Charles had tried to believe Sophie about Max still being alive. But with five months having passed, it was getting more likely that Max had really died in that burned down boat.
It had completely destroyed Charles, the once happy man that even after the attack on his kingdom could put a smile on his face, was now nothing more then a mere shell of an empty man that lost another person he loves. Another person he cared for, died.
This time may not have been because of Max protecting Charles in a battle like Jules or Anthoine, this time it was his fault because he didn't stop the viking when he watched him leave out of that door. Charles knows that he could have been the one keeping Max alive. If only he had stoped the viking.
After a month of grieving over the loss of the blonde viking, Charles had taken Jos up to become the next in line of ruling over Holland. He knows that someone needs to take over this country because Jos won't be doing it forever.
Charles learned from his mother a month ago that the entire kingdom is destroyed and can't be build back up. That entire forests and nature had burned down to the ground. Everything had been destroyed according to his mother.
So his parents and the people that survived the war in his own country are coming this way to lay low for a while and see in a couple of years if they cab rebuild it. But for now all they can do is try to recover and heal from this war.
It would take a couple of days before his people and parents arrive at the shore but he would really love to get a hug from his mother. She would know how to comfort him and promise him how everything would be alright. He wants everything to be alright.
After the funeral for Max, the village had been done with a couple of new houses. Charles and his brothers had gotten the opportunity to move into a new home. A home of their own within Holland. But Charles refused, he didn't have the heart to sleep and life in a different home.
He couldn't find the need to let Max's house go empty. It felt wrong to Charles to move out, like it had become both Max's and his home since he had come to live in this country. Charles had went in the mean time since the funeral back to Haarlem.
He bought this big woollen wall blanket. It was big and orange, and since he could stitch some things. And maybe bordure. He had taken it upon himself to make something to remind himself of Max. He had bordure a black wolf in the fabric before he made a lion in there. Something about Max had always reminded him of that big and dangerous creature.
He remembers when he had shown Max the creature before the viking had said that that was his favourite animal and somewhat the symbol of this country. Where it had come from he never told Charles.
The worst part of this all, everyone was grieving but still going on with life. Victoria had gotten married to her lover Tom and were now going on a honeymoon to Montseille. They had a beautiful white wedding and shared sentimental words and wished that her brother had been there to wed them as that was something that they had planned.
Anoek had turned out to be pregnant with her and Daniel's first child. Which she could give birth tk any day now but Max will never be here to witness any of these things. Which makes everyone sad because no one would see him again and share these things with him.
Next month would be the one year anniversary of Charles and his brothers of being here. Which would be a big party that Max will never be at, but since Max is no longer around, it would also serve as the official announcement for Charles becoming the future ruler of Holland.
If only Max could have been still alive.
βββ
The viking drops with his back into the pile of soft snow. A fire crackling in front of him, to keep his injured body warm. For three months now he is on the move back hone. He still knows the way, he can still walk it home with his eyes closed.
A rabbit speared up on a stick above the fire that the viking had started. His chest heaving from the entire day walking with nothing but a black fur and some thin clothing that he had on his back. He's too out of breath to care that he is in the middle of an opening.
He can hear wolves howling in the background, his arm pounds in pain after he had fought his way out of the castle of Reykvik. The soldiers had broken it and it hadn't had time to heal at all before he had to use his broken arm a couple of time before he had put it into a self made splint.
He has many injuries on his body that hurt badly and he knows are getting infected by how they are not properly attended to but what do you expect in the middle of no where. He hadn't seen any villages for two months and has been camping out on his own. The freezing winter cold slowly making it into his bones. He knows that he has to make it to his home soon or he will freeze to death.
A loud wolf's howl grabs his attention before the roaring of a bear follows. He manages to get on his feet and limbs over to the source of the sounds. He draws his sword with his bad arm as his good arm is in a splint. He knows he has to be careful because he is already really weakened.
A roaring of a bear sounds loud before he hears a wolf's cry and by the sounds of it he knows the wolf is dead. He looks over the cover of the snow, the bear takes the dead wolf with him. As soon as the wolf is out of his sight, the viking walks over the little hill slope to the blood that is covering the snow.
He touches it, and by the distinct smell he can know it's a female wolf that the bear killed. How does he know? Simple, a labouring wolf always has a distinct smell that you only would know if you have been at a wolf in labour.
But where are her pups? The viking questions. He hears small whimpers from behind him, he turns around. A small hole in the snow catches his eye before he walks over to it.
There, in the hole he can see a whimpering new born wolf, shivering in fear. The slimy goo from labour still sticking to the wolf's fur. He knows that this wolf is only a couple of minutes old before a bear caught wind of the labouring wolf.
Max gently pucks up the pup in his arms. He needs to find a sheep or a cow soon. This wolf won't survive these colds if he has no food to survive on. He gets on his feet with the pup in his good arm, it snuggles up to him.
That heart warming feeling he felt with Dakota and Fenrir when he met them takes over his heart. As much as he hasn't been ready to get a new wolf after losing the last one, he has no choice but to care for it now. He only needs to find a food source for his new pup.
"Ssh." Max tells the pup as he sits down at his campfire.
He picks off the rabbit from the fire and quickly eats it with the pup hiding on his shoulder and under his fur. He needs to eat this quickly before this pup has no surviving chance anymore.
When the rabbit is in his stomach, Max gets back on his feet. He can still feel the pup shivering under his fur. He needs to think of a name for his pup, he didn't even check if it's a girl or a boy. He will check later, he needs to find a herd of sheep or cows.
After a couple of hours of walking through the snow, max can hear the pup softly snoring on his shoulder while he walks on through the snow. In the distance he can see lights. He must have found a village or something. He knows that he is at least still about two months walking away from his home town.
When he gets to the farming village, he knocks on the first door he can find. He waits a couple of seconds before the door opens and a young man opens the door before he quickly drags Max into the room.
"Chief! What are you doing out so late! Let me get something warm and some food." The boy says before he almost gets to walk away.
"You got any milk? For a wolf's pup?" Max quickly asks.
The boy nods his head and disappears in the direction of his kitchen. Max takes a seat on the furs by the fire place. His small pup sliding down his shoulder and onto his lap. Happily licking his hands.
Max lays the pup on his back for a moment to see that it's a little boy. The innocent little eyes look up at him, a beautiful green colour dance in them. It immediately reminds him of a certain prince that he misses dearly at the moment.
"You know what, I'm gonna call you Percival. Both because you remind me of Charles and because it means fire warrior." Max says softly to the pup.
The viking scratches behind the orange coloured dire wolf. It howls loudly in the room before he looks back at Max with big innocent little eyes. Yeah, an innocent little monster like Charles.
The boy hands Max a bottle of milk so he can feed his little pup. The boy tells Max he can stay in the guest room and take a horse in the morning to go home. Which max thanks him for and promises him to pay him some time in the future back.
βββ
Charles stands at the docks, six months and still Sophie hadn't been right yet. His parents were arriving today and later tonight they would have a celebration to honour the fallen and celebrate the people who survived. He's not in the mood for a party.
A part of him is still wishing upon all the stars that Max will be coming home to him. But that is getting slim to none by now. Now that it has been six months since the fire and Max getting burned along, even his mother had given up hope for her son coming home.
Charles had never expected to find a crying Jos in the meeting hall. The man had seemed to indifferent to everything that had happened and surrounding Max's death but this morning he found Jos crying in the meeting hall. Which showed that Charles wasn't the only one that still was having trouble with losing Max.
He feels a hand on his shoulder, he turns his head to Pierre who had been here with him so many times now. They had sleepovers in Max's house to get through the night. Some times they would invite the others over too. But most of the time it was just him and Pierre.
"Are you excited to see your parents?" Pierre asks with a small smile.
"Oui, always. But is it wrong to say I can't bring myself to be happy? Because I still miss Max so much?" Charles asks Pierre.
So much had happened in the last month, which had Charles his mind all over the place and no time to come to terms with what was happening. After Victoria went on honeymoon with her husband, they came back with news that she was expecting while Anoek had her first baby with Daniel.
Charles was now officially the next in line for the Hollandian throne. With Jos teaching him and training him for the position. Sophie had gone into depression and lost a lot of weight since she rarely showed her face in public now that she had come to terms with the fact that Max was never coming back.
Daniel and Pierre had taken it upon themselves to teach Charles how to fight, any style that they knew. Which he learned he was quite skilled at and that the attack on Haarlem wasn't a one time thing. He had great instincts too.
His wolf had been sad and did nothing more then follow her owner around everywhere feeling the anxiety in Charles but also knowing what happened to Max and Dakota so she didn't want to let him out of her sight. She had grown up to be a strong and healthy eight months old wolf.
"We all miss him dearly. And don't blame yourself for not stopping him. He would have gone anyway. He was the most stubborn person to ever live." Pierre tells him as they watch the boats coming closer.
"I guess. It's just different without him. I never got the chance to tell him I love him. He did tell me." Charles says before leaning against his friend.
Pierre wraps his arm around Charles before the Monegasque prince looks to his side. He grabs Sophie's hand in his. She gives him a smile before she looks back. In honour to Max, Anoek and Daniel had named their son after Max. Asher Max Ricciardo. Which may not have been much but he had the blonde colour of his uncle and the curls of his father.
He can only hope that the pain of losing Max will lessen over the years that he won't be here. Like it had done with his Godfather, and yet that will never mean that the pain will ever go away. Just enough that he can breath properly again.
But as soon as Charles is the chief of this country. He is sure as hell gonna get justice for Max, he will get revenge and kill every remaining Reykvikian. Innocent or not. They shouldn't have touched Max when they killed him. Charles had made that promise to himself. He may be grieving now but he will fucking kill that entire kingdom for taking his Max.
"I'm gonna avenge Max. We as a country as gonna get revenge." Charles tells his friend.
The anger lacing through his voice, the venom and hate for the killers. He knows that Max would get revenge too if it had been Charles who got killed. The viking would always get revenge.
"No, don't. It will consume you. Revenge will poison you, Charles." Pierre says when he thinks about it.
Max would always get revenge because no one would touch his people, companions or anything that he holds dear. Max is protective over everything that he loves and cares for. That viking would go through hell to make that point across to everyone.
He knows that the viking would travel all the way to the killer's capital to show that he messed with the wrong viking. He would walk through the coldest bine months of the year just to show that you can't attack his country without facing the consequences of it.
Pierre learned from six years ago that is indestructible. You could beat that man plump and he would get up to fight back. You could torture him for hours, but he would still make sure that his people would be safe. No one should dare to touch his people. That man was a walking god. Nothing could break him or defeat him. No wound was too much for him, no form of torture could break him.
The boats reach the docks and before Charles knows it, he can see his parents walking off the boat. He runs up to them, his brothers following suit. He can see many people walking of the boat. It must be at least half the capital that survived it. Others had already fled the country and went to Granada which was the closest.
Charles flies into his parents arms, he has missed them over this year so much. They all hug him tightly back with big grins on their faces and tears flood over their cheeks.
He has finally his parents back. He can't help but be super happy about it. The only person that is missing is Max. His brothers hug them too while Charles get squashed in the middle.
When they pull away, Jos and Sophie step towards his parents and shake each other's hands. His father looks around for a second before he speaks up.
"Where's Max? We need to discuss some things." Herve asks Jos.
Charles feels his smile get wiped of his face. His eyes water and his heart sink to his feet when he hears his father ask that. An image of Max running through his head before his mind makes up the image of what could have happened to Max that night again.
"He uhm..." jos says before swallowing. "He's isn't around anymore. He got killed by Reykvikians and burned on his boat." Jos says with a sad smile.
"Oh dear." Pascale says before drawing the crying mother in her arms.
Sadness takes over the royal couple that just arrived. It is always an unfortunate loss when a good and strong man loses their life.
"Let's celebrate their lives and sacrifices." Sophie says sadly before everyone follows to the feasting hall.
If Charles can make one wish, if he wants anything at this moment. Would he be wishing for Max to come home. He looks up at the darkening sky, a single star falls from the sky. Charles closes his eyes, for one last time.
"Please come home." Charles wishes before he follows his friends and family.
Maybe it's better that Max isn't around anymore. He had gone through enough, he had been through enough torture and abuse that this was maybe the best way to prevent the viking from getting destroyed further then Charles had already seen him.
But that doesn't mean that Charles doesn't miss him.
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