Oh man! Sorry for this late update. Tried to upload the chapter last night but somehow, my laptop screwed things up. Luckily, everything's okay now. Well then, on with the show and...thanks for the review!
Surreal Fate : Illusions of Love
Trials of Love : His Heart, A King's Determination
Unceremoniously, he dropped the black-haired knight with a thud. But the knight did not stir, the spell was that effective. Looming over, he watched as the knight breathed deeply. Lustrous dark hair curled on the cheek of the knight, effeminating the knight.
"What are you doing?"
A deep voice snapped him back to reality, startling slightly. Without looking back, he knew that it was the leader, the hooded figure himself.
"Get back to your duties. And do not let me see you here anymore," the voice was curt and abrupt, dismissing him entirely as the figure walked past him and kneeled before the black-haired knight.
He heard the other man hurried off but he could care less, his eyes skimmed over the knight.
"Such a pity that you're not the demon king. But still-" the figure grazed a finger on Wolfram's cheek. Even in his sleep, the black-haired knight frowned as he moved away from the offending hand. "You will do just fine. In fact, I believe he'll be overjoyed to have you instead."
The hooded figure straightened himself up, gazed down at the sleeping knight before walking out of the cabin.
It had been several days since his allegedly kidnap, days that he lived in this unknown castle. He sighed as he turned away from the window, observing the perfectly kept room. Suddenly, the room blurred and changed into a different one. On one side, art tools were left ignored while a huge master bed took the other side.
"Would you hold still!" a faint familiar voice came out of nowhere as two faint figures appeared near the art tools. One, he saw, was himself while the other was the dark-haired king.
"But it stinks! Why should I be doing this? It's a fine day outside and I want to practise baseball, Wolfram."
A sudden wave of dizziness overwhelmed him and he swayed slightly, a hand shot out to grip the windowsill.
"Wh-who is this Wol-Wolfram? Why do you people keep calling me Wolfram? I'm..I'm..Wolf-"
He stared out of the cabin window, his eyes not really seeing the scenery outside. Normally, he would be thrilled to be on a ship, just sailing away but he did not feel like himself nowadays. "Not since Wolfram's been taken away."
"Your Majesty, please try to relax. We'll be there soon." He heard Gunter assuring him and he knew he should be taking Gunter's advise but, without seeing that Wolfram was all right made him edgy.
He looked up at the sky, clear and blue, and wished that he could see Wolfram right now.
It was a while before he came to. A strange yet familiar face came to view and he frowned upon seeing the stranger gazing down at him with concern.
"Are you all right, love?" he heard the stranger asked, the tone dripping with sugary concern.
"I'm all right," he answered in a very soft monotonous voice as he slowly pushed himself upright and realized that he was in bed. A pair of hands shot out to help him. He could feel the chills running down his spine upon feeling the caressing way those hands were touching him and nearly trembled with the need to push him away. "Your Highness Julian, it's all right. I just had a slight dizzy spell." He forced a smile upon his face, hoping that would get the hands off him. But that made it worse.
"Oh my darling Wolfe, I was afraid of losing you." By then, King Julian had his arms wrapped around the black-haired knight's torso. Feeling the golden brown hair on his cheeks, the black-haired knight wished that the hair was dark as night instead of a lighter colour. An image of a particular dark-haired king appeared in his head and a sense of sadness washed over him.
"King Julian, may I ask a favour of you?" Closing his eyes, he heard the silence in the air as the young king pulled himself away.
"What is it?"
"I wish- I wish to go back to my homeland," he whispered as he looked at the king's surprised face. "It is not that I do not appreciate the hospitality that you've shown to me. I just-I just miss my family." "And His Majesty." Many thoughts of the Maou came to mind, as a result, he was unaware of the hand that was gently caressing his cheek. However, the sadness that was on his face did not go unnoticed by the young king.
"You miss him that much, don't you?" The question was asked in a whisper, as a result, the black-haired knight automatically nodded, unaware. "All right, Wolfe. I'll see what I can do." Upon hearing the king's sudden agreement, he snapped back to reality and smiled; his whole face practically lit up.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Softly, he closed the door; aware of the hooded figure standing beside him. A frown replaced the gentle smile that he had on his face as he stared at the closed wooden door. Curtly, he turned to look at the figure. "See what you can about him. Make him a mindless zombie or something, I don't care! Just make sure he'll be with me always. No matter what."
"As you wish, Your Highness." The figure bowed as he listened to the young king stomped off with jealousy.
The room was in total darkness as the door slowly opened with a creak. A figure softly made his way towards the only occupant of the room, soft snores coming from him. Looking down, he watched as the occupant slept; the only source of colour was the sleeping occupant's nightgown.
Minutes ticked by as the figure stood motionless, watching him sleep. Finally, it moved and a hand was extended out; hovering slightly above his sleeping peaceful face. Like a light bulb slowly awakening, its hand glowed dimly. And so did his face. It was a few minutes long before both hand and face stopped glowing, and the figure slipped out of the room once again.
He scanned at the blurring faces around him as he walked past them, hoping to see the black-haired knight whom he had hoped was able to escape from the band of bandits but it apparently did not seem so. He had asked around; questioning if the villagers had seen a black-haired knight with deep blue eyes or if they had seen any suspicious characters around, but once again, neither of the villagers had any clue. Already he had gotten himself separated from the others, due to his fierce determination to find his amnesiac fiancé. Now, he had no clue on where he was or how he was going to return to the others.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, he faintly spied a familiar-looking black head and quickly turned towards that direction. His heart soared upon seeing Wolfram there, though he was surrounded by uniformed knights. Wasting no time, he tried to get to the black-haired knight; pushing his way through. "Wolfram!" he called out when he saw the black-haired knight turning around and walked away; the group of uniformed guards following. But the drone of the crowd drained his voice, as such, the other knight did not hear.
Hiding behind a wall, he watched as Wolfram walked towards the huge castle ahead. A few minutes later, he trailed from behind. And just as soon as the black-haired knight entered the compound of the castle, he ran; hoping to catch up with the knight. But just as it happened, the group of guards noticed him and strained him. He struggled to break free; pulling and pushing but to no vain. "Wolfram!" he called out once again, but the black-haired knight did not turn back. "Wolfe!"
He watched as Wolfram stopped and slowly turned around, his now emerald green eyes somewhat blank. Yuuri faltered in his attempts to break free when the knight did nothing. It was almost as though Wolfram had not recognized him at all.
"What's going on here?" a voice rang out as the black-haired knight turned to reveal the newcomer. Pulling his gaze away from the knight, he watched as a young golden brown-haired man walked towards them.
"Your Highness." He heard his fiancé greeted the newcomer as a fond smile appeared on the knight's feminine face. The young man came to a stop beside Wolfram and, to his horror, fondly gave Wolfram a soft kiss. Numbed, he could only allow the soldiers to push him roughly down as both Wolfram and the other man walked towards him.
"Your Highness, we found an intruder who tried to harm Sir Wolfe." He heard one of the soldiers informed the golden brown-haired man. His eyes were stuck on the black-haired knight, trying to make eye contact with him.
He looked down at the kneeling reddish brown-haired man who seemed to stare at Wolfe intensely, chocolate brown eyes frowning slightly. Out of the corner of his eyes, he observed the nonchalant black-haired knight before kneeling down in front of the stranger. "So you must be the man Wolfe was thinking about. But that's too bad, he's mine now." It came out in a whisper and, in an instant, he stood up. With his back facing the captured Maou, he could feel those chocolate brown eyes staring at him instead. "Take him to the dungeon. I'll deal with him later."
Harsh breathing filled the air as a figure slipped away from his bed and unsteadyly walked towards the dresser. With hand gripping the side of the table, he made himself sat down. With a sudden, he stifled back a hiss of pain just as his hands shot up to grip his heart. Only when the pain had passed, did he finally loosened his grip on his chest. His breathing was still irregular as he lifted his head to stare at his reflection. Dull green eyes stared back him as limp black-gold locks plastered around his feminine face.
At that moment, his reflection changed to a stubborn-looking golden-haired boy dressed smartly in a blue uniform. And as sudden as it came, the image dissapeared and he found himself staring at his ragged-looking reflection. Another spasm of pain overwhelmed him and he, once again, clutched his heart. In the red haze of his pain, he found another image in the mirror. Only this time, it was the strange black-haired boy that was captured.
He was alone in this dark cell of a dungeon. With the moonlight as his source of light, he found himself surrounding by millions of bones but he was unable to move. Tiredly he lifted his head and stared at his hands cuffed high above his head. And that was when he heard the distinctive sound of footsteps. Staring ahead, he saw the dim glow of light from the side of his cell and his eyes widened with surprise to find the black-haired knight. He tried to call out the knight's name but he was too weak from the beating that the soldiers had put him through.
All he could do was stare at the knight as he unlocked the cellgates before entering. His eyes continued to watch as the knight walked and stood before him. Upclose and with the moonlight streaming down to shine on Wolfram, he found the knight's frowning green eyes still blank but only slightly. The sound of clanking rang through the empty cell as the lantern that the knight was previously carrying dropped with a sudden. His eyes now were trained on the fallen lantern, but the sound of a sword being pulled out caught his attention. And he found himself staring straight at the sharp end of a sword.
Life seems to be playing a trick on me. When I thought I've lost you again, I found you again only to have you not remembering me again. And not only that you've totally forgotten about me and Shin Makoku, you seemed to be at ease with this King Julian. What is happening? Why is this happening to me? What can I do to make things right again? When will the day come when I can finally reveal everything that is in my heart and not pretend? (Yuuri Shibuya)