Nightmares

Body

Big thanks to all my reviewers! (And thank you, Jadesaber - I'd started wondering about that as I was typing this part up. All at once it wasn't looking right....)

WARNING: The end of this chapter is very ugly and dark, with extreme remembered violence and a lot of swearing. You probably won't like me after you see what Yugi's starting to remember......but this story will have an happy ending, I promise. There are just so many sad endings in real life that I like to make my fictional ones happy.

My ear wasn't quite as bad as Yugi's but I was still pretty much out of action for about two and a half days - and I'm still on eardrops for another three days. (BTW, guess what the cover of the newspaper's weekend section featured today? "Keeping Your Ears Healthy." OuFunnFunny, guys... :-)

Yugi's roommate is based on something that actually happened (and yes, I decided they wouldn't put him in the children's ward - he's been through enough.) When my mom was in the hospital last year with a bleeding ulcer (she's fine now, thank the Goddess...) my father and I absolutely couldn't figure out the gender of her roommate. I felt so bad that I brought her (yes, it was a she) a basket of flowers, too. The poor woman was out cold all but one time we were there, none of us ever saw anyone come to visit her and she didn't have anything - no cards, no flowers, nothing at all. I hated to think she didn't have anyone, although the nurse said someone did come by occasionally.....

Oh, and BTW, one of my friends could solve a Rubik's Cube like that - but not me. I resorted to the old "take it apart and put it back together when nobody's looking" maneuver.

Disclaimer - Nope, they ain't mine, unfortunately.

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"Iie, o-tosan, oneagi yamero----" Yugi whimpered, holding his hands up weakly in a warding-off gesture, "O-kaasan?!"

"Shhh, beloved---" Yami murmured, putting the rail down on the gurney to sit next to his koi, mindful of the IV lines. It was alomost two in the morning and they had been in the "fast-track" emergency ward for about an hour and a half. Luckily, Dr. Yakamoro had arrived not long after they did and immediately taken charge, using his considerable clout at Domino City General to expedite Yugi's bloodwork at the lab and get him in and out of an MRI.

"The emergency staff here are the best in the city, but the lab needs a fire lit under their behinds," he grumbled, heading off to the phone. "Yami, if anyone is looking for me, tell them to wait right here. I'll be back in about ten minutes." Solomon had gone off in search of a mens' room.

"O-kaasan?" Yugi whimpered.

"It's all right, my beloved," Yami leaned over to kiss Yugi's forehead. Yugi's delerium had blocked their mental link, preventing him from reading his small one's mind.

"O-kaasan!" Yugi cried again. The terror in his voice broke Yami's heart. "Oan, an, iie, iie! Oneagi, iie!"

"Shhh, koi, koi---" Yami tried to soothe him. He hated to think what sort of nightmares his small one was suffering through. Before he could do anything, though, the doctor came back in with Solomon.

"....it formed an abscess behind his ear, right about here," the doctor was saying, indicating a spot on his own head. "I'm going to need to go in there and drain it and get him on an antibiotic drip."

"How long will be be in the hospital?" Solomon said, looking worried.

"I'd say three, maybe four days. We're not going to put him fully under for this - I'll administer a sedative and use a local anesthetic. Once we get that cleaned out and irrigated and get the antibiotic in his system he should be fine."

Yami looked at Solomon. "They're keeping him here?"

Solomon nodded. "While they prep him, they're going to get him a room." He was relieved more than anything else at this point, knowing Yugi was in the best of hands.

Yami looked apprehensive. "Will --- will he be well?" he said softly, sinking down in a chair.

"He'll be fine, Yami," Dr. Yakamoro reassured. "It's a very serious infection and it needs specialized care, but it isn't to the point where it's life-threatening. And I don't think it will be."

"Oh, Ra---" Yami whispered as he watched them wheel his beloved away. "Ra, please---"

Solomon put an arm around his shoulders. "It's okay, Yami. He's going to be all right."

Yami looked at him for a moment, crimson eyes stricken and awash, then slumped against him and started to sob. Solomon held him, patting his back. "It's okay, Yami, really."

~*~

Two hours later, the abscess was drained and Yugi was on the mend, ensconced in room 324 of the South Circle. His roommate was elderly, white-haired and seemingly comotose, although not hooked up to any machines other than an oxygen tube.

~*~

Two days later, Yami and Solomon walked into Yugi's hospital room to find the little hikari sitting up in bed while Dr. Yakamoro examined his ear. Sitting on the table nearby were five or six bunches of flowers. Tied to one was the huge bunch of balloons Yami had brought up the day before. Assorted get-well cards were stacked neatly nearby as well. On the werewere several magazines (New Wave Digest, Rock Scene and the latest issue of Duelist) along with a couple of puzzle books, a Game Boy and the Dark Magician plushie Yami had also found the day before. Today, Yami was bearing a box of chocolate candy and an already scrambled Rubik's Cube. Solomon was joking that the'd have to borrow a trailer just to get all the stuff Yugi's friends had sent him back home.

"I just got the wick out!" Yugi announced excitedly.

"And this is looking almost healed," the doctor added. "We did a second MRI this morning and the spot where the abscess developed has closed up normally. He peered into Yugi's ear. "Still some slight inflammation and a lot of bruising. I just suctioned out a lot of disgusting goop you don't want to know about." He smiled. "I think he's going to ready to go home tomorrow. Since it's a holiday weekend coming up, that will give you plenty of time to recuperate," he added to Yugi.

"I'm going to be catching up on all the schoolwork I've missed," Yugi said, a bit dismally.

"He's going to need a doctor's note explaining why he was absent for more than three days," Solomon said.

"I'll have it faxed to the school office," the doctor replied. "I'll give you a hard copy tomorrow in case you need it." He looked at Solomon. "I need your autograph on a few things, Mutou-san. I don't think Yami will mind keeping Yugi company for a little while." He glanced over at Yami, who had already sat down on the bed to kiss his beloved. "Now don't be getting my patient all excited, Yami," he teased.

~*~

After Solomon and the doctor left, Yugi cuddled up to Yami, tilting his soft little mouth up for another kiss, which Yami happily obliged him with.

"I hope they send you home tomorrow, beloved," Yami said when their lips parted. "I miss you so much." The shop and apartment were far too quiet without his koi's sweet presence.

"I miss you too," Yugi whispered, nestling closer. He needed to be in his yami's arms more than anything right now.

//There's something I've been meaning to ask you, beloved. Is your -- roommate -- a man or a woman?// Yami and Solomon had been trying to figure that one out since the day before.

/A woman,/ Yugi replied. /I don't know her name. She almost never wakes up. I feel really bad for her, Yami. Nobody ever comes to see her or anything. Someone should at least send her some flowers or something./

//Good idea, koi,// Yami made a mental note to ask Solomon to stop by a florist's on the way home.

/Yami, when I was sick, I --- I kept having these awful dreams---/

//Fever dreams, my koi. Everyone has them.//

/No, Yami, I --- I think they really happened. Only I don't know what---/

//Shh, koi---// Yami kissed him softly. //Just bad dreams, my sweet aibou. Nothing more.//

Yugi wasn't sure, but he wanted to believe Yami's reassurances. Yami held him for a moment, then reached over for the brightly colored cube. "I brought you something, koi." He'd started playing with the Ra-forsaken thing out of curiousity and had been very close to taking it apart in frustration when Solomon had told him it was time to go.

Yugi took it with an excited squeak. "I haven't had one of these since I was really little! Arigato, Yami-koi." He kissed his dark love. "Let's see how much I remember---"

Three minutes later all six sides were once again the same color and Yami was dumbfounded. "How did you----?"

"It's easy. You just have to get all four corners the same color." As Yugi spoke, Solomon came back in.

"Did you show him how to do it?" he said with a chuckle, remembering how flabbergasted his customers had been during the Cubes' first wave of popularity, when his little six-year-old grandson could solve the puzzle in under three minutes flat.

"Give me that a moment, koi." There was no way a six-sided plastic toy was going to defeat the King of Games.

~*~

"All right, koibito, I surrender. What did you do to solve this infernal thing?" It was forty-five minutes later and Yami was forced to admit defeat.

"Yami-koi, it's easy. Watch." Yugi took the Cube from his dark love's hands. Three minutes later, it was perfect again, all sides in order.

Yami slapped his forehead and muttered something that sounded like "Ra-damned Cube---" Solomon couldn't keep from laughing. Yami, admitting defeat, leaned over and kissed Yugi softly.

~*~

"You lousy rotten little bastard! Can't you fucking stay quiet for five God-damned fucking minutes?! Little shit!" A brutal hand slammed across the side of Yugi's face, knocking him to the floor.

"No, Father, please no!" Yugi cried, curling up in a ball in a desperate et tot to protect himself.

"Little worthless fucking bastard! I'll fucking show you who's boss. I'll fucking show you---" The man's pupilse die dialated, his eyes glassy with some sort of chemical interaction.

"Ryaki, no! Don't hurt him!" A woman who looked almost exactly like the little angel huddled on the floor ran over to intervene, but the man pushed her back.

"Stay out of this, you worthless whore!" he snapped. "All you're good for around here is lying down and spreading your legs! Go fix my dinner while I discipline this worthless bastard shit of yours!"

"Leave him alone! He didn't do anything!"

The man turned on her, glowering malignantly. "You filthy slut. That's it. You need to learn proper respect!" He slammed her brutally into a wall, then descended upon her, striking, kicking, punching, cursing. "Worthless whore! Bitch! Fucking shit! You're not worthy to slam my dick into, you fucking shitf cow cow! I'll fucking teach you!"

"No, please, stop, don't hurt her, please----" Yugi had crawled under a table, where he huddled, sobbing and shaking.

"No! No please! No!!!!" The woman's screams continued until a brutal kick slammed into her throat. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, WHORE!"

"Mother! No!" Yugi cried.

She collapsed, gagging, choking, blood drooling from her mouth, unable to breathe through her crushed throat. Her face purpled, then blued. Even after she was still and cold, the man continued to beat her in a frenzy, until the pounding came on the door.

"Open up, please. Police."

"FUCK OFF AND DIE!" The man turned to glare at the door for a second, then returned to beating his wife's lifeless body.

"Sir, we will break this door down if you do not open it. Please come to the door at once."

The man ignored them. Moments later there was a tremendous smash as the door was kicked in.

"FUCK!!!" The man turned, arm upraised - and the police officer in the door fired once, twice, a third time. The man stumbled, then slowly toppled forwaard, landing less than three feet from where Yugi huddled under the table-----

Yugi awoke with a frightened squeak, sitting up and looking around wildly. Where was he? Where was Yami? He wanted Yami. What time was it? He looked around in terror as things slowly came back to him. Realizing where he was didn't make him feel better. It was close to two AM and he was all alone in a busy hospital, without his Yami to comfort him.......

"Kami-sama----" he whimpered, huddling back under the thin blankets with his Dark Magician plushie hugged tight. Eventually, he cried himself back to sleep......