtained a very powerful Mazoku artifact, a sword that used to belong to the very first demon king. Only a Maoh can actually use the sword, but they don't need to be able to use its powers to use it as a weapon of intimidation. Not only that but they're claiming that Shin Makoku is assisting them. Guess their leader fancies himself a demon king, or at least that's what he's telling everyone."

"But that's ridiculous!" Wolfram burst out, his temper flaring at what seemed to him like nothing short of blasphemy.

"Yes, well, that's kind of hard to prove when the real demon king hasn't been seen for an entire year."

"Right." Yuuri grimaced, rubbing the bridge of his nose and hoping he didn't develop a headache as well. He'd been expecting problems when they got home seeing as they had been absent for so long, but that didn't mean he hadn't been hoping that he was wrong. "So if we just go get the sword back and prove that we're not affiliated with this rebel group, we should be able to straighten things out, yes?"

"It would be a start," Gwendal said hesitantly. "But I'm sure actually carrying out such a plan would be much more complicated than it sounds."

"Yes, which is why I'm going to go myself," Yuuri declared.

"No," Shori said immediately, scowling. "That would be way too dangerous."

"But you said yourself that the sword can only actually be handled by the Maoh," Yuuri pointed out. "And besides, I won't be going by myself. Wolfram will be there"—he knew better than to try and leave the blonde behind—"and Conrad can come. It sounds like Yozak is already there, and maybe we can bring Eiri and Ryego. Rawsha is right next to us so we should all be able to access our Maryoku just fine. No more people than that though. We don't want to attract attention to ourselves and the last thing I want is to make it seem like we're actually invading."

In the pause that followed, everyone looked at Gwendal. The earth wielder sighed, massaging his temples. He hated risky plans like this. "Fine, I'll make the necessary arrangements."

"Good." Yuuri coughed. "Um, now that that's out of the way, on to happier matters. Mother, Lady Celi, I hope I don't regret this but seeing as we're going to be very busy, I'm appointing you two to plan our wedding—with some rules of course…"

.

Wolfram glowered at his reflection in the mirror, his expression clearly displaying what he thought of what he saw. "I still don't see why I need to go in disguise too."

Carefully putting the second brown-tinted contact in his other eye—it had taken him forever to learn how to do this—Yuuri blinked a couple times. Well, they weren't as uncomfortable as he had feared. "Wolf, you'd practically stand out more than I would. Besides, everyone's going in disguise."

"Ryego isn't," Wolfram pointed out, pouting as he fiddled with a lock of his hair which had been dyed a dirty sort of brown, at least in his opinion. Now he was just sulking.

Yuuri sighed, running a hand through his own now reddish brown hair. "No offense to him or anything, but you kind of can't get any more ordinary looking than Ryego." Besides, the solemn earth wielder carried this air about him that tended to keep people away, an added bonus on to already having brown hair and features it was hard for people to remember. "And don't worry about your hair. The maids say the dye will wash out in a few weeks."

"I'm not worried," Wolfram protested, following him from the room and down to the castle courtyard where the rest of their small party awaited their arrival. That was mostly true seeing as despite everything, Wolfram had never been particularly vain about his looks. It wasn't that he didn't noticethe way most people looked at him, it was that he really didn't care—or maybe didn't believe them. The only people whose opinions made any lasting impressions in his mind were those from the people he cared about. "I just don't like it. It's bothersome."

"Maybe, but it's necessary. Just be glad it isn't permanent."

The border between Shin Makoku and Rawsha consisted almost entirely of one long stretch of forest. Almost no traffic of any kind had occurred between the two kingdoms in years, though there were the occasional mercenary or, more commonly, smuggler who traverse the borders to carry out their work. The rather rough relationship had resulted largely from a powerful religious sect with a potent hatred for demons and a lot of political influence.

"So what are we supposed to be?" Eiri asked, interrupting Ryego's monologue on the history of this particular border. Her originally blue hair had been cut short—somewhat to her dismay, and her grumblings had been added on to Wolfram's—and the color looked more like sand. Though in her case, it was probably more of a lack of dye, at least nobody thought blue hair could be natural. Granted, considering the world in which they lived, maybe that wouldn't be so peculiar after all.

"Mercenaries," Conrad answered, directing the wagon horse's down a narrow path through the trees. "Yozak says that the rebels are always looking to hire more. It should be a good way of getting closer to the imposter king. "Oh and, Miss Eiri, if you could please get off the wagon roof? We don't want to appear too unusual."

Letting out a dramatic sigh, the wind user plopped down onto the driver's seat beside him. "I know, I know. The breeze is just so nice up there."

Twisting around on her new perch, Eiri peered through the cloth flaps into the interior of the wagon and the three people seated inside poring over different documents. Yuuri was surrounded by reports sent back by their spies as well as reports concerning what had been happening in his kingdom for the past year. He had to get through all that information as quickly as possible so Wolfram could burn it before any of the wrong people could find it on their hands. Said blonde was currently occupied sorting through their supplies and checking over their equipment while Ryego studied a map of Rawsha and a book on the settlements they were likely to pass through.

Eiri opened her mouth to speak then decided against it, returning her gaze—and more importantly her ears—to the surrounding woods. That's right. She wasn't in the back with them doing her own research because she was in charge of keeping a look out, her mastery of the winds making her able to detect happenings much farther away than anyone else.

"It's kind of strange," she noted after awhile, rubbing the rough fabric of her patchy and slightly dirty shirt between two fingers. The clothes were another thing she and Wolfram had had a bone to pick about. But then mercenaries weren't exactly known for being the cleanest or most well dressed people in the world. "This forest seems awfully quiet. There aren't even a lot of birds, though I don't hear any people either."

"Maybe they're farther away," Conrad suggested.

Making a noncommittal sound in her throat, Eiri started to answer then froze, sitting straighter and her hands stilling on her lap. Conrad pulled the horses to a halt and looked at her expectantly.

Taking a deep breath, Eiri let it out slowly and shook her head, partly to clear it and partly to give her okay. "There are definitely people in this forest, and probably not people we want to meet right now. But they're not close. We shouldn't have any trouble."

She paused as though struggling with something then added, her expression distinctly troubled, "I can also hear a baby crying."

Conrad frowned. He didn't like the sound of that, and if he'd been on one of his patrols he might have chosen to go investigate. But as it were, he simply started the wagon moving again and kept silent.

.

Yozak had included the name of an inn in his last report, a moderately sized place near the center of town but enough out of the way that not too many people would be passing through. A rather burly looking maid met them as they stepped through the door, giving them a wink as "she" swept up to them.

"So glad you chose to visit our humble establishment! Will you be needing rooms for the night or simply a hot meal?"

"Both," Conrad answered, smiling. Lowering his voice, he added, "When does your shift end."

Replying in equally hushed tones, Yozak said, "At ten, darling. I'll meet you in your room."

Eiri giggled at his choice of words while the others made their way past the pair to where the innkeeper stood at the bar.

"We'd like three rooms for the night," Yuuri said, his expression giving nothing away. Wolfram decided to call it his politician's face.

The innkeeper glanced over them without much interest, stating the price and already reaching for the keys. Yuuri paid him and they made their way upstairs.

"Wolf and I will take the room at the end of the hall," Yuuri announced, tucking that key into his pocket then tossing the other two to Conrad and the wind Mazoku respectively. "Ryego can stay with Conrad and, of course, Eiri gets her own. It's been a bit of a long day so get some rest. We'll start the real work tomorrow morning."

Catching the key, Conrad nodded. "Shall I brief you on Yozak's report tomorrow morning as well then?"

"Yes, I think that would be best."

"I want a bath," Wolfram declared, folding his arms across his chest and lifting his nose.

Yuuri laughed, looping an arm around his waist and starting for their room. "Of course. Mind if I join you?"

"Yuuri!"

"Okay, okay, just kidding." Not really, but Yuuri thought he'd better not or who knew what he might do, rules be damned. "Take your bath and I'll order dinner."

Eiri hid a smile behind her had as she watched them go, though her smile turned wistful after the door had shut behind them. She really envied Wolfram sometimes. She wanted a nice boyfriend too, someone with manners but who also knew how to appreciate her. Good men could be so hard to come by these days.

"Hey," she started, turning to Ryego. "I'm going to get something to eat downstairs. Do you want to come?"

The earth user sighed. "Sorry, but I still have some things I need to finish looking over."

"Fine. Suit yourself."

Rolling her eyes, Eiri headed back down the stairs and into the dining area which was rapidly filling up with people. It was just her luck. The inn was small enough already from her point of view and now there were no free tables left.

Although…

The figure slumped at the small corner table started when Eiri pulled out the chair across from it—or her as it turned out. Huh, her hair was even shorter than Eiri's was now. Maybe she shouldn't have complained so much about that haircut.

"Hey, mind if I sit here? There doesn't seem to be any space left."

"I guess so." Despite the obvious bags under her eyes, the girl—young woman, she looked like she was in her late teens—had a startlingly penetrating gaze. That gaze swept over Eiri's face as though checking for something that she thankfully didn't find and then fell to the glint of steel at the wind user's waist. Eiri had forgotten to leave her sword in her room, but then it was probably safer to be armed anyway. And it wasn't like she was the only one in the tavern carrying weapons. Hazel eyes widened. "You're a soldier?"

Sensing her new companion's tension, Eiri raised her eyebrows. "Um, no. I'm a mercenary. My friends and I just got into town."

Huh, maybe she shouldn't have said that. The tension seemed to be getting worse.

"Oh." The young woman glanced around the crowded tavern then back at Eiri's face. "Are you from the capitol?"

"Nope." Lowering her voice conspiratorially, Eiri grinned. "We actually just arrived in this country. We heard there's a lot of work for mercenaries to be had around here right now."

"That's true," the other girl sighed heavily, her expression clouding over. The hand that Eiri could see resting on the table clenched and unclenched restlessly, and the Mazoku wondered what had happened to her. She would be the first to admit that she wasn't the best at reading people, but it didn't take a genius to see that her tablemate had been through some tough times, and probably hadn't come out the other side yet either.

"You okay?"

Instead of answering, she asked, "Are you looking for Izare then? I heard he's hired practically every mercenary that's set foot on Rawsha soil."

Izare, Izare—oh, right. Eiri seemed to recall the others mentioning the man. That was the name of the fool pretending to know and be supported by the demon king.

"Well, we haven't really made up our minds yet," Eiri said carefully. She really hoped this young woman wasn't too good at telling when someone was lying, but Eiri really wasn't a very good liar when you got down to it. Working for the man had been their plan after all, though she felt in her gut that she had just stumbled on something that promised to be much more interesting.

"I can't say we're all that fond of the idea, though we may not have much of a choice," Eiri added. That was true at least. None of them wanted or intended to actually work for the rebels. From what she'd heard, they weren't exactly your heroic revolutionaries. People who used the existence of demon swords to threaten people seldom were.

This information seemed to catch the girl off guard and she hesitated. Eiri could almost see her turning an idea over in her head.

"So then are you guys any good?"

Eiri smirked. Now this question she could answer with a hundred percent honesty too. "We're the best you'll ever find."

"How many of you are there?"

Okay, so Eiri was no longer sure she should be answering these questions, but it wasn't like the answer couldn't be easily obtained anyway. "Six."

.

Five pairs of eyes stared at the two women with varied expressions of surprise and skepticism.

Wolfram was the first to break the silence. "What did you say?"

Eiri shifted a little uncomfortably under the combined scrutiny of her companions. "Well, Rachel here says she has a job for us."

"A job," Ryego repeated, frowning. "Have you forgotten that we have important work to do? A lot of ground to cover before dark, for one."

The wind user grimaced. "Yes, I know that. But you've got to hear her out. She really does need help."

"It's not that we don't want to help," Conrad spoke up, trying to be diplomatic. "It's simply that we are on a tight schedule."

"Yes, I'm sure she could find someone else," Wolfram agreed. They didn't need to add unnecessary detours to this mission.

"You're mercenaries, aren't you?" The young woman—Rachel—demanded, speaking for the first time since Eiri had introduced her to them at the breakfast table. Despite the proud lift of her head, there was a veiled desperation in her eyes that caught all of their attention. "Well, I'm hiring you. Isn't that why you're here? To look for work? I assure you that I pay very well."

Falling silent, they all looked at Yuuri. The double black had been silent this entire time, his expression unreadable as he carefully studied the newcomer.

At last, he smiled and gestured at an empty chair. "Why don't you sit down and tell us what you want us to do?"

Taking a deep breath, Rachel sat down and folded her hands on the table before her. She steeled herself for a moment before saying, "My daughter was kidnapped two days ago. I need help to get her back…"

They finished breakfast in a hurry and Yozak went to the stables out back to help Conrad prepare their wagon. Everyone else returned to their rooms to collect their things.

The moment the door to their room shut behind them, Wolfram burst out, "Yuuri, why are we accepting the job? She said herself that she thinks the brigands who took her daughter work for the rebels. I thought the whole plan was to get into the rebel leader's favor so we could get close to the sword. This would ruin everything! We don't even know if she's telling the truth!"

"She's not," Yuuri said matter-of-factly, pulling on his coat.

"She's—" Wolfram gaped then his eyes flashed with anger. "So she's lying to us? Then why are we helping her?"

Yuuri shook his head, throwing their bags over his shoulder. "Listen, Wolf, she's lying but I'm not entirely sure what about. I have a few suspicions, but I need to know more before we make any assumptions. I'm not sure how but I think—no, I know—she's a good person and we can't just leave things like this."

"But, Yuuri!"

Yuuri sighed. "Wolf, just stop arguing, all right? That's an order. We are going to help her, so please get your coat so we can leave. I promise I'll explain everything later. Trust me."

Wolfram opened and shut his mouth then let out a frustrated sigh and grabbed his coat. The girl had better not pull any funny business.

.

With Eiri's discreet assistance, they located the brigands easily enough. The wind user was surprised to discover that it was the same group of people she'd heard when they'd been traveling through the forest the day before. So that meant the sound of a baby crying… The realization made her shiver and her eyes narrowed with distaste. What kind of barbarians kidnapped children? There were better ways to get money than ransom.

"Is that them?" Yuuri mouthed silently.

Rachel nodded and the double black returned his attention to the ragged camp in the clearing before them. Well, there weren't that many of them and he couldn't sense the presence of any human mages or esoteric stones. They wouldn't have any problems. Shifting his grip on his unsheathed sword, Yuuri narrowed his eyes and signaled for everyone to move.

They executed the invasion swiftly and efficiently for the most part. Yuuri had ordered them to kill only if absolutely necessary. As long as no one got a good look at them, they would be all right. And even if someone did catch a good look at their faces through the panic and adrenaline rush of the surprise assault, their descriptions were unlikely to do any good. That was the whole point of coming here in disguise after all.

The only hitch in the plan came when one of the smarter bandits seized the baby and pressed a knife to its neck. But before he could even make any threats, Ryego made a heaving gesture with his arms and the ground heaved beneath the man's feet, flinging him into the air with a startled cry. Wolfram dove forward to catch the wailing infant before the bundle could hit the ground and Yozak quickly knocked the remaining brigand unconscious with the hilt of his dagger.

Within moments, they were all gone from the clearing once more and settled in the group's canvas covered wagon as Yozak hurried them away from the scene of the crime.

Rachel sat on the floor of the wagon, hugging the baby girl to her as though afraid that she would disappear if she let go. But her eyes were fixed on the other people seated in the wagon, wide with a mixture of nervous emotions.

"That wasn't human magic," she said firmly. "Who are you people?"

Yuuri put a soothing hand on his fiance's back when he felt the fire user tense beside him. "We'll tell you, but only if you tell us what your real name is first."

Rachel shifted uncomfortably on the wooden boards, her grip tightening on the bundle in her arms in obvious anxiety. But then she squared her shoulders and said, "All right. I guess I don't have much choice at this point. Too much has happened and I've run out of options." She trailed off, seeming more to be talking to herself than the rest of them. Then her gaze sharpened and she met their eyes steadily. "My name is Rakell Rawsha."

Wolfram blinked, forgetting his earlier irritation in favor of disbelieving incredulity. Rakell Rawsha, as in the crowned princess who had gone missing several weeks ago?

Yuuri and Yozak were the only ones who didn't seem surprised. From the driver's seat, they could hear the spy chuckle and mutter a "thought so" under his breath.

"And that's your baby sister, not your daughter," Yuuri stated calmly.

Rakell frowned uncertainly. "You…knew?"

"I guessed." Yuuri shrugged and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. You could say that we're sort of on your side. As you may or may not have guessed, we're actually from Shin Makoku."

"You're demons," she breathed, not quite shocked but also not quite relaxed. "So you arehere for Izare."

"To prove that he's not affiliated with us, yes," Yuuri replied before she could make any assumptions of her own. "You see, I greatly dislike bloodshed and I refuse to sit back and allow someone to use my title to justify violence."

Leaning against Yuuri's side, Wolfram smirked slightly, amused by the drop-jawed expression on their new traveling companion's face. Somehow, he didn't think Yuuri matched her idea of a demon king. But really, what did people in these human lands really know about the Maohs of Shin Makoku anyway?

TBC…

AN: Reviews are appreciated!

Also, I kind of want to change the summary for this story since I don't particularly like the one I have now, but I'm not sure what to change it to (or maybe not?). In any case, suggestions are welcome. Maybe something like "Growing up in Shin Makoku…" Hmm…

Merry Christmas everyone! And have a great weekend.

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