Chapter 7: Wind Through Your Hair and Shadows On the Moon

written 9/3/2018 – 9/15/2018

published 10/8/2018

word count: 2,389

I am the Clown with the tearaway face – here in a flash and gone without a trace

I am the Who when you call 'who's there?'

I am the Wind blowing through your hair

I am the Shadow on the Moon at night – filling your dreams to the brim with fright

"I can't believe you made me leave Ryou like that!"

Marik closed his eyes as he lifted his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He wasn't exactly happy with the snap decision he'd made either, but it was too late to take back now. "Yugi, I already told you, the tree seemed like the safest place for Ryou for the time being."

"He'd be safer with us!"

"You don't know that!"

The pair had made it out of the forest and were once more in a highly developed part of town. Small buildings squeezed next to each other or looked as though they'd been crammed right on top of one another, the neighborhood building up instead of out. Wide streets and cobblestone lanes ran between the towering buildings, and a large fountain could be seen in the center of a road junction, with vile, black water pumping through to the top and bubbling down into the basin.

Marik and Yugi kept to the very edge of the road, trying hard to avoid any further peril. They walked along an iron fence that lined one side of the road. The fence seemed to encase some sort of children's play area, as even in the dim light they could make out the recognizable shapes of slides and a swingset.

"... We should have done more to help him," Yugi grumbled. As expected, he was not taking the loss of his best friend well at all.

"There was nothing we could do at the time. But we're going to get help for him."

Yugi gave Marik an unreadable expression. "If we get back and anything bad has happened to Ryou, I'm taking it personally out of your hide."

Something about the way he said that made Marik even more nervous than the denizens of this Hollow World made him. "Understood."

Marik sighed to himself as he continued to take in the new surroundings. He rubbed at his neck in discomfort, his fingers running over the bumps left over from where he'd been bitten by that vampire. He wondered briefly how noticeable the bite was, or if it would become infected or anything. And if it did, what would he do about it? It's not like vampire bites were exactly an injury he had to deal with on a regular basis or anything.

The sudden sounds of footfalls and wings beating in the air started somewhere nearby. The new sounds made the two humans stand up straight and take notice, turning their heads around in search of where the noise was coming from.

"It's getting closer," Marik whispered. Taking a sharp right, he moved into the little playground they were walking beside, his eyes searching over the large play equipment for potential hiding spots. Yugi fell in step behind him, just as eager as he was to get away from any incoming threat. The two of them crawled through the opening of a plastic climbing structure, deciding to worry more about Ryou later and themselves now.

The air was still and quiet for a moment, a soft breeze moving a few leaves along the ground. Marik held his breath, straining his ears to listen as everything fell still, no movement or sound catching his attention.

A beat of silence passed, and then another. Just as Marik started to poke his head out from his hiding spot, wondering if he and Yugi really were in a safe, secure location, something landed hard on the ground in front of him, causing him to shrink back against himself.

It was another monster of some sort that had landed in front of him. Something with a rocky exterior and wings, with flowering vines growing over its body. It reminded Marik of images he'd seen of gargoyle statues, like the kind that might decorate old European cathedrals.

The figure began walking across the playground area, its head swiveling in various directions. The monster was clearly looking for something as it walked along, the graceful motion of its long legs and wing-like appendages making it look more like it was dancing than properly walking. A breeze whipped around the creature, causing its brown hair to bob in the wind, loose petals flying from the flowering vine that grew from the creature, and instead flying all around it in a shower of blossoms.

The creature turned its head to the side, mossy eyelashes batting against a demure face as it met eyes with another shadowy figure. "Otogi, are you really sure you saw Jou's mask around here somewhere? I don't see it anywhere."

"Positive, Anzu!" a second voice hissed. A black figure stepped out of the shadows themselves, with glowing cat eyes that pierced the darkness. This creature was holding a small animal of some kind in its hands, cradling it like a beloved pet. "At least, I know my rats saw it around here."

A third creature showed up just then, wheeling in like a child on roller skates. It looked like a clown, but, where a person's face should have been, instead there was a blank expansion of bone white skin. Everything about it made Marik's skin crawl, filling him with terror and revulsion.

This third creature was moving its hands wildly, flapping and making a variety of strange gestures. At first, they looked like random motions to Marik. But, as they continued, he could see that there was some of logic to them, as if they meant something. Like a form of sign language, he realized.

"We're working on it, Jou," the gargoyle answered patiently. "Otogi says his rats saw your mask nearby."

The shadowy creature nodded, kneeling down on the ground and carefully setting a rat down on the dead grass. "At least, they know it's a clown mask of some sort. I have to assume it's yours, since there's only so many Faceless Clowns in town."

Marik turned to look at Yugi, his lips moving to silently mouth words. "... 'Faceless Clown?'"

Yugi frowned, his eyes darting to stare pointedly at an object on the ground beside them. It was disk-shaped, the object left in the rotting dirt underneath the children's play structure, with blue button eyes and a wide smile and two rosy cheeks that framed a round, red nose.

"Clown mask," Yugi mouthed silently, the words making Marik's blood grow cold.

The two young men watched nervously as the monster's pet rat scrambled into their hiding place. The animal gave the two humans a curious sniff, then squeaked loudly in the direction of the mask. Holding their breath, Marik and Yugi stared as an inky black tendril began crawling through the space along the ground, moving as though it were following the rat. When the tendril reached the mask, it made a sort of grabbing motion and redacted itself, taking the mask and the rat with it.

Just as Marik thought it was safe enough to breathe again, two large shadowy tendrils burst in beside him, grabbing tightly onto both Yugi and himself, dragging the two of them out from their hiding place. Marik heard Yugi scream as they both flew through the air, suddenly stopping short in a way that gave him whiplash, filling his eyes with stars for a moment.

Shaking his head, Marik forced his eyes to work again. He found himself hanging by the back of his shirt, the collar held firmly in the tendril-like appendage of the cat-eyed shadow creature. Yugi hung beside him in a similar state.

The shadow creature grinned up at them from the ground, its sharp teeth a sparkling white against its black face. The rat sat on the creature's shoulder, proudly holding the clown mask between its teeth.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here!" The shadow creature's grin widened as it spoke. The gargoyle and clown monsters moved to stand on either side of their companion, the gargoyle staring up at the captured humans with interest. "I don't think I've ever seen two mortals on this side of town, before. Have you, Anzu?"

"Nope." The gargoyle shook her head. She turned to the third member of their party. "What about you, Jou?"

On the other side of the shadow creature, the clown was clumsily retrieving the mask from between the rat's teeth, earning a few bites and a squeak in the process. As soon as the monster had the mask, however, the flat object pressed itself against the monster's blank head, melting and reforming against him. It was like the rubbery mask had simply become the monster's face, and it looked as if it had always been there.

The clown twisted its face, smiling widely as it looked at the humans in front of it. "Nah, me either. Then again, the only mortal I ever seen is the lady who takes care of my sister."

"These guys must be new, then," came a fourth voice out of nowhere. Marik saw Yugi jump in midair, and they both turned to stare at the newcomer. Some sort of weird fish-man had appeared behind them, seemingly from nowhere, all staring eyes and gaping gills and dripping wet footprints.

An ear-piercing shriek erupted out of Yugi, loud enough and sudden enough to make Marik feel like passing out again.

.

.

.

"We're sorry for scaring you," the gargoyle repeated herself. She been quick to make her companions give the two humans some personal space, pulling the three other monsters a few feet away. She waited patiently for Marik and Yugi to collect themselves, flapping her wings in a frantic, apologetic manner.

"Um, let's start over." The gargoyle stood up to her full height, smiling demurely as she towered above Yugi, her face almost reaching Marik's. Brown hair framed her face, a stark contrast to her stone body. Moss grew around her eyes and lips, almost like natural makeup, and a flowering vine grew up and around her entire body, the roots growing from small cracks along her rocky exterior. She was almost human in shape, with a torso and a head and all the right facial features and two legs, but she had large leathery wings that grew from her shoulders, right where two arms should have been. Even so, she moved with all the grace of a skilled ballet dancer, a breeze of wind dancing around her as she walked.

"I'm Anzu," she introduced herself, smiling shyly. "The Wind you feel in the late evening."

Her breeze flew around Marik and Yugi, enveloping the two humans like a hug as it showered blossoms from her vine around them. Yugi grinned in delight. Marik frowned as he reached up to pick flower petals from his hair.

The fish creature was next, grinning as he waved a webbed hand at the pair. His mouth was full of piranha teeth, the sharp protrusions looking as though they grew in rows, giving his mouth an eerie clustered look. Large gills flapped open and closed uselessly on either side of his neck, rivets of water streaming out of them and down his already wet body, pooling in a puddle of murky liquid at his feet. His skin was scaly, like a fish, but almost human in color, the dull brown rotting away in some areas to reveal red, sinewy muscle or pale bones. He most looked like a zombie fish of some kind, Marik eventually decided.

"I'm Honda the Who," the fish-man said, his teeth clicking together when he talked. "The sounds you hear when you think you're alone."

"And I am Otogi," said the shadow-person beside him. Cat eyes twinkled merrily out from the black silhouette, the only facial feature that could be seen from the otherwise humanoid shape. "The Moon's Shadow."

Marik frowned. "'Moon's Shadow?' What does that mean?"

"That's just the name I'm called. It doesn't really mean anything."

"And I'm Jounouchi, the Faceless Clown!" the clown interrupted. His mask stretched and smiled, looking more like a natural face than a mask he'd just put on. He did a cartwheel and pulled a flower out of his ear, offering it to Yugi with a friendly wink. "But please, don't be shy. I'm faceless, not heartless!"

Yugi laughed shyly, politely declining the flower. "In that case, it's nice to meet you all. I'm Yugi, and this is Marik. Ah hah, sorry for screaming earlier."

"No, no, don't worry about it!" The gargoyle began flapping her wings again. "We're sorry we scared you like that. We really weren't trying to."

"But we've never seen people from the Surface World before!" The clown tilted his head, studying the humans in an exaggerated fashion. "How did you get here? How long have you been here?"

Choosing not to answer the questions being shot at them, Marik turned on his heel, moving as though to begin walking. "This is all very good and well, but, if it's all the same to you, we need to go rescue our friend. We kind of left him hanging back there in the woods, and we need to go get him-" A sharp pain exploded in the side of his neck, blossoming out from where the vampire had bit him earlier. "-down..."

Marik collapsed to the ground, his body giving out underneath him. It felt like his blood was on fire. He could feel his limbs twitching, the muscles spasming out of his control, and more than anything else he wanted to scream.

"Easy there, pal," the fish-person said, kneeling down beside him. "You're not going anywhere just yet. Not on your own, anyway."

"Looks like your friend was bit by something." The shadow-person turned to Yugi. "You know by what?"

"He was bit by the vampire lord."

The fish-person swore, scrambling to his feet and hoisting Marik up. "We need to take him to Pegasus, then. Pegasus will have the antidote."

"We can go get your other friend later," the clown told Yugi, interrupting him before he could speak. "If you lost him in the Hanging Forest, there's only so much that can happen to him. But right now, your buddy needs some help."

The gargoyle jumped up and down in place as she nodded. "Let's go, then! To the office of the mayor of Halloween Town!"

Author's Notes:

- I knew what sort of monster I wanted to style Jounouchi after (Killer Clown, so think Pennywise from "It"), but I wasn't sure about the others. I ended up randomly generating different types of monsters, and Anzu got Gargoyle/Plant Monster, Honda got Zombie/Fishman, and Otogi got Werecat/Shadow. Everything else fell into place after that.

- Anzu doesn't have proper arms, or hands at all. Her arms turn into wings at the elbow. But, if she had to pick something up or turn a doorknob, she can use the plant vines that grow out of her like extended limbs.

- Jounouchi and other Faceless Clowns are born without faces. Instead, they wear special masks that attach to their heads - so long as they're wearing it, the mask acts as though it is the clown's natural face. But since it is just a mask, it can still be lost or broken, rendering the clown permanently deformed and disabled, or at least until they can find a new mask.

- Otogi has a lot of pet rats that he frequently carries around inside his pockets. No real reason - I just thought it would be kinda cute.

- Honda can breathe both water and air, since he is as much man as he is fish. When he's underwater, his lungs/gills expel air bubbles as he exhales, and when he's on land they expel water.