It was a rainy, dreary day in Shin Makoku and no one was more bummed out about it than Yuuri.
"Hhaaa~ why does it have to rain on my day off?" he pouted, causing Conrad to pass off a chuckle as a cough.
Currently, the king and his knight were sitting on the floor of Yuuri's room sorting through gifts that had been given to him by various countries for his 18th birthday, (which had passed about 2 months ago) he had been so busy running around doing Maoh-things that he hadn't had a single moment to even think about birthday presents.
So, when Yuuri had showed up in Conrad's office looking bored because his only day off in a long time was rained in, his knight suggested they do this to beat the stormy weather.
"Most of this is for the castle or the town- like the statues and stuff." Yuuri sighed. "I liked the gifts you, Gwen and Wolf got me more."
That made Conrad meet Yuuri's eyes with a fond smile. "Mother always liked the gifts we got her more as well."
They shared a quiet moment, just smiling at each other- before Yuuri blushed and dug randomly into a box, trying to distract himself from the heat rising on his face.
"Ooohh- Conrad, look at this one! It's a mask." Yuuri pulled out a heavy clay mask that looked.. well..
"Yeesh this thing is creepy-! It makes Morgif look handsome."
Somewhere far away- the sword sneezed and moaned sadly.
"Let me see?" Conrad asked and Yuuri turned it towards his godfather so the man could get a better look.
"You're right- it is ghastly... Who is it from?"
"Errr... it doesn't say." that made Conrad uneasy as he held out his hands to take the mask and inspect it himself.
"Sorry, Yuuri, may I hold it for a moment?"
"Put it on! I want to see what you look like while wearing it-"
"Ah, I would like to see it first."
"Aw, comon Conrad- please? Never mind, it's okay! I'll wear it- is there a mirror in here?"
"Wait, Yuuri." Conrad held a hand out to stop Yuuri from putting it on. "I'll wear it."
"Really? Okay, okay- hold on.."
Yuuri inched forwards, moving boxes and gifts out of the way so he could get closer and help tie the mask on his knight's face. He didn't notice how tense Conrad was or how the man looked at the mask in great detail as Yuuri sat on his heels to adjust it on Conrad's head.
"There!" He said with triumph, taking a moment to look Conrad over slowly from head-to-toe.
"Wooooaahhh you look really scary, Conrad..." Yuuri couldn't see the man's mouth, but by the way his eyes were squinted through the holes in the mask, he could tell Conrad was smiling.
"Boo."
"Hey! Don't do that-!" the king laughed, getting to his feet. "Let me see if I can find a mirror so you can see yourself." However, just as Yuuri turned away a low rumble came across the sky which had become an inky-black. The windows shuddered as the mask began to glow a soft white color.
Yuuri gasped, pausing momentarily to look out the window.
"The storm must be getting really bad- it's so dark outside.." When he didn't hear Conrad reply he turned around, looking for the man.
"Conrad?"
When he looked back he saw Conrad standing unsteadily in the middle of the room, wearing the mask, both hands cradling his eyes. In a flash of lightening he fell to the floor, causing the mask to smash into a million pieces as Conrad fainted.
"CONRAD!"