Author's notes:

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh.

Well, here is the side arc to Club 0013, kind of like a subsidiary story to the former
(an AU of an AU!). This will be my "test fic", something I might drop on a moment's
notice. We'll see how it goes.

Warnings: Shortness. A lack of ideas near the end.

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The world began with a bang. From the depths of ignorance rose the humans,
beings with superior intelligence and skill. They climbed to the top of the food chain,
evolving into species of perfection.

Not anymore.

Fear the Others.

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Nocturne


Prologue – C minor


The sky was on fire.

Everywhere, the brilliant orange-yellow flames flickered and danced hungrily.
They roared, sweeping across the cluttered shelters in a voracious path of destruction,
arcing bestial wings in a mask of triumph.

Plumes of dark smoke erupted into the air, flagging the sky a shadowy
ominous warning. And writhing and coiling around the labyrinth of flames were
thousands upon thousands of moving figures. They screamed in terror, streaming like
dark water around the flames, trying to avoid the intense heat and muffling smoke
while the buildings around them buckled and shook dangerously. Some of these
people were gathered in clumps or pairs, the younger children clinging tightly to their
parents as they sought to escape this inferno. Mothers and infants alike wailed in
despair, ashen faces white with terror. They flinched whenever a burning skeletal
building buckled uncertainly or when a passing lock of fire shot its tongue too close to
them to taste the bitter night air.

No one was safe inside this man-made Hell. The flames were growing rapidly,
enclosing the escapees in its jaws of intense death. Now, the humans were growing
desperate, pushing, pulling, struggling against each other aggressively to escape the
flames. There was a single tide of fear, of a desperate need for survival that washed
across all their faces. They shoved, tearing against the prison of the flames, seeking
for any exit away from the infernal labyrinth.

She ran, greyed hair scattered across her face, one hand clenched to a trailing
figure behind her. Others were gushing around her, wedging her into a bubble against
the sea of bodies. With as much effort as her petite body could give, she heaved
against the tides, parting the scattered people, squeezing through the tightly crowded
bodies while always dragging the figure behind her.

She saw it. There, past the final dregs of burning buildings was the exit. Just a
few more steps and she – they – would be home free! For a fleeting moment, she
allowed a sigh of relief, turning around to face the other, hands still tightly clenched.
"You okay, honey?" She whispered as soothingly as possible, violet eyes reflecting
concern.

The other was indeed a child, large face contorted in an all too readable
expression of panic. His fair skin was covered in ashen-black soot, and his lips had
cracked from the intense heat, so that a split of blood red trickled slowly down his
blackened chin. "Mother, I-I'm scared." He whimpered, lip trembling just slightly. A
few droplets of tears escaped from his large amethyst eyes. "D-don't leave me."

At this remark, the mother's eyes softened. She wrapped her arms around the
child, letting him bury his head against her chest. Slowly, she stroked his back,
pressing her face against his soft, jagged hair. "We're almost there, Yuugi." She
soothed, squeezing the boy in a reassuring hug. "Just a few more steps and we'll be
okay."

The flames still danced around the pair, reflecting off the boy's eyes in
serrated glowing facets. He nodded, parting hesitantly from his mother's grasp. "Let's
go." He did his best to keep his childish voice from trembling. "I don't want to stay
here any longer."

She nodded, ready to lead her son to sanctity. Already, a large crowd was
gathering at the other end, peering at the destructive mass with relieved eyes. Soon,
they would join the crowd.

Or so she had thought.

It only took a split second to make the difference. The burning building beside
the pair suddenly began to shudder dangerously. Large beams jutting from the sides of
the building crackled like battered torches. In a shriek of light and grinding sound, the
building suddenly collapsed, falling into a chaotic whirl of ashes and flickering
flames. The beams, no longer supported, tottered precariously before breaking apart
from the main support, launching themselves onto the bare ground below.

The mother was the first to notice. With no more than a strangled cry, she
wrenched her child away from the falling beams of burning wood. The planks hit the
ground with a resounding whumph, breaking into sizeable chunks of charred splinters.
Reflexively, the mother wrapped her body over her child's, blocking him from any
damage.

Like a startling domino effect, the other houses began to shudder in
omniscient warning. Seconds later, they too began to crumble, collapsing onto the
ground with horrendous roars, spewing out dregs of flame and burning ashes. The
darkness around the pair was suddenly covered in a thick cloud of dust and ashes,
glowing slightly with half-alive flames. Overwhelmed by a sickening urge of fear, the
mother grabbed her child, plunging through the thicket of dust. She ignored her
watering eyes, trying to vainly navigate across the clouded spaces towards the exit.
Where was it? It had been so close!

Yuugi coughed as he inhaled the ashes and dust, involuntarily bringing a hand
to wipe his stinging eyes. The muffling atmosphere was choking him. Tendrils of
smoke wrapped around his lungs and eyes until everything was an indiscernible blurry
mess. He clenched his hand tightly with his mother's, trying to follow her tugging
pulls. With every step, his grip loosened, muscles quivering in protest to the lack of
oxygen. He needed to breathe!

Another charred beam suddenly shot from the sky, a projectile headed directly
for the struggling pair. Filled with only blind terror, Yuugi panicked, running away
from the flaming plank as fast as his legs could carry him. Seconds later, the beam hit
the ground, shooting another plume of jet-black ashes, and gratefully, a small pocket
of air. Yuugi inhaled the hair greedily, coughing seconds later when he sucked up a
lungful of scattered ashes. Choking, the boy rubbed his eyes, sticking out a free hand
to try to blindly navigate against the smoke.

Only then did he realize something. The boy's eyes shot wide in pure panic.
"Mother!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, taking in another gasp of air. He
inhaled only smoke, suddenly breaking into a fit of violent coughs. He tried again, but
it came out in a weak, pathetic gasp. "Mother!"

Whumph. A piece of concrete had fallen onto the ground near the boy,
shoving the air forcefully around it. In that single moment of clean air, Yuugi saw the
vague outline of his mother, searching around desperately in the flames, shrilly crying
out his name. The boy immediately began running towards her figure, coughing up
smoke and dust as he struggled to reach the other.

"Mother!" He screamed again, lunging towards her frantic image-

- and was suddenly blocked by a falling projectile. It hit the ground startlingly
close to the boy, bursting like an over-ripe fruit into a million splinters. Yuugi
managed a muffled cry as some of the charred wood struck and buried into his flesh,
others brandishing his skin with burning pain.

He coughed again, curling into a fetal ball, trying to block the dizzying pain.
Another beam collided with the ground, and he feebly looked up, expecting to see the
outline of his mother.

There was no one.

His eyes wildly scanned the last moments of clear air in pure desperation.

She was gone.

She had left him.

Globs of tears pooled around his eyes. His mother had disappeared. His
mother had left him!

It was too much for his childish brain to acknowledge. The boy broke into a
solo of strangled cries, tears dribbling freely down his face. His voice rose and fell in
the muffled silence, an eerie tone against the consistent roaring of burning flames.

It was all over. He would die. He was alone and helpless.

From the roaring background emerged a series of steadily growing clicks.
They were the tapping of firm shoes against the ground, beating in a plain, staccato
rhythm.

Startled, Yuugi looked up and around, trying to locate the source. He sniffled,
wiping his tear-stained eyes. "Mother?" The boy asked, tone rising for one hopeful,
expectant moment.

But the other was not his mother. It was a tall man, garbed in a crimson-red
suit. The person trod deliberately, almost blithely unaware of the wreckage around
him. Tendrils of flames quivered in the background, illuminating his figure in an
impressive swathe of golden-orange.

Yuugi backed away from the advancing figure, suddenly scared. His large
violet eyes stared balefully into the calm ones of the other. "W-who are you?" More
tears trickled down his face. "Where's my mom?"

And then, the handsome man's placid face broke into a charming smile,
partially revealing twin incisored canines, eerily unnatural. One of his eyes lay hidden
underneath a veil of silvery-white hair, though he was by no means aged or even as
old as Yuugi's mother. His other eye flashed sadistically. "Your mother abandoned
you." He exclaimed, smooth alto oddly soothing. "She gave up on you."

The boy's eyes widened first in disbelief and then anger. "Liar!" He screamed,
shouting his frustration, venting his rage towards the other. The smoke around him
had cleared, so that his voice rang loudly in the still air. "My mother would never
leave me! She _promised_ me!"

The handsome man only tsk-tsked, shaking his head sadly in a condescending
manner. "Poor little Yuugi." He commented, voice pleasantly sympathizing. "How
does it feel to be left alone, abandoned, knowing that no one cares for you?"

Yuugi backed away angrily. "It's not true!" He vented. "You're lying!" Who
was this strange person anyway? And why was this person here?

Yet, a part of him didn't want this person to leave; this strange man in front of
him was all that Yuugi had.

The man seemed to be hurt. "Well, if you hate me so much, then I'll just go." He stated, suddenly pivoting away.

"No!" The word escaped the boy's mouth even before he realized it. Then, the
final, actual truth dawned on him. Yuugi bowed his head in defeat, lowering his gaze
to the ground. "Please, d-don't leave me."

And the man seemed to be genuinely touched. He turned around, kneeling
down to comfort the small boy. "Of course I wouldn't leave you." He whispered in
the boy's ear, voice soothing and slightly hypnotic. "You are a special boy, Yuugi. I
understand your pain."

The small boy looked up shyly, peering from his clumps of golden bangs. "R-
really?" There was a hopeful touch to his question, almost desperately reaching,
seeking for a means of comfort.

And the man let the boy fall perfectly into his hands. "I too went through the
same suffering." He lied, glibly smiling. "I truly don't want to see you hurt anymore.
Come with me, and I'll help you forget your pain. I will show you true _happiness_."

Yuugi was young and naïve. The small boy felt his barriers of resentment melt
under the man's influence. At last, he nodded, placing his last dregs of trust into the
red-suited man, drawing comfort from the other's support. Shyly, he offered a hand
for the man to take, like he had done so many times before with his now-forgotten
mother.

The man smiled, graciously taking the hand and placing it gently into his own.
"Allow me to introduce myself," He locked eyes with the other, giving a polite bow.
"You may call me…. Pegasus. All my friends do."

The small boy nodded once again, blushing slightly in gratification. "Thank
you Pegasus."

Yuugi never saw the other's hidden sneer.

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End notes:

Sorry it was so short, but as I said, this is a PROLOGUE. The first chapter shall come
out sometime in the next couple of weeks. I have an idea, but not the brain *thud*.

Next time
- Yuugi, meet Ryou
- A virtual BEWD plushie to anyone who can figure out _what_ Pegasus is!

The rating will be UPPED next time to R, cause yes, I'm attempting another sad go at a
yaoi subplot…