Disclaimer: is it really necessary for me to repeat it? I do not own KKM or any of it's characters

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Chapter 5: A fight against myself

A month passed before Yuri was able to digest the whole duel with the Original King idea. Wolfram still couldn't speak and they hadn't seen each other that much lately, since Wolfram had to spend two weeks on the von Bielefeld lands with his uncle, trying to convince him of why it wasn't completely insane to reject a marriage proposal from the Great One himself.

The task was not easy to begin with, and adding the muteness factor, it became almost impossible. The result of the trip had been Waltorana coming back with him, to await the date of the duel. Needless to say, with the overprotective uncle around, Yuuri and Wolfram didn't really get that much privacy on the remaining week between their arrival, and the fulfillment of the month.

That morning began like all others, except maybe from the fact that Yuuri woke up without the blond by his side. The exact moment of the duel was never decided, so everyone was a little flustered, in fact, no one in the castle had heard from Shinou since his appearance at dinner that night. To top it off, both Ken and Ulrike claimed he hadn't been to the temple either.

Yuuri had his doubts about those two telling the truth, but he had learned to trust Ken's judgement about what he could and couldn't tell him. In the end, his friend always came through for him, things were said when they needed to be said.

Günter was running around from one side to the other in Gwendal's office, making the latter's rage grow by the second. They both had their hands pretty much full with the event that was going to take place that day. Most people didn't know the Original King wasn't dead, not that he was alive either, it was very hard to explain between themselves to even try to tell the ten nobles about it.

The few people who knew Shinou had been possessed by Shoushu, thought that he was somehow double dead after that. So this sudden, so open, appearance of the Great One, was more that what they could handle. Waltorana had found out somehow, probably through a spy inside the castle, but as far as they knew, the news hadn't spread any further, yet. However, if Yuuri were to lose the duel, and Wolfram ended up married to this non-dead Shinou, hell would probably be unleashed in Shin Makoku.

After eating breakfast and taking a shower, Yuuri started walking through the stone halls of the castle aimlessly, he just felt his body needed to move, or else he would explode because of the nervousness that was creeping up his stomach.

He passed by Anissina's lab, she was fascinated by a digital camera that the Sage had brought from Earth, with about a thousand extra batteries just in case, to capture the moment of the Kings fight. He could hear Günter's cries from there, so he switched directions towards the courtyard, and sat down next to the Beautiful Wolframs.

Suddenly, he sensed a well known presence behind him. For a second, he felt as if his heart was coming out of his mouth. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and having recovered his composure, he whispered softly and without turning around "Are you not familiar with doors, Shinou?".

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Wolfram had been sleeping in his old room for the last week, if you could call that sleeping anyway. Not having the wimp by his side made him roll around in bed a lot, he would find himself waking up with his head on the floor, or trapped inside the sheets in some really weird way. A few times he woke up because of the pain of falling out of the bed completely.

It wasn't like it was something new to him, he used to sleep like that all the time, in fact, the first years of sleeping with the Maou hadn't changed that either. But at some point, when Yuuri stopped avoiding making contact with him in his sleep, he had began sleeping much more calmly, and he'd missed that the past month.

Wolfram ate his breakfast with his uncle, in the bedroom he was staying at for the moment. It was a regular size room in the second floor, with modest decoration and a view of the castle's courtyard, Wolfram thought it must had been Günter's doing, because the rooms that were decorated by his mother were much more... flashy.

Wolfram had noticed that, ever since he lost his voice, he had become more calm and aware of his surroundings. No one knew what had happened to him and, at first, he was quite pissed off by the whole thing, but eventually he came to think of it as a blessing, for no one expected him to answer any questions about Shinou, and they had pretty much just let him be ever since.

"I still cannot understand how, if the Great One is alive, he is not taking over Yuuri Heika as King of this nation that he, himself founded" And there it was again, the same conversation they had all month. Well, it was more like a monologue actually. He rolled his eyes and continued to eat while his uncle babbled nonstop.

"If he has honored you with his affection, you should just accept it proudly, Wolfram" Waltorana paused and hesitated before continuing, he didn't want to hurt his nephew, but he was being too stubborn for his own sake.

"Yuuri Heika has made it clear that he does not wish to marry you. How long will you continue to hold on to a one-sided puppy love Wolfram?"

For Wolfram that was it, he had had enough, he knew all that already, he didn't need anyone to rub it on his face. He had made the decision of staying by Yuuri's side no matter what, he loved Yuuri enough to do so. He stood up, throwing the chair to the floor while doing so, and walked to the window, trying to clear his thoughts, but what he saw made him run out of the room and down the stairs. Shinou and Yuuri were standing next to his mother's flowers.

Waltorana followed his nephew and only understood exactly what was going on when they got to the first floor. He ran to Gwendal's office, to tell him what was happening, and soon every person in the castle had gathered around the yard.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"As you can see, I have no sword with me, so what do you think about skipping that part, Maou Heika?" Shinou moved his cloak away from his body, to show he had no weapons on him, and Yuuri, who wasn't expecting this to happen so early, had left Morgif on his bedroom.

"As you wish then, Shinou Heika". The sarcasm at the mention on each other's titles was obvious to all the viewers.

Yuuri wrapped himself with a blue, almost white aura, and closed his eyes concentrating for a moment. A see-through barrier was formed from the ground up, around the entire courtyard, protecting all the spectators from any possible harm, and also preventing them from interfering, this was his fight.

"Heika!" it was Conrart's voice that caught Yuuri's attention.

"Don't worry Conrad, and it's Yuuri" he said with a soothing smile, Conrart smiled back, it had been a while since Yuuri had scolded him for calling him Heika.

Yuuri lifted himself up in the air, beyond the castle's towers, and Shinou, who was shrouded by a golden aura, followed suit. "Remember Shibuya..." the Maou heard his friend talking to him inside his head, he looked down and saw him next to Wolfram, who had a look of terror and concern that almost broke Yuuri's heart. "Shinou's marioku isn't what it used to be, just avoid him long enough for him to lose his strength" He looked at his friend with determination, letting him know he understood.

Shinou opened his palm onto the sky and a small ball of golden energy started forming on it. Yuuri called onto his water dragons just in time, because the little sphere had become a ray of lightning and was coming his way. He covered himself up with a small barrier and sent the dragons towards Shinou, they wrapped themselves up in the lightning and, after some effort, they broke it into pieces.

"Very good Yuuri, I see you have trained for me, I am flattered" Yuuri clenched his fists, trying to remain calm, while Shinou formed another energy sphere on his hand.

Without warning, dozens of little fire arrows were thrown at the Maou, one of them ripped his left sleeve and barely missed his skin. Yuuri looked at Shinou and noticed he was looking down, at Wolfram, winking. Rage took control over the Maou, who formed a swirl of water around them, blocking Shinou's view of Wolfram. The Original King chuckled at Yuuri's angry look.

"I don't care who you are, Shinou, you are not taking him away!" Yuuri said narrowing his water swirl to trap only Shinou, but then he heard Ken's voice again.

"Shibuya! behind you!" he turned around and found himself only an inch away from Shinou, his eyes widened to all their extent, feeling the Great One's hand pierce through his chest.

Ken tried to warn his friend, but it was too late, the next thing they saw was a blinding white light, growing from the point in the sky where the two kings were. All the viewers took cover and laid on the ground, as the waves of energy broke the barrier Yuuri had made before. Ken, Wolfram, Conrart and Yosak were the first to run towards the center of the courtyard, from the different points they were before. They looked up, not quite understanding what had happened.

"So this is what you had planned, uh? I think I can play along a little more" Ken whispered to himself.

"Geika, what's happening!? We have to get him down" Conrart looked up, floating about ten feet over their heads was Yuuri, on his back, eyes closed, hands on his stomach, like he was sleeping over a cloud.

"I wouldn't recommend that, lord Weller" Everyone looked at the Sage, demanding an explanation of just why the hell didn't he want to get Yuuri down. As a response, he took a little stone from the ground, and threw it at the sleeping Maou. Before reaching him, the stone crashed against the barrier that enclosed Yuuri, making it visible for everyone, a sphere protected by golden chains that threw some sparks at the contact.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Yuuri woke up, not knowing where he was. He looked around, trying to recognize the things around him and soon realized he was at the Shibuya household, on Earth, lying down on the living room couch. He sat up, shaking his head in an attempt of remembering how he got there. A strong headache stroke him, along with the memories of the past month and the duel.

"It took you long enough" The voice came from the corner of the room, behind him. Shinou was standing next to the window, looking at him. Suddenly, a bunch of memories came to him at once, making him feel a little dizzy. They had done this before, the two of them, in that room, when Shinou had been possessed by Shoushu entirely. But wait! Then they were...

"Don't tell me we're inside my subconscious again. Doesn't this seem a little worn-out to you? I'm getting a huge feeling of deja vú with this whole thing" Yuuri finally said, relaxing and resting his head on the couch. "Oh man, you gotta be kidding me" he added, more to himself than to Shinou really. The Original King walked to the couch in front of him and sat down, sighing.

"Where did all the formal language go? You are still one of the only two people who talks to me like that" he said, looking at Yuuri with a childish expression, that amused the Maou who was temporarily forgetting his own anger towards the blue eyed blond. He crossed his legs and answered "Well someone should! You're just like a spoiled child who likes to toy around with people when he gets bored!"

"I think you have been expending too much time with my Daikenya..." Shinou said with a pensive expression, looking at the window and making a mental note to reprimand the Sage later.

"In any case, Yuuri, you and I may be more alike than you think, if I am a spoiled child, you are a blind fool" probably for the first and last time in his life, Yuuri knew exactly what Shinou was talking about with that vague observation, but he chose not to let it show just shook his head.

"Whatever, just get us out of here so we can finish this stupid duel"

Shinou took a moment to think, putting on the most reflexive expression he could, but finally the urge to laugh was getting too strong to hide it, and letting out a small chuckle, he looked at Yuuri firmly.

"I simply got in, I never said that I knew how to get us out" he made a pause, looking at the puzzled expression of the Maou in front of him, before adding "We are inside you, can't you get us out?" Yuuri felt he wanted to assassinate the man, Original King or not.

Shinou and Ken were both so good at doing this kind of stuff, always asking him questions they already knew the answer to. But he didn't know, why couldn't they just tell him?

"You just don't change, do you?" he finally said sighing. Shinou smiled playfully and then looked around him intently.

"This place has certainly changed though, since the last time I was here. This might be the place your heart comes from, but it is not the most important place in your heart any more, is it?" Yuuri felt his heart stop when he heard those words, the most important place in my hearth uh? he thought. Then a black void started filling the room, leaving them standing in the dark. Yuuri saw a white light, far away in front of them, that was coming closer and closer until it hit them, blinding both of them for a second.

When the Maou opened his eyes, he was sitting next to the tree he had fallen asleep under, with Wolfram by his side, not long ago, only this time the person beside him was Shinou. They were back in Blood Pledge Castle, but they were still inside of him?

So... that was the most important place in his heart now? He looked around noticing the absence of noise, the castle was empty. But then he felt a finger poking his shoulder, it was Shinou, and now he was pointing to a spot in front of them, where Wolfram always trained his troops, someone was there.

"W-What is this... Wolfram!?" yes, it was definitely the blond standing there, only a few feet away. Yuuri stood up and started walking on his direction, but in the middle of the way he felt his feet were getting stuck to the ground, he couldn't move at all.

Wolfram smiled at him, that beautiful smile the blond only showed to Greta, or sometimes when he thought no one could see him. A warm feeling spread through Yuuri's body, but then he noticed Wolfram's horse behind him, as the blond started talking, he couldn't hear him but looking at his lips he knew what he was saying.

"Goodbye, Yuuri"

He tried to run and stop him, but his whole body was immobilized. Wolfram got on the horse and began to stroll away, without looking back. He was almost gone, reaching the gates of the castle, Yuuri thought his heart would stop, tears started running down his cheeks, both quietly and uncontrollably, he felt as if something was burning on his chest.

"WOLFRAM!" he shouted, falling to his knees, when the blond was out of sight and his body was finally able to move. He didn't know if it was because he was inside of his own heart, but he couldn't control his emotions at all, it just seemed so real. Then he felt a warm hand on his shoulder

"This is your heart, your deepest fear, Yuuri. What is it that you are afraid of losing?" Shinou asked, tightening his grip on Yuuri's shoulder. "Is it the fear of losing an important friend that is tormenting you so, or is it the thought of losing the person you love?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"How long have they been like that now?" Yozak asked in a low voice, without looking away of the Maou's body, that was still suspended in the air.

"Around two hours, I think" answered the Sage, the concern could be heard on his voice.

"It can't be, soon they'll both..." Ken knew Yozak was right, something had to be done, or soon both kings would consume all their marioku. If that happened and Yuuri didn't die, the best possible outcome would be Shinou being trapped inside of him for the rest of his life, and Ken had a feeling his friend wouldn't really like that. Honestly, neither would he.

"There's nothing that we can do, Yuuri is the only one who can get Shinou out of him" Ken added, looking at the blond former prince, who hadn't moved at all in those two hours.

Wolfram was sitting next to the flowers, looking up at Yuuri's body. When he had seen the explosion of light, he had tried to call out Yuuri's name, but no sound had come out. He felt so powerless at this situation, there was nothing he could do, he couldn't even scream Yuuri's name to try and bring him back.

"Wolfram you should go have something to eat, Waltorana said you didn't even finished your breakfast" Conrart said, trying to convince his little brother, but he only looked at him defiantly for about two seconds, and then directed his eyes back at Yuuri.

Conrart sighed and looked up too. Because his reflexes often acted faster than his thought process, suddenly he found himself dodging something that had come down from the sky, along with golden sparks of energy, without realizing. It was one of the chains that held Yuuri up, and after hitting the ground, it had disappeared completely.

"This isn't good" Ken said, and then all eyes were directed at him "Shinou's marioku is running out, which means Shibuya must probably be about the same too" he looked up, the light that came out of Yuuri's body reflected on his glasses, covering his eyes.

"What will happen if their powers runs out?" Conrart finally asked what everyone was thinking.

"I'm not sure, but it won't be good... In the worse case it can be fatal, for both of them".

Wolfram had already figured that out, so he wasn't surprised at the Sage's answer, but still, hearing it aloud made his heart quiver and his feet reflexively take a few steps back. He felt his stomach aching and his chest tightening. The memory of something his mother told him years ago came to his head.

He remembered they were arguing about Yuuri, he was complaining to her about how the wimp didn't love him, and that he was sick of being the nobles' laughingstock, since everyone knew that he did loved the Maou. But then his mother had told him Are you sure that he knows?. At the time, he found the question stupid, he had proved to Yuuri how much he loved him plenty of times, but now he sddenly understood what his mother had meant. Whether Yuuri knew or not wasn't important, the thing was that he had never told him. And now he was going to lose him without having ever done it.

Gwendal and Günter were charging one on Anissina's inventions, that looked a lot like a karaoke machine, with their marioku. Let-me-into-your-thoughts-kun was supposed to let them speak to Yuuri through his thoughts. Ken, Conrart and Yozak were trying to figure out a way of helping Yuuri that wouldn't explode, and pretty much everyone in the castle ran from one side to the other, trying to do something useful, when a voice they hadn't heard in a long time came to their ears.

"Yuuri..."

Ken smiled in satisfaction and looked up at his friend, still floating in midair. Conrart and Yozak smiled too, although with a little sadness. Günter's eyes went wide, and Gwendal frowned, seeing the pain in his little brother's face.

Wolfram had started moving his lips, believing that, like it had happened all month, no sound would come out, but it wasn't the case. Looking up to Yuuri's body, he felt the tears coming down and he put a hand on his chest trying to stop the oppression that was suffocating him.

"Yuuri… I love you..."

Before anyone had time to process Wolfram's words, or the heartbreaking of the scene in front of them, the blue energy that had been covering the Maou's body all that time, rapidly started to expand, and finally formed a cylinder that began at the ground and got lost somewhere on the sky. The energy started to twirl, creating a gush of wind that pushed away all the people who were standing there, against the castle's walls, everyone except Wolfram, who stood on the center of it.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.o.O.o.-.-.-.-.-.-.

An utter darkness had covered the picture again inside of Yuuri's heart. He was sitting on the ground, with his arms around his knees, and Shinou was standing behind him.

"All you have to do is get us out of here, and you will win this duel" he said in a comforting voice. Yuuri wanted to, but he didn't know how "Isn't there someone you want to see?" In the distance, a soft light appeared, along with Wolfram's words, echoing over and over again in Yuuri's ears, coming from all directions at once.

The Maou stood up and looked back "You were only trying to make me see it, weren't you?"

"Well, it is true that I was bored too" he said smiling, and they started walking towards to the light.

To be continued...

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Okay... this was supposed to be the last chapter of this story, but I got kinda carried away writing and ended up dividing it into two, so I'll be updating soon.