HEELS OVER HEAD

Chapter Six

A ConYuu Fan-fiction

By: Ami

Beta-reader: thisissong (currently inactive)

Alternate Universe. No spoilers, though I've (finally) watched it up to episode 41.

Standard disclaimers apply.

XXX

The group finally got far enough from the dangerous area. Yuuri mentally counted the number of bandits they had knocked out so far and quickly realized that Yozak and Conrad had definitely lied about the 'small in number' thing. It was a big group of well-armed villains. The bandits almost outnumbered Conrad's army. Maybe it was the reason why Conrad had decided to take care of them by himself. Conrad's army was probably the only army that could defeat them.

"Are we there yet?" Yuuri asked the man whom he was riding with.

"Not yet. Just a bit more." Conrad replied, still focusing on the road in front of them. Yuuri couldn't see his face, but his tone sounded hoarse, making Yuuri feel a bit guilty for always causing him trouble.

Yuuri turned to his back, observing the townspeople who were walking behind them surrounded by some soldiers. The children had stopped crying, but they still seemed worried about their safety. Yuuri wasn't very calm about the circumstances either. His decision had endangered all the people, and he wouldn't be able to relax until they could deliver the townspeople safely to the hideout.

Yuuri winced as he felt a familiar sting in his head. He quickly shook his head and tried to focus his mind. He didn't want to lose himself at the time.

"Are you okay, Yuuri?" Conrad asked, turning his head to Yuuri.

"Uh… yes. I guess so." Yuuri managed out a smile, "I felt a bit dizzy. But I'm okay now."

"We're getting quite close," Conrad reassured, "you see the bridge over there?"

Yuuri looked over Conrad's shoulder and saw a bridge over a river, located about several hundred feet away from their place. "That one?"

"Yes. The place is just ahead of it. After we get close enough, we'll be able to see it. It seems like an abandoned mansion from outside, but it has a huge basement that's big enough for all the people in the town." Conrad smiled.

"Whoa, awesome place! Unbelievable!" Yuuri's eyes shimmered, "Who built it?"

"Gunter is more well-suited to answer it." Conrad chuckled, "All I know is that the place has been there for more than 100 years."

"Wow! I wanna see it!" Yuuri remarked cheerfully.

Conrad laughed, "Well, since you look so impatient, shall we race there?"

Yuuri was struck dumb as Conrad gently grabbed each of his hands and guided it around his waist. It took him a few more moments to realize what the older half-mazoku was planning to do.

"Hold on me tight, Heika." Conrad said cheerfully as he turned his eyes back to the road in front of him, "Here we..."

Yuuri's face turned pale, "Wait, you're not planning to..."

"...go!"

Yuuri closed his eyes tightly as the horse went wild and ran with the speed he had never experienced before. Yuuri was sure that if he let Conrad's waist go, he'd be blown off the horse.

Yuuri tightened his grip and pressed his face on the older man's back. If only he had the gut to open his eyes at the time, he might be able to see the uncharacteristic rare smug in Conrad's face.

"Here we are, Heika."

Yuuri warily opened his eyes as he felt that the excruciating ride was over. The bridge was now bared right in front of them. Yuuri turned to his back and saw the others were still far away behind them. Some soldiers looked surprised at their commander's sudden action, some were stoned in their place, and some were calling frantically for them. Conrad quickly shouted to them to keep their pace, then climbed down the horse calmly, ignoring Yuuri's glare.

"Were you trying to kill me?" He glowered to the smiling man.

"My apologies, Heika." Conrad replied, not sounding like he meant it, "has your headache gone?"

"More or less," Yuuri brought a hand up to his head and muttered softly, "…But I'd prefer aspirin next time."

"I'll keep that in mind," Conrad helped Yuuri to dismount carefully, "Unfortunately, the bridge isn't strong enough to cope with horse, so we'll have to leave our horse here."

"That's a relief," Yuuri sighed, "I wish I could just walk back home."

"I don't particularly mind walking you back to the castle, but it'll take a whole day to reach home on foot, Yuuri." Conrad let out an amused chuckle, "Saa, shall we cross the bridge now?"

Yuuri nodded as he excitedly ran to the bridge. A faint strange smell struck him instantly as he reached the middle of the bridge. The Maou looked around, trying to find the source of the bad smell, but he couldn't see any suspicious thing nearby. Deciding to ignore the weird smell, he turned around and looked over the river. Although the river looked small and clean, the current was actually pretty strong that he couldn't see through to the riverbed.

"Whoa!" Yuuri gasped as 'something' suddenly jumped up from the surface of the river and landed unceremoniously near his feet with a loud 'thud'.

"What---what on earth is that!"

Conrad looked at the 'thing' and smiled, "It's just a fish, Heika."

"It does not look like it!" Yuuri protested as he pointed to the quivering 'thing'. It almost looked like a catfish, only that it had the size of an adult cat, the color of a giraffe, and a pair of frog's-like feet. Conrad only chuckled as he calmly picked the poor animal up and threw it back in to the river.

"Something like this happens every time ever since this bridge was built." Conrad explained, "This place is not a crowded spot, so most of them are not lucky enough to meet someone like us. Most just die of suffocation and get dried up here."

"That explains the smell… poor thing…" Yuuri said glumly, "People don't eat it, right?"

"Well, despite its weird looks, it actually tastes good. If I'm not mistaken, the restaurant we visited today uses the chopped dried fish in their special…", Conrad could only smile in sympathy as his king's face turned bluish at his explanations.

"I'll never go to the restaurant again!" Yuuri declared as he ran to the end of the bridge to avoid the smell, as Conrad calmly followed him from behind.

The sound of the stabbing arrow snapped Conrad out of his peaceful mind.

As he turned to his side and saw an arrow just a few feet behind him, he promptly shouted for his king's name.

Yuuri was taken aback for a while as he stopped at his track, then he turned to his back to find that Conrad was running frantically to his direction, and grabbed his waist just before the rain of arrows came upon them.

Then everything went blank.

XXX

"We thought you'd never come…"

Yuuri flinched at the voice, but still refusing to open his eyes. He still felt so sleepy, so weary.

"…and you brought 'that' all the way here just for his stupid speech?"

Yuuri was still persistently squeezing his eyes shut as the voices around him were getting louder and louder.

"...Ara! You're so sweet, Conrad! I'm so proud of you!"

'…Conrad…?'

Yuuri slowly opened his eyes, taking some time to adjust to the brightness of the room.

"...You just keep spoiling him!"

Everything was still blurred around him. Yuuri lazily rubbed his eyes.

"Heika, it's your favorite ice cream flavor, right? You must be happy."

Then everything became clear to Yuuri's vision.

"Eh?"

Yuuri blinked repeatedly as he tried to comprehend the whole circumstances. Then he looked around and saw everything he had seen in his previous dream. The dining room, his smiling comrades, the bright birthday decorations, and…

"Here, I hope it suits your taste."

…A cone of vanilla ice cream.

Yuuri elevated his view and saw the smiling face of his most trusted friend.

"Conrad…" He muttered softly as he instinctively brought his hand up to receive the ice cream cone, "…How did you…"

"We still have a whole fridge of it, in case you want more." Conrad smiled, "The vendor insisted. He said that it's a birthday present from him."

"…I see…" Yuuri expressionlessly glanced at the ice cream in his hand. Actually, he wasn't really in the mood to eat, besides he always liked the chocolate-flavored one better. But the vanilla ice cream suddenly looked very alluring.

'…Just a little.. besides… Conrad had brought it all the way here for me…'

With the thought, Yuuri brought the ice cream to his mouth, savoring its comfortable coldness and sweetness appreciatively.

"How's it?"

…The Maou promptly changed his mind. Vanilla had officially become his most favorite ice cream flavor.

"It's delicious," Yuuri smiled brightly, "Thanks, Conrad."

Conrad returned his smile, "I'm glad you like it."

Gwendal coughed. Yuuri lifted up his head and realized that all the people in the room was staring at them with delightful eyes. Even Wolfram was smiling at them at the moment.

"Well done! Since everybody is here, I suppose we can join the party now!" Cheri clapped her hands cheerfully as she signaled the guards to open the double-door to the main hall for them.

Yuuri gaped as the main hall came to his view. It was not the usual main hall he remembered. Apart from the extremely bright decorations Anissina had set up and the loud music, soldiers, nobles and common people were there, dancing, eating and having fun together! It was an absolutely impossible scene! Gunter had once told him that only aristocrats and upper-ranked soldiers were allowed to enter the main hall.

Ignoring his obvious puzzlement, his other friends casually entered the main hall, greeted by the people's loud cheers.

Not given the time to recover from the shock (and finish his new-found favorite ice cream), Yuuri was soon surrounded by the various people who merely wanted to see him, greeted him personally, or gave him a birthday present.

"He is the healthiest lamb in my ranch!" An old, but energetic farmer told him as he pulled his unwilling lamb to Yuuri's view, "I'd like to present him to you, Heika! I hope he can be useful to you!"

Yuuri tried his best not to cringe as he thanked the kind farmer for his effort and asked the guard to take care of the lamb for him.

"I---I---my boyfriend and I are huge fans of yours! Please sign this for us, Maou-Heika!" A blushing girl thrust a ragged shirt forward. Yuuri took a step backward defensively at the reek smell coming from the cloth.

"My boyfriend caught a cold, so he couldn't attend your birthday party, that's why I brought his favorite shirt here as his replacement! I'm sure that he'll be very happy to have your autograph on his shirt!"

Yuuri forced out a smile as he carefully signed the dirty cloth and thanked the girl for attending his party.

"Ooh! I'll never wash this!" The girl exclaimed happily as she turned around and jogged back to her friends.

"Maou-Heika! Sign my handkerchief too!"

"My favorite shoe too!"

"Maou-Heika, please accept my handmade cookies!"

"I specially made this for you, Maou-Heika!"

"Hey! Get away! I got here first!"

"What!"

Just as Yuuri thought that he couldn't stand it anymore, he spotted Conrad who was heading to his direction. Everybody instantly stopped talking, bowed their heads and stepped aside.

Having Conrad standing right in front of him, Yuuri immediately felt the difference. Conrad suddenly felt… a little bit shorter than usual. The feeling was almost similar like what he had felt with Gunter, only that it was stronger at the time, that he had always secretly compared his height to Conrad's, wanting to grow as tall as the brunet soon.

"If you don't mind," Conrad's words snapped him out of his thoughts, "can I have a moment alone with you, Yuuri?"

XXX

Yuuri kept the silence until they reached the quiet balcony. He knew what Conrad was about to ask, but he wasn't planning to say anything until Conrad triggered it.

"Everyone's happy for you, but you don't look very cheerful." Conrad stated as he watched the king lean his back on the wall, sighing heavily, "If you're upset about something, you can always share it with me."

Although Yuuri was not a personality who lied, he was actually considering the option to answer Conrad. Telling the concerned brunet that he was confusing dream for reality and reality for dream would not be the most reasonable way to explain his gloom in the supposedly happy day.

"No, you're wrong. I'm very happy right now." Yuuri forced a smile out, "…I'm just… tired. Yeah, tired, and sleepy."

Conrad obviously knew that he wasn't telling the truth, and was being considerate by giving him the time he needed to think. Yuuri stayed silent for a few more moments, before finally deciding to share his problem.

"Nee, Conrad... Maybe I have a mental-disorder…"

Conrad blinked, "What?"

Yuuri bowed his head down sheepishly, not daring to look at Conrad straight in the eye, "I know I sound silly… but… suddenly… I feel that everything has changed… so fast…"

"I see."

Yuuri still refused to look at Conrad, but the older man's tone sounded sincerely concerned.

"Lately, I have been having a weird, continued dream, that makes me feel like I'm being repeatedly transferred from one world to another…" He resumed, "…then, I don't know which is reality and which is dream anymore… it's so confusing…"

This time, Conrad didn't say anything, but Yuuri could hear the man's soft sigh.

"…You're mad to me?" Yuuri lifted up his head, smiling apologetically, "You and the others have done so much to make me happy, but I ignored everyone's feelings and kept thinking about incoherent things… I really feel like a bad guy…"

Conrad chuckled as he brought one hand up to Yuuri's shoulder reassuringly, "I'm not mad. Instead, I'm glad that nothing worse has happened to you, Yuuri."

Yuuri still looked doubtful, "Really?"

"Yes. I was thinking about various bad things that might have happened to you, and none of them came true. It was a relief." Conrad smiled as he raised his hand to Yuuri's cheek, brushing the faintly reddening face gently, "You put too much pressure on yourself. Exhaustion can make you become more sensitive and delusional. Try to relax and get more rest. I'm sure that you'll recuperate in no time."

Yuuri was momentarily distracted by the hand on his cheek, that he hadn't been listening to the older man at all. So he just nodded and pretended that he had been enlightened by Conrad's advice.

"Well then, since your birthday only comes once in a year, so let's not waste it and have some fun with your people, Heika." Conrad gestured him to return to the main hall.

Yuuri pouted, "I was stupid for thinking that you had finally decided to stop calling me like that, nazukeoya."

Conrad just smiled merrily in respond, as he escorted the young king back to the crowd.

XXX

TBC