[Fic] [Round 29] Double-Black Void, PG
Author/Artist: Crystaltear
Characters/Pairings: Conrad, Gwendal, Greta, Yuuri
Word Count:685
Rating: PG
Warnings: Angst
Theme/Prompt being used: Three Ways
Notes: Takes place immediately after Yuuri leaves for Earth at the end of season two but before he ultimately returns. Completely ignores season three's existence.
After the world is saved and the Maou returns to Earth, it takes a few days for the smiles of genuine happiness to slip into something more forced, something for show and for the general interest of the castle inhabitants. The evil is defeated and the world is saved, and everything has righted itself. Shibuya Yuuri is home-his true home-and back to being a boy instead of a Maou. In Blood Pledge, it is business as usual: A smile on the exterior and a void waiting to be filled on the interior.
A double-black void.
---------
Conrad Weller is a man of memories. He attaches them carefully to important items and places-a toy duck in his office, a spot on the training grounds just below a particular window, a baseball game with the children in the village-so that the memories are ever present, as is the smile that they bring. Only in his bedroom, devoid of anything but his solitude, does the façade slip away with the coming of sleep. It seems, no matter how many things change, they do, ultimately, stay the same.
But by the following day the familiar smile will be reconstructed and back in its proper place; after all, he is the person who had spent the most time with the young king. He has memories enough to last awhile, and the experience of loss to know how to make them last.
---------
The office of Gwendal von Walde is silent with the exception of the scratching of a quill against parchment, a sign that the general is present somewhere among the piles of papers that cover his desk. In the corner, a small knitting project that may have been destined to become a rabbit or a duck sits three-quarters of the way complete, the needles and ball of yarn still attached. It is the only work found abandoned in the room; its purpose lost once its intended owner had left for what Gwendal could only assume was forever.
As Gwendal signs another piece of legislation, he reminds himself everything has returned to the way it was before the Maou arrived, regardless of what his feelings tell him. Everyone should return to how they were before, maybe a little sadder, but able to function in their roles within the castle and kingdom. Yuuri didn’t create this country or this castle-he only saved it. It existed before him and it would continue to do so without him.
Gwendal tells himself this every hour on the hour, day after day, and wonders when it will begin to be true.
---------
Greta smiles as Nicola and Huber tell her stories from her favorite book, even if it is different from the way Yuuri tells it. Neither of them create the funny noises he did or trail off on some note that only made sense to him. But they try, so she smiles.
She also smiles for Wolfram, even though his own attempts never reach his eyes. She even smiles and nods along with everyone as they speak with fondness of their missing king and assure her he did not want to leave--smiles and nods in agreement because their assurances are all she has since he never said goodbye to her.
And she forgives him because he’s Yuuri and she loves him, but a part of her mourns how this place is the same; she thought it would be different, but it wasn’t. They always leave her in the end.
---------
At the reconstruction of Shinou’s shrine, the Maiden smiles sadly as the number of visitors grow with each day that passes. They ask questions about the construction, looking on with fondness as the building begins to rise around them from its ashes. But their gazes always linger with painful need on the small fountain, as though at any second the familiar black mop of hair and flailing limbs will appear before them once again. But he won’t, and she is too kind to remind them what they already know all too well.
The kingdom is saved, yet has never been so lost.
Characters/Pairings: Conrad, Gwendal, Greta, Yuuri
Word Count:685
Rating: PG
Warnings: Angst
Theme/Prompt being used: Three Ways
Notes: Takes place immediately after Yuuri leaves for Earth at the end of season two but before he ultimately returns. Completely ignores season three's existence.
After the world is saved and the Maou returns to Earth, it takes a few days for the smiles of genuine happiness to slip into something more forced, something for show and for the general interest of the castle inhabitants. The evil is defeated and the world is saved, and everything has righted itself. Shibuya Yuuri is home-his true home-and back to being a boy instead of a Maou. In Blood Pledge, it is business as usual: A smile on the exterior and a void waiting to be filled on the interior.
A double-black void.
---------
Conrad Weller is a man of memories. He attaches them carefully to important items and places-a toy duck in his office, a spot on the training grounds just below a particular window, a baseball game with the children in the village-so that the memories are ever present, as is the smile that they bring. Only in his bedroom, devoid of anything but his solitude, does the façade slip away with the coming of sleep. It seems, no matter how many things change, they do, ultimately, stay the same.
But by the following day the familiar smile will be reconstructed and back in its proper place; after all, he is the person who had spent the most time with the young king. He has memories enough to last awhile, and the experience of loss to know how to make them last.
---------
The office of Gwendal von Walde is silent with the exception of the scratching of a quill against parchment, a sign that the general is present somewhere among the piles of papers that cover his desk. In the corner, a small knitting project that may have been destined to become a rabbit or a duck sits three-quarters of the way complete, the needles and ball of yarn still attached. It is the only work found abandoned in the room; its purpose lost once its intended owner had left for what Gwendal could only assume was forever.
As Gwendal signs another piece of legislation, he reminds himself everything has returned to the way it was before the Maou arrived, regardless of what his feelings tell him. Everyone should return to how they were before, maybe a little sadder, but able to function in their roles within the castle and kingdom. Yuuri didn’t create this country or this castle-he only saved it. It existed before him and it would continue to do so without him.
Gwendal tells himself this every hour on the hour, day after day, and wonders when it will begin to be true.
---------
Greta smiles as Nicola and Huber tell her stories from her favorite book, even if it is different from the way Yuuri tells it. Neither of them create the funny noises he did or trail off on some note that only made sense to him. But they try, so she smiles.
She also smiles for Wolfram, even though his own attempts never reach his eyes. She even smiles and nods along with everyone as they speak with fondness of their missing king and assure her he did not want to leave--smiles and nods in agreement because their assurances are all she has since he never said goodbye to her.
And she forgives him because he’s Yuuri and she loves him, but a part of her mourns how this place is the same; she thought it would be different, but it wasn’t. They always leave her in the end.
---------
At the reconstruction of Shinou’s shrine, the Maiden smiles sadly as the number of visitors grow with each day that passes. They ask questions about the construction, looking on with fondness as the building begins to rise around them from its ashes. But their gazes always linger with painful need on the small fountain, as though at any second the familiar black mop of hair and flailing limbs will appear before them once again. But he won’t, and she is too kind to remind them what they already know all too well.
The kingdom is saved, yet has never been so lost.