Chapter 3: Antidote
Three weeks after Yugi's birthday had passed as it was the last week of June. It was also Monday afternoon.
During this time two brothers ran through the woods, looking around for ingredients.
The oldest brother was 6'2 in height and has a black tail. He has semi sharp facial features with Crimson eyes. His bangs were blonde as they all came together on one side by a single bobby pin to his right as one long bang shot up into the rest of his hair. The rest came to his left, almost as if hair gel was holding it at that angle. Two short dangling earrings hung from his left ear with some sort of red gem hanging at the end of each one. He wore a black tank top underneath a light blue denim jacket with a hood attached at the back. He also wore faded jeans that were torn at the knees as well as a few other places. The shoes were foot tight that the shaft only went past his middle shin, the color being dark blue. His age was seventeen, almost eighteen that would soon come next month.
The younger brother was the same height of 6'2 as he had a crimson tail as well as eyes. He has more softer features while his hair went the opposite ways than his brothers, bangs being on his left side as his top hair came down towards his right. He wore a white long sleeve shirt underneath his purple vest that hung open. Light blue jeans as well as foot tight shoes with the shaft going past his middle shin, the color being white. His age was sixteen, almost being seventeen that would soon come next month.
The younger brother slowly came to a stop, gasping for air, hand resting against the tree near him.
The older brother sighed "You do know you didn't have to come with me. You need to rest and stop telling me you are alright because you are not."
Chuckling lightly "I get it, but seriously I'm okay. I haven't had one of those coughing fits in a while now." He replied honestly.
Shaking his head the older turned around "But that doesn't tell me why you still gasp for air after you run for not even two minutes."
The younger smiled, but soon his eyes widened as he covered his mouth, beginning to retch.
The oldest turned around at the sound of retching, quickly going to his side.
Once the youngest could calm himself he pulled his hand away. The first thing he or his brother saw was a dark red color that covered the youngests entire hand as the liquid dripped on down his arm and hand, coating his sleeve and the dirt below them.
"Well, this is new." The younger stated before beginning to fall over.
The older brother caught him before falling to the ground. In a panic "Hey, wake up. Wake up! HEBA!"
~With Yugi~
Yugi was just about to turn in for the night as he was going to start changing his clothes.
A frantic pounding sound echoed from the front doors.
Exhaling Yugi left his room to go answer the door. Opening one he found Isis, his head healer, standing outside. She looked worried.
"Emperor, please come quickly!" Isis nearly ordered.
"What is the problem. Has something happened?" Yugi questioned.
Isis nodded "Yes, an illness that I do not know of has shown up. Since this afternoon the patient has been in the healing chambers and I have been looking through everything for a cure, but nothing has been close to what the boy has. I was thinking that you could come and check him out."
Yugi mentally sighed, not expecting something like this to happen before he went to bed "Alright, I will look him over." Yugi replied closing the door behind, following Isis to the healing chambers.
During the walk back to the chambers Isis informed Yugi that she had taken multiple tests. Isis had told him that the boy had puked blood many times since he had shown up this afternoon.
Once in the building Isis showed Yugi to the room the boy was kept in, opening the door for him, he went in. The first people he laid eyes on were Aknamkanon, one of his council members, and his wife Amara. Then there was the boy laying on the bed with some blood stains on his white shirt. As Yugi walked fully into the room he met another person who sat on a chair near the wall, worry written all over his face as he stared at the bed his brother lay on.
Yugi, on the other hand, grew surprised, staring at this person with eyes widened.
Both Aknamkanon and Amara grew worried at Emperor Yugi's stare. Aknamkanon spoke "Emperor, we are glad you could help out."
Shaking his thoughts away Yugi placed a hand against his head "Yes, I am glad I could help out." Yugi went to the foot of the bed, Isis handing him some papers that she had done tests on. While looking those papers over, something caught his attention as he asked Aknamkanon, Amara and the other boy to leave the room for a few minutes.
Once left he asked "Isis, do you still have that blood sample?"
Quickly responding "Yes, it is in the Lab, quarantined from everything else."
"Could you please bring that sample back here."
Isis nodded, quickly leaving the room to retrieve that sample.
While Isis was gone Yugi wrote some stuff onto the whiteboard before leaning his ear against the boy's chest, listening for about a minute as he counted in his head. After that minute passed he pulled away, righting how many beats he counted onto the board. He then grabbed a small flashlight, opening the boy's eye, flashing it in and out as he counted how many seconds for it to go back to normal. Yugi did this for both eyes. He then wrote those seconds onto the board.
Isis returned with the sample, handing it over to Yugi.
Taking the sample he opened the glass container after grabbing a small dropper from the cabinet. He dripped a few drops onto a small glass plate, placing another glass plate on top of the first one, clipping the two glass plates into the microscope before looking through it. Within the first ten seconds of looking through the microscope, Yugi knew what the boy had.
Unclasping the glass plate from it holder Yugi dumped what little blood that was on it back into the container. He then placed those two glass plates into some acid, making sure that nobody else could touch that blood. Yugi then added a bit of oil into the glass container before lighting it on fire.
Isis was surprised but did not have time to argue "Isis, everything that was touched by his blood run through an acid bath, now, and sent those three back in here." Yugi ordered.
Isis left, letting them back into the room.
Amara became concerned after seeing Isis run out of the room, and in a hurry at that "Is everything alright with my son Emperor."
Letting out a tired sigh he placed his fingers to his temples "No, I can't believe that I am seeing this illness again after so many millennium has passed."
"What is wrong. Can you cure our son." Aknamkanon questioned him, concern evident in his voice.
Relaxing his arms Yugi placed the dropper into the acid "I can cure him."
The three sighed in relief "But, I need a question answered." Yugi stated, seeing all three nod in approval.
"First of all, how long since he has had this, such as dizziness, a hard time breathing, fever, and anything else that you've seen from him."
The parents thought about it for quite some time before the boy next to them spoke up "Almost two months now after this week is over." He answered. His parents staring shocked at him.
Yugi nodded writing that information on the whiteboard with everything else "Okay, you may want to know this Intel before I continue. Your son has an illness that became the first illness during the plague way early on in the two thousand to three thousand years. I thought that those illnesses we gone forever, yet the bacteria for it was still floating around."
Amara's mouth had parted while Aknamkanon took a few steps backwards "You did say that there was a cure, right."
Yugi smiled "There is, but first. Does he or does he not have a mate. This illness can spread quickly through those kinds of actions."
All three shook their heads "No, not one." The brother answered.
"He is still sixteen until next month." Amara said.
Yugi rubbed his eyes, yawning slightly "Alright, I will go retrieve those ingredients in the morning. It takes two in a half days to find them all, maybe four depending on how lucky I am." Yugi said.
Aknamkanon became confused "Why not just go through a portal?" He questioned.
Shaking his head "It does not work that way. The ingredients are so fragile that if brought through the ancient realm, they will vanish into thin air. I have tried it many times without thinking, that it had cost people their lives. I am not going to make that mistake again. I have seen people withstand this illness for a month, to two months, and sometimes, if they were lucky, three months. Isis had told me that she was told that he just started to puke blood this afternoon. Puking blood means that they will be reaching the end soon, possibly in the next few weeks. Also, once I get the ingredients, it will take three full days to make it, depending on if he survives that long."
Aknamkanon and Amara took that information to heart.
Yugi left the room, making his way down the hall but was stopped by the brother asking "Emperor, you said if you were lucky enough to find all the ingredients. What if-what if you had more eyes looking for them."
"Yami!" Amara exclaimed, not wanting Yami to be disrespectful of the Emperor.
His back faced Yami while Yugi held wide eyes, surprise written all over his face. He then smirked "Are you suggesting that you go along with me?" He questioned him, brow raised yet back still facing him.
Nodding "Yes, I am saying that."
"Yami please, know your place." Aknamkanon scolded still inside the room.
Spinning around "As you wish, I am happy to be tagging along with you. Make sure to get some rest, we will be leaving at ten in the morning weather you are with me or not. Aknamkanon, I need to speak with you in private once we get back, not about this little ordeal we are having here. It is something else." Yugi said, spinning back around before walking through a portal back to the mansion.
Stepping foot inside the Mansion Yugi locked the doors, shutting the lights off as he made his way back to his room to change into something a bit more comfortable, flipping the lights off before making his way to the bed. Laying down, Yugi never thought that he would ever be seeing Atem, known as Yami on this world, again 'He didn't seem to remember me, unless he isn't eighteen yet and will remember soon.' Yugi thought as his small fire dragon crawled on up onto Yugi's stomach, curling herself up into the blanket.
Yugi then went to sleep, making sure that he woke up before ten to pack the things that he needed for this trip.
Twenty minutes before ten Yami arrived just outside the Palace walls, Yugi already waiting for him as a bag was tightly secured around his waist, six glass jars carefully placed inside along with a book and a slip of paper.
Lightly smirking "I thought that you wouldn't be making it on time. You were lucky that there were twenty minutes left." He said.
Straightening up "I'm here aren't I." Yami questioned, not understanding what the fuss was all about.
"True" Yugi replied as his fire dragon landed on his shoulders. Walking towards the battlefield behind the wall Yugi took off the dragons precious gemstone band from around her neck, clipping it around his wrist for safe keeping.
After that the dragon grew three times its size, big enough for ten people to sit on her back.
Yami stared in awe, jaw hanging open "As you probably already know, I can't fly on my own. If you so happen to get tired then you may rid her, but be careful when doing so, she is always cranky around this time of year after my birthday has passed." Yugi informed, hopping up onto Evon, the female dragon. Evon then flew off, Yami following at her side.
Yugi pulled the single paper from his bag, seeing what ingredient was close by as he decided earlier to get the closer ingredients first before he got the farther ingredients.
"How well can you swim?" Yugi questioned putting the paper away, zipping up his bag.
A moment lost in thought "Decently, I guess?"
A quick nod "Good enough." Yugi replied.
Six or so hours later Yugi retrieved the first ingredient, which was Sacred water. He needed three jars full before they left for the next one.
About six more hours passed before they landed once more, Yugi jumping off Evon as she shrunk to her smaller size, landing on Yugi's shoulders.
Yami landing not too far from them while putting his wings away and walked over.
Yugi pulled the small book he had stashed away in his bag, flipping through it for the right page.
"What are we looking for?" Yami asked.
Finding the right page Yugi smirked, turning the book around for Yami to see "This flower, we need three of them. When I use to come looking for these on my own, it took me days just to find a good handful." Yugi handed the book to Yami "We have a good eight hours before nightfall overcomes this place." He then sent a message to the Dino leader.
Yami looked up "Who are you contacting?"
Sending the message "The Dino leader. We are in his area after all."
"We're in what!"
"We'll be fine. I sent him a message that we were here to tell his underlings not to attack us. If anything I would like for us to split up and search. The flowers like to grow in semi lit, yet damp areas, though you would think that they grew everywhere since we are in a jungle." Yugi then placed Evon on Yami's shoulders, earning protests from both of them.
"First off, you stay with Yami." Yugi ordered Evon "Secondly, do you even have a weapon on you." He asked Yami.
"W-well I-I-I left it at home." Yami stammered, not liking that he left his own weapon back at his house. Fuming Yami and Evon agreed on this arrangement.
"That's what I thought." Yugi said pulling a small knife out from his boot, holding it out for Yami to take "You might need this if you find one."
Once the knife was tightly in Yami's hand, Yugi turned and left the two "Try finding me an hour before dark, we'll set up camp for the night." He said as that was the last thing he said to them before disappearing through the brush.
Yami sighed, turning around in the other direction from where Yugi went.
Four hours had passed without any luck from Yami. He wasn't even sure if Yugi had found any himself as he couldn't call him since he didn't have his Techit ID number. Sighing in distraught Yami kicked a rock "I thought that if I came to help him find the ingredients that we would be back home by tomorrow, yet he was right that it might take days to find just three of these flowers."
Evon rolled her eyes, flying off Yami's shoulders while moving forwards.
"Hey, where are you going. Wait for me!" Yami exclaimed running after her.
After a few minutes Evon landed next to one of the flowers they were looking for. Eyes widened Yami checked the book, making sure that it was correct. It was correct. Walking forward Yami cut the stem with the knife.
Once that was done Yami sniffed around for Yugi. Finding him Yami headed for that area, Evon flying behind.
Two hours had passed since Yami caught up with Yugi. As it turned out, Yugi had already found two flowers before Yami showed up with the last, placing the last flower with the other two inside its jar.
Since then the two have begun setting up camp inside an open tree as it was hollowed out inside. A small fire lit inside.
While searching for food Yami found a few melons. They were currently eating them at this moment.
"May I ask you something." Yami asked.
"Hmm?" Yugi spit some seeds out from their tree hole.
"What is it like to be alive for so long?"
Eyes widened "Why do you want to know such nonsense." Cocking his head to the side "Just telling you won't make you understand how much weight has been on my shoulders as the years went on."
Yami halted his words, understanding that he had gotten on Yugi's nerves.
Sighing tiredly "Interesting and boring. I spend most of my time sleeping for about six months each year. In truth, nothing piques my interest anymore." Yugi stated. Yami nodded.
"Since we are in the questioning mood, why not tell me some things about yourself. For starters, your age and your birthday."
"I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen next month on the twenty-sixth." Yami said.
Yugi leaned back "How about your brother, when is his."
"The same day, though we are a year apart from each other."
A moment of silence "I forgot to ask this yesterday but, what is his ability. I need to know for an ingredient that we will be getting tomorrow."
"Psychic, why?" Yami asked.
"The owner of the abilities dragon. We need three scales from it. We also need three Pegasus feathers. Tomorrow we will be getting back around dark if we get an early start, so I think we should get some sleep." Yugi said, tossing his finished melon husk outside the tree hole, laying down on the dirt. Yami did the same.
The next morning, like Yugi had said, they left early that morning, receiving the two ingredients that were said and reaching back home a few hours after dark.
Yami headed on back home to rest. Yugi did the same as in the morning he would get started on the antidote.
After three days of preparing the antidote, Yugi then finished it as on the fourth day he went to the healing chambers where Yami and his parents waited outside the room. Entering the room he placed the three jars of liquid on the table as the three stayed outside.
Yugi flipped Heba onto his stomach and raised his shirt till his shoulder blade were shown. He then pulled out two IV bags, filling both bags with one full jar of the antidote. After that he stuck the needles in the middle towards the center of his back, taping them down before hanging the bags up high.
Yugi then instructed Isis "When he wakes give him a half a cup from this last jar after every six hours. He should get maybe eight half glasses from it. Also, tell him if he spits any of it out, it is his loss." Yugi said and then he left the room "Aknamkanon, I still need to talk with you."
Aknamkanon stood in Yugi's room shocked "You want me to do what!" He exclaimed.
Yugi closed the top of this medium box up, locking it away in a safe in his closet, placing the key to it back inside the golden box in his draw.
"You heard me, keep your son away from me after he turns eighteen next month. If he runs for the door, tell him this straight out that I don't want to see him. You already know about what Immor has offered me and my brother. I know for a fact that if he knew this he would want me to stay here with him, and it wouldn't take much to persuade me into staying either."
"But you can't be serious sire. If you knew that he was stubborn then why did you let him go with you in the first place." Aknamkanon questioned.
Yugi shrugged "To see if he was the same person that I knew from my human self. I could tell that it was him since I saw him back in the room that night, that is why I was staring at him. Anyways, that is all I ask for. I want him to not have a life with me around all of the time."
Aknamkanon exhaled "Alright, if this is what you ask of me then I shall carry it out. Should I keep this to myself?"
Yugi thought for a moment "The only person who you may tell is your wife if she asks, but make sure that he is not around." He told.
Aknamkanon understood, bowing before leaving back to the healing chambers.
Yugi sighed, flopping down on his back on the bed. Yugi knew that this was the only way to stop Yami from showing up at the front door in about three weeks, asking tons of questions just like the others had when they could remember him. Though Yami would start from what happened after he had left them and Yugi didn't want to start explaining all of that to Yami any time soon.
Hope you enjoyed :3
I'll be posting a drawing I drew on DevieantArt in a few days on how Yami's hair looks.
Next Chap: Yami (Part 1)
