This Time Around

Title: This Time Around, Part Two

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 Two


That evening in the human town on the other side of the woods, Adelbert moved around the room he’d procured at the inn, packing the provisions he’d obtained for his journey. Keenan sighed as he watched the man.

“Are you sure that you want to go through with this?” Keenan asked Adelbert as the man worked. “They’ve left us alone at this point because they don’t see us as all that much of a threat, not to mention that the kid wants to think of us as allies. But if we do this, we’ll become true enemies of Shin Makoku. Their troops will pursue us to no end.”

Adelbert paused as he picked up an item. “I know, Keenan. But this is something that I must do. I can’t leave things the way that they are now, knowing what I do. I can’t miss this chance. It might be the only one that I get.” He turned to face the other man. “I can’t ask you to come with me, but-”

“You should know better than that,” Keenan said with a faint smile. “I’ve been with you this long, and I intend to see this through.”

Adelbert smiled, placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Thank you, Keenan.”

_________________________________________


On the other side of the wood in the rural Mazoku town, the group of soldiers and nobles dined in the inn. At dawn’s light, they would set off back toward Blood Pledge Castle. After the enemy soldiers had been pushed back, they’d found no evidence of the Mirror at the Bottom of the Sea after a thorough search of the forest. The interrogation of a few captured soldiers revealed that they hadn’t come across the forbidden box either.

“I had a feeling that this was all going to turn out to be a groundless rumor,” Murata remarked between bites. He eyed Yuuri surreptitiously, the other teen across the table hardly eating his dinner.

“We seem to be turning up more fiction than fact the longer that we’ve been searching for it,” Gwendal remarked.

“I suppose it can’t be helped,” Murata said. “The boxes have been missing for thousands of years. There’s bound to be a bunch of old wives tales about their locations.”

Wolfram, seated to one side of Yuuri, glared at his fiancé. “Don’t just play with your food!”

Yuuri sighed. “I’m not hungry.”

“Eat it anyway. You have to keep your strength up. Honestly, must I look out for you in the smallest things?”

Conrad eyed Yuuri, frowning. The teen usually had a healthy appetite. And more often than not, he would at least give some remark to Wolfram’s needling. As it was, the boy pushed food around on his plate, appearing as though he was mulling something over.

“Yuuri,” Conrad asked, “Is something wrong? You’ve not been yourself ever since Big Shimaron’s attack.”

“I’m fine,” Yuuri said, perking up to give a thin false smile. “Just thinking about something-”

“Eh?” Wolfram began. “Thoughts of someone else had better not be distracting you,” he warned.

“Of course not,” Yuuri protested. He noted that this was the first time that Wolfram had been right about such a thing.

Conrad sighed as he watched the teen try to deflect Wolfram’s jealous accusations. He could tell that there was something troubling the boy, but if he continued to be tight-lipped about it, there was no way that he could help. Conrad couldn’t help but wonder what it was that Yuuri couldn’t, or wouldn’t, confide in him about.

_________________________________________


At dawn’s light, Yuuri padded from his room to head outside of the inn. He hadn’t slept well at all. Bits and pieces from a life that he could hardly remember kept assaulting him, as well as the gaze from the intense blue eyes that Adelbert had fixed him with the day before. He sighed. He hardly knew how to feel about everything. The blonde seemed to want to reclaim what he’d had with his intended, the love from his past guiding his actions. Yuuri frowned. But then, maybe Conrad’s actions were guided by much of the same. He’d been close to Julia. Didn’t Conrad watch over Yuuri now because of the bond he’d had with the woman that his soul had belonged to? How does Murata deal with it, Yuuri wondered, knowing that he’d lived and died before?

As if being invoked, Murata appeared at his side, approaching the other teen while his thoughts were occupied. “What are you doing out here?” Murata asked him.

Yuuri turned toward him. “Oh, I was just going to take a walk, clear my head.”

The other boy smiled. “Would you mind some company?”

“Not at all,” Yuuri answered with a smile. Perhaps he’d be able to confide in the other boy, the only one who would have any idea of what he was going through.

The pair walked in amiable silence for a while, stopping at a rocky structure not too far from the inn. Just past the stone, a path led down into a narrow valley that was once a river bed long ago. The sun rose to climb in the sky. Birds flew overhead, singing in the light of daybreak.

“It’s so peaceful out here,” Yuuri remarked, leaning against the rock.



“Yes,” Murata agreed. “It can really calm a troubled mind.”

Yuuri sighed, turning to his friend. “Nothing gets past you, does it, Murata?”

The other boy chucked. “Probably not,” he agreed.

“Murata,” Yuuri asked, “How do you deal with your past lives and the memories from them? Do you ever feel like… like you might be losing yourself to who you were?”

The other teen’s smile faded. “Sometimes. It can be overwhelming. I’ve lived so many times before that I have a lot of memories from those lives.” He cast his gaze across at the scenery absently, almost as if absorbed by the visions that were brought to mind. “Some of them are rather painful as well. But those memories, even of unhappy times, can be useful, as they are here in this world.” He turned to Yuuri to fix him with obsidian eyes. “But past is past. I’m not like you, Yuuri. Everyone in the lives that I had before, all the people who cared for me, are dead and gone. I haven’t had to face someone who has known me, cared about me.” He neglected to tell the other boy about his conversations with Shinou. It was best that he remain in the dark about that for now. “Any relationships you build now should be based on who you are in this life, not those that have passed before.”

Yuuri cast his eyes downward before looking back up at his friend with a faint smile. “You’re always so wise, Murata.”

The other boy grinned. “It can’t be helped. I was a sage, you know.”

The pair turned at the approaching sound of horses. Not far away, they saw Conrad and Wolfram trotting toward them.

“Why did you sneak away like that?” Wolfram asked Yuuri. He soon directed angry eyes at Murata.

“I just wanted to take a walk and Murata came along,” Yuuri answered quickly, hoping that Wolfram wouldn’t start with his usual jealous accusations. His accidental engagement was a situation that he dreaded having to deal with. There was no way out of it so easily, not without damaging Wolfram’s sense of honor. Yuuri was pleased that his words seemed to calm the blonde for now.

“Fine,” Wolfram answered. “I suppose that I should trust you more.” He beckoned for Yuuri to come over. “Come on, get on the horse. Gwendal will be angry if we don’t head off in time.”

Murata moved toward Conrad to mount his horse behind him. Yuuri approached Wolfram, but the sound of a horse moving quickly up the path from the valley made him pause. He moved away to lean against the rocky structure to peer curiously over the edge and down the trail. He was surprised when a horse leapt up onto the plateau, positioning itself between Yuuri and the others. The rider was an all too familiar blonde.

Conrad’s eyes narrowed. “Adelbert. What is it that brings you here?” His hand moved to the hilt of his sword.

The blonde grinned. “I didn’t come all this way to fight you, Conrad.”

“Then why-”

“I’m a man who keeps his promises,” Adelbert told him before reaching out to grasp Yuuri by his collar, hoisting the teen up and depositing him over his horse in front of him. A flailing Yuuri draped over the animal, the blonde raced down the path. Shouting the teen’s name, Conrad took off after the fleeing man and his captive, Murata hanging on for dear life.

“I don’t believe this,” Wolfram remarked as he followed the other two horses.

The race down the trail led to one down the center of the valley. Conrad pushed his horse to its limits in an attempt to catch up. There was a dock not far away from the end of the valley, and Conrad feared that this was Adelbert’s destination. However he was able to, he had to stop the man’s flight.

As Adelbert had half expected, Conrad and his brother began to close the distance between them. He reached into a small pouch on his belt with one hand, pulling out a sparkling red stone. He fixed it to the hilt of his sword before unsheathing it. His sword gleaming from the power drawn from the houseki, Adelbert struck the rocky wall of one side of the valley as they rode past, energy coursing through the stone. The ground began to shake as a layer of rock crumbled and raced downward into the valley. Yuuri gasped as he saw the distant forms of his friends obscured by a layer of stone.

“Don’t worry,” Adelbert told him. “They’re fine. Just need to delay them so that we can make our escape.”

“Escape? Where?” Yuuri demanded to know.

“I told you the last time I saw you, didn’t I? I won’t let you leave my side again. I won’t let you continue to be a pawn for Shinou.”

Yuuri sighed as they soon raced toward what appeared to be a dock, a boat lying in wait there. As they approached, he saw the familiar form of Keenan on deck.

“Get ready to set sail,” Adelbert instructed him as the horse trotted up the plank, to which the other man nodded.

“Hey!” Yuuri shouted as he was pulled from the horse and herded toward an open door. “Where are you taking me – wait!” Adelbert pushed him inside before closing the door, turning a key in the lock.

“This is for your own good,” he told the young Maou from the other side of the wood.

_________________________________________


“Conrad,” Murata started as he watched the man strike at the rock with his sword, his efforts failing to make any headway in removing the obstruction.

“Damn it! And Gwendal isn’t here with us! He could have moved this,” he said angrily.

“Conrad!” Wolfram shouted as he grabbed the arm his sword was in, “We’re wasting time! Let’s figure out a way around it-”

“But by then, Yuuri will…”

“Conrad, you know that Yuuri isn’t in any danger as long as he’s with Adelbert, right?” Murata asked him.

“Yes, but…” Conrad trailed off, eyes downcast. For what purpose did he kidnap Yuuri? The possibilities made his heart sink.

“All we can do now is double back and find a way around this rubble,” Murata said, level headed as always. He headed back toward Conrad’s horse. “We also need to send word to Gwendal to meet us at the dock.”

His glasses glinting in the sunlight above, Murata frowned. He hated unexpected changes to plan. But perhaps, something positive would come of this. Despite himself, Wolfram gazed uneasily at the expression on the teen’s face.


To be continued.