Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Errors in Judgment: 1-3: Hunger
Characters: Yubel, Johan
Word Count: chapter: 4,478||story: 4,478
Genre: Humor, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Summary: Yubel hasn't had a human body for this long in quite a while. She has to remember to eat, to drink...and what the effects of drinking are.
Dark World's winds gusted across the ruins of what had once been a proud and prosperous village. Half-burned timbers lay scattered about, with the dark red of coals glowing in piles of ash.
My beloved does such good work. Yubel stepped through the shattered debris, her booted feet crushing small twigs to powder and rocks shifting beneath her. Even after having watched it herself, from a safe and proper distance, it was still amazing at how quickly everything could change.
She brushed her stolen fingers across what might once have been a curtain or perhaps a bedsheet, now torn and with a faint acrid odor arising from it. Her eyes glowed as she drank in the sweet darkness that surrounded the tattered ruin.
Smoke and shadows, screams and fears. Yubel hissed from between her teeth, her lips twisting into a delighted grin. Yes. More, more of it! More of the darkness that Juudai spread, more of the pain that she gave him and he returned to her!
She moved through the ruin, touching the side of a building here and running her fingers through scattered ashes there, images of the past brought to mind by each movement. Haou's armies invaded, easily cresting the defensive barriers, slaughtering those who tried to defend their families and friends, capturing those same families and friends once the defenders fell.
Somewhere in the middle of the wreckage, she came across another shattered timber, one that looked no different from any of the others. Not to sight, at least. But Yubel had senses much stronger and more dependable than mere sight.
Images flickered through her mind as she wrapped her arms around the smoldering wood, breathing in a scent only she could've known was there. He stood here. In this spot. A low moan slid between her lips, passionate and longing. Juudai. Juudai. If only he would accept her love.
In time, she reminded herself. He had much to learn, and it would be better if he finished Super Fusion first. Until then, she would be patient.
That didn't stop her from hugging the splintered beam closer and nuzzling her head against it, imagining Juudai's arms around her, imagining the warm passage of his breath against her ears, hearing his voice whispering vows of eternal love once again.
Splinters pricked against her bare skin and she welcomed the pain. Whether Juudai knew it or not, he gave that to her. Sweet, delicious pain, the stuff of love itself, without which there could be nothing. No friendship. No love.
But even Yubel couldn't deceive herself forever. She dropped the timber and glanced down at it, anger glinting in her mad orange eyes now. It isn't Juudai. It was never Juudai. It was only a wreck, a wretched piece of wood that he'd stood near and it wasn't him and how dare it not be him!
She struck downward with the flat of her hand, darkness following the movement in a cold arc. Not even splinters remained once her hand passed. It was not Juudai. It deserved nothing from her but her contempt.
What did that accomplish? His voice. The thief's voice, echoing in the back of her mind. I'm in my mind. You're in my body.
"Does it matter?" She purred under her breath, pulling the hood of her cloak up as she began to make her way out of the ruins. She'd seen all that she needed to see here. Time to move on and perhaps find a duel or two for herself. She hadn't yet fully tamed the Advanced Gem Beasts, after all. Perhaps finishing off a small hamlet or two would teach them obedience to her will.
Johan could hear her thoughts, when she permitted him to. She could feel what he felt, whenever she wanted to. His stomach churned as she contemplated how best to spend the rest of her day until returning to her tower. She did need to practice more with her new deck, and there was no better way to do so than by dueling with it.
No. Johan's voice, hard and insistent, attempted to crash into her mind. Perhaps that might've worked better if she wasn't in such total control of her mind and his body. As it was, his demand came across as more of a gentle brush or the whining of a spoiled brat.
Yes. There was a small group of survivors only a short distance away, a few scattered remnants huddled together to protect one another from Haou's warriors and all the other dangers of Dark World. Such as me. Perhaps one or two of them could provide what she needed. If nothing else, the stress and fear they suffered through would be delicious. One had to keep up one's strength, after all.
She could still hear Johan's screams of denial, but there was little he could do beyond watch as she began to track down her new prey. "You've seen me do this before. Why do you still fight against me?"
It's wrong. Johan had no fists to clench but she knew he wanted to do so. Let my family go, Yubel!
She tilted her head (his head?) and considered it for a long, eternal second.
"No." Really, after seeing her duel with her deck for the past month and more, Johan should've accepted that he could do nothing. He had no way to gain his body back unless she chose to give it to him and she could remove him from it again in the blink of an eye.
What makes you think I'd just give up? Her eyes narrowed at the strength still flowing through his mind. He was stubborn. Just as stubborn as she was, or so he wanted to believe.
"You'll never win against me. I've already defeated you." Doing so had been an intense pleasure, almost as great as dueling against Juudai after all those years had been.
Rematch.
Oh, he was amusing. And annoying. "No." She had more important matters to attend to today than prodding at him, no matter how amusing it was. Training the Advanced Gem Beasts came to mind. Which, truthfully, was business and pleasure all at the same time. Not to mention providing a delicious stream of dark hatred from Johan with every card she played. His first sight of Advanced Gem Beast Ruby Carbuncle had been wonderful. She hadn't known such language existed in this modern age.
She'd taken only half a dozen steps before a strange sound stopped her in her tracks. The sound was oddly familiar, but not something she could place right away. She began again; perhaps it was just some wild animal in the brush where she couldn't see? It did sound somewhat like a growl, after all.
Again the sound came, louder this time, and much closer. Yubel flexed her fingers; how could it be closer but she hadn't heard it move? There wasn't that much brush to hide anything either, now that she took a better look. Most of what had been there burned in Haou's attack. A few scattered rocks littered the area, but none of those were large enough to conceal anything larger than a human child or one of the smaller spirits. None of those were anything for her to worry about.
You don't know what that is? Johan's voice rang with laughter. Her hand dived without hesitation to the deck holder on her hip.
"Tell me what it is." She didn't need to add 'or else'. The way her hand gripped on the deck said it for her.
Before he could respond, the sound came for a third time, and she realized now how close it was to her. It hadn't drawn close, it had been that way all along and she hadn't noticed. "Thief."
There was a sort of mental sigh from Johan now. It's your stomach. My stomach. I'm hungry. Neither she nor he were entirely certain if that was the right phrasing, given her ownership of the body and his continued existence attached to it, but the message was clear nevertheless.
"Nonsense. I don't eat human food." She'd prepared a steak when she'd worn the other boy's body, that child Martin, but that had held a purpose to it, drawing the Masked Knights' human hosts to her. She hadn't actually eaten any of it herself.
I do. You can't go for a month without eating. I can't, anyway.
Ridiculous. She'd fed on darkness for the last month and that sustained her. Why wasn't it doing so now?
How should I know? What I know is that I'm starving and if you don't do something about it, or let me do something about it, then my body won't be useful to you anymore, because it's not going to work anymore.
As much as she wanted to tell him to stop lying (he was a thief, how could he not lie? He'd already tried to tell her that he didn't love Juudai and that was insane, because who could not love Juudai?), the hunger was too strong to deny. This body needed food that wasn't the shadows she usually drew her sustenance from.
Which meant she was going to have to find someplace that had food that a human body could use.
Where could that be? Haou's depredations had ruined so many villages in the area that those that survived would hardly have food for themselves, much less for a visitor. His army took any supplies they could find for themselves as well, leaving only shattered ruins behind.
And you were so proud of him just a few minutes ago. Johan taunted, his voice sharp and edged. She would've smacked him if she could.
"I am. He's learning." Granted, right now those lessons were mildly inconveniencing her, but she was certain she could deal with this situation. It was only food.
She would have to travel to find an area that Haou's troops hadn't touched yet. Hopefully she wouldn't have to go all that far. The way the stomach roared indicated that she needed to eat soon.
She needed more than that, really, she realized as she hurried along. Juudai didn't need to know just yet that Johan survived. There was only one way to make certain that didn't happen. Such a thought amused her deeply, and she was no less amused by how much it revolted Johan.
Her attention flickered this way and that as she moved, far more swiftly than any normal human form would be able to. Even wearing Johan's body didn't hamper her abilities. Oddly enough, unlike those others she'd worn as hosts or channeled her power through, he was amazingly suited to her strength.
No. She would not think anything like that. Johan was not suited to her. Worse than that, he wasn't suited to Juudai. He could ape her old form, he could mimic her sacrifice, he could pretend to take her place in any way that he chose, but he was not her. He would never be her.
That's fine with me. She would find a way to smack him one of these days, without having to emerge from his body to do so. He deserved a proper punishment, something more than what she'd been able to give so far. Stealing my body and my family isn't enough for you?
"That is just the beginning." She couldn't yet imagine everything she wanted to do to Johan for his nerve in so much as talking to Juudai. Calling himself Juudai's best friend. Daring to steal Juudai's love from her!
I've told you before, I don't love him. Not like that. She ignored those words. Lies, cheap lies, nothing more. You really like just listening to yourself, don't you?
Yubel brought her focus back to what mattered, the finding of food. A farm would perhaps be suitable, one that was out of the way and whose population could be easily dealt with when she satisfied her hunger. In fact, now that she considered the matter more, the mere fact she had to do this showed how inferior Johan was. Her true form needed only darkness to survive. He had to eat and drink and…
"If it comes to that, you'll do that." She would give him the body back for that much, if nothing else.
Thank you. So much.
So far as she searched, however, Yubel couldn't find anywhere that looked like a farm. Villages and small towns, even once or twice a place large enough for some to consider them a large town or small city, but no farms. They had to exist, but none of them were here.
Fine, then. She would do without a farm. There were other places she could find food. Taverns came to mind almost right away. She'd been to taverns before, with Juudai, long ago.
You are not trying to tell me that Juudai ever took you to a bar.Disbelief colored Johan's mental voice and Yubel smiled.
"No. I took him, a very long time ago." She hadn't yet told him of their past together. That was a sacred secret, something that only her beloved needed to know. Thieves like Johan only needed to know they were interfering in something far greater than they could imagine.
The taverns of Kuragari were far different from anything that could be found in this day and age, though. Even the meanest tavern of their old home held vintages that made what was available now taste like swamp water. After seven thousand years, she doubted anything from their land existed still. Especially not after…
Yubel averted her thoughts again, but more because something far more interesting than the dead past caught her attention. Not that far away, built halfway into the side of the mountain, she saw a building. A sign hanging out front that she supposed represented a bunch of grapes indicated that it served something edible there. Good enough. She had no idea of how far she was from where they'd begun, but from the demands her stomach now put forth, it was too far.
There was no time to waste on being subtle right now. Yubel threw the door open and stepped inside. She kept her hood down, though. She didn't have time for being subtle but she would always have time for craft.
"Can I help you?" Someone she presumed was the tavern's master stepped forward, a gleam of greed in his eyes. Someone who entered the way she did must ring of wealth to him.
"Bring me food. Stop only when I tell you to. I don't care what it is." She strode to the nearest table, which already had two humans and a couple of monsters seated around it. She tilted her head back just enough so they could see her burning orange eyes and a hint of a mad smirk. In moments, the table was empty.
She made herself comfortable, ignoring the way the other patrons stared at her. Let them stare. Let them think anything they wanted. Let them do anything they wanted, so long as they didn't disturb her.
"Do you think he works for Haou?" So, whispers of Juudai echoed in this dingy hole already. They were not so far from where his armies marched that they wouldn't feel his blade soon enough.
"Did you see his eyes? He looks human but he can't be, not with eyes like that." How true. She was so much more than human, no matter what her body was.
The keeper stepped over to her, a tray of food held high before he set it before her. "Here you go, sir." He hesitated for a moment and she saw that greed cross his features once again. She dismissed him with an impatient flick of one hand.
"You'll get what's coming to you when I'm finished," she told him. She meant every word of it. She set to eating, recognizing roasted Raging Bull Demon as the main course. Excellent.
I've never been partial to beef. Fish is more to my taste.Johan mused. Yubel ignored him; the fish would come if she ate enough and he could damned well wait for it. She paid little more attention to what the food actually consisted of; what mattered to her was how much there was of it.
A cup accompanied the meal, full to the brim with rich, dark red liquid. She didn't recognize at first since the scent was just different enough from what she remembered. But when she took a drink, she knew it at once.
Wine.
She closed her eyes and drank it in, savoring every memory it stirred up in her. Days spent with Juudai inspecting the vineyards, or more accurately, following along with King Aodh when he'd inspected them. Enjoying rare new vintages served only at the king's table. Teasing Juudai with a few drops on his tongue and making him guess which of the royal vineyards a particular sample came from.
He always knew; that was a game he never lost.
She fought back tears and memories in the same breath. So much as she wanted to recall those days when he knew and loved her, she had to focus on the now. She had to fuel this body so that it would continue to serve her until she had her beloved with her again.
You do love him. Wonder touched Johan's mental voice and Yubel renewed her vow to find a way to smack him.
Haven't I said so enough times? How could he have ever thought otherwise? There was no one who loved Juudai like she did. There could never be anyone who loved him like she did.
He was silent as she continued to sip the wine. It was inferior to Kuragari's worst, just as she'd thought it would be. But it was wine all the same, and for a few brief moments, she let herself dream of days long gone once again.
"Yubel! Father wants us to go to the Northland Vineyards today! It's a long trip, three whole days there and back!" Juudai's eyes lit up with excitement as he grabbed Yubel's hand. "Come on, everything's packed already!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yubel laughed as the two of them made their way to where the king and his escort awaited them. "You'd think you'd never left the castle before, Juudai."
"The Northland Vineyards are the only ones I haven't seen yet. That's where Royal Delight comes from!"
Yubel only smiled. Juudai could find excitement in anything. Though seeing where Royal Delight, the rarest wine in the entire land, came from was a treat that not everyone, even a member of the royal family, had. No one knew the exact process used to create Royal Delight either, at least not so far as Yubel knew. Inspecting their wineries would reveal little, Yubel suspected. But it would be an interesting journey nevertheless.
"They say that Royal Delight wine can last for a thousand years before it goes bad. Maybe even longer! Maybe even ten thousand," Juudai declared in a breathless tone. "How do they do that?"
"Perhaps you'll be the one to find out," Aodh said, a hint of a smile on his lips. Yubel wasn't surprised at all to see Juudai sit up straighter in his saddle, eyes bright and joyful.
"Maybe I will!"
"Excuse me?" The tavernkeeper stood before her again, another plate of food in his hands. "Did you want this, good sir?" Again that gleam of greed. She gestured for him to set it down, then indicated her cup.
"Keep that filled." Inferior or not, it was at least wine. Perhaps it was better that it wasn't as good as the old days. She would be reminded too much of times perhaps better forgotten.
Those days are gone. What matters from them is just that Juudai loves me. Why he'd chosen to show that love now in pain she didn't know. Nor did it matter. That was what he gave her, so she would return it, as she always returned everything he gave her, tenfold.
Johan shifted in the back of her mind as she took a long drink, savoring the aroma. Yubel, you should know, I don't drink that much.
She mentally rolled her eyes. As if what he did mattered to her. This was her body now. If she had to put up with eating and drinking while in it, then she would damned well eat and drink what she chose to eat and drink! He would just have to get used to it.
She could feel him trying to say something again and ignored him in favor of applying herself to the food. The cook wasn't terribly bad; he or she might've served in the kitchen of one of the lesser nobles. Not skilled or talented enough for the royal palace, of course. But very few were.
The next plate of food involved fish: Seven-Colored, if she judged it correctly. She took her time with it; not because Johan'd mentioned he preferred it, but because she thought Seven-Colored Fish was worth lingering over. Delicately fried, soaked in a white wine that almost, but not quite, reminded her of a certain way the cooks served fish at the royal table, with a side of some vegetable she didn't recognize right away, but which was quite tasty as well. Johan muttered more under his mental breath and she continued to ignore him. Let him pout. She wasn't done eating yet.
I wonder if they have any Genocide King Salmon roe. She knew it was rare to the point of being impossible to acquire. Genocide King Salmon tended to eat more fisher folk than fisher folk ate them. In her travels, she'd noticed that those who could acquire it won great fame and renown for their courage. Juudai could easily acquire some. She had no doubt of that. A single glance from his beautiful golden eyes would deliver all the roe one could want.
A few people slipped in and out of the tavern while she ate; she ignored most of them. Those who left would know nothing of importance. Those who remained would soon pay the price for their curiosity. She could hear them whispering still, tossing ideas back and forth over who the starving stranger in their midst might be. None of them came even close to the truth.
I think you're done, Yubel. Let's go. She might well have done so, if Johan hadn't been the one to say it. She'd nearly reached the limits of what her stomach could hold, and a pleasant fog lay over her thoughts, legacy of the inferior wine.
She said nothing aloud, only gestured with her empty cup for the tavernkeeper to refill it. She didn't ask if this wine was the best available. If it wasn't, then the keeper was too much of a fool to live. Even if she'd meant to allow him to live in the first place. She leaned back, eyes flickering here and there to those few who dared to remain. None of them carried a duel disk. No battles would be fought here.
Too bad.
Yubel caressed the top of her deck; perhaps Advanced Gem Beast Sapphire Pegasus would like to roam around the tavern. A few Sapphire Dark Horns would send everyone screaming.
She'd just begun to pull the card out when the tavern doors slammed open and a tall, burly figure stepped inside, each movement as confident and assured as her own were. Golden armor covered most of him from the neck downward, with a dark cloak trailing all around him. She recognized him at once as an Invader of Darkness, one of the most powerful Demons of them all.
"Invader-sama." The tavernkeeper approached, bowing repeatedly. "How might we be of service to you?"
Invader stepped farther into the room, his gaze traveling over the various customers. Yubel remained where she was, sipping at her cup of wine, a hint of a smile on her lips.
"He does work for Haou." One of those behind her whispered, the words carrying to her perked ears. "He's one of the Death Duelists. He must be here to conquer the area for his master."
Well, what else would he be here for? Dinner and a show? Yubel wondered how people could've degenerated into such idiots in seven eons. She still said nothing, though. Invader of Darkness might be highly ranked in her beloved's employ, but that didn't mean she had to waste her time speaking to him. Not when she was ready to leave anyway.
She hadn't moved an inch before the newcomer strode over there, each step echoing with power and authority. "And who would you be?" Invader took one of the empty chairs there for his own, disregarding how it creaked under the weight of his armor. "You radiate power, whoever you are. Not like the rest of these pathetic creatures." He indicated the other tavern visitors with a flick of armored fingers.
"I might be many people." Yubel wouldn't give any name to this creature. Not freely, at any rate. "You'll have to win it from me." She could still feel Johan rolling his eyes and shaking his head and that made her even more determined to do this. Whatever foolishness her current host thought this was, that only made it wiser in her opinion.
The other tilted his head back, eyeing her in deep thought. "A challenge, I see. Not a duel?"
"If we dueled, then you'd be dead at the end and I couldn't tell you anything," Yubel pointed out, not doubting for a moment who the victor would be. "There are other ways to gain information." Not all of them were as interesting as a duel, but they were easier.
Invader's face couldn't be seen, but she thought he smiled as the tavernkeeper set a cup of wine before him, one whose aroma was much richer than what Yubel had. "Then I propose this: a drinking contest. Whoever falls first loses."
Yubel drained the last of her wine and held it out to the tavernkeeper, eyes glittering in the depths of her hood. "Bring me what he's having. And keep it coming for both of us."
To Be Continued