Well hello again! Lucky for you readers, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to write about Yugi or Yami in this chapter, so I wrote about both!
Sarah: Yay, a slightly longer chapter. -_-
XP Just do the disclaimer so the nice readers can read the story.
Sarah: *mumbles* Nice? Whatever...YamiHeart doesn't own Yugioh. Happy?
Very.^^ Please enjoy chapter 3!
Yami wanted to call all of his friends as soon as Azrael left, but he felt a heavy tiredness that he found he couldn't fight off. He slowly crawled into bed, the pain from previous events still eating at his heart, and drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.
The next thing Yami felt was the sun's rays hitting his eyes. He groaned and shifted in bed. He waited for Yugi to groggily get up and fix it somehow, but nothing happened. Then the horrible truth hit Yami like a locomotive.
Yami jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs. He silently thanked the gods that Yugi's grandfather was at an archeological dig for Pegasus. Yami could only imagine the older man coming in to see what all the ruckus was about, only to get hurt by Azrael's shadow magic.
Yami grabbed the phone and was about to call Ryo first- seeing as he seemed to be involved with Yugi's kidnapper- but stopped when he realized he didn't know how to use a phone. Yami starred at the device, he knew he was wasting precious time. Yami quickly hung up the phone and grabbed one of Yugi's jackets. It was a little snug, but Yami didn't notice as he darted out of the house/game shop and to all of his closest friend's houses.
Meanwhile…
Yugi squirmed and struggled to get out of Azrael's grip, but Azrael didn't even flinch. Azrael only smiled as he materialized in his grand castle with his experiment in hand. Once they were both completely there, Azrael threw Yugi to the ground, hard.
"Let me explain the situation to you, little vessel." Yugi cringed at Azrael's choice of words. They reminded him of Ryo's other half and when Marik was evil. Speaking of Ryo…
"What does Ryo have to do with this? Who's Amane?" Yugi asked from the floor.
Azrael shot Yugi a glare that rivaled the ones Yami gave. Yugi instinctively put his head down and tried to crouch away from Azrael. Azrael approached Yugi slowly and bent down to Yugi's eye level. He brought out his knife again and put it to Yugi's cheek.
"I suggest you stop the interrupting me thing if you wish to live long enough for the spirit to find you."
Yugi winced as Azrael pressed the knife slightly to draw a trickle of blood. Confident that he had gotten his point across, Azrael got up and walked away from Yugi. Azrael's smile was wicked once again as he continued.
"Well, now that I have your attention, let me explain things to you. One day, I got bored. Truly this is nothing new, but this day I decided to entertain myself with you. You see, I saw how much everyone loved and cared about you and I got curious. I asked myself 'What would happen if Yugi ran into a little…accident?' So, I decided to kill you and see what would happen."
Yugi's eyes grew large at what he had just been told. He wanted to ask a million questions, but he didn't want a repeat of last time. Azrael noticed Yugi's expression and chuckled.
"Come now, vessel. If I were going to kill you you'd already be dead. No, someone convinced me otherwise. Hold on. AMANE!" Azrael called. "I BROUGHT YOUR NEW FRIEND!"
Yugi looked as a little girl with long, fair, blonde hair and a lavender nightgown came into the doorway. She was holding a teddy bear protectively and her eyes were glazed over. Yugi gasped. It was the girl from his dream.
"Vess-er-Yugi. I'd like you to meet Amane." Azrael gestured toward the little girl with his arms. "And she is the only reason you are alive and breathing right now."
The little girl went towards Azrael and held his hand with the one not holding the bear. Yugi had to admit, the little girl was adorable. But Yugi still wasn't sure what she had to do with Ryo. Just as Yugi was about to ask again, Azrael walked out of the room saying, "Play nice you two."
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as fear and unease crept into Yugi's mind. Not to mention he had no idea what to say to the little blind girl.
"I'm not blind." Amane mumbled into her Teddy Bear. Yugi stared in shock at the girl. It was almost like she was "Reading your thoughts? Yeah, that's how I see. The world I see is full of pure souls and tainted ones; happy thoughts and sad thoughts."
Yugi stared in shock at Amane, who hid behind her Teddy. In truth, Amane just wanted to tell the young boy right away about how abnormal and strange she was. Amane braced herself for curses and hatred from the young boy and was shocked when she instead received a hug from the boy she had convinced Azrael not to kill.
"I may not be able to see the world the same way you do, but I can tell that took a lot of courage to tell me that." Yugi said. Amane couldn't help but cry tears of joy. Yugi was afraid he had done something wrong and Amane saw the alarm in his soul.
"I-I'm s-sorry. I wa-wasn't expecting you to react l-like that." Amane said as she tried to wipe away her tears. Yugi smiled despite the severity of his situation. Then, Yugi's question popped back into his head again.
"Amane? May I ask your relation to Ryo?" Amane looked up to Yugi with wide eyes.
"Ryo's my brother."
"What? I didn't know Ryo had a sister!"
Amane put her head down and smiled sadly. "Yeah, he doesn't talk about me much. He feels as though he failed at being my big brother."
Yugi felt horrible. Not only did Ryo have to put up with an abusive Yami, but he also lost his sister to the maniac known as Azrael.
"How long have you been here, Amane?"
"10 years, when I was five and Ryo was six. You never age here, so that's why I look exactly the same."
That brought up another one of Yugi's questions. "Exactly where is here?"
"It's been given many names, but Azrael prefers to call it 'the In-Between'. No time passes here, the stars always shine, and the things that history has forgotten float here. You'd be surprised how many weathered buildings are outside."
Yugi remembered his dream and all the broken buildings he had seen on the ground below the starry night.
"So this truly is the same place from my dream." Yugi thought. He shivered at the thought of how the dream ended and hoped that had truly only been an act of his subconscious.
"Um…I know this whole thing is weird for you but…would you mind playing with me until your friends come rescue you? Azrael's always so busy so I'm usually alone."
Yugi looked back at Amane and smiled. The relationship between her and Azrael reminded Yugi of Mokuba and Seto. Seto was always busy and no matter what he did, good or bad, Mokuba loved him to pieces.
"Of course Amane. What do you want to play?"
Amane's face lit up as she grabbed Yugi's arm and pulled him to some new location.
"I hope you like Capmon ((this is a game Mokuba challenges Yugi to in the original manga of Yu-Gi-Oh.))!"
Yami had gone to Anzu, Jonouchi, Honda, and Ryo's houses saying the simple words "It's Yugi." Everyone knew that meant something bad had happened and that Yami wanted to tell everyone at once. Was Yami had rounded them all up, he brought them back to the Game Shop and set up chairs around the dining room table. All of the teenagers were anxious to hear what had happened to their height-challenged friend. Yami sat at the head of the table with Ryo on the opposite end. Anzu sat on the left of Yami and Honda and Jonouchi sat on the other side.
"So, what happened to Yuge, Yami?" Jonouchi asked.
Yami sighed and put his elbows on the table. "Last night a man came and separated Yugi and me. He severed our mindlink and told me if I wanted Yugi back I'd have to find and get him."
Yami let the shock of the situation soak into his friends. None of them liked what they heard, and Yami knew it. He decided to leave the detail of Azrael slitting Yugi's throat to avoid complete panic from his friends.
After a minute or two, Yami looked straight at Ryo and said, "Ryo, I hate to ask this, but do the names 'Azrael' and 'Amane' mean anything to you?"
Ryo turned even paler than usual and let his hair shadow his face. He quietly whispered the word, "No."
"So you do know who they are then?"
"Please Yami, please tell me Azrael didn't take Yugi." Ryo's voice was shaky, and now everyone was curious, even Bakura.
"That was the name the man who came into Yugi's room last night gave us, and before he left with Yugi he told me to give you the message 'Amane says hi'." Yami hesitated before asking his next question. "Who's Amane, Ryo?"
Ryo lifted up his head to reveal a steady flow of tears. "A-Amane is my sister, and Azrael took her 10 years ago."
Anzu gasped and the information Ryo had just given. Yami himself was unaware how personal this new adversary was with Ryo and felt his fists shake in anger. Yami could only imagine how many other lives Azrael had messed with. Yami hated asking Ryo so many questions, but he knew it was necessary to help Yugi and Amane.
"Ryo, I'm sorry, but if you know where Azrael is please tell me so I can get Yugi back."
"That's just it." Ryo said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Azrael lives in the In-Between, a place no one can come in and out of except Azrael himself."
Yami felt his heart stop for a couple seconds. Was Ryo saying…?
"There is no way to get Yugi back. Azrael tricked you."
OH NO! ALL HOPE IS LOST! DX
Sarah: Ah, suck it up. ALright, listen-er-read all you pointless readers! These are the people who get to LIVE: Yam-Chan, Mystical, DarkChao1663, Mystery Agent, Assassin Massie, and 11 Kairi 11. The rest of you will die for not reviewing.
No! Don't kill my readers!
Sarah: Fine. I'll give them another chance this chapter but if they don't this time...
No killing.
Sarah: WHAT? Hmph. You're no fun!
I'd just like peopel to read this story without worrying whether they're going to live or not!
Sarah: Whatev.
Please review, and not just to live.
Sarah: Although that is an acceptable reason.
*SIGH*