16Yay! The next chapter is out! This is the last one, by the way. Thanks to all you darlings who reviewed and encouraged me!
Chapter 2
"Maybe-umm…" Wolfram struggled with his dangerous Mazoku pride to get the words out finally.
Greta seemed to take pity on him. "Oh, you must try it on, Wolfram!" she exclaimed, taking it off and holding it out to him. "Here!"
Wolfram took the bracelet and looked at it closely. I wonder if Yuuri really will like it...
To his surprise, the clasp of the bracelet made a snapping noise. Alarmed, he turned it, thinking it was broken. But it wasn't. A little secret area had fallen open and there was a little roll of parchment hanging from a delicate chain attached to the area.
"This shall help you find your true love wherever he or she may be. The spell shall be cast when you put it on."
True love?
If Wolfram had any fleeting idea about not wearing the bracelet, they disappeared instantly. He hurriedly slipped his hand through it and locked the clasp.
Then everything went black.
"Rufus's bracelet?" Yuuri said blankly. His head was swirling.
Murata nodded. "I was suspecting something would happen if he saw the chain letter." All eyes swiveled from him to the letter again.
Yuuri noticed the letter for the first time. "Huh? Futile journey for true love? Why would Wolfram go on a futile journey for true love?"
"Oh yeah, let me guess, Shibuya," said Murata sarcastically. "A boy who's madly in love with his fiance who ignores him all the time. No special reason to seek out advice regarding his love life, ne?"
Yuuri's brows contracted for the least moment before his eyes widened in horror like the others. "You mean Wolfram-did this..."
Everyone was quiet. Greta broke the silence first.
"It's all my fault. I should never have got the bracelet from the treasury room in the first place," she said, her voice choking. "Yuuri, I'm so s-so-rry..." she wept and clung to Yuuri, who looked like he'd been hit with a baseball bat. His expression never changed, even as he bent down to hug his daughter.
"Don't cry, Greta," he said, patting her copper curls. "We'll wake him up. Anissina," he looked at the red-haired woman, "take Greta to the nursery, will you? Gwendal may leave as well."
Anissina took away the sobbing princess and Gwendal gave Yuuri a venomous glare before he left.
Yuuri turned to Murata and Gunter when they were gone. "Now tell me exactly what is going on."
Murata grimaced. "Hell, Shibuya, you're really dumb. That chain letter is magical, it doesn't really show the thing it's showing now. It just tells you to put it on to find true love."
Yuuri nodded. "And how do you get it off?"
"You can't get it off," said Murata. "It sticks until the right person to wake him up comes along. And if he or she doesn't-well..."
"Well, what?" Yuuri prodded.
Murata sighed. "He'll die."
There was pin-drop silence for a moment.
"DIE?" Yuuri's shriek echoed through the infirmary.
Murata's voice hardened. "Yes, Shibuya. He'll die."
"And you have only till sundown, Heika," said Gunter, worriedly looking at him.
Sundown? He had till sundown only?
"We'll leave you here, Yuuri," said Murata. "I have better things to do. Just remember that if all the hearts on the bracelet break by sundown, it's over. Gunter, come with me." Murata exited and Gunter, after one last worried look at Yuuri, followed him.
Wolfram was choking.
He'd never been so afraid of the dark as now. Partly because the other times, he could always use his fire to light up the area.
But now, even after he'd tried so much, he couldn't summon his maryoku at all. What the hell was this place? He'd never felt claustrophobic before. The only thing which kept him sane was Yuuri's voice, which he could hear. Yuuri was saying random sentences and talking to someone.
Yuuri, he thought. Will you rescue me?
Yuuri looked at his unconscious fiance's angelic face. He'd been sitting there for five hours, never moving his gaze from the blond. The late afternoon was fading into twilight. He'd refused lunch, and there was a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was so near...
"Wolf-chan," he said softly, brushing his hand over Wolfram's forehead, running it over the beautiful, sun-kissed golden curls. "Why'd you do this to yourself?"
There was a splitting sound. Yuuri looked down at the bracelet in alarm. On the middle emerald, there was a long, jagged crack.
Yuuri looked back at Wolfram's forehead. To his surprise, his eyes were stinging. The other two emeralds were already broken. This one had just started to break.
"You can't leave, Wolf. Not like this. Think of your brothers, your mother. Think of Greta. Think of-think of me." A single tear leaked from the Maou's eyelids and fell on the bracelet.
"I'm sorry for what I did, Wolfram." Yuuri was speaking very fast, he had no idea how the words were finally coming out of his mouth. He'd been afraid to tell Wolfram everything, afraid he'd be rebuffed by his friends, be rebuked by Wolfram for saying it. He'd been afraid no one would believe him. Their engagement was a fake, according to everyone. But it didn't matter if he said it out now. Because Wolfram wouldn't be listening. It wouldn't matter. "I should've told you everything."
Unknown to the king, the middle crack of the bracelet was rejoining.
"I miss you-I miss everything about you when I'm on Earth. I miss your laughter, your passion, your paintings, your nature, even your screaming." Yuuri's voice was choked. "I think I've been falling in love with you and denying it all the time."
The second emerald to the left rejoined.
"Please don't leave us-don't leave me, Wolf," he whispered, taking his hand with the bracelet and closing his eyes in despair. The little sunlight in the room flickered and disappeared. "Please..."
"Please what, wimp? Did you think I was going to give you an oppurtunity to cheat so soon?"
Yuuri's eyes flew open wide and he stared at Wolfram's mischievous angelic face as he rolled his emerald orbs.
"Hmph. Did you think I'm that weak, wimp-mmh!" Wolfram's eyes grew to the size of saucers as Yuuri crushed his lips against Wolfram's. His eyes slowly fluttered shut as he enjoyed the sensation. Yuuri's left hand clasped around his waist while the other cupped his chin. Wolfram's hand wound it's way into Yuuri's hair.
They let go of each other about a minute later. Wolfram's cheeks were prettily flushed, his long eyelashes fluttered over his emerald-green eyes. Yuuri's obsidian eyes raked over his face, making him blush even more.
"What, wimp?" he stuttered looking away.
Yuuri grinned before depositing another kiss on Wolfram's rosebud lips. "I love you."
"So when's the wedding?" said a voice from the doorway. Both of them swiveled round to see what seemed like all the residents of Blood Pledge Castle standing there with stars in their eyes, gushing at the scene. Murata, the source of the voice, grinned as Lady Celi squealed and went forward to crush her "darling Wolfie" and his unfortunate fiance into her gigantic bosom.
"You're great, Shinou," Murata muttered as he felt the Original King's presence. The ghostly wind seemed to chuckle.
"That's why they call me the Great One, my Daikenja."
Some things were always meant to be. The two royal boys' engagement might have been an accident-even their love was an accident. But that didn't matter as long as it was true love, right?
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