I'm rewriting 'Haunted', but in a completely different way. Yugi, Ryou, and Malik will die in a different way than originally written.
Ryou: Hence the 'T' rating.
I am also doing research for a future story so bear with me as I have no idea how long that will take.
Yugi: May we have a hint as to the new story?
It will be titled 'The Unicorn's Gift' and I'm planning on using three different languages. Two made up (Ancient and Elfish) and English. The two made up are taking some time to research as I want to be as accurate as possible if others were to look them up for later usage.
Malik: Sounds like work.
Between packing/unpacking, research for multiple things, and work, I have little time to write and post. But I'm trying. I will post the first chapter for this story sometime during my Weekly Random Updates.
A transparent hand pressed against the equally transparent window. "Come away from there, Yugi," a soft voice gently ordered. "Those people won't enter. Malik will likely scare them off again anyway."
Yugi sighed as he left the clouded window, "I guess you're right, Ryou. I just wish that we could leave the land like we used to do before that day."
Ryou pulled Yugi into a gentle hug, "I know. Come on; let's head to the attic to read a book or something."
The boys were Malik, Ryou, and Yugi Hikari. They were triplets who, so long ago, were the pride of their family and the light of the village. Then tragedy struck, taking their young lives and shattering them to pieces. Their parents took the youngest, Baby Solomon, and moved away shortly after. They never set foot onto the land and refused to sell it to anyone.
Time had passed and yet, for the boys, refused to leave. They stayed the same as their home fell into disrepair and the outside world changed around them.
Yami leaned against the black car he and his two brothers shared, refusing to budge. "I don't care what you two do, but leave me out of this," he stated. "Besides, Grandpa said that he doesn't want us trespassing on private property. Bakura, Marik, I'm staying right here."
"It's not trespassing if it was never sold," Bakura pointed out. He held up a photocopy of an old deed. "This paper proves that it still belongs to our family. Great-gramps never sold it and Gramps never will."
"Kura's right," Marik stated smugly. "We have a right to be here and while we're at it make some cash from Bradley Snider. All we have to do is snap a few photos and prove that we were here."
Bakura smirked, "have it your way. Mar and I will check out the place and not split the money with you."
"Fine." Yami sat in the car as his brother left to explore the property.
Yami decided to go for a walk after fifteen minutes of waiting for his brothers and check out the woods for some plants and animals to sketch. Taking note of an old trail, he followed it to a clearing. Yami noticed a trio of angels in the middle of the space. He read the plaque that was at its base:
Malik, Ryou, and Yugi Hikari
June 4th, 1939- August 19, 1955
May You Rest in Peace, Our Three Little Angels
'Who were these three and why did they die at the age of 16,' Yami thought to himself. He decided to check into their identities and what happened that cut their lives short. Yami reached into his pockets and smirked. He had the spare set of keys to their shared car in his pocket. He assumed that he could swipe the car from under his brothers' noses and head back to town without them.
Midway between the field and the house, Yami heard the car tear away from the drive. He was furious! His brothers had ditched him and took off with the car. "My phone was in there," he cried out, realizing that his cell phone was in the pocket of the jacket he had left in the backseat where he always sat when not driving. "I'm going to make them pay."
Yami stomped to the porch of the abandoned farmhouse and sat on the weathered step, fuming at his brothers leaving him behind. After a few deep breaths, Yami calmed down. He figured it was karma for his previous thought of doing to his brothers what they had done to him. Deciding that he had nothing else to do until their grandfather managed to get his location from his psychotic brothers, Yami looked around the outside of the house.
He noticed that with a little work, the farmhouse would be a nice place to escape his brothers and city life. Besides, it was still his family's property. He set to work on pounding raised up nails back down with a fair-sized boulder.
Why is that boy still here," Yugi asked his elder brothers as he watched the boy on the porch.
Malik glared at the figure's back, "I don't know, Yugi. But he's vandalizing our home. Ryou, keep Yugi inside. I'll not stand for vandals defacing our property."
Ryou held his little brother back as Malik took on his 'Death Form'. Yugi hated their 'Death Forms'. They reminded the smallest boy of how they were killed. They had been home alone when the thieves came.
The Triplets were glad that their parents had taken their baby brother to the hospital with them after their father had broken his leg while repairing the roof. Malik was the first to die after the thieves had shot him in the head and gutted him. Ryou and Yugi followed him into death shortly after. Yugi had tried to run but had tripped and fell down the stairs, breaking his various bones. As his lungs filled with blood his pursuer shot him in the chest, claiming to put the boy out of his misery. Ryou's last scream still echoed in his ears.
Ryou had watched as his closest brother was shot at the foot of the stairs. He screamed as the life left his younger brother's eyes. The thief who had gutted Malik had snuck up on Ryou and pushed him over the banister. The poor boy died instantly from a broken neck after crashing to the ground below.
Ryou held Yugi close to him as Malik floated to the front door, his gaping head wound and insides visible. Ryou heard Yugi whimper in fright as Malik prepared to pound on the left door of the French doors. "Malik, we need to stop. You're scaring Yugi…again."
Malik looked at the quaking form of his little brother and sighed, his 'Death Form' fading into his regular appearance. "This is our home and we need to defend it. You need to grow up Yugi."
Malik said the wrong thing to Yugi. The smaller Triplet shifted to his own 'Death Form' as he glared at the eldest brother. 'Blood' dripped from his mouth and the hole in his chest as he nearly shouted. "You think I want to be stuck like this!? I wanted to grow up since we died! I wanted to grow old and have a family, Malik! I wanted to go to college and travel the world," Yugi cried. "I didn't ask to die! I wanted to watch Baby Solomon grow up and see how he turned out! I wanted to tell Mama and Papa that I loved them more than life itself and to say goodbye to them when they passed away. I wanted to LIVE. I can't help it that I died frightened and hurt! I had just seen you get killed and was scared beyond belief! I had fallen down the front stairs and couldn't breathe! Because of that day, I can never grow up!"
Yugi vanished in a flash of amethyst. Ryou sighed, "Mal, you should know better than to tell Yugi to grow up. He's still stuck in his 'Death emotions'. So are you. Don't argue with me, because I know. You were angry at the thieves for breaking into our home and hitting Yugi in the face with the gun they had. You still hold onto that anger."
"What about you," Malik growled at his brother.
"I am no different," Ryou admitted. "But I do not let that affect how I treat either of you. I died after watching the both of you die so horribly. I had no chance to feel a thing after being pushed over the railing over the family room. I know that I was horrified to see Yugi's broken body at the foot of the stairs and watching as the leader shot him just after you were killed. My end was too fast to have any pain after that. Please be weary of what you say to Yugi from now on."
After a moment of silence, Malik sighed, "Fine. Let's go and find Yugi before he decides to possess some animal again."
Yugi drifted around the Hikari property in search of some woodland animal to possess for a while. He had to be careful to take over an animal that lived within the boundaries of their family land otherwise the results were awful. He learned that the hard way. He had once taken possession of a wolf and had been forced out of its body when it crossed the property line. Yugi had been knocked out at the edge of their boundaries for two weeks, worrying his older brothers into thinking that he had left them behind to join their family on the other side.
He had been secretly following a fox for some time and watched when it slipped into a hole next to their clearing. Deciding that this animal was a perfect target, Yugi slipped into the sleeping fox's body. He merged with its mind and waited until he was sure that he had full control of the fox before moving. He left the den and began exploring their land. Sensing Ryou and Malik, Yugi pulled himself into the fox's mind and allowed the animal to do what it pleased until they had passed. Once they were gone, Yugi took over once more and crept to the house to watch the boy on the porch.
Yami had finished pounding the nails back into place and was clearing broken furniture from the porch carefully. A snake emerged from the remains of an old nesting box as he bumped into it. Before he could react, a black fox shot forward and grabbed the snake near its head and bit down, killing the deadly snake instantly.
The fox left as it dragged its kill to an old burn-pit and dropped it. Yami watched as it looked back. He was shocked to see glowing amethyst eyes. "Thank you," he said without thinking.
The fox gave a small nod before vanishing into the woods.
Next week's update will be 'Hunted'
Ryou: Please keep an eye out for chapter 56.
Yugi: I think that this system of updating may actually work out for you, PhantomBrat.
Yeah, I hope so.