As he had suspected, there was no one in the mineshaft when they arrived. Günter only poked about for about a minute before he'd left to explore outside of it for any sign of where they might have gone. They weren't there now, but it appeared as if they'd left only recently, given the state of things inside.

"Uh, Günter…sir? What are we going to do now? They don't appear to be here." Günter didn't bother looking at him, too busy studying the ground to see if what he thought were faint footprints really were or just a depression in the ground. "Do you think they have the antidote?"

Though he didn't answer and merely gestured for Yozak to follow him as he mounted his horse again, he privately thought it didn't matter whether they had an antidote or not. Oh, no doubt that he wished one to be found with all his heart, but all he could feel at the moment was rage. The urge to find these people and wash his blade with vengeance was overpowering. His heart was in direct contrast to his ice-cold mind that was thinking with a terrifying detached logic.

They'd been traveling for three days now and Günter could only count down the minutes that he'd been gone from Gwendal's side. He didn't know what was better or worse: being at the castle and knowing there was no cure, or being away and wondering if when he came back, there would be a miracle. Part of him believed the latter was better, as there was always that faint glimmer of hope that remained flickering in his heart.

His horse leapt over a fallen log expertly and though he wanted to push it faster, he knew that he didn't dare overtire the animal so early. That would mean he'd be forced to wait while it recovered through precious time he couldn't afford.

Yozak had tried several times to talk to him and it wasn't that Günter was ignoring him on purpose. It was just that there was no room in his mind for anything other than Gwendal at the moment. He couldn't spare a single second of his attention from his busy, lightning fast thoughts to utter anything in response. His whole life had come down to a single point in which he refused to fail.

Apparently Yozak had picked up on the fact that they were following a trail of barely discernable footprints and didn't even bother asking where they were going. Günter didn't know, but in the rare moments he chanced looking away, he could see a determination in Yozak's face. Gwendal didn't realize it, but those around him did care for him regardless of what he might think. He may be intimidating and somewhat hard to get along with, but he was still loved by those around him and respected above all else by his soldiers.

Günter didn't dare think of the alternative if he didn't find those he was looking for.

---

Yuuri didn't remember the last time he had actually slept. The only times he rested were when he got so exhausted that he just fell into a light doze against the nearest person or object. He'd been overworking himself with the healers to try to block and slow the sickness while a cure was being sought, but there was only so much they'd let him do. Though he insisted on healing, eventually the others would force him away into Conrad's waiting grip.

He wasn't expendable they said. Whenever he was on the dangerous brink of exhaustion, they would force him to stop and tell him to sleep.

He couldn't sleep.

It hadn't been for hours, almost an entire day gone by, that he had noticed Günter was missing. It wasn't that unusual that he didn't see those he was used to lately. The only time he saw Gisela or Anissina were when they were together, using either science or magic to devise a cure.

At first, he hadn't paid it much attention until Conrad had brought it up to him. Yozak had been supposed to return with information that he'd requested him privately to get, but hadn't showed up. He obviously thought something was wrong and by the frown on his face, which Conrad rarely had, he thought it was serious.

"Where do you think Günter could have gone?"

"I don't know, but obviously since they're both missing and not in the castle, they went somewhere together. I don't know why though or what information Yozak discovered that he felt the need to tell Günter."

Currently, Yuuri was using Conrad as something as a pillow as he tried to rest his tired, gritty eyes. His vision was slightly blurry from all the magic he'd been using lately and if he kept his eyes closed, he didn't get that swimmy sensation that made him sick. "Do you think they'll find it, Conrad?"

Conrad's hand slipped through his hair reassuringly and instinctively, Yuuri turned toward the light pressure. He still wasn't used to this whole king idea even after so long and there always seemed to be one crisis after another. Now with a plague that was killing one of Conrad's brothers…He felt personally responsible because it happened on his watch. He should have been paying attention.

"Conrad, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Yuuri. No one saw this coming and Gwendal…well, I can't imagine him letting this beat him. Nothing has ever beaten him except Günter."

"Günter?" Yuuri opened his eyes in surprise, happy to find his vision was like it should be and he could make out the details of Conrad's handsome face. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't witness it first hand, because I hadn't been born yet, but I heard that when Gwendal first came to the castle, for one reason or another that he got into a fight with Günter." Conrad chuckled a little. "They said Günter had beaten Gwendal in three steps and the expression on Gwendal's face was priceless. Mother never fails to remind Gwendal of it on his birthday every year because it had been three days before it at the time."

"Yeah, but that was when Gwendal had been really young, right? He probably didn't have any experience then."

"Oh, I don't know. I think there's a lot about Günter that no one fully grasps. Sometimes I wonder if I could ever beat him."

"You lose? Seriously?"

Their gazes met and the warmth in Conrad's brown eyes made him flush a little, ever so slightly. Whenever he had a spare mental moment lately when he thought about the older man, it caused him to blush…

"Do you think Günter and Yozak are okay wherever they are?"

"I hope so." Conrad frowned slightly. "I think it would hurt Gwendal's chances of recovery if something happened."

"Günter and Gwendal are really that close?"

"Have been ever since I was a kid and whether Gwendal admits it or not, Günter means a lot to him."

Before Yuuri could respond, Gisela rushing into the room shattered their peace and solitude. "Your Majesty, we need you! It's Gwendal!"

---

Günter stalked around the edge of the camp with a silent Yozak at his side. It had taken far more time than he wanted to think about to find the people that had done this. The fact that they had been arrogant enough to hide out right in Shin Makoku burned in his blood and he had silently slipped out his sword before he'd even gave it a conscious thought.

He jerked his head at Yozak and his eyes told him to go around the back. There was a bit of a pause, as if Yozak was uncertain about doing so, but eventually began to comply.

Just a turning of the other man's back was all Günter needed and he was already in a lightning-fast sprint toward the door of the hastily put together building. Had he turned around, he would have expected to see horror on Yozak's face, but it didn't matter. His heart, his feelings, had overrode his mind and demanded that someone pay a price for what was happening to Gwendal.

Wind magic, as sharp as any knife, had sliced away the restraints for the horses nearby, tethered to the building. They weren't war-horses and easily frightened and with terrified whinnies, they bolted in any direction away from the running man. By now his opponents were probably aware he was there, so it didn't matter if Yozak was yelling at him to stop.

They hadn't even so much as made it to the door before Günter had burst in with his blade flashing in the sunlight.

---

Yuuri rushed into Gwendal's bedroom, already ready with his magic. Gwendal was coughing and it took two people to keep the man on his side so he didn't choke on his own blood. It was easy to see that he couldn't breathe and by the 'v' in his forehead, he was no doubt in a great deal of pain.

"We're losing him!" Anissina barked, already there before he, Gisela, and Conrad had reached the bedroom. "Hurry!"

---

It was little more than a bloodbath said some part of Günter's mind that wasn't currently embroiled slicing at any flesh he saw in front of him. He knew someone of his skill, going all out like this, was terrible. They no doubt could barely see him, he was moving so fast. He didn't even bother with his magic, just kept moving his sword in whatever way his body told him to.

I'm sick. I'm wrong, my whole being is, I'm covered in blood. I have to stop, I have to stop! These people, they're not even fighting! They're just trying to escape, I have to stop! Please stop!

His sword, hesitating just a second, continued its downward progress when Gwendal's face involuntarily flashed in his mind.

---

It was with desperateness that Yuuri threw every inch of magic he had into saving Gwendal's life. Wolfram had rushed in seconds ago, but he could spare no mind for anyone other than Gwendal. There were four healers, including Gisela and himself, who tried to stop, to at least pause the sickness in his tracks, but it was barely slowing it down. Anissina had disappeared after someone had whispered something to her.

In fact, he didn't even know when she returned, only that she and Gisela were screaming at each other in frantic tones.

"Gisela, I've got—"

"Later, Anissina! You there, put more magic into this or don't you want to save him?!"

"Gisela, I'm telling you—"

"Later, Anissina, we're losing him!"

His connection to Gwendal through his magic told him when Gwendal's heart stopped. Gisela's shriek in his ear barely penetrated his own terror.

"GWENDAL!"

---

Yozak's disbelieving stare at his back did nothing to penetrate the state that Günter had fallen into as he stood in the center of the room and in the middle of six dead bodies. It had been over in a matter of seconds, though it had felt like a lifetime. Yozak had rushed after him as fast as he could and he wanted to curse the other man that he just hadn't been fast enough to stop him.

A voice in Günter's mind spat bitterly back at him that even if he had, he wouldn't have had the strength to anyway.

He glanced down at the sword and desperately wished he didn't have to remember what it did. It wasn't like Morgif, but it did have something of a vague but unintelligent consciousness to it. Some part of him tried to console himself that it was the sword's fault, that it was designed to heighten feelings of anger and rage to get that vengeance like it was made to, but he knew that it wasn't true. It was part of it, but the rest was all him.

They were just trying to run away, they didn't even know what hit them. And yet after living so long, he knew very well how to deal with this guilt: focus on the facts and hide the destruction he had wrought upon himself and others into the blackness of his heart. They've paid for their crimes now. He always said no one but himself was worthy of Gwendal and yet he knew what a hypocrite he was. If anyone was the least worthy, it was himself.

And yet he couldn't stop loving him.

"Yozak." Yozak jerked, eyes finally going from the bodies to Günter as he calmly turned around. "This didn't happen. You came to tell me something, but it was a false lead. There was nothing here."

"Hey now—"

"They don't need to know, Yozak." He stepped out back into the sunlight and felt as if he truly didn't belong. The only place he had ever felt like he belonged, accepted for who he was, was near Gwendal.

"Yeah, but—"

He knew Yozak's sense of rightness was getting in the way and for the first time in his life, he tried to explain his decisions. Not even to Gwendal had he had to explain. Gwendal had never asked the reasons why. A bitter smile touched his lips even as if he felt like crying. So unclean…

"Yozak, no one can find more ways to blame me for this than myself. I know what I've done and I can't take it back. My punishment is for no one to know." Their eyes met. "Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'A grief that is shared is lessened and happiness doubled'? By that logic, if no one knows of this, isn't the weight of my actions punishment enough for what I've done?"

Yozak no longer said anything and Günter lifelessly ordered him to get their horses ready to go while he washed the blood off his clothes.

---
not sure how well this is gonna go over.