Disclaimer: I do not own Yuuri, Gwendal, or any other characters from Kyou Kara Maoh. I do, however, own Amarande. Which, by the way, is pronounced ah-mah-rand. Silent e.

 

Amarande Immortal

 

 

King Yuuri Shibuya heard tell of a certain human through his advisor Gunter von Christ and the royal priestess Ulrike. A human blessed with holy powers. A human blessed with immortality. A human inhumanely imprisoned in a stone tower at the edge of Svelera for over seven hundred years. His interest - and sense of justice - peaked, he, Wolfram, Gwendal, Conrad, and Murata decided to journey to the tower to find her.

 

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When they crossed into Svelera and found the tower where the being was said to be imprisoned, they became excited. Was the girl still there? Was she okay? What kind of powers did she have? The group paused befor the tower, realizing the enormity of what they were about to do. Over a hundred feet above them was a human priestess imprisoned by a previous Maoh for over ten human generations - there was no way she couldn't be psychologically damaged in some way. She was probably either insane or hated demons for all she was worth.

 

“We've gotta do this,” declared Yuuri forcefully. “We have to rescue her!”

 

With that dynamic statement, the group jumped over the ruins of the archway into the tower and raced up the crumbling stairs, encountering bits and pieces left behind by previous visitors. When they finally reached the top of the grim structure and opened the rotted wooden door, she was kneeling down looking out the window, her long silver hair pooled out around her. They stared at her pale form in awe before a broken voice came out of nowhere and pleaded, “Please…please don't hurt me. Just leave already.” The group stood shocked until they realized that it was coming from the frail woman they were looking at.

 

They hadn't expected her voice to sound so dead.

 

“You need not worry, dear lady,” Conrad replied softly, walking up to her. “We're here to help you. Could you show me your leg?” She sighed, closing her eyes, and turned to face them before sitting down all the way. She lifted up her thin white dress to reveal a slim white leg with a heavy iron cuff attached to her ankle. It looks so out of place on her, Yuuri thought. It's terrible that they would do this to a young girl just because she became immortal through a terrible accident.

 

Gwendal stepped forward, unsheathing his blade. The woman flinched at the harsh sound as if she had been cut. “No! I'm sure you already know! I cannot die! Please don't hurt me!” She held her hands out in front of her as if to shield herself, her eyes clenched shut.

 

Gwendal, ignoring her, brought his sword down on the ugly chains connecting her ankle to the stone wall, cleaving them in two. Sheathing his sword, he knelt down to her and gently pulled her hands down from in front of her. “What is your name, girl? We cannot call you `woman' when we get to the castle, can we?” he asked her.

 

She turned her head up toward him and slowly opened her eyes, placing a little trust in her rescuers. “I…my name…it's Amarande.”

 

Gwendal jerked back in shock, roughly letting her arms go. “Brother? What's wrong? What happened?” asked Wolfram quickly.

 

Gwendal leaned forward again, ignoring Wolfram's question, and quietly whispered, “You're blind…” Amarande looked up at him fearfully, her sightless eyes aimed a little off from his face.

 

“Is that bad? I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It happened during the accident! I didn't mean to! I really didn't!” she broke off her panicked words, sobbing.

 

Gwendal put his hands on her shoulder and told her gruffly before standing up, “It's not a big deal. You seem to be fine without them, so it's alright. Now, we must go.” He bent down, picked her up and swung her over his shoulder roughly. “I doubt you have the strength to walk after being confined in here for so long, so you'll have to bear with being carried.”

 

“Carried?” she asked confusedly. “Carried where? Where are you taking me?”

 

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She was tense over his shoulder until they crossed the border of the two countries. As soon as they passed through the border gates into the Demon Kingdom and their magic was able to surface again, her blind eyes widened and she wrenched herself out of Gwendal's grasp and pushed herself away from Yuuri. “The Maoh! Don't come near me! You're just going to hurt me again!” she sobbed, fear plain on her features. Yuuri started forward with a frown but was stopped by Gwendal.

 

“Please, do not fear. We only came to release you from that place and bring you back to Covenant Castle. We only have good intentions toward you, and Yuuri - he is our new Maoh - is not the one who imprisoned you. He'd never do something as atrocious as that.” he reassured her. She paused, still tense, before drawing in a small breath.

 

“I'm not sure about you, but anything is better that staying in that tower, and I can't die no matter what you do to me. I'll go with you.” Gwendal, relieved, bent down towards her and picked her back up.

 

“Well, whatever we do, lady Amarande, we're definitely going to cut your hair to a more manageable length.”

 

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At the castle, the group left her outside with Dorcas for a few minutes while they went in to talk with Gunter and Anissina. Amarande sat and listened to Dorcas chatter on nervously for a couple of minutes before she heard some clanking. The men on the practice ground had seen her and ventured over to take a look and ask Dorcas who she was. They knelt down and felt her hair - silver wasn't commonly seen anywhere in this world - and asked Dorcas about her. She tensed up with fear when she felt unfamiliar auras and hands around her, grabbing at her hair and dress. “Aaah! No! Please stop! Help me!” she called out, crying in fear of what felt like something that had oft been done to her during her imprisonment. The soldiers all sprang away guiltily when they heard the castle doors slam open.

 

Gwendal came striding out into the courtyard toward them. “What is the matter, Dorcas? I heard screaming!”

 

“Oh, Lord von Voltaire! The soldiers were just checking her out and she suddenly started to cry out! What did they do?” he looked at the older man, whimpering from his position on the ground.

 

“It would be wise not to pressure her at the moment.” Gwendal declared, looking at the cowering woman. He knelt down and put his hand to her cheek, lifting her head up toward him. The moment she realized he was there, she drew in a harsh breath and collapsed. Gwendal caught her before her head hit the ground and picked her up gently - bridal style this time - and walked into the castle, bringing her to her new room.

 

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“Why won't she wake up? She's so still!” Yuuri panicked. “Is she…dead?”

 

Murata, confused, replied “No. She'd definitely not dead, but…I'm not sure what the problem is. We should probable ask Ulrike; if this happened in the past she would know about it since they were both alive at the same time back then.”

 

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“Well?” Wolfram asked the small priestess. “Do you know what's wrong with her?”

 

Ulrike sighed. “Yes, unfortunately. This happens whenever her power drains every month or so - the downside to immortality. She needs to be rejuvenated, especially since she probably hasn't been for a while.”

 

“Okay, so what do we do?” asked Yuuri.

 

Ulrike replied, “Ah…I wrote up some instructions pertaining to this before you got back. How about I just give that to you?” She pulled out a couple of sheets of paper and handed them to Conrad before retreating back into the hall.

 

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Once everybody was seated around the bed, Conrad stood up and pulled out the papers he had received earlier from Ulrike. He cleared his throat and began to read out loud.

 

“More than seven hundred years ago, Amarande was a human in service of the 19th Maoh. After an accident with magic between her and a mazoku, the mazoku was killed and she became immortal. The same accident caused fire in the castle they were staying in and killed everybody but her and a lone Kohhi. Suspicious, the Maoh had her tortured, but once he discovered that she couldn't die, he imprisoned her in lone stone tower just over the border of the Demon Kingdom and Svelera so she couldn't use any magic to escape. Over the years, people heard about the `beautiful ghost' in the tower and ventured toward it to try their luck in sighting it. Most of the time it was groups of men that came, taking advantage of her weak and imprisoned state to rape her over and over again, not knowing that it was their cruel acts that actually kept her conscious, for without continual release inside of her she would become inanimate. She gradually became but a pale phantom of what she once was.

 

Remember:

 

- Her mental stability lessens as she gets closer to an inanimate state; a day or two before she's due to sink into total unconsciousness her mind degrades into that of a frightened child

 

- Every month or so her body requires the release of a man inside her to regain her strength or she will become totally inanimate. She does not die, however; if she falls into inanimacy she can be brought awake many years later without fail. Normally, the morning after this rejuvenation she can be found bright, happy, and totally awake, while the male can be found sleeping late into the day, even if they normally rise very early.”

 

Conrad finished reading and looked around at the various blushes decorating every face as they tried not to look at the prone woman on the bed. “It also makes a note that it is better if the man in charge of helping her usually stays near her and that he should be…experienced.”

 

He looked up again when Yuuri muttered, “That's terrible. I hope that all the people who did that to her burn in hell.”

 

“Woah, Yuuri! You must be mad!” Wolfram said. “You don't usually swear like tha-“

 

“If I may continue,” Conrad interrupted, “We must think about this logically. It can't be Yuuri or Wolfram, because they don't fit either of the criteria.” Two of the blushes suddenly got a lot worse. “And both Yozak and I leave the castle often with you two, so we're not fit either. So really, our only choices are Gunter and Gwendal, because you two normally stay here at Covenant Castle.”

 

After a pause, Gunter sighed. “I shall help the girl if it helps his majesty, Lord Conrart! Leave this to me!” he exclaimed.

 

Murata held up his hand to signal Gunter to stop talking, and told the man, “I believe it would be wise to see if her powers accept you first. We're not like the men who raped her; we shouldn't use force to wake her up.”

 

“Why, Great Wise One, that is an excellent idea!” Gunter piped up happily. He got up from his chair and walked over to the bed and the doll-like girl. Pausing for a moment, he studied her form. “How am I supposed to see if her powers reject me or not, Great Sage?” he wondered.

 

“Just put your hand on her cheek and lean over her. That should work.” Murata replied. Gunter nodded and did what Murata had said. A second later, his hand was repelled as if pushed back by a barrier.

 

“Wise one, there's a barrier of some sort there, but it's easy enough to push through. Does this mean she rejects me?” he sobbed.

 

“Umm, yeah, I think so. Maybe we should have Gwendal try it out? I think she already is familiar with his aura, so he should be okay…” Murata turned to Gwendal and pulled him toward Amarande. The older man did what Murata had initially told Gunter to do and encountered no resistance. Knowing full well what that meant, he sighed.

 

“It seems she accepts me. I shall help her, Your Majesty.”

 

“Are you serious? Thank you, Gwendal!” Yuuri replied ecstatically through his heavy blush.

 

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The next day, Gwendal was up earlier than usual, pacing in the halls. Wolfram came up to him and asked, “Brother? Is something wrong?”

 

Gwendal stopped his pacing and replied, “I did…what Ulrike's instructions said, but she will not wake up and here I am up at dawn! Something's wrong!”

 

Conrad sighed and said, “We should probably go to Ulrike. Wolfram, you and Yuuri accompany Gwendal to the Hall of the Great One. We'll be here waiting.”

 

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Gwendal demanded of Ulrike, “Why does she not wake up? I did what you told me would rejuvenate her!”

 

Ulrike bluntly asked, “Gwendal, did you finish inside of her?” Yuuri and Wolfram's eyes widened and they went into a fit of coughing in embarrassment.

 

Gwendal ignored the gagging duo and replied, “No. Is it absolutely necessary?”

 

Ulrike answered, “Yes. It will not work otherwise. Try again tonight. You cannot worry about getting her pregnant or it will not work.” The two younger boys started coughing again full force, and Gwendal just rolled his eyes and walked out of the hall.

 

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The next morning, neither Gwendal nor Amarande could be found inside the halls of the castle. At Yuuri's insistence, Conrad went to Amarande's bedroom and looked inside to see if the two were still asleep - according to Ulrike's notes, Gwendal should have still been asleep and Amarande should've been out of bed already. Gwendal was there, sleeping, but Amarande was gone.

 

“Gwendal! Gwendal! Wake up! Where's Amarande?” Yuuri shook him.

 

“Ugh…what?” he sat up, the blankets falling off his naked upper torso, and pushed his long hair out of his eyes. “What happened?”

 

“Oh, you mean last night? I don't know. All we heard was a girl crying out.” Wolfram replied innocently.

 

Gwendal sighed in exasperation at his younger brother and turned toward Conrad. “No, not that. What happened to Amarande?”

 

Conrad was briefing him when an idea popped into Yuuri's head. He ran out, yelling “I know where she is!” and everybody but Gwendal, who was still exhausted, followed the Maoh.

 

Amarande was sitting in the courtyard near the practice field playing with Elle, a smile on her face, all traces of the fear from the last few days gone from her face. Yuuri ran up to her and asked, “Hey, Amarande! So your legs are okay now?”

 

She handed the toy to the baby and sighed, turning to Yuuri. “Unfortunately, I used all my strength just to walk the little ways out to here. I can't move my legs at the moment; right now they're about as useless as my eyes.” she chuckled, turning back to tickle Elle.

 

Yuuri was still confused. “Okay, I understand that, but how did you find your way out here in the first place?” he asked.

 

“Your Majesty, I used to live here in Covenant Castle. I know the halls and rooms like the palm of my hand. I even remember how many steps the front staircase is after all these years!” she laughed happily, shaking her head, long silver hair whirling about her. Her attitude was so cheerful and so different than her previous, energy-deprived panicky demeanor that the men couldn't help but internally vow never to let her strength get down that low again.

 

“I guess older brother Gwendal's going to have a lot of work ahead of him with you,” Wolfram wondered out loud. “You're like a doll that needs to be wound up every month…although I guess it's not as simple as a couple twists.” He blushed, realizing what he had just said.

 

“Oh, your reactions are just so cute!” said Amarande airily, listening in. “This is going to be so much fun!”