Disclaimer

I don't own Yuugiou

Warnings

OOC Chars, yaoi, gore, lots of char death, torture... You get the picture, READ AT YOUROWN RISK! This applys to the whole story, the first chapter isn't too bad, but if you don't like, then go away.

Pairings

Sacrificeshipping (Main, AmeldaxVaron), Prideshipping (SetoxYami, Side), Hikarishipping (MalikxRyouxYuugi, side) And Psychoshipping (BakuraxMarik, side) There might be mentions of others

The Hours of Dying

The flickering light seemed to beckon Amelda closer. He gazed fondly at the orange flame, the heat dancing up onto his face. Amelda's grin grew wider and more maniacal, as the fire steadily got larger, greedily eating up the oiled cloth on which it was living. As a shadow fell over him, Amelda looked up. Raphael stood in the doorway to the garage a frown on his face.

Amelda didn't meet his eyes, instead he looked down, back at his beautiful fire.

Raphael didn't say anything. He came over to where Amelda was crouching beside his small flaming heap.

Amelda's face was like that of a five year old's when told it can have candy. Though in his eyes, instead of overwhelming happiness, there was a maniacal gleam. Raphael always shuddered when he saw that look. Amelda's grey eyes were focused on the heart of the flames, he payed no attention to Raphael what so ever.

The room was silent, apart from Amelda's harsh breathing. The dawn light was slowly rising over the far off mountains, and Raphael sighed. His eyes were sad, as he stared down at Amelda.

'A pyromaniac,' he thought. 'The poor soul, was consumed by the desire to burn,'

As it was, the grey eyed teen could barely control the pyromania anymore. It had started off ok, when he'd occasionally taken a couple of matches, and burnt a few twigs and what not, but recently, he'd been letting it get on top of him. The other day, Amelda had burnt one of the back yard trees down. 'No,' Raphael thought, It had gone on long enough, Amelda had to be cured.

"Amelda," He said softly.

Amelda payed no heed, instead he pulled out his lighter and made a lunge for another piece of rag. Raphael grabbed him by the waist and stood up, the younger teen leaning against him, and then suddenly struggling, trying to get away.

Raphael held him tight, "Amelda, this has got to stop!" He cried softly.

Amelda made a strange cry and kicked out, which in turn, caused Raphael to stumble backwards into a shelf on which sat a number of bottles of flammable liquids. An open bottle of kerosene toppled off upon impact, and spattered over Raphael, who was still recovering from his fall. Some of the noxious chemical dripped into the large man's eyes, upon which he let out a scream, and fell to the ground in agony. The hot ashes flew away as the moving air caught them in it's invisible grasp, unveiling a small bed of fiery orange coals.

Time seemed to slow down as the kerosene soaked man, landed on the coals, which then erupted into flame. An unearthly scream rang through the air, and Amelda stared in horror at his friend, whose clothes were now spitting flames everywhere.

A spark caught Amelda on his arm, and he gasped. All the elation he'd been feeling minutes previous, were now replaced by sheer terror.

"Raphael!" He screamed, his eyes reflecting the horrific scene before him. Raphael was burning, and burning fast. Amelda went into shock. He watched in eerie fascination as Raphael was consumed by the deadly force of fire. His flesh blackened and started to flake off, and his eyes told countless tales of pain, hurt and... Betrayal?

With a final moan, what was left of Raphael keeled over, and hit the stone floor with a thump. Amelda broke out of his stupor, fire was racing up the wooden walls and spreading fast. "Varon!" He yelled in terror, the brunette could still be asleep, for all he knew! Amelda turned to the doorway and was about to run through, when the fire leapt in front of him, and blocked his path. Amelda backed away, only to be stopped by the flames behind him. He steeled his mind, he had to save Varon! With a final glance towards Raphael's remains, he jumped straight through the doorway into the hall.

He dropped to the ground and rolled, in case any of the flames had come along for the ride. As his body turned over on the carpet, the fire on his lanky form was extinguished almost at once.

He swiftly leapt to his feet and headed off towards Varon's and his shared room. Black smoke was pouring into the corridor, but Amelda didn't stop. He ran on through it, just wanting to save Varon.

Inhaling the noxious substance, Amelda dropped to the floor coughing. After a minute he regained his bearings and pressed onwards. The fire was spreading up the hall now, and the place was thick with dark air. He stopped, trying to work out where he was.

"Fuck!" He swore, when he realised that in his rush, he had passed his room. He turned, and faced the oncoming flames, and shouted out Varon's name. Amelda was starting to panic, he has to be out by now, Amelda told himself, surely he would've woken from the screams and the noise of the fire! Amelda couldn't be sure, he had to make sure Varon was out of the building.

He ran back through the flames, as he fumbled for the door, a loud screeching reached his ears, and he realised that the smoke alarm had finally gone off. As he reached for the door, he found that it was already open, he couldn't remember if he'd left it opened or shut when he went out. He rushed into the room, half expecting Varon to be unconscious on the floor from the smoke.

However, when he looked, he could clearly see Varon was not in the room. The smoke was almost overwhelming now and Amelda doubled over, coughing and hacking, trying to clear the smoke from his lungs.

Just then a fearful voice came from the doorway, "Amelda?"

Amelda looked up to see Varon crouched in the doorway, underneath the black smoke.

Amelda smiled slightly and started to walk towards Varon. But after the first few steps, it proved to be too much, and he collapsed from the smoke and sheer exhaustion itself.

"No! Amelda!" Screamed Varon, now running towards where Amelda had fallen.

"C'mon Amelda!" Cried Varon, now half dragging Amelda towards the door.

Amelda shakily got to his feet and attempted to run with Varon, however all he ended up doing was almost tripping over his own feet. Miraculously, they both managed to get out of the flaming house with only minor burns and grazes. They both collapsed on the ground, until fiery sparks from the house started to fly out towards them, lighting the dry summer shrubbery on fire.

Varon quickly leaded the way to the car parked out on the street, and they both clambered in. As they drove off to a safer refuge, a few fire engines raced down the street in a useless attempt to save the house.

The sun rose, casting it's white rays upon the troubled faces of two young adults, sitting together in a old, black, ford falcon. The car itself, resembled a whale somewhat, at least in size. But it worked, and Amelda liked it, for he could drive it down streets, scaring little kids witless. At the moment however, it was occupied by the two downcast males, one of them curled up on the others lap, with the red heads arms, around the smaller one.

Varon sighed, leaning against Amelda's chest, with the taller of the two resting his head atop Varon's.

"I almost lost you this morning," Varon murmured, eyes closed.

Amelda simply held him tighter.

"We must've left Raphael behind in the rush," he continued, Amelda stiffened.

Varon's eye's snapped open, "... He did get out, didn't he?"

Amelda didn't reply.

Varon sat up, "Amelda... What's happened to Raphael?"

TBC...