What Yami didn't know when he went to the after-life is that "after-life" is literal. His after-life is Yugi's "Present-life". He is confined as a spirit, able to see Yugi in his world from afar, but unable to interact with him. Minor YxYY, all from Yami's POV.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
A/N: Slightly longer chapter this time, to please everyone who wanted more of a novel :) .
Also, I want to answer some reviews. If I didn't answer you, I still appreciate you, but I just want to answer some questions. Many questions will be answered in this chapter, but I'll try and answer some other ones at the END of the story. Thanks again for all the reviews!!!
WARNING: There is a rather dark scene coming. Therefore, this chapter is rated M!!! Be forewarned!
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Seven Days after leaving (very early morning).
My eyes bulge as my stomach flips. I want to throw up, but I can't. What is going on? Before I can gain my bearings, I hear another bang as the stranger pushes my hikari further into the wall. I yell "YUGI!" but to no avail. I am shocked and…I don't know. I turn around and run back into the house. There has to be something I can do! I dash frantically into the kitchen; then into the storefront, then into the front room…I'm searching for god-knows-what and, I don't know… oh my god, what am I doing, and…and…I can't breathe, but I don't need to breathe….AHHHHH.
My God I just need to FREEZE. I feel so damn helpless but seriously, I can't do anything. I have never felt this powerless. I draw a breath, and realize that I have to do something. I run into the kitchen. I grab a knife. I don't care if I scare my hikari, no one is going to hurt him. I run towards the door, knife in hand, and as run through the door, I hear another loud bang.
But this time it's me.
I'm such an idiot. I can't drag a solid knife through the door! As I go flying and the knife sticks in the door, I run right past them with my momentum. The stranger is still kissing Yugi, and my little one can't even fight back. I don't even know if the stranger is a man or woman. I spin around on my heel and dash back.
And freeze.
In shock.
In my shock the first time, I didn't realize.
Yugi is kissing back.
Hard.
He's not fighting at all.
I sink to my knees.
My hikari. My aibou. My…my…
I can't say it. But why, oh God, WHY does it feel like my heart is being ripped out, piece, by, piece?
The darkness feels oppressive as it seems to close around me, as I gasp out, "…yugi…", watching my hikari pull away and slowly lead the stranger through the front door, holding a finger up to his lips.
I feel as though the very fabric of time and logic is being torn apart, and I'm falling through the floor. I wordlessly rise to my feet and as though in a trance, I walk forward back into the house.
They didn't even notice the knife that had fallen to the floor. The only thing I notice is the trail of shed clothing heading up the stairs; one glance of which I tell that the stranger is another male. Another thing that makes my heart do flips. Yugi might've even fallen for me. But not now. Not after this…And yet, I can't imagine him with anyone else. I know now.
I am in love with him.
And I can do nothing about it.
Even from down here I can hear the sounds of a bed rocking. The lack of food in my spiritual stomach notwithstanding, I run to the kitchen sink and begin to dry-heave, only wishing something was there to throw up. I am sick. THIS is sick. This is not right. I don't know if I can ever look at my light again the same.
Hands braced against the sink, I lift my head back up and stare blankly ahead. Can this get any worse? I pull away from the sink but keep holding on. I am not sure if my legs can support me. Shakily, I take one, then two steps back, and slowly turn around. Well, if I need to get my aibou out of my head once and for all, then this is the way. I go back into the front room, pick up and knife and walk slowly back up the stairs, towards Yugi's room, towards the source of all my pain and heartache. Well, if Yugi is happy…
…but if anyone hurts him…I promise nothing…
.step.
.step.
.step.
.step.
I hear more noise, . But I don't know .step. what is happening. I keep walking .
.step.
.step.
.step.
.step.
I wind up on the landing, behind closed doors. If this is what Yugi wants…
I draw in a deep breath and stick just my head in the door.
There is this man, straddling my hikari, pinning him to the bed. My hikari's head is thrown back in pure ecstasy. But this is not what makes me drop the knife with a clatter. This man is drawing cuts across my light's pure body. I now know where those cuts have come from. They weren't there in Egypt, they are fresh, from no more than a day or two ago. I must've missed it on my days gone away.
I am repulsed. I want to wash my eyeballs, cleanse my soul. I want to die. Yugi is getting his kicks from a sadist who scars his lightness. Oh God, what have I done? Has my departure turned my light to darkness?
I have to do something. I don't care if I frighten anyone. I can't go to Yugi however. This is what he wants. But I need people to watch out for him. His privacy is not worth him getting hurt. His friends need to know. If he is turning dark, then I need all the help I can get.
And yet…
I cannot bring myself to deliberately stop my hikari. I am heartbroken, and to stop this one thing, this one REPULSIVE thing that brings my hikari joy that I could not…I cannot bear to stop it.
I turn around and run out of the room, just as I hear my hikari let out the loudest cry yet. With a shiver running down my spine, I dash out into the street, just as the city clock strikes 1 AM. I look around wildly, trying to remember which one of Yugi's friends is closest…
Remembering, I turn to my left and with head down, run fast towards Joey's apartment, a soft rain beginning to fall through me. I only pray that he is spending the night at Seto's…I need to handle this carefully. My footsteps silently pound on the pavement, tears mixing with the rain falling down, my breath hitching in my side. It's not too late, I tell myself. It's not too late.
I keep running, past the prostitutes on street corners, past lonely, broken streetlights, past over-turned trash cans. I'm in the dark side of town. I feel a sense of understanding loom from the darkness. But I can't fathom that now. I'm almost here, almost at Joey's apartment.
As I run up, I trip and fall on the slippery pavement. I cry out but the pain is masked. I am on a mission. I pull myself to my feet and walk up the crumbling stone steps of the run-down and boarded-up apartment building. I walk through the graffiti-ed wooden door, and across the chipped black and white marble floor. This old building is dark, the lights off in the lobby. I quickly find the stairs and drag myself up them, floor by floor. Now where was Joey's apartment again?
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Seven Days after leaving (early morning, around 7:00 AM).
I lean back in the broken wooden chair and sigh deeply. I am worn down to the bones. I finished writing a note for Joey, and now that I am finally decided what I wanted to say, and able to think again, my mind flashes back to what I saw. I put my arms down and bury my face in them. I need to just close my eyes for a second. Thank the gods that Joey was gone. I need to be alone.
All I see behind my closed eyes is that man's nakedness on top of my light. As heartbreaking as that was, what broke me was seeing the cuts being drawn across my aibou. Over and over again. I knew my hikari couldn't be cutting. But seeing this is, someone else doing it is even worse. I break down again, sobs wracking my body. What has driven him to do this, to draw so much pleasure from something that causes so much pain?
I wipe my eyes and look up again at the note I wrote; the final draft of what seems to have been a thousand. I just don't know if this will cover it. But I need to try.
To Joey Wheeler:
I know you are a friend of Yugi's. He needs some help from you and your friends. He may seem fine, but he's not. Make sure you watch out for him. He needs you all in his life more than you know right now. I can't do it myself. He won't listen to me. But he will listen to you. Tell him you care. Tell him all how much he means to you. Because I can't. And that is what he needs most right now. I'm watching out for him, and doing the best I can. But there is nothing more that I can do. Yugi has good friends in you. Don't let him down.
-An old friend of Yugi's back in town.
God, it took me five hours to write this? I know it's vague. I know it sucks. But I don't want to make this situation worse by letting them know that I am back. It will just make it worse. I don't know how Joey will act to this. I mean, to him, it seems like someone broke into his apartment. I just hope he takes it seriously and that he'll listen to me. I just hope, its enough…
I need to get out of here before Joey comes home. I tuck the note away on the only free space on the cluttered table. With one last sorrowful glance, I turn around and walk out of the apartment and into the trashed hallway, into the sunrise shining through the broken and boarded-up windows at the end of the hallway. And walk straight into Joey Wheeler, stumbling up the steps with a drunken look on his face of a night well spent.
I sigh.
I hope that Joey can take what he's about to find.
I walk slowly down the stairs again and head out into the street. I don't know what I'm going to do though. I decide to prop myself up against the wall of the building and close my eyes. I'm running on fumes, and this way, I'll be able to see if Joey leaves again. But for now, I need to sleep. God I hope I wake up soon from this never-ending nightmare. I close my eyes against the blinding sunrise and prop up against the cold brick wall. As cold as my heart feels.
Cold.
But just as I'm drifting off to sleep, I hear the front door of the apartment building fly open, and see a now much more alert Joey fly out, cell phone to his ear, walking quickly up the street, talking frantically. I hope he's doing what I think he's doing. I slowly rise, as much as my tired body protests, and slowly jog off after him. I need to put my own needs of exhaustion aside. This, and Yugi are more important.
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A/N: To answer some questions:
x-hannah-banana-x: Yami isn't a guardian angel exactly, even though he's acting like one. He is in fact in HIS afterlife. This is what he gets. As to whether the gods do something about it remains to be seen. But what is happening to Yugi is REAL.
Tyrant Dragon Knight: As you can see from this chapter, Yugi isn't cutting himself, someone else is. And Yugi seems to like it…
Angelegipcio: Yami doesn't feel bored with having to follow Yugi. He's totally infatuated with him, but he just can't bring himself to admit it, until about now.
yamiandyugi11: There is a reason why he could touch the bed. And there is also a reason why he can now feel cold. In the previous chapters, he couldn't feel temperature. Now he can. Hmm…
yugixyamiyaoilover: There's more to Yugi's lover than meets the eye. Don't lose too much faith in me…yet…dark laugh…lol.
Chain: Yami isn't THAT bored; to study his aibou that intently. He's on a mission now!
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Until next time!
