Big thanks going out to my editor Nami schwan for all her help with this fanfic.

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Conrad had absolutely no intention of heading back to the infirmary. Not when his explosive little brother was still there, demanding a conversation the soldier has absolutely no interest in opening himself to.

He was currently trying to find his way back to more familiar part of the castle. He hadn't come this way in a very long time, and was now thinking that it would be good to brush up on the castle's geography again.

"Hey, captain!" The call made him pause, but he was not at all surprised to see Yozak merrily skipping towards him. "Becoming an infirmary escapee now?" Conrad sighed, not really in the mood for the redhead's cheeky humor. "I heard that you were up and about. Gisela's currently organizing a search party for you."

"Wonderful," replied Conrad with tired sarcasm, surprising Yozak.

"You feeling alright, Captain?" he asked with concern.

"Yes, I'm just… tired." The soldier brushed a hand over his face. He was exhausted, and truthfully wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed.

"Let's get you to your room then," answered the redhead. Conrad made no protest as his friend began to help him back to his private quarters. They moved in silence down the corridor, but Conrad could already see that there was something stuck on Yozak's mind.

With another defeated sigh, he plunged in head long. "What is it?"

Yozak just grinned at him. "I figured out who your crush is on."

Conrad's heart sank even more. "Yozak-"

"Hey I'm not saying anything. I just think you two would make a great couple." Conrad made a non-committal grunt. "You're just going to let him go, then?"

"I'm not having this conversation," Conrad replied coldly.

"Fine, but I think you're making a mistake."

"Yozak," warned the soldier.

"I'm just stating my opinion."

"And I don't want to hear it."

Yozak shook his head. "Oh my, sounds like you need a nap, Captain." Conrad made no response to that. "I just thought that you should know, though." He turned at a bend leading towards the courtyard. Conrad wanted to curse at the spy, since Yozak was taking him on the long route to his quarters. "While you were off hiding, Wolfram confronted Yuuri in the gardens and broke off their engagement." Yozak curled his fist, violently punching the air to demonstrate.

Horror rushed through Conrad at that bit of news. He'd left his brother in a horrible mood and Wolfram wouldn't be above seriously injuring someone.

"Yuuri!"

Without a thought Conrad bolted from the redhead's side, racing towards the garden, not even noticing the smirk on Yozak's face. He tore down the corridor, his recent injuries protesting with every step. He flew faster then the wind, terror gripping his heart like a vise.

Yuuri could be seriously hurt, and it would be his fault! After all, he'd been the idiot to walk out on a severely temperamental Wolfram. He should have known the blond wasn't going to take it well at all. Yuuri shouldn't have been the one to take the full brunt of Wolfram's wrath.

Conrad gritted his teeth, forcing his legs to carry him faster to his goal. He knew he was never going to forgive himself for this either.

"Yuuri!" He burst out into the garden, eyes quickly sweeping the perimeter for the double black teen. "Yuuri!"

"Conrad!" He instantly honed in on the answering call, hurrying past a large group of shrubs.

"Yuuri," gasped Conrad upon spotting the young Maou kneeling beside a flowerbed. "Thank Shinou!" Before Yuuri could react, Conrad was on his knees, and his arms wrapped tightly around him "I'm so glad you're alright." Yuuri's mouth fell open slightly, but he was too shocked to make a noise. After a moment Conrad pulled back, concern still in his eyes as he looked the teen over. "Are you injured at all?"

"Injured?" echoed Yuuri, utterly baffled as to what the soldier was on about. "Why would I be injured? I've just been hanging out here, trying to avoid paperwork." Yuuri gave a nervous laugh, gesturing towards the blue flowers beside him.

Conrad's jaw dropped. He'd been tricked. He wasn't vengeful by nature, but Yozak was going to pay for this one!

"They're pretty, right?" Yuuri asked him nervously, drawing the knight's attention once again to the flowers.

It was like an echo from a conversation they'd had before. "Yes," replied Conrad quietly, voice cracking ever so slightly. "Yes they are." The blossoms were the ones his mother had named after him, the same patch Yuuri had asked him about last time.

"Conrad." The teen's gentle voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Are you… What are you doing out here?"

The soldier's face instantly turned a light shade of pink, while his flustered mind tried to come up with an answer. "I thought- that is- Wolfram was…" he trailed out, unsure of what to say.

Yuuri blinked at him curiously. "Wolfram?" he asked. "He was just here a few minutes ago, and was acting weird too."

Conrad frowned. "How so?"

"He just suddenly walked up to me, and tapped me on the forehead." Yuuri demonstrated, lightly tapping his own forehead with a finger, making the soldier's eyes widen in surprise. "Then he just marched away, muttering something about idiots." The young Maou shrugged, looking back at the soldier, only to become worried as he saw the knight's brow furrow deeper in thought. "ah…Conrad?" Yuuri asked nervously.

"Your majesty…" began Conrad hesitantly, sitting down on the grass to face the other. "I don't know how to tell you this, but…Wolfram just broke off your engagement to him."

Yuuri's jaw hit the ground. "I've been dumped?!" he exclaimed.

Conrad wasn't sure how to react to that statement. "Essentially, yes."

There was an awkward pause of silence. "Oh," Yuuri quietly responded, staring down at the grass. He didn't say anything else and Conrad had no way of breaking the quiet that had fallen over them. He was just thinking of getting up to leave, when Yuuri suddenly blurted out "Someone should have told me ages ago."

Shock wrote its way across the soldier's face as he stared at the young Maou. "You…" began Conrad, convinced he must have heard the other wrong. "You really would have?"

Yuuri nodded his head exuberantly in response. "I thought I was stuck marrying Wolfram!" he exclaimed, before quickly adding. "No offense to him. I just don't think of him that way. Besides…" Yuuri blushed slightly, "…he's not my type."

Conrad snapped his mouth shut, the question 'what exactly is your type?' coming far too close to escaping him.

"And besides," Yuuri rushed on, slightly flustered. "No one ever told me that I could do that!" He flapped his arms about to emphasize his point. "It's not even funny that I don't know my countries own customs! I could accidentally start a war by sneezing at the wrong time!"

"That would actually be coughing, your majesty."

Yuuri looked aghast. "You're kidding!" Conrad shook his head. "It's an utter mine field out there!" The young Maou collapsed back on the grass. "I'm doomed," he declared to the sky.

"I could teach you." The offer was out of Conrad's mouth before he realized what he'd said.

Yuuri instantly shot back into a sitting position, startling the soldier. "Would you really?" asked Yuuri, his eyes alight with excitement.

"Of course," replied the soldier.

"Thank you, Conrad!" He launched himself at Conrad, forgetting in his enthusiasm that the soldier was still recovering. The two toppled over onto the grass, with Yuuri landing on top of him. Yuuri gave him a sheepish grin, his face barely inches from the soldier's. "Sorry about that." Conrad swallowed hard, fighting a blush that was quickly spreading across his face. He'd never thought of himself as easily embarrassed, but Yuuri was proving that belief completely wrong.

To his relief, Yuuri rolled off him a moment later, settling on the grass once again. "Alright!" declared the teen, pumping a fist in the air. "So what other customs are there in Shin Makoku?" Conrad sat up, brushing grass off his plain white shirt, hospital garb that Gisela insisted her patience wear. "I already know that slapping means you're proposing to someone, and picking up a knife means you're challenging them to a duel," Yuuri grimaced at that. "And adding a spork into the mix is just asking for trouble." Conrad couldn't help laughing at that.

Perhaps if Yuuri still remembered, and Wolfram's temper was a little more explosive, Conrad might have ended up in the exact same situation Yuuri stumbled into, declaring that he'd stolen Wolfram's lover. That same thought sobered him rather quickly as well.

"Then," continued Yuuri, "there's tapping someone on the forehead, which breaks off an engagement."

"Or punching," added on Conrad.

Yuuri's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "I'm surprised I'm still alive," he responded in a dazed voice. Conrad didn't say anything, but whole heartedly agreed with that. He was still trying to get over his own shock of his little brother breaking off the engagement to Yuuri.

"Besides those," continued the teen, drawing Conrad's attention back. "The only other one I know about is the one you just mentioned, declaring war by coughing. Now that just sounds ridiculous by itself."

"It does, doesn't it?" agreed Conrad, settling himself beside the young Maou. "It only applies during the greeting with the other country though. If you cough when it's your turn to do their traditional greeting, then instead of welcoming them, you're declaring war."

"There's really no breaks in this, are there."

"I'm afraid not, your majesty."

"It's Yuuri, you know," admonished the teen.

"My apologies," responded Conrad, hiding behind his usual smile.

The young Maou gave him a forlorn look. "Don't do that! Just call me Yuuri, you named me after all. How would you feel if I started going around calling you Sir Knight all the time?" He grinned, expecting to get an amused response out of Conrad, but all he got was the most sorrowful look he'd ever seen from the soldier. "Conrad?" The look instantly disappeared from the other's eyes, but somehow Yuuri knew that it was still there.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing." The answer was far too quick, and they both knew it.

"There is something wrong," retorted Yuuri. "You've…" he hesitated, but didn't stop. "Something has been bothering since you woke up…" He paused again, unsure if he should continue. "More like… since I told you, I don't remember anything of what happened." He bowed his head. "I've been thinking since…" Yuuri's eyes were locked on the ground, fingers absently pulling at the grass blades. "…since you- after I left the infirmary."

Guilt stabbed Conrad's heart, and he tried to apologize, but Yuuri rushed on before he could. "I thought, at first, that you were upset because… to me… until I saw you, I thought you were still loyal to Greater Shimaron." Yuuri swallowed hard, glancing quickly at Conrad before looking away. "I didn't think that was it though. I never believed for a moment that you'd really betrayed me, Conrad, and I'm certain I would have told you that already." He stopped there for a moment, gesturing with a hand, trying to express something before the words would come to him. "I can't figure it out, Conrad. Did I do something?"

Conrad struggled silently for several long minutes, but in the end he simply shook his head. "Nothing happened, your Majesty." Yuuri's eyes locked on him with a steely gaze. "Your Majesty-"

"Yuuri," he corrected, but Conrad kept speaking.

"How much have the other's told you of what happened?" he asked, unable to look directly into the young Maou's eyes any longer.

"Not much," answered Yuuri quietly. "All anyone will really tell me is that I was blind." Conrad nodded, silently relieved that no one had said anything about the two of them. "Why is that?" the young Maou asked suddenly, turning towards the soldier.

"It was…" began Conrad, unsure of his wording. "It was a very stressful couple of days. Things got dangerously out of hand several times…and we were forced to evacuate the castle."

Yuuri's eyes went wide. "It was that bad?" Conrad only nodded grimly. "Is that…" began Yuuri hesitantly. "Where I got this?" He lifted his right hand slightly, showing off the still bandaged palm. The soldier's throat constricted at the sight of it. "Conrad?"

The half mazoku jumped at his name. Yuuri was leaning up against him, hand gently resting on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" the teen asked, concern clear on his face. Conrad couldn't find his voice to answer, and the young Maou just continued to peer at him curiously. Conrad's brain was close to shutting down. It would be far too easy to kiss the young Maou at that moment. His last shred of brainpower held him back though sadly. He was so utterly distracted, that he completely missed the look of dawning comprehension on the teen's face.

Yuuri blushed slightly, just realizing then how very close they were. The knight's presence was entrancing. The teen very much doubted that he had the will to pull away. The young Maou's heart was fluttering wildly, and the ghost of some emotion whispered in his ear.

Conrad was in love with him.

Then there were lips on his, and it took Conrad a very long time to realize that they were Yuuri's. This was the second time the teen had kissed him, and had initiated it himself. Conrad's mind tried to scream at him to stop, but for once he didn't listen, and returned the gentle kiss in full.

When they finally did part again, Yuuri's blush had gotten deeper. "ahm…" Yuuri chuckled nervously. "I have no idea where that came from."

Conrad felt his heart drop like a stone. "I'm sorry your majesty," he apologized, suddenly deeply ashamed. "It's a residual effect from the soul link." He should have known it would go both ways. While Conrad had acted earlier on anger, Yuuri had just acted upon the ghost-like feeling of love that the soldier had left behind.

Yuuri made a soft, "Oh" sound, his cheeks darkening further, the smile slipping from his face. There was a long awkward silence, where neither of them would look at the other. "You…" began Yuuri after a long while, stuttering over his words, "you like me… right?" The question was added onto the end, but the answer was obvious. Conrad had already given himself away with that kiss, and yet despite that he kept an impassive expression. "Conrad?" He couldn't. The soldier just couldn't answer right now. "I have a confession to make." Yuuri hesitated for only a moment. "Despite… what you think… I… uh…" The teen's blush deepened even more. "I like…no…love you."

Conrad's heart soared, but at the same time his stomach dropped. This was just… things had never once, in Conrad's life, ever worked out this perfectly… it was just way too good to be true. "Yuuri-"

"Please hear me out!" the young Maou cut in with a level of desperation that startled the knight. "I've been thinking about… you…for the last three months while I was trapped on earth. Out of everyone here I-I missed you the most, Conrad." Yuuri fell silent for barely a second, face darker than a tomato. "And I don't mean just in- that is… you know."

The soldier was silent for a long time, trying to digest what the other had just said. "Yuuri, I…" Words had never been his strong suit, a fact that was becoming painfully clear.

"Do you love me?" The question was sudden, even Conrad could see the young Maou was startled by it. But even then, Yuuri still turned to face him, hesitantly placing a hand over the knight's. The teen's palm was slightly sweaty, showing Conrad exactly how nervous he was. It was unromantic, but… that had never been what had endeared the other to him.

Yuuri was, despite the odds, his clumsiness, and what the world threw at him…he always had a streak of bravery in him. He always stood fast by his beliefs, and spoke his mind freely. These were two things Conrad had always loved dearly about him. Yuuri almost always had the courage to speak, when Conrad himself was too afraid to risk the consequences.

"Do you, Conrad?" asked Yuuri again, voice less certain now.

There was only one answer to that question, but the soul link made it impossible to say. "Yuuri… I can't." The teen's expression shifted through several emotions: shock to hurt and then finally a neutral expression that only carried a hint of sadness. Slowly he withdrew his hand from where it had rested upon Conrad's.

"I understand," he finally said. "Murata was explaining to me why I was blind… though truthfully I didn't understand a good part of his explanation." He gave a slight laugh at that before falling silent once more. "He said the balance of my soul was thrown off, and to try and adapt to that my body took on the characteristics from my last incarnation." He hesitated for only a second. "Julia's blindness… among other things." He glanced at Conrad, but the soldier's expression remained blank. "You cared very deeply for her, and if that feeling is anything to go by, she lo- had very deep feelings for you too."

With a start Conrad realized why the young Maou was saying that. No one had explained what a soul link was to Yuuri, so the teen had applied the term to what little he knew and had come to the wrong conclusion. From the sound of it, Yuuri thought a soul link was the connections between a soul's different lifetimes, and that the feeling of love he'd discovered for the soldier was from Julia, and didn't even begin to suspect it had come from Conrad himself.

The soldier's mouth snapped open, a protest on his lips. It wasn't supposed to be like this! But all the words caught in his throat and not a single one was able to escape. He loved Yuuri, he couldn't deny that, but… until he was certain, he could not, in good conscience, make a move on the young Maou.

"Please forgive me, your majesty."

Yuuri smiled brightly, like nothing at all had changed. "There's nothing to forgive, Conrad, other than not using my name."

The knight answered with a sorrowful smile of his own. "Of course, Yuuri."

The young Maou gave a slight nod of his head, settling back comfortably on the grass once again. His eyes kept straying towards Conrad, though neither of them spoke. After a long moment Yuuri finally turned away, and didn't look back. Conrad's heart constricted painfully in his chest at that, but still he didn't speak. Another awkward silence had fallen, one the knight had been dreading since this conversation began. It had settled down between them, feeling more and more like a physical barrier with each passing moment. Pretty soon it was going to be too thick and too hard for either of them to break.

He was going to loose Yuuri completely.

The pain of that realization hit him like a ton of bricks. It was an utterly overwhelming feeling, one that stole all the breath from his lungs. He desperately turned to Yuuri, but the teen wasn't even looking at him.

It was over.

Conrad went cold, his voice completely lost. "There's one other thing you should know." He didn't even realize for a long moment that the young Maou had spoken. Yuuri shyly turned toward him, trying to look serious, but the crimson blush on his face ruined the effect. "I'm not the type to easily give up… and well…"

Gently Yuuri grasped the soldier's hands in his own. Before Conrad could react, Yuuri leaned forward placing a soft kiss upon the knight's forehead. He pulled away not even a second later, leaving a deep and bitter feeling in Conrad's soul.

"Yuuri…" he tried to protest, but the teen didn't let him.

"I'm allowed to do this the old fashion way." He plucked one of the blue flowers from the garden, offering it to the soldier. "I'm not asking you to marry me or anything… just give me a chance. Let me prove myself, please."

'Let me prove that these feelings are mine.'

The words weren't said but they hung in the air, clear to both half Mazoku. Conrad gazed at the offered flower, trying to decide what he should do. Yuuri was holding his breath, heart hammering wildly in his chest.

Conrad's hand shifted, before slowly rising. A moment later it gently grasped the blossom, holding it delicately in his callused hand. Neither spoke, but there was nothing else that needed to be said. Yuuri smiled brightly, and Conrad returned it shyly.

An echoing voice, barking orders broke the moment. Yuuri looked up, quickly rising to his feet. "Uh oh, sounds like Gisela's noticed you're missing." Conrad didn't even get a chance to deny that, before Yuuri was pulling him to his feet. "Come on, this way, I know a way to avoid her." He was grinning brightly, and the soldier found he couldn't protest. He allowed the Maou to lead him along, the flower still clutched securely in his hand.

On the far side of the courtyard, hidden secretly behind a pillar, a blond turned away from the sight, not bothering to watch the two escape the courtyard. "Idiots," he declared under his breath, shaking his head.

"Ah, but soon they'll be two very happy idiots," corrected another, making Wolfram nearly jump out of his skin. He glared up menacingly at the redhead, who only smiled back in response.

The blond huffed, turning accusingly towards the redhead. "And what exactly did you say to my brother to get him running out here so fast?" The redhead's only response was a toothy grin. The blond gave Yozak an incredulous look. "You realize that he's going to kill you."

"Oh I know," answered the redhead nonchalantly. "But he'll have to find me first, and once he gets over his qualms, he's going to be quite distracted." Wolfram could only shake his head in response. "Uh-oh!" That proclamation got Wolfram's attention, making him follow Yozak's line of sight. Gisela was marching down the hallway toward them, looking anything but happy.

"I think it's time we beat a hasty retreat," commented the redhead, to which Wolfram could not agree more. "This way." Knowing far better than to ignore the master spy's advice, the two scurried down the nearest corridor.

Gisela's wrath was infamous, and quite frankly the last thing Wolfram wanted to do right now was give away what direction his brother had left in. He glanced anxiously over his shoulder as they left the gardens behind.

Conrad and Yuuri had already long since vanished from sight, and no doubt were a good long way from there by now. It didn't stop the blond from looking back though.

"Are you having second thoughts?" Yozak's voice drifted from farther down the hall.

Wolfram instantly snapped his attention forward, response already formed on his lips. "No," he answered simply and without an ounce of regret. "Those two idiots deserve each other." He'd come to a complete stop at that, making Yozak pause a few paces ahead of him. "I'll catch up later." He then proceeded to turn, marching back the way they'd come. He knew full well that Yozak was smirking behind his back, but quite frankly he didn't care. He had no regrets now.

He only hoped that he would be able to stall Gisela for a few hours from finding where those fools had disappeared off to.

END

I find this is always the bitter sweetest point with writing, where one has to say goodbye to the characters. On one hand the work has been complete and is something to be quite proud of… but on the other hand it's always so sad to have nothing more to write.

Looking back on this project I have to say I put a lot of work into it, and not all of it made it into the final version that's posted here. Like the climax for example has about six different versions to it before I settled on what was going to happen.

Then there were times the exact opposite happened, for example the part in the story where Conrad runs from Shinou's temple with Yuuri in his arms, originally right after that just cut to Conrad waking up in the infirmary with Yuuri beside him. More or less a suspense killer really, so I very late in the story inserted that chapter/scene where Wolfram was trying to heal them. I think of the entire story that's one of the newest bits since I had the ending more or less written out by that point… sort of…

Well truthfully there were two different endings with very similar actions but different dialogue, the version above being the second one. Sadly when I tweaked around a few things in the plot, like the reason that Yuuri's memories were missing (the idea itself I had planned from the very start of the story) The original version had it that it was the soul link that had caused to his memories to disappear, since they reattached his soul together and had nothing to do with Shinou. Conrad actually confessed that he loved Yuuri in that version, but sadly when I got the idea of Shinou could have possibly infected Yuuri, and that Conrad even acted upon some of Shinou's anger, well sadly the first version just didn't fit anymore. Since Conrad immediately started thinking that the soul link was effecting Yuuri's feelings towards him, I just couldn't leave in the happier ending I wrote since it was just to far out of character for Conrad. So out went that ending and in came the one you read above.

Ah well. Good news is with things not quite settled between Yuuri and Conrad, that leaves room for me to write a sequel! Yes you heard me, I'm actually planning one at the moment though I don't have more than the first three chapters outlined. (watches as everyone runs away screaming in terror) Hey! Sequels are not that bad! ….usually….

I've also got a couple of one shots (some of our lovely couple, and then some for other series) that I've been working on, which will probably go up before I start another long fanfic.

Before I wrap up my last author notes for A Simple Change in Time, I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who took the time to read, enjoy, or review this fanfic I wrote. I've been quite delighted with the reception that I've gotten from this story, and I hope you enjoy any future fanfics that I post up.

The End – March 18, 2009

-Alatus

Anonymous Reviewers:

Blue_Shayde: Conrad can be annoying about not speaking his mind. True that Wolfram has matured somewhat over the course of the series, which I think is great. The nice thing is a can live with him being in a scene now, unlike the very start of the series. I hope you haven't waited too long for the last chapter, and thank you very much for all your reviews. I hope you've enjoyed my fanfic and thanks once again!

Twitty: I hope I haven't left you waiting for too long. Finally got the last chapter up, and I hope you enjoyed it. It kinda gives them a happy ending, well better off than the last chapter left them. Given the circumstances of what was going on, I think Murata thought he was choosing the lesser of two evils. I mean which is worse, Yuuri loosing his memories or loosing himself to Shousho like Shinou did. I'm really annoyed at Conrad for the fact he wanted to hide what happened. Like I was saying above, I had a version where Conrad did say what happened but it just didn't fit at all. Conrad quite a noble character, I don't think half of us would like him if he was demanding for Yuuri's affections (sort of reminds me of a blond character in the series hmmm). Of course because Conrad's so selfless about his feelings towards Yuuri, that's what good old Yozak is for. I agree that Wolfram is too pushie about the engagement, and doesn't seem to notice that Yuuri is a bit uncomfortable about it too. I think Yuuri has help basically all the characters around him to mature in some shape or form, I remember thinking in the first episode when I first started watching the series that Conrad was the only ally that Yuuri had in that world even after they introduced Gunter and the others. A lot of them didn't warm up to Yuuri till quite a few episodes in. I never really liked Cheri, she gets on my nerves more often than not and I agree with you that she could have tried to do something other than watching things go to pieces and the war break out. I wouldn't be surprised if Conrad was a little messed up in some way, like the fact he hides a lot of what he feels on matters, or that he'd willingly given up everything from Shin Makoku during the boxes plotline. Some might find that an endearing trait but I think that it a pretty bad one in some cases. Maybe his way of dealing with everything that happened with his family has something to do with that. I don't really think Conrad views Yuuri in any form as a reincarnation of Julia. Though Yuuri has several same speeches as Julia did. Yeah, I found with Conrad that I wanted to give him a little more depth than the series seems to give him at times. Glad to hear that my Wolfram was likeable, and hopefully a little more so after what he did in this chapter. I have to say, I really enjoyed reading all your reviews and the thought you put into them. Thank you ever so much for your support during this fanfic and I hope you enjoyed every chapter of it. -Alatus