WordlessDreams: I hope you enjoy this! :) We are going to have some fun writing this... The next chapter is even better~
Akikee: ...
Chapter 1
"Heika?" Conrad said again after a few stunned moments. The young child looked up at him and stared.
"What's wrong, Conrad?" he asked, looking slightly confused. "You look like someone had punched you."
"Heika… you…" Günter started and the child turned to look at him.
"Not you too, Günter. What's wrong? I… oh gods. Anissina kidnapped me, didn't she? Where were you, Conrad? Is something wrong with me? What did her experiment do?" Yuuri asked in panic. Talk about delayed responses.
"Actually, Heika…" Gwendal tried to stop the misunderstanding. "Her experiment was a success. In fact, it turned you into a… a…"
Yuuri blinked at his advisors inability to finish their sentences. "What? What did it turn me into?"
Yuuri stood up albeit a little shakily. He blinked, noticing the sudden difference in height and looked down at himself. He first noticed that he was wearing a dress. A dress that his mother had always given him when he was younger.
The next thing he noticed was the state of his hands and legs. They were much shorter and plumper than his fifteen-year-old build. Which meant that…
"WHAT IS THIS?"
Yuuri stared at his retainers in desperation. "Please tell me this isn't happening!" he begged them while they continued to stare at him in surprise. "Oh no!" he moaned and shifted, thinking that the 'disaster' had abated and nothing bad would happen.
Unfortunately, he did not foresee the next incident. He slipped on a piece of debris and plunged through a hole that had appeared in the wall of Anissina's lab and fell towards the hard ground twenty feet below him!
He screamed, "Conrad!" and hit his head on a jutting ledge of stone beneath him. Conrad and the others breathed a sigh of relief, but it was not over yet.
The young king was knocked unconscious when his head collided with the hard surface. His body rolled slightly on the small rock surface—and fell into the empty space beside the ledge.
"Heika!" Conrad called in distress as the king started falling towards the ground again. He made a movement, as if to jump off the floor to grab Yuuri when Gwendal clamped a restricting hand on his shoulder.
"Let me go, Gwendal!" Conrad told his brother angrily and Gwendal stopped him. "We have it under control."
Conrad looked up to see a skeleton flying towards the falling king and catch him in its bony arms. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hm… I would say this experiment was a success. However, the measurements seem to have gone off tangent. He was supposed to turn into a twelve-year-old, not a five-year-old… although the measurements could have been wrong. But a five-year-old appearance is still not too bad, after all…" Anissina mused from where she was standing.
"Anissina!" Conrad spun around suddenly. "What did you do to Heika?"
Anissina seemed surprised by the sudden question and the strange gleam in Conrad's eyes… Hm… Interesting. She would have to talk to Celi about this.
"Heika was the first proud… user of my newest contraption: "Let-Time-Turn-Back-For-You"-kun! Thus, the result." Anissina replied. "Although the explosion destroyed it, I can still repair it. Next time, I shall use Günter as the guinea- er, the test subject!"
Gwendal's eyebrow twitched in annoyance and fear. "What we meant, Anissina, was what was that machine's function?"
Anissina stared at Gwendal until he shifted nervously. "What?" he demanded.
"I never knew you had that much interest in my experiments, Gwendal! This must mean that you want to learn more about them? Then you shall come along with Günter when 'Let-Time-Turn-Back-For-You'-kun is repaired!" Anissina said happily.
"NO!" Gwendal shouted and stopped. He forced the question out through gritted teeth. "What I meant was, what has that machine done to Heika?"
"Oh." Anissina said, looking slightly disappointed. "Well, basically, 'Let-Time-Turn-Back-For-You'-kun is a device that alters your appearance. It can turn you to a twelve-year-old on the outside, but on the inside, you'd still a hundred-year-old, like Gwendal or an eighty-year-old, like Wolfram."
"So… that means that… Heika became a five-year-old on the outside, but he still is a sixteen-year-old on the inside…?" Günter asked.
Anissina nodded. "Well, I can't guarantee that he would still have his memories after he receives any shocks to the brain after the experiment is completed. But according to my notes, his mind should still be somewhat fragile and if he hits his head hard, he might lose some of his memories."
Günter almost sighed in relief when Conrad spoke up. "Shock to the brain? Like, hitting his head on a hard ledge when he fell?"
Anissina nodded, "Yes."
Conrad turned to the approaching Kohi and stared at the unconscious child fearfully. "He hit his head when he fell from here."
There was a moment of silence before Anissina moved. She slammed the destroyed door open and shouted at a nearby soldier. "GET GISELA! IT'S THE KING!"
"How is it, Gisela?" Günter asked his daughter as she exited the royal chambers. "Is Heika alright?"
Gisela shook her head. "I can't tell. His body is fine, but he hasn't woken up yet. My advice is that someone sits with him until he wakes up. He'll need to see someone that he can trust beside him."
"Conrad, you go." Gwendal told him immediately.
Gisela nodded in agreement and continued, "Then, we need to change him out of those clothes. Why is he wearing girls clothing anyway?" she ended that on a frustrated and amused note.
"I'll go find some suitable clothing. Celi-sama, would you like to help me?" Günter volunteered and the ex-Maoh nodded her blonde head.
"Wolfram and I will tend to the country affairs while he's unconscious." Gwendal grumped and left immediately. The other dispersed to do their own tasks. Conrad stood outside the royal chambers for a moment longer before he pushed the doors open.
He walked over to the magnificent bed, noticing that the lump lying beneath the covers were larger than a five-year-old ought to be. Feeling suspicious, Conrad reached out and shook the 'lump' gently.
"Heika?" he called.
The 'lump' was cold and hard. Conrad pulled the covers away. In place of the king's body was a bolster. Conrad stared at it until he heard giggling. It was coming from under the bed.
The knight dropped to his knees and peered under the bed. He smiled in relief. In the shadows of the bed was a small double-black child. The child beamed at him happily when he saw Conrad and reached out his arms, begging to be picked up.
"Conrad!" the child, Yuuri squealed happily. "Conrad!"
Conrad blinked in surprise. He reached out to pull his liege out from under the bed while chiding, "You shouldn't do that, Heika. You could have scared us."
"But, Conrad!" Yuuri protested, "It was fun!"
Conrad smiled gently, "I'm sure it was." He replied as he set the boy down on the bed. "Now, Yuuri, tell me something. Can you still remember everything that happened before this?"
Yuuri blinked in confusion and Conrad elaborated, "What's the last thing you remember before today?"
Yuuri frowned in concentration. "Um… There was the Christmas night that Sho-chan and I were alone. He got the moon down for me!" he beamed at Conrad when he remembered that. "Then I woke up and I'm here!"
Conrad stared at the child in amazement. "Then how did you know me?"
Yuuri stared at him, uncomprehending. "What do you mean, Conrad? Aren't you my Nazukeoya? I gave my rubber ducky to you when I was young."
"That… That wasn't what… How did you know…" Conrad stumbled, the questions piling up in his mind.
"How did you know that you gave me your rubber ducky?" Conrad finally asked. Yuuri had been but a baby when Conrad had seen him. It would have been impossible for him to know that!
"Hm… good question." Yuuri laughed, "I don't know. I just do." He replied cryptically and smiled at Conrad.
"You…" Conrad started then he stopped. He would have to talk to Gisela about this. It was too complex for him to understand on his own.
"Ne, Conrad." Yuuri dragged him back by tugging on his sleeve. "Can we go out and play? I wouldn't get into any trouble. I promise."
Conrad was about to turn the king's plea down when he caught sight of the pleading look. He melted and nodded mutely. "Yay!" Yuuri cheered and held his hands out, clearly preferring Conrad to carry him.
"Only for a few minutes, though." Conrad told the king warningly. "You should be resting after Anissina's experiment."
"It'll be alright, Conrad. Besides, Julia says that I'm fine." Yuuri told his knight as Conrad bought him into the garden.
Conrad nearly dropped his charge in surprise when he heard that. Julia said it was fine for him to go and play? What was the meaning of this?
"Conrad?" Yuuri looked at his Nazukeoya in concern. Conrad was staring at him with the strangest expression on his face. Conrad opened his mouth and closed it again.
"What is it, Conrad? You can tell me if you want to." Yuuri said.
"How… Who is Julia?" Conrad asked finally, "How do you know her?"
Yuuri stared at him skeptically. "Come on, Conrad, you don't mean you've forgotten Julia, my previous reincarnation?"
Conrad's heart stopped when he heard that.
"Well, she's talking to me, so I know that she's my previous reincarnation and that you knew her a long time ago. In fact, she entrusted her soul to you to be bought to Earth." Yuuri told him in a matter-of-fact tone. "Well, at least that's what she says. I'm not really sure though. I mean, you're my Nazukeoya and I did give you my toy, so I should remember you, right?"
Conrad stared at the child with barely concealed surprise. Yuuri stared back, and grew impatient after a while. "Conrad, I want to go play." He whined when it was obvious that his Nazukeoya had drifted off to who-knows-where.
Conrad blinked and set the child down quickly, still trying to absorb the piece of information Yuuri had given him.
Yuuri could hear Julia's voice.
What did this mean?
Yuuri giggled and ran his hands over the flowers.
"Celi's Red Sigh." He stroked a finger over the red petal.
Then, he turned his attention to a beautiful yellow flower. "Beautiful Wolfram."
"Secret Gwendal." A demure light blue bell-shaped flower.
A beautiful dark blue flower with jagged shaped leaves. "Conrad Stands Upon the Earth."
Yuuri smiled brightly. Then, he spun around and called to Conrad, who was standing in the shadows of the castle. He looked to be deeply absorbed in his thoughts. A mischievous idea flashed across his mind and Yuuri grinned.
He silently crept up to his Nazukeoya, keeping close to the shadows. To his delight, the man had not even noticed his advance. Grinning at his luck, Yuuri ran silently and flung himself off the ground towards Conrad. He collided and heard Conrad gasp from the sudden shock as both of them tumbled towards the ground.
Yuuri laughed happily as he sat up on Conrad's body. "Gotcha, Nazukeoya!" he told Conrad cheekily when he saw the stunned expression on the Mazoku's face.
"What were you thinking of? You looked distracted." Yuuri asked, peering down at Conrad with a big smile.
Conrad blinked and smiled back at the boy before he attempted to sit up. "It was nothing, Yuuri." He told his child liege as he lifted the boy to the ground.
Yuuri frowned at him disapprovingly. "It's something if you were so distracted not to notice me."
Conrad asked teasingly, "And when have you become so interested in what I was thinking, Heika?"
"It's Yuuri, Nazukeoya!" the child immediately replied and blinked. Then, he pouted, "You're trying to change the topic! Stop that! Julia says if you keep doing that, she'll tell me about the time when you lost the bet to Waltorana!" Conrad blanched slightly.
"She…" Conrad stammered, at a loss for words.
"Ne, Conrad, what did she mean by that? That you lost a bet to Waltorana?" Yuuri tugged at him, a frown of confusion set upon his fair features.
"Um…" Conrad fumbled for an answer. He knew what Julia was referring to: the bet that he and Waltorana had made when they were very young. Of course, Conrad had lost the bet terribly and he didn't want his king to know of the embarrassing consequences because they were… simply inappropriate.
"It's just a little inside joke." Conrad finally said. He knew it was a lame excuse, but he didn't know what to tell the king!
"Wouldn't you tell me?" Yuuri begged. Conrad groaned inwardly. Yuuri had aimed his puppy-dog expression at him and he found it hard to say no to the child.
"I…" Conrad deliberated.
"Conrad? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Yuuri?"
Safe! Conrad thought in relief as the new voice interrupted their conversation. He turned to meet the curious gaze of his brother, Wolfram.
"Who's that brat with you?" Wolfram asked and Conrad felt his heart plummet when he saw the unhappy look on Yuuri's face.
This would not be good.