Work Text:
Wolfram awoke from a restless sleep, certain that he had had a nightmare, though he remembered nothing. He needed a moment to remember where he was before rising carefully on his elbow, wiping with his hand a tear that had strayed to the corner of his eye.
The morning sun's rays illuminated the empty bedroom, with the sheets scattered on either side of the bed. Yuuri had managed to get up and leave without waking him up. He felt a sense of disappointment for this reason.
He washed his face and dressed quickly, hoping not to be late for breakfast. He took off his nightgown, checked it for any damage while doing so, and put on his pants and shirt. Socks, high boots, jacket. He corrected his jabot, and when he looked at himself in the mirror and decided that everything was in its place, he took his weapon belt and fastened it on his way out of the room. He nodded to the guard, then to the maid he passed in the hallway, who would immediately stop around the corner, thinking he had disappeared from hearing range, and would start gossiping about the newly hired girl with another maid she had just stumbled upon.
Hearing the murmuring voices, only for a moment, did surprise cross his mind that the very thing he thought would happen next had happened. And then he went on by his usual route and entered the dining room, where everyone was busy with something and barely noticed his presence. He didn't care, however, and sat in his seat, content that no one bothered him. Was it because of what happened yesterday? He was unable to remember what it was. It seemed he wasn't fully awake yet.
He busied himself with his breakfast, listening to Yuuri tell Conrad something and feeling that he remembered his monologue exactly, word for word, as if he had once learned it by heart. Even if he didn't understand most of it since it was about baseball. Yet just hearing his voice was enough for him, so he stared at his plate, focusing only on the sound of it.
When he finished his breakfast and put down his cutlery, he felt something scraped on the table's edge when he ran his hand over it lightly. He looked at the small arrow pointing to the left and reflexively looked in that direction, which made him realize that Yuuri was watching him. He didn't notice when he stopped talking.
"Something wrong?" he asked slowly as he controlled his surprise.
Yuuri seemed to notice only now that he was looking at him and shook his head abashed.
"No, I was just thinking." He laughed nervously and got up from the table.
Wolfram did the same and followed him along with Conrad toward his office. There, Yuuri would spend half the day bent over documents until he decided he'd had enough and needed a break. Simple matters of state, yet some of them still caused him trouble.
Wolfram seemed to know what some of them would involve, so when Yuuri actually started having problems, he went over and helped him, then smiled contentedly when he thanked him and returned to his place next to the door with a better mood.
The whole noon was quiet, with occasional visits to bring some documents or discuss something. After a few hours, one of Conrad's subordinates came to speak with him, after which they both left the room, leaving Yuuri and Wolfram alone. The king seemed to pay no attention to this, nor to the fact that Wolfram was already bored with standing by the door and moved a chair closer to the desk, watching from it as he worked.
The pen moved slowly across the paper, sometimes still in clumsy motions, and when Yuuri paused for a moment to think, he almost scratched his head with it a few times. He restrained himself at the last minute, but by the end of his work, he ended up with ink spots on his face anyway, so Wolfram took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped them off before letting him out of the office.
"You don't have to treat me like my mother," he complained as Wolfram looked closely at his face to see if he had missed anything.
"I wouldn't have to if you weren't a wimp. Can you imagine how people will react when they see what a slob the king is? You have to at least keep up appearances." He wiped a small spot near his ear, put the handkerchief in his pocket, and then smiled as he looked at his work. Yuuri reddened slightly under his gaze, which gave him even more satisfaction. "Have you finished your work yet?" he asked, though he already knew the answer perfectly well.
Yuuri squirmed slightly, then quickly coughed and looked away.
"I thought I'd take a short break. You know, to give my mind a rest and be able to approach everything with renewed energy."
"If you say so. After all, the king can't be so exhausted that he can't work."
"Right on!" Yuuri turned toward him again, and his eyes shone slightly. "I need a breath of fresh air. Let's go to the garden then." He slipped past him and left the room, waving at the guard along the way, and Wolfram followed without speaking.
The weather was pleasantly warm, the end of summer, when everything was beginning to ripe, bringing with it sweet smells. Through the windows, one could see trees gently swaying in the wind and a few people strolling through the garden. And at the bottom of the frame of one of them was again something carved.
Wolfram stopped to read the short word. It was simply 'stop,' and for a moment, he wondered what it could mean. Why had he carved it here? For some reason, he wanted to stop at this very spot. To look out the window? He looked at the garden below for a moment but saw nothing there that caught his eye. And then he felt someone grab his arm and pull gently.
"Come on, Wolf. If we delay like this, Gwendal... I mean, it's such nice weather, so let's hurry up and go outside."
So Wolfram let himself be guided by Yuuri along the corridor, then downstairs and outside to the gardens, feeling a kind of hope igniting inside him as he did not take his hand off his arm for a long time. Instead, he held it lightly, and it seemed almost involuntarily, so Wolfram tried to walk in such a way that he didn't notice it further, to maintain that bit of closeness for as long as possible.
In the gardens, he began to look around, checking to see who was in the area, and when the warmth on his shoulder disappeared, he looked again at Yuuri, who quickly looked away, again with a gentle blush on his face. Wolfram made no comment. Acted as if nothing had ever happened.
"Would you like to take a walk?" he asked instead.
"I think I'd rather just sit in a quiet place." Yuuri continued not to look at him, trailing his eyes over the vegetation beside the road.
"I think I know some good places." He smiled slightly, and now it was he who led Yuuri straight to a bench under a spreading tree located off to the side. It was a popular place for couples to meet, but he didn't say anything to him about it. Instead, he sat down next to Yuuri, who stretched and sighed, then leaned against the bench and tilted his head back.
"Finally, some quiet," he muttered in bliss.
"You've been sitting in silence all afternoon."
"That's not what I meant..." He waved his hand. "Anyway, never mind."
So he didn't speak, not interrupting his silence and instead contemplating how close he could get so that Yuuri wouldn't take notice and move away from him. But then he noticed a line carved on the bench that showed him the proper distance, so he matched it and also leaned against the back of the bench, trying to discreetly observe Yuuri.
It was a pleasant moment of calm. A moment during which they could be alone and when he knew that no one would disturb them for a long time. However, he knew that there wasn't much he could do anyway except watch Yuuri and sit in silence. If he started any conversation, he would immediately dismiss him with an irritated tone, and Wolfram didn't want to annoy him. He still hadn't found out the reason for his sudden bad mood, but he didn't feel brave enough to find out.
Still, he tried to figure out whether anything else was carved on the bench, but a line was all. So that was all he could hope for, a moment in silence, not too close together, and he had to enjoy it. He didn't know what was next. Only that someone would come to take him away soon, so he oversaw Yuuri, feeling slight stabs of pain in his chest from time to time.
He wanted to grab his hand but knew that would shorten their moment together. He wanted to talk to him but knew that would lead to an argument. He wanted to move closer but knew that he would flinch and move away from him, making him feel even worse.
He only had this moment, so he should enjoy it. Yet the more he tried, the more pain he only felt inside. And then finally Conrad came and took it from him.
It took Wolfram a moment to force himself to get up and follow them. Something was screaming in his head that he couldn't be late, so he walked with a heavy step out of the gardens, having Yuuri and Conrad's backs in front of him.
He followed them up a few stairs to the cloister, moving his hand lightly over the column. Again, there was something carved there. Go to the blue. For a while, he didn't understand what this meant until the two walking in front of him stopped and started talking about something.
Slightly to Yuuri's right were a few spots of blue paint with which he had once stained the stone floor. So he went in that direction and stopped exactly at that spot, not knowing the reason behind it until he heard the swish of an arrow and a sudden pain on the left side of his chest.
He looked down and smiled at the sight of the shaft sticking out of him and the quickly spreading blood stain. So he did everything right.
Someone shouted, and someone else caught him as he slumped to the ground. Perhaps he should have been concerned about his condition, but all he was able to feel was relief. Yuuri was safe. Even if it meant that he would die and then wake up in the morning of the same day without remembering any details about what was about to happen. He would rather go through this hell again and again than let the person he loved be killed.
Therefore, he smiled at Yuuri, who embraced him and said something in such a way that he could no longer understand him. He lifted his hand and brushed his hair aside, hoping that this gesture was enough since the blood gathering in his lungs no longer allowed him to speak.
Yuuri caught his hand and began to massage it, leaning down and bringing his forehead closer to his. Only then did he understand his words. He was telling him that everything would be fine and that he couldn't die now.
Wolfram coughed, somehow wanting to tell him that it was a little too late for that, and blood flowed from his mouth, staining his front even more and Yuuri, who was holding him close. However, the latter paid no attention to this, continuing to hold his hand, in which Wolfram seemed to have already lost feeling, and wiped the blood from his mouth.
As his vision was already beginning to darken and fatigue had almost completely overtaken him by now, just after he had accepted that it was over, he felt Yuuri kissing him, and tears flowed from his eyes. He felt like yelling at him for only doing it at a time like this, but he could no longer do anything, and it wasn't long before everything was gone.
Wolfram woke up from an uneasy dream, catching air greedily. He was sure he had a nightmare, but he didn't remember anything. So he got up slowly from the bed, wiping the tears still dripping down his cheeks, feeling a stab of pain at the sight of the empty bed.