2. If Only Tears Could Bring You Back
How will I start
Tomorrow without you here?
Who's heart will guide me
When all the answers disappear?
Is it too late?
Are you too far gone to stay?
Best Friends Forever
Should never have to go away.
What will I do?
You know I'm only half without you.
How will I make it through?
-- From If Only Tears Could Bring You Back by Midnight Sons.
"Seriously, dude, you're missing out. I'm gonna whoop Honda's ass at Goo Zombies Seven."
Anzu swung her bag over her shoulder, clutching the handle in one fist. "And your grades demonstrate your prowess, oh mighty zombie-smasher."
Jounouchi frowned. "Is sucking the fun out of everything your favourite hobby?"
Honda clapped him on the shoulder. "Dude, leave it. You won't win."
Jounouchi took one look at Anzu's stance and shook his head, conceding agreement. "Man, I can defeat megalomaniacs who want to conquer the world, but I can't win an argument with a dumb girl. How lame is that?"
"Dumb girl? Are you calling me stupid?" Anzu's eyes flashed.
Jounouchi shoved Honda out the school gate and in the opposite direction along the street, towards the centre of town. "Later, Yuugi. Call us when you're done having no fun."
Yuugi gave a tiny wave as they departed, but when he looked up at Anzu he saw her eyes were flashing with mischief, not anger.
She shook her own head at their retreating backs and talked as she and Yuugi started off towards the Kame Game Shop, intending to stop off en route to pick up the Mutous' much-needed groceries. "Seriously, though, he should get his act together as far as his grades are concerned. I worry about him, not passing school and what might happen. Maybe if I offered to tutor him…"
"Jounouchi's grades aren't that bad," Yuugi protested.
"No, but they're not that great, either. Considering his … financial position," Anzu chose her words carefully, "if he wants to get into a good college he's looking at scholarships or waiting a few years to earn the money to go. He can't just coast through school anymore, pulling last-minute victories out of his-" she blinked, "uh, ear. Our whole futures are at stake."
Yuugi bit his lip. "Maybe you do worry too much…"
Anzu raised an eyebrow at him.
"Not that it's a bad thing!" Yuugi hastily waved his hands as though swatting flies. "Um, I mean – it's good that you worry, because it shows you care, but… um… what I mean to say is-"
She laughed. "I know, I know, I shouldn't act like his mother. Goodness knows he should be building bridges with his real mom so she can do all that sort of worrying."
Yuugi decided against commenting on that topic. Instead, he counted cracks in the pavement and wondered if he could get all the way to the end of the street without stepping on one.
"As my dad would say, the boy's too big to be wearing diapers. It's just that sometimes I can't help myself; I see the directions our lives are headed and Jounouchi's just seems so aimless. He has no ambition. You'd hardly think he and Shizuka are related."
Yuugi was forced to agree. Shizuka, who acted so sweet and naive, had already set her sights on becoming a doctor. She wasn't frightened of the hard work involved in getting there, or the huge chunk of her life she'd have to give up to train before she saw inside a hospital as more than an outpatient. Even the idea of trying to save lives and failing didn't faze her; such was her dedication after doctors wrought such differences in her own life.
By comparison, Jounouchi was indeed aimless. His only goal was helping his sister achieve her dreams; he seemed to harbour none of his own. Even Honda had expressed interest in the military. Jounouchi spent the entire Domino High Careers Day snoozing or cleaning under his nails with a fork filched from the cafeteria, showing no interest in any of the leaflets, workshops or guest speakers. It was as if he'd accepted what people had told him all his life – that he was a nobody, meant for nothing and talentless. Though he never admitted to thinking it, Yuugi suspected Jounouchi assumed that if he tried, he would fail, so what was the point in trying?
Still … Yuugi couldn't imagine Jounouchi ever accepting Anzu's interference. He was too proud, even if his pride ended up robbing him of his direction in life.
This is silly, Yuugi thought. How can I call myself Jounouchi's friend if I'm not willing to put myself out and do what's best for him the way Anzu does? He'd never really thought of it that way before. There had always been duelling, and he guessed he'd just assumed that Jounouchi's talents would lead him to a career in the arena.
Perhaps they still would, but perhaps they wouldn't, and if he didn't duel then what else would he do? What else could he do without the proper exam results on his resume? Everyone had kind of assumed Yuugi would pursue a career in Duel Monsters too, but more and more Yuugi found himself favouring his grandfather's footsteps. He'd surprised his teachers on Careers Day by asking what subjects he needed to study Archaeology at university. Anzu was right – Yuugi just didn't want to be the one to tell Jounouchi that.
He sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but was stopped.
They were just passing from the main street into a quieter one, though there were still enough cars for a low growl of traffic. Their route led them past the mouth of an alleyway, where Anzu jerked her head up.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That noise; like a cat with its tail shut in a door." She peered down the alley. "It was yowling. It sounded in pain."
Yuugi wasn't a great fan of cats, but he paused and also looked. "I didn't hear anything."
"I could've sworn I …" Anzu looked uncertain. "Maybe I was wrong. Are you sure you didn't hear anything?"
"Well I was a little distracted, but I'm pretty sure."
"Hm." Anzu didn't look convinced. She had a weakness for small fuzzy creatures, especially the kind that liked to be petted – something Yuugi didn't like to dwell on after Jounouchi commented how this formed the entire basis of his friendship with her.
"Do you want me to go and look if anything's there?" he asked.
"No, I'll go," she said hastily, not wanting him to go in case there really was a creature in pain. For all he'd saved the world, Yuugi was squeamish and went pale at sight of a nosebleed. He'd probably faint if faced with a genuinely injured cat – quite likely, since kids from the local middle school found sport in throwing rocks and tying firecrackers to the tails of strays.
Anzu went into the alley while Yuugi waited. He felt Yami disentangle himself from the Puzzle after yet another nap and was about to open their mindlink when a single, sharp cry rang out.
"Anzu!" Immediately, and without thought to his own safety, Yuugi pelted into the alley.
Anzu was facedown on the floor, but pushing herself up onto her arms. She raised her head at Yuugi's approach. He saw shock and outrage in her eyes.
"My bag!"
"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm fine, I just fell when whoever it was knocked into me, but they took my schoolbag."
"But you're okay." Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing her shout had sent electricity skittering along his nerve-endings; a concentrated burst of what he always felt when one of his friends was in trouble. His muscles relaxed and he unclenched his fists – not that he could've done anything had someone been trying to mug her, but at least he could've tried. Having Yami lurking in the wings helped, too. There was a lot to be said for having a magical king of Egypt on your side in an emergency.
And speaking of emergencies…
Anzu scrambled to her feet and started running into the warren of alleys that lined this part of town.
"Anzu, wait!"
"My schoolbag, Yuugi. It has all my notes in it – and my geography project. I worked too long and hard on that thing to start from scratch just because some bozo tried to rob me."
"But Anzu -" Yuugi ran after her. "You don't even know which way the guy went." If indeed it was a guy and not just one member of a gang – in which case they could be running smack dab into even more trouble.
"Sure I do. He went this way." Her long legs ate up the ground at a tremendous rate, as she zigzagged through the alleyways.
Yuugi looked around as he ran and realised that they had entered the network of alleys behind the line of stores not far from Otogi's. They weren't far from where he lived. If they'd just kept walking they'd be approaching his front door by now. Instead, they were pelting though garbage and slipping in things careless dog-walkers had neglected to pick up. Yuugi skidded on one into a wall – literally.
"Ow."
"Aibou, let me take over. I can make her stop this mad flight before either of you injure yourselves." Yami was at his elbow, reaching out his spirit to feel for Yuugi's hurts. It was an odd feeling, like when your foot falls asleep and then sensation roars back with a mass of prickles.
Yuugi shook his head. "She needs her schoolbag -"
Another cry rang out, this one laced with pain. This time Yuugi looked up in time to see Anzu fall to the ground, but there was something wrong. Nobody was there to knock into her. Apart from them, the alley was completely empty, and Yuugi felt a strange chill down his spine.
Something is really, really wrong here. It wasn't a conscious thought, or one instigated by Yami. It just appeared in Yuugi's head, fully formed, as though waiting for this moment to act as a trigger.
Anzu landed heavily on one hip. Yuugi was at her side in an instant, though he looked around, hoping to see he was mistaken and there was a mugger. A mugger would be preferable to some of the other options whirling through his brain. That was the thing about dealing in Duel Monsters and magic all the time; when freaky things happened, you immediately jumped to paranormal conclusions.
"Aibou!" Yami said insistently.
Yuugi heard the urgency in his tone and knew that Yami sensed it too – an odd tingle in the air, like static electricity mixed with early morning chill. The last time he felt something like that had been in a sinking temple, facing off against Dartz; and before that on top of a tower with Malik leering at him. Evil had a very distinct presence that was unmistakable, even if you'd only encountered it once – and Yuugi had encountered it far more than once.
That was when he noticed the thin tendrils of what looked like mist around the piles of garbage. He could have dismissed them as just smoke from a cigarette that hadn't been stubbed out properly, but that was an ostrich reaction and Yuugi was far beyond that. The mist crawled over the garbage, crackling black plastic bags and gently rippling the surface of garbage-water puddles. It heralded nothing good, so Yuugi nodded to Yami and relinquished control.
Anzu looked at him. "Yuugi?" There was a faint tremor in her voice, as though she sensed the swap and the strangeness in the air.
"Stay close," Yami instructed, holding her elbow with one hand and her waist with the other. Since he was so Yami he failed to notice the pink this brought to her cheeks, instead nodding towards the mist to draw her attention to it
However, rather than act frightened, Anzu shook off her blush and scowled. "Aw, man. Can't we even walk home from school without weird things happening to us? Do we send out weirdness pheromones or something?"
The mist oozed off the garbage. It moved like it knew what it was doing; like it was sentient, leeching its way along the ground in a series of puffs and eddies. It looked almost oily, like grease across the surface of water, or the smoke Yuugi had seem rise from factory chimneys at the edge of Domino. Its path was horribly obvious.
Yami stood up, dragging Anzu with him. With one hand he pulled out Yuugi's Duel Deck.
At once a ghastly, gurgling laughter filled the air. It reverberated off the garbage cans and pierced even Yuugi's ethereal ears, winding its way around his brain and seeping into the cracks like poison from a snakebite along an artery. The only similar thing Yuugi had ever heard was Malik's dark half at the apex of his powers.
"Paltry, paltry, paltry. Silly little boy with your silly little cards. Do you think me scared by paper and ink? Paper and ink, paper and ink, paper and ink. Such arrogance. Such conceit."
The voice wasn't like Yami's over the mindlink. This was solid and real and terrible.
Yami narrowed his eyes, flicking the topmost card into his fingers. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"Ah, but you're not the boy, are you? No, no, no; you're the ancient one. So I shall call you Ancient One. You taste of dust and bad memories. Do you miss it, human? Does it bring you pain to know what you've lost to time and tide?"
"Who are you and what do you want?" Yami asked again, face impassive.
"Rudeness. Discourtesy. Disrespect. Your long years have brought you few manners, Ancient One."
"Who are you -?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I heard you the first time. Your impoliteness irks me, but I will answer one of your questions. Questions, questions, questions. I am Aramanth, or it is one of my names. I have many, but you may call me this, and I shall call you Ancient One. And your little friend, whom you think I cannot see, shall be Innocent One. Mmm, his purity is mouth-watering."
Yuugi felt Yami clamp down on his temper.
Anzu shifted from one foot to the other. "Pharaoh…" She and the guys often referred to Yami by his title these days, as though he was beginning to be defined by his past life's status – or as though they were trying to reconcile that this was not Yuugi, for all he wore his skin and viewed them through his eyes.
Yuugi would have reached to pat her arm, but Yami just grunted, entirely focussed on the writhing mist.
It hadn't come any closer, but undulated in a half-circle around them like a snake being charmed. Tendrils reached and then curled back on themselves, reached and curled back, in a dance as mesmerising as it was unsettling. The voice was solid but the mist was not, though the two were obviously connected. When the voice spoke the mist undulated in time with its words.
Yuugi was too used to facing enemies with human faces. Even the Oricalchos had worked through Dartz and his minions.
"Ooh, yesss." It was like silk tearing on thorns. "I can feel his fear … it's delectable … oh, Ancient One, won't you let Innocent One out to play? Your soul is dark and jagged, but his is bright and holds such potential for misery…"
"You will not touch him," Yami snarled.
"I do not need to."
Despite himself, Yuugi shuddered. He was glad Anzu couldn't see him, though when he glanced at her she looked pretty shuddery herself.
"It sounds like … like something from a bad horror movie," she said.
Yami didn't respond, too fixed on the mist and what it was doing. The tips of his fingers had gone white where they pinched the card.
To anyone else, facing a supernatural force with nothing but a bit of laminated paper might seem ridiculous, but Yami could do more damage with that bit of paper than most could do with an Uzi. Even Yuugi wasn't sure of the limits of Yami's powers. He was painfully aware of what Yami had done during those first few months after he solved the Millennium Puzzle, when he was just a raging ball of pain and vengeance with a human soul glimmering between the cracks.
"I have already tasted your pain, Ancient One. It was scrumptious, but now I hunger and I wish to sample new delicacies. Hungry, hungry, hungry. Won't you please let him out?"
"You will touch nobody here, or I will destroy you."
"Then perhaps you would volunteer your own pain. Can I have you instead, Ancient One? Will you come away with me?"
Yuugi's spine went ramrod. Why, when enemies showed up, did it always lead to one of them being ransomed, or kidnapped, or used to torture the others? He was about to say to Yami that they should run – after all, they knew nothing about this enemy and it didn't look like it was interested in playing Duel Monsters.
Don't you dare try to mind-swap with me. Yami's thought snapped into Yuugi like a bullwhip.
At once, the mist formed into a dark tendril that lashed out and wrapped around the Millennium Puzzle. It caressed the sides almost lovingly, until Yami snatched it away. He stepped backwards, treading on Anzu's foot in his haste to keep the Puzzle out of reach.
"Ouch!"
"I challenge you to a Shadow Game," Yami growled at the mist, which laughed mockingly.
"A game? I have no interest in your little games, Ancient One. I am far beyond games and toys and childish pastimes. Hungry, hungry, hungry. I wish to feed."
"You can't refuse." Yami flipped his card to reveal the Black Magician. It was his favourite Duel Monster, and the one he felt most comfortable having at his side in a jam – even if he couldn't play it first in an actual duel. "You must accept a challenge given."
Yet instead of answering him, the voice whispered, "Innocent One."
It was far closer than before. It seemed to reach right into Yuugi's mind and speak directly to him and nobody else. He blinked, looking at Yami and Anzu for a reaction, but they didn't appear to have heard it.
"What would you give up, Innocent One?"
"What?" He wasn't used to being talked to when Yami was in control – at least not by anyone except Yami.
"To keep safe your precious someone? Ancient One has so much despair inside of him. It was released when he lost you once before, and it was delightful. I followed him through sand and dust and dune, over rock and mountain and cliff. His pain was succulent. I gorged that day. Would you go with me, to keep him safe? Or can I keep him, Innocent One? Can I take him home with me? Can I feast that way?"
"You-you leave Yami alone!"
The voice laughed. "But that is what would sadden him, and please me. He does not wish to be alone, lonely, solitary. If I took you with me, would it break him? If I took him with me, would it break you? Would it break your heart? Would you cry?"
"You must accept a challenge given," Yami said again, louder this time. "Aramanth! If that is indeed your name, then answer me!"
"Split you two apart, and the other would weep," the mist singsonged. "Such pain! Such misery! Ooooooh…" It groaned.
Yuugi shrank against the sound, before straightening up again and squaring his shoulders. He was stronger than he used to be. While frightened, he wasn't about to roll over and not face his fears.
"You can't have him," he told it. "And I won't go with you, either. You're not taking anyone with you."
"You wish for me to accept Ancient One's challenge?"
"I want you to leave us alone."
"Hm. Your loyalty is smooth and fragrant. This pleases me. It will give zest to your misery – what you could've done, second guesses, might-have beens, what-ifs. But Ancient One is so practised at unhappiness and anger. Jagged, spiky, serrated. Spice! Which one should I choose?"
"Aramanth!" Yami narrowed his eyes. "Why don't you answer?"
"What is that thing, anyway?" Anzu asked.
The presence retreated from Yuugi's mind. He felt it as one might feel the sudden removal of a splinter from under the skin.
"I am Aramanth, eater of sorrow," announced the voice so al could hear.
"What? What the heck does that mean?" Anzu demanded.
"Ah, Faithful One, who trailed after Ancient One through the desert. First to touch Innocent One upon his return. Caught between the two – torn, torn, torn! I do believe you are the key. When Innocent One was taken, your misery was great, but eclipsed by Ancient One's. Your grief was bland in comparison. Tasteless, flat, unsavoury. And you are precious to Innocent One, oh yes. Precious someone, precious someone, precious someone."
Alarm spiked through Yuugi. He flashed back to his nightmare and cried out, "Anzu!"
Yami twitched as Yuugi's anxiety rocketed through him. "Anzu, get behind me."
"Yes," the voice said silkily. "Do."
Coils of mist shot from the wall behind them to wrap around Anzu's neck. She made a choking noise as they yanked her backwards, hands flying to her throat. It wasn't like normal mist at all; it was tangible, strong as rope, and took hold of her wrists as she scrabbled to loosen its grip.
Yami turned and grabbed for her, catching her lower arm and hauling back in a tug-o-war.
"Anzu!" Yuugi shouted. Suddenly his dream seemed horribly, horribly clear. When he blinked he could see the images etched inside his eyelids: Anzu's tears, the spectral black fist, the splash of blood - "Anzu!"
Anzu's eyes bulged as her windpipe constricted.
Yami grunted, trying to pull her free, but the mist was too strong and too fast. It snapped more tendrils around her arms and legs, jerking her feet from under her and snatching her away with such force that his grip was easily torn loose.
Swirling close to the brickwork, one wisp solidified into an angle, like a triangle or a spearhead embedded in the wall. A ripple spread through it like that of a rock dropped into a pond, and suddenly it didn't look like mist. It looked hard and shiny, like a piece of slate or tinted glass. Anzu was pulled towards it so fast neither Yuugi nor Yami realised what was about to happen until there was no 'about to'.
Anzu gasped, eyes widening in pain and surprise, as the spearhead punched out through the front her chest.
For a moment the world seemed frozen, as all minds galloped to catch up with their eyes.
Click.
"ANZU!" Yuugi cannoned back into his skull so fast both he and Yami reeled. "ANZU!"
The mist released her feet and she stood there, pinioned, mouth opening and shutting but no sound coming out. She looked down at the point still jutting from her body. with trembling fingers she touched it.
The mist that had previously been her bonds churned above her head, before streaming into her mouth, nose, ears and the corners of her eyes. Anzu convulsed, throwing her head back so that it ricocheted off the wall. A violent tremor ran through her entire body, like an epileptic convulsion. Then the mist left her again in a single great whoosh. It blasted towards Yuugi, briefly whirled around the Millennium Puzzle, and dissipated.
Anzu's head dropped onto her chest.
Then she fell.
Yuugi rushed forward as the hard point evaporated and she toppled forward, no longer pinned in place like a butterfly in a display case. He half caught, half fell under her weight, and felt something wet and sticky on the back of her head as he worked to sit her upright.
"Anzu, talk to me. Anzu! Anzu, please…"
"The pain!" the silky voice moaned with pleasure. "I have never tasted anything so genuine … so wholesome … oh, Innocent One, you were worth waiting for. Ancient One was just an appetiser compared with you. Sweet, satisfying, sincere. I believe I will burst with pleasure!"
"Aramanth!" Yuugi heard Yami yell. "You will pay for this!"
"Double dosage! You echo him, Ancient One. You hurt because he hurts. The two of you together … delicious."
"Monster!"
"Joy! Rapture! Ecstasy!"
Shadows rippled at the edges of Yuugi's vision, but he barely noticed Yami's rage start to take physical form.
"Anzu?" His voice trembled as her head flopped back and he looked into her blank, directionless stare. "Anzu…?" he whispered, feeling as though his throat was being constricted. "Please, no…"
"Yes!" squealed the voice. "Yesyesyes!" And its laugher echoed like a yowling cat, as the first of Yuugi's tears fell.
To Be Continued…
Side-flings, Homages and Downright Rip-offs
"I'm gonna whoop Honda's ass at Goo Zombies Seven."
-- The Goo Zombies franchise is entirely fictional, originating in Xiaolin Showdown, where Kimiko and Raimundo have an ongoing struggle held through these games. As far as I know, no clear winner was ever established during the show's run.
Kids from the local middle school found sport in throwing rocks and tying firecrackers to the tails of strays.
-- When writing this there was an incident where some kids from the school I was working attached a firecracker to the tail of a cat, torturing the animal eventually blowing the whole tail off for fun. It was sick and twisted, but not uncommon. Sometimes I despair of the human race.
