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

Chapter 9: Kidnapped

"It's done!" Anissina declared after what seemed like an eternity of waiting.

I didn't remember her right away like I had with Wolfram when I saw her in a place I definitely recognized later on. After all, I used to visit her lab a lot before to either rescue Gunter or Gwendal from her grasp, or sometimes even to try a few gadgets myself.

I'm just lucky that the situation was serious enough that Anissina didn't dare try any other experiments with me other than the one we were working on now. Otherwise, who knows what could have happened to me. Still, I was kinda nervous because I wasn't sure what was going to happen when I drank her potion even if it hadn't been for remembering one of our past 'mishaps'. Like the one when I switched bodies with my older brother because of one of her inventions...

"Aren't we still going to have someone test it first?" Wolfram asked anxiously, eying the metallic blue potion suspiciously.

Anissina of course laughed triumphantly, "There's no need to worry. I was so confident that this potion would turn out perfect so I've already tried it myself. And as expected, it worked flawlessly. I remembered dozens of forgotten projects that I never finished working on and all sorts of smaller things. So it definitely works. I just cannot say for certain how well it will work on His Highness since he has forgotten much more than just where he left his keys or some other trivial thing. This is his LIFE that we must help him remember."

I laughed nervously, "Yeah, no pressure or anything right?"

"Just remember what we said before-" Gwendal stated simply, "-don't put too much hope that this will work right away if at all. And if this does fail, we'll simply try something else and keep trying for however long is necessary."

"Oh Gwendal, have a little faith for once!" Anissina said exasperatedly, "If it works for me it will work for His Majesty. Now here-" she strode over to me to hand me the little bottle and said, "-just to be safe, start with only one swallow and we'll see what you remember before we try using more. Oh, and you might become a little dizzy so sit down before you drink it."

I nodded, "O-ok..."

I tried to hide it, but my hands were trembling and my voice shook. Clearly, I really REALLY wanted this to work despite their warning not to ride all my hopes on this one solution. But I couldn't help myself because I could tell that they wanted it to work just as badly as I did.

So, after taking a deep breath to steady myself, I tipped the bottle and tasted the elixir as it slid down my throat. And as expected, it did have an odd sort of metallic flavor while also tasting sort of sweet and warm. Almost like if memory had a taste, this would be what it would taste like. It would taste comforting and nostalgic and make you feel warm inside by thinking about it...

After a long tense coupled of minutes, nothing happened.

But then all of a sudden, the lightheadedness Anissina warned me about washed over me and I covered my face with one of my hands. Waiting for something to come back to me, a memory or a name, anything. However, what I saw was not at all what I had been hoping for-

As feared, the rush of memories overwhelmed me and I clutched my head as dozens of razor sharp images shot through my mind; each one clear and sharp but also painful. Though what was more shocking to me was the fact that these weren't my own memories, but someone else's...

The first image I saw was one of the white flags of a first aid tent, and then I saw Gesilia-who I remembered while she had been giving me a check up-kneel beside a blue haired woman who seemed to have had a fainting spell and was trying to catch her breath. Then, after that I saw the same woman falling from her stallion and being rushed into a hastily raised tent, where she soon whispered her LAST breath. And when that time came, Geisila wept and cried out her name helplessly, "Julia..."

After hearing her name, the rest of the images were all out of order. I saw flashes of her childhood days spent with her father and younger brother, then I saw her stroking the hair of some large football looking guy under a large tree somewhere, and after that I saw her playing a game that sort of reminded me of 'kick-the-can' back on Earth that I used to play.

"Yuri, are you ok?" Shori asked gently when the color finally returned to my cheeks and I didn't look pained anymore.

But I was so confused. I had no words to say that could express how I felt just then. None of those were MY memories and yet I knew they were somehow a part of me. Still, I felt frustrated and hurt by what I had seen because it didn't make any sense. How could I be remembering someone else's life...?

"Well? Did it work?" Wolfram asked impatiently.

Seeing my expression, Anissina sighed, "Apparently not judging from his reaction," crossing her arms she continued, "But I don't understand, he should have at least remembered SOMETHING."

"Did you remember anything Yuri?" Conrad asked simply, and in a way that let me know that I didn't have to answer if I didn't want to.

Fighting the urge to cry, I answered with a lie because the truth was too much to bear, "I only remembered what happened the morning before my accident. Nothing else."

He might have known I was lying, but if he did, Conrad certainly didn't show it. Instead, he took me by the shoulder and smiled, "It's alright Yuri. We'll just have to try something else."

I nodded, "I guess..."

"Don't get discouraged," Anissina smiled warmly, "There are plenty of other things we can try and we won't give up, certainly not now. Because although it wasn't much that you remembered, that's a little more then you had before right? And every small step counts on the journey that will bring us to our goals. We can always learn from our failures and rejoice in our triumphs. So think of this as a triumph, no matter how small it might be."

I had nothing to say to that so I stood up and said, "I'm sorry, but I just need to be alone for a little while ok? I just-" but then, shaking my head though in denial, I ran from the room, not caring if anyone followed me.

They didn't understand how much this meant to me. No matter what they said or warned me not to do, I kept hoping that anything we tried would just work right away and I would stop feeling so empty inside. Because for every little thing I remembered, I realized how much more was still missing, thus making the gaping hole in my heart even wider and more painful...

"Yuri!" Wolfram cried, moving to chase after me when Shori stopped him.

"Don't," Shori warned, "Yuri needs some time to himself right now so that he can settle his feelings. We can't put any more pressure on him then he's already putting on himself-"

Wolfram glowered at him, "What Yuri needs is someone to comfort him! As his fiancé' I should..." but then, thinking about it more realistically, Wolfram realized that my older brother was right and stopped fighting him.

Not that it helped his mood improve whatsoever though...

Patting him on the shoulder, Shori said seriously, "Listen. You weren't there when it first happened but right from the very start, even when Yuri hardly even remembered his own name or his family, he knew that you were all another missing part of his life too. Yuri doesn't care as much about not knowing about himself. But not knowing the people he cares about, seeing them feeling so hurt when he can't remember, THAT'S what's causing Yuri the most pain right now. He wants to remember for YOUR sake. Not his own. So trying to comfort him when he's like this will only make it worse."

"He's right," Gwendal interjected, "Remember, this situation is extremely delicate. Any fault moves and we could inflict permanent damage to Yuri. And none of us want that so let's just give him some space and let him breath and calm down before we try again. Alright Wolfram? I mean really, you should count yourself lucky that he remembered you at all. He still doesn't know any of the rest of us yet..." and surprisingly, even Gwendal looked troubled and hurt by that knowledge despite replacing that look with his usual stern face soon after.

In the end, I ran all the way outside before I finally collapsed in one of the benches lining the halls just outside of the garden in the courtyard. And I sat there for a long time, breathing heavily until I finally calmed down. But my eyes still stung with unshed tears that I couldn't muster because I was so stressed out.

In the end, I simply wrapped my arms around my knees and sobbed convulsively without actual tears falling until I didn't have the energy to cry anymore. I just wanted my life back! Was that so hard to ask!? What had I done to deserve this? Why me? I just didn't understand why I had to hurt so much when I hadn't done anything wrong!

Again, I had to catch my breath again after sobbing so violently but when I did, something felt wrong...

It was too quite out here. There were no birds, no horses neighing, not even the flutter of wings from those 'Fly-Bone' things I had seen before.

At first, I wondered if it was just me because of how hallow I felt. But it wasn't long until the swish of branches caught my attention and I stood up. My 'spider senses' were tingling as I inched forward to investigate. When I made it to the bush though, the only thing I found was a startled pigeon that flew away long before I came anywhere near the bush.

With a relieved sigh, I turned to go back inside when I heard another sound a split second before a pair of strong arms came up around me and pressed some sort of cloth over my mouth and nose. And I knew right away what it was. It was Chloroform, or some other kind of drug, just like they used in all those spy movies when they kidnap people. The smell also gave it away as it filled my lungs and began to blur my vision...

I still had some fight in me though so remembering one of my mother's self-defense moves, I slammed the back of my head into the assailant's face and he almost let go of me. However, whoever it was quickly recovered from the unfortunately weak blow and renewed his grip on me. Pressing the cloth so hard to my face this time that I thought he was going to suffocate me.

Unwillingly, after just e few more seconds of inhaling the stuff, I felt the grip I had on his forearms weaken and my arms slacken as the anesthesia took effect on me. Darkness began to creep into my vision and my eyes became so unbearably heavy. I fought to keep them open but it was just no use. I couldn't fight it anymore since I was still so exhausted from all that running and crying.

So before I could summon just one more reserve of strength...

My world went black, and I toppled into oblivion.

I still don't really know what actually happened after that even to this day...

Because during the entire time I was being kidnapped, I was heavily drugged and kept slipping in and out of consciousness. I remember waking up once while sitting in front of someone on their horse as Conrad and the others gave chase to my abductors with our army. Then, the second time I woke up again inside of an armored carriage. The third time I regained consciousness though, we were on a small ship heading overseas to who knows where.

By the time I finally woke up for real, I was locked up in a tower somewhere like I was some sort of fairytale princess awaiting her knights to rescue her. Unfortunately, unlike a princess, my room wasn't lavishly decorated or anything remotely like a bedroom really. There was a straw mattress on the floor without a bed frame that was covered with a pair of tattered old blankets and a feather pillow. So yeah, at least the pillow was nice and soft and I had enough blankets to keep warm at night but bits of straw kept poking through the mattress every time I shifted.

I had no idea where I was, how I got there, or who had brought me here. It was almost the exact same situation I was in when I first woke up in the hospital after my accident. Although this time, I was anything but safe or comfortable. And this time I actually knew who I was even if it wasn't entirely yet...

Still, even I knew that whatever was going on that it was bad news for me. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to kidnap me and bring me to this place. So now I just had to figure out why.

They couldn't want be dead otherwise they would have done it already. That is, unless they were still planning on bringing me to someone else who wanted me dead and were just waiting for them to arrive. The thought of waiting to be murdered sent chills up my spine and I kept shivering until I realized that I was really just cold.

There was a small window that peered outside the tower but it had no stutters so cold night air freely passed through it into the stone chamber I was in. It was too small to see anything outside since we were so high up but it was large enough to let in lots of wind. So I curled back up in the blankets they had so kindly given me and since there was nothing else I could do, I fell asleep...

And for the first time, when I dreamed, things were less painful and more clear than before. That's when I wondered if Anissina's potion really HAD worked and that it was still working even right now. I began to remember things about when I first came to this world and chose to become the Demon King. However, the people I met were still little more than blurred shadows and distant voices except for the few I had already remembered. Such as Wolfram, Gretta, and Geisila. Although I did finally remember Gunter from the day he told me about how my soul had been sent to Earth and was destined to return here once I turned sixteen and why they had to summon me a year early.

I still had no memory of Gwendal though, or more importantly, of Conrad who had been the very first person I met in this world aside from Adelbert. It was strange. Some of my most painful recollections were those with Conrad in them and were even harder for me to grasp. And maybe that was because my memories of him were unconsciously connected with those of Julia, the woman I had seen after first taking the potion, who was in fact my previous life.

I wasn't supposed to be able to remember her and yet I had; which is actually kinda strange that I could SEE her memories even though her entire life Julia had been blind. So then, how was I able to see what she had never actually seen? Was it because I could see in this lifetime? I'm really not sure how...

Still, let's get back to the main story.

Before long, I was jerked out of my slumber when the blankets were torn from me and I was pulled sharply to my feet by a man whose face I couldn't see behind his mantel. And then I was dragged from the room. I was so stunned by the rude awakening that I forgot to struggle or even try to get some bearing for where I was being taken.

Besides that, or trip was so short that before I knew it, I had been pushed into a candlelit room and the door was firmly locked behind me. I had no escape. That's when I noticed that THIS room was decorated richly with a large red velvet lounge chair like one of those you might see in an Egyptian palace.

And on the lounge chair was a very handsome man with sharp gray eyes and a net of curled wine-colored hair around his angled face. His clothing was equally as impressive but more in a professional sense since he was wearing a uniform rather than a robe or something to that effect. It was kinda hard not to look both rich and non-recreational at the same time yet somehow this guy pulled it off flawlessly. Looking both ready to fight while also appearing very high class and refined.

"So you are the double black Demon King I've heard so much about?" he said in a thick accent that sounded very Australian to me, "I was expecting someone older with a more formidable appearance. Not that I'm complaining, you're very good looking-"

Blushing for some reason, I scowled at him and asked, "Who the heck are you? And why did you send your men to kidnap me? I mean, what did I ever do to you?"

Laughing the older man replied, "You really are as simple minded and childish as they say aren't you? Well what can I say, I wanted you so I took you. That's all there is to it. Because I thought if I have in my possession one of the three double black's-preferably you-then no one would dare stand against me. Not even your own Kingdom could lay a hand on me because I could simply threaten to kill you, as much of a waste as THAT would be."

Hearing that, I shrank back and asked, "K-kill me? You'd...really do that to me?"

"I told you-" he said sharply, "-I won't unless they force my hand and fail to meet all of my demands. Until then you and your secret are safe with me."

I blinked, "My secret? What are you talking about...?"

Grinning at me, he replied, "The secret about how you've lost all of your memories."