AN: Disclaimers - You know the drill by now, I own nothing but the plot, and the purple-hooded Hunter in this little bit (I feel bad for what I've done to her in this preview XD)
And yeah, Yami and Bakura were separated from their hosts about three months before the Infection hit Domino, but as for how that happened? I have no idea – use your imaginations you biscuits =P
So, after what feels like a long, LONG absence, (And it probably has been, but life kinda got in the way of writing – sorry about that ^.^') and I'm not continuing anything at the moment, because all the ideas for my other fics have died a little, so to try to bring back my mojo, I've started to get into the realm of crossovers – and with my YGO obsession still going strong, it was only natural that it was going to be pulled into the very dark, very gory and the very disturbing world of Left 4 Dead. The reason that this isn't in the crossover area is because it doesn't include any of the characters from Left 4 Dead (which totally makes sense in my head as this is set in Japan XD) and there will be a few origional characters, but trust me, I'm a die-hard canon-character-shipper, so there's not gonna be any OC/Marik or whatever =D
So, sit back, relax, and enjoy YuGiOh...with added zombies.
Blood and Lavender – Chapter One
It's Not the End of the World (But I Can See it from Here)
An angered shriek rang out from the remains of a burned-out building, quickly followed by a flurry of even louder gunshots that ricocheted between the few remaining structures, leaving gaps in the brickwork. They stopped for a second, and then the click of shells being loaded was the only sound in the otherwise still air. A voice suddenly piped up from the small, ragged-looking group of still-uninfected humans.
"Are they...gone now?" The brunette girl was quickly shushed by a hand over her mouth belonging to a boy of a similar age with raven-coloured hair that fell far past his shoulders in a dark tangle. He shook his head at her softly, holding a finger to his own lips before letting his hand fall away once he was sure that the girl would be quiet. A shorter boy standing nearby, rifle still in hand and ready to be shot at a second's notice saw the silent exchange that went on between the two and nodded.
Deep purple eyes flickered around the group's deserted surroundings before speaking himself in a voice that was quiet and calm, despite the madness that had consumed so much of their world. "We don't know," He whispered, motioning for the group to begin moving again with a flick of his head, "if there are others around. That's why it's best to be quiet for now, okay Anzu?" The teen, barely under the age of twenty flicked golden-blonde bangs out of his eyes as they walked onwards. He tried to smile at her reassuringly as they moved, but even this seemed slightly strained.
There was a derisive snort from the direction of one of the others, a tall young man that seemed to be a little older than those that were with him. "Oh, sure. 'Quiet'." He made quotation marks around that last word. "Because keeping our mouths closed any other time has been such a great help. Maybe we should-" He was cut off by a sharp jab in the side by the black-haired teen, and sent him a mahogany glare.
"At least we're trying to keep ourselves alive by staying away from those things!" The slightly shorter one hissed, emerald eyes sparking with a sudden anger. "Or need we remind you that it was because of you, Bakura that that last group of vampire-freak things showed up! If it wasn't for Yugi's and Honda's quick thinking, we'd all be dead by now!" The green orbs narrowed on Bakura's carefully blank face. "Although, I wouldn't be surprised if that was what you wanted," He turned his back on the whitette and began to catch up with the other three. "After all, they say a leopard never changes its spots...perhaps the saying goes for thieves as well." With those words, it was clear that there was going to an awkward silence all the way back to their base for that night.
The aforementioned thief merely shrugged and strolled along the ruins of Domino City as if he owned it. He knew that he could easily take out most of those things alone. Those other fools he'd had the misfortune to be stuck with for however long this so-called 'apocalypse' lasted were merely targets that distracted the zombies from him. And as for those stupid modern weapons they had? He snorted a laugh to himself. Well, those things were all well and good until the things decided to run out of ammunition. As for my ammunition? He moved a pale hand to his belt, where a series of knives, daggers, and even a small axe were secured to his waist. I'd like to see these things run out of bullets... He rolled his eyes as he spotted the Anzu girl suddenly cling to the arm of her midget boyfriend and whimper some pathetic comment or other in his ear. Bakura suppressed the urge to throw up like one of those puke-bag things he'd seen. New idea for distracting those things – throw that one to the next Tank we see...It seemed that now the last target of the whitette's hate had now gone – missing a few days after the Infection hit and now presumed dead – that particular mantle had passed, not to the host as he thought, but the cheerleader instead.
Distracted by the rather amusing thought of Anzu tied to a lamppost with a Tank barrelling itself towards her, Bakura failed to notice that he'd lost sight of the new bane of his life and her company. Shit...this is going to be fun...then again, if I don't go find them again and save their asses from more of these freaks, my lovely former host is going to kill me instead. Nice thought.
He carried on picking a path around a particularly rubble-filled stretch of road, sacrificing a few of his smaller knives for target practice some of the more courageous Infected, generally having an easy time of it until a low growl caught his ears from a nearby alleyway. He stiffened so as not to make any noise that would attract the thing to him. Bakura had a distinct feeling that – and there was another growl, this time louder, which descended into a low hiss – this was one of those other, more intelligent zombies that they had sometimes come across. A Special? As another hiss was heard, he'd pinpointed the area where it probably was, and had to be one of those fast ones that he couldn't remember the name of. This is going to be fun...
A flash of movement caught his eye from the shadows behind one of the dumpsters in the alley, and the thief crouched low to make himself less of a target, unsheathing the longest of the knives from his belt as he did so. He knew it was probably stupid, most likely suicidal, and definitely a waste of time to go after one of these 'Special' Infected, but Bakura was bored, pissed, and in the mood to kill something that actually needed him to engage his brain in. One more step...and there! Barely catching a glimpse of it before the thing screeched and leapt at him, Bakura had all of a millisecond to drop to the floor, scoring a deep gash in the thing's side before it fell to the floor with another screech of pain.
He whirled around, straightening up to look down at the thing as it tried to get itself in an attack stance again and failed. He smirked at the limping Infected, before noticing he sported a wound of his own, down the length of his left arm where the outstretched claws had hit him. The thief scowled, pissed that he'd gotten hit as he stepped towards the thing. Wait. He could tell that this was one of those Specials that they called Hunters...but he knew that already. Scratch that...I know this one! Sure he could recognize the dark purple hood that covered its face, Bakura took a tighter grip on the knife as a grin as feral as the thing he was after spread over his pale face. He'd thought that these things couldn't feel fear, but to his apparent delight he'd been wrong.
"So," he began as he started to back the thing into one of the corners, loving the way its head darted about looking for an escape route that no longer existed. It was a strange reversal of fates, once more it seemed, as he knew this one would pay for what it did before. "You again, huh? I'd have thought that your brothers would have taken you out if that bullet in you arm hadn't already." He ran an eye over the left side of the Hunter's hood, noting with a certain satisfaction that the wound he'd inflicted that other day was not healed. "But I guess I was wrong...who'd have thought it? But," One more step and the Infected was stuck completely, its useless arm, and the other one that was still gushing semi-congealed blood dangling almost comically by its side. It hissed at him, a warning that was all too easy to ignore. "Oh, no, none of that now – don't you remember what I told you when you escaped me last time? – I told you that you'd regret going after my host, but you didn't believe me, did you?" Bakura knew it was pointless to continue talking to it, after all, these hooded little bitches were no better than the other Infected – no minds at all, just the instinct to kill and maim. And look where it got this one. At least I show some degree of intelligence when I kill things. This is...I don't even have a word for this level of uselessness. "Well, standing here catching up's nice and all, but I'd much rather get to the killing pa-" He was cut off by another loud scream from the thing, as if it knew what he was saying, although it seemed different, more desperate maybe. He shook his head impatiently and in a pique of anger grabbed the thing by the front of its hood with his knife to its neck. The Hunter went completely limp, as if it had given up. Pathetic thing... "I don't know about you, but I for one am really going to enjoy this next part. Bye-bye little wussy."
Another sound from behind made him start. Shit. If this was another like the one he had at his mercy - or lack thereof – then he knew it was more than likely going to go for him. Sighing in annoyance, Bakura let the Infected fall to the red-stained ground in a dead heap. Not like this one's going anywhere, and turned to face this new one that blocked the path of the alleyway out. This new Hunter showed no interest in the other one, so the thief's theory of them having some kind of bend between Infected was gone in an instant. More than likely it had caught the scent of blood and on finding him alone, had thought him to be an easy target. Well, let's prove that theory wrong as well. The other had readied itself and leapt towards him before Bakura had even a chance to move with a scream of its own, knocking him off his feet and winding him, but luckily just missing pinning him. Moving to a defensive crouch of his own, Bakura was surprised to say the least when the new one didn't try to go for him again as he'd anticipated, but had leaped once more to be closer to the other Hunter and was now standing uneasily between the two.
The stare down between human and Infected seemed to drag on for minutes before he dropped his gaze, effectively giving the Hunter ground to either leave or stay with the other one. Bakura hissed in his own annoyance as he backed out of the alleyway, catching a glimpse of lilac under the hood of the taller Hunter before he left that matched the colour of colour of its hooded sweatshirt. Bakura started, almost out of the alleyway when he caught this in the corner of his eye. No...this isn't...he's not... "You're dead." He stated bluntly despite the raging confusion in his head. "I saw it – I saw you die. We lost you that day. You're not, I'd never...would...shit..." Bakura finally ran out of words as the thing that used to be Marik Ishtar raised a pair of bloodstained claws at him and hissed lowly.
Taking the signal as a final warning, the thief turned and walked away, the trail of his leather trenchcoat rustling slightly over the ground.
Pain.
Sheer goddamnmotherfucking agony was the first conscious half-thought of the Infected that still lay in a dark-red pool of its own lifeblood. This was less of a true thought rather than a feeling that washed over the prone form in a wave of white.
It cracked a glowing bloodshot eye open and groaned slightly at the way it could feel one of its arms twisted unnaturally beneath it. The next thing that came to its mind was how it had found itself in this situation. Infected were not renowned for having a good memory, but this one could just about remember a few days prior to this, when it had come across a rather large group of uninfected that had caught its attentions. There had been one, a little slower than the others, with something about it that immediately drew the Hunter to it. There was that colour...no, no colour, completely white, that human was, and that coupled with the lack of any weapon on his person had proven too much of a tempting target for the Infected one. It could remember making a single leap to pin the living one down, ready to slash away in its usual frenzy when it felt a searing pain in its left side and knew that the human's fellows had come back for him.
The rest was more a blur, but it could distinctly remember another with similar hair that was much wilder, and extremely dark eyes that looked dangerous, even to a creature that didn't know what fear was anymore. It could just about recall the flight afterwards, and how it had clawed at its own shoulder to try to get the offending object out, but only ended up making the issue worse and driven it in deeper. So it had ended up in that alleyway, almost completely helpless with only the one arm, and a free target – or meal if its brethren decided to turn on it – for any that came upon it. It happened to be sheer bad luck on the Infected's part that the one who did come across it was that whitette with a grudge against it.
The Hunter caught a blur of movement from nearby and tried to keep its eyes on it, ignoring the red liquid running down into its right one. It yelped softly in surprise as the blur stopped just enough to form itself into the shape of another of its kind looking down at it, this one in a similar hooded sweatshirt to its own. The new one – it had to be a male, they were more common of their kind, and the Hunter could tell by the scent that it caught from him – was still for a moment before reaching out and poking it, strangely enough, with a single overlong claw in the wounded shoulder. The smaller Hunter screeched loudly again in agony, before receiving another sharp jab, most likely a sign for it to be quiet. It sent him a confused look – why was he helping it? Or even if the male was interested in helping at all and didn't just want to kill it himself. A glimpse into the heavily shaded facial area answered the question. It was in his eyes – or eye, as it looked to be, as where there was a glowing red where his left eye was...the other appeared to be normal. Human, or as close to human as any of them could get now.
At this, the smaller Infected tried to push itself up using its less injured arm to move, letting out a low moan of pain that it tried to hold in, to get a better look at the other Hunter. He seemed to notice this but made no move to help it, only stepping back, and still in their neutral crouch. Managing to get into a seated position that didn't hurt too badly, the smaller managed to get a good look at its new 'companion'. He was wearing, as they all did, a hoodie, except one without arms and looked extremely worn out. Where the hood was pulled over the face, a few bangs of now dirty-blond hair fell out, but still the most striking thing was the eyes. It knew this, maybe they could...understand each other, maybe? What had been his reasoning in helping it, anyway?
"...That...one was g...oi-ng," The other's sudden near-audible words shocked it, and it nearly fell over before managing to situate itself to leaning with its back against one of the walls of the alley. They could talk? Surely it knew that there were things it could still do that the humans did, but it'd never in its memory come across an Infected that could talk. Even itself included. The Hunter coughed before carrying on. "Ki-kill you..." The smaller cocked its head. Why would he care? The question was quickly answered, more fluidly this time. "You...asked for help...called. I came." He shook his head. "I thought...you dif-different from the others. Because you called out."
He shook his head again, slowly. This one seemed to be a lost cause. It looked as if he'd thought wrong – maybe him and the others were the only Infected that were intelligent... Ishtar sighed, a sound that gurgled slightly in his warped vocal cords. Knowing that there was nothing he could do here, this one was clearly no more clever than any regular Special, he began to stand up to leave it alone in case it decided to turn on him instead as any other animal would when cornered and in pain. There was almost a twinge of guilt because he knew that a Hunter with only two useful limbs was not going to survive very long. Either way, he was sure that this one wasn't going to be of any use to him.
He coughed just as he exited the alleyway after a short check to see if the area was free, sounding much like a Smoker. A hacking cough followed from behind him, but it must have been the sound echoing...right? Something inside him deciding to take a chance, Ishtar whipped his head around to see the other Hunter attempting to stand up on its own, coughing heavily itself. After a few shaky steps, it stood steadily, if a little uneasily and looked him straight where it thought his eyes were.
"A…hm…" Something in the once-human leapt and he nodded encouringly. Maybe this one wasn't so lost to them after all. It hacked once more; coughing so hard it fell back down again with a sharp keen of hurt. Ishtar's eyes widened a little at this – it was clearly too injured to carry on trying, but attempting to talk regardless of the pain? That was something new… There was a wet splat on the ground as the smaller Hunter dislodged a rather large blood clot from its torn throat and spat it out. It seemed to start breathing easier after that, taking a deep one before trying to talk again.
"Ah-m..khyu." It shook its head, seeming to know that that wasn't what it was trying to say. "Ahm, Ihm, Ihm…lhyk..hyu…" It began to get frustrated, and not without reason. It had spent so long wondering if it was alone in the way it was, some sort of thing that should not be in existence, and it was determined not to be on its own for much longer. It had to do this. One more cough and suddenly it felt easier, as if the attempts had put the vocal cords partway back in the right places. "Ahm…lyke..kyu – you…I…m-m…l-like you." If it had remembered how, the shorter Infected would have been grinning widely. It could talk! In only a half-way, of course, and nothing like the humans did or would ever be able to understand, but it had something other than its own thoughts now.
The taller caught the sense of achievement from the smaller Hunter and took a step towards it. It didn't try to move away this time. "You are?" Speaking, although hard if didn't use his voice often enough, was much easier for him than it was for this one. He suspected that this was the first time it had spoken since it had turned. It nodded in understanding, and as he approached it again, noting that he really should have stopped calling the other Hunter it by now, because she was clearly a female from the way the hoodie hung on her skinny body; he could see her trying to talk once more.
"Khy...kyeah…prve – proofe it…" Obviously some words were going to be better to pronounce than others.
"What d-do khy…you mean?" He saw the female trying to lift her less-ruined arm to move the hood apart from her face for a moment – more proof, as if he needed any that this one was similar to him and the other few he was with – but batted away his own hand when he tried to help. She growled a low 'No,' and pushed the hood far back enough to let a few strands of intermediately-coloured hair fall down. The hood was far enough for Ishtar to catch a short glimpse of her eyes, ones that he now took as a sign of another intelligent Infected. One of them was the usual burnt glow of red, and the other a chocolate brown, dull, but still holding a slight spark inside. The hood fell back down immediately after, and the taller could understand why, because as easy as it was for them to override some of the baser instincts, it was impossible to ignore some of the stronger ones and for their kind it was the hood thing.
Ishtar decided to try asking his new companion another question, this one most likely going to be a bit harder. "Do khyou, you have…a name?" The other looked confused for a second, trying to rummage through its short memory to see if anything came up. After minutes of more silence, the smaller dropped her head. Nothing. Ishtar was about to tell her to forget it when she suddenly made another high-pitched noise, the one of either excitement or happiness.
"C-cargh..nyhg.." She was still having trouble getting around that stupid sound, and forced down a deep breath to try one last time. "Ca…Cass…" not quite there, but nearly. Maybe one last time would do it. "Ca..zzsh – Caz…" She knew that it was the nearest she could remember, but was happy enough with this near-representation of something she'd forgotten for what seemed forever.
"Caz? the other repeated, seeing if he'd got it right. The newly-named Hunter nodded eagerly, wincing when she aggravated the gunshot wounded-shoulder. "Oh…ohkay." He made a quick motion to himself. "Ishh, Ishtar.", surprised slightly at the way he'd almost forgotten himself what it was. Caz nodded her head again, a little less quickly this time.
"Ish-is..Ishu..ack…" Ishtar would have smiled if he could. She'd get it someday.
Bakura: Wait, what was that?
Marik: Foreshadowing. ...It happens.
I know that the writing style changes a lot after Bakura leaves, but that's because trying to get into the mind of a zombie is really, really hard to do – I hope it's understandable though ^.^
So, reviews will be much appreciated, as well as critiques, because as far as I know, this is the first fanfiction crossover of YGO and L4D - but if I'm wrong, link me please? Also, anyone who knows me as Treighlana on deviantART will probably have already read this, but I've decided to give Blood and Lavender a trial here to make up for my lack of updates =)
Also this may well end up a Thiefshipping fic (And therefore bump up the rating to an 'M') ...because I love it so very much =D