Hey everyone! BPM here. So here is chapter 2 and I hope you enjoy. I know that this story is on a bit of a slow start, but it will pick up, I promise. I can't wait to get started on the next chapter, still more characters to introduce! _ As always, I don't own Yu-G-Oh!
Seto rode throughout the streets of the unfortunate village while his men laid waste to everything that stood in their way. His mighty steed took a long, leisurely pace as Seto's wondering eyes searched for whom would become the Overlord's next play toy. With every passing house Seto's voiced boomed, causing frightened villagers to come running from their houses, to not anger the statuesque demon. As the lowly mortals lined up, Seto was first to examine the lot, to see if there were any potential time wasters for his king. If there weren't any, then Seto's men would take over. So far they have recruited over one hundred men for the job of building the temple. Seto could only wish he has as much luck. Each and every household they have crossed had pathetic humans inside. They were average, disgusting, and worthless. Although Bakura's philosophy was a slave was a slave, Seto wanted to find at least one human that his king could enjoy for more than one day.
They had been riding for most of the night and half of the village was up in flames. Seto looked at their haul and although he failed to find a suitable slave for his king, he was willing to call it quits for the night. It was apparent that his men were starting to get distracted, killing more citizens than they were recruiting. He decided to call it a night.
"Alright men, it's time we headed back to the castle. I believe that we have gotten a fair amount for the night. We will continue the search tomorrow when the moon is new." His men nodded and grunted their compliance as they all mounted their horses. The humans that they had captured were huddled in a group, chained and scared of what was to come. Most were bruised after taking a beating from the ruthless demons while others were lucky enough to bypass the cruelty. These men dragged their feet to the direction of the castle, passing piles of burning wood that was once their homes. They had nothing left for them here, and what awaited them at the castle would be their demise.
Seto decided to take a position in the back of the group just in case one of the new workers decided to run off. After an uneventful evening he was almost hoping for one of the weaklings to try and flee. His horse could catch up to anything that tried to outrun it, and then with its mighty hooves, trample and mutilate whatever decided to run. Seto took great pride in his horse for it was the strongest, and the fastest, even better than Bakura's horse. Just don't tell the king that.
As Seto lingered in his thoughts, a rustle snapped him back into reality. His piercing eyes scanned hungrily over the field as his horse came to a stop. Once Seto was still, his men also stopped in their tracks, looking curiously as to what made their almighty leader stop.
Then… there it was again. The noise was quiet, but not quiet enough to be an animal. It was clumsy. The General raised his head and inhaled through his noes. He lowered his head and smiled devilishly.
"Move along men. We'll converge back at the castle. There is just a loose end I need to tie up." The men nodded and started moving. It wasn't until the party was out of sight before Seto climbed off of his horse. Lifting his head and inhaling deeply, he needed to find the source of that scent. It was so innocent and full of life, with a hint of vanilla? That could only be the scent of an angel. But that couldn't be. The Overlord made sure that every angel was slaughtered so there would be no chance of a future threat. As far as they were concerned, they had succeeded in their onslaught, but here the scent was, clear as day. He paused, focusing on where the trail was leading him, until.
"Ahhh… there you are." And with a flash his mighty wings erupted from his back. His wings were white and leathery that shown brilliantly in the moonlight. They also held a wingspan of fifteen feet and they were powerful. They were just as deadly as they were beautiful. He kicked off of the earth and saw it, the rustle of bushes. Whatever was in those bushes, it knew that the demon was hunting for it, and that he was hot on its trail. The moving of the bushes shot off in one direction and the demon took chase. With a gust of wind, the almighty demon dove and pinned the helpless being to the ground.
His teeth were bared, his eyes wide with the thrill of the chase and the anticipation of uncovering what his catch was. However, all of that seemed to disappear as he looked at what was pined underneath him.
It was a boy. By the looks of it, he was seventeen years of age. His hair was long and shown white under the light of the moon. His eyes were wide with paralyzing fear and looked of melted chocolate. His skin was soft, pale and his body was thin, trembling under the weight of the demon that restrained him. Seto's eyes narrowed at the panicked boy.
"Did you really think you could get away from me?" The boy shook harder now, unable to speak.
"That's what I thought." Seto got up and grabbed the boy by the neck, lifting him into the air. With one swing of his arm, he clawed the boy's shift clean off. The young one was then thrown, hard, back on the ground, face first so that Seto could see the outline of the angel's wings. Seto stood, taken aback for a short moment. There were no outlines. Impossible, every angel had an outline of their wings on their back. The angels also smelt of cleanliness, innocence, and a little extra something. It was this something that helped the angels mate. Seto personally thought it was repulsing and useless. If you want to mate, take whomever you please.
Needless to say, Seto was slightly confused. He had the scents right, but with no wings and the lack of a fight, this boy couldn't possibly be an angel. Well, if that was the case, then this boy might be the thing that could keep the Overlord interested long enough so that there would be no complaining on Bakura's end and Seto could focus more on the completion of the temple. It was perfect.
"Well boy, consider this your lucky day. Not only am I not going to kill you, I am taking you to the castle to have an audience with the King." This statement jarred the boy from his silence.
"I can't go there! I'll be dead for sure!" The small albino spoke softly, yet his words were full of panic. Seto picked up on it instantly but was infuriated that a meager mortal denied his orders. Sapphire eyes narrowed dangerously at the weak being lying on the ground in front of him. Seto didn't take well to defiance.
"Did you just deny an order from a high ranking demon? From me, Seto Kaiba, the General of Hell's Legion of Lucifer?" His voice was calm, and that was what unnerved the boy. He knew who Seto was; he knew the power he held. He also knew that he might as well have signed his own death warrant. The young boy couldn't escape the ever-watching stare of the man in front of him.
"I-I meant no Disrespect. Please spare me My Lord. " He pulled himself off of the ground and bowed to the demon, still shaking. He didn't stand for long as a sharp pain made it's way up the side of the boy's head. Hitting the ground, hard, the boy placed his hands over the now throbbing area as tears fell from his eyes as he whimpered. Seto smirked as he lowered his hand, eyes a blaze.
"Let's hope this will teach you not to speak unless told to. Now, as I was saying. I'm taking you back with me to the castle. Once there you will be the King's new personal slave. You will do what he wants, when he wants and if you so much as speak out of turn, well, I'm sure you have an idea on what the consequences are." She small boy nodded in compliance, too terrified to speak, afraid of what would happen if he did. Tears still flowed from his eyes and he averted his gaze from Kaiba.
'Good," Seto thought, 'at least he's a fast learner. Let's get this over with.'
The General made a loud whistling noise and in an instant his mighty steed was there at his side. The boy was pulled by the nape of his neck and thrown onto the back of Seto's horse. There was a yelp that came from the mouth of the unfortunate boy who was being taken away from everything he once knew. As the horse galloped, the boy shed tears. The left side of his face stung from the attack of his captor, he was being taken to the castle where no one had ever made it out alive, and as his home started to shrink off into the distance, he realized that his fate had been sealed.
At the castle
Bakura stood on the balcony made of majestic marble overlooking his newly acquired kingdom. The dawn was coming and he'd been up all night. He took in the night's air with a long, drawn out inhale, tasting the ashes of the village with the scent of rotting corpses. It was his Wonderland, he was the King of Hearts and it was going to be off with the mortals' heads.
The sun started to peak off in the distance as Bakura closed his thick crimson drapes. If there was one thing that he hated most, it was the warmth of the sunlight. It reminded him of the now extinct enemy, however it seemed that the sun mocked him, reminding him of Atem's last words.
"You will never rid of us, Bakura. For when the darkness weakens, the light will shine through. Your victory is only temporary, just like the night skies you dwell under. The sun will always rise."
That sentence had once haunted the Overlord, and the rising sun was a constant reminder that what Atem said might possibly be true. It was due to this fear that Bakura had every demon seek and destroy all angels, to crush any of their remaining forces. If what Atem said was a threat, it was now an empty one.
The platinum haired king made his way down the stretching hallways, all of which where decorated in portraits of past military leaders, high officials, and ending with a portrayal of Lucifer himself. Long drapes blocked every window, refusing to let even the smallest glint of light penetrate inside the fortress. There were statues of satanic creatures of all sorts that acted as watchmen for the castle walkways, the king found them quite becoming.
As Bakura made his way towards his chambers he was interrupted by one of his guards.
"Your Majesty. General Seto Kaiba has made his way back and requests and audience with you." The king looked at his guard and rolled his eyes with a sneer.
"Very well." The guard saluted his king and went on his way as the demon king made his way to the throne room.
Inside Seto was waiting for him. As Bakura entered, Seto rose to his feet and bowed.
"This better be worth my while, Seto. The sun is rising and I'm exhausted."
"I believe that you will be glad you came down. Upon my quest to find you a suitable slave, I have uncovered quite a little treasure." Bakura's eyes rose in inquiry.
"Is that so? Well then, I think I will be the judge of that."
Seto clapped, signaling for the guards to bring forth his prize that he had claimed for his king. Two muscular demons came storming into the throne room, in between them was a body being help up and dragged by the arms. On his head was a cloth bag to conceal the features until the time was right. It was plain to see that the body was of a young boy, a small, terrified young boy. Bakura smirked.
"A boy? For this kind of work? Well, this is certainly different, Seto. But why the…" He paused. That smell. He knew that smell. But it couldn't be! He had them all killed! Atem's words played in his head and within an instant his fangs were bared and his eyes glowed red.
"What is the meaning of this, Seto?! Where did you find him, and how did he remain undetected for so long?!"
"Your Highness, I too thought this was an angel at first, but upon further inspection the results came up negative. He is indeed a human, I assure you." Bakura looked flabbergasted.
"Only the enemies have this type of scent. I have lived for hundreds of years and not once have I come across a human that smelt like this." He made his way slowly up to the covered boy. Cautiously, his hand rose as he removed the cloth that sheltered the younger one's face from view. White hair fell like feathers over the boy's soft, delectate face. Wide chocolate eyes open slowly as they focused on the owner of the castle. Burgundy met mahogany as the demon king's features twisted into a look of pure distrust.
"State your name and race." The boy looked up shocked, and scared.
"M-my name is R-Ryou, and I am h-human." Bakura snickered.
"Of course you are. You just happen to have similar features and the scent of an angel. Let me ask you, do you know what the punishment is for angels posing as humans?" Bakura didn't give the young one a chance to respond.
"It's decapitation. And once the head comes off, the wings are pulled and mounted on the city gates as their heads and bodies are used as fuel for my fireplace. Now I ask you one more time, little one. State your race." His eyes were ferocious and little Ryou couldn't stop shaking. He had no idea what was going on. All that he remembered was taking a walk to get some water for his family, and the next thing hew knew, the demons came in, burned down the village, kidnapped him, and now he was being accused of being an angel.
"Y-your Highness, I swear to you, I am not an angel! I am human!" Bakura had heard enough and with a mighty kick, knocked the air out of the boy. Ryou laid there, arms covering his midsection as he gasped for air as tears cascaded down his cheeks. The moan of agony that was released from his slave's mouth was intoxicating and Bakura found an evil grin forming on his handsome features. The lack of defiance, the absence of drive to stand up for himself, he truly was a faint of heart. He could be easily taken over and controlled; it would be a simple task to break this boy. Little Ryou intrigued the king, if he was human, then there was something special about him and it was up to Bakura to figure out what it was, and take it all for himself.
"Alright then, if that's the case, welcome to my home, and your prison. You will not leave this place. You will come when called, do as I command, and if you don't, I'll kill you. However, if you are a good little boy, I promise I wont inflict too much damage on you… Of course, I never really was a man of my word." He grinned his Cheshire grin and looked at the whimpering boy that lay on the ground before him. He was going to have a blast, and he could hardly wait to sink his teeth into that milky white skin. Nonetheless, first things first. These peasant clothes needed to go; he needed something a little more, revealing. Something that expressed ownership. He motioned for two of his other human slaves and they came running.
"Ah! Good. Take him upstairs and ready him. It is getting late and I would like a companion for the night." The two slaves nodded silently and helped the small boy up off of the floor and took him out of the king's sight. He turned to his next in command.
"Seto, good job on the find. He's weak, feeble, and yet looks absolutely delicious. His innocence radiates off of him and I can't wait to tear at it. Unfortunately I still am weary about the scent." Seto agreed.
"I wish to look into the matter further. If he isn't the enemy, then I believe that we have discovered something else entirely."
"Do you think we have something to worry about?"
"With him? No. He can barely speak in the presence of a demon, Your Highness. If there is a smallest hint of a threat, I'm sure you'll stomp it out before he even realizes it's there." Bakura shook his head in agreement.
"Good. Well, if you'll excuse me, I shall retire to my chambers. I have a brand new toy that I am quite anxious to play with." He turned on his heel and with a mighty pace, left the throne room before Seto had a chance to respond.
Yay! Chapter 2. Awesome! As I was finishing this chapter a couple of interesting things happened. I tore a muscle in my left leg and had to skip my college classes, I bought a YGO fleece blanket off of ebay that I haven't seen in years for $7, and registered for classes for my last quarter of college ever! Ohhh yeaaaahhhhh… Then it's off to career land. Oyyy… Anyway, reviews are welcomed. Like I said I am very rusty with my fanfic writing and I would like to know if it's tolerable.
If anything, I'll see you all in chapter 3!