Disclaimer: Can I not repeat the sad truth that I don't own Kyou Kara Maou?

Watching over You

Loss

Hot... There was so much heat and noise...

"Ugh..." Leroy woke up in the middle of the night with a very bad throbbing in his head.

Clutching his head at the spot where the pain concentrated, he glanced outside his window. Had it ever been this hot? He felt uneasy and faintly he could make out noises from afar. Was there something bad going on?

The needles prickling on his head was not helping him at all. Leroy did not dare to sit up yet. The effect of moving his head alone was strong enough to make him nauseous. How bad would it be if he suddenly sit up and walk?

"Leroy..." a small voice called out for him.

In the darkness, Leroy squinted his eyes until he managed to see a small shadow in his door. The shadow moved towards him, not bothering to light up the candles. The shadow appeared to be panting and dragging its feet with lots of effort.

Once Leroy recognised who it was, he immediately got up, ignoring the sudden imbalance from his headache.

"Millie! What's wrong?" Leroy reached out to the little girl in front of him. As soon as his hands touched her, Millie fell into Leroy's embrace.

"Danger... Run..." the girl did not have any more strength to speak louder than a mere whisper.

"What..? Millie, are you okay? You're wet..."

Horror filled Leroy's eyes as he realised the dampness in the girl's clothes was due to her own blood.

"Millie! Hang in there!" Leroy wanted to move to light up the candles and tend to her wounds, but Millie stopped him.

"No!" she said as loud as she could, "You... must run! M-mommy and daddy... they... were k-killed. I don't want them... to kill you too. S-so... run!"

"No, I can't leave you here!" Leroy denied her.

"I-I know... I won't make... it... I can't even... see you... Leroy," Millie struggled to speak, her voice getting lower and lower.

"No, Millie! Don't give up!" Leroy decided to hold on to the girl, hoping it would at least strengthen her life force that was slowly draining out of her.

"Leroy... I'm scared... I-I'm sorry..." Millie let her tears drop and slowly her body relaxed like she was falling asleep.

Eyes widening, Leroy exclaimed, "No! No! Millie!"

He shook Millie's body lightly, but the girl would not open her bright eyes anymore. Just like that, a precious life was wasted away in front of Leroy's eyes.

This was too traumatising that Leroy did not even feel the pounding on his skull anymore. He put Millie's body on his bed, not having the heart to just leave it on the cold floor. At least, Millie deserved something better than being killed by some merciless people and died on the hard ground. Leroy was angry, no, he was livid. Who dared to easily kill children like that?

Leroy stepped out of the house and he could clearly see bright orange light ahead of him. With all his might, Leroy ran to the site, silently praying that there would be more survivors that the dead.

Leroy's heart shattered by the steps he took to the now burning area of his village. The farm which was close to harvest time was turned into nothing else but soot. Houses were ruins and the people he knew was indistinguishable burnt corpses. No more laughter, only blood-curdling screams of pain echoing through the midnight sky. This was nightmare.

Leroy was too stunned by the scene before him to notice that he has become one of the targets to be killed by the rebels now. He did not hear other people shouting for him to run away. He did not realise someone was approaching him as fast as that person could. All he felt was shadow in front of him and he was tackled down to the ground.

"Leroy! What in the world are you doing here?!" a familiar voice was heard and his body was shook hard.

"Stan...ley?" Leroy's eyes cleared up and he stared at his friend with indiscernible expression.

"Stanley!" finally his senses were back to him and Leroy grabbed Stanley's arms, "Millie! They killed her family and her! What's happening here?"

"Stanley, bring him somewhere else! It's not safe here!" another shout and Leroy found out Conrart was there too, fighting the rebels.

"Yes, Sir!" Stanley answered and in a hurry told Leroy to move away, "Leroy, some rebels decided to attack the villagers here. It's dangerous now. I need you to get away now."

"No! I'm staying here!" somehow Leroy was reluctant to leave Stanley. The fear of being left alone was beginning to haunt his mind. No, the last time someone asked him to go to a safer place first, that person did not come to follow him in the end and he was left all alone.

Stanley was actually annoyed that Leroy was acting like a spoilt child, but with one glance, he knew the fear in Leroy's eyes. He did not have the heart to force Leroy to go away.

Just as he was considering of what to do...

"STANLEY!" Conrart yelled even louder, alerting Stanley to the situation at hand.

In a split second, everything happened.

A strong houryoku was heading to Leroy and Stanley. Without thinking, Stanley took Leroy into his arms, biting back his scream as the powerful attack made contact with his back.

As soon as the explosion from the houryoku was gone, Stanley slumped on Leroy. His eyes scrunched in pain as he gasped for more air.

"Stanley!" Leroy was beyond panic. He was extremely frightened that his close friend, the one and only, would leave him alone. Not only that, he might also be the reason for his friend being hurt.

"Leroy..." Stanley called him in between pants, bringing his hand up to Leroy's cheeks.

"Stanley... Don't leave me..." Leroy was starting to cry, unable to withhold his worry anymore.

"Stanley!" Conrart was on their side, assessing Stanley's wound, "This is not good. Wolfram!"

Wolfram who happened to just knocked down his opponents quickly looked at his brother's serious face. He quickly ran over there and kneeled beside his brother.

"What..." his words was cut short the moment he saw the gravely injured man in front of him.

"Please heal him," Conrart asked, ignoring Wolfram's disbelieving look. Why should he urgently heal someone in the midst of battle like this? All the more, wasn't this the man he caught eavesdropping some days before?

Another look and Wolfram noticed the other boy holding the soldier. He was crying rather hard. Was he the boy who helped Gwendal?

'Damn it! Why does he look so similar to Yuuri from here?' Wolfram could not take the boy's tears and began to heal the soldier as much as he could.

When Wolfram started to use his majutsu, Leroy coughed harshly. Just like the time when Gisella tried to examine him using her maryoku. Conrart noted this and made sure to check the reason out later.

"I'm sorry... Leroy..." Stanley murmured, so softly that it did not sound like him.

"No! I'm sorry... because of me... because of me you're hurt!" Leroy was desperate; he was going to lose another pillar of his life. He did not care that his tongue was getting that familiar copper taste bit by bit.

"I'm sorry... I left you alone just to fulfil my ambition. You must be thinking that I'm a bad friend."

"No, I've understood you since long ago! I was not and will never consider you as a bad friend! You're... you're important for me, Stanley!"

"I'm glad to hear that..." Stanley rested his hand above Leroy's and he closed his eyes.

"Stanley! Stay with me!" Leroy squeezed Stanley's hand gently with one hand as another covered his mouth while he coughed again.

"Oi, don't give up now! Damn it!" Wolfram was frustrated because the will to live was something out of his control. Healing majutsu was never able to restore the will to live. It was in the man's own control.

"I think it's time now..." Stanley was calm despite his pain.

With a smile on his face, he confessed, "I think I can trust mazoku and I can understand your dreams, Leroy. One day, there would be unity among us. I believe in it..."

Leroy could not see clearly, his vision was too blurred by his tears streaming down his face again.

"Stanley..."

"Thanks, Leroy, for our good time," the genuine gratefulness was obvious in Stanley's fading voice, "Live, Leroy..."

And the hand that was returning his grip unclenched.

Gone.

Another life right before his eyes.

"Unh..." Leroy hugged Stanley deeply. Tears from his eyes and blood from his mouth. Nothing concerned him other than the precious friend in his arms.

"No... Stanley..." from a whimper, it became a howl of grief, "NO! STANLEY!"

"STANLEY!" Leroy's voice was coloured with deep sorrow, so deep to bring others into it as well.

After some moments, Leroy was no longer trembling and his cry quietened into hiccoughs. He released Stanley's body and laid it down gently, then took Stanley's sword without uttering a single word.

Conrart and Wolfram was looking at Leroy worriedly as Leroy stood up, wiping blood from his chin using his sleeve.

"Leroy, what-" before Conrart could finish, Leroy was already bolting at the rebels, landing blows on them without actually killing them. There was something about his moves, something very familiar to Conrart. Leroy was fighting mindlessly, he was far too rash.

"Leroy!" Conrart joined him, attempting to calm the boy who was blindly fighting. At this rate, the boy would soon pass out from the strain he put in his body. Conrart could not let such a kind soul die of grief.

Conrart called out to him, trying to persuade him to back out of the battle.

But the boy would not hear.

For the reason he held on to his life was gone.

Stanley... was gone.

I was listening to a very emotional soundtrack from an old game when I wrote this. I got really sad when I remembered some scenes from that game. So yeah, hope I could picture the grief Leroy felt here well.

Please review this chapter! We're getting closer to the climax of the story!