Hicky: Heh everyone! Looks like my prequel made it up first… well, I wrote it first. So, this is the intro chapter. Hope you like.
Trent: I'm back, hi. I'm still a block, and I still suck. Hicky doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh so don't sue her.
Hicky: Dark = Dane
Chaos = Chacer
Magi = Magus
Dark Necrofear = Dancrofae
Mystical Elf (Yugi's) = Mysotsu
Mystical Elf (Seto's) = Mynako
Tayma (not introduced in LoTC) = Takima
Trent: If you forget… the first 2 or 3 letters are the same in their names from LoTC to this one.
_
The Boys of the Desert
"Dane, Dane!" the young boy called as he ran up the sand towards his friend.
"Hi Chacer," the younger boy said as he dragged a stick through the sand. "What are you so happy about?" he said, looking up with big, blue, inquisitive eyes.
"I have sisters!" Chacer said gleefully. His longish black hair bouncing with the rest of his body.
"Sisters?" Dane asked jumping up from where he sat. "Not just sister, but sisters?"
"Two," Chacer said. "They look the same."
"All babies look the same."
"You're a baby, you don't look like my sisters." Chacer smiled and plopped onto the sand.
"I'm not a baby," Dane said pouting. "I'm four, and you know it."
Chacer smiled up at Dane. "And I'm seven so ha."
"So what if you're seven, I don't care."
"I get to go be a mage before you." Chacer poked Dane in the stomach and the blue-eyed boy fell back on his butt.
"So," Dane almost whimpered. "I get to play longer than you. I get to play in the sand."
"When I leave I can't protect you from the scorpions you know," Chacer said as he smacked the sand with the end of the stick he was holding.
Dane frowned. "I don't need to be protect-ed. Is the new man a good daddy to the babies?"
Chacer looked at Dane, then back into the sand. "I don't know yet… He isn't good to me… but I'm not his…"
Dane crawled over to Chacer and gave him a big hug. "It's okay Chacer. I'm your friend, and I'll be good to you."
Chacer blinked and patted Dane on the back. "Thank you."
"Can I see them Chacer? Can I see your new sisters?"
"You want to? They don't do anything, but okay." Chacer got up and helped Dane to his feet before they walked backed to the village, hand in hand.
The new man, who had really been with Chacer's mother for a year now, was sitting outside their sun-dried brick home. He looked at Chacer, none too pleased, as the two boys walked through the door.
Chacer's mother lay in bed, her new babes in her arms. She looked tired, as if she were taking care of them all by herself. 'I don't like that man,' Chacer thought. "Mommy, can Dane see the babies?"
When his mother nodded Chacer lifted his younger friend up to kneel on the side of the bed. Dane looked at the little babies in awe. "They have light hair Chacer, not like you at all."
"They take after their father, little one," Chacer's mother said, sounding weaker than she looked.
"Are you okay mommy?" Chacer asked, sensing his mother's tiredness.
"I'm fine my child-"
"What are they call-ed?" Dane asked, peering at the big eyes that looked back at him.
The women tilted her head toward one baby, and then the other. "Mysotsu and Mynako."
"Perdy," Dane said as he clamber off the side of the bed, tripping.
Chacer reached out and caught Dane before he hit the ground.
"Thank you."
"See Dane? You do need me to protect you," Chacer said as Dane did not attempt to get up.
Dane squirmed and made little sounds of struggle as Chacer's arms were still supporting his weight. "I do not need you Chacer, I'm a big boy," Dane said as he spun around to face the black-haired boy.
"Boys, could you go play outside… the babies need to rest," Chacer's mother asked and the two boys headed out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*deet*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wow Chacer… it seems like just yesterday the twins were born, and now you have another sister," Dane said into his friend's ear.
Chacer hoisted Dane up again, as he was giving him a piggy-back-ride and Dane wasn't holding on too tightly. "I know. Isn't Takima pretty. Her silvery blue hair… I wonder where she got that from…" He moved his hands a little and bounced Dane back into place.
Dane laughed. "I don't know… is it nice to have sisters? I don't have any."
"Well, they're so little. They cry a lot, and they spit up when you try to feed them. And the man isn't helping mommy very much…"
"He's so mean… does your face still hurt?"
"No… Not really anymore," Chacer said as he absentmindedly brought one hand up to touch his face. When he felt Dane slipping he replaced it where it had previously been.
"I can't believe he hit you. You didn't do anything… You were watching the twins while they played… well, lay on their little mats." Dane dropped his head onto Chacer's shoulder.
"He just does what he wants to… he doesn't care whether he should or not."
"I'm scared for your sisters… They can't protect themselves… They can't run away and hide…" Dane pouted and wrapped his arms around his friend's shoulders.
"It's okay Dane. Mommy won't let anything happen to the babies-"
"But she let something happen to you!" Dane cried, tears starting to swell in his big blue eyes.
"No Dane, she was with Takima… she didn't know what happened…" Chacer set Dane down on the ground. He looked down when the younger boy came to stand in front of him.
"Didn't you cry? Didn't you tell her what he did?" Dane blinked his eyes and two tears made little journeys down his cheeks.
Chacer brought his hands up to brush away the tears. "No, I didn't cry… I was too shocked to cry… I ran out of the house… and to you… And when mommy asked why my face was bruised… I lied."
"No Chacer!" Dane moved forward so fast that Chacer didn't even notice until his friend was right against him, arms tightly around his waist as the younger one cried into his chest.
"Shhh, shhh… it's okay…" Chacer brought his hands up to rub circles on Dane's back, like his mother had done to him.
"No…" Dane whimpered, face still pressed up against his friend. "It not okay… he hurt you… he's a bad man…"
"Dane… please be strong… for me and everyone else… I'll need your help if I'm going to make it with that evil man living with my family…"
Dane sniffed and pulled himself away. "You need my help?"
The older boy smiled. "Yeah, I do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*deet*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chacer and Dane lay in the sand looking up at the clouds that made their way slowly across the blue sky. "How are the girls?" the younger boy asked.
"Mysotsu and Mynako are doing really well. I can tell they'll both become mages-"
"What about Takima?"
"She's a lot like mom. She's got a serious attitude and doesn't take any crap, even from me."
Dane grinned. "I guess she's a carrier then, hmm?"
"I suppose. Mom must have had good genes to produce three children worthy to be mages-"
"How does it work again?" Dane asked, staring up at the clouds.
"Only carriers of the genes of magic can produce children with the gifts. If a mages gives birth to a baby, there's a very large chance that the baby will have no special abilities at all. That's why mages are sent away. They train their magic while the people of their village continue to make more magic babies," Chacer explained.
"So if you had a baby, it wouldn't be magic?"
"There's no way I'm going to have a baby Dane, but you're right. The only way you can have your genes carry on is if you have a sibling that is a carrier-"
"Like Taima! Takima could have a powerful baby I bet…. You know… I don't have a brother or sister, but… my mommy's sister just had a baby. Does he have some of the same genes as me?"
"The genes that your mother got from her parents, yes, but not the ones you got from your father. What's you're cousin's name?"
"You're so smart Chacer. Oh, his name is Magus. My aunt is Dancrofae."
Chacer shudders. Dancrofae was a creepy women. "Doesn't she have some magical abilities?"
Dane nodded. "But not my uncle. He has none, so I bet Magus will be magical, like me, and you."
"But not as powerful as us, we're special," Chacer smiled.
Dane sat up. "Chacer?"
"Mm?" Chacer tilted his head to look at the brown-haired boy.
"Why do you write poems about me? Why do you think I'm pretty?" Dane simply looked at his friend and Chaser simply replied.
"I think you're pretty because you are, and I write my poems because I want to express myself."
"Oh," Dane said blushing. He looked up when he heard his name being called. He stood up and so did Chacer. "Mommy's calling. I got to go Chacer."
"Okay Dane… I better get back to the girls… come by after dinner. It's the 'Bad Man Left' Anniversary tonight!" Chacer said, then yelled as Dane ran down the hill of sand. He saw the boy's hand waving and then turned to go home himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*deet*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dane stood on top of the little hill, and looked out over the desert. He looked down to see the little caravan of camels. He frowned slightly.
"Dane!"
Dane turned as his name was called. He watched Chacer run towards him. His hair was blowing in the wind.
When Chacer made it to the top of the hill he bent at the waist and rested his hands on this thighs and he panted lightly. His hair, that now reached down to right under his shoulder blades, fell forward around his face. "I wrote another! This one's good, read it!" He said excitedly as he stood up, his eyes glinting with glee.
Dane took the papyrus and read the characters. He blushed. "I wish you'd stop," he said quietly. Sure it was nice to read all the nice stuff that Chacer wrote, but too much was too much. And Chacer was leaving… it was too hard to think about loosing his closest friend.
"I can't help it... you inspire me," the black-haired boy said looking down at the sand. "I'm going soon Dane… I wanted to say good-bye…"
"But Chacer… it isn't good-bye. I'm going to come to the temple soon-"
"In three years," Chacer said sounding miserable.
"It'll go by faster for you. You'll have training and you'll make more friends at the temple." His eyes glistened.
"But no one like you Dane. You've been my best friend since as long as I can remember. You stuck by me when that nasty man was in my life and you helped me take care of the girls when mom was sick. I couldn't have made it without you…"
The two boys embraced each other, tears running down both their faces. They couldn't say anything more but they knew they'd miss each other terribly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Hicky: I know it's not that long, but intro chapters never are…. In my case anyways.
Trent: Now, hit that little review button or neither this, nor LoTC2 will be updating…
Hicky: Plus, I bet you're dying to know, if Dane and Chacer are such good friends now, when it changes to the hate Dark has towards Chaos. Oh, I bet you want to know…