Act II is here! Not gonna lie, kinda excited for this Act… though I think Act III is my favorite (oh the joys of knowing things before others!)… either way I was having a hard time both starting and titling this Act and to be honest I think I will hate both… whatever…
On the other hand as I said before I am excited for this Act very much so… I'm most excited for the OCs that are coming in Act II (five in total, sounds like a lot but four of them are pretty much like 1 person… you'll see what I mean in a bit) and what they bring to the table… I'm excited. EEE! Sorry… that was excitement there…
Onwards to Act II!
*The 3 Acts of KKM, Act II Start: The Melodious Wedding*
Yuuri paced in his room, knowing fully well that his fiancé and daughter were watching him tiredly. The Maoh has been pacing for well over forty-five minutes now and it was all due to worry, stress and nervousness for his quickly approaching meeting and above all that his darling daughter was beginning to take her first steps as the Queen of Zorashia, her fallen kingdom. "I'm not ready for this, guys…" He muttered as he continued pacing.
Wolfram rolled his eyes. "What are you worrying about wimp? Shimaron is finally joining the alliance and it seems that all the other countries are on board with it."
"Don't call me a wimp and that's not what I'm worrying about." Yuuri stopped pacing and looked at Greta who in turn jolted into a straight position. "Are you sure you're ready to begin your royal duty as princess? I mean Zorashia is already a member of the alliance so you don't have to worry about that but the country's integrity is—"
"Father." Greta interrupted him with a slight chuckle. "I'm ready and I'll be fine. I know I have you to support me and help out my country. Besides, I'm not planning on becoming queen just yet."
"Ugh…" Yuuri groaned. "I don't think I'm ready to let my daughter out into the world to become queen!"
"Father…" Greta giggled. "You'll be fine. I'm sure that by the time I become Queen of Zorashia that you'll be happily married to dad with another kid on the way."
The two males tensed and blushed ferociously. "What's with that type of talk?" Yuuri sounded. "Wolf is a man! Why would—"
A knock at the door interrupted the Maoh. From behind the door Conrad's voice reached the trio. "Your Majesty, the delegates are all ready and are awaiting you and Princess Greta."
"Thanks Conrad." Yuuri called back as he straightened out his additional blue wrap around his shoulders that he wore for semi-formal events (it's during the formal events when he wears the red cape). "Alright. Let's get this thing finalized."
By the time they reached the alliance conference room (this room is much larger and more elaborate than the generic one, having a lot of wall border embroideries and very expensive decorations) all the delegates were already seated and were waiting for the Maoh and the Princess of Zorashia. "Sorry for keeping you waiting." Greta apologized simply before she and Yuuri took their seats, Yuuri sitting (obviously) at the head of the table and his daughter sitting beside him across the way from Lady Flynn Gilbit. Both Wolfram and Conrad went to stand behind their king (Gwendal and Gunter would have also been there but they were both being tortured by Anissina on the other side of the castle grounds).
Yuuri looked around the table that through over the years had to have additional tables attached to it because those joining the alliance were coming in too quickly and there wouldn't be enough time for a new table to be built. Presently they were using a new table that was built to accommodate seating for all the countries of the world, that meaning that there were currently having four empty spots on the opposite end of the table from where Yuuri was siting… which speaking about the opposite end of the table…
The Maoh looked straight down the table to meet eyes with King Saralegi of the now unified Shimaron. This was the first time the Maoh had seen the other king since last year when he was reunited with an old childhood friend. That spring ended on rough terms between the three of them, having little contact with each other for the past year and Yuuri seriously doubted that the Prince of Taurogo and the King of Shimaron were even in contact at all. "Let's begin." Yuuri spoke out loudly and clearly starting the meeting. "As you all know we are here to welcome the Kingdom of Shimaron into the Shin Makoku Peace Alliance…"
As the meeting went on for it was mostly to specify the requirements of the treaty, get everyone's inputs and finally submit Shimaron as a member of the alliance, the castle grounds outside were buzzing with excitement. Guards were bustling around the kingdom, doing random errands for it was announced earlier in the week that the greatly anticipated royal wedding would be occurring in the summer and like everything royal and grand preparations must start long before the date itself. The wedding itself will be in the Maoh's birth month—the day still undecided but from the words of the Demon King 'most definitely not on my birthday'—and the theme will be something along of 'Golden Garden' as per decided by Wolfram (Yuuri allowed him to have pretty much full artistic lead for their wedding seeing as he is an artist). The guards were busy visualizing the wedding and what the Maoh might want for it. The color theme was definitely yellow and white so perhaps white arches with yellow roses climbing along them… there was a request for an outdoor area for the food (AKA reception) and leave the dancehall purely for that purpose with snacks being served in there while the actual food be outside (this was actually Yuuri's idea since he thought it would be neat to have yellow lights illuminating the area under the night sky).
As per entertainment… that was still in discussion. It was suggested by one of the guards to have singers dance and obviously sing for the guests but the questions were who and how much it would be for their charge would be.
In the kitchen the maids were working diligently while also gabbing about the upcoming summer wedding. "It's so exciting." Doria sounded as she washed another plate. "I just knew they'd stay together and get married!"
Sangria scoffed. "Is that so? Weren't you the one who mentioned that the Maoh might have even chosen Lord Weller?"
"No!" Doria quickly sounded. "That was Lasagna entirely."
"Don't go pinning me with that." Lasagna reacted as she pointed a soup covered spoon at her before putting it back down into the pot to stir. "That definitely was you who said that."
"Oh hush now."
Effe giggled and shook her head to herself. "You girls are very obsessed about it all." She then put a cooled down cake layer and stacked it upon another larger layer. "I know it's exciting that the Maoh and Lord von Bielefeld are finally getting married but it's nothing to obsess about."
"Oh really?" Sangria chuckled out as she watched the chef stack another smaller layer on the medium sized layer. "Is that why you're practicing making wedding cakes?"
Effe blushed out of embarrassment and turned her head away quickly to try to hide it. "Of course not… it's just that I, uh, haven't made a layered cake in a while. Yeah… that's it."
Lasagna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever makes you feel better, Effe." The girls all laughed together then, enjoying their good, joking time. "But it has been a while so it's good that you're practicing."
"Oh, most definitely." Effe agreed, her blush disappearing as she stacked a final forth layer on top of the cake. "I'll have to think about possible cake designs to offer to the couple for inspiration… or perhaps they already have one in mind…"
Doria pulled a plate from the water and began to scrub it down as she spoke. "I think it would be better for you to collaborate with them to produce a cake design together. It's still a bit early but if I know Lord von Bielefeld as well as I think I know him from all these years working here, he probably has mostly everything planned out already in his head and it's just the topic of getting King Yuuri to agree on his plans and make it a reality."
"True…" The other three girls drawled out simultaneously.
"I heard though," Sangria began, "that they—meaning the royal couple, Lord Weller and His Eminence—were all planning on going back to the Maoh's home world soon to tell his parents and inform his family."
"Yes I heard that too." Lasagna nodded her head. "I also heard that at the start of this year His Majesty's brother took the role of the Maoh of his planet."
"Yes ma'am that would be correct." Effe confirmed. "I heard it from Princess Greta who was happy to hear that now the two brothers are kings together."
"I wonder if he'll come to the wedding… His Majesty's brother I mean."
"Of course he will." Sangria said. "You can tell that he absolutely loves his younger brother and would be happy to attend his wedding."
"Yes, but I'm not so sure he really likes Lord von Bielefeld." Doria commented. "I mean he always seems to be uncomfortable around them."
"Well," Effe started, "I heard from Princess Greta that on the Maoh's home world that two men marrying is actually frowned upon in some culture and most people are against it."
"That's not fair… not if they're in love."
Sangria nodded her head. "Thank Shinou that we live in this world. That world seems to be too mean."
"Here, here." Lasagna agreed.
*The 3 Acts of KKM: The Melodious Wedding*
King Saralegi signed the contract to admit his new unified country into the alliance. Finally… the king thought as he passed the signed paper contract over to Yuuri. After years of unification and a lengthy alliance conference, Shimaron was now officially part of the alliance. The contract itself pretty much was the guidelines and rules for being in the alliance:
One cannot declare war without giving a notice… racial discrimination will not be tolerated… cooperation between countries in the alliance is strongly encouraged… Shin Makoku, being the starting country of the alliance, has the final say over decisions but countries in said alliance may state heir oppositions towards the board (much like in a form as today's conference) in an attempt to sway Shin Makoku…
Just regular, understandable points. Over the years the guidelines has been edited—new rules being added or changed slightly as time passes. In fact somewhere within Blood Pledge Castle there lays a constitution for the alliance with all the rules and their respective amendments… think of it as a distant cousin of the Constitution of the United States.
Conrad stepped forward as the delegates moved to shake hands with each other, especially with Sara. "A lunch has been prepared for you all and will be located in the grand dining hall. If you would please follow me."
All at once the room was emptying out with Conrad leading the way. Behind him Yuuri and Sara walked side by side with Wolfram and Berius on their own respective sides, lingering slightly behind their respective king. The silence between the two kings was deafening. Needless to say the past spring resolution was not yet resolved. The Maoh sighed heavily and thought to himself… Well… it can't be helped I suppose… With that thought in mind he spoke up. "So, Sara… I don't really want to pry in the subject but… what happened last spring between you and Kasey?" Sara inhaled sharply, the subject still very touchy. "Did something even happen between you is what I should ask first…"
Sara sighed and Berius was watching his king with a wary eye. There was no way that Sara could tell Yuuri what happened between him and the prince—he would lose all friendship with the Maoh (probably not but his character would be completely altered in the Maoh's eyes) and that was something his king did not want. "… Yes…" Sara answered slowly. "Something did in fact happen but it's…" Another sigh. "It's not really a… conversable topic."
Yuuri's eyes narrowed—as did Wolfram's—for that sounded completely suspicious and totally guilty. "Kasey won't tell me what happened either. What I can infer that it was something so horrible that you can't even talk about it."
Sara restricted the urge to flinch so visibly before everyone. He admits… what he did was in fact horrible and that in turn made him a horrible person. He used and raped Prince Kasimir. He did it all just because he knew he could never obtain King Yuuri in the way that he wanted so he replaced Yuuri with Kasey. It was after Kasey left so abruptly that Sara entered the depression state of his first state of grief with Yuuri but it was also the same time that he entered stage two again (anger) due to Kasey. He was angry at himself for even doing something so lowly. And of course the King of Shimaron experienced denial that night when he returned to his room—Berius waiting for him there since his king just suddenly disappeared.
Now one could say that King Saralegi accepted the fact that, yes, Yuuri will never be his and he in fact belongs to Lord Wolfram and vice versa (he can now also admit that they make a cute couple since they already act like a married couple) but the king was also experiencing stage three again (bargaining) since he was replacing his thoughts of Kasey with that of work for the past few months. One could also say that, for some apparent reason, the grief he gained with Kasey was far more damaging to him than the grief he got from being heartbroken by a clueless and oblivious King Yuuri.
"Whatever happened between the two of you…?" Yuuri started quickly, well aware of the fact that the rest of the alliance were behind them and within hearing range. "I do hope you fix your relationship for it would be great to have my old childhood friend and one of my best friends hanging out with me together… all as kings."
Sara couldn't help but smile softly. Another thing the king of Shimaron will admit is that he has dreamed of the three of them (Yuuri, Kasey and himself) all as kings and all having a fun time together, riding horses, playing baseball (in Sara's case watching it) and doing a bunch of stuff friends would normally do together.
They all entered the dining hall where a long table with a plethora of food was placed out before them, Doria, Lasagna, Sangria and Effe all waiting along the wall, all simultaneously giving a bow towards the delegates as they walked in and took their seats, the exact same seating position from when they were in the conference. Sara sat down and heaved another sigh as his thoughts were once again possessed with Prince Kasimir of Taurogo… he could only wonder if the other would ever forgive him.
*The 3 Acts of KKM: The Melodious Wedding*
The sounds of metal clashing against metal was ringing in an open field upon the plateau in Taurogo. The large white castle in the background seemed to loom over the open field, which to be more specific it was like a plain since the castle was right up against the cliff walls that formed as the far northern borders of the country. Kasey paused for a moment and glanced at his home. The pristine white walls and navy blue roofs really did remind him of Cinderella's castle in that Disney movie… the only difference was that the castle was like his stepmother's and ugly stepsisters' home and not the home of some nice and cute prince. The prince's eyes glanced up to the tallest tower that seems to jut out from the pretty much rectangular castle. Up there roomed the current king and his enemy. He scoffed and then glanced at the watch tower that was a separate unit from the castle; and up there were guards, all loyally devoted to their king—no doubt watching the prince and his protector practice.
Kasey felt a shift in the wind and he turned his head sharply to see Riscard come charging at him, his large scythe swinging towards him. Kasey breathed out and held up Sun Wind to block the attack. The metals clashed together and the sword vibrated slightly in his hands. Kasey jumped back (as did Riscard) to separate himself from his current 'enemy'. "I can't use my wind element right now Sun Wind. I'm not that strong yet." The sword vibrated again. "I know we've been practicing together but I do have another reason… I don't want them to find out just yet." Kasey said, nudging his head towards the watch tower. Again Sun Wind vibrated… a reluctant cave-in to her wielder.
"Your Highness, you should stop being distracted." Riscard stated as he suddenly brought down his weapon.
"Fuck!" Kasey cursed as he blocked the attack in the nick of time and blocked the next few. When he saw an opening he swung and was able to break his protector of his attack mode and pushed him into defense. "Tricky, Riscard, you're very tricky."
"I am but I am only representing your true enemies Your Highness. In reality they will be far trickier and more driven to actually destroy you." With that the two blades clashed together, the move ending in a draw.
They once again spaced themselves out and Kasey breathed out heavily. "Well…" He drawled out. "Aren't you the ever observant one? It's obvious that they'd try to kill me and you aren't."
Riscard bowed his head. "Of course Your Highness. But may I also say that if I was truly your opponent and this was a real fight, you too would not be holding back."
Together they looked at The Rising Wind of the Falling Sun and she once again vibrated, acknowledging them as they acknowledged her as well as agreeing with her master's protector. Kasey chuckled and nonchalantly held the sword in his hand. "If this were an actual fight, Riscard, you'd be on your back already either dead or surrendering to me."
Riscard chuckled softly as he also shot his prince a smile. "Don't get too cocky either, Your Highness. That's another one of your downfalls."
"And yours is that you keep on spacing out." Kasey countered. "What do you constantly think about that you just become like a zombie?"
The protector chuckled once more, this time to himself. As a protector he truly can only think about one thing—and that's Prince Kasimir. He is meant to protect the prince from everything and anything, even if it were to cost him his own life. His hand tightened around the snatch (the long pole of the scythe). He had already failed once before—and majorly. His poor prince was raped by that king… the King of Shimaron.
When news finally reached Taurogo that the Kingdom of Shimaron was unified (hence the new name) and its king was preparing for the trip to Shin Makoku to sign the alliance, it was received with mix reactions from the prince. On one hand he was happy that the kingdom was unified and would be joining the alliance—that was really the only problem country against Yuuri's kingdom—but on the other hand it was his kingdom and anything having to do with him still made him sick—no longer to his stomach but mentally.
Of course the government of Taurogo took it completely differently. Since the Kingdom of Shimaron really is the largest human country of the planet, to become allies with the sole demon country of Shin Makoku severely pissed off the King of Taurogo as well as the civilians.
Flashback:
The prince and his protector were walking through the halls of the castle, enjoying another stroll about the castle whilst looking for anything of interest (like secret passages or rooms—hey, just because it's his home doesn't mean Kasey doesn't have to scout it out and act as if its enemy lines since it pretty much is). They were treading through dark waters as they were nearing the hall that led to the king's room. Of course they've been down this far into the castle before but they were always shooed away at some point—in fact it was by this point marked by a large decorative urn that had a detailed recollection of how King Tansil supposedly 'saved' the country by being led by a ten year old half demon child.
Bullshit. Kasey scoffed mentally as they passed by the ostentatious urn. When he becomes king that thing will be the first thing destroyed. Kasey was beginning to wonder where were the guards or even better yet some of the councilmen (of course that was sarcasm) when suddenly a loud yell erupted from further down the way in the hallway of the king's chamber.
"What monstrosity is this?!" The two paused, looked at each other and then ran towards the origins of the yell. When they reached the doors of the king's chamber (which were closed and unguarded) they heard another severely enraged yell from King Tansil. "Shimaron—getting into an alliance with that crock shit of a demon country?—betraying the meaning that is to be human: to establish our independence from all those demons?" Kasey rolled his eyes. That was a load of bullshit if he ever heard it. A pretty sickly coughing fit was heard from behind the doors, one that sounded like it hurt a lot.
Good. Kasey thought without regret or any shame. Down with the Terrible Tansil.
"Your Majesty, you shouldn't excite yourself. Your illness—"
"Forget my illness!" Tansil yelled back at when the duo outside guessed to be a medical official, no doubt called in by the guards and perhaps some councilmen. "Just think! Shimaron—the largest human country on this earth—siding with the demon horde?! Ha! What stupidity. Those demon spawn! Which speaking of which… why is that good for nothing demon hóra barn still doing here in my kingdom?!" Another coughing fit and sounds of some rushed movements as well as a slap (Kasey could guess that Terrible Tansil slapped the person who was closest to him helping away).
Kasey tsked and turned his head slightly as he shrugged his shoulders a bit. "Every day he finds a new way to piss me off…"
Riscard beside him couldn't help but smile. It was true that for the past few weeks the king has gotten more active in his plan to get rid of Prince Kasimir from his country. So far it just seemed as if he just wanted to run the rightful heir away from the country but it would only be a matter of time before it would turn to trying to assassinate him. It also seemed that due to this excitement and trying to get rid of Prince Kasimir has given the king a new reason to fight off his potentially deadly illness and has become more energetic and even a bit healthier.
"He's persistent Your Majesty!" A familiar voice pleaded—it was the head of the council Falgun Obernier, the same man who tried to refuse him his falcon when he first arrived in Taurogo.
"You damn right I'm persistent you son of a—"
"Well then try harder!" Tansil yelled at Obernier.
"We've been making his life miserable here in the castle. The spawn always seems to smile, shrug and comeback even stronger than before." Kasey chuckled evilly to himself, he was enjoying this far more than he probably should and Riscard shook his head at his prince. Kasey saw this and punched his arm playfully.
"I don't care! Just get rid of him!"
Kasey chuckled again at the pure desperate state of the king. "Come on Riscard. Let's get going before they realize we were here watching their beloved king's meltdown."
"Of course, Your Highness."
End Flashback:
The civilians acted in the same manner as well for that same day the two went to the market and were literally chased from town before they could even have a chance to browse and buy stuff. Kasey could only think that people were idiots. Even if he were prejudiced to a race of people money was money and if he could sell a few wares then he would adopt a 'hell yeah, buy my shit' mood.
"Let's end for today." Kasey spoke then as he stretched, his sword being raised high in the sky before he began to slide the sword into the scabbard at his side.
"Yes, let's." Riscard agreed as he too put up his own weapon, slipping the snatch into the holder on his back before going to fetch their horses who were tied up to a tree.
Kasey snapped the leather stapes around Sun Wind's silver tendrils and patted the sword that was now at his hip. "You did good today girl." The sword vibrated amorously—she was the type to totally fall for complements. Kasey smiled and chuckled to himself.
Riscard arrived with their horses and the tow clambered on and began to make their way back to Winds Castle. As they rode the famous double winds of Taurogo happened; the wind from the sea collided with the wind that was being reflected by the cliff walls behind the castle, coming together to create a short bout of a tornado, not overly destructive seeing as there was nothing on the plateau besides the castle and because of its position it is never affected by the tornados. But that wasn't what Kasey was worried about. The tornado happed to form right before them and was sucking them in.
The horses neighed in fear and the two tried to urge the horses to go backwards away from the tornado but they wouldn't budge. Kasey felt Eser's hooves start to slip out from under him and Kasey moved instinctively. Grasping the hilt of his sword with his left he raised his right hand and motioned it sharply towards the tornado, quickly swiping it off to the right. Following his hand motions, a third wind attacked the tornado and effectively sliced it in half, destroying it. The horse stomped in place and the two Tauritians calmed down their animals. Kasey sighed and glanced up at the watch tower, noticing how their was definitely fast movement at the top. The prince gritted his teeth together and changed his gaze to the highest tower, his heart pounding as he realized that now they knew…
In the king's chamber King Tansil was standing before the large window and was gazing down upon the plain where he had just witnessed at a distance the half demon prince annihilate a tornado using wind magic. Tansil smirked to himself. "I've got you now demon… let's just see how many volunteers I will get to assassinate you when I tell them of your horrible powers."
*The 3 Acts of KKM: The Melodious Wedding*
Ahh! No! No assassins to Kasey! Ugh! On the other hand I am glad for Shimaron joining the ranks of the alliance—finally! After nine years! Good job. Oh and I keep on forgetting to say thanks for all the review! Love you all!
REVIEW! Please review! PLEASE!