Shadow Rising

More of the hikari’s view. And everything’s starting to come together now.



******



Yugi gave a muffled yelp as he was thrust roughly into the room, turning to look as the door was closed and locked behind him. Left in the darkness, alone.



Curling up, he squeezed his eyes closed tightly, calling out in his mind, screaming as loud as he could. There was no answer at all, though, and tears fell unbidden and unnoticed from his eyes as he tried harder, stretched out farther than he had ever managed before, searching for some tiny sign that Yami was reaching out for him as well. But still there was no answer.



:Yami.: He called, over and over, into the darkness, until the simple name began to lose meaning. Finally exhausted by his efforts, Yugi feel asleep. Of course, considering all he had gone through in the last twenty four hours, it was inevitable that his sleep would be plagued by nightmares.



******



Malik was in no position to be calling to anyone, either in mindspeak or out loud. The Egyptian had been locked into one of the smaller rooms, his claustrophobia quickly taking over. For the first little while he had panicked, managing to free himself of the ropes that had held him, searching for some kind of exit from the suffocating space. But the door was still solid, having been tested by the thugs to make sure it would keep its prisoner contained, and there was little else in the room that could have been used to escape. Perhaps, if the blond had been thinking logically, he might have had the sense to look around the room for something to use as a lockpick. But by then, he was far beyond being sensible. Even if the thought had occurred to him, it would have been unlikely that, in the darkness, he would have been able to find and use such a tool.



After the first few hours he had given up, curling up in a fetal position in the nearest corner, shutting his eyes and pleading softly, uttering promises that he would be good, and obey, and wouldn’t argue, seemingly thinking that he was being punished again by his dark, as the majority of the promised were addressed towards the spirit. Finally, though, even that stopped, the blond staring unseeingly ahead, barely breathing.



******



Ryou, shockingly, seemed to be dealing the best out of the three. Being locked up in dark places and being alone weren’t all that unusual for him, and didn’t bother him all that much. Of course, the thoughts of what could happen to him whenever his captor arrived were worrying, but he tried not to dwell on those. Besides, it couldn’t be anything worse than some of the things Bakura had put him through, right? The spirit had always known exactly how far he could go, how much torment Ryou’s mind could take. But then, these people had no such mindlink to guide them. They could easily accidentally push him past that point.



“So much for not thinking about it.” He muttered to himself, looking around, eyes straining to catch any light. Unlike the others he wasn’t bound, having been released not long after his capture, when it had been decided that the gentle boy posed no real threat to anyone. He would just have to hope, he supposed, that Bakura would find him soon, before they decided what they were going to do with him. He was quite sure it wouldn’t be something as innocent as a visit for tea and scones, unfortunately.



Sighing, he wondered who else was here. For all he knew, Bakura might be here already, being held a prisoner somewhere else in the building. That would be a very stupid move on Nui’s part, though, he decided. If not even the shadow realm could hold his yami, what hope did common wood and thugs have.



He tensed nervously as the door was opened, one of his guards looking in and grunting irritably before setting a bag and a paper cup on the floor by the door, moving back and shutting it again. McDonalds’ today, it looked like. For an ancient Pharaoh, the kid sure did seem to like fast food.



******



“How stubborn.” Set murmured in exasperation, watching Kaiba and Yami, still locked in their battle. Kaiba, he knew for a fact, was still standing only because of sheer will. And the Pharaoh didn’t look much better, the stress of the battle showing plainly.



He would have to stop this, soon, before one of them pushed past their limits. He hadn’t intended this, exactly, when he had planted the suggestion in Kaiba’s mind to try attacking Yami. And it hadn’t gone unnoticed, surprisingly, the hikari sending a flash of anger at him only a moment after he had reacted to the subconscious command. But he hadn’t taken his attention away from the battle.



Maybe Kaiba’s rivalry with the Pharaoh went deeper than he thought, he mused, wondering what in Ra’s name Yami had done to earn such deep fury and grudging respect from the CEO. Though, knowing the boy, it wouldn’t take much. The only one he seemed to do more than tolerate was that annoying little brother of his. Set was glad he had never had any siblings, if they were as much trouble as the younger Kaiba.



“Enough.” He said, finally, moving forward to step between them, using his own power to break them apart. Oddly enough, it seemed the battle had been the only thing keeping them going, as Kaiba immediately dropped in an exhausted heap, Yami, to Set’s slight surprise, falling a moment after. And of course, Mokuba chose just that moment to stick his head in the room.



“Big Brother!” He exclaimed, running over to Kaiba and giving Set a dirty look.



“Tch. Brat.” Set muttered, ignoring him for the moment, turning to watch Yami, who was sitting up and rubbing his head.



“What did you do to him this time!” Mokuba exclaimed, lunging towards Set, fists flying. Set irritably knocked the boy away.



“Set.” Yami growled warningly. “Mokuba, he’s just tired out. It’s more my fault than Set’s.” The small brunet looked back and forth between the two spirits, considering. He trusted Yugi, and, by default, Yami, or mostly anyways. But Yami had hurt Seto, before…



“He’s just tired?” He echoed uncertainly. Yami nodded.



“We… played a game, that tired us out. He’ll not be pleased to know he lost. Again.”



“Again?” Set raised a bro, and Yami gave a tired smirk.



“He’s been trying to beat me since Yugi put the puzzle together.”



“Seto said that Yugi… well, Yami, I guess, is his ultimate rival.” Mokuba added, seeming calmed down now. Yami raised a brow at that. High praise from the CEO. But, not undeserved, he decided, slowly standing, reaching to remove the collar, thinking that the leather was, at the moment, annoyingly itchy.



“Why do you wear that?” Set asked suddenly. Yami blinked, not comprehending the question. “Those clothes. Leather and chains are for slaves, not the son of Ra.” Yami studied the collar he held, considering.



“Such adornments do not mean the same thing in this time, Set. But, I suppose I’ve just gotten used to them…” They were what Yugi had always worn, after all, though Yami was still sure the fashion sense had merely been an attempt to hide. Yugi had always been very good at hiding when he wanted to. Still, there was really nothing keeping him from changing to something more comfortable. Maybe later he’d think about it. He had a lot of time to think, nowadays, his sleeping habits having switched to near total insomnia since Yugi had gone missing. Anzu had noticed, of course, but even her scolding hadn’t helped, and the spirit had finally found his only relief in the sleeping pills he had acquired at a pharmacy. Even they didn’t help a whole lot.



“It’s late. I should head home…” Another night in the empty bed, worrying about his Aibou.



“You look like you’re about to fall asleep where you stand.” Set huffed. Kuribou’s worried chirps seemed to be agreeing. “There are plenty of empty rooms. You can sleep here.”



“I’ll be fi…” Yami never got the rest of the sentence out, his gaze going blank as Set used the rod’s power. The Pharaoh fought the control, of course, but he was weak from the fight with Kaiba, and even had he not been, it would still have been open to debate whether he would have been able to break free without the puzzle’s support.



Was this what Jounouchi had felt, he wondered, as his body was moved against his will, down the hall to one of the aforementioned rooms. But, no, he supposed. None of Marik’s victims had been able to remember what had happened when they were under the spell. The tombkeeper’s control over the rod’s power had probably been rudimentary at best.



Which might actually have been lucky for them, Yami reflected, his mind still fighting helplessly to gain control, as Set quickly undressed him and made him climb into the bed. Yugi probably would have been embarrassed at being undressed like that, but Yami had been used to such things, and he and Set had regularly bathed together back then. No, the only thing that was in his mind was anger, and the fury lit his violet eyes in a way that might have even made Jounouchi nervous.



“Calm down.” Set murmured, wondering when he had been appointed caretaker of the rest of them. But, it seemed none of them could, or were willing, to do it themselves. And he was not going to let his cousin be seen in public in his current shape. “You can banish me when you get the puzzle back, if it upsets you so much.” He released the control and Yami sighed tiredly.



“I won’t sleep anyways.” He muttered, petting the kuribou as the creature came to settle down close to him. Set frowned irritably.



“Really, I’m not sure which of the two of you is worse, you or Seto.” He muttered, then began humming, an old Egyptian lullaby. Yami blinked, and was going to protest, but found himself too tired to. Shifting slightly, absently cuddling the duel monster, he quickly fell asleep.



Warmth, light, happiness.



“How’s mommy’s little boy. Is he excited to be seeing Grandpa?” Pretty, friendly, love. Mommy.



Sound, joy, laughter. “He’ll probably end up rearranging all the boxes in the back room. It’s already clear he takes after your father.” Daddy.



“What the-” Loud noise, banging, turning and bumping. Crying. Himself?



“Mommy! Daddy.”



Dark, cold, wet. Silence, light, loud, silence again. So silent. Silence and dark and lights and nises and silence and dark again. No Mommy. No Daddy.



“All gone.”



Yami blinked, staring around. Where was he? This place was nowhere he had been before, and yet it felt familiar.



“All gone. Everyone goes away.” Yami turned again, knowing that voice, though it was much younger. There, as he expected, was Yugi. But, this Yugi was only a child, no more than five or six, if that.



“Aibou?” Yami murmured, kneeling in front of him. Child-Yugi stared at him innocently.



“Everyone goes away.” The boy repeated. “No one left for Yugi. Yugi should go away too…”



“No. No, Yugi. I’m here, Little One. I won’t go away.” Carefully, he pulled him into a hug. “I’ll protect you.”



“But Yugi has to go away.” And with those words, the boy suddenly disappeared.



Yami sat up, suddenly, one word coming to his lips.



“AIBOU!”



******



Later, Set would wonder if he hadn’t made a mistake in making Yami stay there. If he had, instead, insisted on seeing the Pharaoh safely back to the card shop, things might have been ended a lot sooner. But then again, they might have ended worse than they did.



Sugoroku had guessed that Yami wouldn’t be home that night, as he seldom made it home lately, and had gone to bed early. Anyway, he surmised, the spirit had a key of his own. It wasn’t like he would be locked out.



It was hours later when the sound awoke him, the heavy thump of something falling to the floor in the next room. It could be Yami, the old man thought, but grabbed a club he kept near the door of his room, just in case. He had a bad feeling about the sound.



A few more muffled sounds came as he moved down the hall, pausing a moment before suddenly thrusting the door to the boys’ room opened. The thugs turned to share, shocked, then one grabbed a duffle bag that the old man knew held the millennium items that the spirit had gathered. The other turned easily evading the club, giving Sugoroku a push that made him fall backwards. Unfortunately, the old man couldn’t regain his balance in time to prevent him from tumbling down the stairs, hitting his head hard enough to render him unconscious.



“Shit, he’s dead.” The thug muttered, panicking and racing after his partner in crime. At the bottom of the stairs, Sugoroku remained still, still very much alive, but in no shape to be getting up to chase after them.



Five of the seven millennium items were now in Nui’s possession.



And Jounouchi never made it home that night.



******



For those who might be curious, the start of Yami’s dream was actually channelling Yugi’s memories from the night his parents died.



And, Ayachan’s post actually made me a bit curious. I know there’s mediaminer, which I also visit on the rare occasion, and fanfiction.com, which I regard with much the same opinion as Kaiba does Jou, but what other FF sites are active now, since AFF doesn’t seem quite so popular as it used to be.



Kiyomi - Doesn’t he though? Kuribou is my favourite low level monster. You’d think it was completely useless, but then, look at how many times it’s saved Yami’s ass.

Yami-torture is almost as much fun as Kaiba-torture. They’re both so ‘mightier than thou’ that it’s just too tempting to see them brought low. I’ve got a few more vague ideas that won’t show up in this story, but, which, if I can ever get them to fit together into something resembling a plot, are going to fit into a third fic. I’ve already decided, though, that there’s going to be some time jumping in it. Just not sure quite how. Or why…

I had actually forgotten about Isis. Hehe. My bad. But, she did give up the necklace to Yami at the end of Battle City because she said it wouldn’t work for her anymore. And I’m not usually overly fond of the ‘eighth millennium item’ line. It brings up, in my mind, all sorts of questions about where the extra item came from and why it wasn’t with the originals, and such. But that’s just my opinion.

And thanks a lot.