Along the Great Divide

Ludwig slept for some time and even more comfortably than the manor or any of the inns they had retired to. Shifting a bit, he rolled over and wrapped an arm around Mamoru. Or who he thought was Mamoru. When his face craned down to inhaled the sweet scent, he was met with the strongest smell of herbs and incense, much stronger than Mamoru’s sweet flowery scent. He snorted a little, cracking an eye open to find a puff of chestnut colored hair.

He froze.

“Mmm…Mmm…”Ludwig whined, patting around to find where Mamoru had disappeared to. He found another warm body, patting him and trying to wake him up.

“Mm? Wha? What is it Wiggy?”Mamoru mumbled, rolling over and wielding the same, startled expression.
There in the bed, Rhoma was laying partially on Ludwig, wedged between them on the massive King-sized bed.

Ludwig was in absolute shock, almost having the look of fear. Mamoru stared, slowly sitting up and inhaling deeply.

Ludwig shook his head, begging him not to wake him up.

Too late.

Mamoru let out such a yell that Rhoma sat up, shoved Ludwig off the bed out of reflex and scrambled to the other side. The mage yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes.

“Is it morning already?”Rhoma yawned, rubbing his sleepy violet eyes and looking around. He blinked when he saw Mamoru, leaning over to see Ludwig sprawled out on the floor. The vampire pushed himself off, rubbing his nose which he had smacked on the hard wood. “Oooh? Ludwig? What are you doing on the floor?”He asked, completely ignoring the other mage.

Mamoru’s eye twitched. “More importantly, what are you doing in our room?”Mamoru inquired, getting off the bed to check on Ludwig.

“What do you mean? This is my room.”Rhoma said as he peered around. He blinked, glancing around and tilting his room. “Oooh…This isn’t my room.”

“Really now…Rhoma, how did you managed to get yourself here? I made sure you were in your bed.”Ludwig said as he wrapped an arm around Mamoru assuringly. Seeing Rhoma snuggled against him probably flared some tempers.

“I don’t know…I guess I was cold and you two are very warm…Ludwig makes for a cool pillow when I get to hot. May I borrow him again?”Rhoma yawned, stretching a little more. He sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the two with a sleepy look.

“Ludwig is not a—“Mamoru said, Ludwig bringing his hand up to cover Mamoru’s mouth quickly before a fight broke out between the siblings.

“I don’t think that would be appropriate, my Lord. Besides, I belong only to Mamoru here…It would be wrong.”Ludwig said, removing his hand from Mamoru’s mouth. Mamoru stared at him, smiling slightly and snuggling up to him with a smile that said ‘so there’.

Rhoma raised a credulous eyebrow. “Oh? You two are lovers? It doesn’t look like it.” He scoffed, turning his head to look out of the corner of his eye. “It just looks like a pair of best friends hugging.”

“Rhoma, please…”Ludwig said, starting to get a headache from the overly cocky mage. He guided Mamoru away for a moment, offering Rhoma his hand. “Let me take you back to your room. I think you need to get more sleep.”

“No, please let me stay! I really want to know what my big brothers are like! Please? I’ll be good, I promise.”Rhoma begged, holding Ludwig’s hand tightly with a worried look. It was a little difficult to take in the fact that the Lord of Nine was acting like a brat and an innocent child back and forth. It was really throwing him for a loop. Plus, Rhoma thought Ludwig was his elder brother.

“I’m not your older brother. Mamoru is.”Ludwig explained briefly. Rhoma blinked, looking to the pale mage and back again.

“No, you both are my brothers!”Rhoma said with a huff. “I think you two need to come with me. There is something that I don’t think Yuri told you.”

Ludwig and Mamoru looked at each other with a confused look, looking back to Rhoma. Rhoma scuttled off the bed, grabbing their hands and pulling them to the door to take them to his room. The stood there with dumbfounded looks as their ‘younger brother’ dug around draws and trunks. When he found what he was looking for, he summoned them to the table.

“Our Fathers left this for you for when you returned.”Rhoma explained, setting a gem on the table. It was green, inlayed in a gold circle. “Both of you need to touch it.”

Ludwig and Mamoru looked at each other, reaching down to touch the gem. When they blinked, the room had started to change, everything swirling and changing. The room changed to a scene upon a hill, the area glowing with white flowers with a pond just near-by. A group of figures stood on top, a priest, a bride and groom figure with a small child close to the bride. Around them, there were men and women in robes with two dressed in traditional Amestrian clothing though one of them seemed to be a little uncomfortable with the tight clothes.

The priest was continuing to talk, the two figures turning to face each other. The bride in white was actually Theron dressed in long white formal robes with Hezekiah right beside him. His hair had gotten a little longer and draped in lovely coils on his royal attire. However, Hezekiah’s family did not appear to be there. As a cloud drifted away from the moon, it was clear that the figures in robes were the other Lords and some of Theron’s students with Gridgor and Ace standing in traditional attire.

“This is…”Mamoru gasped his eyes wide with Ludwig speechless beside him.

Though, what scared them was when the little boy turned and started walking towards them, Theron and Hezekiah turning to watch him. The little boy reached up, flexing his hands to be picked up. Ludwig looked down then back up, reaching down and actually lifting the boy up. The boy hugged him around the neck and then reached over for Mamoru in which the mage took him after.

“We’re glad that you have finally made it…Ludwig…Mamoru…”Hezekiah said with a smile.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time…”Theron said, looking to the two of them.

“Just what is this? We heard you were dead and now…you’re here…alive?”Ludwig said, confused by all of this.

“This is just a temporary time rift.”The small boy said, Mamoru nearly dropping him. Little Rhoma stuck his tongue out at the two with a giggle. “Pappi and Papa made this so you could be here too. It will end when the ceremony is done but this is what I was telling you. Since they are married, all of us are related. You two are my big brothers.”He added.

“We are so glad that you are here, now…even if it’s only temporary…but we want you here more than anything in the world.”Theron said, waving for them to come closer. The two didn’t hesitate to almost run over to Theron and Hezekiah, hugging them all so closely, it seemed that Ludwig could probably break all three of them if it wasn’t such wide hold. When they separated, Theron and Hezekiah got a good look at the both of them.

“You know…I don’t think I like this idea of you two being so tall.”Theron said jokingly, putting a hand to his chin. “You two might just have to get on your knees while the ceremony starts or we won’t be able to see the priest at all!”

Ludwig and Mamoru laughed, hugging each other after putting Rhoma down.

“Just stand higher up on the hill then, you’ll get taller in a second.”Ludwig joked.

“Please…May we get on with the ceremony?”The priest said, clearing his throat. Theron and Hezekiah blinked, chuckling a little and nodding. Mamoru and Ludwig took Rhoma to the side, standing and observing the ceremony. The Lords and Theron’s family, Ace included, all came up to greet them, hugging them then standing close-by. When the ceremony was beginning to end, the scene was beginning to swirl like before. It was when Theron and Hezekiah had kissed to close the ceremony that there was a swift tug on their clothing that dragged them back to Rhoma’s room.

Rhoma stood there, patting off his hands. “See what I mean now?”He said, looking down at Mamoru and Ludwig’s startled faces. The two finally blinked, seeing Rhoma and getting up at a rushed scramble. With a sharp gasp, Rhoma was hugged by the two men tightly.

“Thank you…”Mamoru sobbed. “This means the world to us.”

“We thought we would never get to see them again…Thank you.”Ludwig sniffed, trying not to spill his blood tears but they still spilled anyway.

Rhoma was in shock, having his two elder brothers hold him and cry. He hesitantly brought his hands up to hold them, kissing the tops of their heads and nuzzled their hair. “Shh…It’s okay…Before they passed away they asked me to do this for you…So you could know.”He said softly.

Ludwig and Mamoru sniffed at the same time, looking up at him. However, Rhoma was caught off by surprise when he saw blood on his own clothes and trails of it down Ludwig’s face. He stared, his eyes falling serious before he looked to Mamoru but saw none. Mamoru saw Rhoma’s reaction, pulling away and pulled Ludwig with him.

“Mamoru…Ludwig…just what happened when you two were away from Grayharte…? Why is he crying blood!?” Rhoma exclaimed, outraged but yet willing to listen as he pointed at Ludwig.

Ludwig cleaned his face, falling serious. “I want to know that too but it happened when I was younger.”Ludwig explained, staring at Rhoma and looking down at Mamoru. “I would never hurt anyone and nor have I ever. I got changed into a Vampire against my own will. We were on our way to the nation of Vampires when we decided to come see Grayharte. To see just what happened to our fathers, Rhoma…And we did…”

“That is not what I meant! You cry blood and drink blood but that only means that you had to die for the change to happen! Our fathers would be devastated to know this!”Rhoma said, moving over and hugging him. “I am not angry for what you are but what happened to you…Ludwig, you’re my big brother, you too Mamoru.”

The older siblings fell quiet though something dawned on them that had them both paling a little. Rhoma looked up at the two of them, confused by their sudden behavior. “What…?”The mage asked, tilting his head.

“Wiiigggy…You know what this means right?”Mamoru said his eyes wide and his body shaking. Ludwig nodded and slapped a hand against his own face, dragging it down.

“What?”Rhoma asked again, getting impatient.

“We’ve been sleeping together…fucking…and doing all that stuff…and now we’re…like…related now…”Ludwig said, his eye twitching.

Their disgust was short-lived. Mamoru started to laugh, hugging onto Ludwig as Ludwig caught onto the laughter, picking up Mamoru and spinning him around. Rhoma stood there confused, his eyebrows furrowed as he scratched the side of his head.

“I think they may have lost it.”Rhoma muttered, letting out a short, curt laugh.