Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Kyo Kara Maoh, this is purely fan-made!

Chapter 7: A Familiar Face...

Dear Excellency's,

I wished to inform you right away that due to uncertain circumstances, His Majesty, King Yuri, has appeared here in Spitzbeg Castle.

Upon arrival, he was grievously wounded and collapsed soon after. However, his wounds have been tended to and he is healing quickly. Regrettably though, it appears as if His Highness has sustained a severe case of amnesia and has lost all of his memories.

Therefore, first and foremost I wish to plead Lord Stoffel's innocence regarding this matter. Upon examining him, King Yuri sustained his wounds long before appearing in the castle, and it was not until shortly after that we discovered his other condition. Lord Stoffel may have his moments, but I assure you that even he would never cause His Majesty physical or mental harm. He may have kidnapped him in the past, but never would Lord Stoffel ever inflict undo injury to King Yuri.

In fact, it is due to His Highness that Lord Stoffel has finally begun to become the man I know he can be; a good kind man who only wishes for the best for our great nation.

I am aware of our history but I implore you, please come collect His Highness before Stoffel inadvertently goes too far. For I fear that King Yuri's condition may worsen. He is already showing signs of unconsciously regressing memories because he has been away from physical sights to remind him of them for too long. Even the memories of his family on Earth have begun to fade slightly in his confused state...

So please, if you do not believe in what I say now, I swear to prove it to you by delivering King Yuri to you from the castle myself, even knowing that Stoffel may hate me for it. Please, King Yuri direly needs your help. I truly fear for him and I know that he is the only one who can save Stoffel from losing what matters most, his pride, his honor, and the little respect that he has retained from the other noble families.

He is not as evil as you might think, but he makes mistake just like any of us, maybe more. But King Yuri has begun to change him. Therefore, I wish with all my heart that he will be able to recover and to continue to better our world and the Great Demon Kingdom. All hail King Yuri.

Signed,

Raven

I think I said it before and I'll say it again, it's crazy how a single moment can change everything; because that evening, Conrad, Gwendal, and Wolfram arrived at the gate to the castle, keeping their men at a safe but formidable distance from the entrance. Prepared to charge in and storm the keep if it came to that; which they doubted it would but better safe than sorry.

At the time, I was actually near the stables when one of Raven's men suddenly requested that I go straight to my room. I asked why but all he told me was, "This is for your own good Highness." And that was that.

This time, even the window was locked but I knew it hadn't been locked by Raven. I saw one of the soldiers lock it earlier while pretending to look at the clouds again. So if there was a time for Raven to prove his word, it was now. Otherwise, I had a feeling that I'd never leave this place...

Of course, I had no idea that Stoffel was legitimately let me go with Conrad and the others. I was still convinced that I was a prisoner there. I was getting scared despite Raven's reassurances. And maybe it was because I was starting to forget things again.

I was getting so restless just waiting there, wondering what was going to become of me. It was about that time that panic gripped me and I began thinking of more and more reckless ways to escape. I was having one of those moments when I felt like the walls were looming in on me and the air became too thick to breath. Something about being locked up again just sent me into a full blown panic; mainly because I had no one to rescue me from it.

I wasn't thinking clearly.

And what I was about to do next was just going to make things worse for me...

As soon as the gates opened, Stoffel and Raven were there to greet the three of them personally and ushered them inside; because yet another storm was brewing on the horizon.

"Please, come inside and we can discuss matters there," Stoffel offered kindly, but with a hint of anxiety.

"Where's Yuri?" Wolfram asked angrily, "I'm not discussing anything with you until I know he's alright."

"Wolfram, contain yourself," Gwendal warned before turning back to Stoffel then adding to him and Raven, "We received your message and have come to collect His Highness. But first, I'd like more detail on how he arrived here and make sure that it's true that you did not summon him here yourselves."

"Understandable," Stoffel consented, "As for His Majesty, he's in his room until we settle a few matters-"

"Matters?" Gwendal repeated dangerously, "You're not planning on black-mailing us are you? If so, we have our troops stationed nearby and if we don't return then..." he left the rest unsaid to prove his point.

"I don't think any of us want it to come to that," Conrad offered a little more gently, "But it is very important that His Highness returns to the castle as soon as possible. Especially given his current state. Lady Ulrike is sure that they may be able to help him in ways that we may not be able to."

That's when Raven spoke up and said, "Please understand that we only wish for what is best for the Kingdom. And given our past encounters, we really have no way to prove our good will without endangering King Yuri's health. He hardly remembers anything. And the little that he does recall appears to be tied to visual stimulation. However, if pressed too far, I've seen him go into shock and collapse. So forgive us for not bringing you to him but there is much we need to talk about. Isn't there Lord Stoffel?" he added with a hopeful smile.

"Oh, well, yes..." Stoffel began unsurely before facing the three of them again, "Come, we'd best hurry inside. It looks like it's about to rain again."

"Alright, but as soon as we're done I want to see Yuri," Wolfram declared to all of them.

"Very well. But be warned, he still has no memory of any of us," Conrad warned, "It'll be safer to only introduce ourselves one at a time. Besides that, we'll have to decide who should see him first..."

Figures that it'd start raining again. That always seems to happen when something depressing was about to happen. Either that, or when something dramatic was about to happen.

When I think about it, I was actually pretty clever when I came up with my escape plan. I knew that one of Stoffel's men was about to bring me some tea and such when I hid against the wall and waited for him to open the door. The guy walked in and looked around until he spotted what he thought was me sleeping in the bed.

Yeah, I know, it was a pretty childish escape plan but hey, the classics had never failed before so why would they now? As soon as he set the tray down so he could wake me up, I dashed out of the open door and bolted down the hallway.

I knew he'd call the alarm once he found the pillows so I quickly made my way to the stables where I planned on taking a horse and getting the heck out of there. I couldn't rely on Raven's word alone anymore. I had to get out of there on my own, and again, I was actually delirious with panic at the time so rational thought was beyond me at the moment.

I was completely in survival-mode.

I ran until it grew too painful to breathe and ducked into the nearest empty room I could find to catch my breath. My cheeks had grown unbearably hot and it wasn't until later that I realized that I had developed another fever. Everyone knew that this sort of thing was going to happen to me eventually but never expected it to happen so soon.

Once my breath returned, I peeked out into the hall again and had just stepped out when I froze. The empty hallway suddenly stretched into an endless tunnel of warped shapes and I staggered back a few steps, trying to blink it away. I shook my head until it settled back to normal and I started running again, harder than before because I was terrified.

My whole body was humming with adrenaline because I was in a mode of self-preservation and was starting to hallucinate. I saw soldiers where there were none yet and kept seeing shadows jumping from place to place like they were following me. Really, it was like the whole world had suddenly been transformed into a nightmare even to my waking thoughts.

I had just turned a corner when I heard men shouting; apparently they had discovered my ruse and were now frantically searching for me. So I ran even harder and barreled out of the kitchen door when I spotted three strangers entering the castle with Raven and Stoffel. I froze, paralyzed by the overwhelming sense of relief that swept over me when I saw the third man, the one in the tan uniform that reminded me of a German, enter the castle.

I felt the urge to follow him but I ignored it because I knew that if I missed this chance, I would never get away. Finally I made it to the stables when, without warning, the front doors burst open again and all them rushed out to find me sitting bare-back on none other than Conrad's own horse; which I had seemingly chosen at random when in reality it was familiar to me.

Our eyes met for a split second before I urged the horse forward and charged out of the still open gate. At this point, I had completely lost it. All I could think of was having to run and keep running until I couldn't anymore. That was all that mattered to me...

My heart was racing for more reasons than one as those three and Raven called out my name before they set out after me to bring me back. It hadn't even occurred to me that I knew how to ride this horse in the first place, nothing really did at the moment. But I just kept going further and further until finally, I stopped.

With my chest heaving, I shakily dismounted the horse and stumbled into the woods. The same woods, as it were, that their men were stationed. Thankfully, I never made it that far. Because if I had seen all those men surrounding me, I might have finally lashed out with magic, and that could have been the most dangerous thing of all for me to do.

"YURI!" Conrad called desperately, reigning in the horse he had borrowed.

I turned around to face him, my eyes completely glazed with fever and I helplessly crumpled to the ground with a startled gasp as my knees gave out. Despite the urgency to get to me quickly, the four of them approached me slowly, as if I were a wounded animal and hushed me. Even Wolfram was able to contain himself once he saw how frightened I was.

As I lay there, barely clinging to consciousness, I stared blankly in front of me as the rain began to pelt all of us relentlessly. My entire body shook convulsively until a warm and loving hand gently touched my shoulder. I didn't even have the strength to look up at his face but when he touched me, the shaking began to slow.

"It's alright Yuri, you're safe," Conrad whispered affectionately, "Don't be afraid."

"Yuri...it's us, remember?" Wolfram asked weakly, unable to keep the emotion out of his voice as he fell to his knees next to me, "We came to bring you home."

"Home...?" I whimpered, tears swelling in my eyes.

Gwendal also knelt down next to me and smiled warmly, "Yes Yuri, home."

I would have cried in relief when I slightly recognized their faces by the time I could look up, but I was too tired and I could hardly breathe; my fever had escalated into a case of pneumonia. So I weakly reached out for the closest face, Conrad's face, and whispered, "I...know...your face..." then I slipped into a fitful sleep. I was still so twisted up inside but a part of me knew that I really was safe now, and I was finally going home. Home to the Great Demon Kingdom where I belonged.

About a week later, I woke up to find myself in a familiar place. And to be honest, I didn't remember much of anything from my mad dash from Stoffel's castle. Still, I think I had hurt his feelings pretty badly until Raven explained to him what had happened...

It wasn't his fault that I had started to panic, Raven had noticed signs of my growing unrest ever since I was first confined to my room and came to expect it at one time or another. After all, it was natural for one in my position to become defensive and seek a safe place for myself when the castle no longer felt that way to me. Really, it was nothing personal, I just couldn't help myself.

At first, when I glanced around the room I wasn't sure what to think; all I knew was that it felt easier to breath here and I felt much safer. That's when I remembered those three guys and bolted upright, only to wince as a wave of dizziness overwhelmed me. That's also when I noticed a small hand holding mine, Gretta's.

She had been sneaking into my room ever since they brought me back to the castle whenever Conrad or one of the others weren't keeping a close eye on me. Shori and Murata had arrived a few days after I had been brought back too. And as expected, Shori made a huge fuss over me and scolded everyone for letting something like this happened to me. Of course, the one he was hardest on was actually himself for not being a good brother and protecting me better.

I watched Gretta for a long time before a sudden flash blazed across my eyes and I remembered. This girl...she was my adopted daughter. I still didn't know her name yet but I smiled and began petting her hair.

However, a few minutes after I started doing that, she suddenly woke up and I jolted, flying off the opposite side of the bed and staring wide eyed at her. Gretta's eyes met mind and a bright smile spread across her face and tears of joy fell down her small cheeks as she embraced me tightly.

"Oh Yuri! You're awake! I'm so glad..." she sobbed, "I missed you so much..."

My eyes softened and I unsurely took her tiny shoulders and said, "I think I missed you too. I remember, you're my...daughter right?"

Gretta abruptly stopped crying and looked at me, the tears still flowing loosely down her face. Yet, her soft brown eyes glittered hopefully as she nodded, "That's right Yuri, I'm Gretta remember? No, wait, don't answer that-" then Gretta just hugged me tighter, "-I'm just so happy that you're home."

"Home..." I repeated, looking around again, "So this is that castle Stoffel was talking about, Covenant Castle I think it was? And I'm the King here aren't I?"

Before Gretta could answer, Conrad walked in while talking to Geisila and stiffened when they saw me on the floor with Gretta. And for a long moment, no one said anything because neither of them were sure about how I was going to react.

But when I saw Conrad, I felt the last of my unease melt away and I said, "I know you, you're that guy from before. I know you..."

A note of sadness crept across his face but he quickly covered it up, smiled, and said calmly "You do know me, but there's no need to worry about that right now. How are you feeling? Does anything still hurt?"

"No, nothing hurts-" Gretta let go of me as I unbuttoned my shirt to check my bruise only to find that it was completely gone. Then I touched my forehead for the scar and was actually disappointed that it was still there.

Some silly part of me wished that I could have just gone back completely to the way I was before the accident. I mean, I didn't care all that much about my looks as long as I could still play baseball but I almost hoped that some of the things that had happened to me so far had been dreams instead, but I knew that wouldn't happen.

I had just re-buttoned my shirt when I noticed Conrad's scar and laughed for some reason. Then, still laughing I said, pointing from his scar to mine, "Look. We match."

Conrad laughed weakly in turn but his eyes never left mine. They were so full of love and pity that it almost became unbearable, like I would start to overflow with emotion again. I knew I could trust this man with all my heart and I didn't even know his name yet. But what really stuck me was how easily his face and Gretta's were starting to return to me.

And that, I thought, was a great new start to my recovery...