Consequences of the Maou\'s Heart

Rated M for foul language, alcohol usage, dark themes, and homosexual sex. If you are not mature enough to deal with these please turn back now.

Chapter 23

Murata wasn’t sure if he should laugh or sigh. He’d always considered Shibuya to be something of an idealistic motivator, an unstoppable tidal wave of hope and naivety. But the sage never would have thought that the young king would ever be able to change someone with both Shinou’s haughty arrogance and Rufus’s steadfast determinism. Yet as he watched Wolfram examine the edge of his sword it was clear that Yuri had won over another to his optimistic and impractical ways. At least the blond had the sense to send a short letter to Covenant Castle explaining that they’d run into some ruffians and were going to ‘take care of them’.

Centuries of hanging around would be heroes taught Murata to find out as much about a situation as possible before leaping it to it. Information tended to help keep down the possibility of dieing painfully; the death he didn’t mind so much but the pain he could do without. Townspeople always provided a good source of information, especially when they wanted to complain about something. The men Wolfram was likely plotting the demise of were really nothing more than the average peanut gallery of those not disciplined enough for military service or scholarly appointment and without the desire to learn a trade skill. Undoubtedly, Wolfram’s unit had dispatched several small bands such as this in the years after the Great War. Of course, that was before their commanding officer took to routinely spraying his handkerchief with blood every morning from coughing.

The double black wasn’t sure what bothered him the most; watching yet another person waste away in front of his eyes or the fact that he couldn’t come up with a decent plan to keep the stubborn prince alive. Sure, he had a few things in the works. Pestering Wolfram to write Greta often, the girl was smart for her age and just enough of a loud mouth to cause some uproar if she figured out something was wrong. Then there was alternately teasing and praising Wolfram’s men, they both now respected him outside of the required deference for his position. While they couldn’t break the oath he had figured out that they must have sworn, they just might play willing puppets to some of his machinations. And, he certainly couldn’t forget the blond bombshell he was sure must be heading straight for Covenant Castle at that very moment. Shinou hadn’t made Celi Maou for her looks and pedigree alone.

Yet not one of his plans had the power behind it to directly achieve his goal; get Yuri to propose to Wolfram again. Unfortunately, there was little else that presented itself as a viable option for keeping the blond alive. A method of removing the Mausetot from a person after it entered their system had never been discovered, despite the multitude of healers and scholars who had made attempts. Yuri was currently the most powerful Mazoku alive and his power had only been enough to remove the symptoms not the cause, engaging Wolfram to someone else would be a fruitless gesture. The whole mess frustrated Murata to no end, what good was centuries of knowledge if he couldn’t keep one person from dieing.

“Ah Geika?” Simon ventured quietly, waving his hand as if to gain the sage’s attention.

“Hum?” Murata lazily look up at the young soldier, still somewhat lost in his thoughts.

“Ah the captain was wondering if you wished to accompany us to breakfast before we head out.” Murata looked from Simon to Wolfram who had begun sharpening his sword. Clearly, the ‘captain’ had made no such request.

“Of course of course, then we set out to capture a few ruffians,” Murata let an artificially bright smile settle on his face.

“I’m sorry Geika…we?” the man looked scandalized at the thought of the Great Sage joining them. Wolfram stopped his motions and focused his hearing on the conversation without turning to face them.

“Well I can’t let you guys have all the fun,” Murata internally smirked at the man trying to come up with a polite way to insist he stayed safe at the inn they’d taken a room in after they arrived.

“But sir it’s dangerous!” Simon fought the urge to scream when Murata simply looked at him innocently. The man turned to address Wolfram, “Captain you can’t be considering allowing the Sage to chase bandits?”

“Hum,” Wolfram glanced at Murata, “He’s more than grown, and if he wants to watch us take out a few pests he’s more than welcome to.” Murata smiled at the look of astonishment on the younger soldier’s face; clearly Wolfram’s answer wasn’t the expected one.

“Ah…As you say sir,” Simon saluted quickly and scurried out of the room to inform Edward of the situation. After a few moments of silence, Murata turned to face Wolfram.

“You know I’m a bit disappointed,” the double black lamented.

“About what,” the statement was punctuated by the sound of Wolfram sheathing his sword.

“I figured you’d put up at least a token struggle to keep me away,” Murata paused and affected an overly dramatic pose, “Here I thought with all the time we’ve spent together you cared, but you’ll let me rush into danger so easily. You don’t love me any more.” The last was said with the accompaniment of fluttering eyelashes and a breathy sigh. Unfortunately it didn’t get the rise out of the blond Murata had hoped for, weeks spent in near constant contact had dulled Wolfram to Murata’s teasing.

“You know I’m only staying with you for the sake of the children,” Wolfram deadpanned, “Plus what would you have done if I’d ordered you to stay here?”

“Pulled rank and came anyway, of course,” a smile broke over Murata’s face as he watched Wolfram shake his head and fight a grin of his own.

“Well I guess I saved us quite a bit of arguing didn’t I?” Wolfram stood raising his arms over his head in a stretch.

“I suppose you did,” Murata let his eyes follow Wolfram around the room unconsciously as the blond finished readying himself to go out. It was still a bit odd to see him out of his customary blue uniform and the dark green tunic over a flowing white shirt and rough brown leather breeches made him look more pirate than prince. The look suited him if one was to judge by the amount of men and women flirting with him during their journey.

Murata mused on the fact that he was watching a friend in such a casual moment. When he started this trip, he considered Wolfram an interesting diversion and saving the blond a worthy cause that needed to happen. Now as he observed Wolfram running his fingers through his hair he realized that he wanted the former prince to live simply because he would miss his company. It was odd to have a motivation that didn’t have some sort of grand worldly purpose and as Wolfram turned to face him with an annoyed sigh, Murata realized that he really enjoyed doing something simply because he wanted to.

“Are you done staring into space yet?” Wolfram flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes irritated at its constant waves.

“Sure, sure just let me get my cloak. Wouldn’t do for the populace to get in a stir over a little double black like me.” Murata swept up his tan cloak and slid it on in a practiced motion.

“I don’t see why you didn’t dye it this time.”

“Well not all of us look so damn good blond.” Murata turned a cheeky grin to Wolfram before throwing up the hood to hide his hair.

“Jackass,” Wolfram muttered while lightly tapping Murata on the shoulder with his fist. The two men ventured to the dining area in companionable silence.

*****

The simple wooden doors of Covenant Castle’s infirmary loomed over Yuri as he paced a sharp line in front of them. Gisela forbid him from entering, claiming he’d distract her from doing what she needed to. He’d been waiting for information since he had scooped up his unconscious daughter from the half destroyed hall outside his bath and raced to the infirmary. She’d been so pale that Yuri ignored the looks he’d gotten from wearing only a towel. One brave maid risked his uncharacteristic anger to leave a set of his clothing on the floor near the door. It took a good ten minutes before Yuri more than glanced at the clothing, worried that Gisela would be ready for him to come in and he’d be unable to rush in as he clothed himself.

With a sigh and a slump of his shoulders, Yuri bent to pick up his uniform. He slipped the pants on under the towel aware of, but uncaring of the eyes poking around corners to look at him, modesty discarded in favor of efficiency. The shirt and shoes followed the quick adornment but he left the jacket on the ground. Yuri’s mind raced. The image of Greta limp on the floor soaked and bleeding from a cut on her head haunted him. All he’d ever wanted from his Maryoku was to be able to protect his country and the people he loved, but instead he’d hurt his own child. The worst was that he remembered it.

He remembered the rush of power that bled into him when he called on it, water surged around him full of potential and ready to do as he bid. He remembered the anger pouring through his veins and into the water, churning the baths till white foam lay on the wild waves. He remembered the dream, the woman standing over Wolfram’s broken body, his own double speaking to him. He remembered but he didn’t understand.

It took him years to be able to move a single bucket’s worth of water at will and now he could send the entire contents of the Royal bath flying like a battering ram with a single though, it just didn’t make sense. And that dream, he couldn’t figure it out. He’d always thought dreams were just his subconscious dealing with stress that he couldn’t resolve in his waking hours. However, that dream was so real, was something happening to Wolfram, could he stop it? And who dreams of an alternate version of themselves offering power?

‘You do apparently. And I take offense to the alternate version comment.’ Yuri jumped and whirled around trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

“Where the hell are you? Come out now!” Yuri hissed angrily to the empty hallway.

‘I think we’d have some problems if I came out just now, it might kill us.’ Yuri put his back to the wall, eyes darting back and forth rapidly.

“Is that a threat? I’m the king here you don’t stand a chance!” Yuri fought the urge to panic, he hated fighting and fighting with his Maryoku so out of whack could be really dangerous to any bystanders that might show up.

‘Oh please, unless you’re more of a masochist than I know you are then I’m perfectly safe. I’m getting really sick of having this conversation.’

“Wait…that voice….you’re…me?” Yuri let his voice drop to a soft whisper.

‘Bingo, I’m the voice inside your head.’ A shiver of unease raced down Yuri’s spine, maybe he was going crazy. ‘You wish, don’t worry since you’ve finally decided to recognize me we’ll start to merge like it should have been to begin with.’

“Wait so I’m going to start dealing justice and talking like something out of a bad period drama?” Yuri squawked half wondering if he’d fallen asleep waiting for Gisela.

‘Hey am I doing that now?’ Irritation rang through Yuri’s head.

“Well no but that’s what everybody says I do when I go all …well you.”

‘Ah well you get a little …carried away when it comes to matters of injustice.’ Until that moment, Yuri didn’t know that it was possible to hear a blush.

“Ah… never mind. What the hell was that dream? Why was Wolfram…ripped open like that? Who was that woman? Why can I use Maryoku like that?” Yuri hissed under his breath.

‘Well you can use the Maryoku cause we’re on speaking terms now, you’ll have to get some training to be able to control it. I was using Wolfram’s control but obviously we can’t do that anymore. As for the rest… I dun know.’

“WHAT!” Yuri yelled, startling a maid passing thought the hallway. She gave Yuri a wide berth as she passed him before scurrying off, presumably to tell the rest of the castle that Yuri Heika was talking to himself. Yuri groaned before whispering, “What do you mean you don’t know? Aren’t you all knowing or something?”

‘Hardly, we both hear, see, smell, touch, even taste the same things. I just interpret them a bit differently. What I can tell you is that something is not right with our pretty boy.’ Yuri wanted to deny that he would ever consider Wolfram his pretty boy, but arguing with himself over a phrase, he knew he’d used to describe the blond on at least one occasion seemed foolish.

“Any idea what’s wrong with him?”

‘Well best I can tell…’ The train of thought was cut off as a tired Gisela opened the infirmary door.

“Gisela! Is she ok?” Yuri asked, wringing his hands together nervously ashamed to admit that for a few moments he hadn’t been focused on his daughter’s well being.

“Well,” Gisela sighed heavily, “She’s pretty banged up, but nothing too serious. Unfortunately, since she’s completely human I can’t use Maryoku to heal her. I had to put a cast on her left arm, one of the bones has a hairline fracture, it’s not fully broken but the cast will help it heal properly. Other than one gash on her forehead everything else is bumps and bruises.” Yuri slumped to the floor from relief and guilt.

“Oh god, she’ll be ok right?” Yuri half whispered wracked with remorse for even unintentionally, hurting his little girl.

“She’ll have a wicked scar for a while, but she’s young and it will fade with time. Besides she seemed pretty excited about having a battle scar to show off.” Gisela shrugged, clearly accustomed to such behavior from her patients.

“Wait she’s awake,” Yuri jumped to his feet, “Can I see her, she’s probably so mad at me I’ve got to apologize.”

“Whoa Heika,” Gisela put her hands up to ward off the eager Maou, “I gave her something to dull the pain and make her sleep while I closed the gash, she won’t wake till sometime tomorrow morning.”

“Oh… I see,” Yuri visibly deflated some.

“Now Heika if you don’t mind me asking,” Gisela waited for Yuri to nod slightly in acknowledgement, “What in the name of Shinou’s tomb were you thinking?!” The anger in her words made up for the lack of volume in her voice as she berated the Maou. “Was there some sort of water beetle that needed punishment? You’re lucky, had Greta been standing closer to the door she could have been seriously hurt or worse.” Yuri shrank back from her anger knowing she was perfectly right to be angry with him.

“Gods I know I…I… I was dreaming and there was this woman and she was hurting Wolfram and I was telling myself to stop her and I was so angry and the water just did what I wanted it too and I threw it at her but she was in my dream and it hit the doors instead and oh god Greta screamed and I ran out to her but she wasn’t moving and I brought her here and now there’s this voice…,” Yuri rambled without taking a breath only to stop mid word as his other voice echoed in his head.

‘Don’t mention me, she can’t hear me and it will only make her think you’ve come unhinged,’ Yuri stared at Gisela opened mouth for a second processing his own advise, ‘And for fuck’s sake don’t just stop talking like that she’s getting suspicious.’ Gisela’s face narrowed the moment Yuri had spoken Wolfram’s name.

“Something was hurting Wolfram in your dream Heika?” Gisela hoped Yuri would continue with that train of thought, perhaps asking her a question that would allow her to disclose Wolfram’s condition without breaking her oath. All someone had to do was directly ask if she knew if there was something medically wrong with the blond.

“Yea I…at first I thought it was my…,” he trailed off for a moment sheepishly before continuing, “Guilt at breaking the engagement, but now I’m not so sure.”

“And what do you think now Heika?” Gisela fought not to seem too interested, knowing that the attention might scare off the non-confrontational man.

“I’m not sure yet. I think I’m going to have to do some researching or something, I can’t let something like this happen again,” Yuri’s eyes held a faraway look that made him look more mature than his usual naïve stare, “Thank you for taking care of Greta, I’ll be back to check on her please call me if she wakes sooner than expected.” With that Yuri turned to leave only to be stopped by Gisela calling him.

“Heika!” Gisela watched him turn towards her, mentally willing him to ask about Wolfram’s health.

“Yeah?” Yuri smiled at small sad smile mistakenly assuming that Gisela’s worried look was for the situation with Greta.

“You know you can ask me anything right? And I’ll answer you as honestly as I can.”

“I do. Thank you Gisela, I don’t know what we’d do with out you,” Yuri offered one last smile before walking away. It wasn’t until the Maou was out of her sight that Gisela choked down a yell and punched the infirmary door. Staring at the blood welling up from her knuckles, she could only sigh and wonder if Anissina was right in assuming all men were inherently morons.

*****

“So do we need to worry about sand bears?” Simon asked cheerfully as he rode next to his captain. They’d left the town less than an hour before and while there were few signs of plant life around nothing looked like he’d pictured a desert would look like from the descriptions Ryan told of the place he’d found his beloved sand bear.

“Ha hardly,” Murata smiled over his shoulder at the soldier, “It’s not that kind of desert we’re headed into. We’ve got lots of cracked land and thorny dried up weeds in our immediate future, but not sand.” Despite the sage’s initial concerns, Wolfram condition had yet to hamper them in any way yet, of course they hadn’t found their bandits yet. Surprisingly a few locals had heard the men talking during their meal and had actually volunteered to come along and offer some support. So, barring the possibility that those men might be bandits hoping to betray them, everything was going smoothly. It made Murata nervous, easy things usually did.

“Oye keep quiet, we’ll be in the desert proper before too long. Its bad enough we’ve got no cover, we don’t want to draw attention if they happen to be facing the other way.” With a contained sigh, Wolfram turned his attention back the landscape around them, occasionally letting his eyes land on the men from the town. The pair of large brothers had insisted to be brought along on the adventure, claiming that some of the raiders had attacked their family farm. While they had plenty of muscle, it was clear to Wolfram’s eyes that most of it had been gained from hard work in the fields than any sort of fighting. When they had asked to come along Wolfram nearly told them no, worried that they might be in league with the raiders, but once again he heard Yuri’s voice whispering to him, this time telling him bare the weight of the consequences if he misjudged them.

The whole party came to a stop as Edward held up his hand warningly before pointing towards one of the few short mesas in the distance. It took a moment but shortly all the men saw what had caught the silent soldier’s eye. A thin trail of white smoke rose up from behind the miniature mountain. Murata cursed under his breath as he saw it, things were coming together too easily. With a short discussion, it was decided that they would stick together and approach the landmark on foot once they got close to avoid being heard.

One hour later the mesa stood before them, taller than it had seemed but still shorter than some of the hills near Covenant Castle. They dismounted their horses and tied the reigns to stumpy would be trees that dotted the landscape. Wolfram beckoned towards Edward and whispered something into the man’s ear that had him scurrying up the mesa ahead of the others. Surprisingly the man had little difficulty climbing the steep surface, each foot and hand landing securely as he moved. As his he cleared the edge, the others waited with baited breath when disappeared from sight. Movement caught Murata’s eye from beside him, the two villagers seemed uncomfortable and mouthed an inquiry as to what the soldier was doing. Murata smiled before mouthing back that he was scouting.

After a tense minute, Edward appeared at the top of the mesa his hands formed signals that Wolfram and Simon clearly understood. Wolfram explained the situation to Murata while Simon informed the others. There was an obvious camp on the other side of the mountain, at least ten men were visible and judging from the number of tents there couldn’t be more than twenty of them total. Edward was also sure these were the right raiders, though the others didn’t know why he thought that. Wolfram signaled back to the expectant Edward and received quick nod in return.

“What’s going on,” one of the brothers whispered in a tiny voice that didn’t suit his towering frame. Simon glanced at Wolfram for permission before answering in his own whispering voice.

“Edward’s going to box them in.”

“Then what,” this time it was the other man who whispered his question.

“Then we subdue them,” Wolfram whispered through a vicious looking grin.

*****

Dakauscus shifted uncomfortably as he stood outside the castle gates. Usually pulling guard duty at the gates was a relief to the bald man, glad to be out of the grasp of gossipy maids, wicked inventors, and Lord von Christ’s personal brand of insanity. However, on that day it left him out of the loop on the well fare of the princess after the morning’s terrifying events. He’s have braved all the laundry wielding maids in the world to help the adorable princess. Instead, he was stuck watching for any uninvited guests, not that anyone had tried to attack the castle directly since Soushu.

He nearly fell over when he noticed a small party of people riding up the twisting road to the castle. They all wore cloaks and seemed to be in quite the hurry to arrive. Beads of sweat broke out on the soldier’s brow as he hoped that they weren’t there to cause trouble. As they arrived, the mounted riders towered over Dakauscus intimidating him. When the one in front pushed back their hood a sense of dread washed over him.

“Dakauscus be a dear and run tell our beloved Yuri Heika that I’m just dieing to see him,” the person’s voice rang out musically.

“Yes ma’am Lady Celi!!”

*****

AN: Ugh wanted to get to more action in this chapter but the pacing just wasn’t right. On the bright side the next chapter should open up with some action. Real life has been kicking my ass but hey at least I got a chapter out?