Just as I'm about to strike and deliver the fatal blow, the scene before me changes and, much to my relief, I find myself back in the cell with Fred.

I look down at him and watch him sleep while going over the visions I just experienced over and over in my head, trying to make sense of them. Finally, it clicks. The person who wanted me dead wasn't Fred, but someone else. Fred was just a patsy, a means to an end.

I frown, troubled. It's one thing to want someone dead, but it's an entirely different matter when you not only use someone else to do your dirty work for you, but to also take the blame for your handiwork.

/Alright! I'm officially pissed off! I don't know who's responsible for this whole thing or why, but I'm going to find out or die trying! Wait! I'm already dead aren't I? Right, scratch that. Okay, so my goal is to find the person responsible for the current situation and to report that person to Gwendal. He'll find the guilty party and once he's taken that person into custody, we'll question said party and find out what the deal is! Yes!/

Determination shines in my ghostly black eyes as I stare into space, thinking about what my next move should be.

/Ok, I've learned all I can here. Fred was set up, so the questions now are "who set him up and why?" Also, where would someone who committed a crime, but believed they got away with it, hide out? Since the crime took place in the castle, the guilty party has to be somewhere in the castle right?/

It's still difficult to wrap my head around the fact that someone who works and lives in the castle, someone I probably considered a friend, would commit such terrible acts against me, let alone another, but that seems to be exactly the case.

I close my eyes and sigh heavily, disappointed in the guilty party as well as angry.

/I swear, I'll get to the bottom of this and make everything right again. I might be a ghost now, but I'm still this country's king! Until they can find another to take my place – no! Before and even after that - I'll do everything I can to protect everyone!/

I vow sincerely to no one but myself before turning and walking – floating – out of the cell and into the dungeon. I float over to the stairs and go out through the door and begin my search for the guilty party.

- - x - -

Greta slowly opens her amber colored eyes and slowly sits up and looks around. Her other father, Wolfram, is sitting at his desk off to the side, a blank expression on his normally angry face as he stares into space. The young girl frowns. /It wasn't a dream then. It really did... Yuuri really is.../

Her eyes well with tears and she instantly starts crying at the memory of losing her father. "Yuuri!/

Wolfram, the attentive parent he is, hears his daughter's cries and immediately rushes to her side to comfort her. He sits next to her on the bed and wraps an arm around her and pulls her close.

"It's alright to cry, Greta. Just remember, no matter how many tears we shed, it won't bring Yuuri back."

/If tears could bring Yuuri back, he'd have returned to us by now. Rather than just me, the entire country is mourning the loss of its king. We'll be alright, of course, but nothing will ever be the same without him./

Wolfram closes his emerald green eyes tight shut in an attempt to stop the tears stinging the back of his eyes from flowing down his cheeks and goes back in time in his mind.

/On Earth, I would be considered a "stalker" for following Yuuri all over the place. In reality, it wasn't like that at all! As a soldier of this country, it was imperative that I knew where Yuuri was, who he was with, and what he was doing at all times. How else was I supposed to protect him and keep him safe? Being obsessed, longing to be intimate with him, wanting to marry him, had nothing to do with it./

He pauses, blushing slightly. /Uhm, well, maybe love had a little something to do with it, but when he first came here, I didn't love him at all! I couldn't even stand him, he was such an idiot! He proved that his first night here, when he smacked my left cheek and accepted that duel. I was winning too, until Conrad stepped in to help him./

He opens his emerald greens and narrows them, glaring into space.

/Stupid Conrad! I've always hated him. Well, not always, but for a long time anyway. But then Yuuri came along and somehow... I don't know how he did it but, he helped Conrad and I to become more like brothers again. That isn't the only thing Yuuri did during his time here as king. He helped bring other people together too, including the Mazoku and the humans. Now, there's peace between our two lands./

He frowns thoughtfully.

/But now that he's gone, how long will the peace Yuuri worked so hard for last?/

He closes his eyes and sighs heavily. Although he was a trained and, in his opinion, a highly skilled soldier and would fight for his country if and when it ever became necessary, it wasn't something he enjoyed looking forward to.

/Damn it, you wimp! How dare you leave us alone like this! Don't you realize how much the country needs you?! How much I need you?! Come back to us, you wimp!/

The tears he fought so hard to hold back well up in his normally bright emerald green's and stream quietly down his cheeks.

Now, both the other father and daughter were both crying.

/Y-You wimp!/

As I near the corridor housing the private bed chambers of my former staff, the word "wimp" suddenly reverberates around in my head and I stumble slightly, caught completely off guard.

- - x - -

/Whoa! Those are some pretty strong emotions there, honey!/

I bring my hand up and lightly touch my right temple with my fingertips. I quickly regain my balance and lower my hand and turn left down the adjoining corridor. I float down the hall and stop in front of the door to my now ex-fiance's private bed chamber. I bring my hands up and touch the door, careful not to let my hands go through it.

/Gomen. I.. I didn't mean to leave you and the others behind! Once the current situation has been resolved, one way or another, I'll return! I promise! But right now, I have more pressing matters to which to attend./

I slowly pull my hands away from the door and bring them to rest at my sides. I turn and float away and continue my search for the guilty party.

- - x - -

Wolfram stops crying and gasps slightly and gently pushes his daughter away from him and stands up. He turns slightly and looks towards the door and blinks. /Yuuri?/

A/N: In one of the novel translations (posted on baka-tsuki), Wolfram tells Yuuri that, when he was young, because his hair was the color of honey, Celi's nickname for him used to be "honey." Yuuri likes it, so he decides to start referring to Wolfram as "honey" as well. Despite Wolfram telling him that "honey" is a popular nickname for children living in GDK. Still, I thought it would be fun to use it here. Also, I do intend to finish this story. I'm just not sure when. In the meantime, thank you for baring with me and for taking the time to read this chapter and to review. I appreciate it! ^_^