Disclaimer: I do not own KKM or any of its characters ;)
Hello everyone! Here is the fourth chapter of this story, it's a bit shorter than the past two, but I wanted to leave things in suspense for now.
Hope you'll enjoy it and review!
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Chapter 4: A change of heart
Gisela left the infirmary, leaving Wolfram sitting on the edge of the examination table, with a sad look on his face. Outside the room, Yuuri, Gwendal, Conrart and Günter were waiting, resting their backs against the back wall. At the sight of the woman's expression, they immediately knew something wasn't right.
"His Excellency's condition cannot be cured by any methods I'm familiar with. I'm not sure what's causing his muteness, but it is probably psychological" the four faces paled slightly, not sure of what to ask first. It was pretty obvious that Wolfram had suffered a traumatic event that night at dinner, the whole thing was too sudden and quite bizarre, but Wolfram wasn't the kind of person to let something like that shake him up to that extent.
"Is it possible that it's caused by majutsu?" The question came from behind a corner, it was Ken, appearing for the first time after the dinner fiasco; he had disappeared in the confusion, and since everyone was worried for the blond, no one had really noticed until then.
"The possibility can't be ruled out, but the fact is, something is blocking his voice. For now, just make sure not to put any extra stress on him"
Wolfram walked out of the room, finding everyone there. He looked at Yuuri, trying to tell him that he wanted to go to sleep, he was tired and the looks of concern of his brothers, along with Günter's babbling, were starting to depress him. It seems that the Maou understood his fiancé's wishes, because with a small smile on his face, he extended his hand to Wolfram and said "Let's go, Wolf"
They walked to the room in silence, undressed in silence, and went to bed in silence and Wolfram opened the book he had been reading, as he did every night before sleeping.
He was a bit irritated, just because he couldn't speak, didn't mean the wimp had to stay quiet too. So he looked at Yuuri intensely, trying to reprimand him with his eyes. The Maou started laughing and then said "I'm sorry Wolf, I didn't mean it, I was too lost in my thoughts". What was that? Did Yuuri just read his mind?
"You know, it's amazing how you can't even speak, but still find a way to call me a wimp... After all this time, you are the only one who still treats me like that" Yuuri looked out the window, like he was trying to find something in the dark sky. Wolfram put down the book and placed a hand on the Maou's shoulder. They looked at each other and shared a warm smile before putting out the lights.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Yuuri had waited for Wolfram to fall asleep, put his clothes back on and went out for a walk. He sat on a bench in the courtyard, trying to put his thoughts in order. Shinou had asked for Wolfram's hand, and of course he had dared him, no other than the Original King, to a duel. Oh! and to put the icing on the cake, Wolfram's voice was gone. In some weird way it made sense, some sort of very disturbing sense. He let out a loud sigh, imagining what was expecting him in a month from then, he was so dead. But he couldn't back down now, and he didn't really want to anyway.
"Wanna practice, Shibuya?" Ken appeared from the shadows with a bag in his hands, he was so good at doing that, it annoyed Yuuri a little.
"I'm no good with a sword, but I'm the closest match you'll find to Shinou's powers" The Sage smiled, but his expression slowly changed to that serious look Yuuri had come to known as better listen to the Sage. It wasn't the first time they did it. Normally, Ken's powers only acted as a catalyst or an amplifier of the Maou's powers, but when he used them like that, he was, in deed, very powerful, and had helped Yuuri train more than once.
After they were far enough to not wake up anyone at the castle, Yuuri wrapped himself up with a blue aura, and called onto his water dragons, lifting himself up in the air. Ken did former and latter as well. After a few seconds, and exchanging a look of go, the Maou threw his first attack, that was easily blocked by his friend.
"Is that really all you've got!". The Maou, upset by that last comment, tried to immobilize the Sage with one of his dragons, but he dodged the creature at the last moment.
"Shibuya you have fought Shinou before, even if he isn't controlled by Soushu, he's going to try to upset you with comments like that so you get distracted, you can't let him get to you!"
The fight continued for a while, both of them were starting to feel the exhaustion, it was time for Ken to make his first move.
"Shibuya, why haven't you done it?" the voice came from inside of Yuuri's mind. Ken was talking to him through his thoughts, like he had done a couple of times before, back when he used to go into Maou mode. "Done it? done what?" he asked, as he dodged an energy wave thrown by the Sage.
"Why haven't you broken off the engagement?" Yuuri's eyes widened, that was the question he had been avoiding all night. No, he had been avoiding it for much longer. The water dragons disappeared and he slowly started to descend onto the ground.
"Guess this means I won uh?" Ken said smiling and offering him a towel to wipe off his sweat. They sat on the grass and Ken opened the bag he had before, taking out some sandwiches and handing one to his friend
"So that's what you had in there"
"Well, there's nothing like a good sandwich after training, right?". They laughed and began eating in silence, looking at the stars.
Yuuri knew he had to face facts now, whether he wanted to or not. Everyone was asking the same question, and it was only natural after ten years of unfulfilled engagement. Wolfram seemed to be the only one who didn't mention the subject anymore, which made him feel sad somehow, instead of relieved.
"Shinou is not gonna make it easy for you" Yuuri heard the name coming out of his friend's mouth and he came to a sudden realization, there was something he hadn't thought about yet, probably because of all the confusion of the day.
"Wait a second, Murata... I thought you and Shinou were... you know... a couple or something" The Sage's eyes looked firmly at the Maou, this piece of information was very useful to him, Yuuri knew about them.
"I thought you had a problem with same sex relationships" he said, looking away, hoping for a certain answer.
"Oh that, yeah I think I got over it at some point. Living here I've known a lot of couples of the same sex. I guess if people are happy together, it's not that big of a deal" Bingo, and now, step two.
Ken let a couple of minutes pass by in silence, and then he said "Nee Shibuya, you know you'll have to answer that question sooner or later" Ken's eyes and tone weren't scolding him, it was as if his friend was truly concerned this time.
"It's not like I haven't thought about it... But I just can't get to a conclusion. Every time I think I'm close, it's like I hit a wall, I just want him to stay by my side" The Sage thought maybe his friend was even dumber than he had foreseen, but his tone was honest and maybe even a little desperate, so he took a deep breath and looked at the bright side: Shibuya wasn't running away from the fact that he needed Wolfram, he had accepted same sex relationships and he wasn't backing down, or freaking out about the duel with Shinou, at least no more than any sane person would, it was still the Original King they were talking about. So, onto step three.
"Now that he's lost his voice you won't even be able to say goodbye properly, when Shinou takes him away" Ken knew that comment had been a bit too harsh, but it was probably what his friend needed to come to a decision, if not to the realization of his feelings.
Yuuri clenched his fists, there was no way he was letting anyone take Wolfram away. When he first came to Shin Makoku, there were many times when he thought he might lose the blond forever. Only remembering the sight of Wolfram's cold body made him shiver. But this time it wasn't really quite like that, if Wolfram could be happy being the spouse of the Original King he should be happy for his friend too, right? Why was it that he couldn't stand the thought of letting him go?
"You better go get some sleep, Shibuya, besides, Lord von Bielefeld will be worried if he wakes up and you are not there" Ken emphasised that you like he was trying to make a point, but Yuuri didn't pay much attention to it. They parted and went on their separate ways, once they got back to the castle.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Wolfram had woken up once he felt the absence of the Maou's body next to him. He was a heavy sleeper, he knew, but whenever Yuuri was away this would happen to him. Sleeping had become so hard without the wimp by his side.
After a few hours of tossing and turning, he was finally falling back to sleep. He heard a distant noise, like footsteps maybe, and short after, he felt the warmth coming back into the bed. It was Yuuri, he felt so soothed and relaxed by the presence of the Maou, that he fell into a deep slumber, almost automatically.
Yuuri had just crawled back into bed when he felt the blond embracing his arm like it was a safety blanket. Wolfram was laying on his side, with his legs bent close to his chest, he was wearing a green nightgown very similar to the one he wore the first time he had sneaked into his bed, but just a little more transparent. His golden locks fell carelessly over his face, making his eyelashes move from the contact, every once in awhile, and his mouth was slightly open.
Yuuri felt his heart skip a beat at the sight. He thought that after ten years of sleeping next to Wolfram, he would've gotten used to this, but there were still times when he found himself feeling amazed by just how beautiful the former prince was.
But this beautiful sleeping figure next to him was also a brave man, a skilled soldier and fire wielder, and sometimes, also a bit of a spoiled brat. He was so childish in so many ways, though a lot of them seemed really cute to Yuuri.
Wolfram tightened his grip on Yuuri's arm, making him snap out of his daydream, and dark cloud then appeared on his thoughts. In a month from then, Wolfram could be doing this with Shinou, instead of him.
He suddenly felt his blood boiling inside of him. The thought of someone else sleeping next to Wolfram, being able to see this side of the blond that only he knew about, the thought of someone else touching him. He couldn't stand it, the room was spinning, he felt like he was going to lose his mind.
And then it hit him, it finally hit him.
"Could it be... that all this time... I..."
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Chapter 4 extra: The reason Ken disappeared after dinner
After Shinou left the room, Wolfram fell to his knees, momentarily losing control of his legs from the shock of what had just happened, plus the fact that he suddenly wasn't able to speak.
That shook the rest of the people in the room out of their own astonishment, and all of them, except Ken, rapidly ran to his side, asking if he was alright and obtaining no answer, even though the blond keep moving his lips trying to speak. This made them all understand that, it wasn't that he hadn't rejected Shinou for being surprised or for actually accepting him, Wolfram had really lost his voice.
The Sage quietly got out of the chaos in the dining room and started walking through the cold, stone halls, looking at the floor while doing so. At some point he took a turn to the left and lifted his head.
"What exactly do you think you're doing, my spoiled king?" he said sarcastically to the shadow that was now behind him.
"You did not like it? I thought it was quite theatrical". Ken sighed, he should've known better than to expect Shinou to act reasonably.
"What are you going to do if he loses?" Ken asked, now sounding more like an accomplice than someone who was supposed to be against the whole idea.
"Oh he won't, believe me" Shinou's answer came out so confidently that the Sage was actually about to believe him.
"Are you planning on letting him win?" Shinou chuckled, putting his arms around Ken from the back.
"I am not, neither do I think it will be necessary, my Daikenja" Shinou whispered those two last words on Ken's ear, knowing that it would probably distract him for scolding him furthermore.
"You know I'm not him" Shinou only tightened his embrace at this response.
"Of course I know, because now you are so much more" he continued whispering on the other's ear, letting him feel the warmth of his breath on his neck, and successfully distracting Ken from whatever it was that he was thinking, letting himself follow Shinou into a random room to their left, to then fall fully into his embrace.