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Sawyer Fan, kkmbigfan1, Melitawinx, Rolo-chan, SweetHeaven, & the 3 Guests! Thank you all for your lovely comments! You all seriously made my day! Just so much love right now! :D
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Chapter 3:

Present day.

Thump.

"Argh, more? Where do you even get all these papers from Gunter?"

"The work of the Moau is never done, Your Majesty. But as always you are doing a fine job."

Yuuri glared at the mountains of work that lay before him. Sometimes he felt that he was signing the same thing over and over again. Sometimes there would be so much to do that he found himself dreaming about it too, those were always the worst.

Slam.

With his back pressed against the door and beads of sweat dripping down his face Gwendal whispered,

"I'm not here."

"Anissina wanting you to be her guinea pig again?" Conrad spoke looking up from his book.

His older brother nodded his head.

In that moment the door-knob shook from side to side, causing each man to panic. Realising that if he stayed blocking the door it was obvious that he was in the study, Gwendal moved to the side, hoping that he could hide behind the door and out of view if it was indeed the pink-haired demon trying to enter.

Either the door opened slowly, or time just seemed to be prolonged when they ever hear the mention of one of Anissina's experiments, which ever it was, each man in the room with maryoku was dreading the entry of the pink-haired woman.

"Is everyone alright?" Said the sweet little girl wearing a white top and grey three-quarter pants. Each person in the room let out a breath at the sight before them; it seems that they were indeed lucky today.

"Oh, Greta, it is just you. Yes, we are fine. What's up?" Said Yuuri, grateful for the little distraction from all his work.

She walked in the room a little more, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, okay. I was just wondering when Wolfram would be getting here? Dinner is in a few hours and I thought he was arriving this morning?" Her smile was small, but it was hopeful.

"Yes, actually, I was wondering the same thing. Gwendal?" Wolfram's reluctance to turning up at the castle was really starting to rub Yuuri the wrong way.

"He should be here soon; he sent word that he would be late, as he still had business to attend to back at the estate."

Another rattle from the door handle accompanied by muffles snatched their attention away from the conversation, forcing Gwendal to retake his hiding position behind the door. Sweat glides down his face as he mentally prepares himself for the worst.

Ungracefully stumbling through the door, two figures almost lose their balance as one tries to pull her son in, while the other desperately tries to keep his personal space intact.

"Mother, get off me, I'm a grown man!"

"Wolfie, don't be like that! I haven't seen you for months, I was worried!"

After some more tug of war with Wolfram's arm, the former Moau, Cacilie von Spitzqeg broke away from her youngest, reluctantly feeling as though she should let the others greet him too.

"Wolfram!" Greta said, jumping into his arms.

"Wolfram, what great timing! We were just wondering where you were!" Yuuri said with a smile, 'now hopefully I can sneak away from all this paper work…' he thought.

"Oh yeah, I got caught up, sorry."

"That's fine, just as long as you got here safe." Conrad said deciding to put away his book.

"Yes, it is good to see you Wolfram, did you finish up that business you were attending to?" Gwendal spoke moving away from his hiding place and nearing towards the blonde.

"Not quite." He replied while placing the girl back on the ground besides him.

"What business? Was this still the same situation with the letter the other day? I thought you would have handled that already?" Yuuri's curiosity towards the situation was piquing, whether it was because he was generally interested, or, more so, annoyed at the fact that he was being kept out of the loop, he wasn't sure.

"I am handling it. It is just taking longer than expected."

"Well then, what is it? Maybe we could help." Yuuri spoke with persistent and good will.

"I already said, I have it handled." Wolfram was quick to shut down any offers of help. If one didn't know him they might have taken his lack of tone and bluntness to be disrespectful and rude, even his stance was rigid and inhospitable, but to the occupants in the room this was typical behaviour of the young demon.

Yuuri's eyes focused towards the blonde's, hoping to decipher the reasoning behind the need for formality and distance he was receiving; it was useless. After all these years Yuuri still didn't understand half the things Wolfram did, why it was becoming more irritating now to him was beyond his comprehension, yet it didn't stop him pushing the point, "Well clearly not if-"

"Ha! There you are Gwendal!" Shivers jumped through each man sporting maryoku as Lady Anissina storms into the room, closely followed by her assistant Sasha.

"Oh, Wolfram, you're back too! Perfect! Did you want to help us out instead?" She said with her usual boisterous personality. She was like a red monster among tiny penguins shouting and flapping her arms about, there was just no way you couldn't notice her, and be either amused, or scared for your life.

"Good evening your Excellency, it has been awhile. Excuse us for the interruption." A sweet blue-haired woman bowed towards him.

Anissinaa was quick to butt in, "Oh, don't apologise Sasha! It is a great honour to be a part of our experiments, we are making history!"

"Umm, hi Sasha, don't worry about it." Wolfram spoke softly towards the woman, he may have left feeling somewhat threatened by her, but he wasn't an unreasonable man. She had always been sweet and kind to him, so he couldn't hold any resentment towards her.

"Anissina, what exactly would you have me do?" He said hesitantly, he would normally offer his older brother up straight away, as everyone knew he was her favourite victim. However today he couldn't decide what was worse, involving Yuuri and his brothers in this little problem of his, which would mean spending more time with Yuuri-, making it harder to stay a good obedient solider,-; or one of Lady Anissina's experiments. It was a hard choice, he had a feeling he might regret either one.

Without giving too much thought Yuuri found himself speaking. "You can't be serious? You hate playing guinea pig!"

In a calm voice Wolfram replied, "Well, I just thought I would give Gwendal and the others a break for once, excuse me for being considerate."

"That's crap and you know it. You're just avoiding telling us what is really going on! Or are you just avoiding me again?!" He didn't mean to let those words slip from his lips, but before he knew it he was shouting.

Wolfram's voice got away from, and before he had control of it, he was meeting Yuuri with equal force. "Not everything is about you, Yuuri!"

Anger spilled from both men. They had barely been a minute together and there was already fire in the room. Wolfram cursed himself for biting back, but it seemed that all he knew was how to be defensive lately. Yuuri felt himself starting to lose control, it felt like all he did was try to reach out to the other, yet all he got was cold returns. His blood was starting to boil, and he could already feel his cheeks burning red with anger.

"You say that, but you only ever return to the castle once you know I am gone. Then conveniently leave before I return. If there is a chance our paths could cross you have somehow found some excuse to avoid that, how the hell else am I meant to take that? You even moved out of the castle for crying out loud! I don't know about you, but I wouldn't consider this as 'OKAY.'"

Wolfram clenched his teeth so hard he felt he would break them in that instance. He wanted to bite back so bad, he wanted to show the other boy up and put him in his place, but the truth was he was spot on and they all knew it. But Wolfram was a proud man, and he wasn't about to admit defeat just yet. He was however willing to meet half-way.

Conscious of the little girl in the room Gwendal butted in quickly. "Okay! I think that is enough you two!"

"Hang on; I think they should get it out. I think this has gone on long enough, don't you think? I mean, things haven't been right for longer than a year I would say. This is a long time over-due." Murata said, from his spot at the far end of the long table in the middle of the room. He had been so absorbed in a school project that they almost forgotten he was in the room.

A few painfully quiet seconds passed as each waited for any response for the two currently eye-ing each other off.

Forcing himself to speak, Wolfram finally decided to talk. "I have my reasons, plus we are creatures that live long lives, we don't need to live under the same roof for eternity, it was about time you learnt that. You don't have to take everything so personally, your majesty."

He couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice, and he knew perfectly well that it would piss Yuuri off more if he refrained from using his real name; the little devil inside of him just couldn't help it.

"And, if you must insist on knowing what has been going on, then, I am afraid I am going to have to ask that anyone who doesn't need to be here to please leave. Mother, do you mind taking Greta for a bit?" He faced her and then Greta whose eyes were glittering with moisture.

"I'm sorry again for yelling… you know me princess, please don't cry, it is okay."

"W-why can't I stay? Are you in trouble?"

He ruffles the girl's hair casually, trying as hard as possible to rid the venom from his voice as he replied to her, "it is nothing to worry about, I promise, everything will be fine. It is just that it is still… well, we have to discuss some mature stuff. This loser might have adopted you on paper, but you are every bit my own in my heart, so is it really so wrong of me to want to protect you from hearing something that might be a little unsettling?"

Yuuri still didn't trust himself to speak. He couldn't believe the words he had already spoken, and there was still more he felt lingering on the top of his tongue. One was chewing Wolfram's ear off for calling him a loser in front of his daughter, but then another part of him found what Wolfram had said to her really touching, so he couldn't bring himself to ruin their little moment. He already felt like a spoiled brat arguing with his parents.

Greta looked from Wolfram and then to Yuuri, with a serious expression on her face as she spoke, "I guess. But no more fighting!"

The women took their leave, deciding to best leave the men to discuss whatever business it was that they needed to be discussed. Wolfram took a place next to Gwendal, with Murata being on the other side of Gwendal, across from them sat, Conrad, Gunter and Yuuri. Murata thought it was tad amusing that the two sat on the seats that were furthest away from each other, and he wondered if that was an accident or on purpose.

Silence took over while the men gather their thoughts. Most of the older men hoping that perhaps if they waited a minute or two the conversation could be a little less-heated and a little more productive.

"Fine, I guess I will just start then." Wolfram said breaking the silence of the room. "So as you know, since forever there has always been people opposing the kingdom, this is nothing new, and this isn't something that is ever truly going to stop. Every now and then we get letters telling us what we are doing wrong, and what we need to improve, or just that we are horrible creatures needing to be wiped out. This isn't something new, nor it something special. But, saying that, we have to keep a watchful eye for anything that could be a possible threat."

"The last couple of months since I have been living at the estate, I have been receiving letters from an unknown source. At first we thought they were just the usual threats, or fan-mail depending the way you want to look at them, but it seems they have gotten persistent. White and blue seals, the same ones on the letters I have been receiving, have been popping up around neighbouring villages, and recently a few attacks on the food supplies on human villages belonging to the Great Demon Kingdom occurred. However, we are still investigating whether these are connected or not. I didn't want to worry the kingdom until I had more proof."

"And you say they have been sent to you, you mean addressed to you or the kingdom, or you're your uncle, Waltrana?" Gwendal asked.

"To me. It seems whoever it is running this has the idea that I also have the same views as them. They know things about me, about the kingdom, that they shouldn't. They know that I was chosen to take the throne if Yuuri didn't return all those years ago. Which I know wasn't a secret, but it still wasn't well-known, most felt it was just a rumour. This isn't connected to any of the ten noble men,-; all that used to oppose the current ruling years ago now fully support it. The kingdom has never been in such a promising state before, the amount of threats we once had are disintegrating, and so possible leads as to who could be behind this are minimal."

"This doesn't seem like a small threat to me. You should have informed us right away." Yuuri glared at the man.

"No. We don't know that it isn't minimal. For all we know it could be one person holding a grudge against humans, but not willing to actually take action by himself."

"But what if it's not? You don't know that, so why take the chance?" Yuuri piped up.

"Because, if the king and his subordinates came around, it could make it worse. I was just trying to get a sense of the danger before we rush into any sort of action."

"What? How does that make any sense?" Yuuri responded again wanting to understand the situation thoroughly.

Answering the question the Great Sage interjected, "I see, so you figured if we got involved so soon it would either accelerate their plans before we knew them, or they would shut you out completely before you had a chance to work out what sort of threat they were."

"Exactly. There was no point in worrying you over something before I knew how serious these people are. They seem to not want to act before they have an answer from me, so as long as I kept my distance from the kingdom they would keep trusting me."

"Answer for what?" Again the young King found himself rapidly questioning Wolfram as if-if he didn't ask now, he would miss some important detail.

"Aar, from what I have gathered, to be the face of the rebellion."

"What?!" Yuuri slammed down his hands on the table, standing up, still glaring at the man.

Ignoring His Majesty's tantrum, Conrad spoke, "Of course, you are a full-blooded demon from a high renowned noble family, the people know you already especially considering Mother used to rule, and your association to the current ruler; the people would listen to what you have to say."

"Conrad!" Yuuri whinged, not liking the agreeable-tone the older man used.

"Yes, you did the right thing Wolfram. Did you find anything else out?" Gwendal spoke, also choosing to ignore the Moau.

"Not particularly, although it seems they are well-aware of my where about. The fact that they found me at Voltaire estate worries me. The last letter made a threat towards the food supply of a village close to Bielefelt estate if I came here. That is why it took us longer to arrive. I have set up extra guards in each of the human villages under our protection close to the estate. Nothing has happened that I am aware of though, so it could just be a bluff."

"A bluff? What if it wasn't? And if they are watching you, what about your safety?"

"Yuuri, it seems unlikely that they would attack if they want his help. Plus, if they were going to they probably would have done it a long time ago." Murata commented, not really worried about the situation, he had lived many lives,-; situations like this weren't new to him.

"Still. I don't like this, it isn't worth the risk."

"Sit down, Yuuri. See, this is why I was reluctant to inform you, you're too protective. This stuff happens from time to time. You can't keep everyone safe; you just have to trust that we can handle it ourselves."

"Well maybe I could trust a little better if you had bothered to drop in every now and then. It has been eight months since we have seen each other! How do you expect me to trust someone when I feel that I don't know them anymore? So, excuse me if I am worried about said person's safety."

They were eying each other off. Yuuri felt frustration building inside of him. A part of him knew he was being unfair and demanding, but that aside, he couldn't help what he was feeling. He didn't even understand it himself, but everything about the blonde man made him frustrated beyond belief.

Wolfram dropped his eyes, he felt himself sink into the chair, defeat written across his face. What did he expect? That he could leave and still retain respect and trust from all the people he left behind?

The room fell to silence once again. It seems it was becoming a common presence in their lives of late. The other men in the room were lost for words, it wasn't that they completely agreed with Yuuri, it is just that they didn't think it was their place to interfere with something that seemed more personal than either two appear to realise.

Wolfram got up out of his seat, choosing to continue to look at the ground before him. He replied quietly before exiting the room.

"You're right, I'm sorry. But there isn't anything I can do about it now, so if you don't mind I think I might rest before dinner."

Yuuri wasn't sure what he was expecting to hear, but to hear the man before him so easily defeated - he wasn't sure how he was meant to feel about that. He wasn't sure he had ever heard the young man admit to being in fault before, for a strange reason it seemed to worry him more than anything else he had heard that day.

As the man left the room he seemed to leave more of a hole in their lives than he did when he wasn't around. The more he was around, the more painfully clear it was becoming how far that distance between them had developed. His return was meant to be a happy one, one filled with joy and reassurance that everything was okay, that they were unchanged and still one happy family. Yet, it seems that the memory of a happy family that Yuuri held close to his heart was nothing more than a delusion, something that promised more but gave nothing. It was one that Wolfram was not fond to play a part in, - one he wasn't even aware existed, let alone to know that he was capable of destroying it.

Yuuri sunk back into his chair feeling the string of words that had been prepared to strike from his lips fade away from him. The rest of the day was lost to mixed feelings; ones too young and confused to be of any use to the owner of them, resulting in the young King's lack of involvement in any further conversation, and a brooding fog to hang around the rest of the men.

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This chapter is still setting up the story, so I hope to get the next couple up soon! I just need to get them proof-read! If I am taking too long you are welcome to spam me, I will hurry up then! :)

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