[Fic] [Round 6] To Protect , G
Author/Artist: Crystaltear
Characters/Pairings: Yozak, Conrad. Hints of lots of one-sided pairings.
Word Count: 500
Rating: G
Any Warnings: None
Theme/Prompt being used: 500 words
Notes: I had wanted to write a Yozak x Conrad piece for last week’s love prompt, but a fic for another challenge kept me from writing anything. This isn’t quite what I had in mind when I started writing earlier today, but I like how it turned out anyway.
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When Yozak first met up with Dan Hiri Weller and his son, to say he was apprehensive about the two strangers was an understatement. If he had anything worth stealing it would have been his first guess as to their generosity, but his lack of anything besides the clothes on his back (and he knew the brown-haired boy wouldn’t want his rags) left him puzzled to their true motive. The thought that they were planning on selling or killing him passed through his mind as well, but with the dirt that buried his mother still fresh under his nails, he couldn’t muster up the will to care much about what life would bring him at that point.
What life had ended up bringing him was both the greatest gift and lesson he would receive. From the swordsman he learned to protect not only himself but what was important to him, and Conrad taught him what those things of importance were. Companionship and country and the loyalty to both no matter what, that was what the young prince taught him. He took those lessons and parted with them years after their introduction, remaining at one of the towns Dan Hiri had rebuilt until the death of his fatherly mentor. With his sword against his hip and Dan Hiri’s words ringing in his ears, he followed Gwendal von Voltaire back to the man’s home country to begin his service to Shin Makoku and to renew his bond with the second son of Shin Makoku’s Maou.
That relationship was tested when he made the mistake of trying to defend it. The feeling of satisfaction ran through his veins as his knuckles connected with the cheek of the little blonde prince, the words of malice the boy had been spewing about his older brother turning into the hysterical cries of someone’s first introduction to physical pain. The blonde learned his lesson and never spoke poorly of Conrad in his presence ever again, but Yozak learned the harder lesson: Conrad didn’t speak to him for months.
That was his first encounter with the complexities of Conrad’s heart, though certainly not the last. That he might not be as important to Conrad as Conrad was to him was the hardest lesson to swallow, but it repeated enough in their history that he learned to accept it. Because Yozak had decided to protect Conrad no matter what, he made sure to do so even when he had to save Conrad from himself. He made good on that promise over the years, whether it was by standing beside him in battle or simply bringing him home in one piece.
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In the present time, Yozak keeps a close eye on the Maou. His dedication has not changed, though he has come to hold a certain fondness for Yuuri that he lacked for Wolfram or Julia. Protecting the boy is the same as protecting Conrad--protecting what has become Conrad’s happiness, whether or not it parallels his own happiness.
Characters/Pairings: Yozak, Conrad. Hints of lots of one-sided pairings.
Word Count: 500
Rating: G
Any Warnings: None
Theme/Prompt being used: 500 words
Notes: I had wanted to write a Yozak x Conrad piece for last week’s love prompt, but a fic for another challenge kept me from writing anything. This isn’t quite what I had in mind when I started writing earlier today, but I like how it turned out anyway.
-------
When Yozak first met up with Dan Hiri Weller and his son, to say he was apprehensive about the two strangers was an understatement. If he had anything worth stealing it would have been his first guess as to their generosity, but his lack of anything besides the clothes on his back (and he knew the brown-haired boy wouldn’t want his rags) left him puzzled to their true motive. The thought that they were planning on selling or killing him passed through his mind as well, but with the dirt that buried his mother still fresh under his nails, he couldn’t muster up the will to care much about what life would bring him at that point.
What life had ended up bringing him was both the greatest gift and lesson he would receive. From the swordsman he learned to protect not only himself but what was important to him, and Conrad taught him what those things of importance were. Companionship and country and the loyalty to both no matter what, that was what the young prince taught him. He took those lessons and parted with them years after their introduction, remaining at one of the towns Dan Hiri had rebuilt until the death of his fatherly mentor. With his sword against his hip and Dan Hiri’s words ringing in his ears, he followed Gwendal von Voltaire back to the man’s home country to begin his service to Shin Makoku and to renew his bond with the second son of Shin Makoku’s Maou.
That relationship was tested when he made the mistake of trying to defend it. The feeling of satisfaction ran through his veins as his knuckles connected with the cheek of the little blonde prince, the words of malice the boy had been spewing about his older brother turning into the hysterical cries of someone’s first introduction to physical pain. The blonde learned his lesson and never spoke poorly of Conrad in his presence ever again, but Yozak learned the harder lesson: Conrad didn’t speak to him for months.
That was his first encounter with the complexities of Conrad’s heart, though certainly not the last. That he might not be as important to Conrad as Conrad was to him was the hardest lesson to swallow, but it repeated enough in their history that he learned to accept it. Because Yozak had decided to protect Conrad no matter what, he made sure to do so even when he had to save Conrad from himself. He made good on that promise over the years, whether it was by standing beside him in battle or simply bringing him home in one piece.
-----
In the present time, Yozak keeps a close eye on the Maou. His dedication has not changed, though he has come to hold a certain fondness for Yuuri that he lacked for Wolfram or Julia. Protecting the boy is the same as protecting Conrad--protecting what has become Conrad’s happiness, whether or not it parallels his own happiness.