Yu-Gi-Oh
Damaged Goods
By Dib07
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Summary:
Yugi and Yami have found ways to separate both their hearts and bodies in some strange magic that not even the Pharaoh can fathom. Now with his own body he can learn what Yugi takes for granted, and become his true self. However, Yami's family and friends soon learn that not everything was formed so simply.
- Pairings: Yami/Yugi MAYBE.
- Setting: Post series
- Story Type: A full-series – Family/Hurt/Comfort
- Rating: T - (M)?
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A/N: Please read this new novel at your leisure - I only ask that you please review! The reviews honestly do help me write and upload in the knowledge that this fic is being enjoyed! Thank you!
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Chapter 1: The Unknown
"Grampa, I need to talk to you. It's ... uh... important."
Yugi was holding the millennium puzzle in his hands as he stood beside the sofa where his old grandfather sat. He was watching the television. His grandfather liked watching the game shows they put on after eight o'clock every weekday night, and after the shop was closed and cleaned for the next day, and after dinner was cleared away, Solomon would sit down and watch TV until he inevitably fell asleep on the sofa. These nights Yugi usually busied himself by playing card games with Yami, or reading a good book or two. But ever since Yami's discussion, a new revelation had opened in his mind and he was lost and confused by indecision, excitement and worry.
"Hmm?" Solomon turned to look round. It was dim in the lounge. Most of the light came from the flashing images on screen. "What is it, Yugi?"
"Well, I am not sure, but it's kinda... complicated."
It was good to see his grampa take him seriously for once. Even in the darkness of the room he obviously saw the worry and graveness etched in his grandson's shadowy face. Solomon picked up the remote that lay on the arm of the sofa and clicked the TV off. Then he reached over to the lamp on the little table by the chair and the room was filled with overly bright light.
"What is this about?" Solomon asked patiently. "Are you having trouble at school?"
"Oh no, it's nothing like that. It's Yami."
"Yami?"
"Yes. The spirit of the pharaoh in my millennium puzzle."
"What about him?" Solomon asked, not quite sure how to play along. He had heard about this Yami before, only he wasn't really sure what he was hearing. Yugi discussed this pharaoh from time to time when he was in the right mood, and it seemed that this imaginary friend remained with Yugi with every school year that passed, even when Yugi had real friends like Joey and Triston. However, sometimes, when he was folding away laundry or making the bed, he would hear two people talking in Yugi's room. Of course, Yugi always closed the door, but Solomon would perch just outside it, listening in. On occasion his curiosity would grow too much, and he could restrain himself no longer. He would open the door with a plate of cookies or folded clothes, convinced he would see Joey on the floor playing with cards – kids climbed through bedroom windows all the time to avoid being noticed. But there was no one there. Yugi was playing by himself. There was no one else in the room. Solomon would pretend to clean the place up a bit by rearranging Yugi's jumper on the rack to discreetly look behind the door, or he would peer under the bed. But there was never anyone to find. The only thing that gave Solomon a clue was the cards. There would be Yugi's set on his side, and a another set of cards on the other side of the playing mat: almost as though someone had been there. Now, Solomon didn't like to believe in ghosts. They haunted buildings, and they caused more harm than good whether they existed or not. But Yugi showed strange signs of being 'haunted' ever since he solved that rare Egyptian puzzle.
"Well, it's just that, instead of letting him go to be free in the afterlife, we came to an agreement instead. It's partly my fault. I don't want to lose him." At this, Yugi wrapped his little fingers firmly around the puzzle as if to caress it. The gold of the upside down pyramid was easily warmed by his touch. "If I lost him, I'd... I'd..." He shook his head and his purple eyes, once clouded with melancholy, looked up into his grampa's eyes and they turned clear and cold with an unearthly passion. "Yami's found a way to materialize."
"Pardon?" Now this was... surprising. Yugi looked perfectly sane. He spoke and acted as he normally did. And now this 'being' – this 'yami' had somehow become a greater importance in Yugi's little world. Solomon had rather hoped he would grow out of this phase and find a girl or something like normal boys. It looked like that reality was still a far off fantasy.
"I know it sounds strange, but Yami has very potent powers. He's been planning this for a while now, and he thinks he's gathered enough energy – dark – energy – to materialize himself. He explained it all to me once, and I have to confess that it all went over my head a little. But he can only do it once, and if it works, it's kind of unknown what will happen. But he's been over and over the facts and he thinks it can't go wrong."
"What's this got to do with me?"
"I want to know if you'll love him and accommodate him here as you have provided for me. Treat him as another grandson. He can even sleep in my room."
"Yugi..."
"He won't need to go to school. I won't know how old he'll be when he gets his own body, so you'll have to look after him while I'm out."
"Yugi..."
"And we'll have to buy more food. Also I won't know what kind of taste he'll have. He might be vegetarian for all I know. And I think it's perfect! He won't have to leave me! He'll stay in his own form!"
"Yugi!" Solomon jumped out from his chair and grabbed Yugi's little shoulders gently, but firmly. "I've put up with this for a long time, Yugi, but it's got to stop. You've gone too far!"
"Grampa?"
"Don't you understand? This 'yami' doesn't exist! It's all part of your imagination! Your mother always said you were very bright and imaginative. You were always dreaming of things. Well it's got to stop! How will you ever start a family if you keep talking about this imaginary friend you have?"
"He's real!" Yugi blurted, gripping the puzzle tighter. "Disbelieve me all you want, but very soon he'll be up and walking around like you or me! I just asked for your help! And it seems that I won't have it!" He wrenched himself out of Solomon's steely grip and stalked out the room.
"Yugi!" Solomon cried after him. But was there any use in pursuing him? After all, this 'insanity' over an invisible pharaoh wasn't exactly going to go away overnight. Defeated and all but a little rueful (his grandson needed help – perhaps a good therapist he could talk to, however they charged a lot of money these days), Solomon sat back down and switched on the television.
'I think I am ready, little one.' Spoke the voice of the Pharaoh. Yugi screamed to a halt on the bedroom floor. He had spent much of the evening sweeping and clearing it all in preparation for tonight. The bed was all made. The floor was spruce and tidy. Every single toy and board game had been packed away or sent up to the attic. Though Yugi had next to no idea what to expect, he had to be ready.
"What shall I do?" Yugi asked. He looked down at the puzzle. It had begun to glow faintly through the all-too-tight grip of his fingers.
'I suggest you stand back when I begin. Do not be afraid, and have no regrets. For this choice is mine alone.'
Yugi felt himself frowning. "What do you mean, Yami? Are you saying this could be dangerous?"
'Not for you.'
There was a moment of tranquil silence, and though nothing had yet happened, Yugi felt very demoralized and discouraged. Through their spiritual connection he could feel Yami's own fervour, but it was deeply and profoundly mixed with nervousness and anxiety. It seemed to pulse outward like the unwonted rhythm of a strange song.
"Don't do this if it is risky, Yami."
'Ah, Aibou. I have waited a long time for this one chance.' Though Yugi could not see him, he could feel him, and his mottling ebb and flow of emotions. Yugi wanted to cry with sadness, and whimper with joy all at once, such was the vast flummox of Yami's tide of emotion. 'What I would give to hold you in my own arms. To do the things you do. To eat. To play. To feel the breeze on my cheek. I can do these things with your body, Yugi, but it is truly my own I want, my own to look after. And my own to travel and have adventures with. And though you do not want me to return to the afterlife, I am growing terribly weary and sick of the tomb enclosed all around me. the darkness is full of power and it is all I have known for three thousand years, but I am also frightened of it. I want to be free, either in death, or in life. The time is now, Aibou. Please allow me to try.'
Doubt clouded Yugi's insight, and as much as he tried to block it off before it had time to grow, Yami still sensed it. "I'm sorry, Yami. I fear for you."
'Don't. Each of us must take our chance when the challenge calls. My dark powers shall help and guide me. Shall I begin, Aibou?'
It took a monumental effort for Yugi to acquiesce. He was opening a door of new and potentially deadly possibilities. Did Yami really know what he was doing? Of course he didn't. He had never tried this before. Anything could happen. And Yugi was now more afraid than ever. At first he had been very excited. Yami would be as real as anybody else! He would be able to touch and to smell him! Hold his hand and go shopping with him! It was his ultimate dream come true! But now... with all these complications, Yugi wasn't sure anymore what to think. All he could do, was hope.
Hope for the best.
'Well, here goes.'
There was a pull of pressure, and a final jab of unsettled emotions from the pharaoh as the millennium puzzle glowed into white-hot brilliance. Yugi had to release his grip on it to save himself from getting scorched hands. Then the puzzle began to rock from side to side like a demented pendulum. As it thrashed, it left streaks of white light. Even the light bulbs in Yugi's room began to ebb in and out. One moment the room was in darkness, the next it was smothered by a heavy cadence of ethereal light. Downstairs, Yugi could hear his grandfather screaming as the TV screen blew. Then the alarm clock on the windowsill began to rattle up and down, and a few books fell off their shelves in a flutter of pages and bookmarks. A form of light began to draw from the puzzle and the surrounding environment – even from Yugi himself. The body of light started off small – looking a lot like a ball of lightning. Then it began to take shape, and it grew taller before Yugi's every eyes. He became dazzled by the light as it throbbed and pulsed outward like some kind of aura. But then the light died – most spontaneously – and became blacker than midnight. All the darkness poured back into the puzzle that grew cold and dull again. Yugi closed his eyes at that point. The earth-shattering fiasco and throbbing of lights gave him momentary blindness. But when all went suddenly quiet and still, he timidly opened his eyes again. The lights were all on as normal, and despite his grandfather's cursing downstairs, everything seemed to be normal. Even the millennium puzzle had grown as cool as the metal it was made from. But as his vision cleared a little more, he focused his vision on his spiritual counterpart. Only, he was a spirit no longer. What sat on the carpet of his bedroom floor wasn't a ghost or some kind of strange apparition but a human being. A living, breathing human being! And it was Yami! He sat on the carpet completely stark naked. But he was whole, and there was nothing deformed or abhorrent. He looked like he would have done three thousand years ago in a thirty year old body. Without really thinking, Yugi ran over and was about to give the newly reborn pharaoh a longing embrace, but he stopped short at the last moment. Yami, though he was whole and solid, with lank red and magnetic hair complete with gold bangs and with those lustrous amethyst eyes, didn't look all that delighted. He wasn't even looking at his small protégé. His beautiful large eyes were fixed on his pale white hand that rested on the carpet. And he was breathing a little too harshly.
Yugi's wave of emphatic exhilaration came crashing down. Something was wrong.
His mind offered a practical alternative, and he went over to his bed. He tugged off the top bed sheet and wrapped it around Yami's pale body. At once the pharaoh's new body began to quiver with uncontrollable bouts of fierce shivering. Yugi knelt before the pharaoh, but again Yami did not look up at him, and showed no signs of even acknowledging him.
"Yami? Yami you... you did it! Look at me, Yami! What's wrong? Please tell me or I'll go mad with grief. Oh please tell me!" He was growing more desperate. He tenderly leaned forwards and gripped the shivering pharaoh in a gentle embrace. This wasn't how he pictured their first real contact. He expected tears of joy, laughter shared between them, and absolute comfort. He did not imagine this. Yami's purest amethyst eyes were moist with unshed tears that didn't blink, and his mouth tipped open as he seemed to struggle to breathe. It was almost as if his chest couldn't expand enough to draw in necessary oxygen. And his mind seemed lost, staggered perhaps – for he did not seem to be aware of anything – not even his own desperate respiration or the arms that held him.
"Yugi, what the...?"
So consumed was he with Yami's pain that Yugi did not hear his grandfather march up the stairs to see him until it was too late. When Solomon parted his lips to sound his irritation, for not only had the TV blown up, for they seemed to have suffered a small earthquake, but now Yugi had also been not just talking to himself like before – but shouting! He had had just about enough of this. And that was when he saw some other creature in the room with his grandson. Eerily enough this stranger looked remarkably like his grandson. Same hair with added gold streaks to it, and a familiar face too. Solomon shook his head and rubbed furiously at his eyes. Only, when he opened them again the stranger was still there, huddled in a blanket and being coddled by Yugi.
"Grampa!" Yugi's voice was urgent and nearly hysterical. "He needs help! I don't know what's wrong with him!"
Great holy cards! Solomon stood there stupidly; and suddenly, everything Yugi had said in the past about some mysterious imaginary friend was now finally falling into place. Had he... had he been telling the truth this entire time? What did it matter right now? There was a sick man on the floor, and he needed help.
Solomon knelt down beside them and barely felt the pain in his knee joints this time like he usually did when he sat down too quickly. "How did this happen, Yugi? Who is this man?"
"His name is Yami for the hundredth time!" His grandson replied with venom. "And he just... just appeared like this!" By now Yami – clearly exhausted – and having lost all strength, could no longer sit up. He slumped against Yugi until finally his head lay on his lap and the rest of him went limp and inert on the carpet.
Solomon came forward and put a hand on Yami's forehead. Then he brought his hand lower down to feel the temperature of his chest and stomach inside the blanket. It was no secret that he was completely naked under there. "This is most unorthodox." Solomon was muttering. He was quite shaken himself.
"Will you just tell me what's wrong? Yami isn't answering me! And I can't... I can't feel him!"
"Feel him? What on earth do you mean?"
Yugi's cheeks flushed a little. He hadn't meant it to sound like that at all. What he really meant was that he could not feel Yami's spiritual connection. Where once he could feel his closely knitted feelings and very presence, there was now a void in his place. Yami had always been at the back of his mind, and now there was only emptiness. As he watched his grampa feel for anything wrong on Yami's behalf, Yugi forced himself to calm down. Ever since Yami had presumably collapsed, he had fallen into absolute panic. While he slowed his breathing he began to stroke Yami's chilled face as Solomon went to inspect his hands and feet. Once some of the panic cleared, Yugi realized why he could not feel the pharaoh's presence. It was so damn simple! Of course he wouldn't be able to feel him! Yami's spirit was no longer beside his, and his own spirit was no longer trapped in the puzzle! Yami's new body had the spirit now! The puzzle was but an empty vessel now – a block of well crafted metal covered in ancient hieroglyphs!
"Okay, I can see the problem."
Yugi leaned forward in his dismay. "What? What is it?"
"Your friend is very hypothermic. He's exhausted, and he's in shock. We need to warm him up, and quickly. We might need to call for an ambulance." His words were low and grave. Yugi's heart twisted in agony and despair. How and why was Yami like this? And an ambulance wouldn't work – would it? Yami had no identification – no licence, no record and no birth certificate! Once they did a blood test they would only see him as an immigrant from Egypt!
"No ambulance yet, grampa!" Yugi implored. "He's not on their database!"
He rolled his eyes in evident disbelief. "Yes, well, we need to bring his temperature up. I want you to massage his body and rub his hands and feet." He rose from the floor and heard his knees pop.
"Where are you going?" He bawled.
"Easy there, Yugi. I'm just going to bring the kettle to a boil and pour some hot water in a bowl. Then he can breathe in the warm fumes from it. It works, trust me. Now do as I asked. I'll be back with lots of warm blankets too."
"What about a hot water bottle?"
"No, too risky. A hot water bottle will draw all the heat to his skin. It's his organs that need the urgent warmth." He left the room and ran downstairs – which was quite a feat for an old man. Yugi was left in charge, and he would do his utmost to help his friend.
Since he was close enough to the bed, he reached up, snaked his hand through the iron rails and snatched down a cushion. Quickly he traded his warm lap for the cushion so that Yami could rest his head on that instead. Now that he had both hands free, Yugi quickly and thoroughly began to pat and massage all along Yami's thin body.
"Come on, Pharaoh. Talk to me! Say something! Are you in any pain?"
Yami gave no indication that he had heard him. His eyes were now closed, his breathing still slow and terribly awkward. His thin body continued to tremble with violent shivers. Yugi forced himself to hold back the tears, but before he knew it a lump of grief had formed in his throat and his eyes were waterlogged. Tears tumbled down his ashen cheeks. This was not what he had dreamed at all.
And he was very scared.
Dib07: If you wanna see more, review, and I will post the next chapter up ASAP.
