The Truth Beyond the Reflection

Chapter 3:Mirror, Mirror

By Sanzaki Kojika

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the Kyou Kara MaOh! Characters. I do however, own everything "beyond the reflection." Heh. WARNING: There IS Yaoi in here. YxW and vice versa. I guess you could say hints of CxY, too.

Wee! I've seen up to episode 34 now! I was mildly disturbed by some of the later episodes…Conrad ;; (and this coming from someone who ain't a Conrad fan). And then…there's Murata. I really don't like him at all. Heh. Anywho…this is a chapter from Conrad's point-of-view. There are some repeated scenes and lines and such from the last chapter. Hoepfully, there are no major changes. I just did that so you could get the scene from another perspective. There will be other overlapping scenes in the future!

Oh, and as a reply to one of the reviews (sorry, don't remember who said it), but I capitalize the 'Oh' in MaOh cause that's just how I'm used to doing things. Oh is just an add-on making it King in this case.

"Conrad!" I looked up to see Yuuri stumble out of the fountain, dripping wet. After Wolfram had left, I had decided to take a walk through the courtyard, just to blow off some time. I had been meandering for barely ten minutes when our MaOh appeared.

"Yuuri! Welcome back!" I greeted him with my arms open. He hurried into my embrace and gave me a goofy grin.

"It was the start of our new season! And we had to start out playing one of the toughest teams in the league!" Yuuri made a wide, pointless gesture. I couldn't help but laugh.

"How did it go?" I loved talking with Yuuri about baseball. It, and the whole other world in fact, also seemed so mysterious to me. I had visited it before, so I had become a connection, the only one, for Yuuri to his home. I don't think he realized that he was my only connection to that world as well.

"At first, we were getting creamed. Everyone started to panic! I thought it was going to be it. But then, Murata stayed calm and switched some players out. We started to hit home runs! Finally…it was the last inning, three on base, two outs, and I was up to bat. I swung with all my might…and hit a homerun! That ball went flying! I was able to get to home safely, and I won the game!" Yuuri was in pure bliss. He loved baseball so much. We started to head towards the palace.

"Well, the ballpark is almost complete. Soon, you can play baseball here, too," I let out a little chuckle. Yuuri gave me another of his goofy grins. For a brief moment, a sharp pain ran through my spine. Was someone glaring at me…? I shrugged it off.

"I'll have to teach Wolfram and Günter how to play. Oh, and Gwendal, too…if he lets me!" At this, we both burst into laughter. Yuuri always knew how to make people laugh. I felt that was one of his best traits. Laughter is always needed, especially in an era like this.

Suddenly, Yuuri slipped. He fell down hard, right into a puddle of damp mud.

"Are you all right, Yuuri?" I helped Yuuri to his feet. His entire back was covered in mud. And of course, his being wet didn't help the situation any either. Another stab into my spine. By this time though, I knew who was glaring at me. There was only one person it could be.

"Ewww! The ground's all wet!" Yuuri whined. He tried to wipe off the seat of his pants, but he only succeeded in making it worse. He glared down at his muddy hands.

"That's odd…" I knelt down beside the puddle. Sure enough, it was still fresh. I heard a quiet rustle in the bushes, but Yuuri seemed oblivious to everything but the mud.

While Yuuri was preoccupied with his mud stains, I crawled into the bushes. It didn't take long to find him. "Wolfram?"

Wolfram glanced back at me and acted surprised. Of course, I could see right through his act. Wolfram had been spying on us. He needed to work on his acting skills a little more.

"What are you doing here?" I decided to play along. He just gave me a slight shrug.

"Nothing really." He quickly climbed to his feet. I rose behind him. We walked out of the bushes to where I had left Yuuri. Wolfram stopped abruptly when he saw Yuuri's face. Yuuri never looked thrilled to see his fiancé. Poor Wolfram!

"Wolfram?" Yuuri was as bad an actor as Wolfram…maybe worse. Wolfram frowned slightly.

"What?" he glared at Yuuri. Yuuri's expression didn't change.

"Why are you all wet?" Wolfram was caught off guard. I guess he hadn't thought that far ahead. I laughed to myself. The only thing funnier than Yuuri's antics was Yuuri and Wolfram together.

Currently, both Wolfram and Yuuri were covered in dirt and debris though the former more than the latter. They were a mess and looked ridiculous! But not even that could stop the two from fighting.

"It's none of your business!" Wolfram snapped and folded his arms across his chest. Somehow, that pose had become fitting for the short-tempered blonde. Even if he was more confused than angry.

"Sheesh! I was just asking!" Yuuri defended himself with an awkward wave of his hands. Everything he did came out a little goofy. I couldn't help but smile. Wolfram turned his head away.

For a long moment, the three of us stood in silence. Yuuri was fuming silently while Wolfram locked himself up in his own thoughts. Though some people might not guess it, Wolfram was one of the loneliest people I knew. He was often left out because of his young age. He wasn't good with people at all. He was always hiding his pain and pushing people away. Yuuri was the first person in a long time to find a place in Wolfram's heart. Yuuri didn't seem to care, but I thought of it as an honor. I wished my little brother would pretend to hate me, too.

A cool breeze swept past. Out of the corner of my eye, I risked a glance at Wolfram. He was still sopping wet, more so than Yuuri. I saw him suppress a shiver. I was just about to speak up when Wolfram beat me to it, "I've got things to do, so I'm going!" I knew it was a lie.

I sighed as I watched Wolfram stomp off. He had grown colder these days. You would think that a person in love would grow kinder, but Wolfram seemed to be just the opposite. Maybe it was because of all the pain he had in his "one-sided" love. Beside me, Yuuri made a funny noise. A protest maybe? He was silent until Wolfram was gone.

"What's his problem?" Yuuri pouted slightly. If only Wolfram could see his face! Maybe then he would understand how the MaOh really felt.

"Bad day I guess. Greta left and Günter…" I didn't have time to finish. I was interrupted by Günter's wails.

"Heika!" Günter had spotted us. He threw himself at Yuuri's feet. Mud splashed up onto the MaOh. Yuuri twitched slightly in annoyance.

"Hello, Günter," Yuuri attempted to wipe the mud from his face. Once again, he only smeared it more. Now he had a long streak of mud across his chin. I handed him a handkerchief, which he accepted gratefully.

"Oh! I missed you!" Günter was face down in the mud, so it was hard to clearly hear what he was saying. I watched the dark stain of mud slowly inch up on the white of his overcoat.

"Günter, you're getting all dirty…" Yuuri laughed half-heartedly. Günter remained oblivious to the puddle of mud he was in.

"Let's go get you cleaned up," I started to lead Yuuri away. Günter grabbed onto Yuuri's ankle, and he almost tripped.

"Wait!" Günter whined. Yuuri sighed and shook his head. He had decided to at least hear Günter out.

"What do you want?" Yuuri glanced down at him. Günter rose up to his knees.

"You must come see it!" Ah, the mirror. Of course Günter would want him to see it. After all, he had hand-chosen it for our MaOh.

Yuuri glanced over at me. I gave him a reassuring nod. For once, Günter did in fact only want to show him something. He sighed and looked back at Günter.

"All right, where is it?" Günter was ecstatic. He jumped to his feet and hurried off. We were quick to follow.

As we walked, I let my gaze wander. The hall we had entered was the same one Wolfram and I had traveled through earlier. It was one of the few halls with a low ceiling. A mahogany rug covered the wooden floor, but it didn't quite conceal the floor by the wall. The wall had been left unpainted, but the finish made the wood shimmer.

Günter led us through a small, golden door. He quickly moved out of the way so the mirror was visible. Yuuri's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"And what is this? The Mazoku no Kagami, or something like that?" Yuuri joked. Günter clapped his hands together and spun around.

"Oh! That's my heika! He's so intelligent!" Günter cheered. Yuuri was thoroughly confused now.

"You guessed right," I whispered into his ear. He sighed softly.

"So, what does it do?" Yuuri asked. I nodded in agreement. I wanted to know its purpose as well. Günter had said cursed mirror, but what kind of curse? I would have to tell Wolfram later.

"Excuse me?" Günter blinked slightly.

"What does it do? Some kind of magic? Elemental or something? Or does it talk like Morgif. Or, something else?" Yuuri made a pointless gesture with his hands. Günter's mouth formed an 'o,' and he nodded in understanding.

"I haven't the slightest clue!" Günter beamed. Yuuri almost fell over.

"Are you serious…?"

"All I know is that the first MaOh owned it for a short while."

Yuuri narrowed his eyes in annoyance. He leaned closer to me and whispered, "What should I do?"

"I'll leave that up to you. You can either dispose of it, or throw it into the treasury," I whispered back. He sighed and shook his head.

"All right," Yuuri stood up straight, "the mirror will go into the treasury for now. See that it gets put there. Then, investigate what it does!"

"Haaaaai, heika!" Günter was sparkling. He grabbed the mirror and lugged it out of the room. I glanced over at Yuuri. Sometimes…he acted like a real ruler.

Yuuri noticed me looking at him, and he flashed me a grin. I laughed slightly. Most of the time though, he was just plain Yuuri.

"Let's go play some ball! After I get cleaned up, of course!" Yuuri said after a moment.

"All right, but you'll have to do some paper work later. Otherwise, Gwendal will get mad," I smiled at him. He laughed and started towards the door. I let my gaze wander back to the now empty room for a moment. Something seemed…off…

"Conrad!" Yuuri called out from the hall.

"I'm coming!" I hurried to the hall. I had left the room, but the uneasiness was still with me. I'd have to talk to Wolfram later…

Things you may need to know:

Heika- emperor (very formal)

MaOh- evil king

Hai- yes

Mazoku no Kagami-demonic mirror

OMG! I got chapter 3 done! It only took a month or two! Hee hee. The only reason it got finished is cause my inking pen died and I can't ink any of my drawings right now, so I don't want un-inked drawings to pile up. My folder barely has enough room as it is . Anywho, I also have part of chapter 4 done, so that won't be much longer. This chapter…the end of it was a pain to type. My computer kept crashind, my rib is acting up, I'm low on my medicine, and I'm sick from pizza and DDR. Plus, I just got done helping run a party for 14 year olds…not that I have anything against them. It's just that my lil sis friends can be a little…eccentric. Well…I'm done for now.