[Fic] [Round 12] - Hush - PG
Author: Clorinda
Characters: Conrad, Yuuri, fleeting mentions of Julia
Word Count: 982
Rating: PG
Warnings: NONE
Prompt: Quote: "Apparently that isn't his/her natural hair color after all."
Author's Note: Written as inter-related vignettes from the anime, with re-worked dialogue.
Hush
By Clorinda
Conrad loves Yuuri. Not some fragmented memory of he once was. Really. Or at least, that's what he's been trying to prove to himself all his life.
I
First Glimpse
Knuckles white around the reins, Conrart drives the sorrel to the brink of its endurance; foam froths its panting mouth and sweat stands out in damp patches on its flanks, but his face is twisted in a grimace of yearning and desperation. The name is burnt on his lips - Julia - and he tries to scream it aloud so that Adalbert will know - but no words come.
"Yuuri!" His voice is cracked and hoarse. "Yuuri, I'm coming."
II
It's Only Words
"Your Majesty, you must take that back."
But Yuuri is deaf to Günter's plea, his face set in proud, obstinate righteousness. "I most certainly won't," and in that toss of that head, Conrart's heart swells to see the regalness and breaks to recognise the overwhelming resemblance to Julia.
"But Your Majesty-"
"No."
"Yuuri," Conrart breaks in, "you don't understand our customs-" But you have to take that back. If you love me, ever loved me, you must take that back.
Firmly, Yuuri shakes his head.
"He insulted my mother."
III
Blue
Yuuri stares uncomprehendingly down at the pendant hanging around his throat, a little puzzled, but touched. "Umm … thank you, Conrad."
"To protect you," he says quietly. "It's my job. To always be there for you."
IV
Light
The night is dark, and the waves lap against the shore. The moonlight silvers everything it fall on in the silence. A quiet, dark night for quiet, dark people. Yuuri's distinctive blazer melts into the night, and Conrart approaches silently from behind. There is much that he wants to ask; but the questions freeze on his tongue. He can't shake off how the light plays tricks on his eyes.
He softly whispers Yuuri's name. Slowly the latter turns. His face breaks into an uncertain smile. Bodyguard and guardian; protector and fairy godfather. It's not easy for him to reconcile himself to all this.
Shadows dance and flicker past Conrart's warm chocolate-coloured eyes. That smile seems thin and care-worn around the edges.
Because the moonlight pales Yuuri's jet black hair until it seems silver.
Apparently black isn’t his real hair colour, after all.
V
Baseball
They talk while they play catch. Conrart's aim is deadly accurate now. The Maou's rain last night has not washed away any memories. Yuuri standing on the roof, brandishing his arms. "Throw it, Conrad! We're a team. I believe in you." Conrart's sword arm curving an arc as he takes aim and flings the esoteric stone - it's sailing through the air, slamming into Yuuri's waiting grip.
VI
Brink
I. Will. Not die.
His father's blood courses through his veins: aeons of valour, chivalry and foolhardy, reckless love impels Conrart forward. For an eternal second, his hands feel Yuuri's clothes as he pushes the boy away; the moment, his fingers are curled around the hilt of his sword.
Fire leaps and flames like a living dragon; in the light of the inferno, he sees Yuuri's soot-smudged face, disoriented dark eyes, stricken with fear for him.
Conrart has to tear his gaze away, quelling the wild urge to drop his sword and engulf Yuuri in his arms. He has a duty, his honour, a promise, a life to protect.
But that life is not his.
"Don't worry, Your Highness," he says even as silver and steel flashes and clangs; the heat is unbearable against his skin, as he is stuffed into an envelope of flying blades.
His breath cuts out his throat in short, ragged gasps. The fire spreads through his body: a lancing inferno of pain. Spattered by his own blood, he shouts:
"Don't worry, Yuuri. I will not die."
VII
Fog
All the lost souls meander through the fog until they forget their path. Irrelevantly, Conrart thinks this new uniform suits him better than a bodyguard's drab rags. But he wouldn't trade those rags for the world.
Yuuri's painfully beating heart drowns the roar of blood in his ears. Conrad standing there- far away, yet close enough to touch. He feels Josak stiffen.
"Captain."
But Yuuri's knees are about to knock together; his legs can't hold him up anymore. Hours ago in that arena, had Conrad really been poised to kill him? Big Cimarron's loyal soldier, a sword in his hand, and yet - yet - he hangs onto his for life - had Conrad not entreated him to forfeit?
Yuuri. I don't want to hurt you.
He looks up, inadvertently meeting Conrad's eye. Their gazes don't waver.
You could never hurt me, Conrad, even if you tried. I believe in you.
VIII
Flight
The sound of footsteps thundering on the bank spurs Conrart's speed as he vaults over the railing and lands neatly on the barge as it sails serenely over the canal.
Yuuri screams his name from above: naked betrayal and bare confusion starkly enmeshed in his voice. But Conrart doesn't turn: he must hold himself together, he needs to stay strong.
He'll keep on running if that will hold the shattered fragments of his glass heart together.
IX
Proximity
All the pain fades when he knows Yuuri's there, safe and close. Time; time comes back full circle to discharge your debt, in case it remembers to. Black- apparently that's Yuuri's real hair colour after all.
The arrows are gone, but his flesh is on fire. He can't breathe; neither can he die now. Yuuri kneels beside him on the grass; lying on his back, Conrart needs to lift a hand to cup his cheek, but every bone, every thought hurts. He wants to think it's all over, but it's not. Oblivion rushes up to catch him - he's falling - too fast to stop.
Voices become indistinct, colliding into one another, until Yuuri's breaks through: "Conrad, don't - don't die."
"Don't worry," he says again. "I'm not going anywhere."
His last thought is: I have to stop lying, before his strength gives out and all the unspoken words remain that way. His skin feels cold where a tear traces his cheek, then warm when Yuuri thumbs it away.
-- finis --