Dawn

Thanks again to everyone who’s reading this! I really hope you like it. Since we’ve made it to chapter 5 here you guys either must actually like this fic and hope there might be something to it or you’re mesmerized by the train wreck. Regardless, please leave a review. I’d really like to know what you think. Thanks.







Wolfram had been told by the trio of maids that Greta had asked for breakfast to be served as a private picnic for them out in the gardens. He made is way outside trying to ignore the looks of the castle’s guards and the whispers of the maids as they watched him walk across the bailey towards the gardens. He turned around the edge of the kitchens and saw Greta waiting for him at the edge of a path. He walked swiftly towards her.



When he got to her she turned and walked forward leading the way along the garden path around the maze and beyond the flower beds his mother had planted. She walked down the slight hill and Wolfram could see in the bend where a small breakfast had been set up. It was great. It was deep enough into the gardens that they would be able to hear anyone approaching and yet tucked back and away so that no one from the castle would be able to see them, not the guards on the wall, not the maids in the windows. Perfect.



As Greta reached the meal spread before them, she took a seat on the ground blanket and waited until Wolfram too had sat before she spoke. “Where did you go when you left me earlier?” she asked



“I went to speak with Gwendel and Conrart. I wanted to know what plans they had made for the kingdom in Yuri’s absence and what plans they had made for us too.” He answered.



“Plans for us? You knew they had already made plans for us? What kind?” This time as she asked her question she seemed livelier, like her curiosity had genuinely been peaked.



“Yes. Gwendel likes to plan things. I think he even thinks up disasters in order to plan for them should they ever happen. I knew he would either already have a plan for what is going to happen now or he would be planning for what’s to come. When I spoke to Gwendel and Conrart earlier they hadn’t decided on what exactly was going to happen, so they didn’t have plans for us yet.” Wolfram reached for some juice and began to settle into this breakfast plan. He could see where different foods had been laid out before them on the blanket but he could also see that Greta wasn’t eating yet.



“What is going to happen now?” she asked quietly.



“Ultimately the country’s rule is going to continue as though Yuri were still here. It’s like the kingdom is going to be kept in trust for him until he either returns or the Great One chooses another Maou. There is also going to be a peace conference held here at the castle so that we can strengthen the peace treaties, word has already moved beyond the castle that Yuri is gone and rumors are starting to spread.” Wolfram finished explaining and went to reach for more jam for his scone.



“Do they think that the rumors could incite another war without Yuri here to stop it?”



“It’s a possibility. I definitely think that whoever started the rumors is hoping that it will come to that. But I don’t think they’ll have expected us to act so quickly with this peace conference. The conference itself should stop talks of war. There is something else though I wanted to talk to you about.” Wolfram waited until he could see that although Greta was finally eating she was wholly concentrating on their discussion.



“About the conference?” Greta asked as she wiped scone crumbs from her chin.



“No, about after the conference. I think we both need to stay here at the castle for the peace conference, but after it’s over I want to take some time away from here. I think it might be good to leave, for a little while at least, and go somewhere different. If everything goes well at the conference Gwendel and Conrart should have everything well in hand. We should be able to escape into the country for a bit. I haven’t been back to Bleifield Castle in a while. It would be good to get away from everyone-from their looks anyway. What do you think?”



“Are we running away?” Greta was a little shocked by Wolfram’s suggestion to leave Blood Pledge Castle. Even when Yuri and Wolfram had gone away on different trips to find the four boxes she hadn’t been outside of the castle or the town. In fact when she had first come to the castle to kill Yuri that had been her first time outside of the-no she had already promised herself that she was never going to think of that again. She had promised herself a new life this morning when she woke up to see Wolfram standing beside her.



“No. We’re not running away. Last night I left because I needed time to say good-bye to Yuri. I couldn’t do that here, with everyone watching. I wasn’t running away, but I did have to leave.” Wolfram sat for a moment looking at his hands lying before him on his knees. He looked at how pale they shone in the sunlight as it sprinkled dappled light through the garden.



“Greta, I know that I am different from how I was before I met Yuri. I know that by knowing him it changed me. I thought that I would have forever to figure out who this new me was, because-because I would always have Yuri there too. But now, now all I know is that I don’t know who I am; who I’ve become. I don’t think I can figure that out here with everyone watching me.” He looked up then to see Greta watching him. Her face was pale and Wolfram wondered briefly if she looked as shaky as he felt or if he looked worse.



“I know that I don’t know who I am right now, after knowing Yuri. I’m not sure you know who you are either.” He stopped. “We wouldn’t be running away now. We’d be leaving so that we could find the answers to who we are now, without Yuri. We’d be leaving so that we could do that as a team, as a family; without having the maids whispering or the guards looking or even my family standing over us. That’s what we’d be doing. What do you think Greta?” Wolfram asked gently.



“We’d be coming back then?” Greta wondered.



“Yes, we’d be coming back. And we could either stay back or we could go away again. I don’t know yet. All I know is that we both need to show our support of Yuri at the peace conference and that after the conference is done I need time away from here, even if it’s just for a little while.” Wolfram finished in a whisper.



“So you’d be taking me with you, and we’d definitely be coming back then.” Greta repeated out loud. “Okay then, since we’re coming back we’re not running away and you’re still taking me with you so you’re not leaving me. That’s okay then. I’m okay with that Wolfram.” Greta declared. She seemed firm in her decision.



Wolfram had watched her face and seen her emotions as she’d talked herself through her decision. It was a diffeent experience for him. But then again everything this morning had been a different experience for him. As he watched Greta go back to her food Wolfram found his eyes wandering over the grass before them, lingering on the colors of the flowers as they seemed to turn their blooms towards the sun. It was weird he thought to himself but right now he almost felt like one of the Beautiful Wolfram flowers his mother had created. Out here in the castle’s gardens he was home, Wolfram turned his head, but yet still searching for his sun this morning.



He felt trapped. Trapped in this life. Trapped in his life. Life without Yuri. Wait, he thought, since when did he start thinking this? He’d had life before Yuri, but after last night and this morning hadn’t he decided that there was going to be life after Yuri too. Wasn’t that what he was doing here with Greta?



“Wolfram,” Greta interrupted his mental tirade, “was it very difficult for you to come to me here and ask me to go with you?”



“What? Oh not really. It was different I suppose but I already knew this morning when we talked that-well Greta-I just.” Wolfram stopped. He tried to clear his mind of the thoughts he had been chasing around. He looked at Greta and saw that she had turned her head away slightly like she didn’t want o hear what he was about to say. That firmed something inside of him and he was steadier for it.



“Greta, yesterday was difficult, today has been difficult, I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be difficult and the day after too. I knew last night that it wasn’t just me that had lost Yuri. This morning when we talked we made a deal together, we promised not to lie or hide from each other and we promised to talk and we promised to never leave the other behind.” He took a breath.

“I knew I needed to speak to my brothers about what they were planning. After that all I knew was that I had promised to meet you for breakfast. As I was coming to meet you I had to pass by the gaurds and the maids, it got me thinking again about leaving for a bit. Just to be away from everyone. I decided then that I would ask you about it, I wanted to know if you would be okay with leaving.”



Wolfram continued, “If you’re asking me if it was difficult to come to anyone right now and talk about what I’m thinking or feeling then yes, it is difficult. It’s different; I’m not used to it yet. If you’re asking if it was difficult to come to you, Greta, then no it wasn’t difficult to come to you. A part of me thinks that right now you are the easiest person for me to talk to.” Wolfram stopped again.



“Wolfram.” Greta’s eyes burned as she looked across the blanket at him. She knew they stung because she’d already cried herself dry. It still felt a little like dreaming on the inside, everything from last night when she cried herself to sleep and then this morning waking up to talk to Wolfram and then now, it all felt a little dreamy. A part of her kept screaming to wake up from this dream that things weren’t really this scary and she just needed to wake up. And another part kept telling that other voice to shut-up this was real and she was never going to be able to sleep again.



“Wolfram,” she started again, “I understand. I think the hardest part-“ Greta swallowed past a suddenly dry knot in her throat, “the hardest part is knowing that even if Yuri didn’t see this that you did. To know that even when I tried so hard to make Yuri love me as his little girl he could never see this much of me. And to know that you, Wolfram, I-“ Greta’s voice cracked. She didn’t know if she could finish, she didn’t know if she wanted to; until she felt something touch her hand gently and looked down to see that Wolfram had reached over to give her his own napkin. The tears she didn’t think she had anymore of suddenly spilled over her cheeks. She used the napkin to wipe them away with one hand and used the other to reach out and wrap her fingers through his.



As they both shared a quiet sad smile and looked back to the flowers around them, Greta watched the bees dance in the air and knew she didn’t have to. It was the best she’d felt all day.