Hello! This is a Birthday Present for My sister, who is turning eleven today! Happy Birthday!
~Wolfram~
"Yuri! Yuri, STOP!" Wolfram yelled, as he chased his fiance. "Come back he-YURI!"
When Wolfram finally caught up with Yuri; the black haired monarch had his hair buried in Ao's mane. The horse turned towards Wolfram as he entered the sheltered copse of trees that Alex had left the horses in, but Yuri didn't notice. He didn't seem to hear his footsteps crunching on the leaves, or his unnaturally loud heart.
"Yuri?" Wolfram asked gently. He placed his hand on his fiance's shoulder. Wolfram realised with a start that Yuri was crying. Wolfram couldn't help it, he pulled his fiance away from his horse, and wrapped his arms around him. To his surprise, Yuri hugged him back, and started sobbing uncontrolledly into Wolfram's shoulder. Wolfram stood there, gently rocking his fiance.
Slowly, Yuri stopped trembling, and his tears lessened.
"...Why?" He heard Yuri ask softly, into his shoulder. "Why?"
"I don't know Yuri. I really don't." Yuri lifted his head, and looked into Wolfram's eyes.
"We have to go back, don't we?" He asked. The maoh's voice was shaky, and he was breathing loudly. It took Wolfram a moment to answer. The sorrow in the dark eyes were almost suffocating him.
"We don't have to, Yuri." he told him. Yuri unwrapped his arms from around Wolfram, and sadly, Wolfram did the same. It was rare that he got to hug his fiance, for any reason, and even when he did, Yuri would normally find it uncomfortable and awkward.
"Conrad?" Yuri asked over Wolfram's shoulder. Wolfram whirled around. His little big brother was standing at the edge of the shade. He'd apparently been ther the whole time. Conrad didn't move. Wolfram just stared at him. Then he felt Yuri's fingers wrap around his, and pull him.
"Come, Wolfram."
OoOoOoOoO
~Murata~
Murata had stopped the moment he'd seen it. And he hadn't moved since. Unlike anyone else, who would only be able to imagine the pain those people had been through, Murata could relate to them. He'd seen this before. He'd been murdered like this before. Twice. He thought. And once, I survived...although maybe that was even worse... Murata had seen Yuri run, and he'd heard Conrad and Wolfram follow. Somewhere in the outer rims of his mind, a part of the sage that he was noticed these things, and pocketed them. But most of the sage, the part that had been forced to endure unimaginable pain for four thousand years, because of a promise to the man he had once loved, was lost in the memories of his countless lives.
Gruesome memories. Death. Gore. Pain. Merciless killing. Murder. And death again. One death in particular. The one that had started this whole mess. Murata pushed the thoughts away. This was no longer the future Shinou had created. It wasn't his fault anymore. Although it had never really been his fault. The still rational part of him felt a familiar mind brush against his.
"Shinou?"
"My sage." there was no more humour in the first king's thought-voice. It was more like bone chilling sadness. Murata left it at that. He was not in the mood for chit chat.
"I'm sorry." Shinou added.
"That's alright. It's not your fault."
"Geika?" It was Yozak. "You don't have to stand here." Murata nodded. With his mind safely entangled in Shinou's (who could normally keep him from dwelling on his unhappy memories), Murata felt safer. He noticed that Gwendal and Gunter had already moved forward. Yozak was waiting for him, so Murata followed the two long haired advisors.
~Gunter~
It was taking all of Gunter's self-control not to follow the Demon King's example and run from the scene. Childhood memories that he had sought to forget came back, so sharply that Gunter would have believed it was actually happening. But in his mind, he was young, only in his thirties, barely seven in human terms, and all the corpses were of people he knew. Maids, soldiers, servants, friends...and he was crying out, calling out for anyone who was still alive...
"Gunter, are you alright?" Gwendal asked. Gunter couldn't bring himself to nod. That would be lying.
"Maybe." He whispered. Gunter looked around. "There aren't any ravens..." They were the only thing lacking in this scene. Had they been present, Gunter would have been certain he had somehow fallen into his past. Into his haunting nightmares.
"I had them put a barrier around." Gwendal said. Gunter looked up at him. Of course. Gwendal knew...everything.
"What are we even doing here?" Gunter asked. "There's nothing we can do...it's all over.... They're all...gone." Gunter's voice broke near the end of his sentence. It was getting harder to walk without stepping in the gore.
Gwendal didn't answer. His mouth was set in a grim line.
OoOoOoO
~Yuri~
They were walking back to the scene of the bloodbath. Yuri had thought things through carefully, while he had cried on Wolfram's shoulder, and realised that he was being extremely selfish.
No one else wanted to come here. I brought them here. It's my fault. I'm not the only one who hates this, but it was still my choice. Everyone else has come here because I wanted to. He couldn't run. The other's had been brought here unwillingly, but they were acting stronger than he was. It was his fault, and he had to try to put it right. Although he had no idea how. And he still couldn't force his mind away from the destruction he had seen.
Yuri paused at the corner. Through the corner of his eye, he could see Wolfram hesitate slightly, and guilt flooded through him again. The sun was still low in the sky, and had it not been for him, Wolfram would have just woken up (Wolfram had never been a morning person), and Yuri would have just returned from his morning jog with his god father. The guilty feeling was followed by anger so intense that it almost drowned out his sorrow. Yuri could feel something powerful stirring within him, angrier than ever before. Before it could emerge from within him, Ayla landed on his shoulder, and the anger vanished. Or more accurately, he was no longer capable of being angry. Ayla had sucked it out of him.
Yuri tightened his fingers around Wolfram's. With Ayla on his shoulder, he felt stronger. He turned the corner.
The sight still hit him like a wave. Without Wolfram's and Ayla's support, Yuri might have run away again, but with his new sense of duty, and their help, he could keep himself from fleeing. Yuri had never seen anything like it. The murderers had been merciless and heartless, a concept alien to the young demon king. Everywhere he looked he could see dead people. Corpses. The body of a man hung from a lampost. Many of the bodies loooked as though they had been trampled by horses. Some had been crushed alive. Every time he tried to look away from something horrible, he would see something even worse.
The Maoh couldn't take it.
He didn't know when he let go of Wolfram, or when he pushed Ayla away. He didn't know that he was leaving everyone else behind, or that he was scaring them with his vacant eyes. All Yuri knew, his only remaining tether to sanity, was his certainty that someone had to be alive. They couldn't all be dead.
They couldn't have killed all of them. They can't all have died. Someone must have survived. Everyone isn't dead. They can't be. The Maoh no longer registered the dead bodies he saw. For some reason, he was certain that the murderers had missed one person. Someone must have escaped. They can't all be dead...
Suddenly, there was a flash, and Yuri was standing in a tiny room. A closet. A young girl was crying silently. Yuri called out to her, but it was as though she couldn't hear him. Finally, of her own accord, she looked up at Yuri, and the look in her eyes shocked him into stepping backwards.
There was a crash. Yuri looked up, and realised he was lying on his back. Wolfram's, Conrad's and Gunter's faces loomed above him. A patch of blue sky floated between them.
~Conrad~
Conrad was kneeling beside Yuri. The monarch's face was deathly pale, and his beautiful dark lashes were wet. Conrad could not help but feel responsible. Or irresponsible.
I should have stopped him. I could have done something. Yuri had looked as though he could handle the pressure, and Conrad had let his gaurd down. After all this time, I still haven't learned. Yuri had appeared fine, then had suddenly started walking faster, saying something about, 'Not dead..escaped..." He should have realised right then that something was immensely wrong with his godson. But he hadn't, and Yuri had suddenly collapsed, his eyes wide open, staring emptily as he muttered something incoherent. Only then had Conrad rushed to his side.
To be continued..
I should stop ending chapters with Conrad. Oh well.
