Yuuri slowly opened his eyes. His mouth was dry. He felt dehydrated as if he had been walking for days in a desert without any water. His head throbbed. He was sure that a thousand stampeding horses were galloping in his brain running away from a full pledge category five typhoon. He groaned. The pain…oh the pain! His head was not splitting in two but into a thousand pieces. Why did his head hurt so much? He didn't remember drinking that much. Actually he remembered drinking one glass of wine in one long gulp and then sipping off a second one all night. He tried to remember anything after that the first glass. It was all one big gigantic blur. How did he even get to bed?

After crawling out of bed on all fours, dragging himself to the wardrobe, changing into his everyday black uniform, found Cid's glove of the dresser, placed it in his pocket, and somehow managing to stand up straight, Yuuri made is way to the dinning room for breakfast. He opened the door of the dinning room and was greeted by a jovial "GOOD AFTERNOON YOUR MAJESTY!" compliments Celi, Conrart, and Gwendal. Yuuri groaned in response. How dared they be so damn cheerful! Damn sadists! He walked over to his chair, sat down, and quickly drank several glasses of water.

"I'm glad you could join us for lunch Your Majesty" said Gwendal while a maid placed a nice steamy bowl of strong smelling smoked haddock chowder. Yuuri took one whiff of the chowder and became nauseated.

"Lunch?" Yuuri looked around the room and out the window. The sun he noticed was high in the sky. "What time is it?"

"It's past lunch time Your Majesty" replied Conrart.

"We have already finished our lunch. Your late!" said Gwendal.

"Uh…I'm sorry for making you wait for me" apologised Yuuri. He looked at the maid, "Can you bring me some thing light please?" The maid nodded, "Yes sire" and took the ever so lovely smelling chowder away.

"Actually, we did not wait for you. We figured you were going to sleep till tomorrow" said Conrart.

"Why would I sleep till tomorrow?"

"With the amount of wine you had last night, I'm surprised that you didn't drown in it."

"I did not drink that much!" protested Yuuri. Celi, Conrart, and Gwendal each raised one of their eyebrows at him.

"Yuuri dear you drank quite a bit" said Celi.

"I…I don't remember drinking that much. I had one glass after Cid left, and then I sipped out of a second glass the rest of the night."

"Well that second glass must have kept on refilling it's self then" said Gwendal.

Celi then snorted, "I would not put it past Saralegui to have kept you glass full."

"He would not do that!"

"Oh really?" huffed Celi and added, "He was probably trying to get you drunk so you would slap him."

"Oh, give me a break. Do you really want me to believe that?"

"Yuuri" said Conrart, "you almost did slap him."

"If it wasn't for Conrart you would have slapped him across the left cheek with your right hand" added Gwendal.

Yuuri looked at his three companions in utter disbelief. He had almost slapped Sara into an engagement. "I don't…I don't remember that. How embarrassing for him if I had done that."

"Emabarrassing? Yuuri how naïve can you be?" asked Celi.

"Yes embarrassing. He would have said no of course," said Yuuri was trying to convince himself.

Celi looked at him while shaking her head. "YOUR MAJESTY! Saralegui is power hungry, a snake, sly, and cunning. He will do anything to have you marry him! And that includes GETTING YOU DRUNK!" She pointed her finger at Yuuri at her last statement.

Yuuri's temper rose. "So is that what your professional opinion of Sara?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yes it is!"

"OH? Will what is your professional opinion of Cid?"

Celi smiled and crossed her arms and proudly proclaimed, "I want to adopt him!" 'Take that you naïve Maou!' she thought.

Gwendal and Conrart both looked at their mother. She still had the lame brain idea of adopting an adult.

Yuuri was left with his mouth wide open. He had no response to that. She wanted to adopt Cid! How could he ever have a retort for that? He cleared his throat. "Talking about Cid, I need to find him as soon as possible."

"I was waiting for you to wake up and give the command Your Majesty. I'll have my men start looking for him today," said Conrart.

Conrart was rising from his chair when Gwendal said, "Conrart wait." He looked at Yuuri. "Your Majesty may I ask what your intentions are towards Mr. Fellow?"

Celi answered for Yuuri. "He's in love with him of course! Gwendal you can be so dense!"

Gwendal's left eye twitched. "Your Majesty if you have feelings for Mr. Fellow I suggest that you put them aside and let Mr. Fellow be."

"What? Why would I do that?" Yuuri could not believe what Gwendal had suggested.

"Your Majesty must think of your position," said Gwendal.

"Exactly what do you mean?"

"Your position as Maou. You are expected…actually required to marry a noble." Gwendal rubbed his temples, as he knew that Yuuri was about to burst - and he did!

Yuuri quickly stood up, the chair fell back with a loud bang, and he slammed both of his fists on the table making it rattle. The aura around him was turning dark blue.

"I WILL MARRY WHO EVER THE HELL I LIKE! IF I DECIDE THAT I WANT TO MARRY CID - I WILL! NOT YOU, NOT CONRART, NOT ANY STUPID NOBLE, OR ANY STUPID LAW IS GOING TO STOP ME! GOT THAT! CONRART FIND CID NOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!" He was huffing and puffing.

Conrart quickly rose from his chair and made is way to the door. "CONRART" Yuuri called out as he steadied himself, "make sure your men ask discreetly. I don't want Cid to be hurt again! Understood?"

"Yes Your Majesty," replied Conrart. He put his hand on the door handle and heard Gwendal ask, "What do you mean hurt again Your Majesty?"

"If I may explain Your Majesty," said Conrart to Yuuri. Yuuri nodded back the dark aura lingering around him. "Mr. Fellow was beaten by his master when he found out the Mr. Fellow had intentions of coming to the ball. His face was badly injured. We believe that his lord or lady was attending the ball last night."

"Isn't Mr. Fellow a trader?"

"No, he's a servant," replied Yuuri. "And before you say anything Gwendal…I gave him a royal command to attend the ball."

"You say he was beaten?" asked Celi.

"Yes. He almost lost his right eye," said Conrart.

"The poor boy!" Celi's heart hurt when she heard what Conrart said.

Gwendal was a firm believer that no one should be mistreated. He hated any type of corporal punishment. He especially hated the fact that Cid, who was cute and adorable, had been beaten. He, Gwendal von Voltaire would not allow any more harm to come to Mr. Cid Fellow. "I will have some of my men look for him also."

"Thank you Gwendal," said Yuuri as the aura disappeared.

"Yuuri, how did Cid arrive here?" asked Gwendal.

"He rode a horse," replied Yuuri as he picked up his chair and sat back down. He was calmer now that Gwendal had offered to help.

"He had a horse." Gwendal nodded the answer back to himself. There were thousands of horses out there and Cid had arrived in one of them. "What kind of horse was it?"

Yuuri scratched the back of his head in thought. "What kind of horse? Uuuuuuuu…"

Gwendal shook is head. "What colour was it?"

"aaaa…WHITE!"

Gwendal put his head in the palms of his hands. That narrowed it down to a couple of thousand horses within the city limits. "Did you notice any distinguishing marks on it?"

Yuuri looked up at the ceiling thinking. He placed his index finger on his mouth in deep thought said, "Mmmmm…Nope! I don't think so." Yuuri had not noticed the horse since all his concern had been on Cid.

Gwendal rose from his chair while mumbling, "Hopeless." Celi heard him and giggled. Gwendal walked over to Conrart and said, "I'll ask the stable hands about the horse, and send my men looking for it." Both men left the room.

The service door opened and the maid brought Yuuri his light (bland) meal. It consisted of a poached fish and boiled potatoes. The meal had been ready for a while, but the maid waited behind the door while the Maou had gone off on his tantrum. Also, she wanted to hear about Mr. Cid Fellow. Finally it looked like the Maou was interested in somebody. The 'Love Lottery' was going to get juicy.

Yuuri looked at his food. He was hungry but an ill feeling over came him. He took a few bites and sipped some water. He placed his hand in his pocket and took the glove out. An overwhelming desire to cry overcame him, and started to cry. He felt desperation and pain. Celi took noticed and ran to Yuuri's side. "Yuuri what's wrong?" she asked.

Between sobs Yuuri said, "It's Cid. Something is wrong."

And, Celi hugged him tightly. She too wanted to cry.

Gwendal went to the stables and found out that the horse that Cid had ridden in was indeed white. BUT, it was not any ordinary white horse. According to the stable hands it was the most magnificent stallion they had ever seen. It was tall, young, and physically perfect. It did not have a single blemish on its brilliant white coat. Its mane and tail were both extremely long and they looked like they were made out of silver. The mane, as will as the coat, was incredibly soft and smooth. With that information Gwendal knew that the horse would be easily found. He gave the order to his men to find the horse, and once found to bring it the castle along with his owner. He told them that he wanted to talk to the owner of possibly purchasing the stallion or breeding with it.

Conrart gave a detail description of Cinderfell to his men. He told them to be discreet when asking for him and not to ask for him by his name. If anyone was to inquire why they were looking for him, it was because Conrart had seen him drop something in town and wanted to return it to him. Conrart had thought he might have seen him at the ball, but had not. So now he was looking for him. They were not to mention the scar on his face just in case someone volunteered to be person they were looking for.

*

Cinderfell had been awake for the entire morning. He was hungry and thirsty. He sat on the window sill overlooking the rooftops of the buildings of the city. If he had been a painter, he thought, he would have liked to paint the scenery. The sun glistened gold on the tiles the roofs. The shadows cast by the spires and the turrets made the scenery peaceful. A few birds gracefully flew over the roofs. The whole scenery was beautiful.

He figured it was about mid-day when he heard the door unlock. He continued to look out the window afraid of who was going to enter the room. He mentally sighed in relief when he heard Gunter's voice call out to him. "Cinderfell." He turned to look at Gunter. Gunter looked serious and had an expression of not having to many friends, but yet was carrying a small plate of food and a glass of water. "Hello Gunter," said Cinderfell.

Gunter entered the room. He noticed that there were some drops of dried up blood in the floor. He looked at Cinderfell's face and noticed that the cut under his eye and the bruising were healing. Cinderfell's lips did not look like they had been cut also. He wondered how he had healed so quickly, but that was not his concern right now. He had another pressing matter to discuss and place the food on the bench. "I wanted to talk to you before father came up," he said. He walked to the bed and sat on it. "I want to know the truth," said Gunter.

"Alright," said Cinderfell. How much of the truth he was going to tell deepened on Gunter's question.

"Did you steel the clothing?" asked Gunter directly.

"No!" responded Cinderfell bluntly.

"Alright, then how did you obtain it? I didn't give you enough money to purchase it."

Cinderfell looked Gunter. Should he tell him the Great One had given it to him? He ran his fingers through his hair and remembered the Sage. "I lied to you when I told you about my hair getting caught in a branch during the storm."

"Oh?"

"Actually I was offered a lot of money for my ponytail by one of the shop keepers. He said that my hair was long, strong, and of good quality. So I traded it for the clothing."

Gunter looked at Cinderfell. That explained why is long ponytail had disappeared. "Why didn't you tell us this last night!"

"Do you think Stofel and Sara would have believed me?"

"No! You're right. You should have told me the truth from the beginning Cinderfell," said Gunter. He was relieved that Cinderfell was not a thief.

"What would you have done if I had? Run off and tell your father?"

"Absolutely not! I would have helped you!" said Gunter sincerely.

Cinderfell found that hard to swallow. "Really? You would have helped me go to the ball?"

Gunter smiled back at Cinderfell with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I would have. I would have loved to see Sara squirm when I told him that I brought you along."

"Your father would have had a fit!" Cinderfell looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry for not trusting you. You have always helped me out, and have never really trusted you. I'm sorry!"

Gunter looked at Cinderfell and said, "Well maybe I should have showed you more respect than I do. I'll go down, speak to father, and see that he doesn't punish you, and eat what I brought you."

"Thank you Gunter," replied Cinderfell. He was happy that someone was looking out for him. Maybe he could trust Gunter.

Gunter left the room. He looked at the guard and hand him some gold coins as a pay off. "Not a word to anyone," he told the guard. The guard nodded in agreement.

Gunter found his father and Sara in the dinning room. They were finishing their lunch. "Father, I would like to speak to you about Cinderfell."

"We can talk about that thieving brat later. I'm going up to deal with him now," said Stofel has he rose from his chair.

"I would like to talk about him now," said Gunter with a slight tone of defiance in his voice.

Stofel looked at Gunter. "Would you like to talk about him now? You'll have to wait until I feel like talking about him." Stofel began to walk away, but Gunter stood his ground and grabbed Stofel by the arm. "Let me go Gunter if you know what's good for you," said Stofel and pushed Gunter away. Gunter stumbled backwards. He attempted to grab Stofel's arm again, but his hand was swatted away by Sara.

"Let it be Gunter if you know what's good for you," hissed Sara as he stood in front of Gunter. Stofel exited the dinning room.

"Get out of my way brat," said Gunter taking a step forward.

Sara stood his ground and shook his head, "You don't want the same fate as Cinderfell."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just wait and see," said Sara singsonging. Gunter tried to push Sara out of the way, but Sara kept blocking him. After a minute Gunter managed to finally evade Sara and ran up the stairs.

When Gunter arrived at the top floor one of Stofel's soldier's stopped him from advancing any further. He heard a yell loud bang coming from Cinderfell's room. It sounded as if someone had been thrown against a wall. Gunter tried to get past the guard, but the guard would not budge. After a couple of minutes of silence, Stofel exited the room with the rest of his soldiers. He led them down the hall. Two of the soldiers were carrying a trunk. Gunter eyes widened in very. "Father were is Cinderfell?" he asked. Stofel nodded towards the trunk.

"Release him!" demanded Gunter.

"He's my servant. I will do with him what I like," snapped back Stofel.

Gunter snapped back, "Then I'll take full responsibility for him!"

"You dare defy me?"

"Yes!"

Stofel looked at Gunter in pure anger. Never had Gunter gone against his wishes. It was time to get rid of Gunter! "We will talk about this later. If you wish to take responsibility, then I suggest you pay for the damage to the room." He pushed Gunter out of his way and Gunter almost fell down the stairs. His only saving grace was that he held tightly to the banister.

Once the procession had passed Gunter on the stairs, he ran to the room to survey the damage. On the wall next to the bench was a hole that appeared to be the size of someone's head. The plate and the glass lay broken on the floor. One of the chards of the plate seemed to have blood on it. Gunter's anger rose. How could his father do such a thing to Cinderfell, or for that fact to anyone? He sat down on the bench. He needed to calm himself down. He knew that if he did anything rash the consequences could be worse for Cinderfell. Why did his father hate Cinderfell so much?

He had two options. The first one was to report his father to the authorities for mistreatment of the hired help. If he did that his father and family would be disgraced. Also, would anyone believe that one of the ten nobles could be so cruel? To make maters worse would any authority arrest his father?

His second option was to protect and care for Cinderfell. He had to make sure that the boy was well. What were the extent of his injuries? He had to get him out of that trunk. He had to make sure that he was okay.

He made is decision. Cinderfell's well being came first. He was going to protect the lad, heal him, and then help him escape Stofel. He would find Cinderfell another job as soon as they returned home. He would give him letters of reference. Then a thought came to him. What if he could find a job for Cinderfell at Blood Pledge Castle? Surely they could always use an extra hand. He would right a letter to his friend Lord von Christ, but not right now. He had to make sure Cinderfell was all right. He was about to leave when he noticed that the sword was still on the bench. He picked it up and took it with him.

Two of Gwendal's soldiers in green entered the Goosehead Inn. They went to the registration desk and inquired about a white horse. They were told that there was a white horse and pointed out the window. A stable hand was bringing Willow to the front of the inn along side the von Spitzweg carriage. The two soldiers shook their heads. That was not the horse they were looking for.

They were about to leave when one of Conrart's soldiers in brown entered. Conrart's soldier held the door open to let Stofel's men that were carrying a trunk out. The two green soldiers informed the brown soldier that the horse they were looking for was not at the inn. Conrart's man went to the desk and inquired about the young man he was looking for.

"Golden hair and porcelain skin you say?" said the innkeeper.

"Yes, is there someone here that fits that description?"

"There might be. There is one that…no he has ashy blond hair. Then there is Little Lord Snot. He is…oh look here he comes." Sara was walking towards the exit. The innkeeper waved for him to come over.

"Can I help you with something?" sneered Sara. He did not like to be called over like a commoner.

"Yes my lord. This gentlemen is looking for someone that fits your description."

Sara turned to the soldier. "May I help you," said Sara.

The soldier looked at Sara. That was not the person he was looking for. He had no scar and was wearing glass. Plus his hair was long and straight. "I'm sorry Your Excellency for the interruption. You are not the person that Lord Weller is looking for. I apologise for the inconvenience. Good day." The soldier turned and left.

"Well that was rude," said Sara as he turned to the innkeeper. "Who is he looking for?"

The innkeeper replied, "It looks like some young man dropped something and Lord Weller found it, He wants to return what ever it is to the young man."

"And why did you call me over?"

"Your Excellency fits the description."

"I see," said Sara.

At that moment a friendless Gunter arrived at the desk. He pushed Sara out of the way. Sara was about to yell and push back, but he saw Gunter's facial expression. He decided to back away. Gunter face always sparkled dreamingly as if he was in another world. Always calm. The expression on his face at the moment in time was that of a person about to commit murder. It showed hate and mercilessness. Sara had never seen Gunter like that and thought better not to be in Gunter's way. He backed off.

Sara met his father outside next to the carriage, and they both climbed in. They waited for a few minutes for Gunter to show up. Gunter finally arrived, but he did not go into the carriage. He opened the door and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Were is Cinderfell," he demanded.

Stofel sneered at Gunter and pointed to the top of the carriage.

"Bring him down immediately!" growled Gunter. He partially pulled his sword out.

"Are you threating me? Your own father?" said Stofel.

"What do you think My Lord?" The blade came out a little further.

Stofel knew that he was no match for Gunter. Gunter was the best swordsman after Conrart. There was no chance that he or any of his men could take down Gunter. "Get in the carriage Gunter. I'll let you see the brat once we are out of the city."

"No NOW!"

"Let's not cause a scene Gunter. Be rational!"

Gunter thought about it. He sheathed his sword. "He is released as soon as we are out of the city," he said and entered the carriage.

The carriage drove away.

Hello everyone. Sorry for the extreamly long wait on this story. I did something really, really, and I mean REALLY STUPID! I cleaned up my drives and deleted Cinderfell completely. I cried for 2 days. I had it all done! STUPID STUPID ME! :(