Chapter Three: Unseen Catalyst
They had entered the desolate industrial area of London only moments ago when they finally pulled up to the Grunnings Drill firm, a drab and depressing looking office building surrounded by warehouses where the construction and packaging took place. Even the workers looked dreary here Yugi noticed, trudging across the barren grounds in a systematic pace.
Vernon parked the vehicle in his designated space as director of the firm and turned to Yugi, who had been looking up at the seemingly endless floors of the building with a slightly curious expression.
"Now listen here, this contractor is talking about making a large, and I mean large, purchase of drills, and that's what's on the line. So if you hope to keep your stay here decent, you'll do exactly as I say without argument," Vernon lectured, but Yugi had been preparing himself for this and simply nodded, bringing his full attention towards the oppressive host father fate had dealt him.
"I've convinced Mr. Gutman that you're from an uncivilized and lawless third world nation, so you'd better not argue against whatever it is I happen to tell him. If he asks you, you were part of a street gang and came here through a foreign exchange program for misled and incurably aggressive teenagers," Vernon explained with a matter-of-fact tone, looking into the rearview mirror and adjusting the tacky bowtie he was wearing with his cheap suit.
"Does such a program even exist?" Yugi asked innocently, and he was immediately smote for his simple question.
"How would I bloody know? We don't associate with such lowly filth as anyone who would be in such programs," Vernon half-shouted, suddenly opening the driver's door and stepping out, waiting for Yugi to exit the car as well and follow him into the office building. Yugi did so, though catching a glimpse of Yami once more in the door window.
"You shouldn't have to change who you are to help such a horrible man Yugi. You deserve better than to be treated this way," Yami said, his voice once again filled with concern as Yugi hung his head and looked down to see that his feet were unseen beneath the massive suit.
"I don't have any choice Yami, if I don't they'll make my stay here intolerable, and I don't want to spend the next five days being ridiculed continuously if all I have to do is swallow my pride for just a short period of time," he said, but before Yami could argue Vernon walked behind the door and slammed it shut with an aggravated expression, nearly taking off Yugi's arm with it.
"Are you going to stand there all day looking like some brainless imbecile? Mr. Gutman is waiting in my office!" Vernon shouted, grabbing Yugi tightly by the wrist and literally dragging him into the building. Yugi continued to stare sadly back at the car, where Yami was looking on now reflected in the dismal windshield, looking sorrowful as well for what he would soon be going through.
The hallways all became boring and genetic after a while, with people walking briskly to and from their offices and the crowded copy room as countless mugs of coffee spilt all over the ugly brown carpet and supervisors screamed at their crew in a way that Yugi would have expected of a company directed by Vernon Dursley.
Finally they arrived to Vernon's office, an enormous and drab room of emptiness save a lone desk in the center and a few unrevealed file cabinets to either side. The room was pristine and spotless, obviously because of this vital meeting taking place today, and as they walked in Vernon's grip upon Yugi's wrist suddenly released and instead he found the man's beefy hand resting on his shoulder loosely as he attempted to look fatherly and anything but the mean-spirited tyrant he had been before. As they entered Mr. Gutman, who had been standing by the window overlooking the bustling city street down below, turned and greeted them with a weary smile.
"Vernon, it's good to see you again. And who is this?" Mr. Gutman asked somewhat politely, though the moment his eyes fell upon Yugi his face distorted into one as though he were looking at something indefinitely odd and out-of-place. Vernon put on a cheesy smile that any sane person would have gagged at. Yugi determined from this that Mr. Gutman was just as much a fool as his oh-so-charming host father was.
"This is Yogo Muto, he's a foreign exchange student my wife Petunia and I took in," Vernon said as though talking about having taken in a stray cat, and Mr. Gutman smiled at this remark and patted Yugi roughly on the head.
"What country is he from Vernon?" Mr. Gutman asked as he nearly broke Yugi's head with the overly forceful gesture, as though Yugi himself couldn't answer the question. Yugi cringed but resisted the impulse to hit the man's hand away or correct his mispronounced name.
"Uh...Japan, he's from a really lowly part of that nation, you see the poor boy was risen by the heartless gang his parents were a part of. But there's nothing that good old London can't do to take the ruffian out of a rebellious lad eh?" Vernon said in a sort of chummy voice that made Yugi want to vomit, but to emphasis what Vernon was saying he put on a downcast and aggravated look that reflected how he felt in far fewer emotions. Mr. Gutman finally relented and brought his hand back, now staring down upon Yugi as though looking upon some sort of uncivilized savage as Vernon had intended.
"Quite right Vernon. Now, you said you had some promising drills you wished to show to me? I'm afraid I have another engagement in a short while, so our meeting will have to be brief," Mr. Gutman said with a slightly impatient tone, and Vernon immediately nodded and led them both from the room swiftly, dragging Yugi this time by the shoulder down five flights of stairs out onto the work yard and into the largest of the warehouses next to the office building. Yugi sighed and followed along though this was a far more grueling task than he had imagined. He had never felt so humiliated in all his life, especially when Vernon and Mr. Gutman began talking to one another about him as though he were oblivious to what they were saying.
"Tragic to see children turned into such repulsive urchins. You really should enroll him in one of those correctional facilities while he's here, they've worked wonders with some of the patients that are admitted. Take my son Colton for example, he was a rebellious little fellow, always using foul language and such. One week in that facility and he comes home a transformed boy, never speaking unless spoken to, following my every command without argument. I swear it was like receiving a new son to replace my unsatisfactory old one," Mr. Gutman said with a laugh, grimacing once more at Yugi's tri-colored hair and pressing a tissue to his nose as though he smelt something rotten.
"Or a slave..." Yugi muttered under his breath quietly, keeping his gaze lowered as to not reveal his growing anger.
The warehouse was enormous, spanning out as far as the eye could see and filled with every machine imaginable it seemed. Yugi tried to divert his anger and gloom by watching them churn and manufacture, watching as raw parts entered into a machine and exited as entire drills after being systematic assembly. It was amazing to see what technology could do these days.
"I'm interested in looking into some of the larger variety of drills. My construction company is building some residential homes and many of them want the works; pools, basements and the like," Mr. Gutman said, and Vernon smiled that cheesy grin again. Bigger drills meant bigger monthly payments for those drills. Yugi sighed and tagged along, having little trouble keeping his downtrodden look continuous.
"These are our standard drills right here, finest quality you'll see in all of London I assure you," Vernon said with a proud expression coming over his face, and Mr. Gutman took a moment to examine the drills and read off some information about them from a packet that Vernon had provided him, nodding several times and examining it.
"They seem of fine quality indeed Vernon. I believe that they will make fine additions to my equipment collection back at the construction center. I can see that you are an honest and candid man, especially seeing you nurturing this small guttersnipe into a decent and well-bred young man," thusly he began to pat Yugi's head again in that domineering fashion, nearly shoving his head down into spinal column with the force he applied. He looked down upon him through his cooper-wired spectacles with a look that you would imagine someone gives to a rabid dog about to be euthanized. "It is too bad that you couldn't be raised at all properly by your ruffian parents though. Just look at that obnoxious hair of yours, and that starved body you have, probably ravaged from the drugs you more than likely got off the streets there. But at least it's not too late to purge you of the bad blood from which you were born."
Yugi couldn't have felt any lower at this point. Being called a 'guttersnipe' wasn't exactly what someone looked forward to, and he didn't even know what it meant, only that it was some degrading term. Even if none of this stuff was true, it still hurt like it was. He hung his head and sighed sadly as the man continued to make his unfounded and demeaning comments about his appearance.
Yami materialized next to the drill manufacturing machine, watching as everything unfolded and listening as Mr. Gutman ridiculed Yugi continuously though it was obviously bothering him with each hurtful statement. Yami's once stoic expression, upon seeing this, instantly turned into one of damnation and hatred.
"If you wish to see bad blood then I will show you some of your own," Yami said, reaching up and resting his hand against the machine. Automatically it began to act strange, and as Mr. Gutman and Vernon continued to chatter to one another about him and Grunnings, Yugi turned to see Yami standing there.
"Yami? What are you doing?" Yugi asked curiously upon seeing the spirit, but as he spoke Yami suddenly vanished once more, removing his hand from the surface of the machine as a slightly cunning smile coming over his face. He disappeared as Yugi still questioned his sudden presence.
Almost immediately afterwards the drill machine's once strange actions began to become chaotic, and all three of them looked in horror as the drill that was currently being assembled suddenly was lifted from the machine by an unseen force and hurled itself at a stunned and unmoving Mr. Gutman, who seemed too shocked to even more from where he stood.
"Look out!" Yugi shouted, leaping forward and pushing the spellbound man to the ground at the last second. The drill went flying overhead and crashed into another machine across the span of the warehouse. Vernon stood by watching in absolute horror as this all played out, probably more concerned with his business negotiations than Yugi or Mr. Gutman's lives.
But before they even had a chance to recover the danger reemerged, this time from the machine that had been impacted from the wayward drill. As the metal stabbed into the machine, its internal parts suddenly came catapulting from it, small bolts and washers that had somehow dislodged themselves from the mainframe of the structure. Vernon and Mr. Gutman were instantly pelted with the small bits of metal, but as Yugi stood to his feet once more and watched on, he found himself completely safe. Yami had erected an unseen shield around him the small machine parts simply ricocheted off of.
Yugi suddenly felt Vernon grip his shoulder again, having seen that Yugi was immune to the incidents occurring around them. His face was red with rage and hatred, and Yugi attempted to pry himself from the man's painful grip but was unable to as Vernon unleashed his fury upon him.
"Stop this now, or I'll wring your scrawny neck!" Vernon demanded, but Yugi shook his head with a guiltless expression upon his face.
"I'm not the one responsible!" he shouted back, suddenly looking up into the air as a sudden movement caught his attention. One of the rafters up ahead had managed to free itself and was hovering overhead, moving into the appropriate place where it would land perfectly upon Vernon Dursley's head.
"Watch out!" Yugi shouted, reaching around and grabbing onto Vernon's arm and attempting to yank him out of the way. This was no easy task considering the differentiation in their sizes, but just as Vernon stumbled out of the way the beam came crashing down upon the ground. Though Yugi had just saved his life, Vernon only looked all the more wrathful.
"You're a freak, just like that monstrosity already living in our house," Vernon spat, but Yugi was more concerned with locating where Yami was now so he could tell him to stop. He spotted the spirit responsible for the chaos sitting high up upon a rafter just like the one he had attempted to crush Vernon with just now.
"Yami stop!" he shouted, and for a moment the chaos continued as Yami stared down on his with a questioning expression. Then the ancient spirit sighed and raised his hands, silencing the restless machines and their rebellion. Yugi sighed with relief as Mr. Gutman and Vernon came to their senses once again.
"You little urchin, you're the one who sabotaged these machines aren't you?" Mr. Gutman suddenly accused in a dark tone, and Yugi spun around just in time to get hit across the face by the furious businessman, who appeared even angrier than Vernon, if that was even possible. Yugi rubbed the now stinging flesh as Mr. Gutman continued with his verbal rampage, directed both towards Yugi and a stunned Vernon.
"I have never seen such a despicable and filthy creature such as this delinquent you welcomed into your home Vernon. Just look at me! I have dinner with a promising client in fifteen minutes! I will see to it that you get locked up in a correctional facility ten times worse than the one I described earlier," Mr. Gutman raged, when suddenly Yugi watched in surprise and slight horror as a tape measure suddenly picked itself up from the workbench nearby and flung itself into the back of Mr. Gutman's head. The gaunt and nasty man feel forwards without another word and fell unconscious with a sickening thud upon the hard metal ground below. The tape measure then picked itself up once again from the ground and came to rest back where it had been before as though nothing had happened.
Vernon wheeled upon Yugi, grasping him this time by his hair and dragging his from the warehouse as on-site medical staff came to Mr. Gutman's aid. Behind them the machines slowly came together once more, the drill soaring up from the floor and falling back into the manufacturing machine as the bolts and washers went back into place and the rafter cemented itself back up near the ceiling. Of course nobody noticed this with their backs turned, though Yugi couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of Mr. Gutman staggering around muttering something incoherent in his disorientation.
"I'll see to it you're shipped back to the rotten country I scrapped you out of by tomorrow evening, with my report that you were the most hellish and atrocious little spawn of Satan I have ever laid eyes on," Vernon promised, pulling him back to the car and literally tossing him into the backseat like an article of luggage, getting behind the wheel and driving off, too embarrassed to be seen around the firm any longer after the previous incidents.
With Vernon too hateful to even face him, Yami found it an opportune time to materialize beside Yugi, looking slightly proud of what he had done. "See, it wasn't so hard to have you sent back home with a little...persuasion," Yami said with a satisfied grin, but all Yugi could do was sigh and sink back against the seat of the car with his head hung.
"Yeah, but that also means spending another day and a half with a family that hates me and then facing grandpa's anger when I get home, though I'm sure he'd believe me if I told them they had it all wrong, which, as a matter of fact, they do, considering I didn't do all that," Yugi said, his head suddenly sinking into the folds of the suit as he sulked.
"They believe that you were the one doing all of that? I'm sorry Yugi, that wasn't what I intended," Yami said, but Yugi simply shrugged and sighed.
"It's not like this entire stay here in London would have been any better anyways even if I had played the misguided 'street urchin,' and besides I'll be going home tomorrow and that's all that matters," Yugi said a little too loudly, for them Vernon whirled around and started to lecture him wrathfully again.
"Who are you talking to boy?" Vernon spat, and Yugi's eyes darted speedily to the seat next to his to see that Yami had vanished once more in time.
"Noth-Nothing sir..." Yugi said meekly, and Vernon spun back around and continued to mutter to himself angrily as Yugi sighed with relief that Yami hadn't been seen. Yugi actually admitted to himself that he missed the weight of the Millennium Puzzle around his neck, considering Petunia had absolutely refused to allow him to wear it today with the business meeting. It wasn't like it had made a difference anyways. Once Yami had set his mind to something he saw it commenced.
Yugi smiled slightly however with the prospect of going home. It would be the end of an excursion he had hoped to have fun and excitement on, but so long as he got away from these horrible people it was enough to bring him some happiness.
'You never know how much you've got back home until you've left it I guess...'
Author's Note: To those of you who asked in your reviews or are just curious, I'm strictly a non-yaoi/slash writer of fanfics, so no there won't be any in this story, though I hope it won't discourage you from reading it. Here are the pairings that will, however, be within 'In Days of Sorcery': Tea/Tristan, Duke/Serenity, Seto/Ishizu, Harry/Hermione, Ron/Fleur, Draco/Pansy, Yami/Moaning Myrtle (One-sided) and a little bit of Hagrid/Minerva McGonagall. There will also be references to James/Lily as well (of course), and other characters of Yu-Gi-Oh will also come into the plot as well in case you were curious. And that's all folks!