The
Ritual:
As the hands of the
ancient grandfather clock signaled the third hour, the young man’s eyes flew
open as if on cue. He sat up slowly and rubbed them, trying to stifle a small
yawn of weariness at the same time. For a moment, he remained sitting up, deep
blue (and quite breathtaking) eyes still glazed with the effects of interrupted
sleep.
“Must…go…my…”
He swung his legs out of
the bed and rose to his feet. Dressed in nothing but a pink nightgown, Sir
Wolfram von Bielefeld – a proud soldier of Spitzberg and future (hopefully)
bride to the Maou – walked out of the bedroom in slow steady steps. He had to
take care of a few things and the sooner he got them done, the better.
__
The Maou, also known as
Yuuri to his closest friends, opened up his eyes as soon as he felt the low dip
of his bed. There was no doubt about it now. His suspicions over the blond’s
activities for the past two nights were getting to fever pitch. Tonight,
however, he was determined to find out just where his supposed fiancé took off
to each and every time.
Making sure the blond was
completely out of the room, Yuuri got to his feet quickly. His dark locks were
a stark contrast to the stripped blue and white pajamas he was wearing, but it
suited him just fine. Oh, the sleeping arrangement wasn’t something he had
wished upon himself, but after being with Wolfram for this long, he had come to
accept it albeit reluctantly.
(Of course he hated to
admit that the blond smelled great… especially his hair…but we digress)
Once Wolfram was out of
the room, Yuuri became a walking shadow as he began to tail the other boy as
silently as possible.
__
Wolfram continued to walk
down the wide and long hallway, his footsteps deliberate and steady. He was
muttering something beneath his breath but Yuuri could not make out what it
was.
There was something
rather strange about all of this, to be honest. If he knew Wolfram (and believe
me, enough near death experiences with the blond had more than convinced him),
the blond would have noticed that someone was following him. But so far, so
good. The solider had not turned around; neither was he stopping in this walk
that seemed to go on forever.
Just when Yuuri thought
he couldn’t take another step, Wolfram stopped abruptly before a set of doors.
Yuuri noticed that one, he had never been in this section of the castle before
and two, Wolfram had now fallen to his knees in search of something. In his
desperate quest, the blond’s overeager hands bumped against a steel statue of a
knight that had been guarding the doors. Yuuri felt the scream of ‘Watch Out!’
about to escape his lips, but deciding that he didn’t want to risk getting his
head chopped off by an irate fiancé, he dashed forward to hold back the statue
that had almost fallen on Wolfram’s head.
The blond rose serenely
to his feet, hardly glancing at his frazzled and panting fiancé a few meters
away from him. He was now holding a set of keys in his hand and as Yuuri
watched with interest, Wolfram opened up the doors and walked right in. Grateful
that he hadn’t slammed the door in his face, the Maou stepped in quickly, only
to gasp in surprise at what met his gaze.
It looked like a little
boy or girl’s room, he couldn’t be sure. There was a wide array of toys that
both members of the opposite sex would have liked to play with. Large stuffed
teddy bears and dolls were strewn all over the room. There was a small
bookshelf that housed over a hundred children’s books – at least they looked
that way to Yuuri. Unfinished battle games; complete with toy soldiers and
horses lay undisturbed in a corner of the room. Yuuri could only watch in
amazement as Wolfram made his way straight to the game and began to arrange the
soldiers in a tight formation.
With deft fingers, the
blond organized various troops on the ‘battlefield’. He gave soft but firm
commands, blue eyes still glazed in that look that Yuuri was beginning to
understand. He tore his gaze away from the other boy to stare at the large room
again. If his guess was right…then this had been Wolfram’s bedroom as a little
boy. It looked way too big for a small kid to sleep in and Yuuri wondered if
the blond had ever gotten scared of being here all by himself.
He gasped softly as
Wolfram suddenly brushed past him (still not sparing the dark-haired boy a
glance) to make his way towards a small cabinet at the left side of the room.
He opened it up and pulled out a tin box that was painted with an image of a
prince and a princess dancing in a garden of roses. Wolfram’s features seemed
to soften for a moment as he opened it up carefully. Sweet, melodious music
floated from the tin box as Wolfram made himself comfortable on the floor to
listen.
Yuuri found that he was
doing the same thing too. He had a feeling that he had heard this song before,
but he couldn’t be sure of just where and when he had done so. He tucked his
legs beneath him and closed his eyes, allowing the soothing music to fill the
silent room and his heart.
“It’s beautiful…isn’t
it?”
Yuuri started at the
dreamy voice and opened up his eyes quickly to glance at his fiancé. Wolfram
wasn’t looking at him, but it was clear that he was waiting for an answer of
some sort.
“Uuum…it’s…”
“Mother gave it to me
when I was a baby. She said it would bring me good luck.”
“Ah…okay…”
“I’m so happy,” Wolfram
interrupted in that same voice that was beginning to make Yuuri a bit
uncomfortable. “Yuuri’s here with me now and I’m so happy.”
The Maou could now feel
his cheeks darken with color at the other boy’s words. He didn’t know what to
say or do or what to even think. This wasn’t the angry Wolfram that he was used
to. This was probably the only time he would get to hear anything this honest
from the blond.
Several minutes later,
Wolfram closed the box firmly and rose to his feet. He put the music box back
in its place and stood for a moment in the middle of his former bedroom. He
felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He was tired…so very tired. All he
wanted to do was to…
“Wolfram!” Yuuri cried
out as he stumbled to his feet and dove for the blond who was just about to
crumple to the ground in exhaustion.
Yuuri heard something
crack in his lower leg and he winced in pain, while holding onto his fiancé
tightly in his arms. He tried to move his broken leg as carefully as possible.
There was simply no way he could carry Wolfram back to their bedroom in this
state. He was injured and Wolfram was fast asleep.
“Might as well make the
best of it,” he mumbled as he reached for a large floral pillow to place it
behind them. Leaning back, he laid his head upon it and pulled Wolfram closer
to his body. He flinched for a moment as he felt the blond’s arm encircle his
waist but too weary to put up a fight, Yuuri closed his eyes and allowed
himself to drift off into welcome sleep.
Tomorrow morning, he had
the feeling that this whole incident would mean absolutely nothing to Wolfram.
And for some reason he
couldn’t explain, Yuuri felt very disappointed about it.
__
“You broke your leg by
falling down the stairs?”
The Maou laughed
sheepishly and scratched his head as he tried to hold the angry gaze before
him. “I know. It’s silly, isn’t it?”
“You’re damn right, it’s
silly, you wimp! How can you be so careless?! Next time you fall down let me
know and I’ll carry you upstairs or something, okay?!”
“Ah…okay…”
“Hmph!” With a light
snort and a glare to his older half-brother, Wolfram spun on his heels and made
his way of the bedroom.
Yuuri winced at the
slamming of the door before sighing softly. He gave an apologetic smile to
Conrad. “He’s angry with me again. I don’t know what I ever did to him. So…was
it you then?”
The brown-haired man
nodded softly. “Yes, Gunter found you two in the room this morning and we
carried the two of you back to your bedroom.”
“Thank you…” he began
only to purse his lips in thought. “So Wolfram…does he sleepwalk all the time?”
Conrad shook his head
gently and smiled again. “No, it’s just a habit he has and he keeps denying it
each time we tell him. Why the last time alone, he raided the kitchen and
finished a whole cake all by himself.”
“What?!” Yuuri exclaimed
in genuine surprise.
Conrad laughed and tapped
his nose in thought. “Oh and let’s not forget that one time when…”
__
In the courtyards,
Wolfram sneezed repeatedly and scowled in irritation. Someone or some people
were talking about him again.
Damn it. When would he
stop being the talk of the entire castle? He hadn’t blown up anything by
accident today…yet.
However, he couldn’t help
hoping that it was Yuuri behind it all. He didn’t mind knowing that the Maou
was thinking or talking about him for Wolfram thought of nothing but his young
King every waking moment…
…and even in his dreams.
~The End~