A/N (Akikee): *stares at WordlessDreams in awe* Yeah, she always managed to come out with the long and nice chapters very quickly…ha, anyway, thanks for reading once again. Thank you for the kind reviewer too! You're very much appreciated.
WordlessDreams: ahaha... You praise me too much, Akikee. I just had a lot of free time during the last update and... well, it's the plot bunny working. :) anyway, Happy New Year! Thank you, Miyuku Meiru, for your kind reviews!
Chapter 3
"Gwendal, you don't mean to exactly…"
"He deserves this, Conrad! Don't try to stop me!"
"He's just a child…"
"He's needed this training ever since he came to Blood Pledge Castle and Shin Makoku! Look how he's treated me! I've done all the work and this is my repayment! My…" Gwendal's voice broke. "My poor toys! They were assassinated by that monster!"
Said 'monster' was a young (seemingly) five-year-old double black child. He was dragged across the courtyard of the castle by a furious black-haired Mazoku. Conrad and Günter followed them, the advisors attempting to placate Gwendal's fury.
"I… I didn't do anything bad, did I?" Yuuri asked and shrank back when Gwendal glared at him.
"Come now, Gwendal." Günter started, "Even that sort of punishment is too much for Heika…"
"This is necessary for the sake of Shin Makoku, Günter! Don't try to stop me! This… this brat deserves it! He must stay in the stables for a week and no one is allowed to assist him in escaping his… his house arrest!"
Being angry with him was fine; throwing him in a strange place for the night was fine. But there was just one thing that Yuuri could not tolerate and that was anyone calling him a brat.
"I'M NOT A BRAT!"
Gwendal and Günter jumped upon hearing Yuuri's sudden shout and Conrad blinked before he remembered the events that had transpired before.
"You rightfully deserve that title." Gwendal retorted as he quickly recovered and threw open the doors to the old, abandoned stable on the West side of Blood Pledge Castle.
"I do not! And watch that tone of yours! You're speaking to the Maoh of Shin Makoku after all!" Yuuri protested as he started to struggle and Gwendal scowled at him before he shoved the child into the stable.
"I don't care what you think! You deserve this when you came to Shin Makoku uninvited. Be glad that you had Conrad and Günter to keep me from strangling you when you first came! And you should be grateful that I did not decide to send you on a mission with the soldiers to prove your worthiness!" Gwendal shouted angrily at the boy. "And since you decided to destroy my… my…"
Gwendal's voice sounded choked for a moment before he recovered. "Since you decided to destroy my possessions, you shall pay for it, brat!"
"I didn't try to destroy your things! I thought you… you'd be happy if I helped…" Yuuri's lip quivered for a moment and the three who were watching him yearned to rush forward and reassure the young boy that everything was alright.
Finally, Günter broke the pause. "I'm sorry, Heika. But I do believe that Gwendal is right in this matter."
"What?" Conrad and Gwendal stared at him in astonishment.
"Well, if what Anissina said is true, Heika is now a five-year-old child. He does not understand the implications of what he has done and if he does it again... He would be getting a bad impression from us and he would continue to do it… And if he did it on someone who does not have as much tolerance as Gwendal or as kind and patient as Gwendal can be…" Günter explained and trailed off. His two comrades clearly understood what he was implying. But Yuuri did not.
The king's eyes filled and his lips quivered, like he was going to start crying very soon. "What are you talking about, Günter?" his voice was barely above a whisper, feeling entirely betrayed.
"What the two of you are suggesting is preposterous! Are you serious about shutting a child in the stables? He could catch a cold!" Conrad immediately protested.
"He must learn his lesson." Gwendal was firm on his opinion, at least. Günter wavered between his loyalty to the king and the need to be doing the right thing. Finally, he said, "I agree with Gwendal."
"You can't just do this to him, it is not-" Conrad argued but was cut off by Gwendal.
"Are you suggesting that the king continues his behavior? If we don't discipline him now, there's no telling what he might do in the future!" Gwendal pointed out.
"That is true, but you do not have to resort to such harsh ways to teach Heika-" Conrad told his brother.
"We must teach him that destroying other people's possessions is a wrong thing, Conrad. You're too soft. Heika cannot continue this sort of actions and expect to be forgiven. He must be punished. And I do not think that leaving Heika here for a day is a bad idea, he will need the time to reflect on his actions." Günter stopped Conrad.
"But-" Conrad started again before Gwendal glared at him.
"Are you suggesting that we are committing treason?" Gwendal asked sharply. Conrad breathed in sharply.
"You know that I did not mean that, but this punishment is too stern-" Conrad replied before Günter interrupted.
"You can come back to check on him every hour, Conrad. After all, I'm sure Heika will be alright with being alone by himself for an hour." Günter suggested and Conrad caved in.
"Conrad?" Yuuri asked, fearing the response he would receive. He knew that his knight would agree with the other two but he still hoped…
"I'm sorry, Heika, I know that you do not want to stay in here alone." Conrad spoke up with a resigned air. "But what Günter says is true. And while I do not agree with Gwendal's ways…" Conrad shot his older brother an irritated look, "You have to be punished for undoing his work— I mean, murdering," Conrad amended hastily when Gwendal glared, "—his toys."
"And that is the way it should be!" Gwendal proclaimed triumphantly.
The doors slammed close, leaving Yuuri in the darkness. The child blinked. He looked around and bit his lip, creeping towards the door slowly, trying not to make any sounds. He could see the shadows clumping together, forming and transforming into dark monsters with eerie glowing eyes and sinister smiles. His imagination running into overdrive.
"Con…rad?" his voice sounded very small in the darkness and Yuuri was barely aware of his clenching fists.
"Günter…?" his tears ran down his face and he bit his lip as hard as he could. There was a brief pain and he gasped, before tasting the coppery liquid running down his lip. He sobbed slightly in fear.
"Gwendal…" the young child whispered, hoping with all his heart that the Mazoku would appear and forgive him… "I'm sorry, Gwendal!"
No one came. The dark started to rise and crept toward him steadily. Tendrils of darkness reaching out for the young flesh that throbbed with life and fear…
"Conrad!" Yuuri's voice raised slightly in panic. "Conrad!" his voice became shrill.
Alas, there was no one near the old stables at that moment. However, there was a stallion that had wandered out from his stables when Dorcas had been summoned urgently to help Gisela gather some berries.
The stallion happened to hear the fear-filled cries coming from the abandoned stables nearby. Rearing in reaction to the fear and neighed mightily before he galloped to the shut doors and attacked them with his forelegs.
Luckily, the doors were quite weak from the neglect the stables had received after such a long time and they collapsed easily. The afternoon light filtered into the stables. A child—a bleeding one, at that—sat merely inches away from the stallion's legs. His black eyes were fear-filled and unfocused.
The stallion whinnied and bent down to nose the child. He got a whiff of a familiar scent and stared at the young child for a moment before recognizing who it was. It was his master. The King of Shin Makoku, the Maoh.
What was he doing here? Much less, his weird child appearance when his real appearance was older?
"Wha-?" his master seemed confused before he blinked. "Julia…" an odd sort of silence descended upon the boy and the stallion watched as he nodded, as if in a conversation before he turned back.
"…Ao?"
The dark-clothed figure knelt in front of the king of Dai Shimaron.
"Our men are heading to Shin Makoku right as we are speaking now, your Majesty." The figure reported, bowing its head.
"Excellent." King Ranjeel smiled with cruel satisfaction. Soon… he would have Shin Makoku right under his control…
"Where are their locations?" Ranjeel demanded imperiously. He barely noticed the figure stiffening.
"Your Majesty, I assure you…" the man started.
"Well, it's obvious that the king must know everything going on, isn't that right?" Ranjeel interrupted, sneering at the figure.
"Yes, your Majesty." There was a trace of hatred in the words. "They are in a village near the capital of Shin Makoku. A one day's ride would get them to the capital from their current location."
"Well, inform your men that they have to capture the Maoh as soon as possible. I will not tolerate any failure!" Ranjeel announced. "Dismissed."
The king gave an airy wave and turned to his advisor, starting to talk in a loud voice about the negotiations to be bought up with Shin Makoku once they caught the Maoh.
The man collected itself and left the throne room. One day, he swore, one day, Ranjeel would get what he deserved!
Yuuri peered around the garden and scowled briefly when he saw Gwendal hurrying into a room with Conrad and Günter.
"Ready, Ao?" he whispered to the black stallion behind him. Ao whinnied softly and nudged Yuuri. Yuuri giggled and ran his hand over the horse's nose briefly before hugging him.
"Thank you for helping me, Ao." Yuuri whispered. Ao snorted and licked Yuuri's face.
"Stop it!" Yuuri laughed silently and led the way into the castle.
It was a miracle that no one was around at the moment, all of them were attending to their daily tasks; the maids hanging the clothes, the soldiers and Gisela in the training field and his advisors doing some paperwork. Thus, this was the perfect opportunity to spring this on them.
Yuuri reasoned that it was repayment for leaving him in that horrible place. To be more honest, it was also for revenge. He felt slightly betrayed and hurt that they could have made such a decision so swiftly and ruthlessly.
"You know what to do, right?" Yuuri whispered to Ao as he quickly led four more horses out of the stables. "Your friends would help you?"
In silent reply to Yuuri's question, the five bent down and covered Yuuri in horse slobber.
"Ew…" Yuuri laughed as he wiped some of it with his sleeve.
Ao snorted and led his friends into the castle. Yuuri watched them leave with a smirk on his innocent face.
This was going to be fun…
Conrad sighed and looked out of the window. Gwendal was still upset about his 'murdered' toys. It was understandable that he would be furious after such a situation and Conrad knew that the man did not completely blame Yuuri for his actions since he had allowed Conrad and Günter to keep the stuff toys that Yuuri had given to the two retainers.
The two had tried to talk Gwendal into forgiving Yuuri and allowing the boy to come out from the stables. However, Gwendal had remained adamant that this was the king's punishment and he was to stay in there until Gwendal went to collect him.
Gwendal had went so far as to try and prevent Conrad from checking on his king. He had been assigned more paperwork than his usual load and he had to write extra reports on his border patrols. He wished that he could go and see Yuuri, but all his work were due today, and that showed how much Gwendal wished for him to leave Yuuri alone.
He wasn't sure that Yuuri could stand being in the dark for that long, though. The child had confessed to a fear of the dark when he was young to Conrad before this de-aging incident had occurred.
If Yuuri's fear of the dark had come back with his change to a five-year-old…
Conrad shuddered to think of what he would find. And what the consequences would be.
After all, his liege was a mixture of a frightened Earth-bred Mazoku and a mischievous Wincott…
"AH! WHAT IS THIS!"
NEIGH!
Conrad sighed as he stood up. It seemed as if the disaster were taking place right now. In the form of horses.
Yuuri snickered as he stuffed the earthworms into Wolfram's bed. It was a mean thing to do, he knew. But he wanted to repay the Mazoku for calling him a brat. He'd done Günter's bed and Gwendal's bed as well, much to his satisfaction. Both of them had thrown him into the stables. Which was pretty mean, Julia told Yuuri. They could have told him not to do that using other methods.
The only one who was spared was Conrad. Both Julia and Yuuri had a soft spot for him and he was spared from their mischievous actions.
Conrad's too nice to be pranked on… He doesn't deserve it…
Julia had told him that and Yuuri agreed.
"HEIKA! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!"
Yuuri shut the door to Wolfram's behind him silently. The voice undoubtedly belonged to Gwendal, who would discover that his 'dead toys' were being chewed on by Ao. Since the Mazoku had clearly not wanted the extra cotton and stuffing, why let it go to waste?
"URGH! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
Hm… it would be a good idea to leave immediately. Besides, it wasn't as if Gwendal wanted him around.
Thinking about that made Yuuri's eyes fill. He knew that Gwendal wasn't very nice, but did he really hate Yuuri now that all this had happened? It didn't matter if Yuuri couldn't remember everything, Julia had told him of how he had arrived in Shin Makoku, well, not really but at least she had told him of everyone's response.
Did Gwendal really hate him?
Would Conrad hate him?
Yuuri felt his lip quiver at the thought of Conrad hating him. Maybe he would… Maybe…Maybe Yuuri should leave, stop making trouble for them. He knew that what he had done would be a bother to others… they would consider him a burden. Their child Maoh would be a burden to them.
A tear spilled down his cheek. Yuuri barely recognized his surroundings. It seemed as if he had landed up near the West Wing of the Castle, where no one inhabited.
"They don't want me…" Yuuri sobbed to himself, firm in his belief that his retainers detested his existence. He heard Julia's voice speak, but the wave of grief was so strong that it drowned her voice out.
"I wish… I wish…" Yuuri sobbed, one hand trying to scrub away the flood of tears as he spoke. But before he could complete his wish, a flapping noise interrupted his speech. Yuuri looked up and got the fright of his life when he saw a skeleton hovering near him.
Yes, hovering. The skeleton had wings.
Yuuri blinked, amidst his tears. He seemed startled at the presence of the skeleton and fear seemed to rise in his eyes when he heard Julia.
Don't be frightened, Yuuri. Let me make the introductions. This is a Kotsuhitsuku, otherwise known as Kohi.
"…Kohi?" Yuuri sniffed, tears no longer streaming down his face.
The Kohi clattered its jaw together to make a reply.
Yuuri, somehow making sense of its language, stared at the skeleton with wide, hopeful eyes. "Really? You can get me away from here? Are you sure? Conrad and the others won't worry?"
In reply, the Kohi lunged at him and pulled him into the air. Yuuri shrieked, closing his eyes tightly. He felt the rush of air against his face and only dared to open his eyes after some time. He stared at the land of Shin Makoku from where he was and felt a smile spread over his face.
He breathed in deeply, feeling the heavy oppression from the Blood Pledge Castle fall away. He had not noticed how bad the atmosphere at the Castle was, it was practically suffocating him.
Yuuri laughed, releasing a little of the tension in his young, small body. "Thanks, Kohi! You're a life-saver!"
The skeleton clattered noisily at him and Yuuri blinked before he responded awkwardly, "Uh… what a life-saver means, huh… it's hard to explain…"