Kyou Kara Maou : Wolfram Takes a Break
Summary: On Cheri's wedding cruise, Wolfram takes a break from parenting, but doesn't return. Can Yuuri and the children find him? Short sequel to The Pirate Wedding.
Disclaimer: I have no rights to Kyou Kara Maou, of course.
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Chapter 2 : Chuuu!
Wolfram had been gone nearly three hours when Bertram woke from his late nap in the most ornery mood Yuuri had ever seen him in. Ordinarily a pleasant, quiet child, the ship now rang with his panicked screams of "Wi! Wi! Wi! Wi!" until Yuuri picked him up. Bertram snuggled into his chest disconsolately.
"Aw, you were calling me for a change, Bertram? What a sweetie you are." 'Wi' being Bertram's version of 'Wimpue' of course.
Bertram having caught his breath and calmed himself, he started yelling, "Chu! Chu! Chu! Chu!"
"That's a little hard on the ears, trickster," commented Manfred. "Yuuri, feed him or something…" And Yuuri changed him, and fed him. And the baby's demands for his Chichiue did mercifully abate while he slugged down his bottle. Only to return refueled the moment the bottle was empty.
"Chuuuu!" Bertram whined disconsolately. "Chu! Chu! Chuuu!"
"Ah, Manfred?" asked Yuuri. "Could you look him over? Is he sick?"
Manfred sighed and sat down so he could take Bertram, who promptly switched back to, "Wi! Wi! Wi! Wi!"
"One perfectly healthy infant. Good lungs. A bit sunburnt. You need to keep fair-haired babies out of the sun, Yuuri." Manfred fixed the sunburn with ease, but the added heat just made Bertram more frantic for his 'Wi'. "You're just spoiled, aren't you, trickster? How about some nice mushy food? Yes, wouldn't decorating Yuuri with pureed carrots and spinach be fun? Try feeding him some solid food, Yuuri."
Although painting Yuuri's face and chest orange and green was fun, Bertram still demanded his Chu. Yuuri was down on the baby pool platform, sadly sluicing them both down, when Brendan and Hilde and their kids returned in a dinghy. "Have you seen Wolfram?" he asked eagerly. It was suppertime, and Wolfram had been gone over four hours. Aside from his desperation to get Bertram to stop saying 'Chu!', Yuuri was beginning to get worried about Wolfram himself.
"Wolfram? Never saw him. We offered Gwendal and Annissina, and Conrad and Yozak, a ride, but they all plan to swim back with the jellyfish tonight. Nobody mentioned Wolfram."
In an hour and a half it would be dark. Yuuri really didn't like it that Brendan and Hilde hadn't seen Wolfram – that island wasn't very big. "Um, Brendan, please don't put up the dinghy quite yet, OK? I may want to go to shore and look for him."
Yuuri went back up top and looked out, still unable to see Wolfram. Bertram was getting a little quieter. "Chu?" he asked, almost conversationally. Yuuri nodded, "Yes, sweetie, we're looking for Chichiue." He got some binoculars from Manfred – he and Adelbert were eating by the binnacle – and scanned everything more carefully – still no sign of Wolfram.
"It'll be dark soon," said Adelbert sympathetically.
Manfred shrugged. "Most of us swim after dark here. The jellyfish glow at night." Seeing Yuuri was really working himself into a state, though, he added, "Of course, the dinghy's still down, and I'm sure the kids would enjoy it if you two took them for a row."
Greta and Efram overheard this, and jumped up saying, "Yay! Let's go!"
This wasn't quite the kind of rescue party Yuuri had in mind – he'd kinda gotten used to Conrad and Günter, eager to put heroic swords forward to his defense. But Adelbert shrugged and said, "We could do that."
Well, any rescue party was better than sitting aboard the hydrofoil worrying, and the chances of Yuuri getting his mind off Wolfram with Bertram chanting 'Chu, Chu, Chu!' in his ear were pretty small. "Ah, Friedrich, could you take Bertram?"
Friedrich shrugged and took him. Bertram promptly switched back to the 'Wi! Wi! Wi! Wi!' that so reminded Yuuri of car alarms. "Go get shirts on first," Friedrich ordered Greta and Efram. Then Friedrich wandered off.
Adelbert and Yuuri packed some food and water and blankets into the dinghy. Then Greta and Efram came back with Friedrich, Bertram, and Frieda. Without a pause, all five climbed into the dinghy. Friedrich passed Bertram over to Yuuri, and settled himself in.
Bertram, predictably, switched from 'Wi! Wi! Wi! Wi!' to 'Chu! Chu! Chu!'
After they'd all stared at each other a moment, Friedrich said, "So cast off. What are we waiting for?"
"Ah…" Yuuri was at a loss. "Actually, Friedrich, aha! I kinda meant, I was hoping you'd, um, babysit for Bertram? Here on the hydrofoil."
"We'd rather come along." Since no one else was moving in that direction, Friedrich simply untied the dinghy and shoved off. Adelbert, under long force of habit of obeying his powerful uncle, shrugged and started rowing. Friedrich continued, "In case Wolfram's hurt, it'd be good to have a healer along. And Bertram will make an excellent Chu-detector. Won't you, trickster?"
"Chu," Bertram agreed. And with that, and the boat's motion, Bertram mercifully shut up. He seemed to be enjoying the ride, beautiful aquamarine eyes wide, looking at everything, while he quietly sucked on a fist. Yuuri petted him, smiling. Now this was the sweet baby Bertram he was used to.
"Chu, indeed," agreed Friedrich. "So Adelbert, aim between the two islands for now." Friedrich felt not the slightest qualm about giving orders to Adelbert, the one-time General of all Shin Makoku, or Yuuri the Maou. Though Adelbert had been trained from the cradle to obey Friedrich, Yuuri was still having some trouble with his little family outing being hijacked by this one-time political enemy. He'd been flabbergasted that Friedrich and Cheri had become friends during Manfred's year as ruling Lord Bielenfeld, and that Friedrich was thus invited along for the wedding cruise. And though Manfred and Cheri had paid a fair bit of attention to who others would get along with – Cheri's brother Stoeffel was not invited – they hadn't worried a fig about Yuuri.
"Have you ever been to the Fire Islands before, Uncle Friedrich?" asked Greta, trying to ease the tension.
"Oh, yes, long ago. With my first wife – your Chichiue's great-great-grandmother. We came looking for healing herbs and maryoku beasts. Just before this island was born, I think."
"Did you find any? Maryoku beasts?" asked Efram.
"We spotted a chimera from far, far off – and sailed away as fast as we could. So our vacation was cut a bit short."
"Just before the island was born?" asked Greta. Yuuri was grateful to her for asking.
"Yes, fire chimeras appear before volcanic eruptions. The Fire Islands vary in age – I believe this part was born a few months after we left."
On Yuuri's timeline that would have been… back in the Japanese Kamakura period, he thought. Europe was still deep in the Dark Ages, long before discovering the Pacific Ocean. If Manfred intimidated him, he found Friedrich downright terrifying. For some reason, he could accept Undine and Ulrike's vast ages, because their lives were so sheltered and childlike. Friedrich was no sheltered child priestess – not by a long shot.
The last slice of burning orange sunset dropped below the horizon as Greta and Efram continued grilling Friedrich on rare maryoku beasts and family history. As the light dimmed in the sky, the jellyfish began to glow, in the glassy waters around them, and dripping off the oars.
In a little while, Adelbert interrupted the kids. "Alright, which island? Try the closest one first?"
Though Adelbert intended this as a discussion opener, Friedrich replied with instructions. "Turn the boat toward the near island and take a couple strokes." Adelbert did so.
"Chu! Chu! Chu! Chu!" wailed Bertram anxiously.
"Now turn and take a few strokes toward the far island." Adelbert did so.
"Chu," declared Bertram in satisfaction.
"I agree with Bertram," said Friedrich. "Wolfram's on the far island."
In amused disbelief, Adelbert said, "We're taking directions from an infant screaming 'Chu!'? Surely you're joking, Uncle?"
"Absolutely serious. Bertram and I both feel the compulsion to go to that island." He pointed. "Efram, how about you? Do you feel it?"
Efram frowned a little, puzzled. He considered the near island, and then the far, and started nodding in wonder. "Yeah… That's so strange. I want to go to the second island, too."
Sympathetically, Friedrich told Adelbert, "If your head needs something rational, Brendan did say that none of them saw Wolfram on the first island."
"Though that's not why we're heading to the second island," sighed Adelbert. "That's for purely irrational reasons, is that right?"
"Call it what you will," said Friedrich.
"Call…" said Yuuri. "We should call for him! WOLFRAMu!" The close-ringed rocky islands on placid waters echoed back 'amu, amu, amu…'.
"Hey, I could call him. It's dark enough to show a flare now," suggested Efram. He cast his signature – a winged pixie – and grew it forty feet high. Greta and Yuuri and Adelbert applauded. Frieda giggled. Bertram stared in awe, fist firmly in mouth. But Efram frowned. "Ah… Uncle? I only meant to cast that half as tall, and not nearly so bright. And I feel like I have more maryoku now than before I started."
Friedrich smiled wide and nodded, as though he'd expected that. He tossed his own signature up a towering sixty feet high – a stylized phoenix, from the von Bielenfeld family crest. "I'd say you're right, Efram." Friedrich didn't even bother to take his phoenix down right away – just let it tower above them for a couple minutes to light up the area. "I could keep that up all night. That would make it hard to see a response, though." He took down his orange-and-blue phoenix.
And as Friedrich's phoenix died back, sure enough, a Beautiful Wolfram flower, fifty feet high, blossomed above the island. Yuuri and the children gaped in awe – not only was the flower vast, it was bright! As the blossom faded, in its place, a fiery bird sign arose, tail oddly pointed into the sky, beak toward the back side of the island.
"Chuuuu." Bertram breathed, happily reaching toward where the bird had been.
"Chu, indeed, trickster," agreed Friedrich thoughtfully. "But… a phoenix? And not a Bielenfeld phoenix, but… Shinou be praised!" Friedrich half-rose on a knee and faced out the back of the dinghy. "Elementals that dwell in flame, help this thy faithful servant, to call those who would join you to pay homage!" And across the sky, Friedrich wrote seven Bielenfeld phoenixes, in orange and blue fire, flying toward the second island.
From the hydrofoil, Manfred and Aldrich responded with more modest, but clearly visible signatures – Manfred a yacht under full sail, Aldrich a wind-sculpted cypress, both in orange and blue fire.
Friedrich sat back in his seat, and said quietly, in great anticipation, "Row faster, please, Adelbert. Around the island to the right, to where the beak of Wolfram's phoenix hit the water." Adelbert bent his back to it in earnest.
"Ah… what's going on, Friedrich?" asked Yuuri.
"I believe Wolfram's spotted a phoenix, and doesn't want to leave it. I just hope we're in time."
"In time for what? Is Wolfram in danger?"
Friedrich laughed softly. "Only of seeing one of the most wondrous sights of my life – a phoenix, being reborn."
-oOo-
The stars came out as the dusk died, seemingly close enough to touch. The jellyfish glowed throughout the waters – yellow, orange, green, blue, and pink – dripping from the blades of Adelbert's oars. And as they came closer to where Wolfram continued sending up his pointing phoenix now and then, the three fire healer Mazoku aboard the dinghy, including Bertram, began to glow, overflowing with maryoku. Frieda, on Efram's lap, was giggling and playing with the halo on Efram. Greta shyly brushed a hand up his arm as well to feel it.
Yuuri, long since used to flinching up a protection spell when Bertram got fiery, was pleasantly surprised that this overflow fire halo didn't scorch. It felt like a mild form of Wolfram's fire healing tendrils. He bent down and kissed Bertram's belly the way he liked. Bertram giggled and touched Yuuri's face. When Wolfram touched Yuuri in healing, his passion burned through – raw desire, love, loyalty, fierceness. In Bertram's touch, he felt… love for Yuuri… an oceanic calm assurance… a vast sense of humor. He laughed softly and kissed his son again tenderly. "Pleased to meet you, Bertram," he whispered.
He turned to Friedrich. "Ah, may I… touch your halo, Friedrich? To compare?"
Friedrich shrugged. "Certainly." He held out a hand, and Yuuri touched his fingertips. Friedrich's fire was odder still – quiet assured power, an implacable will to protect and heal, with almost no tinge of personality.
"Huh. Thank you. Efram, may I…?"
"Sure." Efram handed Frieda to Greta for a moment and reached for Yuuri over Adelbert's shoulder, from the front of the dinghy. Adelbert stopped rowing for a few moments to permit this, and used the break to touch the three fire Mazoku himself, curious as to what Yuuri was feeling. Efram took Yuuri's hand in a firm handclasp. His fire passion was like unbridled joy in living, a riotously bounding curiosity.
"Huh," said Adelbert. "It's all fire healer passion, but… you're all so different from each other, and from Manfred and Aldrich."
Friedrich nodded calmly. "Of course. Row faster, please, Adelbert? We can't be late, not for this. You wouldn't want Manfred to beat us there, would you?"
Adelbert laughed and redoubled his efforts. Yuuri wouldn't have thought Manfred beating them there was possible. But as he looked back to the hydrofoil, he saw a black silouette already skipping toward them across the jellyfish glowing waters – Cheri's little sailing skiff, wind delivered with pinpoint accuracy into its sails. Their only hope of beating them was that Conrad and Yozak, and Gwendal and Annissina, had swum out upon seeing the light shows, and were calling for a lift. Doubtless Cheri would stop to pick them up.
-oOo-
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