This Time Around, Part Five
Title: This Time Around, Part Five Author: Shirahime Pairing: Adelbert/Yuuri Rating: NC-17 overall Summary: Spoilers for early Season Two. After the revelations exposed by his rival, Adelbert decides what he is willing to do for the sake of what he once thought was lost.
Part Five
Nightfall, and Adelbert was standing on the small terrace overlooking the city’s main square below, Yuuri back in the room while Keenan was out scouting. A hand grasped the railing as the blonde looked downward at the people milling around in the evening air. Yuuri had been relatively quiet during dinner, as if mulling something over. Adelbert frowned. He feared that the boy might be regretting what had occurred earlier in the day. The blonde sighed, turning to lean against the railing, arms folded onto his chest. Perhaps he shouldn’t have pushed the boy so soon.
The sound of footsteps made Adelbert open his eyes. Yuuri approached him, the light from the room behind him illuminating his dark hair. The teen took up a spot near Adelbert, leaning against the railing like the man was. After a moment, Yuuri broke the silence.
“Hey” the teen said with a touch of nervousness.
Smirking slightly, Adelbert replied with “Hey, yourself.”
The blonde watched how Yuuri scratched the back of his head absently as if trying to think of a conversation starter. The boy could be shy at times, but usually wasn’t at a loss for words.
“Um… it’s a nice night,” the teen said finally.
“Yes, it is,” Adelbert agreed.
“When I was a kid,” Yuuri started, “my big brother and I would sit outside and he’d tell me all about the constellations. But I always just loved to look up at the moon filling the sky.” As he spoke, Yuuri raised his head to look up at the nearly full moon. “It always seemed magical to me for some reason.”
As Yuuri’s face was turned up toward the view, he missed the look of longing on his companion’s face. Julia had always loved the moon, saying that it’s rays could warm her face like the sun’s. Unable to prevent it, moisture started to well in the blonde’s eyes. So many things that this boy did reminded him of Yuuri’s former self. But Adelbert felt a nagging guilt over perhaps pushing the young Maou into something that he wasn’t yet ready for. Adelbert startled at the sensation of his cloak being swept away from his side, a warm body replacing it. Looking down, wide blue eyes gazed down into tentative but determined brown ones.
“It’s a little chilly tonight, though,” Yuuri explained as he wrapped part of Adelbert’s cloak around his shoulders, nuzzling close. “It’s much warmer like this.”
Wrapping an arm around the teen, Adelbert returned the soft smile that Yuuri gave him. “Yes, much warmer indeed.”
The two stood in the night air in companiable silence for a few moments, sharing the warmth between them, before Yuuri broke it.
“Adelbert…”
“Hmm?”
Yuuri hid his blushing face against his companion’s chest. “Maybe later, we could…”
His ears pricking up in anticipation, Adelbert tried not to get his hopes up too high as he waited for the young Maou to finish his thought. “We could what?” he asked as the boy hesitated, hoping that he hid his eagerness successfully.
Swallowing hard, Yuuri raised chocolate eyes to meet blue. “Maybe we could do… the things you taught me about earlier.”
“Only if you want to…” Adelbert trailed off, surprised when an arm wound around his waist to caress his lower back.
“I really do want to, Adelbert,” Yuuri answered.
“Far be it from me to deny the Maou any desire,” the blonde said with a playful grin before bending to claim the teen’s lips.
__________________________________
The sun climbed the early morning sky as the group of Mazoku, cloaks hiding their telltale clothing gathered near the edge of town. A search of the port city had revealed very little. The Maou and his kidnappers were nowhere to be found.
“We were able to get some information from a merchant who recently returned to the city,” Gwendal told his assembled comrades. “He said that along one of the small alternate trails that leads off to the larger of the nearby cities, there were bodies-”
“Bodies?” Wolfram echoed, his heart leaping into his throat.
“They were the corpses of thieves,” Gwendal continued. “It seems that they tried and failed to get the better of some skilled swordsmen.”
“So you’re thinking that Adelbert could have been responsible,” Conrad said.
“Yes, it’s a lead worth checking out. I’ll send a separate unit to the city toward the west, while we’ll head to the one north of here.”
Leaping onto his horse, Conrad turned to the others. “Then what are we waiting for? To the northern city, and with luck, the Maou.”
The three brothers, a sage, and several troops soon took off on horseback in search of their sovereign.
__________________________________
The stony expression on Keenan’s face as he entered the room in the mid afternoon was in stark contrast to the pleasant ones of his friends as he initially opened the door, the pair sitting cozily on a bed together. As soon as he saw his old companion, Adelbert knew that something was wrong.
“Gwendal and the other Mazoku have been sighted entering the town. We have to get out of here before they discover us,” Keenan explained.
Rising quickly, Adelbert began hurriedly packing as many provisions as they could carry, Keenan doing likewise, but Yuuri seeming reluctant.
“Adelbert, why don’t you come back with me? There’s always a place for someone with your skills at the castle. You too, Keenan.”
Sighing, Adelbert gazed at his cherished one. “That isn’t possible, Yuuri. You know that. And I’m not letting them get their hands on you again. Let’s go.”
With a reluctant Yuuri in tow, the trio mounted their horses for their departure, but not before being sighted by a Mazoku scout. It wasn’t long before the trio found themselves fleeing before Gwendal and his troops, Conrad close behind his brother.
Veering off the beaten path, Adelbert and Keenan tried to lose their pursuers amongst the trees, but soon found themselves face to face with Mazoku soldiers blocking their path. Gwendal and the others soon moved to flank them. Behind the trio lay a long drop into a shallow lake, not the greatest of options for escape.
“It’s over, Adelbert,” Gwendal told him sternly. “Release the Maou, and we will be lenient with you.”
Adelbert sneered at him. “I have no intention of doing that.”
“Wait a minute,” Yuuri interjected. “This is all a big misunderstanding…”
“Adelbert!” Wolfram snapped, dismounting his horse to stalk toward the other blonde, sword drawn. “How dare you take Yuuri from me! Return him to his rightful place by my side at once, or you’ll suffer for it!”
Smirking, Adelbert hopped down from his horse, sauntering toward him, amused by the diminutive usurper. “How can I take something from you that wasn’t yours in the first place, boy?”
Before Wolfram was able to protest this, Conrad rushed Adelbert to Yuuri’s dismay, Adelbert drawing his sword to block the weapon’s downward arc.
“Weller, this is between me and him. What are you-?”
“What did you do to him?” Conrad demanded to know, his voice low and dangerous, ignoring his younger brother’s words. He pushed on the sword, trying to drive it forward. “Answer me!”
The smug look in Adelbert’s eyes made Conrad want to sever the man’s head from his body. “What happens between the two of us,” Adelbert said, pushing against the blade, metal grinding against metal until the two swords disconnected only to clash again, “stays between the two of us.” His eyes narrowed. “It doesn’t concern you, Weller. It never did.”
Yuuri cried for the two men to stop as he dismounted, neither listening as the sound of sword clashing against sword filled the air, the others watching but not interfering as the two men lashed out with the animosity held between them. Yuuri wanted to put an end to this. He didn’t want either of them to get hurt.
Conrad blocking the other man’s strike, Adelbert’s sword grinded against Conrad’s as he tried to push it home. “Everyone thinks that you’re so good and noble,” the blonde told his rival. “Even she did. But everyone is mistaken.”
“You’re wrong,” Conrad countered. “I was only fulfilling her wishes and my duty to Shinou.”
“Liar!” Adelbert spat. “All you’ve ever done was take advantage of the trust that she placed in you. You only stand at his side to try to get the chance that you think you missed.” The two men stood in a deadlock, neither budging as their swords scraped together. Blue eyes pierced brown. “Well, you didn’t have a chance then, and you don’t now. She chose me, then Weller. And he has chosen me now. She’ll always choose me. No matter how many times we live and die. Such is the depth of our love for each other.”
Conrad’s eyes darkened in fury at what he saw as the manipulation of the one he’d sworn to protect. “Then let me hasten you toward your next life. We’ll see how things turn out the next time around.”
The battle continued against Yuuri’s pleas until a surprised Adelbert found himself knocked down and disarmed, his sword imbedded in the ground several feet away after being knocked from his hands.
Conrad approached, raising his sword high, but Yuuri jumped into his path. “Stop this!” the teen shouted.
“Out of the way, Your Majesty,” Conrad told him, his eyes on Adelbert as he tried to rise. “He has committed a crime against you, and this cannot be forgiven.”
“No!” Yuuri said stubbornly. “I’m the Maou! You’re supposed to follow what I say. And I say for both of you to stop this.”
“Your thoughts are clouded,” Conrad told him, lowering his sword but still holding it at the ready. He and Adelbert glared at each other. Conrad advanced with both Yuuri and Adelbert taking a step back for every step he took forward. Adelbert cursed the fact that his sword lay a distance away, the hilt sticking up uselessly from the soil.
“Are you sure that this isn’t a case of Stockholm Syndrome?” Murata called to Yuuri from his vantage point as he adjusted his glasses. “He did kidnap you, you know. Everyone is just trying to look out for your best interests.”
“You know that’s not what this is about, don’t you Murata?” Yuuri asked him, hoping that the other teen would understand. He and Adelbert were now back as far as they could go on solid ground. Behind them the shallow lake several feet below. To hazzard a jump into it would be to risk a broken bone or two at best. Yuuri held his position between Adelbert and Conrad. He could see Adelbert tense as he cast a brief glance backward. He was sure the man was going to do something foolish like rush the fully-armed Conrad. Yuuri looked back at the lake full of water. If only…
Yuuri locked his gaze with Murata’s, his eyes shimmering, trying to convey his thoughts wordlessly. Relenting at the look in his friend’s eyes, Murata sighed, smiling faintly. “Forgive me, Shibuya,” the other teen said. “Sometimes I can be a bit of a hypocrite.”
Hearing the sound of churning water behind them, Yuuri gazed at Murata thankfully before turning to give Adelbert a hard shove. Tipped off balance, Adelbert teetered and fell over the edge into the water, Yuuri close behind. Conrad looked over the edge in shock as the pair disappeared under the surface, pulled through the vortex that was brought forth in the center of the lake. He called Yuuri’s name in vain. Preparing to jump into the water after them, the brunette froze as Murata’s voice called to him.
“It’s no use,” he told Conrad. “The portal has already closed.”