Troublesome Treasure

Troublesome Treasure

Summary: While helping Gunter sort through and clean the treasure storeroom, Wolfram finds yet another troublesome treasure with unexpected results. While his body stays the same, his mind reverts to that of a child!

A/N: Got the idea while watching episode 44… XD Ulrike, got to love your 'other self'.

--

Wolfram pushed another heavy box out of the way, swearing under his breath. Just why he'd agreed to help the nose-bleeding freak, he'd never know. He pried the lid off, and began moving the so-called 'treasures' out of the box to be dusted and generally cleaned up.

He picked up a small amulet, and blinked. He used a finger to brush off the small red gem in the middle, which was covered in dust.

A bright light lit up the whole room, and Wolfram yelled out in surprise.

Almost immediately, Gunter had run from his end of the storeroom to Wolfram's. "Wolfram!"

Wolfram was unconscious, lying next to the box that he'd been sorting through. Around his neck was a gold pendant with a red gem as a centerpiece, tucked underneath his blue uniform. Gunter called at the soldiers near the door to get help. One of them ran off to get Conrad and His Majesty, not sure what else to do.

--

Yuuri sighed, looking over at his fiancé-by-accident. Wolfram was lying under the covers of Yuuri's—or, according to the stubborn prince, 'their'—bed. He didn't seem harmed in any way, but he still hadn't woken up, even though he'd passed out that afternoon, and it was nearly ten o'clock.

Even if he wasn't in love with the blonde, he still worried about him. What could have happened to Wolfram in the treasure room? Well, that was a stupid question… that place was full of weird and dangerous things…

Wolfram stirred, and Yuuri jumped to attention, smiling. "Wolfram!"

Wolfram's eyes opened sleepily. "Huh…?"

"You're awake, finally! How are you feeling?" Yuuri asked with one of his famous wimpy smiles.

"Yuu-chan…"

Yuuri blinked. Since when did Wolfram call him Yuu-chan? That was his mother's thing.

"Yuu-chan!"

Yuuri yelped as Wolfram tackled him. "W-Wolfram, what're you—"

"I love you, Yuu-chan!"

"Oh, no. No, no, no…" Yuuri gulped. This scene was all too familiar. He'd have to check and make sure Ulrike's spirit was still where it belonged.

"Yes," Wolfram insisted, smiling childishly. "Yes, yes, yes."

Yuuri tried his best to wriggle out of Wolfram's grip, but failed miserably. "Wolfram, really, get off…!" he insisted, trying to pry Wolfram's fingers from his jacket, panicking.

Wolfram shook his head, his hands clenching tighter, and he snuggled against Yuuri's chest. "No, Yuu-chan!"

"Wolfram, what's gotten into you?" Yuuri struggled more, but knew it was a losing fight.

Wolfram didn't answer. He just adjusted his position on top of Yuuri so that his arms were around Yuuri's waist, his head tucked under Yuuri's chin, smiling – even Yuuri had to admit this – cutely. "I love you, Yuuri…"

Yuuri sighed. He was stuck. "Wolfram… Really, get off…"

Wolfram's emerald-green eyes began to tear up, and he looked down at his fiancé. "D-Do you hate me, Yuuri?"

"Wha?" Yuuri stared up at Wolfram, shocked.

"Yuuri hates me!" Wolfram began crying, and suddenly jumped off of Yuuri, running over to the corner. He crouched down, buried his head in his arms, and cried like a little kid.

Yuuri stared at Wolfram in shock. "…Wolf…"

"Go away!" Wolfram yelled, muffled. "Yuuri's mean!"

"Wolfram…" Yuuri half-crawled over to the other boy, placing his hand on Wolfram's shoulder. Wolfram jumped. "Wolfram, calm down. I don't hate you, okay?"

Wolfram sniffed. "So… so, Yuuri loves me, too?"

Yuuri knew that he wouldn't get anywhere by say no to that particular question, so he decided to use the safe answer. "Yeah. Now come here, okay?"

Wolfram sniffed one last time, and hugged Yuuri again.

Yuuri sweatdropped. Not exactly what he'd had planned, but…

"Yuuri?"

"Hm?" Yuuri looked down at Wolfram.

"Can we go outside and play?" Wolfram asked innocently.

Yuuri had to try hard not to smack himself. "Er… sure, Wolf. You want Greta to come play, too?"

Yuuri found out that was a bad question to ask. Wolfram clung to him tightly, shaking his head stubbornly. "No! Yuuri's mine!"

Yuuri choked as the wind was knocked from him from the force of Wolfram's death-grip around his stomach. "All right, all right. It'll be just the two of us, okay?" Wolfram lessened his grip somewhat, and nodded. "Good. Let's go, then, Wolfram."

Yuuri sighed. Until they figured out what was wrong with Wolfram, this would be a very tiring period of time for him…

--

"Had any luck yet, Gunter?" Yuuri asked, dropping another stack of heavy ancient tomes next to his advisor.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness!" Gunter tried to hug Yuuri (as if it would make him feel better), but was stopped by Yuuri's foot stuck into his chest. "I'm afraid I haven't read anything yet… But there's so much to go through…!"

"Do your best, Gunter," Yuuri sighed. "I only wish I could be more help, but Wolfram—"

"Yuu-chan!"

Yuuri sighed as his now-suddenly-childish fiancé clamped onto his arm. "Wolfram, you found me."

"Yup. My turn to hide now," Wolfram laughed. "Count to one-hundred!"

Yuuri sighed and amused him. He turned towards the nearest stack of books and began counting. "One, two, three…"

Wolfram turned and ran out the door, smiling widely the whole way.

Yuuri turned back to Gunter, absent-mindedly counting in his head. Wolfram seemed to have a third sense of if he were looking or not, and he'd eventually show up, crying, and refuse to be comforted, saying that Yuuri wanted him to stay hidden away or lost. This had only happened once, and Yuuri did not want a repeat of this moment.

While Yuuri shakily tried to help Gunter read through the ancient books (oh, how he hated the Mazoku writing system), he got to one hundred far too quickly. He'd half-deciphered the name of one of the objects when he reached his time limit, and began to go look for his immature fiancé. Written in Yuuri's handwriting (in Japanese, of course), was written: "Amulet of…"

--

Wolfram yawned, rubbing his eye. When was Yuuri going to find him? The sun was going down, and he was getting hungry… He shivered against the cold. He'd thought that the tall tower in the castle would make a good hiding place – barely anyone went there, and of course, the maids barely came up to clean because of that. For that reason, there were numerous objects to hide behind, in, or around, and a lot of junk to camouflage said hiding place. He'd thought it was even better to hide in the attic-like area of the roof rafters, but had soon regretted it when he couldn't get back down.

However, there was also the unfortunately fact that there happened to be no heating, no fires burned in this part of the castle. Because of this, it got bitterly cold at night, mostly because of its altitude.

Wolfram unbuttoned the top button of his coat, flipped up his collar, and snuggled his head into his chest, trying to warm up. He felt like crying. What if Yuuri never came for him? What if Yuuri abandoned him and went and found someone else? He didn't want Yuuri to do that – Yuuri was his, though he didn't know why.

He heard footsteps, and his head perked up. He looked down, and saw that beloved black head.

"Man. Where on Earth did he go?" He heard Yuuri mumble to himself.

"Yuu-chan!" he yelled, waving his arms.

Yuuri's head swiveled up to see Wolfram. "Wolfram!" he called, running towards him.

"Yuuri, you came!" Wolfram laughed, suddenly feeling a lot warmer. Yuuri came for him, and that was all the stubborn prince cared about.

"How'd you get up there?" Yuuri asked, confused.

"I piled some stuff together, but when I climbed up here, they all fell," Wolfram admitted, embarrassed. "Please, Yuuri… I can't get down!"

Yuuri saw the remainder of the makeshift pile Wolfram had use, and began tossing stuff back up onto it to rebuild it. "Don't worry. I'll get you down. I promise."

Wolfram smiled widely, and nodded.

Yuuri climbed up the small hill of broken chairs, old books, and other miscellaneous junk until Wolfram was within arm's reach. He held out a hand, which the blonde took thankfully. Yuuri helped Wolfram keep his balance as he climbed out of the rafters. As soon as they were back on the wooden floor, Wolfram grabbed Yuuri around the middle, smiling innocently. "Yuu-chan, I was so scared…! I thought maybe you'd forgotten about me…"

Yuuri darkened. "It's fine," he murmured, rubbing the other boy on the back. "Trust me, Wolfram. There's no way I'd just forget about you, okay?"

Wolfram nodded, guilty that he'd even doubted Yuuri in the first place. "I promise, I'll never think anything like that ever again."

Yuuri smiled. "Good. Come on. You must be starved." As if to answer, Wolfram's stomach growled, and the blonde covered it with a hand, blushing. Yuuri simply smiled and led the other boy downstairs. The blonde kept a firm hold of Yuuri's hand, smiling the whole way.

--

Yuuri watched as Wolfram stared at his brothers, a spork half way into his mouth. "Yuu-chan?"

"Hn?" Yuuri asked, taking a bite of meat.

"Why do my brothers look so… old?"

Yuuri nearly choked on his food. Gwendal's forehead wrinkled in distaste. Conrad blinked, chuckled, and went back to eating. "Er, I don't really know?" Yuuri seemed to be wondering this himself.

"Oh…"

"Your Majesty!" Gunter, of course, busted down the door in his earnest to be of use to Yuuri. Yuuri sweatdropped. "Your Majesty, I found it! It was in the tome you so wisely chose first…!"