There had come a lot of letters in for Charles and Jos. The ones for Jos were always updates on the war and how the men were doing and most of them came from Max. Max would write his father how they were winning the war.

The ones that came in for Charles and Arthur were the ones about how his people were doing and his parents, how Max was leading them and how they were helping so many people. How they were slowly getting rid of the Reykvikians.

There had come in a letter with the words of the war being over in his country but that it wasn't safe for either Charles or Arthur. So they would stay in Holland while Lorenzo would help his parents in building the country back up.

But that wouldn't be safe for Charles or Arthur to help with. Which made Arthur really sad but Jos promised to help him in training so that he would one day be able to help his older brother. Charles was glad that he wouldn't have to see that war zone and the places that had happened to his people.

The last letter that Jos got was written by Daniel. It said nothing about why Max wasn't the one writing the letter or what had happened to him. It said nothing about Max. It only told them that they won the war and that Monaque was free again, that they were coming home.

Jos just played it off as Max probably being to busy to write them himself. But Charles had a bad feeling about that. In the letter said that they would be home within two days after them reading the letter.

And here is Charles, waiting at the docks for the ship of Max to arrive. Sophie is holding his hand after they came here three hours ago. Dakota was whining and limping around a bit. Charles has no idea how he got this but he thinks he must have hurt himself while playing with Ange.

While Charles and Sophie were waiting for them to come back, the rest of the Verstappen family was waiting for them to return a little further back from the two that really wanted to see how everyone was doing.

Charles has been looking forwards to this day for over three months now. He has missed the viking super much. As fun as His new friends were and how much fun they could have. Nothing was as fun as see the viking play with his wolf or how much he loves to talk with the viking.

Sometimes Jos would get annoyed with the two when they were suppose to learn things. But he understood their bantering a lot. Max would sometimes dive onto the younger prince and tickle him almost to death with how badly Charles would have to laugh.

It didn't take long before Sophie has spotted the vessel coming towards them. There was something odd about the vessel to Charles but he couldn't place it. There was a flag whipping in the wind with the symbol of Holland and one entire blue one with a black circle.

Charles heard Sophie gasping, her face turned pale and she looked behind her at Jos. Charles doesn't understand what's going on.

"What's going on?" Charles asks.

Jos looks at Charles for a moment, he casts his eyes at Dakota for a moment before he looks at the vessel. Charles wants to know what is going on. He doesn't understand what is going on with them.

"The blue flag with the black circle means that one of the royal family is down." Anoek speaks up.

Charles feels tears gather in his eyes, he can't believe that someone is dead. His mind starts racing, all he can think about is don't let it be Max. Because if Max were to be the one dead, it could only be his fault. He was the one that kept Dakota with him.

He would be to blame, it was his country at war and Max kept Dakota with Charles. If Max had just taken Dakota with him, he would have still been alive. It was all his fault, Max didn't deserve to die like that. Protecting someone else's country.

Charles can see Daniel, Carlos, Alex and all the others sitting on the vessel, sad looks on their faces but the only person that he couldn't see was Max. The man that had promised to come back alive and now he was dead.

"It's all my fault." Charles whispers almost inaudible but Sophie heard him.

"It's not, Charles. These things happen." Sophie tells him.

Once the vessel is tied to the dock. Daniel, Carlos, Alex and Victoria's fiancé Tom were the last people on the vessel, they lifted up this wooden plank with a dark brown fur on it. The four of them slowly walked off the vessel.

Jos walked up the Daniel, they all seemed to look sad but not like someone had died. Dakota whined and limped over to the plank with the fur on it.

"Vic, we need your magic hands." Tom says. "Max is badly wounded. We don't know how long we have before he succumbs to his wounds."

Victoria nods her head. "Bring him to his house." She tells them before she runs off. Charles numbly follows the four men carrying Max's body to his house. Sophie pulled the two princes in her sides and walks along with them up to the house.

Jos was moving in front of them, Dakota limping next to Daniel. His head down and it was obvious how much pain the wolf is in over this. Not just physically but also emotionally.

Charles knows that it is all his fault that Max got hurt. He allowed Max to leave his wolf with him here. He wants to do anything in his power to make Max better. It's his fault so he has to do something in return to make it better.

In the house, Daniel puts Max on his bed. Stripping him from the make-shift bandage that they had wrapped around Max's shoulder. Daniel slowly turn Max on his side and Charles almost threw up at the horrific sight that was the back of Max's shoulder.

A deep cut runs down the side of his neck to his base of his armpit. Deep and blood was gushing out. Charles wanted nothing more then for this to disappear and hug the viking. Tears were rolling down in streams along his face.

"What fucking happened, Daniel?" Jos growls, wanting to know what happened to his son.

"We were fighting, the last day. And...and Max and Herve were taking down the last Reykvikians we saw and one of those Reykvikians was running up to Herve. Max had lost his sword somewhere and pushed Herve out of the way and got the axe in his shoulder. Herve killed the Reykvikian before he could kill Max off." Daniel looks down at the floor.

In that moment Victoria comes running in and puts her stuff down, Sophie takes Charles and Arthur out of the room. Daniel, Jos and the other guys that carried Max into his house left to discuss things that had happened and Jos had now have to take over from Max for a while.

If he survives...

—————

After a couple hours, Victoria comes into the living room. Sophie had stayed with the two princes to keep them company but also stay close to her son. It had turned completely dark almost five hours before.

"He's going to be okay." Victoria tells them.

Charles nods his head, numbly. He doesn't hear much as all he can do is sit here and numbly stare in front of him. His mind doesn't register when Sophie or Victoria leave the house.

Or when his brother decides to go to bed and sleep it off. Hoping that everything would be better in the morning. Charles doesn't remember how he got up from the bench in the living room and into the bedroom of Max.

He doesn't realise he is stripping from his thick furs to only his underwear and his shirt. He doesn't register when he climbs into the bed with Max and pulls the furs over him.

He doesn't remember falling a sleep or doing anything at all but numbly go through his night. He doesn't understand what has happened from the moment he sat down with Sophie and his brother when Victoria was patching up Max.

He can't remember anything at all.

The next morning, Charles wakes up and he burst out crying when he sees Max laying their, paler than he was before and almost motionless. His chest slowly but almost unnoticeable moving up and down while he is breathing.

To Charles this has to be the most horrible sight he can find Max in. This was something that Charles had never wanted to find a loved one in. He had never seen war or what it did with people. He never wanted to see anyone like this.

So vulnerable and yet so injured and almost on the verge of death. If Charles could, he would want to wash his eyes and brain from those horrific moments and memories. But he can't and he knows that he will have to take care of Max until he is better.

—————

Max hadn't moved, hadn't shown any sign of waking up, he laid motionless in the bed. The only thing he did was softly breathe, his chest almost unnoticeable moving up and down.

Victoria had come in every day to check up on her brother, not that she could say anything other than that he was nicely healing and that he would wake up very soon.

And this went on for days, almost two entire weeks was it now. Charles couldn't do anything for Max. He couldn't do anything but cry every time he saw Max laying there, so still and vulnerable. Even in this state he could see the frown on the viking's face.

Charles runs his fingers through the messy mop of blonde hair. He had taken out his ponytail and his little braids. He didn't want them to become uncomfortable to him. Not that Charles would know if they did.

Charles had run a wet cloth over his face and his bare chest. The first time that Charles saw Max his bare chest, tears sprung to his eyes. He couldn't believe how many scars were scattered around his chest. Some very faint ones and some were very pink still. He had wanted to ask Victoria so many times about them.

But he kept his mouth as he didn't know if she would want to talk about them. Or he could have just read too much into it and they just happened to be caused by fighting.

He couldn't keep his emotions in check when he was around Max. He would almost every time, crawl into the bed and cry until he fell asleep. He would cry so much that it hurts his heart.

Charles had shuffled close to Max, hoping to get some warmth from him and that this little contact would help him with a bit of comfort. It takes a while before Charles falls asleep.

It doesn't take him long before he shoots awake, a gut feeling waking him up. He looks over at Max, his body paler then before and his chest not moving anymore.

Charles starts to shake his body, screaming his name. Hot tears spill from his eyes. He can't be dying, he can't be! This couldn't be true! His sobbing gets louder and he questions why his brother isn't hearing this.

His heart is hammering in his chest, he looks at the almost lifeless body of Max. Blood gushing onto the bed next to Max's injured shoulder.

"Help!" Charles screams.

He doesn't know what to do, he can't help but try to get up from his feet but he can't move. His legs feel almost paralysed and he can't do anything but scream for help. But no one seems to hear him.

His crying becomes hysterical, he can't move and he is watching Max die in front of him. He's trying anything to move and help Max but it's like someone is holding him back from moving. Like someone is not allowing him to move and bound his limps together.

"Help!" Charles screams. He looks at Max, his body pale and the blood becoming so much that Charles knows that he can't be alive anymore. "Max!" Charles despite the amount of blood, he still shakes Max. Hoping that he could wake him up.

He falls on the dead Viking, sobbing loudly, hoping that this was all just a nightmare, a fragment of his mind, a twisted image of his worst nightmare. He wants nothing more then this to stop. Why can't this stop? Why can't he move or do anything than cry.

"Charles?" He hears someone say.

He shoots up, waking up. He looks around for a moment, it's entirely black outside. He can barely see anything but he can make out a figure standing in the room. He looks to his side.

Max his body is gone from the bed. He panics and looks around the room. Seeing so much blood everywhere. Almost like a light had turned on, someone must have lit the fire place in the bedroom.

Charles is confused, he finds Max laying face down on the wooden floor. A hysterical laughing from the dark figure standing there.

"You're next." The figure laughs, Charles shivers and tears spill from his eyes.

He sobs and tries to get ok his feet to run out of the house, but he can't move his legs or get up from the bed like his nightmare. It feels like someone is holding him down and keeping him hostage.

"Help!" Charles screams.

The figure laughs loudly and shakes his head. Moving closer to him. A dagger pulled from his clasp, the figure wraps his fingers around his arm and pushes him down onto the bed.

"I'm gonna kill you." The figure snaps with a Reykvikian accent.

Charles starts to plead for his life, he shakes his head and a lump in his throat prevents him from breathing properly.

"Charles?" A voice asks.

He feels his body shake, someone is trying to shake him. But then he can also feel this figure holding him down.

"Charles?!" The voice gets louder and it sounds hoarse like someone just woke up.

His body gets shaken more violently as if someone is trying to wake him up but he is awake. Charles keeps pleading the figure to let him go. He doesn't understand what is going on. He is scared for his life, he is hearing voices and someone is trying to kill him right now.

"Charles!" The voice shouted now.

Charles gasps for air, his eyes shoot open. He can feel hands on his shoulders. His heart is hammering in his chest. His breathing is quick and he can barely breathe in any air.

"Charles?" The Hollandian accent snaps Charles out of his daze.

Charles looks at the viking. His blue eyes staring concerned into his own green ones. Charles sighs in relief. Max is alive, he's awake and that was just all a nightmare in a nightmare.

"You're awake?" Charles asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, I woke to you screaming, Arthur came in hear but I told him I would wake you up." Max tells him. "But damn, you're hard to wake up." Max chuckles softly.

Charles hums, he gently snuggles closer to the viking, trying not to hurt him while max just pulls him closer without any care.

Charles traces his hand over Max's bare stomach, he wants to ask him about the scars but he also knows that this is not the moment to ask those questions. Charles sobs softly.

Max softly rubs his back, shushing him softly. Charles is glad that Max is going to be okay. Max hums softly in Hollandian to get him back to sleep. Charles snuggles up with Max and let Charles sleep against him.

"Max?" Charles mumbles.

"Yeah, you okay?" Max asks worriedly.

Charles nods his head and hums softly. He presses his lips against the bare chest of Max.

"Thank you for saving my father." He mumbles softly, Max rubs his back softly. Humming, Charles feels Max pressing a kiss against his head.

"Your welcome, now sleep, Charlie." Max mumbles sleepily.

Charles nods his head and snuggles even closer to Max. Hoping that Max will never leave him.