Yeah, this one's really short, I know. It was rushed. I have exams tomorrow. I am so stressed out.

Oh yeah, this is where the actual plot comes in.

Disclaimer:

Do not own.

The Fifth Night

Finally, he'd fallen asleep. Affectionately, I stroked his hair, feeling it sweep across my fingers. It was so soft, I loved it. I sighed and closed my eyes. "Wolfram," I murmured, falling asleep.

It was very dark. Much too dark to be able to see anything. But the fact that there was no light did not mean there was no sound. No, there was plenty of sound. There was so much sound that I thought my eardrums would burst.

The noises that refused to cancel out around me were unfamiliar. Of course, I knew what they were, but I'd never heard them in real life. Encircling me, echoing, were screams. All kinds of screams, low screams, high screams, loud screams, weak screams. There was the sound of fire crackling; it wasn't like the sound of a bonfire though, more like as if it engulfed an entire forest. Then the sound of horses, walking or neighing exasperatingly as they too died. Dogs barking. Children crying. The screech of metal against metal. The houses collapsing under what I guessed to be fire.

But then…silence. There was nothing. And this time, I wondered whether or not my eardrums would burst from this, too. The silence was almost worse than the screaming. Almost. After a moment of the deafening silence, video came into play, audio being long forgotten. It was as if it were the same exact scene, only now, instead of only hearing it, I could only watch the people as they burned, the children as they were thrown into rivers of blood. I shook me straight to my foundation. Was this war?

"We're looking at a possible threat to genocide,"

"This isn't enough anymore, your peace isn't going to bring us anything but death,"

"It's not your fault, Yuuri."

"Shut up! All of this is happening because of you!"

"Don't blame yourself."

"How could you let this happen?"

"Murderer…"


I sat up quickly in my bed and looked over to Wolfram. He was still soundly asleep, his nose nuzzled against my hand. Staring at him helped my anxiety. It tore the pain from my chest. With my free hand, I wiped my forehead of sweat. What had that dream been about anyway? It was so confusing. Carefully, very carefully I pulled my hand from his grasp and pushed myself off of the bed. As I made my way over to the window, I heard rustling coming from my bed. I glanced back, smiling softly as Wolfram pulled a large pillow to him and subconsciously wrapped his arms and legs around it.

Suddenly, a low knock sounded on the door.

"Enter," I nodded, though not to anyone in particular. Conrad walked in, a light smile upon his lips. "What's up?"

"Your Maje-Yuri, I thought you might not be awake."

"No," I sighed. "I've been awake."

Conrad nodded. "If you would, there's something everyone wishes to talk with you and Wolfram about."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, and looked back to my sleeping fiancé. "Do we really have to wake him?"

"Unfortunately," Conrad shot his younger brother a soft smile.

"By everyone, who do you mean? What's going on? Is something wrong?" I probably sounded more frantic than I wanted to, but after that dream I was nervous. Conrad couldn't seem to answer me either way, though. Instead, he walked up to Wolfram and gently shook him.

"Wake up," his voice was small, and low, the direct opposite of what was needed in waking Wolfram up. Sighing, I walked up to them, climbed onto the bed, and leaned over him.

"It's time to wake up, Wolfram." I told him, noticing that Conrad had since moved away, and shook my fiancé. Not gently, as my guardian had, but harshly. He grumbled and turned over. "Come on," I whined, jumping on the bed. Conrad chuckled; perhaps my plan was no better. Had it simply been that I had wanted to be the one to wake Wolfram up from his slumber? Was it only because I wanted to keep that adorable face to myself? After shaking him once more, and eliciting a groan and him to pulling his covers over his head, I too dove under the blankets, pinching his side and nipping at his ear. With a yelp, he sat up, a grumpy pout on his face.

"What do you want? It's still pitch black outside!"

I turned to Conrad, who answered him. "There's something that we need to discuss with the two of you, it's imperative that you come with me."

For a moment, Wolfram seemed to be debating whether or not to actually get up. After a moment though, he sighed and pushed himself from the bed.

"What?" My eyes widened perceptively as I stared down at the incriminating letters. There, in front of me, on my desk, were four different letters addressed to me, the demon king. "What is this?"

"Big Cimaron is requesting an audience with His Majesty, and His Majesty's fiancé." Josak informed. That much I understood. But what was with this threat? If we don't go, he's going to invade Caloria? I clinched my fist.

"What kind of demands are these? And why are there four of them? Only one is needed to get his point across." I growled.

"But they don't all tell you the same thing, Majesty." Conrad's voice was masked with a false sweetness. He was obviously just as distressed as I was. "The first one simply asks for your Majesty's presence, the second and third describe his demands; that Your Majesty and Wolfram show up alone among other things, and the fourth explains the consequences if Your Majesty refuses."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I couldn't even care about the fact that he wasn't using my name. "Well, we only have one choice, don't we?"

"Absolutely not!" Gwendal did not feel the need to hold his voice back. It was literally bellowed. "It is far too dangerous to go through with these demands."

"This is all I can think of," I snapped back, slumping into my chair. A large yawn passed through my lips before I sat straight again.

"If His Majesty is tired, perhaps he should retire," Gunter began, but Gwendal stopped him.

"No, he needs to work this out. As our demon king, he should learn some responsibility!"

Gwendal was right, but I just couldn't understand. Sure, I was wimping out; I really just didn't want to deal with this. It was all too frightening. I bit my bottom lip. "Well, if you don't want me to go, yet you want me to be proactive, what do you suppose I do? I can't allow him to just attack Caloria!"

Wolfram crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. "Gwendal, don't you think I'm capable of protecting Yuri? I'll do it."

Gwendal seemed taken aback, so Murata, who had stayed silent throughout the conversation, spoke up. "It's not that we doubt your abilities, Von Bielefeld, but they have an entire army. Are you claiming that you have the power to fight them all off?"

"You think bringing a few people with us would make a difference. If they wanted to attack us, they'd do so regardless."

"Wolfram has a point, Gwendal." Conrad agreed. "But nonetheless, I cannot condone letting you two go at all, let alone by yourselves. No matter what they plan, anything could happen."

Finally, I grew tired of having the conversation. I stood, placing my hands on the desk. "Listen, if the king of Big Cimaron wishes to see Wolfram and I, so be it. I am not going to let an innocent country be destroyed because you're afraid!"

"Let go of your selfish sense of justice! What would happen to this country if you were to die?" Gwendal was obviously furious.

"What if it were Shin Makoku, Gwendal?" I retaliated. "What if it was the Von Voltaire territory on the line, or Von Bielefeld territory, or the Von Rochefort territory?"

"They are part of your country; Caloria is simply composed of filthy humans who don't deserve our alliances!"

"How can you say that? Lady Flynn is more than worthy of protection from the demon kingdom!"

Wolfram frowned deeply. It seemed he wasn't sure of whom to side with. I knew that he wanted to abide to my wishes, but as a soldier, protecting me came first. I sighed and fell back into my chair. "So what should we do?" Wolfram asked.

"I'm going," I told them, closing my eyes. "And that's final." It was true that I disliked executing my power, but in a situation like this, what was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to sit by as Big Cimaron attacked everything in sight. Eventually, they would get to us. And eventually…I tried closing my eyes more tightly, though it was impossible. I just wanted the images from my dream to go away. "I won't allow anyone to die." I whispered.

Everyone in the room seemed to be unsatisfied with that answer, but they accepted it anyway. They knew that they didn't have a choice. "Fine," Gwendal grumbled, walking from the room quickly. After a short glance, Conrad walked away too, then Gunter. Soon, it was just Wolfram, Murata, and I.

"Shibuya, are you sure this is a good idea? You never know what Ranjeel is up to."

"I've made my decision," I told him, thoroughly agitated.

With a sigh, Murata left the room too. "Yuri, you're so stubborn," Wolfram laughed. It seemed he was no longer tired. He walked over to me and grabbed my hand. "But don't stress yourself over it."

"If you think about it though," I told him, tightening my grip around his hand. "They're all right. It's obvious Ranjeel is up to something if he wants to come alone, weaponless, and then has such harsh consequences if we don't go."

He knelt down next to my chair and laid his head on my arm. I exhaled softly as he brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my middle knuckle. "It'll be alright," He promised me. After a moment of silence, he stood and walked to in front of me, proceeding to sit on my lap and nuzzling his face against the crook of his neck. Normally, it may have been extremely uncomfortable, but actually, it relaxed me. The feel of his breath against my collar bone, his hair as it tickled my ear; they were familiar, calming actions. And we stayed like that until I fell asleep again.

Alright guys, I've changed from updating every two days, to once a week. I just don't have the time anymore. School is way to demanding. But I promise, every Wednesday.