C.N. April 2014: Digital Distraction Part 19

Yugi let out a pained groan as he came around. His brain felt like it was throbbing, the headache that pulsed at the back of his head matched rhythm with the pounding of his pulse in his ears.

His shoulders ached too. Where his arms had been bound into position for so long, his limbs was sore and stiff and when he tried to move he just caused himself more pain, making him stop quickly.

At least, he sluggishly thought as he tried to comprehend his current situation, he wasn’t moving anymore. Waking up to constant movement and the sounds of the ocean had made his already nauseous body worse. He was just, on some level he couldn’t quite comprehend at the moment, glad he hadn’t thrown up.

He could hear voices, though he had no idea how close they were. It sounded like one of the men from the shop was sneering something, not that Yugi could follow it properly over the noise in his head. If anything the added sound only made his headache worse. The voice picked up in volume, causing Yugi to groan again and try to curl up in a ball, as if he could shield his head from more pain by protecting himself with his still bound legs.

He had no idea how long it had been since he had been snatched from the shop. He knew it had been a long time but blindfolded as he was, he couldn’t see his surroundings so he had no idea if it was day or night. Not only that but he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since his kidnapping and his throat was so dry he could barely whisper, yet alone shout and scream. To top it all off, hunger was causing his stomach to cramp horribly, leaving him miserable and unable to rest.

“Is it alive?” The whimper that escaped Yugi as sound of a door squeaking open and the words, spoken by someone in that direction, pierced the fog in his brain, only to cause the pain to spike again, answered the question nicely. “Good. Yugi’s taken the bait, he’s on his way.”

Both relief and panic coursed through Yugi at the same time. If ‘Yugi’ was on the way, then that meant Yami was coming to get him. However if Yami was coming to get him that meant he was willingly walking right into whatever trap they had set for him.

Despite the pain still pulsing in his head, his mind started trying to work on something, anything that he could do to change the situation. He couldn’t let them harm Yami. The whole point of not telling them which Mutou he was was so that Yami would be safe. He should have known that Yami wouldn’t let him go easily. If he owned up now, however, it was possible that they would leave Yami alone.

“I...I’m Yu...Yugi...” Yugi croaked out, or tried to. His voice cracked horribly as he spoke, the lack of water combining with the fact he had shouted and screamed himself hoarse within the first few hours of his kidnapping.

“You’re Yugi?” The man asked with a laugh. “You’re the powerful King of Games? The one who can supposedly drive people insane with a thought?”

No. Yugi had to admit, that was the Other Yugi. The Yugi who was on this way to try and rescue him. The one who had defeated Marik and Pegasus and driven Voldemort away. He was nothing in comparison to Yami, he never had been. He was the Yugi who collapsed when having to fight in the Shadows. The Yugi who couldn’t defend himself. The Yugi whose friends had to risk their lives to save every time he got in over his head.

They had wanted to kidnap Yugi’s shadow, but the honest fact of the matter was that nowadays Yugi was his own shadow. Yami was the one everyone looked forward to seeing, the one that the bad guys wanted to fight, not him.

“Didn’t think so.” The man sniggered, sounding amused as Yugi went limp, still conscious but broken slightly by the realisation that he wasn’t the Yugi Mutou they were after and he probably never would be, “Nice try though.”

Yugi didn’t respond, just curling up on himself instead, not even bothering to wince as the door squealed as it closed and slammed shut.

Camp NaNo April 2014: Digital Distraction: Part 3

It was eighteen hours before Yami came around after he finally got off to sleep, assisted by a Dreamless Sleep Potion that the nurse slipped into his pumpkin juice. It was another six before Madam Pomfrey started trying to kick him out of the hospital wing, just as she had to the others.

It took her another day and a half to manage it and even then he only left because Yugi finally came around. Yami had been in the middle of yet another discussion about why he didn’t need to go outside and how he would get plenty of fresh air AFTER his light had awoken, when he had felt Yugi’s mind begin to stir and has irritated Madam Pomfrey by ignoring her completely in order to dart to Yugi’s side.

The Pharaoh tried not to mentally wince as pain spiked across the link. There was only a certain amount of pain they could keep from each other and even as Yugi’s groggy, wounded mind scrambled to try and hold back as much of the pain as it could, Yami sat down on the bed next to him, taking Yugi’s hand in his and murmuring, “It’s okay, you don’t have to deal with this alone.”

“Yami?” Yugi’s voice had a pained edge to it, eyes half opened, pain dimmed amethyst looking up at him, a worried, confused expression taking over as Yugi asked, “What happened? Where are we?”

“You need to try and remember, Yugi.” Yami replied, watching his light carefully as Yugi tried to remember what had happened, concerned that Yugi’s confusion was because of the memories that had been lost during the fight.

Yugi frowned, trying to sit up and needing Yami’s help to do so. He gazed at the bed as he tried to pull his thoughts into a coherent pattern. Yami smiled slightly when he felt something in Yugi’s mind ‘click’ and the teen gasped slightly as he stared at his dark half.

“Voldemort!” Yugi yelped, clutching Yami’s arm, “What happened to...?”

“He’s gone.” Yami reassured him, “For now at least.”

“And the others? Are they alright?” Yugi worried at him, glancing around the infirmary and pausing when his gaze fell on Harry, concern obvious.

“Everyone’s okay, or are going to be.” Yami reassured him, glancing over at Harry with a slight grimace, “Harry burnt his magic out somehow. They’re not sure how...”

“Quirrell,” Yugi muttered, turning his eyes towards the bedcovers, “I don’t know what Harry did or how he did it, but his touch seemed to burn Quirrell. He saved us both. That’s probably what did it.” Yugi looked up at Yami, worried, “It will come back, won’t it?”

“Madam Pomfrey doesn’t seem too worried.” Yami shrugged, not sure himself but willing to trust the expert on this. “So I would have thought so.”

“That’s good.” Yugi relaxed at that, flopping back onto the bed, exhaustion beginning to drag him under again.

“Don’t worry about the others.” Yami reassured him, helping him get comfortable, “They’re fine and I’ll look after them. You need to rest and recover.”

“You need to take care of yourself too.” Yugi grasped the Pharaoh’s arm, “Go and eat. I’ll be okay.”

“But...” Yami trailed off at the stubborn look that Yugi gave him. “Yugi...”

“I’ll be fine, Yami, I promise. You’ve seen to that.” Yami started at that, realising that Yugi could sense what he had done to help him, “Go and rest. Please?”

“That’s cheating.” The Pharaoh grumbled, unable to resist the look Yugi gave him in combination with the ‘please.’

“You just haven’t learnt the rules.” Yugi chuckled as he snuggled into his pillow, “Slow learner.”

“Hey...” Yami’s protest was half hearted and pointless as Yugi had already returned to his slumber. He sighed, shaking his head in amusement as he stood up and looked around for the nurse.

Madam Pomfrey was not hard to find and she seemed pleased when Yami said he was going to head down to the great hall for dinner. She had been worried about the amount of food he had been eating over the last couple of days, or rather the lack thereof, and knowing that he was heading down to join his other friends reassured her. She was sure that they would be able to bully him into eating where she had not.

She was quite right, the moment Yami joined his friends they plonked a plate full of food in front of him and told him he wasn’t allowed to leave the table until everything on it was gone.

He was just finishing his meal when the post owls arrived with a rather large stack of post for Yugi. Yami, who had had permission to open Yugi’s post for months, ripped open the envelopes to find a whole bunch of tournament invites that had been forwarded to them by their Grandfather.  

He put them aside for now, unsure what to do about them when they were for ‘Yugi Mutou’ and he could no longer go by that name, but Yugi would be in no fit state to compete for the first few weeks of the holidays. He decided to deal with it when Yugi was more awake and able to help him make a decision on the matter.

Ennead: Ancient Bit: Part 9

“Go away!”

Mahad let out a sigh. As a first order went, that was pretty clear, however... “I’m sorry, my Pharaoh, but I can’t follow that order.”

“Don’t...” A half sob emerged from the room he was trying to enter, a stifled, half hidden sound that spoke of someone attempting to deny grief, attempting to stand strong when all that was wanted was time and solitude so that their collapse into misery went unnoticed. “Just go away, Mahad.”

Despite her words he couldn’t let his friend bare this alone. Though Mahad could not have known that her father would sicken and die within a day of learning the truth of the Millennium Items and confronting his brother, he could not help but feel responsible for the former Pharaoh’s death.   

The priest took a deep breath, well aware that, should she desire, the newly crowned Pharaoh could have him killed without a moment’s notice. Then he pushed open the door and stepped into the darkened chamber within. The sun had long set, but none of the torches within had been lit. The inhabitant of the room, who had fled there the moment her duties had been done, didn’t want the light.

It took Mahad’s eyes a few moments to adjust and he left the door ajar to allow some of the light from the hallway into the room.

Once he could make out outlines in the darkness, he moved towards the lump on the bed, avoiding the discarded regalia as he did so. He sat next to the lump, which was facing away from the door.

“My Pharaoh.” Mahad put his hand on her shoulder gently, aware that he had already crossed the line and that this was sacrilege. Touching the Pharaoh without their permission was punishable by death but he had already refused to follow orders and entered the Pharaoh’s bedchambers without permission. At this point he was already risking death. “I’m sorry...”

A loud sob escaped the girl on the bed. That was the only warning he got before she wheeled around and latched onto him, sobbing into his chest. Mahad hesitated for just a moment before wrapping his arms around her, letting the distraught ruler cry herself out.

“It’ll be okay.” He murmured, rubbing her back, “It’ll all be okay.”

He stayed there, holding the sobbing Pharaoh until she cried herself to sleep, and then laid her down gently and moved away from the bed, pausing by the shadows near the door, where a figure was hiding.

“I’ll look after her.” Ba-Khu-Ra promised from her hiding place, “Go settle the morons. I won’t let anyone disturb her until she’s ready to deal with them.”

“Thank you.” Mahad was surprised by her willingness to do this for the Pharaoh.

“I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for her.” Ba-Khu-Ra snapped. “Now go.”

For once Mahad didn’t object to the former thief trying to order him around. Instead he went to deal with the fallout and left the slumbering Pharaoh in the care of the one person in the entire palace that he could actually trust not to bend to the other High Priests.