This Time Around

Title: This Time Around, Part Three

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 Three


In the small room on the boat, Yuuri sat on the bunk to one side of the area, his knees drawn up to his chest as he hugged them. He could feel the sway and rock of the boat as they traveled to a destination unknown to him or the friends he’d left behind. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but judging by the position of the sun, it was probably around noon. The teen sighed. He could just imagine that by now, Gwendal was rallying their ships in pursuit. But would they even know where to look? And even if they did, could they catch up given the head start that Adelbert had? Just when it seemed that the blonde was on better terms with his homeland, he had to go and do something so reckless.

Yuuri heard a key turn in the lock before the door opened, revealing Adelbert balancing a tray in one hand. He placed it on a low table nearby. “I brought you something to eat. You’re probably getting hungry by now.”

Yuuri didn’t answer, eying him suspiciously. “It’s not poisoned,” the blonde added, smirking. Noticing that Yuuri didn’t appreciate his humor, he sighed. “You know, I’m doing this for your own good. You should appreciate all the trouble that I’m going through for you. You may not see it that way now, but you’ll come to understand soon enough.”

Yuuri groaned. “Being locked up in this room reminds me of one of those old movies where the princess gets kidnapped by bandits.” He frowned, “She usually ends up getting ravished or something by the end, though.”

Adelbert smirked. “If I knew that this was what you were waiting for, I could have obliged you earlier.”

A flustered Yuuri waved his hands in protest. “No! That’s not… I mean…”

“I’m teasing you, boy,” Adelbert reassured him. “I’ve never been that type of man.”

“You didn’t really seem like it,” Yuuri remarked, rubbing the back of his neck. “My imagination just gets away with me sometimes.” He turned dark eyes upward to gaze into blue. “But why did you kidnap me?”

Adelbert shook his head slightly as he smiled. “This isn’t a kidnapping. It’s a rescue.”

Yuuri sighed, turning to swing his legs over the edge of the bunk to plant feet onto the floor. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “We’ve been through this already. I chose to become Maou-”

“Only after being brainwashed by them,” Adelbert interjected. He moved to kneel in front of the teen, taking Yuuri’s hand in his larger one. “Those people have no will of their own. Everything that they do is for Shinou. What kind of king orders a woman in her prime to give up her life, and for what? Shouldn’t a king care for his people more than that?” As Yuuri frowned and turned away, Adelbert squeezed gently on his hand, causing the boy to look at him again. Adelbert’s eyes were intense. “As Maou, would you ever use an innocent woman’s life – for any purpose?”

Dark eyes shimmering, Yuuri looked away. He didn’t trust himself to answer. He… he wasn’t the type of ruler who was able to sacrifice others, even if it was for a greater good. He doubted if he could ever become such a person. Maybe this was what made him weak. “I can’t really… I don’t have Shinou’s wisdom. Maybe there was no other choice. Maybe it had to be her.”

Yuuri forced himself to look into Adelbert’s eyes. He knew that his words might hurt the man, but they had to be said. “Aren’t… aren’t you doing this because of memories that you don’t want to let go of? I’m not Julia. I don’t remember what the two of you had together.” He saw Adelbert harden his expression, but could tell that sorrow lay beneath. “All I know is that she loved you very much. I don’t know how I can say this, but I just feel it. But you can’t keep me near you because of who I used to be.” He pulled his hand out of Adelbert’s grasp. “This is so weird. I’m not even a girl!”

Adelbert closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling before fixing the boy with his piercing gaze. “It doesn’t matter,” the man told a surprised Yuuri. “You’re still the good and kind person that I fell in love with, just… different. You don’t remember… but we can make new memories together.”

Yuuri tried not to stiffen as Adelbert grasped his shoulders, gently but firmly. “I understand now,” the blonde continued. “You thought that it would be hard for me to still love you if you weren’t the same, that it would bring me pain to know what had truly happened to you. That’s why you didn’t choose me to carry your soul. Even in your final acts, you were still thinking of me. But I’m not so weak that I can’t still love you.” He perked up, voice insistent. “And you were willing to accept my love when the two of us were alone yesterday.”

Yuuri blushed at the memory of the passionate kiss they’d shared in the forest the day before. “I… I don’t know why I let that happen,” Yuuri murmured softly.

More heat seemed to rise to his face as he gazed at Adelbert who now showed him a gentle smile that had been reserved for only one other. “In your heart, you do know why,” the blonde remarked softly. Yuuri had no answer to that.

After a moment, Adelbert began to chuckle, then moved to embrace the startled teen. “It’s so funny, now that I remember,” Adelbert said, the sound of his voice slightly muffled against Yuuri’s neck. “I’ve never been good with women, you see. I never know what to say to please them. I always used to tell Julia that I didn’t understand women and their ways. One day, she turned to me and asked, ‘Would it be better for you if I was a man?’ I just laughed then, but now, look at us!”

Adelbert pulled back to look at Yuuri, raising a hand to cup his cheek. A thumb stroked the nervous teen’s lower lip. “All you need is time away from those people to make a real choice about your own life,” the blonde told him. “Then you’ll realize the same truth of things that I did long ago.”

“The others are sure to come for me, Adelbert,” Yuuri told him when he was able to find his voice.

The blonde smiled, planting a quick kiss on Yuuri’s lips before rising. “Let me worry about that. I’m going back on deck. Eat your lunch before it gets cold.”

Yuuri watched the man go, sighing at the familiar sound of a key turning in the lock.

____________________________________________


“We have a few leads regarding their destination,” Gwendal told the others as they waited at the docks, the sun hanging low in the sky. Word had been sent in the morning for the naval reinforcements stationed at a distant port as soldiers questioned workers and shop owners in the area, obtaining information on Adelbert’s possible whereabouts.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Wolfram asked angrily, impatient as always. “Let’s just get a boat and follow them!”

Gwendal’s frown deepened. “I want to find His Majesty as much as anyone, but we can’t just rush off. That ship is headed toward human territory, and we still don’t know what that man’s intentions are when he gets there. We have to have the means to rescue the Maou if we end up facing off with a human army.”

“I doubt that Adelbert intends to hand Yuuri over to the humans,” Murata remarked. “But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances.”

“How can you be so sure about that?” Wolfram countered. The teen always seemed so certain, yet never shared the reasons for that certainty. “Do you know something that we don’t?”

Murata cast a brief glance at Conrad before smiling, “It’s just a hunch that I have. Yuuri helped save Adelbert’s life recently, so I doubt that he could betray him so easily.”

Wolfram turned away, annoyed. “He abandoned Shin Makoku years ago. He could be capable of anything now.”

Murata smiled faintly, closing his eyes. “People really don’t change much with time,” he answered. “They just become more of who they are.” Opening his eyes, he noticed Conrad, who’d been gazing at him, avert his eyes and turn away. The dark haired teen sighed. You can chase the sun forever, but you’ll never be able to catch it. But you’re sure to be able to stand in its light, he thought.

“Finally!” Wolfram exclaimed as he caught sight of their ships on the horizon. “I was wondering what was taking them so long.”

Murata cast his gaze across the sea, the breeze from across the body of water tousling dark locks. He could feel a familiar pull at his consciousness, a voice from long ago singing within his mind. I know you want this over quickly so that what was meant to be can be realized, Murata told the being he’d been born to the world for, but Shibuya’s needs are important to me as well. The teen could sense annoyance laced with another emotion from the presence. No need to be jealous, Murata needled.

Conrad looked over at Murata, noting the smirk and barely audible chuckle that he gave to no one in particular. You were always a bad liar when it came to things like this, Shinou, the teen answered the spirit. You should know where my ultimate loyalties lie, or why would I be here after all this time? A curious expression on his face, Conrad watched Murata wait expectantly for the approaching ships.

____________________________________________


During the night, as the boat gently rocked as it sailed toward human territory, Adelbert stood outside of Yuuri’s room. Turning the key in the lock, he pushed the door forward. He padded toward the other side of the room, surprisingly quiet for a man his size. Sprawled across the bunk, Yuuri slept, gently snoring, the blanket having slipped off of him onto the floor. Adelbert bent to retrieve the item, draping it over the teen. He took a seat in the adjacent chair, watching how the moonlight streaming in through the window illuminated the boy’s slumbering form. With a hand, Adelbert smoothed dark hair back from his face. He planted a kiss onto his brow before leaning back in the chair.

Adelbert frowned. All the two of them needed was time, time away from the lure of Shinou’s grasp. But the man had worries about how long Yuuri would be able to stay away from the others. The boy had accepted the position of Maou, and felt responsible for Shin Makoku and its people. Yuuri’s good nature was his weakness where Shinou’s plans were concerned.

It wasn’t long before Adelbert was able to see the lights of the port city at night, with the boat slowing as it approached the dock. The blonde stood, Yuuri turning sleepily onto his side to open his eyes. He blinked as he looked up at the man.

Adelbert smiled down at him. “We’ve arrived.”

Yuuri moved to sit up, rubbing at his eyes. “Where?”

“A small town in human territory.” He eyed the teen. “That means no getting any foolish notions. It’s not the best of ideas to be a Mazoku wandering around alone here.”

Yuuri watched Adelbert move toward a chest of drawers nearby. “I might just try to run anyway.”

The blonde cut him a look, smirking. “If you do, I’ll just catch you and carry you back.”

Yuuri conjured the image in his mind of himself flailing as the large blonde carried him draped over his shoulder. “Just what I’d need, being slung over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes.”

The smirk became a smile. “No, I’d carry you back in my arms like a gentleman should.”

Yuuri sighed. “I think that would be even more embarrassing.” The teen frowned as the blonde approached him with a reddish wig.

“To hide that dark hair of yours,” Adelbert explained as he placed it on Yuuri’s head, tucking his real hair beneath. “I’d prefer not to hide something this beautiful, but it’s best not to attract attention to ourselves.”

Yuuri ducked his head, knowing his blush was visible. Being praised always made him feel embarrassed, even more so from Adelbert. He almost thought it was better before when the man was trying to kill him. At least being around him then didn’t make him feel odd or confused about what he should feel. “Dark hair is nothing special,” Yuuri told him. “It’s common where I come from.”

“Really?” the blonde asked, surprised. “Maybe that’s why you were sent there, if the other world is full of such powerful Mazoku.”

The boat stilled as it reached the dock. Taking Yuuri’s hand, Adelbert led him on deck. The group led the horses packed with provisions off of the boat before mounting them. The trio trotted through the main square of the town, then farther to a lesser used path to exit the town.

“Where are we going?” Yuuri asked from behind Adelbert as the horse’s trot became a fast gallop.

“There’s a larger town a day’s journey from here,” he answered, glancing over his shoulder. “It’s much easier to get lost there in the crowds since people tend to keep to themselves there. In case anyone comes looking for us, leaving the port city is the best bet.”

Yuuri sighed. He figured that he should find some way to sneak away from the two men. An opportunity would likely present itself in the next town. If it was as bustling of a city as Adelbert described, he was sure to be able to slip away from the pair of men at some point. His arms tightened around Adelbert’s waist at the horse’s fast pace. Yuuri yawned. Even the gallop of the horse wasn’t enough to keep his eyes from attempting to flutter closed as sleep kept threatening to claim him.

Feeling the boy’s hold on him tighten and loosen as he kept nearly dozing off, Adelbert cast a glance over his shoulder. “Don’t fall asleep on me, boy,” the blonde told Yuuri. “You’ll end up falling off.”

Yuuri leaned a sleepy head onto the man in front of him, his cheek coming to rest on his back. He groaned. “I won’t fall off. And it’s your fault anyway that I’m so sleepy, waking a kid up in the middle of the night to take off with him.”

Adelbert sighed, smiling faintly. He didn’t mind the weight of the teen’s body against his. It was almost nice, even though the boy didn’t intend the act as affection. His smile turned wistful. Adelbert used to take Julia riding as often as he could. She used to love the feel of the wind tossing her long pale locks, her delicate arms wound around his waist. The grip that the boy had on him now felt nothing like it, though his frame was slight as well. But this wouldn’t always be so. Manhood would deepen the boy’s voice and steal the softness from his skin. Training would give his muscles a tone that was anything but feminine. Adelbert could almost see the boy several years from now, taller, a light but toned build, wielding a sword as he had been taught by the blonde. The scene in the man’s mind was one in the sun, the light filtering down through the leaves overhead glinting off of the beads of sweat on Yuuri’s brow as they sparred beneath tall trees. Long dark locks the same color of the eyes that gazed into his own in playful determination.

Adelbert couldn’t remember a time when he’d been attracted to men. Yet the picture of the future Yuuri in his mind’s eye made him clear his throat, his face flushing faintly as Keenan glanced at him curiously. He tried to shake himself of the vision that morphed into one of him pushing the young man playfully to the soft grass onto his back. Dark eyes staring into his held a promise of sin as parted lips were moistened with a pink tongue, a hand rising to loosen his garments. Adelbert swallowed. No need to let his imagination run wild. It was best not to rush things.

Adelbert felt Yuuri’s hold slacken, the weight on his back heavier. He slowed the horse somewhat as he put out a hand to prevent the boy from slipping off as he started to doze off. After a few seconds, Yuuri’s head bobbed up again, his grip tightening.

The blonde sighed. “Yuuri, if you can’t keep yourself from falling off, I’m going to put you in front of me and tie you to me.” The vision brought forth by his own words made parts of him not controlled by reason stir.

“I’m trying,” Yuuri whined. “Can’t we stop and rest somewhere?”

Relenting, Adelbert beckoned to Keenan, and the trio headed off the path into the woods to make a quick camp. They had gotten quite a head start on any pursuers. Adelbert doubted if the other Mazoku would even make land by the time they reached the other town. Even if they did, they’d likely search the port city thoroughly before heading out. Unless they’d been seen, the others wouldn’t even know which of the two neighboring towns was the trio’s intended destination.

Keenan built a fire as his companions settled in, Adelbert seating himself next to Yuuri who was leaning against the large trunk of a tree. The blonde saw the boy shiver slightly, so he wrapped part of the cloak he was wearing around the boy’s shoulders, pulling him closer. At Yuuri’s wide eyed look, he explained, “It will be warmer this way.” The teen seemed to accept his words for the moment. After a while, Yuuri slumped against him in a deep sleep. Adelbert pulled him close, Keenan watching the pair across the campfire.


To be continued.