A/N: Okay, I am very, very sorry for not having posted much for the past few days. HOWEVER, I do have a good excuse: first, I was in New York to go see my baby sister play in Carnegie Hall and stayed there for a bit. The only time I actually got online was for a few minutes at a friend's house where I checked and replied my e-mail. Second, I was (and am, for that matter) still busy translating, re-organizing in preparation for my monthly move, and generally catching up with the stuff I'd missed. Oh, and if anyone is interested, the prompts from the first chapter of Bits and Pieces (Justice) were these: Snippets: 1- It was a dark and stormy night, 4- Taking care of business, 5- Defender of Justice!. Prompts: 19- Maou JUSTICE to Wolfram, 23- bondage. Here, the snippets are; 2- There was no longer a tie between them, 6- Parting is never sweet sorrow, 13- I will tell you what I've done for you. Prompts: 1- No more waiting, 5- giving up, 22- endless sacrifice. Warnings for this installment include angst, unrequited love, drama, more angst, bitterness, and even more angst. Oh, and weird formatting. Enjoy.

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#2 - Abandonment

(Using prompts and snippets 2, 6, 13, 1, 5, and 22)

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He had given up long, long ago.

There was really no reason for him to continue deluding himself; had not been, as a matter of fact, for a while now, especially since Greta had sickened and died, a victim of Time and her own frail human body.

When she had died, so had the last vestiges of any sort of bond between himself and his fiancé. There was no longer a tie between them, and he was sick and tired of the charade.

Tonight, he was going to end it.

Tonight.
(No more waiting...)

Tonight.
(Freedom...at last...)

Tonight.

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Wolfram stood up abruptly at dinner and all conversation ceased. Ignoring all of the curious glances, he met his king's confused gaze squarely and requested permission to speak with him privately. He got it when the king nodded cautiously, and turned to walk out the door, trusting that Yuuri would follow. Once they were a safe distance away, he faced the Maou and waited for the questions that were surely forthcoming. He didn't have to wait long.

"What's going on, Wolfram? Is something wrong?"

The soldier shook his head and began speaking.

He wanted to break the engagement.

Someone who had been waiting for a while had proposed...and he'd accepted.

All of his things were already packed.

He would be leaving with his new fiancé in the morning.

He would probably never come back: there were many, many things to be done in his new home, after all.

Yuuri (not the Maou, the Maou had disappeared the instant the king had heard I want to break the engagement and hadn't come back) just stared. He could not, would not believe it and all he wanted to know was... "Why?"

And stared as Wolfram began laughing bitterly, hysterically, long and low, and ohGod it sounded like crying at times and maybe Wolfram was crazy (yes, he was crazy, there was no other way that he would leave his king, right? ...right?) or going crazy and perhaps he should go in and get help...and then Wolfram spoke again. And said,

"What do you mean, why?

Haven't I been waiting for you forever?

Haven't you seen how much I've sacrificed?

Why should I wait longer?

Don't you remember? You don't love me, and the entire engagement is

AN ACCIDENT.
(and all Yuuri really heard were the last two bitterly spat out words)

Now I will tell you what I've done for you.

I've fought for you.
(more than once, and you knew that the minute anyone disagreed with you I'd be there with words and sword, ready to defend you)

I've waited for you.
(even when things looked completely hopeless I waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...but I'm tired of waiting)

I've even killed for you.
(the assassin from your 24th birthday I took down to the dungeons and tortured until he begged for mercy and, even then I didn't give him death; he died when his body could no longer stand the torment...his blood has never left my hands)

No more.

No more.

No more.

What did you think? That I would always be around, your little blond soldier-doll to play with then throw away when you got bored?

I have somebody who loves me, who really cherishes the idea that I'll be there for him forever and ever and ever and ever and ever...

You didn't care.

He doesn't mind that I don't love him. He loves me enough for ten men, let alone one, so it will make up the difference, he says.

I like him well enough that I don't mind, won't mind sharing his home, his heart, his land, his shelter...his bed.

You've been wanting our engagement broken since you made it, always protesting, 'It was an accident!'.

You're about to get your wish.

And now, you ask me why.

You

Have

No

Right.

I will never forgive you completely, but if you break our engagement, at least some of your sins will be washed away from my mind.

I cannot break it. It would ruin my honor and my life; besides, you won the duel.

It is your engagement to break.

It has always been, even when you never do anything but complain and keep me chained to you with my love and duty.

So break it.

It is the second and last thing I request of you as your fiancé.

The first was your love.

Break it now."

And all Yuuri could do was stare, stare with new eyes at the man who'd been beside him for so long that he'd completely forgotten that he wasn't part of his being, like an arm or a leg, and wonder why he'd never really noticed how much he needed Wolfram. Too late, too late. He did not want to break the engagement at all, but he had to. Wolfram was staring at him, his expression accusing, as if to say, where is your precious justice that you cannot set me free, though you know this imprisonment is killing me? There was only one possible answer to Wolfram's demand, and he saw it, and answered accordingly, his heart already feeling empty in the small space that Wolfram had always occupied;

"Fine."

And as Wolfram bowed and walked away, the Maou stood in the hallway, looking distant and examining his past. What could he have done to make the outcome different?

He didn't know that Wolfram's long-held love had soured, and turned into resentment, where affection, now twisted and blackened beyond recognition, peeked through, and that he was thinking the exact same thing.

As a blond soldier left to become a wife while his king and former love was left alone in the ruins of his life, they both realized one truth:

Parting is never sweet sorrow; it is cutting anger and bitter resentment, intermixed with longing for what might have been.
Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

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finis

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