Took me longer than necessary... But girl's gotta work for living.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Kyou Kara Maou

--

"Daddy Yuuri..." Greta whispered. The double black had still not woken up, he hadn't stirred or flinched. According to Gisela there was absolutely nothing wrong with him physically. He just didn't want to wake up.

Greta had grown few inches, her curls were a little bit longer now and the little girl charm was slowly fading away. But that didn't stop her from loving both of her adoptive parents as if they were her real fathers. And now she was about to lose both of them.

"Conrad?" Greta said, turning to the man who was standing quietly in the corner of the room, looking out of the window. His arms were crossed on his chest and the frown on his face made him look much like Gwendal. "Conrad?"

Greta's small voice made the soldier turn around. Her eyes were full of tears and the look on her face could break even the coldest person's heart. The smallest smile of reassurance appeared on Conrad's face.

"It'll be okay, Greta."

"Are you sure?"

Conrad closed his eyes. He was sure Yuuri and Wolfram would know exactly what to say, how to handle this situation. But he didn't. He couldn't say "yes" but he didn't want to say "no" either. He didn't know if her parents considered her old enough to be told the ugliest truth there was, or should he, just in case, cut the edges? Greta WAS still a child, a child who held onto whatever hope there was left.

Speaking of hope...

The longer Conrad looked out of the window to the still empty yard outside, less he thought he would ever see his little brother again. He knew that river. It didn't look dangerous but the water was icy and Wolfram had fallen a long way. And water really wasn't Wolfram's element. It was the total opposite of his element, to be exact. The blond prince couldn't even manage it ON water, just how was he going to survive IN it?

Conrad shook his head. There was still hope. It was like Gwendal had said: Wolfram was tough. And even after 85 years, he still managed to surprise him and everyone else, too, almost daily. When Wolfram had been a child, he had surprised Conrad by showing the patience and determination that it took to master the fire-element. A few years ago Conrad wouldn't have believed that Wolfram could love a human child as his own. The hidden, gentle side of the youngest brother surfaced around that human child and her other daddy. But during all these years, nothing had surprised Conrad more than the change of the way Wolfram spoke to him and acted around him these days. At first the change had been so small no one else could see it but then, about a year ago, Wolfram had almost accidentally called Conrad "little big brother." For so many years Conrad had hoped and waited that Wolfram would accept his human back round. And now, when he had finally got his little brother back, they were going to take him away from him again?

Even if Conrad never answered her question, Greta seemed to understand what went through his mind. A single tear fell down on her cheek as she squeezed Yuuri's hand. She wanted to do whatever she could to help but she wasn't sure what that whatever was. For now she just settled on sitting there, making sure her precious daddy wasn't in pain. Every now and then she'd whisper his name as an effort to make him wake up. But somehow Greta knew that it'd take a certain blond fire-summoner to make Yuuri open his eyes.

And it scared Greta like nothing else ever before to know that the certain blond demon might not come back.

--

It was almost uncomfortably cold night. The wind didn't help. And if that wasn't enough, his very well trained soldiers seemed to be losing their hope on this mission. Nothing about this situation pissed Gwendal off more than that. These men were hardly as good of soldiers as Wolfram was, how could they even think his little brother hadn't made it?

It didn't matter that they had searched up and down the river for hours. The fact that if Wolfram had made it out of the river they should have seen him already didn't matter either. Wolfram was okay, somewhere, and Gwendal was determined to take him home.

Thinking like he did at the moment was very out of character for Gwendal. He was the practical one who didn't want to live in false hope and always told everyone how things really were. But what he was hoping for now wasn't really realistic. The weirdest thing was that he didn't even admit it to himself.

Wolfram was fine!

He was just fine.

Fine...

Well, at least he seemed to be alive.

"Wolfram!"

--

Wolfram had no idea how long how long he had been in the water but he didn't know if he was glad to be out of it. He was shivering so hard he couldn't even focus his thoughts. He tried to concentrate on something else but the cold, tried to remember how to open his mouth so he could at least call for someone and tried to will his limbs to work the way he wanted them to. But then his brains gave up and he could feel the agonizing coldness piercing his skin.

But he was alive. The ache he felt all over his body proved that. If he was dead and supposedly in some kind of better place, his would not feel this miserable. Somewhere far away he thought he heard his name being called. He thought he was imagining things until suddenly he felt himself being lifted up and he coughed the rest of the icy river water out of his lungs. He wondered if this was what fire felt like when water was thrown on it to put it out. He was just as strong, just as powerful as fire and at the moment he felt worthless and weak. He didn't even have the strength to look up to see who was keeping him from falling back down, even though he had quite good idea.

"Are you hurt?" was asked by a voice that was strange and familiar at the same time. It didn't have the demanding edge to it that Wolfram was used to and still he didn't have to wonder who it belonged to. He shook his head just a little despite the pain he felt everywhere. He was hardly concerned about his own well-being, he had a completely other person in his mind.

His teeth chattered as he gathered enough strength to utter one word: "Y-y-yuuri...?"

"He's not hurt. Conrad took him back to the castle," Gwendal told him. Something in his voice told about uncertainty.

"He's... f-fi...?" The wind blew right through his wet clothes and he shivered too hard to finish his question. He didn't really notice it when Gwendal lifted him up to his feet and he didn't know if he was walking on his own. Gwendal's arm supported most of his weight and if he had been more himself, Wolfram would have been embarrassed. Now he just concentrated on not falling asleep.

They walked, or Gwendal did and Wolfram did his best to help even a little, for what seemed like forever. And it wasn't only Wolfram's imagination, getting back up from the river did take a long time. But then, finally, Wolfram found himself in a carriage he thought would be destroyed in the battle. He and Yuuri had travelled in it for reasons Wolfram could no longer remember. It wasn't as if it mattered anymore. All he knew was that he had survived and he was going home.

"Comfortable?"

Wolfram's swallowed air and nodded even though he was sure he had never been more uncomfortable. He could take a hundred days in a boat if someone promised him he would never feel so wet and cold and, worst of all, useless, ever again.

"Need something?"

"N-no..."

"Cold?"

"I'm... fine... D-d-d..."

At this point Wolfram could hardly keep his eyes open. He cursed his own inability to tell his oldest brother that everything was fine and he honestly felt like crying. He closed his eyes to stop the tears from falling and allowed himself give into the sleepiness he felt. Just when he was about to sink into another world for a little while, he realized that the heavy weight of his soaked coat had been removed and replaced by something equally heavy but at least warm. In the back of his mind he noticed he wasn't shivering so badly anymore. He was leaning on something...

No wait, someone.

"...thank you," he said before he fell asleep and his voice didn't even shake.

--

Conrad's jaw dropped. His first thought was that this had to be a dream, that he had fallen asleep next to the window without even noticing it. He blinked a few times but the image in front of him didn't disappear. Through the window he heard his mother's distant cry of joy and then he saw her running to the blond prince who was wrapped in what seemed to be Gwendal's coat. It was huge on Wolfram's slim frame, making him look even younger than what he was.

As he was being hugged and kissed by Cecilie, Wolfram looked up. Even from this distance Conrad could see the green eyes looking right at him. Something jumped in the soldiers heart and he ran out of the room, not even caring if he woke up the now sleeping Greta.

Conrad was almost at the doors of the castle when they met. At first there was a silence as Conrad had no idea what to say and Wolfram, for whatever reason, seemed to be embarrassed. Then the silence was broken by the sound of few quick steps and suddenly Wolfram found himself being hugged yet again. Conrad let out a breath that he had probably been holding the whole night and hugged the blond boy even harder.

And then Wolfram surprised Conrad once more: he hugged back.

When they finally broke the embrace and Wolfram asked where Yuuri was, Conrad didn't even suggest that they would go to Gisela first. Yes, Wolfram looked like he was exhausted, which he most likely was, but there was absolutely no way anyone could keep him from seeing the love of his life this very minute. So Conrad just put a small smile on his face and told him where he would find him. Of course Wolfram had known all along but he smiled as a thank you nonetheless and, by himself, started to make his way to the room where his fiancé was.

"That was a quick recovery," Gwendal pointed out as he watched how steadily Wolfram walked away.

"He has a motivation," Conrad said.

--

Greta didn't wake up when Wolfram came into the room. It wasn't until Wolfram put his hand on her head and murmured her name that she slowly opened her eyes. First she looked at Yuuri but when she realized he hadn't moved, she turned around. Her eyes went wide and in a blink of an eye she was in Wolfram's arms, laughing and crying at the same time. And while Wolfram kept whispering silly nothings to his daughter's ear, his eyes were on his fiancé, who lay there without knowing anything of what was going on.

After about ten minutes Greta was sound asleep again, her hand still loosely holding onto Wolfram's. As gently was possible, Wolfram lifted her up and put her down right next Yuuri, to the spot where she used to sleep every night not so long ago, before deciding she was old enough to sleep in her own bed. Seeing her grow up was bittersweet but Wolfram had also realized that there was no better feeling than to see someone who you called your child become as kind, caring and wonderful girl as Greta was. Taking a moment to just watch the two people in the world who made him feel like he had a purpose even when he didn't have a sword in his hand, Wolfram wondered what he done right to deserve them.

Finally Wolfram sighed and sat down on the bed, taking Yuuri's hand that Greta had been holding. He knew Yuuri didn't need to be healed to wake up. Mazoku powers weren't necessary. What was required was something way more powerful.

Wolfram leaned down. "Wake up, wimp," he whispered just before he put his lips on the king's. They were warm and Wolfram could feel the breath coming from between them. And after a moment or two, they started to kiss back.

If Wolfram had known who Sleeping Beauty was, that's what he would have called Yuuri when he opened his eyes. And it was because Yuuri did know who Sleeping Beauty was that he called Wolfram "Prince Charming" before wrapping his arms around the blond's neck and kissing him again with all the love that he felt.

"You came back," he said after they pulled apart. "I... I thought you were..."

"Pfft. Takes more than a stupid river to kill me," Wolfram replied, trying to look cocky. When Yuuri just blinked and looked down, his expression softened and he kissed the double black's forehead. I came back," he confirmed. "I'm not leaving again."

"I so sor..."

"Don't."

"But Wolfram..."

"Just don't, okay?"

Yuuri gulped but shut his mouth nonetheless. He suddenly felt as if all his energy left him so he leaned into Wolfram's arms and let his head rest on his fiancé's chest. He heard Wolfram's strong and steady heart beat. How could he had ever thought that it could stop? Hell, Wolfram was so freaking stubborn that he had survived when it had stopped.

The young Maou remembered all too clearly how he had felt when Conrad had announced Wolfram's heart had stopped all those years ago. Denial, sorrow, disbelief... and determination to make it start beating again. One would think that he would have realized there and then just how much deeper feelings he had for the blond bishonen but no. It had taken too long, now that Yuuri thought about it. They had lost so much time because of his stupidity.

He didn't want to lose anymore time. He didn't want to lose Wolfram ever again.

"Wolfram?"

"Mm?"

"I'm gonna tell you to do something and there's only one right way that you can answer me. Okay?"

"What are you...?"

"Be with me forever."

It could have sounded like an order. Wolfram, however, knew it was something more much than that.

"No," he whispered. He held Yuuri tightly against him when he felt him trying to pull away. "I'll be with you for much longer than forever."

Yuuri couldn't help but smile at that. He liked that thought.

"So you'll never leave me again?"

"I won't. Who knows who you were dreaming about since you didn't want to wake up. You cheater, I'll never let you get out of my sight again!"

Yuuri chuckled. Then he chuckled again. Before he knew it they were both laughing so hard they woke Greta up.

She screamed in delight so loudly that the whole castle was at full alert in a couple of seconds when Yuuri asked if she wanted to be the flower girl of the royal wedding that would, despite what he had said, happen very soon.