Title: Eternal Sleep

Genre: romance, humor, fluff, angst

Rating: T for language and violence (might go up for later chapters)

Pairings: YamiXYugi (puzzleshipping); BakuraXRyou (tendershipping); MarikXMalik (bronzeshipping); SetoXJonouchi (puppyshipping)

Summary: The King and Queen have long awaited a child. Finally their wish is granted when Prince Yugi is born. They celebration of this new child. But one uninvited guest had different plans for the occasion. Bakura, a faerie possessed by a dark force into becoming evil, puts a curse of the prince for his 16th birthday. The king and queen fear for their child's life, and put her in the hands of three good faeries. But can they save him, Bakura, and can they do this with the help of Prince Yami, the one destined to marry Yugi?

Me: The next chapter!

Lucy: Something bad happens!

Me: Please read on if you wish to find out what!

Chapter Six: Thorns

[Later That Evening]

Ryou, Malik, and Jonouchi led Yugi into the castle where Yugi had been born so many years ago. Yugi looked around as they brought him into the tall tower, not the tallest, but still a tall one.

Yugi sighed and peered down at himself.

He was dressed in the outfit Ryou and Malik had made for him, and he was wearing a circlet on his head. The prince sighed and looked at his hands before he turned to Ryou.

Ryou was smiling.

"Well, I guess we can leave you alone for a little while. You'll probably need a moment to get used to the fact that you're a prince," he said, placing a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

Yugi nodded and then sat down at the desk, right next to the fire place. He looked around at it and then closed his eyes, laying his head against the pale brown wood of it.

The faeries smiled and then walked away, leaving Yugi alone.

[A Few Moments Later]

Yugi heard something shift within the fireplace, and then there was a cold draft. Yugi glanced up and over at the fireplace, where he saw that it was pitch black, and a small stream of smoke came from it.

Yugi gasped at a pair of eyes looking at him.

The crimson eyes shifted, and a pale hand came from the blackness and beckoned him forward.

"Yu....gi..." the voice breathed.

Yugi's eyes went blank, and he rose to his feet. He slowly walked towards the hand and went towards it. The hand bent and unbent the fingers, calling Yugi towards him.

"Yugi... Come to... me..." a soft voice called.

Yugi reached forward and gently took the hand, which melted into smoke and opened a door way. Yugi stared at the doorway in the fireplace and then went inside, sensing there was something he should see.

He carefully went to it.

[Meanwhile Outside the Bed Room]

"You think Yugi is gonna be all right?" Jonouchi asked, pacing around.

Ryou nodded and then leaned against the door. He gasped when he heard a familiar voice, like a breath. His eyes widened and then he turned to the room and opened the door.

He spotted a familiar hand and gasped.

"That hand..." he whispered. His eyes went wide.

"BAKURA!!" Ryou shouted.

The other two faeries gasped in horror and dashed into the room once they saw that Yugi was gone. Ryou and the faeries opened the door to the stair way behind the fireplace and dashed around it.

"YUGI!! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!!!"

PUZZLESHIPPING 4 EVER

Yugi went up the stairs, his eyes wide with strange excitement.

He felt something summoning him. He wasn't sure what the feeling was, but he wanted to go and see what the noise was. He opened the door to the highest tower and stepped in.

Sitting by the light of many candles was an elderly person in a black cloak by a spinning wheel. The figure was working with the wheel, and Yugi carefully walked towards the figure.

"E-excuse me..." he whispered.

"Ruka.... My name is Ruka..." the figure whispered in a cracked voice that lead Yugi to believe the person was well into their seventies. Yugi gulped at the gravely voice and shuddered.

"R-Ruka..." he whispered. Ruka glanced up with sullen dark eyes and chuckled.

"What's wrong? Can't give an old man some assistance?" he asked with a small smile. Yugi shook his head slowly to say that that wasn't it, and he gently reached for the spinning wheel.

Ruka grinned softly.

"Can you do me a favor? Can you check to see if the needle is sharp enough. Just poke it and tell me," he said. Yugi blinked.

"Why?" he asked.

"Please? I've lost a lot of feeling in my body. I can't feel pain as well as you," Ruka said. Yugi gulped.

"I-I don't know..." he whispered.

Ruka grinned again. "Come on. You're just helping a little old man finish something before he dies. Where is the harm in doing something so kind for someone as frail as me?"

Yugi gulped.

"I-I guess so..." he whispered.

He then reached forward and placed his finger over the needle, which he found out was dull. He sighed and then looked to the old man, who was gently rocking back and forth.

"It's dull," he said.

Ruka nodded.

"Can you fetch me a fresh one please?" he asked.

Yugi nodded and got a sharp needle for Ruka and placed it in the spindle. Ruka grinned at him and then pointed to the flowers, some roses, in a vase near the window sill.

"Can you bring me those flowers, save the vase?" he asked.

Yugi nodded and dashed over.

He carefully fingered the flowers and drew out a red rose. He touched the stem, which was laced with thorns, and one of them jabbed him. Yugi gasped as the pain jolted through him.

"Oh!" he cried, dropping it. Yugi gasped. "I-it pricked me... I..." he whispered, his energy fading. He saw Ruka stand and straighten, his skin become more young, to a wild version of Ryou.

'Ruka' turned and grinned.

"Thanks, Yugi. For helping me win," he said.

Yugi's eyes went blank. "I-I don't..." he whispered softly before his breath ceased and his body fell still to the ground right before the black-clad figure standing before him.

And he succumbed to Bakura's curse.

[A Few Moments Later]

The faeries burst into the room and gasped when they saw Bakura glaring at them with flames burning in his eyes. The faeries shuddered as Bakura's lips drew back, revealing fangs.

"You pitiful idiots," Bakura spat, aiming it at Ryou.

"You thought you could defeat me? Me!? The messiah of all the evil in the world!?" he roared. Ryou shuddered and covered his ears, shuddering in horror as such words came from his lover's mouth.

Bakura scoffed.

"Well..." he calmed down and grabbed his cloak.

"Here's your precious prince!" he snapped, pulling his cloak away.

The faeries gasped in horror at what was behind him. Laying on the ground, unconscious or worse, was a young man with two toned hair and was decked out in a deep blue and gold royal uniform. A small hole on his finger was bleeding gently.

Yugi.

-----

Me: Oh no! Yugi!

Lucy: What will happen now!?

Me: Review and we shall update and then you'll find out!