Wolfram woke up, and all the bruises and cuts and wounds made themselves heard a million times over. The worst feeling, however, was that of choking discomfort caused by the hoseki around his neck and hands. It felt like it was compressing his internal organs, brain included. He'd have screamed, if his throat could be persuaded to work. Every breath made him feel like he was breathing through a straw a thousand feet under the ocean. Inhaling was slow and painful, exhaling was more so. Pathetic! He wanted to scream. Me, a proud, strong, mazoku soldier gasping for breath and only able to flicker my eyelashes like some love-struck idiot female because some human (he mentally cursed the word) draped a hideous stone around my neck and used a chain made of the same bloody stupid stone!
Wolfram was insulted and disgusted enough by this thought to wrench his eyes open and scream a scream of fury. Movement that he hadn't noticed before stopped, as the assassins turned to look at their captive.
The head assassin (who is known as Hedrid) was enormously surprised. Previous testing had shown that the hoseki chains currently wrapped around Wolfram was enough to almost, but not quite, kill a full-grown demon. Now this tiny, beautiful creature with flashing green eyes and unruly, matted blond hair looked strong enough to kill him with his bare hands, and looked as though he would do such a thing the moment he got his hands free.
Dismounting from his horse at the head of the group, he signaled for Wolfram's rider to put him on the ground. Wolfram didn't make it easy for the boy. He writhed and twisted, shoved viciously with his shoulders, attempted to part the boy from his nose, and at one point managed to get his boot over the side of the horse and connect it squarely with the young assassin's chest. Though in terrible agony, Wolfram managed to shape his contorted features into a smirk of pride. Let this be a lesson to all, he thought. Wolfram Von Bielefelt should never be taken lightly, hoseki or no hoseki.
After the extremely accurate kick, Wolfram had violently dismounted the boy and had both legs on the side of the horse facing Hedrid. Feigning a look of insufferable superiority, Wolfram drawled in perfect I'm-rich-and-gorgeous-and-am-far-more-important-than-you tutored-brat tones "You may have the pleasure of helping me off this horse. Be thankful I have given you such an honour"
Hedrid was of course forced to comply, seeing as how the other assassin was moaning in pain, a groaning figure curled by the leg of his horse. A large part of him was tempted to slap the rump of the horse and let Wolfram fall into a crumpled heap at his feet, but he resisted the temptation. He felt a bit of grudging admiration for Wolfram. Being trained in the art of death and how to quickly bring it about, Hedrid knew pain when he saw it. And when he saw Wolfram, with his tired eyes and sweat beading on his forehead, he saw impossible amounts of pain. You had to respect someone that unwilling to give in to his body.
So as quickly as he could, he lifted The Lord Brat of his horse and onto the ground.
"I would have rewarded your efficiency" Wolfram continued in the same disinterested aristocratic voice, "But as you can see my hands are a bit…. Occupied" He threw a pointed look at his bound hands, and though he had to swallow to stop himself from vomiting, he jerked his head back to stare accusingly at Hedrid.
Hedrid sighed. It was going to be a long day, and morning had barely begun.
Seeing as how their captive was awake, Hedrid decided not to continue much more before taking a break and ordering everyone to dismount. No point in starving the little brat he thought. He might make a pointed remark about the "excellent service", Hedrid very nearly shivered. The blond with the short temperament had barely been conscious for a half hour, and already he was scared of the pointed retorts and condescending remarks that came out of a deceptively innocent mouth.
It's not just the words, Hedrid reflected. It's the tone. The tone that made him feel like furniture, the tone that made him feel as alive as a table and as important as a teacup. Do not presume to compare yourself to such an important vessel, Hedrid. I trust a teacup to contain a beverage that greatly pleases me, whereas I would not trust you to keep your own bodily fluids in check. In this instance Hedrid, I sincerely hope I am wrong. Goosebumps erupt on Hedrid's arms as he fervently prays that the teacup-Hedrid comparison never, ever occurs to Wolfram.
" Listen, Hedrid" The boy knows my name, but he somehow manages to make it seem like he is doing me a favour, rather than a captive trying to sweet-talk a captor. How could anyone be capable of such a thing?
Hedrid listened in captivated horror as the tightly bound Wolfram, still with his teddy-hat on and his hair curling charmingly on his forehead, attempted to negotiate with him. But of course, the negotiation was done in a way that made Wolfram the epitome of The Lord Brat
" Hedrid, try to concentrate when a superior is talking to you" Wolfram made a disgusted noise similar to that of a mother whose child just did something she disapproved of. It was a bit of a disgusted sigh, a bit of an impatient cluck and a lot of oral smirking." I grow weary of talking to someone so slow on the uptake. Release the bonds on my hands, and I may see my way clear of allowing you to bask in the radiance of my silence. Abstain from releasing my hands, and I will feel it is my duty to shout out, very loudly, the enormously long list of your defects" 'Defects'? What am I, an object? "Beginning with your almost non-existent vocabulary and ending along with the death of the world." Grinning nastily, Wolfram added, "It's a rather long list, you see"
Hedrid barely stifled the scream of horror that was aroused by the threat. He was no fool; he knew that Wolfram wanted at least a bit of the hoseki to be taken off so that it wouldn't hurt him as much. Hedrid also knew that pain drove people to do a lot of rather horrendous things, and he really didn't want to know what Wolfram would come up with if he started to hurt more. If the blond decided to conserve energy by stopping the amused looks he threw Hedrid ever so often, or the calculating stares that made him feel like Wolfram was measuring how much his soul is worth, he would have left the binds on. But if instead of physical put-downs Wolfram decided to put all his energy into verbally abusing him, he would much rather puncture his own eardrums.
Hedrid sighed. It was becoming pathetically unclear. Who was the captor and who was the captive?
The gloating, smug image of Wolfram greeted him as he took off the chains that cut roughly into Wolfram's wrists and instead replaced them with wetted rope. The hoseki neck chain was left in place, because everyone present knew the extent of Wolfram's magic powers. But as the chains came off his hands, he could see Wolfram visibly relax, and the disturbing gleam in his eyes lost a bit of their ferocity. As he turned to prepare food for the brat, he could almost swear that he heard Wolfram breathe the words "Thanks Hedrid. For a human you're not the worst." Turning around in surprise, he saw Wolfram's pouting face, which quickly morphed into one of nasty mischievousness.
"Hurry up, man. One such as me needs nutrition to sustain his breath-taking looks and superior brain capacity. We can't all look like you and think like you, could we?"
But there wasn't as much venom in the words. There was enough venom to, say, kill 750 men. Earlier, the venom would've been enough to send 1000 men to their graves. Hedrid went back to his task, determined now that he would be as nice to Wolfram as possible. Wolfram's brazen temperament apparently cooled when he was treated with the respect he (admittedly) deserved.
Oh gods! Thought Hedrid. He has been nothing but horrid and violent to me since the start, he has me burnt in places where fire was never meant to go, and I've gone and developed a soft spot for him. I am an idiot, and I hope he doesn't find out.
He laid down the food (a measly fare of bread, cheese and water) in front of Wolfram, and watched delightedly as Wolfram set about an activity that didn't require him to speak. Besides, since he doesn't look as though he will faint at any given moment, I don't have to feed him. Wolfram didn't seem to notice Hedrid's wandering eye. Hedrid turned away and started to sharpen his sword, before a hard hunk of cheese was thrown quite accurately at his head. Picking it up, he turned to look at Wolfram, who was still stuffing his face. "You can't disarm and murder everyone here by throwing small pieces of food at them, you know." Hedrid said, getting annoyed that the soldier was behaving so childishly.
Wolfram looked up from the food, and eyed Hedrid with a look of confusion, before he threw a bread crust that narrowly missed Hedrid's nose. "Stop being such a complete fool. Do you honestly think I would waste food, no matter how pathetic, to attack you lot? Please! If I wasn't so tired, I'd have murdered everyone with my fire ages ago. But you, you silly little man." Little? I'm almost 2 full feet taller than he is! "Are in charge of my safety as well as the safety of your men, and therefore need to keep what little strength you have. Should we be attacked, I expect you to be a human shield for me. If you're so frightfully thin, the blades would pass straight through you and injure me! So until I can sort this lunacy with the idiot you call king, I expect you to start taking better care of yourself to take better care of me." Not pausing to clarify the cryptic outburst, Wolfram went back to eating.
Hedrid, who was as fluent in politics as his king was, used all his technical knowledge to decipher what the blond had said. Roughly translated, he figured it meant that he should eat to keep his strength up in case of any emergency, because his men looked to him for leadership. If that was the correct assessment than he was shocked. Why would Wolfram want him to be fit? If he or the others were hurt because of a surprise attack, Wolfram had a chance of escaping. Of course, the king would severely punish everyone, but that was hardly any of Wolfram's concern, was it?
Until I can sort this lunacy with the idiot you call king, I expect you to start taking better care of yourself to take better care of me
So Wolfram was actually willing to meet the king? And it's because he knew that all present would be subject to pain if they returned without him? Hedrid took a deep breath and calmed down. He couldn't read Wolfram's thoughts; he couldn't say for sure if his assumption was correct. He did start eating though.
Lowering his head so that his bangs covered his face, Wolfram grinned. Truly, the head assassin wasn't a bad sort, and after years of having Yuuri's dislike for conflict rubbing off on him, Wolfram didn't want to see Hedrid or anyone else for that matter get hurt because of an idiot ruler and himself. Besides, I'm certain this fellow knows why I said what I said. If I can talk a head assassin into doing my bidding within 45 minutes of talking to him, I wonder what the extent of my power would be with the monarch. Shinou knows Yuuri follows my every bidding.
Yuuri.
Wolfram felt pain at the thought of his name. But wimp, honestly don't worry! I'll beat some sense into the idiot I'm about to meet, then I'll be home and protecting you as soon as I can. You of all people know I can't leave you alone for long. Wimp, you'd miss me like a shot!
hi all! i know i'm late, but i've been really busy lately, what with school starting and all. besides, i got a new computer, so files had to be transfered and changed and stuff... i accidentally deleted this fic before i found a spare in someone else's computer i promise to update weekly on fridays up till where i've written, i swear i will on my wolfram poster nods
And for those shocked by wolf's language... i always imagined an angry wolfram would be all haughty noble brat and make everyone within a mile radius suffer from an inferiority complex XD tell me what you think, though. And i'm looking for a beta, because though i've written a bunch more than what i've posted on ff, i'm in a bit of a rut now.
Until next friday everyone, and thank you for all your kind support! special fangirl wave to shmy-chan, who's moved much too far away
And i know i'm being draggy but, kkm season 3 has been out for a few weeks now, find out more from the lj comm kkmwolframfans :) this comm is win. subbed episodes can be found on youtube. start watching people!