The Cecaelia. This will eventually change to M-rated... I think...

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or anything else except the plot. This story is written for the pure amusement of other people and I do not obtain money because of it. This is for the entire story, so I will not have to repeat it in other chapters. Thank you for understanding.

Oh, and next chapter will definitely be longer! Promise!

"UUUUUUUhhhhhgggggggmmmmmmm..." Yugi groaned as he stretched, standing on a stray rock that popped out above the wet, sandy gravel. He was walking around the shores of a particular beach. This part was covered with little gravel stones for the most part instead of sand, this was because the 'beach', as to say, was actually a big and deep loch, connected to the sea. It also had a few side lochs on its own, and there were small islands all over. A few days ago, Yugi had been in the big city, away from here, visiting his grandfather's grave. He used to love it there, when he could visit grandpa, and talk about all kinds of awesome things... His grandpapie was a very awesome old little man. Now traveling to there was just tiring him out, physically ànd mentally.

Yugi blew his hot breath onto his half-gloved hands, the condensed release of his breath visible in the chilled air. His fingertips were freezing! How he wished he had worn a thicker pair of clothes...

It was near the end of summer, but even then it was cold, and it didn't get hotter than 22 degrees Fahrenheit in winter...

In a week or two, school was going to ask his attention too. He rather went to go swim, snorkel and treasure hunt for things on the bottom of the shallow water. He never went very deep anymore. Never. The sea, although intriguing him and pulling him closer with its unknown and unexplored areas, could never be truly trusted. He once did as a kid, and nearly drowned. He couldn't remember it all too well, but sometimes, he'd have nightmares about it...

Winter was coming again... And the ocean would freeze up. Just like before. Yugi wondered if he could go ice-skating this year... It had been such a long time since he'd done that, mainly because of what happened...

Last year he didn't dare to risk it, because it wasn't cold enough for thick ice to form, but this year, maybe there'd be a chance. He wanted to enjoy the things he and his grandfather used to do together, so many years ago... That was why he came to live here. In a house, a good mile away from the town, close onto one of the shores. There was a small, natural bridge to a huge peninsula close by, which disappeared when the water rose. (The bridge of course not the island.)

Though he didn't live with anybody else, simply because his grandpapie was the last of his family, didn't mean he ever felt truly alone.

It was as if his grandfather's spirit was still lingering around here.

Most memories from this place were good, so he wanted to be here. He didn't feel so alone that way. Yet, maybe, very maybe, he was looking for something... Someone... A friend that would stand by his side...

"Squea..."

What... was that hoarse, high-pitched sound?
Did someone follow him?

Yugi turned round, but concluded after scanning the area, that he was alone. He walked on, burying his hands in his pockets. Cold shivers ran down his spine as he remembered some creepy tales about water creatures, such as kelpies and sirens. But those didn't exist. It was impossible... Maybe there was some big sea horse swimming in the depths of the unexplored sea, yes, but myths of ancient times? No. Simply impossible.

Yugi stopped as if he had heard some evil foreshadowing just a second ago. Attentively, he looked around and listened to his surroundings very, very closely.

"Squ-Squak! Squii!"

It sounded like a dog's toy. It had to be an animal. But what animal would make a sound like that? Almost crying out for help? Yugi looked around again and followed the direction of the sound. He didn't know what to expect really. He noticed a few gulls flying around rather closely, their beady eyes looking if there was something to be snatched away from him. The seabirds would do anything.

As the sound became louder, he began to slow down. He looked around his feet, and a few meters further when... Something was laying there in the sand, crying as it wriggled around. Some gulls flew down, crying out loud as other gulls nearly clashed against each other as they all tried to get it.

It couldn't be a fish. Yugi couldn't think of any fish that would make such a sound. Not one single fishy!

Said thing squeaked again as a gull managed to grasp it, but another attacked and it let it fall down again. That was when Yugi thought he saw… No…

What in the name of...? What was that? He walked up to the thingy before he heard it was, in Ra's name, wheezing! The gulls angrily moved away, squawking at Yugi with mouths wide open and wings flapping. Yugi intimidated their behaviour to scare them away, but when he wanted to yell, all that came out was a little "Eeeep!"

Still, it was enough to hold off the aggressive birds.

Sitting down in a squat, his elbows perched on his knees, he observed whatever it was that had was taking both his' and the gulls' attention. It looked like a miniature octopus, with a human body on top of it. Its lower body was white, making it only look even sicker than it probably already was. It had red, fin-like ears, four spikes with membrane between them, that got shorter and shorter downwards, each of the spikes ending in a black tip. Its hair was the reversed colour of its ears, black with brown-red, nearly violet, tips or was it blue? It had a shine that Yugi could only describe seeing on a pearl, or opal even. Perhaps the tips of its hair had an opal kind of thing going on, while being slightly transparent. Softly, the teen started to poke it, trying to place this strange finding somewhere in his knowledge of common sense. It took him some seconds, maybe even close to a minute, to realize that it wasn't just a toy or his eyes playing a trick on him.

"Holy mother of-!" Yugi jumped up and looked around for yet another time. Not a soul in sight, except for the gulls that dared to close in a little. He got closer again and carefully picked the creature up, then walked over to the water and softly set it in the sea. All he could do was release It back into its natural habitat, right? But the gulls… wouldn't they catch it once he was gone? The creature stirred a little, curling its little arms around for something to hold onto, but Yugi's woollen fingerless gloves offered no help for it to latch onto. Besides feeling the suction cups trying their best to do so however, it didn't budge from its place, and seemed to be clinging to his glove with its tiny, human-like hands. He sighed. It was so small... But what should he do with it? He didn't want it to die! Yugi grimaced. He could... Take it to a vet?

No way, that would cause an unnecessary uproar! Maybe he could take care of it himself...? It was the only thing he could do for it... If he didn't want it to get eaten by gulls…

Determinately, he opened his jacket and hid the hand with which he was holding the octopus-creature into it. He could try and keep it warm that way as he walked back to his house. Several times he looked down, just to confirm that it was real, and that he wasn't imagining things.
The being eyed Yugi with its pale eyes. They were as pale as its lower body and the human frowned. It looked as if it had a fever... But… What else could he do with it? He wasn't sure if it was even poisonous or not! A lot of octopi were, and yet, knowing this fact, he tried to save a strange, nearly unrealistic creature? What was wrong with him?

"It's okay," Yugi smiled, "I'm going to help you," He told the little creature, but he was unsure if it could really understand him. Probably not. Who said it could even speak? It replied by making a whistling noise, sounding a bit like, "Rururururuuuuuuu."

No, it could definitely not speak.

The young teen noticed that there were gulls following him, and he growled, irritated by their constant squawking following him as he went on. It was rather unnerving, being followed by such creatures. And it wasn't as if they were small either! Their wing span being about a frightening 2 to 4 feet long. One of them swooped down and yanked on Yugi's hair. He cried out and swatted the bird away with his free hand and sped up his pace, the sea-birds persuading him like it was a cat-and-mouse game.

He cried out in victory, "Ha!" When he saw the top of his house appearing over the dunes. He gave an all-in effort to make it back to the house before any of the birds could do any more damage, getting out and fiddling with his keys in the door lock, before getting inside and slamming the door behind him. He quickly realized he forgot his keys on the lock and quickly opened the door again to snatch them away.

A long sigh came out of him at last when he, and his keys, were safely inside the house.

So... What now?

He looked down at the creature that he had clutched in his hand rather tightly, but it didn't seem to be bothered by that. In fact, the colour of its lower body seemed to change a little, some salmon-pink spots showing on it as it nuzzled away in his hand.

He better put it in his aquarium… It looked and felt all dried up, not to mention it had a red bruise on one of its little arms. Could the beak of a seagull that had clenched around the arm too hard maybe be the cause of the red mark?

"Squea…" It looked up when Yugi placed it in his aquarium. He stepped back to sit on the couch's handrail, watching as it sank into the water-tank. The tank itself was located in the wall between the kitchen and the lounge, taking a rather big piece of the wall. It had so many fish, so it had to be big! If anything were to happen with that tank, his fish were screwed! It was important to have big enough space in the tank for your fish, to where the result could often end in death of the fish if you didn't.

The fish came towards the newcomer curiously, beginning to swim around it, some rubbing their gills against it. It seemed to respond by changing it's lower body's colour to blend in along the surroundings. Yugi knew that fish lost heat through their gills, so maybe they were trying to share their warmth too?

He got out the fish food that stood in a cabinet, next to an old television, near the doorframe to the kitchen and fed his fish as he hadn't done that yet today, wondering what he should get for the creature. Would it be picky about its food? The fish came to eat, their mouths sucking up the little flakes funnily, and hungrily. He frowned as the little octopus creature didn't respond, and only looked at Yugi through a horde of hungry fish. Now that the fish did not surround the creature, Yugi got a better look at it from the side of the tank. It's eyes were a crimson-red colour, almost like coral. Wait… Weren't they pale before? Its skin of its lower body was now the same crimson colour, and to be honest, it looked rather upset…
Its raven-black hair with nacre tips was swaying like an anemone, though Yugi doubted there was that much current in the water. It was almost like Yugi's spiky hair. It had blonde bangs like Yugi too, but some of them accompanying the black hair in its way up, unlike Yugi who was permanently stuck with that annoying forelock of his...

Yugi sighed and decided to take a snack too, and thus walking to the kitchen, to prepare a shrimp sandwich for himself.
All the while, he thought about a name for the creature. He couldn't keep calling it 'It', could he? Let's see, there were Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl or just DM and DMG, the two big, black catfish that did an amazing job at cleaning the glass on the inside. They were as big as Yugi's lower arm, from his wrist to his elbow. Then there were the Siamese algae eaters that he called 'The Kurasu' that helped out the catfish. The tank was once really dirty since the water-pump's pipe got stuck, and Yugi bought them to get things clean. Was he amazed when they did an amazing job on eating away everything!

There was Manu, the pink Axolotl, and Judai, the green spotted puffer fish... He was just worried about Joey, his electric blue lobster. He just hoped Joey wouldn't nip the little octopus creature...

Yugi smiled as he looked up from his sandwich to see how the sea creature was doing. It was looking at him tiredly, hiding in the shadow of the rock it sat at. Its colour had changed again, once again in the colour of its surroundings… A master of disguise, if only he could camouflage his hair and top skin. Yugi wondered what the function of camouflaging might be if it could be seen anyway.
It had its eyes closed, and swayed softly in the water's current. It took Yugi several moments before he realized it was actually really mimicking an anemone! That was really smart! It had its own tactic to make the surrounding fish feel safe, before surprise attacking them! Like a shadow waiting for prey to come close enough in its reach before striking. How peculiar! Wait, should he be worried it would try and eat the other fish?

No, it seemed too small to do any real damage… unless it used that poison which Yugi nearly forgot about. Nah, it'd be alright, he was sure!
Now, for a name…

He needed something that was soft, but fierce at the same time. Like... A velvet of darkness spreading its tentacles out, covering the land in an unreal world, where things were not as they seemed at first glance. It needed a soft name, one that was simple, but…

Amu? Yeah… He liked that name! It seemed to fit rather… Rather well actually!

He noticed the blunt look he received, as if the creature could hear his mind working and grinned cheekily, and as he smiled at it, Amu blinked back. The teen turned back to his lunch, quickly finishing it up. Covered with shrimps, mayonnaise, lettuce and egg, he took a bite out of the food and hummed his approval at it. He turned back to the tank to notice Amu had crept a little closer to the glass, but didn't engage in anything yet. The snack asked attention of him yet again and he took another bite, swallowing blissfully. Once again he looked at the tank, only to gain the fright of his life, as Amu was plastered against the glass, eyes wide open, both his irises and skin swirling between red and blue. It glared at him, its lips forming a straight line across its face. Figuring it was hungry, Yugi took a handful of shrimps, Yugi stuck his hand in the tank, laying them in front of Joey and Manu. He realized that was a mistake, as the blue lobster did not like to share with any fish other than Manu. Well, Manu wasn't really a fish but- ah you get the thing!

Said lobster walked over to them happily and began nipping softly at curious fish that came too close.

Amu suddenly changed colour to the same electric blue as the lobster in a matter of seconds, and tried to get closer stealthily. It was funny to see him try and fool the lobster into thinking he was an anemone, but he was too rash, which was what gave him away. He got nipped at one of his lower arms, which caused him to quickly flee back to the other side of the aquarium. Yugi laughed and took another hand full of shrimps. He was about to dispose them by putting his hand back in the tanker, when Amu swam up to him. Its colour was red and blue again, though this time there was more blue… He blinked as Amu blinked back at him, pausing just at the surface.

"Squeak!" Amu yelled when it broke the water's surface.
"Hello to you too Amu," Yugi laughed as he took one of the shrimps. Amu tilted his head as Yugi held out a shrimp, and took it over, carefully and cautiously with his own tiny hands.
He nommed it happily and when he was done, he looked up to get another one. His colour changed to a dark, navy blue/indigo. Yugi was almost immediately reminded of one of those rings or necklaces that changed when you held them. He rummaged through the package of shrimps to grasp one, giving another, when Amu suddenly had other plans and sucked himself stuck on Yugi's finger. Yugi's first reaction was to shake his hand violently and yelp. He didn't know why, but he guessed that Amu still freaked him out a bit. Said creature refused to let go, reaching out for the other hand that held the shrimps. Yugi decided to give up and presented the shrimps to the sea creature. Amu quickly jumped upon them, into the package, and devoured them faster than Yugi could down a whole glass of milk ad fundum.

For the rest of the day, Yugi spent the time by watching Amu doze around in the aquarium. And it almost felt like Amu was observing him as well. Perhaps Amu didn't like to get stared at… It was around six when he finally landed into the couch and put on the tv, looking for any interesting shows that night. Well… There was Glee… Nah. Doctor Who? Nope. Oh No Yugi to Tora? Yes! It was this high-school kind of anime about a kid that could summon real life monsters with cards to fight off other monsters that attacked the school, but he had to do it in secret, because nobody else could see the monstrosities. Yugi loved the show since he was a kid, and it ran from 2001 till 2003, but it had a famous card game that was really popular back in the day. Then they began making spinoffs and all these new rules for the game that got way too confusing. Yugi liked playing the original game.

But the 2001-2003 'original' as most rookies would call it, was actually a long reboot. There was another version, the origins of the kid's power, produced in 1997 or so… The quality was crappy, the animation was crappy, the voice acting was- actually… Actually pretty decent, especially the boy's monster had an awesome voice, but the rest was just crappy as shit. But Yugi loved it. It had its charm, it deserved respect for a reason. He didn't know why but it had to. It was the original, the 1st! His eyes darkened a little. The monster was much more… evil-like, his actions vile and his expressions emotionally. He looked like a sociopath. He knew his actions were wrong, often the boy asked him to stop, but he did not listen most of the times. Nonetheless, his actions somehow resolved the problems… Maybe not in the right way, but every watcher, every fan knowing of the existence of that season, knew it had to be done… Smarter fans called it the forbidden season, the dark season. Season zer-

"Queaky!"

He turned around and saw Amu at the surface of the water, looking pleadingly at him.
"What's wrong?" He asked. Amu held out his hands like a child asking to be picked up. Yugi went over to the little being, nearly smacking himself in the face as he knew the other couldn't answer.

It pointed, to Yugi's fascination, over to the television, squeaking and hitting the glass of the tank. "You want to watch it?" He looked in wonder. Amu kept pointing, and being persistent as he was, Yugi went to fetch a towel and picked Amu up and placed him into the towel and flopping back down on the couch. As the show went on, Amu turned his head and squeaked at the television multiple times when each time he saw the boy or his main monster. Perhaps it understood that the show was about those two…

He also tilted his head a lot, like a curious dog, making the soft whistling sound from before. Slowly, Yugi raised a hand and petted the little head that was Amu's, the wet hair something akin to a kitten's, the reason it stood up so perfectly, even though it was wet. Amu suddenly noticed and squeaked offended at Yugi, his interest to the show momentarily lost.

"Hahaha!" Yugi snickered, "I'm sorry Amu!" He hid his smile in his hand, snickering, before adding, "You're so cute, I couldn't help it!"

"Squeaky!" Amu protested, flinging its upper arms around to keep Yugi's hand away.
"So, do you like that tv show?" Yugi asked, fully aware that this was a question that might reveal whether Amu could understand him or not. However, his question got unanswered as Amu yawned, and shivered. It wasn't really that cold in the house, so what was…

"Ah, look now, you're all dried up!" Yugi frowned in concern. He'd forgotten that double episodes were over 40 minutes! This wasn't good…

Getting up, Yugi placed Amu back into the aquarium, seeing it swim in the water happily. With a smile, he returned to his seat and decided to watch a movie. Maybe a drama, or a romance… How about a romantic drama?

Titanic popped into his head and he shrugged to himself. He had nothing better to do.

As the movie went on, he noted Amu sitting in the back corner of the tank, trying to get a better look at the television. Yugi giggled at the other's behaviour but let Amu sit inside the tank nonetheless. He didn't want the smaller to get sick from dehydration. It seemed that he had been starving, Yugi now realized, no wonder it was so pale, he was too weak to get his own food or even defend himself!

Yugi's heart picked up a little speed at that thought.

But where did Amu come from?

Yugi didn't even notice the movie was already at its end and playing the credits as he was asking himself all these kinds of questions.

How was Amu scientifically possible? Were there more of him? Did he have a family? Were they searching for him? What happened to make him stray away from home? Was his family safe? Should Yugi return him to the sea? With those gulls?

Those terrible… Deadly gulls?

"Quea'!" Yugi looked up from where he was sinking into the debts of his thoughts. Amu was tilting his head at him and looked a little upset. Had he been calling earlier as well, and had Yugi not responded? He didn't know. He hadn't noticed.

"Ah, it's uh… it's time to go to sleep," He awkwardly said to the being.

"Q-uea'!" Amu held out his little hands, wanting to be picked up.

"Amu, I can't take you with me," Yugi said, rubbing his eyes. "Just go to sleep," He instructed, but not unkindly. He rubbed Amu's head, against Amu's will, before heading upstairs and preparing himself for bed. Just as he had crept under the blankets that were made of wool though, he shot back up when a horrible noise, the volume of a car alarm, began to wail through the lower part of his house. What in the hell was that!? Yugi was sure that this was exactly what a Siren would sound like, bringing ships down into the water to eat humans alive while they drowned.

He ran back downstairs, wincing as his ears started to hurt, and looked over to the fish tank from where the noise originated. The fish were going crazy, Amu sitting at the water's surface, making the terrible, agonizing noise.
"AAAMUUU!" Yugi called. Silence immediately reigned, but Yugi could still feel his ears ringing. The creature looked at him, chirping for his attention.
"Ok..." He sighed tiredly, looking around for a pot. He was not going to sleep in the couch because of Amu. Absolutely not! He found what he was searching for in one of the kitchen's cupboards and filled it with water, preceded with plucking a coral from the aquarium and put it in the pot. At last, he let Amu wrap its lower arms on his finger and put him in the pot as well. He went back upstairs with Amu happily swimming around in the pot and put him on his desk. Yugi was too tired for this. He could barely keep his eyes open as they stung when he tried to do so. See, Yugi had this condition. He didn't know what it was, and didn't bother going to the doctor with it either, but whatever it was, he was always tired more quickly than other people.

He blamed this condition, of course, on his unusually short stature. It didn't bother him as much as it used to. He would be alright.

"Now go sleep Amu," He ordered as he glared towards the sea creature while getting back into his bed. Amu seemed to not have heard him and observed the room from the little pot he was in, making such funny faces that Yugi just couldn't help but laugh!

"We'll have to sleep if you want tomorrow to ever come you know?" Yugi told him. This got Amu's attention, and he tilted his head at Yugi. Yugi did the same before putting off the light, hoping Amu wouldn't scream again. But instead of screaming, or hearing something, Yugi caught a glimpse of Amu's hair, glowing different colours in the dark, like the lamp on a nightstand. It was peaceful... Watching it made him feel at peace...

His head hurt as he dreamt. He was drowning... Something was pulling him under. He was four. He went ice-skating with his grandpapie. But... He had strayed too far away from his grandfather. He wasn't aware of the danger. The ice had broken beneath him, and he went under. It was cold. He couldn't come back up. The hole was already freezing back shut!

Something was pulling him under... He was drowning...

Yugi shot up with a start. It was the middle of the night. His head hurt from the familiar nightmare. He wanted to go back to sleep... But he couldn't. His eyes were drooping, but his muscles felt stiff and sore from the shock. The dream had been much too real. He didn't even know whether it was a dream or a memory...
Amu seemed to have stopped glowing and was wrapping his tentacles around the coral, reminding Yugi of a seahorse. He shivered as the sweat on his skin gave away to the air, cooling him down a lot. He was going to be sick. He knew he would. He hid back under his thick sheets and tried to get rid of the goose-bumps that were forming on his arms.