CHAPTER 7: Three Years Later

Wolfram found himself in the demon kingdom, unfortunately he was far away from the castle, it would take three days by horse to get to blood pledge castle, and even though he was nervous he was also excited, he was looking forward to meeting his mother, his brothers, Greta as well as Yuuri.

At blood pledge Castle, Ulrike could sense the presence of someone who possessed a lot of power, the aura was similar to that of Shinou or even Yuuri Heika when he turned into the Maou, yet the surprising thing was that the power she felt wasn't Maryoku. The aura did not contain evil or anything malicious it was quite the opposite, the stranger had the presence of a saint.

It seemed she was not the only person who was worried about the strange presence, Shinou felt it too and despite his happy-go-lucky yet mischievous façade she could tell that he was concerned, and so was the great Sage. Ulrike wasn't sure if the stranger was heading for the palace but according to the distance between the stranger and the palace it would take 3-4 days.

Wolfram had managed to acquire a horse; damn Jessie for forgetting to get him a horse and damn him for listening to Elise suggestion of flirting his way to the castle, sometimes he wondered why he even listened to the damned woman; he knew no suggestion from the bluenette would ever end well, there were certain memories during his training he would like to forget like the time he did an undercover mission for Ryan, he had to infiltrate the mansion of one of the senators on earth who had a thing for blondes in maid costumes, how he managed to complete the mission without anyone finding out he was a guy surprised him, although he could not-so-proudly say that he look damn convincing in a one piece bikini. (0_o)

Ulrike was starting to get more worried as the strange presence seemed to be getting closer to the palace, she had told Murata about the presence and he had decided it was best to informed Gwendal and Conrad about the strange presence. It would seem whoever or whatever it was really heading for the palace as, the stranger was now almost at the Palace and this time even Yuuri could feel the strange presence.

Wolfram was really looking forward to meeting everyone, he was sure his brothers would be angry at his disappearance, he had missed them.. Even Conrad. He was also looking forward to seeing Yuuri; Wolfram had long given up on Yuuri as during his training he realized that Yuuri wasn't the only guy out there for him; there were lots of guys who were truly interested in him, it took a while but he was finally over Yuuri… at least the assumed he was. Yuuri might never love him the way he wanted but he would at least like to be friends with his ex-fiancé.

Wolfram was glad he had already arrived at the castle, he wanted to talk to normal people, have a normal conversation; despite the fact that he had known Elise for three years he still hadn't gotten used to their embarrassing conversations and spending a three day trip with a perverted goddess wasn't the best way to preserve your sanity.

In the palace there was chaos, the strange presence was almost at the palace, yet all of a sudden the presence disappeared, no one could sense it anymore… not even Ulrike and she was worried. Gwendal had suggested that everyone be on guard, he had also suggested that some soldiers be placed at the gate but Yuuri disagreed on the basis that the strange presence did not have any evil intent, the presence was friendly and familiar and placing soldiers at the gate would be too hostile and might give the stranger the wrong idea as to what type of ruler he was.

When the blonde arrived at the palace, the guards recognized him immediately and well did the one thing anyone would do if you saw a really attractive male in clothes that clung to the sexy being like a second skin… they gawked! (^_^) After mentally stripping the blonde they finally opened the gate, three years ago, Wolfram would have made a scene and thrown fireballs at the guards for looking at him that way, but that was three years ago, after spending three years with Devilishly looking gods, he understood the guards and frankly he could relate; living with Ryan for almost a year was both a blessing and a curse, seeing that damned Adonis every morning walking from the bathroom to the bedroom in nothing more than a towel, with beads of water on his delicious abs was torture… sweet beautiful torture!

When Wolfram stepped into the Palace bailey he found himself in front of Yuuri and his brothers, the look on their faces was priceless. It would seem there were expecting someone, Wolfram watched as the look on their faces changed from agitation to surprise to what looked like a mixture of fear and something else, despite the smile on Wolfram's face he was starting to panic. His brothers were looking at him in a way that scared him.

"Um… sorry I left abruptly and I…" he was cut off from his mumbling by a hug from Gwendal, which was surprising as even though his brothers loved him Gwendal wasn't one to display affection so openly.

After the sudden hugs from his brothers and Yuuri he was escorted to Gwendal's office, Wolfram knew that his brothers were going to question him on his disappearance, where he had been for three years, what he had been doing, why he left in the first place and so on. And he was prepared to tell them everything including what happened at Hildyard.

"Aniue I'm sorry for leaving three years ago without telling everyone what was really going on"

"Wolfram where have you been, you just disappeared from the ball without telling anyone where you were going, do you have any idea how worried you have been, we were so worried we dispatched search parties, you made mother so worried and…" Gwendal stopped when he saw the look of hurt on Wolfram's face. "And we are glad you are back."

"I'm so sorry I left, I had to leave and I wasn't sure how to explain it to everyone."

His statement caused Yuuri to become even more worried and curious, he knew that before the ball Wolfram had been different, distanced but he had insisted he was fine, and Yuuri had faintly suspected that it had to do with Elise.

"Does this have anything to do with Elise, before you disappeared the maids said they over heard you talking about going to meet her mother and brothers?" Yuuri asked. His question however caused Gwendal and Conrad to look at both Wolfram and Yuuri suspiciously.

"Is it true?" Gwendal asked, he heard the same but refused to believe it, there was no way his brother was crazy enough to jump from one relationship to another in the span of one week.

"Well, that is true ….but it's not what you think" He added quickly after seeing the look of anger and disbelief on his brothers faces.

Gwendal was angry but decided to calm down in order to prevent lashing out his anger on his long lost brother, Conrad who had been quiet the entire time decided to speak.

"Wolfram, if you really wanted to be with her, we would have understood, we wouldn't have objected your relationship, all you had to do was tell us about her or introduce her to us, we wouldn't have rejected her especially when we knew how happy she made you, we watched you two dance during the ball and we approved of her, you didn't have to elope."

"Brother, I understand what you say, but I assure you it's nothing like that, we didn't elope yes I met her mother as well as her brothers but not for that reason" Conrad wasn't completely paying attention to Wolfram's reply, he was still stuck at the fact that Wolfram called him Brother, he didn't know whether to hug the life out of his little brother or be worried that he had hit his head somewhere.

Since Conrad did not look, like he would be talking anytime soon and Gwendal looked like he was going to explode any minute Yuuri decided to ask Wolfram what he meant but before he could speak, Murata walked in to the office.

"I heard that lord Bielefeld had returned and…" whatever he was going to say was caught in his throat when he saw the stunning blonde demon he had not seen in three years, dressed in skin tight jeans, black boots, a white dress shirt with the first two buttons open and a black unbuttoned vest. The double black mouth was opened and well the people in the office witnessed a rare sight – the great sage drooling!

"Like what you see Geika?" Wolfram asked followed by a barely concealed wink, Murata had snapped out of his trance and was trying to compose himself, it took all his self control not to gape at the Adonis in front of him, Wolfram chuckled lightly at the Sage's predicament while Elise whooped.

"Yes.. I mean.. um Lord Bielefeld it's good to see you" Mustering all the self control he had, he peeled his eyes away from the blonde heaven in front of him and decided to look at anyone but Wolfram, unfortunately his gaze met two angry looking over protective brothers and a jealous Yuuri… wait, what!

Wolfram was amused at the sight of a flustered Sage, angry bothers and an what looked like jealousy on Yuuri's face, then he remembered someone was missing "Where is Günter, I haven't heard his voice since I came in?" As if on cue the Lilac haired mazoku comes into the office.

Günter looked at everyone in the office from a red faced Sage, to two angry looking brothers glaring daggers at the sage, an amused Wolfram and a look he could not quite understand on Heika's face, he said nothing and waited for someone to speak as he could sense the tension and confusion in the room. Luckily he didn't have to wait long as Wolfram's broke the silence.

"Well since everyone is here I can now explain why I left, and Brother (Looks at Conrad) I did not elope with Elise" Once again Conrad was dazed as Wolfram just called him Brother for the second time, Yuuri is also surprised at Wolfram acknowledged Conrad as his brother, he assumed the first time he called Conrad brother was a mistake. "I guess I should start from what really happened at Hildyard" His statement causes everyone to raise an eyebrow in suspicion."

"I knew something happened; you were acting strange when you came back" Wolfram stared at Yuuri with a look that said 'let me finish what I was saying'

"I'm sure you all know why I left in the middle of the ball?" Unfortunately Yuuri did not understand why he left.

"Um… I don't know why you left, was something wrong?" Wolfram laughed softly at Yuuri's denseness.

"Still as dense as ever ne Heika?"

"I'm not dense, I just don't know why you left, wait did I do something wrong?' This time Murata laughed at Yuuri's question earning him a deadly glare from his friend.

"It seems you really don't know, well let's see. How do I put this? When one watches their fiancé dancing with another lady during ball its heartbreaking mostly if it's the first dance, according to tradition the first dance should be reserved for ones beloved or spouse as a sign of dedication or commitment. Do you understand now Heika?" He asked with a smile.

Yuuri hung his head in guilt, Wolfram laughed softly at this before deciding to spare Yuuri the misery. "Heika that was a long time ago, I'm over that no need to feel guilty" he smiled at the double black to cheer him up from his self inflicted but well deserved guilt; unfortunately his statement made Yuuri feel even worse. Wolfram decided to continue his story.

"Anyway I decided to go out for some fresh air, I really hadn't planned to stray far away or leave for a long time, I had planned on returning back in a couple of hours before anyone realized I was gone. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight, and I had no idea where I was going, after I snapped out of my thoughts I realized that I was lost and there were no passersby nor houses, I had no idea where I was, so I searched for someone to direct me back to the ball or a place to spend the night. After searching for a place I saw a small shabby cottage so I decided to ask the residents to allow me to spend the night, there was no one in the house except for Elise, she was in one of the bedrooms…" Gwendal, Conrad and Yuuri eyes looked like it was going to pop out of its sockets, Wolfram decided to quickly clarify that it wasn't what they were thinking.

"It's not what you are thinking geez, the house was dark and cold and she was leaning against the wall, she was really pale and looked like she was about to die and something about her reminded me of Greta, so I offered her my jacket to keep warm and then went to get some work to start a fire, neither of us was hungry so we didn't have to bother about food, anyway we talked and bonded, she was easy to talk to so we quickly became friends." Wolfram paused and looked like he was about to say something but was hesitating.

"Wolfram what else happened?" Gwendal wanted to know what else had happened Wolfram was obviously hiding something.

"Well, she told me she was the Goddess of this world of course I didn't believe her so I asked her to prove it, she touched me and…" This time Gwendal, Yuuri and Conrad looked furious, Günter was blushing and Murata looked shocked. "Oh, come on get your heads out of the gutter you are starting to think like Elise, it's not what I meant, she did not… she did not do what you are all thinking... well not then. When she touched my chest there was a bright light and it felt like I was sucked in to my memory, I found myself at the ball watching Yuuri dance with Lady Katherine" Yuuri bent his head in guilt again but Wolfram ignored him and continued his story.

"Then I was sucked out of the memory and into another, but this one was different, it was one of her memories, I was watching a lady play the piano the song she was playing was beautiful but sad, she was smiling but she song sounded like she was dying and those listening to the song did not see her pain, the lady's name was Veronica von Humboldt" the name caused Murata to freeze his eyes widened in shock, his breathing became erratic, all attention turned to the sage, he look at ghastly as when wolfram played the piano three years ago. "Yes Geika, it's the Veronica you know"

"How?" He croaked, his throat was dry, his chest hurt, his breathing was irregular, Murata wanted to know how Elise and Wolfram knew his ex fiancé.

"Veronica was one of her past hosts; even though she was human she could wield all elements without using Maryoku." Murata was still staring at Wolfram in shock but said nothing.

"How is that possible? What kind of power did she possess? Was she really human?"Gunter asked.

"Yes Günter she was human, she agreed to the contract with Elise, after the merging she was able to wield all elements as well as obtained power even beyond Heika or Shinou."

This time Gwendal was livid, had Wolfram signed the contract? What kind of contract was it?

"Wolfram what kind of contract was it? Did you sign the contract?" Gwendal was starting to panic, He wasn't sure what the contract was but he was sure it couldn't be good.

"Yes Aniue I signed the contract, the contract is like a blood oath." Everyone in the office except for Wolfram became alarmed. "Aniue it's not what you think, I wasn't forced for manipulated into signing the contract, let me finish explaining what happened." When everyone had somewhat calmed down he continued his story.

"Elise explained that a God cannot user her powers effectively without a host, the host can be human, half-human or even a mazoku, When the contract is signed, the host and the god merge together to become one, When the contract is made the God enters the body of the host, it is like being possessed but you still know what is going on, you can talk to the god inside you even without saying anything aloud. When the God wants to perform his duty, it takes over the host's body; it's somehow like Yuuri and the Maou."

"She asked me to become her host as she was running out of time and only had three days left, I wasn't sure about it so I asked her to give me some time to think, she agreed to give me one month but she would be inside me using my maryoku to sustain herself, I agreed as I didn't see what was wrong with the idea besides It would be like having a friend."

"When I got back to Hildyard I saw Lady Katherine flirting with you and I froze, Elise noticed that and decided to do a partial takeover, she was the one talking to you guys when I arrived at the castle."

"So that's why you were acting strange when you got back." Yuuri said nervously, still wallowing in guilt.

"Most times when I was silent or deep in thoughts I was actually taking to Elise, the reason I moved out of your bed chambers to my room was so to could talk to her without looking crazy. Anyway I got to know more about her past hosts, remember the time when I sparred with three of my soldiers?"

"Yea, you were doing some weird sword dancing technique"

"Yes, Elise wanted to see if she was getting rusty, one of her past hosts was a skilled sword fighter, so she did a partial takeover, The piano incident was similar the difference was that when she did the takeover she also sucked me into Lady Veronica's memories and I watched her play, I watched…" His voice began to crack; he glanced at Murata who knew what Wolfram was going to say next.

"You watched her die" he added wearily, laughing bitterly. "So that was why you apologized, you watched her die, Elise could have saved her!" He snapped, eyes flashing in indignation making Wolfram stiffen at the sight.

The office went silent, four pair of eyes travelling from Wolfram to Murata, no one daring to say something; until wolfram broke the silence. "There was nothing Elise could do to stop her"

"So she let her kill herself?" he asked irritably, almost daring Wolfram to reply.

"Elise tried to stop her, she was miserable, she had watched her children and husband die, she was tired of running, I know Elise should have done something but that would mean forcing Lady Veronica and the last thing Elise wanted was to force her opinion on Lady Veronica, I'm sorry."

"She really wanted to die?" His voice filled with resignation, grief, lacking the anger it held a few seconds ago, now it was filled with pain. Wolfram only nodded in silent response.

Gwendal did not mean to seem unemotional or cold but he wanted to his baby continue explaining what had happened, he needed to know what his brother had gone through for the past three years. "Why did you leave during Heika's birthday ball? Even if one month was over you could have stayed."

"I couldn't stay, I had to meet the Queen, we all call her mother, I had to complete the contract as well as start the ceremony for the merging of our souls, it couldn't be done here, I should have said something or at least said good bye, I'm sorry."

"Where did you go to after you left the palace?" Gwendal asked

"Elise made a portal that connected this world to mother's, when I arrived, I met the queen who we all call mother, she is a lot like hahaue though, anyway when I got to the other world, I met mother as well as other gods, Mother explained everything to me, my role, the powers I would possess, she explained the merging ceremony as well as my training."

"Merging ceremony?" Gwendal asked, somehow he did not like the sound of that.

"Ah, it's like a … um I guess that best way to explain it would be to say it is some kind of blood seal…" This time everyone in the room was alarmed, what kind of messed up ceremony was it! Wolfram looked at them and decided to clarify, although what they were thinking was close to what really happened.

"It's not really what you think; it was a bit painful but…" They knew that wolfram's idea of a bit painful was A LOT of pain but his pride wouldn't allow him to tell them how painful it really was. "Anyway it wasn't so bad."

"Explain how the ceremony went" Gwendal asked, he wanted to know the exact details of the ceremony. After wolfram explained what exactly happened during the ceremony his brothers looked both angry and sickened. The blonde had to explain that that was the only way for them to merge. Yuuri as well as Gwendal and Conrad were too shocked to say anything, they were angry and yet repulsed at what Wolfram had to go though, both were blaming themselves for not being there for Wolfram. The silence was suffocating and so Günter decided to break the painful silence.

"I've never heard or read about contracts like those, I've also never read about Gods or Goddess of this world. "

"Ah, well I guess it's because it's ancient, besides she had been existing even before Shinou became the king."His reply brought looks of surprise on everyone's faces; they hadn't been expecting that, to think that there was someone older and more powerful than Shinou!

"So after the… ceremony what happened?" Gwendal asked, calling that torture and horror a ceremony left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Well after the ceremony, I learnt about the past hosts; their skills, mistakes as well as their success, the responsibilities as well as the new powers I had, I had to undergo a two years training to fully master my powers."

"What was the training like?" Günter asked. Before Wolfram could answer the question Gwendal had mentally calculated how long the training lasted and how long he disappeared.

"Wolfram if the training lasted for only two years what were you doing the last one year?" All eyes were fixed on Wolfram waiting for the answer to that question. His brothers noticed that wolfram was starting to get a bit nervous.

"Well after the training, I was a bit… uncertain of whether I should come back or not so I decided to go to earth for a bit." Conrad, Yuuri and Murata raised an eyebrow at this. "I stayed with the God of Earth; Ryan. He was a bit busy and had lots to do, so I helped out a bit, I went on some missions mostly undercover work as I could not use some my powers as earth wasn't my jurisdiction. From the missions I used the skills I had learnt from past hosts such as man-to-man combat, swords fighting and I learnt to use guns easily as one of the hosts was a sharp shooter with amazing accuracy. Anyway after my last mission I decided to come home as I missed everyone and I knew that even though you would be angry at me you would forgive me eventually."

"Wolf we are not angry at you." Yuuri stated, hugging Wolfram albeit awkwardly.

After Wolfram had answered all their questions, he decided to ask some of his own. Turning to Gwendal he smiled slyly before he asked.

"So.. Aniue are you and Günter together yet?" his question caused Gwendal to turn red with embarrassment as well as caused Günter to blush furiously, Conrad chucked, Yuuri looked at Gwendal with confusion and surprise, While Murata watched the two 'lovebirds' with amusement.

Turning to Conrad he asked. "Brother have you and yozak stopped hiding your relationship?" This time Conrad turned red before making a choking sound.