Chapter 11: Black Rose

"Hey wimp, catch me if you can!' The blond said with a smile on his face.

"Hey, don't call me that! I'm not a wimp! And besides, I'm going to catch you" Then he started chasing after the blond which was quite romantic.

They chased each other for hours; they kept running until their legs bleed. Then Wolfram fell into the soft grass. He lied there until Yuuri caught up with him.

"Your so fast, Wolfram." The double-black said in between gasps.

"I'm not fast; you're just too slow, wimp." The blond replied.

"Look at you; you can't even catch up with a girl." The blond added.

"I won't… object with… that…" The double-black replied, still breathing roughly.

"I guess we could rest for a moment." The blond said, grabbing Yuuri's right arm and pulling him down to lye with him in the grass.

There was silence for few moments after that. They're both too tired to talk; after all, they've been chasing each other for hours. Then Wolfram broke the silence.

"Hey Yuuri, if I was a girl before would you have loved me sooner?" He asked. He was blushing, holding Yuuri's hand.

Then Yuuri's grip became tighter, and then he said,

"Well, you didn't need to be girl for me to fall in love with you before, did you? So I guess not. Love is not something that you just feel when you first land a sight on the person, it's what you develop, or improve, or enhance, or let's just say it's when you spend time with the person and discover something that when you're spending time with that person, then you start to like that person, and soon you can't even live a day without seeing the person, that person becomes part of your life, that's why you feel like your day is not complete without the person. Besides, it takes time for someone to fall for someone. It's not something you will suddenly feel in a struck of a clock." Then he sighed.

"Yuuri…" was the only thing the blond could say.

The blond prince was speechless. He never thought that someone would tell him those words; at least he never thought that it would be Yuuri. He didn't know that his partner had matured this much since he first met him. It's true, Yuuri had matured over the time had spent with each other. Then Yuuri noticed that Wolfram was deep in thought. So he spoke up,

"So, what do you think? Do you still think I'm a wimp now?"

At first the blond said,

"Yeah," but then after that he shook his head of denial when Yuuri's question sank in to him.

"No, I still think you're a wimp."

"Oh men! What's wrong with you? Don't you think I'm matured now?"

"Yeah, may be you are, but that's not the reason why called you a wimp in the first place."

Then the double-black sighed.

"Well I guess if that's what you think, I guess I can't change that." Yuuri said with a goofy smile on his face.

Then the blond said,

"I'm hungry, let's go home."

"Yeah you're right. We should head home."

Then Yuuri stood up, and then he helped Wolfram to stand since he is a lady for today. They both rode the horse and headed home. Upon arriving to the Blood Pledged Castle, Wolfram and Yuuri went to their room to rest and while they were resting, they heard loud footsteps in the hallways. Yuuri opened the door to check it out. There were soldiers from Gwendal's office. He was worried, so he asked one of them,

"Uhm…Excuse me. What's happening?"

"Your Highness, one of our villages is under attack by an unknown being!" The soldier said.

"Under attack?" The maou asked with a surprised tone.

"Yes your highness, so if you could excuse me your highness, I have my duties to attend to." The soldier said as he saluted to his king and left without waiting for the king's permission.

After hearing the news, Yuuri ran to Gwendal's office with Wolfram.

"Gwendal! I heard that one of our villages is under attack. What happened?" The maou asked with a worried tone.

"Actually, it WAS under attack. My men reported to me a few seconds before you came that the village is no longer being attacked. When our men came to rescue, it was too late." The black haired general said, looking down, and then he added,

"The village has been destroyed. Nothing was left of the village, nobody survived. All that was left was destroyed buildings, ashes, and lifeless bodies. The whole village was erased from our map. I'm sorry your majesty, but there was nothing we could do."

The couple was shocked with what they heard from Gwendal.

"What? But…but that's impossible! How can that happen? Who did this?" Yuuri asked angrily. He was almost shouting.

"We don't. Since nobody survived, we have witnesses of the incident. I will be going there later with Lord Weller to investigate." The black haired general replied.

There was silence all over the room. The news sank into everyone in the room. Then Yuuri decided,

"I'll come too."

"No Yuuri! It's dangerous if you get out of the castle. They can launch an attack anytime. It's not safe." Wolfram said.

"He's right your highness, we can't risk you getting hurt." The black haired man insisted.

"But," The maou tried to reason out but he was cut off when Wolfram grabbed his shirt and pulled him out of the room to their room.

The blond closed the door behind him upon reaching the room.

"It's decided! You're not going anywhere! You can't just go out of the palace! We don't even know who or what attacked that village! Yuuri, there was nothing left of the village! Erased from the map, Yuuri! Erased from the Map!" The blond said angrily while poking Yuuri's chest.

"But Wolfram you your self said that I am the king of Shin Makoku and that I should care about my country more than my life!" Yuuri answered, shouting.

"That's the point Yuuri! You are the king! You have the obligation to watch over Shin Makoku; you have the mission to protect this country! If you die, who will protect us huh?" The blond replied, his pretty sure that Yuuri won't be able to refuse.

"But Wolfram you have to understand, I…" Yuuri was cut off when he noticed that Wolfram was pale, no, he's bluish. He was holding his stomach and covering his mouth. Worried, he asked,

"Wolfram, is something wrong?"

Then the blond answered, "It's nothing I'm just a little bit tired that's all."

After that he ran to the bathroom. Yuuri was worried so he followed. Wolfram was…vomiting? But why? He didn't ride a boat or anything like that. Why would he feel dizzy?

"Hey Wolfram are you sure your alright? Because you sure don't look so good?" He asked Wolfram.

"Don't worry its okay, I'm alright. May be I'm just too tired. There's no need to call Gisela." Wolfram replied.

Yuuri sighed, but still not content with the blonde's answer.

The sun was almost setting when Gwendal and Conrad arrived to the place that they once called a village. Upon arriving there, their eyes widened. It far worse than they thought, there was nothing. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. Nothing was left of the once called village except for ashes. No house was left standing. Although the scenario pulled them down, they didn't let there lost of hope get in the way of their investigation. Well, if there was something to investigate. Like I said nothing was left, what's to investigate? Then one of Conrad's men reported to him.

"I'm sorry sir, we didn't find any clues."

"Keep on searching." Conrad told his men.

"It's pointless searching for clues here, I sent my men in the near by villages to investigate further." Gwendal intruded.

"Gwendal, this can't be done by humans, or mazoku; this can only mean one thing," Conrad said with fear in his eyes.

"No, that's impossible. She couldn't have done this, she's dead!" Gwendal replied with frustration on his voice, adding one more wrinkle on his forehead.

"But Gwendal, I don't know anybody who could have done this kind of catastrophe except for her, Black Rose."