A/N: Blah. I like Protectshipping, but this thing tried way too hard to kill me while I was writing it. So just read, ya? Also, I'm not good at writing accents, so I kind of didn't try. :/
EDIT: Just realized some of the things from my original fic were in here, /fail/ so I went back and edited those out.
WARNING: Features very small hints of Spikeshipping (Yuugi Mutou x Hiroto Honda) if you squint hard enough that your eyes explode. There are random deaths in this, but they don't really have much bearing on the story and nobody important dies. So yeah, it's near-fluff, but not quite. Also takes place in past-time-period France. If any of this irks you, I suggest you don't read.
France, while surely beautiful, was certainly a very dull place to be. Honda longed for more, longed to find something in life that he could do and enjoy – and he knew he was destined for greatness. A young, upstanding man of high class; surely, he would go far. Even the whispers that followed him assured him of this with every step he took.
His problem was that he had no motivation, no inspiration. Why on earth would he chase after a position as an aristocrat - running a household, ordering servants around, and managing estate parties - when all of that simply bored him?
Honda was a man of nineteen with a clean-shaven face and sharp brown eyes that sent the thugs and working-class members of society running with a single glance. His crew-cut brown hair, oddly shaped from personal preference, added to his height – and he was by no means vertically challenged. In fact, he was considered to be quite tall for his age, towering over most everyone he met, and this simply added to his intimidation factor. He fit the bill for 'tall, dark, and handsome' as well as the next man, and this was definitely not unnoticed by the populous.
However, Honda did not care for any of this.
Walking down the streets of the upper-class district (he was always amazed by how many working-class members there seemed to be in this district; the working-class and upper-class sections were rather far apart), Honda contemplated to himself. His fine boots clicked against the pavement as he walked, setting a steady rhythm in his thoughts, and drowning out the buzz of the crowd as they mulled around him, all trying to get their business finished so that they may attend yet more social events. Honda, while having been invited to many of these said events, had always declined, never seeing the appeal.
"Ah, Honda, back out on the town?" Honda jumped just a bit, having been lost in his own thoughts, and glanced over toward his left. A familiar friendly smile greeted him, cheerfully bright purple eyes shining with happiness.
"Yuugi," Honda returned the greeting with a smile, walking over to the shorter man. Yuugi, while definitely not poor and by no means in need of it, was a center of attraction for the commonly bored person. He simply sat, dressed in his fine clothes, on the concrete wall by the elaborate building on the corner, talking to random passersby and occasionally doing tricks for the fun of it. Honda had once asked him why, but all he had gotten was a vague mention of being rather tired of fanciness, and wanting a change. Not a satisfactory answer, but Yuugi refused to say any more. "How are you, this fine morning?"
"I am fine," Yuugi replied, before his formal smile became a crooked grin. "Would you like to join me, my friend? People seem to be quite interesting today, and I am sure you are looking for something to entertain you." He slid over a bit to make room for his considerably larger friend, patting the space remaining.
Honda, with nothing short of a laugh, sat down in the available space, leaning back on his palms lazily and returning the grin. "Ah, you know me too well. I just can't handle the repetitiveness of my day-to-day life! I understand that as the son of a lord I have responsibilities – but what I wouldn't give to just be rid of them." He reached up and stretched, abandoning any semblance of formality and yawning in a rather unflattering manner. Yuugi quieted down, staring at the older man thoughtfully, as if trying to decide something.
"Hm?" Confused at the sudden silence, Honda turned back to his friend curiously. "What's wrong, Yuugi?" Yuugi, still giving that same thoughtful stare, blinked slowly. He then frowned, his head falling off to the side.
"Honda, if I were to tell you of a way to leave," Yuugi said swiftly, lowering his voice. "To leave Le Havre, I mean - would you go? This is a port city. Thus, there are boats."
Interest piqued, Honda leaned closer, listening intently. "You have my attention."
"I am rather good friends with the captain of one of the boats. He is captain of the Guivre, and a fine sailor, at that. I am quite certain that with the right persuasions he would be quite willing to transport you away from here." Yuugi rushed through his sentences, trying to avoid notice of the pedestrians walking past them as he spoke. He glanced around, first to his left, and then his right, clearly not wishing to be noticed as he continued, "However, the Guivre is not in top condition, and the voyage would be risky, to say the least."
Honda sighed, straightening himself back into a more normal position and closing his eyes in thought. "I'm not so sure about it, Yuugi…I do not know if I can just leave, you see. It's very complicated, I'm sure you understand – you are of high class yourself, so surely you know what I am talking about." He frowned, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, placing his chin in his palms. "I will definitely think on it, but this is a predicament that will take a great deal of consideration before it can be resolved."
"I understand completely, Honda," Yuugi responded, his voice returning to its normal pitch as he spoke. "But before you do your thinking; there is something else I must warn you of."
Honda raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh?" He asked, giving Yuugi a vaguely curious look as he waited for an answer. What else could there possibly be that the other had not already told him? After going over the details of the risk he would be taking if he left, how could there be more for Yuugi to tell? Surely it would be something of little consequence, Honda assured himself.
"For some reason, a lot of the boats that leave from Le Havre end up shipwrecking on nearby islands," Yuugi told him in a knowing tone, as if aware that Honda really wasn't taking this seriously, "And they never return from the crash sites." Honda blinked, a bit shocked that the warning was more serious than he'd expected, but nonetheless wasn't too worried.
He smiled at Yuugi reassuringly. "I can assure you, Yuugi, I'll be fine."
Yuugi rolled his eyes jokingly, punching Honda lightly on the shoulder. "If you say so."
"Ah, Honda! Welcome to the Festival d'Connexion!" A scruffy-looking blonde man called, wading through the crowd of people to get to Honda. Jounouchi, while at the very lowest middle-class, was far less civilized than many of the other social elitists of their time. "I can't say I expected to see you here," he continued, finally reaching Honda and falling into step next to him.
"I don't normally attend festivals like these," Honda admitted in an almost sheepish tone, gently pushing his way through the throng of people as Jounouchi did the same. "As it happens, I am only here tonight for stress relief. There have been a lot of things on my mind recently, and I thought that perhaps going out for a change would do me some good."
Jounouchi nodded in assent, passing under the entryway to the main square. The crowd immediately intensified in thickness, and the two had a harder time meandering through, though it was certainly not for lack of trying. "I tend to find that the best way to relax at a festival is to go into the tavern," the blonde shouted over the loud music, the crowd illuminated by the lamps hanging lit from every street corner. Honda, who had never quite been as comfortable during the nighttime, was all too eager to agree.
"This way, Honda," Jounouchi yelled, reaching out and grasping the brunette's left arm. He pulled him through the mass of bodies roughly, and the festival-goers gave outraged cries when they were pushed out of the way.
"Sorry, sorry..." Honda apologized fervently, giving them all apologetic looks as he was dragged along. "Tell your friend to stop being so rude," one of them snapped, bending down next to a little girl who had begun crying. "He stepped on my daughter's foot!"
"I'll tell him," Honda assured him, hastily turning around when Jounouchi at last came to a stop. He pulled the other male closer when his arm was released, dragging Jounouchi away from the crowd. "What is wrong with you?" Honda hissed, glaring at Jounouchi irritatedly and frowning, "Do you realize how many people you've just offended by that? I'd tell you to apologize, but there's no way you'd manage it."
"You're right about that," Jounouchi agreed, jerking away from Honda's hold, "So we may as well put it behind us, right?" He walked through the doors of the bar without further ado, leaving Honda no choice to but to follow him. Not that he minded – it was a cold night out, as the season had changed to fall recently, and the warmth and light of the tavern was very much welcome after the chill of the streets.
Not that he would ever admit that to Jounouchi, of course.
Honda sat down next to Jounouchi at the bar, calmly surveying their surroundings. This particular tavern was not one that Honda had been to before, though granted, that was not saying very much at all, considering he rarely went anywhere besides daily walks through the town. The bar top appeared to be made of dark reddish-brown wood, and the lighting was nearly as dim as it had been outside, giving the place an almost mystical look. Upbeat music played in the background, and several people sat together at tables of similar make to the bar top, most often simply talking to each other or playing a game of dice. Small lights were strung up along the walls, casting faint shadows throughout the room.
Honda decided that he liked the ambience of it.
"So, what exactly has been troubling you, Honda?" Jounouchi asked, hailing the bartender over with a wave of his hand. He placed an order, shooting an inquisitive glance at Honda, who ordered the same thing with furrowed eyebrows. He clearly wasn't paying attention, far more focused on the question he'd been asked.
"I suppose," Honda began slowly, "That I've been thinking things over from all sorts of angles. You see…I do not wish to remain in Le Havre. In truth, I honestly can't stand it here, so I have been considering…leaving."
Jounouchi blinked incredulously, staring at Honda. "Where would you go?"
"Yuugi has informed me that he knows the captain of a ship called the Guivre, who would be willing to dispatch me from Le Havre on his next trip if I persuaded him," Honda answered, frowning. He had been mulling the conversation over since that morning, but for all his thinking he simply couldn't decide whether he wanted to leave or not – there were so many people he would be leaving behind. "I've been giving it a good deal of thought, but I haven't reached a conclusion."
Jounouchi frowned himself, his head tipping a bit to the side. "I can't decide things for you, Honda, but…if you really wish to leave, you should do it. It's true that Le Havre does not have much to offer for someone like you."
Honda sighed. "I suppose I'll just have to keep thinking on it, then."
"That's probably for the best," Jounouchi agreed, downing the rest of his drink. "Hey, could I get another one of those?"
The bartender hastened to place another glass in front of him, going back to the rest of his work.
Honda wished his life could be so simple.
The boat had been sitting there when he left the bar, and Honda had to wonder if it was fate, regardless of the fact that he didn't believe in it. Jounouchi had gone home earlier than him, saying that his sister had expected him home an hour ago. Honda, who used to have a crush on her, knew all too well that when Shizuka got annoyed it was hard to get her in a good mood again; though it was hard to annoy her in the first place, Jounouchi always seemed to know just how to do it.
Honda supposed it had something to do with them being siblings.
This being a harbor festival, it obviously took place as near to the docks as people could get – and thus, Honda had a brilliant view of said docks when he finally started to head home, a view he hadn't previously noticed due to distraction. The moon shone at just the right angle to reflect off the water, illuminating the ship's hull for the optimal view of the name stamped across the side in curvy, elaborate lettering, fitting for the meaning.
The Guivre.
Honda found the boat to be a rather nice vessel, and out of sheer curiosity began walking towards the docks, if only to get a better view…Or so he told himself. In truth, he knew he was going towards that boat because of all of the thinking he'd been doing, regarding the precise ship he was claiming to be curious about. It was this boat that might take him from Le Havre; the thought was all too compelling.
He pushed through the slowly lessening crowd, glad for the fact that the festival seemed to be coming to a close, and gradually got closer and closer to the harbor, until his feet finally hit the wood with a solid-sounding 'thunk'. It was reassuring, knowing that there was something solid that he could always stand on, but there was no draw in it. Honda had no reason to stay, and no reason to leave other than that he had no reason to stay.
There really wasn't an excuse for him to be doing this, but Honda stepped forward and reached a hand out, regardless. He ran his fingers over the hull of the ship, taking in the feel of the wood, and then knocked his hand on it a few times, listening to the almost hollow noise that rewarded his efforts. It was a sturdy boat, at the least, and he almost felt the urge to climb aboard it, just to see if it felt as solid under his feet as the dock. He didn't, though – it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing he'd ever do, and he didn't want to risk it somehow coming loose and drifting off with him still on board.
Honda sighed, pulling his hand back. It seemed he had still more thinking ahead – but he was inclined to make a decision.
Seasickness wasn't pleasant.
It wasn't something that Honda had ever had to experience before, as he'd never before been at sea, but it didn't make having it any more bearable. The boat lurched, his stomach with it, and he clapped a hand over his mouth, leaning forward over the rail just in case. After a few seconds with nothing happening, he slowly removed his hand, taking in a deep breath of the salty air (it didn't really help much).
"You've never been on a boat before, have you, son?" A rough, yet friendly, voice asked bemusedly, causing Honda to give a startled jump. He instantly regretted it, for it caused his stomach to flip again, but he breathed deeply and felt a bit better, so he turned to face the man who'd spoken. He was Yuugi's friend, the captain of the ship, with longish salt-and-pepper hair and a wrinkled face with laugh lines. Honda liked him well enough.
"No, I haven't, um..?" Honda asked, sheepishly realizing he didn't even know the man's name.
The captain smiled. "M' name's Aster. Don't worry; the seasickness fades away soon enough." Honda wasn't quite sure if he believed that, but he hoped it was true; he didn't think his stomach could take much more of the queasiness it was suffering, and he didn't want to have to keep dealing with it.
"I'm Honda," he said after a moment of fighting off another bought of nausea, warily glancing over his shoulder at the waves. It wasn't a smart move; at the sight of them, he turned a bit greener, and quickly turned back to face Aster. "But you probably knew that, now that I think of it."
Aster opened his mouth as if planning to say something, but he was cut off when the ship rocked violently to the side, causing him to very nearly fall right over. Honda, similarly, was jolted back into the railing, only narrowly managing to avoid falling over the edge. One of the crewmembers came running up to them, panting heavily. "Captain!" he wheezed, "The ship was hit on a large outcropping of rocks…there's a hole in the hull!"
"What?" Aster cried, scrambling to regain his balance as the boat lurched from side to side, making it difficult to maintain footing. Honda grabbed the railing to secure himself as the old man continued, "Why didn't the sentries notice it?"
"I don't know, captain!" the crewmember yelled, obviously distressed and quite shaken. "They say that we're near an island, though – they told me to ask if we should change course to get there instead, before the ship sinks!"
"Why are you asking? Do you want to die? Of course we're changing the course, you idiot!"
"Sir!" The crewmember ran off then, presumably to tell the navigator about the change of course. Honda, who had been listening to the whole exchange, was nearly frozen with shock, Yuugi's words running through his head; "None of the people in the shipwrecks have ever returned from the crash sites."
"Honda, we're going to be fine." It would have been more reassuring if the captain's face wasn't so grave. "I'm going to go help the crew set up the rigging. You have nothing to worry about, I swear it - and you should probably head to the cabins, son."
Honda still didn't feel any better, but he did as he was told, definitely not feeling the need to be out on the deck while the ship was slowly sinking. He staggered into the room he'd been given, shaking ever so slightly as he sat on the edge of the bed, too strung out to really relax, and he held his head in his hands, trying vainly to chase away the onslaught of worries threatening to consume him.
He had never been one to believe in myths, but Yuugi's words kept replaying themselves over and over in his head, and he had been forced to come to the grim conclusion that it was impossible for this to be anything other than those wrecks he'd been told about. The only small thing he could hold on to was that he wasn't alone in this, and they had a plan of action. Maybe they'd get lucky.
Honda bitterly forced himself to admit that that was probably not true.
The boat shuddered violently, then (it felt as if it had fallen over) and Honda fell off the bed with a loud 'crash', hitting his shoulder against the wall solidly."Ugh.." he groaned, hissing in pain when he rotated the joint. "Ow…what the hell just happened?"
He forced himself to his feet, trying to move his shoulder as little as possible, and forced open the door, collapsing through it. The boat, while not completely tipped over, was leaning heavily on its side, and Honda had to fight to remain standing. "Where is everyone..?" he wondered, stepping hesitantly onto the deck. None of the crewmembers were aboard, and he couldn't see the captain anywhere, either. It was unsettling in a way he didn't like.
"Aster?" Honda called tentatively, stumbling as he made his way over to the side of the ship. He jumped over the railing – the boat was leaning over so heavily that it was only a foot or so of a drop – and landed on a sandy beach, the grains sifting under his feet and making balance even more difficult. The landing jarred his shoulder, and he winced, but continued moving forward, regardless.
"Hello - oh my God!"
Honda collapsed on the ground, scrambling backwards in shock and horror as he stared, wide-eyed, at the mast pole sticking through the captain's chest. Blood trickled from the wound, and his eyes looked glassily out at Honda, as if purposefully staring at him through some weird twist of fate. Honda gave a strangled cry as he noticed other bodies, trapped under the wood of the ship, each of them seemingly staring at him hauntingly.
It was horrifying.
He scrambled back up, panting and wide-eyed, and looked around quickly, assessing his surroundings. He appeared to be the only one still alive, which didn't bode well for him at all; there was no way for him to return to Le Havre, and he doubted anyone would be coming to get him any time soon. The boat had wrecked on the beach of an island, which led into a thick forest with dark green pines seeming to be the most recurring tree. Crows cawed loudly in the distance, a flock of them launching out of the dark wooded land in a thick, black cloud.
Honda shivered, feeling suddenly cold down to his very core. It was more than ominous, and he didn't like the look of the forest at all, but between being surrounded by dead bodies on a ship or going into an imposing forest, he'd prefer the forest. With that in mind, he climbed back over the rail of the ship, rooting through the numerous barrels that had tumbled over in the crash. "This…exactly what I need," he mumbled, pulling out some of the preserved food from one of them and making his way off of the boat again.
"I can't believe this..." Honda muttered, stumbling slightly in the soft sand as he slowly headed towards the forest. "I knew I should have listened to Yuugi." He cursed under his breath, and finally just took his shoes off, throwing them listlessly over to the side, where they would most probably never be found again. The sand felt strange under his now-bare feet, and he had to be careful to avoid stepping on rocks and sticks, but at least he wasn't sinking down into the dirt anymore. It was at least twice as easy to walk.
Honda finally reached the eaves of the trees, shuddering at the dark and disturbing feel it had to it. Nonetheless, he stepped into the forest, feelings the sand change gradually to dirt as he encroached deeper and deeper into the woods. The trees somehow had a darker presence when he was within their boundaries, but he did his best to ignore it, focusing instead on the sounds he could hear. The island itself seemed relatively normal, which showed that he was probably worrying over nothing, and he could hear small animals scurrying around if he focused hard enough.
"Oh!" Honda froze, spinning around at the sudden gasp and staring at where he thought he'd heard it. He could hardly see through the thick foliage, but he distinctly heard rustling that was far too loud to be an animal, and he was more than a bit surprised when a sudden flash of white sprang up, darting away through the trees.
"Hey, wait!" Honda yelled, instantly dropping the preserved food and chasing after the white blur. It appeared to be a boy, who was roughly as tall as he was, but it was hard to tell – whoever he was, he was a very fast runner. "Hey!"
Honda finally saw his chance when the boy stumbled, and he increased his pace, reaching out swiftly and grabbing his arm to prevent him from running away again.
"What are you doing in here?" Honda asked, breathing heavily from the run. He couldn't understand why someone else would be here; perhaps the other boy had been stranded as well?
The boy squeaked, tugging at his arm a little in a futile attempt to pull it away. "I – I got stranded awhile back!" he answered in a small voice. His eyes were brown and at the moment extremely wide, presumably from fright, and Honda could feel him shaking from the grip on his arm. He almost felt a little guilty – this boy looked so fragile. It almost seemed criminal to scare him so thoroughly.
"That makes two of us, then...well, I'm Hiroto Honda, but you can just call me Honda." Honda let go of his arm as he spoke, and he watched with a slight twinge of remorse as the other boy rubbed his arm where he'd been holding it – he hadn't known he'd been squeezing that tightly. "Everyone else does…did."
"Oh…um, I-I'm Ryou Bakura, but you can call me Ryou," the boy stammered, dropping his arm to his side and staring at Honda with a slightly less fearful expression. "Did you just get here? I thought I heard a crashing noise, so I started going to see if a boat came here, but I was too scared to go up to the beach," he admitted softly.
Honda grimaced. "Yes, the boat I was on just got here," he answered, then quickly changed the topic, not feeling the need to dispatch information unless he was specifically asked. "Ryou, huh? Where are you from?"
Ryou frowned and wrung his hands for a brief moment, then sighed. "I…can't remember. I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry for that? You must have been here for a really long time if you can't remember where you're from." Honda gave Ryou a sympathetic look, wondering how long the poor boy had to have been here if he couldn't even remember his home. It must have felt bad to forget all of the things he'd had stolen from him; Honda felt a certain kind of kinship with losing things, especially.
"Yes, I suppose so…I can't even remember when I got here, either…" Ryou mumbled, looking down sadly and shuffling his feet, which Honda noted were bare just as his were. In fact, Ryou's whole appearance was awfully bedraggled, though Honda couldn't exactly say that he was likely any better – granted, he'd only gotten off the ship a small while ago, and he'd been in the cabins at the time of the crash, so he wasn't quite as wild-looking as Ryou. Yet.
"That's no good." Honda frowned, his hands fidgeting slightly, as if he was suppressing the urge to reach out and try to comfort him. Something about how small and…breakable Ryou appeared to be made him want to protect him. "Anyway, I came from Le Havre – it's nearby, have you heard of it?"
Ryou's eyes suddenly lit up, and he smiled softly, the expression making him seem a bit less untamed-looking, which Honda considered to be quite a feat as Ryou was practically caked in filth. "Oh, yes! It's a port city, isn't it? Don't they have festivals there? I've never been to a festival, are they fun?"
"Whoa, slow down, there." Honda returned the smile, holding up his hands jokingly. "Yes, to all of them, I suppose. I went to a festival right before I left on a boat, but…we wrecked, and I'm the only one still alive." He dropped his hands with a sigh, frowning and scratching the back of his head morosely.
"I…I'm sorry, Honda. That's terrible." Ryou looked down again, no longer smiling. He seemed regretful for bringing up the subject in the first place.
Hesitantly, Honda reached out and put a hand lightly on Ryou's shoulder. "Don't be, it's not your fault."
He was rewarded with a tiny little smile for his efforts, and Honda thought, for a fleeting second, that perhaps shipwrecking would be worth it after all.
Footnotes (yes, they exist for this story!):
Left open for possible sequel on purpose, because I may or may not want to continue this later on. Buuuut you shouldn't count on it.
If anything at all is messed up about my France interpretation, tell me, mmkay? I want to be as accurate as possible with my writing, and Wikipedia will only tell a person so much before you have to start taking artistic license. D:
The 'Festival d'Connexion' isn't a real festival. It's a plot device created by me. The name means 'Harbor Festival', or something along those lines…I think. Fitting, non? Guivre means snake, as well, which wasn't randomly picked, but I changed the story halfway through, so there you have it. Because I don't really know if there are any islands near Le Havre, I took some creative license with that, too, and made up a few. All for the sake of the fic, so hopefully that doesn't get me in trouble… (I'm starting to remember how hard historical AUs are to write XD)
Few, I think that's it… This, by far, is the longest thing I've ever written and this entire plotbunny was a huge pain to write. So I'd really appreciate any feedback you guys can possibly give me, because a ton of effort went into it.