Disclaimer:
*A short girl with big blue eyes and brown hair scuttles out, holding a rope.* Ahem. Hi Mom! This is Z's disclaimer for Z. Written by me. 'Cause I wanna feel special. ^_^ *tugs on the rope* C'mon boy! Cooooome out! Don't fear the cameos!
Cutie: *drags a bound 'n' gagged Sephiroth onto the disclaiming stage.*
Disclaim! DISCLAIM, MY PRETTY, DISCLAIM!
Sephiroth: Z doesn't own YuGiOh.
Sephiroth: Why the HELL am I here?
Cutie: Cause I SAID SO. And Cause Relevence sucks.
Z: *skips out onstage* Rock on! And thank you, Cutiemew and Sephiroth for that lovely disclaimer. Anyhow. This fic has shounen-ai (Yami/Yugi, Seto/Jounouchi, Malik/Ryou and Y. Malik (AKA Marik)/Bakura.) Don't like, don't read. Anyhow.... On to the fic!
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PROLOGUE
*Egypt, circa 1000 BCE*
A short, spiky-haired boy, who had the largest, sweetest, most innocent violet eyes one could hope to see, stood in the center of the floor of a darkened room, the one light focused on him. In the shadows around him, a council of darkness whispered. "He is the one!" "Most certainly. But will the pharaoh allow it?" "He must! It is the only way." "But, why Yugi? He is innocent of any wrong..." "That is why he is the one! The sacrifice requires seven pure innocents, and we have found the last one." The whispering was interrupted by the opening of a huge door, and the council scattered as a tall, spiky-headed teenager strode imperiously into the room. "Seth! What is the meaning of this?" The leader of the council, the high priest of Egypt, stepped forward and dropped to one knee for a moment in a gesture of respect, before rising to his feet and looking the pharaoh in the eye. "Yami, we've found the last required sacrifice to seal the shadow games."
"..." The pharaoh shrugged, looked around and spotted Yugi. He at once turned back to the high priest, his crimson eyes hard and cold. "All right, Seth, what does Yugi have to do with all this?" The look in his old friend's ice-blue eyes told him all he needed to know. "Oh no..." The high priest nodded. "Yes. Yugi is the final sacrifice." A shadow of pain flickered across Seth's face. "They already took Jounouchi and Mokuba." Yami gasped. "What?! Not them too..." The high priest nodded, a tear trickling down his face. The pharaoh was shaken, but he steeled himself for the worst and asked the fatal question, "Who else?" The priest's voice was so quiet and choked with tears, Yami had to strain to the utmost to catch his words. "Ryou, Bakura, Jou, Mokuba and Yugi are the ones we know..." "Oh, gods. Seth, I'm so sorry..." "Forget it."
Yugi stood in the pool of cold, blue, magical light, shivering violently. "W-what's going on? What...?" He screamed as two mages suddenly grabbed him by the arms and began to drag him away. "YAMI!" The pharaoh whipped around as he heard the cry. "Yugi!" He tried to run after the boy and his captors, but he found himself restrained by his old friend, the high priest. "Seth! Let me go!" Seth just sighed. "There is no other way... I'm sorry, my friend." There was a sharp crack as a staff smacked Yami over the head, and the pharaoh slumped in the priest's arms, unconscious. "Thank you, Akuma no Yami.(1)" Akuma, the Magician of Black Chaos, just shook his head sadly as he vanished. The priest promptly set the pharaoh down and hurried off to oversee the sacrifice.
Yami groaned softly and opened his eyes, discovering that he was alone. "Unh... wha.... YUGI!" In a flash, he was on his feet and running down the hall. "Hang on, little one... I'm coming." He whispered, dashing down the corridors, knowing instictively where he was going. Within the deepest sanctum in the palace lay the portal to the Shadow Realm. The place where the blood of seven innocents was to be spilled to lock that cursed door forever. He knew there was nothing that could be done to stop it, but he also knew he had to be there, if only to say goodbye to his love.
'Where is it, where is it... There!' Yami skidded around the corner and into the room, just as Ishizu, the priestess appointed to perform the sacrifice, prepared to drive the enchanted dagger she held into Yugi's heart. "NO!" Yami screamed... too late, as Yugi collapsed, the blade that had slain him already melting into him, completing the sealing spell. He was at the boy's side in an instant, weeping, yet dimly aware of Seth's broken sobs from his left, Marik's wails of pure agony from his right, and Malik's gibberings somewhere behind him- losing Ryou had driven Ishizu's younger brother insane. "Yugi? I'm sorry, little one... I'm so sorry..." Yami cried, hugging the smaller boy close, ignoring the blood staining his hands. The dying youth opened his violet eyes, smiled weakly, reached up, gently pulled Yami's head down and kissed him, then whispered, "I... love you..." And then, he was gone in a flash of golden light, and the puzzle he was sealed into shattered into a thousand glittering fragments... just like the pharaoh's heart. "Y-Yugi..." He whimpered, then let out all the pent-up agony in one long wail. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!" With that final cry of agony, Yami, the pharaoh of Egypt, the Game King, Yu-Gi-Oh, died from the dagger he had driven into his own heart.
Thus does our story begin.
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I know, I'm bad, starting a new saga before my old one is done, and I know I promised no more Yami/Yugi tormenting... But the idea assaulted me! And this one ought to be pretty good. At least, I hope so o.o;
1: Literally, demon of darkness. I love that name ^_^ And I came up with it all by myself, too.