ZEPHLEIT-LY 16.5

"Wait! Brent! Awww, man..." Ein facepalmed and sighed. "Errr… continue your conversation, guys. Don't mind him. I'll calm him down." Ein stood up from the couch and followed the short-tempered guy.

"Sorry, Grau. Brent's always like that. Aheheh…" simpered Aldin. "Ummm… well, I hafta give Sirius his bath. Excuse me for a moment." The Corporal scampered out of the room picking Sirius up who just happened to pass by the door.

"But, Aldin… meh. He's gone." I uttered. "So, Zeph--"

"Oh, look at the time, I guess it's time to work on my machine." Zeph excused.

"Don't tell me you're--fine, leave." I grumbled crossing my arms, scowling as I turned my head away from him. "Go tend to your machines.

"Sorry, ZL. Chat with yah later!" Zeph picked up his clipboard on top of the sidetable and went on his way.

"Anyway…" I said still sulking. "Sorry, Grau, but I still don't buy that story of yours. I dunno if I should believe you right away or not. But you don't seem to be a bad person; well, apart from snatching my wallet, but… I dunno."

"It's okay. I understand." Grau replied pulling a long face.

"A-Anyway… Marcus, you're leaving tomorrow morning right?" I asked in an undertone. "How about you Grau?"

"Well, I was kinda hoping that I could join Marcus on his flight tomorrow but I guess I can't."

"Oh, really? Why not?" I wondered. "I know it's a private trip, but isn't this guy a son of the Duke?"

"Well, as you can see, he was legitimately declared dead by his father. And if the embassy knows of this, it would cause an uproar, not only locally, but internationally. We don't want any of this to happen, don't we?" asked Marcus. I gave him a nod as a reply.

"We want these type of things to be kept private." he continued, "Even the illness of my mom, I mean, the Queen, was never released in public." disclosed the Prince.

"Then, does that mean he'll stay behind?"

"In the meantime, yes. But I'll work on his papers as soon as things settle a bit back home. Would that be alright, Grau? Hey, Grau!"

I looked at Grau. He was staring blankly at the window. "Hey, Grau. You okay?" I asked. "You seem distracted over something."

"H-Huh? I-I-It's nothing…" he replied rubbing his rather unsteady hands together.

"Are you really sure you're okay?" I asked one more time, but I still got the same reply. "Well, if you say so. I still think otherwise." I shrugged.

--

"Whew! Finally…" I wiped off my face from filth and knock myself out on the sofa.

I am so tired. I helped Marcus pack his remaining luggage and clean his room. We had the others go eat dinner ahead of us, 'cause I don't think they would let Grau join them in the first place. Anyway, it was around 8'o clock in the evening when me and the two Englishmen finished our dinner. Instead of going back to my room, I kept myself in company with Marcus.

"Marcus, I hope you don't mind if I stick around here until later."

"Sure. But, why the serious face ZL?" he wondered.

"Well, it's just that… Today's your last day here, and--" I cut off midsentence letting off a long, deep sigh. "Do you really have to go, Marcus? I wish there's something I could do to stop you. I'll do anything-even if I have to intercept the plane and make it crash… I'll do it, just so you can stay here."

"What the heck are you saying? Are you sure? Haha!" the Prince fleered as he ruffled my hair and pushed me towards the stairs, "Go back to your room. You need some rest."

"Hehe..." I smiled. "I'm just kidding. Why would I ever do that? Okay, see yah in the morning!"

I left Marcus and Grau alone at the dining room. Yes, Grau is there, he just seems so inexistent.

"Umm, Marcus? Err… I'd like to leave you for a while…" excused the delinquent.

"Huh? But where are you going?" inquired the Prince. "It's past 8."

"I just, uhh, I j-just need to go somewhere." Grau stuttered. "I, err-I might not be back until midnight, so I… I just… I g-gotta go…" Grau sped off without saying goodbye leaving Marcus speechless and a bit disoriented.

Meanwhile, as I was about to turn in for the day, I happened to catch a glimpse of two unfamiliar men from afar from my window, bystanders perhaps. When I looked down the window, I caught sight of Grau who was scuttling away. Hmmm, maybe those two guys are his friends and they'll just hang out for the night. Nothing special. I just ignored them, closed my window, and gave myself a shut-eye.

As soon as I woke up the following day, I looked out my window. Oh my. It's dark! "I OVERSLEPT! MARCUUUUSSSS!" I quickly jumped out of bed and ran across the hallway yelling, and shouting "Marcus! Marcus! Oh, no! He left! I'm too late!" I tried barging into Marcus' room but it was locked. Since I was kinda somnambulating at the time, I kept on pounding the door, until someone had to open it.

"Marcus! You've decided to stay!" I jumped on him and hugged him very tight.

"Uhh… ZL? Are you okay?" worried Marcus.

"I'm alright, especially now that you've decided to stay!" I cheerfully snuggled at him.

Zeph and the rest of the gang came out of their rooms to check on the situation. "What's going on here?" asked my big bro.

"Marcus decided to stay! Aren't you guys happy?" I continued snuggling at the blonde Prince.

"Hey, ZL." Aldin snapped his fingers to call my attention. "Are you not dreaming or anything? It's only 3am."

"…" Well, it took quite awhile before my head had fully discerned the actual situation. As soon as I did, I stopped snuggling Marcus, but I did not move away. It's my chance. Hehe…

"Wait… so..."

"Yes, ZL. It's only 3am. Marcus has yet to leave…" Ein clarified.

"Ahehehe… sorry about that… Let's all go back to sleep." I darted off back to my room out of humiliation. "I can't believe I did that. And in front of Grau, too… Oh man…" I jumped back to my bed and covered myself with my blanket. I wanted to sleep and forget everything that had happened just a while ago, but I can't. I tossed and turned on my bed, my head still preoccupied by what just happened. "Maybe I just go lift some weights…"

I got up again and head towards the door. But before I step out, I looked around the hallway, just to make sure the coast is clear. Okay. Everyone's back in their rooms. I tiptoed across the corridor until I made it past their rooms, just to make sure I don't disturb anyone. I head downstairs and straight towards the gym.

I only spent around 2 hours since the servants are already up by 5:30 in the morning. I don't want to get in the way while they're cleaning. As soon as I finished my morning workout, when've decided to take a morning shower. When I was on my way to take to my room, I saw a familiar face from far across the opposite end of the hallway. It was Grau, by the phone. Hmmm,  I wonder who he is talking to. Oh well.

--

7:53 am. Everyone is gathered at the living room, waiting for the Embassy service to pick up the Prince. Too bad we can't accompany Marcus at least upto the airport, but due to some political and regulatory measures, we can't. How lame.

"Hey, Grau. You look so glum." I called out.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing…" he mumbled. "Really, don't worry about me. Heheh…"

"You're so pale! Tell me, what's bothering you? You've been acting all weird since yesterday afternoon." I said out of concern.

"Isn't it obvious, ZL?" chaffed Brent. "Mr. Kidnapper here is just sad."

"Cut it out, Brent." Ein whispered nudging him on the side. "Just zip it for now, okay?" he continued. Brent just snarled back as he sat down at a nearby couch and picked up the magazine on the table to read his temper away.

"Man…" Zeph yawned stretching both of his arms bringing them down to a flex, "What's taking them so long? I wanna workout now." He grumbled.

"Hah! My bicep's bigger than yours" bragged Aldin. "Look at these guns!" He raised his arms and brought it to a double-bicep. His biceps peak up to a wondrous 21 inches, cold.

"Heh! You call that a bicep?" Zeph taunted. "I'll show you what a true bicep is." My big bro pumped his arms up by bringing his biceps to a flex several times, growing a bit bigger everytime he does. "23 inches, baby!"

While the two of them continued with their little contest, Marcus, on the other hand, was plain quiet, staring at the carpet and occasionally at his watch. "They'll be here at any second…" he said.

"Awwww… can't you cancel your flight?" I asked.

"Hehe, it's too late for that, ZL." he replied.

"Oh come on, you're the Prince. Cancel your flight." I pleaded. "Pleeeeeeeeease…" I kneeled down and gave him puppy dog-eyes.

"Sorry, ZL. I know how much it hurts to leave you guys, but I can't. I must return back home to my parents."

"I know… we all know…" I sulked.

At that very moment, the phone rang. Ein quickly dashed over and answered it. "Uh-huh. Okay. Thanks. *CLICK*"

"Who was it?" Aldin inquired.

"Well, it's the gatekeeper. The Embassy is already here." Ein said frowning. "So, I guess this is goodbye then, huh, Marcus?"

The Prince kept mum. I understand. No one wants him to leave, nor did he want to. But his parents are far more important. We know that we can still visit him abroad, but having him here is far more different. Sigh.

"DING! DONG!" The doorbell rang followed by three knocks on the door. As soon as Zeph opened the entranceway, the ambassador and his secretary introduced themselves, explained the situation and other whatnot which we already knew from before. Blah Blah. Marcus is right. Formality sucks.

Two bodyguards followed them to help carry the luggages. "Lemme help you with that." I offered, but they declined. Fine. I'm just trying to help here.

"Right this way, you're Highness."

The entourage escorted him out of the mansion and into the black limousine. But before that, he gave each one of us a hug. "Goodbye and take care." he said, "I'll call you as soon as I arrive".

We followed them outside. Marcus got on the limo and waved us goodbye for one last time. "Bye! Marcus! We'll miss you!" I cried, "Bye…" I dunno what got into me, but when the limo started moving, I ran after it. "Wait!" I yelled, "Don't leave us! Please!" I tried chasing the limo but it was too fast. I only managed to run until the mansion gates. "Damn…" I scowled as I cried pounding the gate railings.

"Come on, Z. Let's go back inside…" mollified Zeph, who chased after me. He helped me up and rubbed my back trying to pacify me down. They even gave me water to help me calm down. Such good friends, and I just had one left me.

After things have settled down quite a bit with me, Grau approached. "Ummm, ZL. Mind if I leave for a while? I'll be back this afternoon."

"Huh? Where are you going?" I asked.

"Well, errr-I'm just going to visit some of my friends, oh and visit my boss." he said. "Hope you don't mind."

"Oh, yeah, you're a mason, right?" I clarified. "Okay, just be sure to be back by then. Marcus will be mad at me if ever something happens to you."

"I will, ZL. Don't worry about me." The blonde guy bid his goodbye and darted off.

--

4:28 pm. We should be receiving a call from Marcus any minute now. Besides, it's a private jet. He should've arrived there already in just 7 hours. But I can't help but feel that something's amiss.

"Hi, ZL!" greeted Grau, who I wasn't expecting to be back soon enough.

"Oh, hey, Grau!" I greeted back.

"Did someone call yet? I mean, Marcus should've called by now, right?" he wondered.

"Yeah, but we haven't received any phone calls since morning." I said, "Well, actually we did. But it's only my mom asking me to do some errand."

"RINGGG! RINGGGGG!!!"

"Just a sec." I ran over the phone in anticipation. Everyone else resting in the nearby rooms came rushing over in high hopes that it was indeed the Prince who was on the other end of the line. However, we never thought that the call we'd be receiving would be one phone call we shouldn't have ever received

"Hello. Wolfingston Residence. ZL speaking!" I answered vivaciously. It was not long enough before the life and animation of my face was turned into grief and sorrow. "Marcus? What about the plane?" I cried over the phone.

"What's wrong, ZL?" worriedly asked Aldin.

"Tell us! You don't look so good." said Brent in concern.

I raised my hand signaling them to refrain from asking questions. "But, sir… NO! I don't believe you! NO WAY!" I barked. "It's not true… Marcus is… no, sir. I don't bel-SHUT UP!" I furiously dropped the phone and started crying.

"What's wrong, ZL!? Tell us. What about Marcus? SAY SOMETHING, DAMMIT!" insisted Brent.

"Marcus is… Marcus is dead…" I sobbed.

"F***! NO WAY! THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!" Grau bellowed.

"Stop kidding around Z… heheh… Marcus is not dead." Zeph refused to believe what he heard by giving me a fake smile, but his watery eyes tell otherwise.

Ein is standing on a corner rubbing his eyes trying to restrain his tears from falling, while Aldin sat on the couch petting Sirius, crying. "That's the funniest joke I've every heard from you, ZL." remarked the muscular chef patting my shoulder, and then, after a few moments of silence, he snagged me by my collar and started venting, "TAKE IT BACK, ZL! MARCUS ISN'T DEAD! STOP FOOLING AROUND! YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY?!"

"Calm down, Brent." Ein said trying to cool the guy off. "It's not ZL's fault."

"WHAT? YOU BELIEVE MARCUS IS DEAD!?" he roared.

"N-No! Of course, not. But why do you think someone would call us to tell us just that?" Ein argued.

"JUST SHUT UP!" exclaimed the brunet.

As we grieve on Marcus' loss, little did we know that the local police had arrived at the mansion until our butler had notified us. "Sir, the police are here. They are currently at the parlor." he said.

"Alright," replied Zeph, "we'll be there."

--

"According to the report of the English coast guard, a private jet came crashing down at the Atlantic Ocean several kilometers west southwest of England at around 3:32 pm. The known cause of the accident was a bomb explosion of the engine." reported the authorities.

"…Marcus…" I grieved.

"Unfortunately, there were currently no known survivors. There were no bodies of the pilot and passengers found at the crash site up until this point. It is possible that they could've escaped though. They are currently surveying the ocean perimeter as we speak. Also, the English navy have formed a search party to dive into the ocean and search for the missing bodies that may have sunk." he continued. "The black box is also yet to be found. Authorities are still working on locating the said device. Unfortunately, that's all the information we could provide you at the moment. We're working hand in hand with the English government on this case. We'll keep you in touch."

The police had left afterwards.

"Damn…"

"There's still hope." I said still crying trying to cheer myself and everyone up. "It's possible that Marcus had survived."

"YEAH!" Brent interjected. "But, it's the middle of the ocean… there are sharks in there." he feared. Wow. Way to put us down even more.

"But who do you think would do such a thing?" Ein enquired.

"I think I know of someone!" Grau shouted as looking at me.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "Are you accusing me!?"

"Hey, watch it pal!" blocked Zeph as he pushed the blonde guy aside. "Who do you think you are? You can't just go accusing someone!"

"ZL would never do such a thing!" defended Aldin. "Besides, how would he able to do it? He never left the mansion!"

"Don't be so sure about it, tough guy!" mocked Grau smirking. "He was out early this morning! Around 3am, right after that silly act of his."

"What the!? What the hell are you talking about?" I bayed, confused about Grau's accusations. "I never left the mansion."

"You were not in your room when I checked." he argued. "I looked over the mansion but I never found you."

"Is that true?" asked Brent.

"True, I was not in my room at 3, but I did not leave the mansion. I'm at the gym! You have no proof I wasn't here." I protested.

"You have no proof either that you are here." he rebutted. "When I saw you, it was around 5:30am. It's highly possible that you were out during those times."

"BUT I DID NOT LEAVE THE MANSION! TRUST ME, GUYS! I DIDN'T!!!" I shakily objected. This guy's crazy! Accusing me of something I didn't do. Why does he insist of pointing that it was me!? What does he want?

As I was busy defending myself from baseless accusations at the time, the police had returned unsuspectedly. "Sirs!" interrupted the Butler, "The police are here. They wish to talk with Mr. Stalgav."

"WHAT!?" we blurted out in chorus. "B-But, why?" I asked.

"Mr. Stalgav, you have the right to remain silent." said the police. "We currently received an update and the officials have found some incriminating evidence against you at the site."

"WHAT THE F--! No way! How is that possible?" I asked clinging on my big bro.

The police officer brought out a piece of folder with photos all clipped together: a photo of a book, and a letter of some sort. "This book was found in one of the passengers' seats, and this letter was found pressed between the pages of the said book." he explained. "The letter says: I've asked you to stay, but you still left my side. Enjoy your flight as your plane burns up in flames. Happy trip… to hell! From, ZL"

"But, but…" I stammered.

"Moreover, the book belongs to you, isn't it, Mr. Stalgav?" questioned the officer.

"Y-Yes." I replied. "I gave that book to Marcus a day ago."

"You just admitted to your crime, sir." notified the police. "Thanks for confirming it."

"W-W-Wait! How could you tell that he's the one who wrote the letter?" Zeph asserted.

"Handwriting analysis…" muttered Ein.

"Correct. We compared the handwriting at the book and of the letter. Laboratory results indicate that both are written by the same person, namely you, Mr. Zephleit Stalgav."

"NO WAY!" I denied. "I never wrote my name on the book!"

"But sir, it is quite evident from the photo here. You have written your name in your book. It even says "Book belongs to ZL". Plus, the book was found in Prince Marcus' belonging, along with his passport. We believe this is conclusive enough to warrant an arrest."

"NO!"

"You killed Marcus!" exclaimed Grau clutching my shirt by the chest. "It's all your fault. Didn't you say that you'll do everything just to keep Marcus from leaving… even if you have to intercept the plane and make it crash!?"

"…no…" I muttered as I repeatedly shake my head denying all of these charges against me. I looked at the others, but they only gave me glowering faces that could kill.

"How could you?"
"I hate you!"
"Speak up! Tell us the truth…"

I would never do such a thing to Marcus. Who would go at entire measures just to put the blame on me? What did I do to deserve this? What did I do to that person? Could it be Craigmartin? Could it be Ralf? But why?

"You killed Marcus…" Grau indicted, "YOU KILLED HIM…"

"No… it's not my fault…" I was handcuffed, and was arrested for something I did not do. "I am innocent… please… help me…"

I struggle back as I was taken away by the police, but I am drained from all the crying and weeping. As I reach the police car, I glanced back at them, and saw Grau smiling with an evil grin.