Vanessa nods silently, taking his words into stride, storing them away for future reference. She glances over toward her cousin again, then leans down and plants a gentle kiss onto his forehead.
“You deserve all the happiness in the world, Wolf, and I’ll help guide you toward it.” she whispers gently, then pulls away slowly.
She wonders if he can hear her in his unconscious state briefly. The others already walked toward the pews and sat down but she lingered behind, sparing one last glance to her sleeping cousin then goes to join them while scoping Friedrich into her arms. As the others began rearrange the cushions, Vanessa takes ones from Lars and then sits next to Gretchen. She removes and unhooks her cape, and drapes it on the back of the pew. Then she removes her sheath off her belt and leans her sword next to her leg, just in case if anything occurs later – whenever he wakes, whether it’s him or Ashenprinz. She’ll be ready to help calm him.
“I believe we’re all here, aside from our parents, but I doubt they’re not too far away.” Vanessa answers him, now taking a survey glance toward the others who’ve crowded around. She places the skull close to her side, where Lars should be sitting but she watches as he floats above instead.
“Thank you for all coming, each and every one of you. Friedrich introduced us before, but I suppose I’ll introduce myself formally. I am Vanessa von der Stolzenberg, Wolfram’s cousin and this is our friend, Gretchen Gutermuth. To those who’re unknown to us, please tell us your names so we’re all formally acquainted. ”
Vanessa pauses, then turns to Gretchen, her hand now lowers onto the thief’s hand and resumes looking at the rest of the group, “I’m not too sure of where to begin, but I suppose from the beginning would be fine right…?” She spares a glance toward the skull then toward the strangers again. She briefly eyes Lars too now, she doesn’t know now how much he knows so she proceeds to talk with him first.
“Herr Lars, yes? Before we begin, how much do you know about our situation… about Wolfram?”
“Everything,” Lars answers simply, “well not everythin’– there’s still some unanswered questions that we haven’t found out yet. But Friedrich filled me in about the situation when I helped your cousin a couple days ago, dunno if you’ve been told that but if not I s’ppose we’ll get t’it when everyone shares what they know.” He spares a glance to the thief from his position in the air, where he floats above crossed legged. Maybe she saw him that day when they rushed inside with Wolfram’s lifeless form? He doesn’t remember sensing someone upon his departure so perhaps not.
“Anyway, as for names–– guess you already know it Vanessa but I’m Lars Young. Wolfram’s friend. The rest of the people I brought with me are family,” He gestures toward Raine sitting next to Peter and Laurent sitting beside Reid. “And acquaintances related to…an incident that Friedrich, Wolfram, your Uncle Märchen and I discovered a couple days ago.”
He makes eye contact with Peter, then Reid for a moment before continuing, “but since y’all know what transpired awhile back I’ll let you tell it.”
“I told him the basics of what he needed to know,” Friedrich says. “Gretchen’s been a part of this whole web of circumstance longer than any of us, so I’ll leave it to her to tell the backstory–even the bits that you don’t know of, Vanessa. I’m sure she’s been waiting for the right time to give you the whole truth.”
He sees the master thief give him a bit of a dirty look. What? If Friedrich was capable of full facial expression, he’d be giving her a look back. Don’t tell me you still haven’t told her of your totally obvious undying love for her. But complaint for another time. “For now: my name is Friedrich Dahlke. I’m Wolfram’s companion and a former client of one of his fathers–more on that later with Gretchen.”
“A few days ago, Wolfram and I were coming back from a walk in the woods and suddenly he drops to the ground. He’s a little clumsy, I’ll admit, but he just went limp onto the dirt. Now, being a skull, I don’t really have much movement. Didn’t know what was going on–the kid’s eyes were glazed over like the soul left him. I was mortified. Just started yelling as loud as I could and that’s when Lars found us.”
Friedrich knows what death looks like: he’s seen it countless times during his own lifetime and what came after it. They knew Wolfram was not normal by any means, but they never thought any form of eternal sleep would wash over him. What has this child done that he would need to carry this heavy a burden on his small shoulders? he remembers thinking. It was the question they had all asked ever since that person appeared into their lives.
“We called his father, Marchen von Friedhof. He lives in that well right outside the church. Marchen is a special being. He is a conductor of spirits who were wrongfully murdered–he offers them a chance to exact revenge on those who caused them injustice. This is gonna be important. Now, none of us knew what was going on, but we thought it might have something to do with the fact that there’s another spirit cohabiting Wolfram’s body: a person we called Die Aschenprinz, the Prince of Ashes. Lars offered to use his powers as a–what was it?–youkai to enter Wolfram’s mind and possibly drag his consciousness back out. Lars found a couple of things. He confronted die Aschenprinz directly and they worked together to discover a hidden truth. The true identity of die Aschenprinz is a young man named Ansel, who had formerly been a client to Marchen. Ansel had been close to a man named Franz, who had promised him they would run away together.” He looks at the two Piper brothers. “I’m assuming that would be where you two somehow come in.” He looks back towards Vanessa and Gretchen and the other two–Lars’s family. “Well, after that, Lars managed to retrieve Wolfram. Got chucked right into the altar over there, though. Glad to see you’re feeling better from that, by the way; knew you were pretty sore from it the next morning. That’s pretty much it from me, though. If anyone wants to get introductions out of the way before Gretchen goes into the backstory of this whole mess, get them over with now.”
Lars filled her in on Mr. von Friedhof after the first couple of trips through the gate. His image comes to mind, when Friedrich’s talking about his profession and the details concerning this Ansel boy. How terrible, Laurent thinks then glances toward the Piper brothers briefly before deciding to be the first to speak.
“So that’s why you looked a little beat up a couple days ago, I thought you had gotten into another fight, but I’m relieved it wasn’t.” Laurent comments, staring up at her brother whose floating above their group. She sighs; at least she knows the reason now. Their mother would be proud of his accomplishment – he’s truly growing up in slow ways mother. Now glancing toward the others, Laurent now speaks toward the Princess and Master Thief.
“Anyway, my name is Laurent Young, Lars’s elder sibling as he previously introduced. Ah, for formalities – Miss would be preferred…but It’s a pleasure to meet you all, Your Highness, Miss Gutermuth.”
“…Although they’re hiding right now, we also have two other spirits with us today. They’re our sister’s friends, Ren and Ran.” Considering she didn’t hear them, they must have sensed the serious atmosphere therefore decided to keep quiet.
…Now that they were together, things were beginning to make sense. Lars’s explanation prior to their arrival also fit into the talking skull’s explanation. Raine glances over toward the pew where Wolfram’s body rests, then pulls her gaze away and bringing it back toward the group. Her friends hovered near Lars and they seemed grateful for her elder sibling’s introduction for them.
“So that shadow I saw above Wolfram when he dropped Friedrich must have been Ansel,” Raine comments, now pressing her lips into a small frown. Now the feelings of desperation clicked. If they were cohabiting one body, then Wolfram earlier was trying to keep the other in check. How scary. This must’ve been why he insisted to wait on coming to their time. He wanted to straighten this mess out first, she thinks. She didn’t blame him either. Not knowing if the other would go berserk would frighten her too.
Wolfram had given her a rundown of her father before, concerning her own case. Revenge tragedies, retribution for those who were wrongly killed. Though, there were still some other secrets to be unraveled so she holds her tongue.
“….As Lars introduced, I’m his younger sister: Raine Young. Nice to meet you all. As Laurent introduced before, my friends Ren and Ran are here with us. Don’t worry, they’re no where near you so don’t worry.” She glances toward her brother and shakes her head, “figures that’s why you were a little roughed up. You should’ve told us the truth though Lars, but I guess we’ll get our explanation while we’re here.” She casts a worried look toward the Piper brothers before turning her attention toward the thief and Vanessa.
So it’s implied that there were other people than the ones present involved. Just so happens we’re all in the same vicinity right now. Everything that happened today is tearing Peter away from the reality he’d built for himself–and yet…
And yet for some reason, there is a strange note of familiarity in the ridiculousness of it all. Why is that?
Peter’s empathetic to Laurent and Raine. He wasn’t necessarily directly involved in the situation: he was probably there because Reid was there. After all, Reid was the one who was given the song. The one who was given their late grandfather’s legacy. Peter just happened to get swept along. He can’t help but feel that Laurent and Raine were the same: swept up with their brother’s actions. These fucking brothers of theirs. Honestly.
“…Peter Piper. The youngest son of the main branch of the Piper Family. Hunter. Lars gave me a shoddy explanation earlier, but Franz seems to be an important person in this discussion. He happens to be our grandfather. We’ve already gone through the whole proof of the matter before, at our home. You have the right descendants. But I have no right to represent him in this matter–that role belongs to my older brother over there.” He sighs. “Lord Almighty, Lars, you really had to have picked me as your target earlier.” The guy could have picked anyone else in the damn world, but he supposed the world worked in mysterious ways.
A promise to run away together. A promise.
You must never go back on your word, my boy. You will come to regret it. It will deal a savage blow to the person whom you made your promise to and that fact will haunt you until your end.
Was this what he had meant?
“Things are starting to come together for me,” he says quietly. He looks up with his head held high and his shoulders back. The example of a leader that had been born and bred in him since the very beginning. “My name is Reid Piper. I am the eldest son of the main branch of the Piper Family. I was to inherit my place at the head of the clan, but my grandfather Franz had set me on another path.”
He wanted Reid to find someone that inherited Ansel’s will. Somehow, he knew that Ansel was suffering even after all this time.
“Up until shortly before his death, I knew my grandfather as Francis. He was a man of many secrets, but the life he lead before he came to Eire was something he never divulged to me other than the fact he lived with his mother and had kind neighbors who helped them through their poverty. He had taught me a song he used to play before.”
There were so many things he wants to say–so many feelings that are spiraling within him yet refuse to come forth through his lips.
“In all the time I knew him, there was one thing he would always make known to me: to never break my promises. To always hold the person who recognizes his song–the one he’s only played for a sole person–close to me. It’s only know that I realize that, this entire time, he’s been thinking of Ansel. He wanted Ansel to find peace.” Reid balls his hands into loose fists that clutch his cloak. “I want to fulfill my grandfather’s request. But ever since my soul met Wolfram’s in recurring dreams–ever since we found solace in one another’s presence without really knowing who was on the other side–I knew I wanted to make this person happy. More than anything, I want Wolfram to find that peace and happiness as much as my grandfather wanted it for Ansel. I’m willing to help however I can.”
Looks like it’s time for her part. What a weird group Wolfram’s managed to draw in. But it makes her a little proud to see how much he’s loved. The guy deserves it, after all he’s been through. She doesn’t think she could handle in her lifetime what Wolfram has gone through in a matter of a couple of years.
“My name is Gretchen Gutermuth. I’m also one of Marchen von Friedhof’s former clients. As much as I’d like to condense the whole thing into a neat little summary, you can’t remove my story and Friedrich’s story from the picture without losing a big part of how things came to be. So make yourselves comfortable. This is gonna take a bit. I’ll see if I can break it up into parts.”
Gretchen managed to overhear the report Lars and Wolfram made after Wolfram’s safety was secured. It all started with Ansel, so that’s where she’ll begin.
“So. Ansel. After his birth mother died, his father remarried another woman who had a daughter from a previous marriage--she was out for the father’s inheritance. It would naturally go to Ansel, being the biological child as well as the only son in the household. He got abused for that and only found comfort with your grandfather, Franz. I mean, he basically asked Ansel to elope with him--” Gretchen trails off at Friedrich clearing his proverbial throat. “--What? It’s the easiest term for it. Anyway. They planned on meeting in three days under the juniper tree Ansel and Ansel’s birth mother really liked. But then Ansel got killed by his stepmother, who set this weird ploy to make it seem like the stepsister did it. So the stepmother basically made him into a stew to feed the father--Yeah, gross, right?--and the stepsister was upset so she at least had the decency to bury his bones at the juniper tree. Ansel becomes a lost soul needing guidance and revenge and so he winds up at Marchen’s. Revenge tragedy, yadda yadda, he comes back to life but unfortunately misses his appointment with Franz, by the sound of things. Oops.”
She doesn’t exactly know what happens right afterwards, but her own tale comes chronologically afterwards. How many years or decades or centuries have passed between the two events then? she wonders. Oh well.
“Not really sure how that ended, but I’m next up on the roster of things. Long story short, I happened across a juniper tree--same one Ansel was unusually fond of--that sported a large fruit. My idiot self thought it was a good idea to pick it from the branch because, hey, who wouldn’t bring back a bounty like that? The answer is most normal people, but I was an outright moron so of course I took it back. The village started to cut it open to get the good stuff because the thing was that huge. What do they find? A baby. Like, not even a newborn baby--that baby was in it’s developing stages and it looked disgustingly premature. So I got branded a heretic and beheaded!” Gretchen pulls down her scarf a little, revealing a set of stitches going all the way around. “Yep, right here. Anyway, lost soul in need of guidance--you know the deal. Stole some stuff, killed some people, got myself some sweet vengeance. I basically had a second life now, so I went about my merry way.”
She hears a sigh coming from the skull. “Well, damn, if you hate my explanation that much, take over for your part, at least.”
