Katsuya's heart skipped a beat when he saw Seto.
It broke when the Dragon King saw him and ran away.
He didn't understand, yesterday Seto had fucked him and disappeared. Not to mention during their fucking Seto bit his neck and it still fucking hurt. He rubbed the spot, growling. It had faded, there wasn't even a scar so he had no idea why it did and it pissed him off that he couldn't ask Seto what the hell had he done to him. He could always go and ask Mokuba but after the Dragon Prince and Ryou had clingingly asked him if he was okay he snapped at them...
He closed his eyes and slid against the wall down to the floor. He was lost again, no big surprise, but for some reason the hallway looked familiar. Was he near the library? No. The hallway to the library had four vases of soft, fresh flower the maids replaced everyday and he was in the wrong direction (how he knew he was, he didn't know), not to mention he'd done his best to avoid the library since the paintings—
Katsuya stopped, squeezing his eyes shut as tight as the fist wrapping around his heart. What was wrong with him? He had to be hallucinating. First the voice, and then the paintings, and then his neck—his wounds always healed and soon after the pain went away, but not this time. What had Seto done to him? How had Seto trapped him so easily? Before, Katsuya could get out of everything, now he'd be lucky if he got back into his mind. Lucky if Seto stopped avoiding him. Lucky if Ryou and Mokuba forgave him.
What had he done wrong?
He bit his knuckle, trying to feel the pain, trying to taste the blood to keep himself from crying. He liked the way he felt after crying, free, but he hated it too. He hated knowing he let something trap him, contain him in a way he felt he had to get free like this.
He looked outside. Night. He'd been...trapped all day. What was worse was sex could only help him so much without the Full Moon and he would be a Myth tomorrow. A powerless immortal, except he, unlike Myths, would not be so lucky as to have the life magic.
It'd be like he had the collar Pegasus had handed him over in on.
He shivered, remembering the violent retreat of his magic. It was getting colder and colder—colder than it ever was in the Wolf Territory—and without his magic, he was going to freeze. He was inside the castle now and he could see his breath.
He stood, convincing himself he felt he was no longer going to cry, and walked over to the window in the moonlight. He jumped when he saw his reflection, covered in his tattoo like marking, but as he looked at his hand, comparing it to its reflection, he saw none of them on his body. He touched his face's reflection on the window before feeling his physical face, his fingers tracing to his eyes that were glowing red in his reflection.
His breath fogged the glass and blurred his image, but did no retraction to the solid markings that were not on his body. Half his mind wanted to scream at it, half wanted him to run to the library. See if the painting was the same way. Would it reflect an image that was not there? He remembered they way the room drove him dizzy with it mirrored in the giant window of the library, where he'd seen the paintings reflect.
He did neither, he just traced his markings down his neck where Seto bit because the pain finally melted and felt heat, magic, kiss his fingertips. He pushed it back down and turned away. He hated that magic. It was why his Mother left him, why he'd never see his sister again, why the entire Wolf Territory hated him.
He didn't really notice how different that the Marking there was different from the others. Mostly he didn't notice how it was white.
He thought of his sister. Shizuka was her name, and she was so cute, but she was blind. He remembered those forest-green, hazy eyes and those chubby cheeks, the strawberry hair that she said she had wanted to grow long so she could braid it herself and play with it. He wondered if she had long hair now and how beautiful she had gotten. He wished he could have been there to ward off the other wolves and protect her from their habitual rounds of sex-play.
He had a gut feeling. He was entirely sure of what, but it was there when he thought of her. Was she apart of Pegasus' plan?
What had Pegasus planned?
Something clacked. He turned around and a little wooden dragon figure lying on the floor in front of a door. He remembered the door. It was the same door that the voice had led him to the first time. He picked up the figure and placed it back on the little table next to the door. He wondered why he'd been brought to this room, and why it had so suddenly pushed him out.
He put his hand on the knob and felt a spark, heard a click when he turned it and heard it click again as he retracted his hand quickly from the spark. It hadn't hurt it was just really unexpected. It scared him as much as it peaked his curiosity. He put his hand back on the knob. He felt the spark, heard the click as he turned the knob and opened the door to the odd chamber.
The flames hightened a moment to lick the ceiling before settling back down. He walked through them all, going to the one that he was led to before. The one that now had a flame unlike it did before. It was a dark black flame with an outline of dark, dark red. It looked familiar, felt familiar.
He looked at the plaque, it had his dried blood on it and you could see where he swipe off dust with his hand when he had tried to help himself up before. The dust was so thick that you could barely tell there were words beneath the snowy layer. He wiped it off.
But he couldn't read it. He didn't know how to read.
He thought of Mokuba and how he promised to teach Katsuya to read. Katsuya wanted to learn, but...
Did the Seto hate him now? Would he let Mokuba near Katsuya? Katsuya knew Pegasus was right. Everyone would get tired of him, want nothing to do with him, leave him, but he didn't expect Seto to so fast. He and Seto got along so well and now...
There were only a million and one heart pieces left to pick up.
-haha
Seto buried his head in his hands. Right now he and the two other Kings with him, Mage King Atemu and Thief King Bakura, were waiting for the arrival of the Myth King, Marik—which ultimately meant Seto was cornered by Atemu, Bakura, and his own self.
He groaned. Why was he such an idiot?
Katsuya didn't even have a mark: no teeth, no tattoo, no anything! There was nothing to signify that he'd mate marked Katsuya. Half of him wondered if that meant that Katsuya wasn't his mate. But how would that be possible? The pain, the confusion, the sadness Katsuya was feeling—he could feel it too. It coursed through him like pinpricks of lethal poison. He wouldn't be able to feel it if Katsuya wasn't his mate!
Katsuya had to be his mate.
...but where was his marking?
"AAAAAAAaaaaaaagh!"
"You know, Kaiba, Yugi often tells me 'sharing is leering'," Yami suggested.
"I think you have it wrong," Bakura said, "I'm sure that last part is 'caring'."
"My apologies. Sharing is caring, Kaiba."
Seto was half tempted to go dragon and rip their heads off. They had been insisting that he "share"—pffffffft, whatever that meant—what he was groaning about for three. fucking. hours.
They sat in the dining all, Mokuba, Yugi and Ryou were getting reacquainted and shoving off with Honda, Anzu and, Mai to go look for Katsuya. Apparently Mai was with Anzu who had created another outfit for Katsuya and Honda had apparently been there when she finished before Mokuba and Ryou had came in asking about the lupine, and they ran into Yugi and Atemu on their way to interrogate Seto. Bakura had drug him out of his bedroom to answer their questions before he was escorted by the two Kings room to the dining room where they were now.
But that wasn't all.
Olga came out, scolding Seto with her serving ladle about seeing her 'Little Darling' looking heartbroken and not even eating his favorite apple turnovers!
Like Seto didn't feel like crap already!
He only wished he could see through Katsuya's eyes, see where he was, what he was doing. He wished he could hold the wolf and tell him how sorry he was, how much he cared.
And that's when 'sharing is caring' came into play. Bleh
His heart broke as he felt feelings—Katsuya's—pent up in his chest, wrenching his in all sorts of painful twists. Seto's heart turned to ice because he knew he was that cause of Katsuya's pain. If only he could keep control of himself better, this wouldn't have happened. If he'd just left Katsuya with Pegasus like the Wolf King had probably intend...ed...
Something wasn't right.
Katsuya was a wolf. Wolves liked moonlight, but Katsuya had been practically avoiding the light...and there was the library...and that time before they'd mated for the first time when Katsuya had covered the windows...And when they'd mated something...a fuzzy black something that was somewhere on Katsuya...
He stood. Then he sat back down. Stood again...and sat back down again.
"I'm just throwin' it out there-" Bakura interrupted. Seto clenched his fist.
Do not throw a ball. Do not throw a ball of fire. Do not throw a ball of fire at the thief's face, Seto chanted in his mind. That would not be smart. No, they were his mate's friends. It was not nice to throw flame balls at your mate's friends.
The thought didn't make it any less tempting.
"-that you are makin' the funniest face, Kaiba."
Great, now he was making faces! That was so nice to know. Good job, Thief—Seto thought—way to interrupt someone's line of thinking; not that it was important or anything!
"BIG BROTHER! BIG BROTHER!"
Now what?
"Kaiba!" Both Ryou and Mokuba ran into the dining room, their faces flushed from running and their expressions in a panic.
"There's—huff—a girl!"
The three Kings looked at Mokuba and Ryou like they were silly. Both Mai and Anzu were girls. And pointedly, Seto told them this.
"No!" Ryou huffed, " A wolf! Sh-She's-huff-beaten and blind!"
"Yeah, Bi—ha—Brot'er!" Mokuba said and stood straight up. He looked at his brother and motion for him. "Com'on!"
The three kings looked undecidedly at each other. What the hell could it hurt? Besides, it took Seto's mind off Katsuya for a bit anyways...
-haha
Mai stood away from the bed the girl was on and looked at the others. "She's not malnourished or anything. She may have not eaten for a few days and she's certainly had some butt kickings, her ankle's twisted, and she is blind, but she should be okay." She paused and looked at Anzu who was noticeably happy about having another dress-up doll, before sighing and releasing the girl off her leash to take measurements for clothing.
"How did she get so far if she's blind?" Bakura asked, taking in the muddied and bloodied form of the unconscious girl.
"We don't know, we just found her outside the castle while we were looking for Jou," Mokuba said, looking up at Seto (who wanted to ask why they went looking for Katsuya outside at night) he continued, "She looked at us for a moment, and she called my name and started to ask a question before she fainted."
She had said his name? Seto thought. Odd.
"So she is a Joe Doe?" Atemu asked.
Yugi patted Atemu's back softly, "Jane Doe, and the male version is John Doe."
"I see."
Mokuba and Ryou laughed at Yugi's dejected face. Yami, who had been King for a great while, knew little of their language. He had a translator, because he only spoke the dead language of Latin, so Yugi had been teaching him.
Idioms were not his strong suit.
Seto sighed, rubbing his temples. This was too much. Too, too much. "Mai, I demand medicine."
Mai looked at him as if she didn't know what he meant. She had been his healer for years, Seto swore, and she still didn't know what he meant when he wanted medicine.
"Medicine, Mai. It helps headaches such as the one I have."
She puckered her mouth as to say 'Oh.'
Yeah, oh.
Seto needed a break.
-haha
Katsuya closed the door and turned around. Something about that room was relaxing. He'd been there for about an hour and he felt...free. Well, he had also broken down and cried, but that wasn't the only thing that made feel free, it was just that room felt like a meditation room. Calm soothing. Warm.
Unlike out here.
He shivered, rubbing his arms. He hated the cold. He hated being cold. The cold was cold and that's all there was to it. He remembered living on the streets of Wolf Territory during the winter. It was hard to find shelter and the wind could be awfully brutal, especially if it was on a New Moon and he didn't have much cloth to cover himself with. It was almost worse when he was in Pegasus' dungeon, and he had to watch the sickening brutality of wolves as they tore a victim apart and hearing the screams, freezing him from the inside out—
Katsuya closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. It was worse now. It was a much colder climate and the lack of Seto just made Katsuya's heart turn black and frozen. Well, of course, then it breaks into a million little pieces so there's nothing keeping him warm.
He needed to stop dwelling. He should find Seto and tell him he's leaving. Tell Seto he never had to deal with Katsuya's blond hair, or mutt-like personality any more. And he would apologize to Ryou and Mokuba, before he set off on foot back to be tortured again in Pegasus' rein.
He wondered if Pegasus had any more collars like the one he sent him off in. He sure hoped not.
He started walking, hoping to remember the way Seto had shown him before. His soft leather boots slapped almost lazy sounding on the stone, and he rubbed his arms again trying to warm up. Gosh, if it was this cold in the castle, how the hell would he survive out of it at night?
He walked and turned and walked and turn, getting fed up with it. Really, was it necessary to make it this big. Did the first King have lots of girls or friends over at a time? Or did he have a child born from a different mother each day? And the formal dining room—it was huge. Made to fit at least a hundred and fifty guests! Katsuya didn't think even Pegasus would be as cruel as to put someone in the middle of the castle and tell them to find their way out!
And Pegasus could be mean, too!
He huffed. Speaking of way out, there was the entrance! Finally he had found somewhere familiar! The Healer's Room was nearby, he could ask Mai where Seto was, or maybe she'd be with Anzu so he could go there and ask them of their opinions on what he should do!
But...no. He stopped, looking at the entrance. It was tempting—though cold outside—to leave now. Mai and Anzu would most likely convince him to stay. Though he complained the castle was too big it almost seemed too small when Seto kept avoiding him like he was...
He should try the day the moon starts to show again. That way, he would have his Wolf magic. Though if worse comes to worse, he could use that magic.
He shook his head. He'd never use that magic. Not again. Not after everything was taken away from him before because he did.
And...the door opened. Katsuya shot his head to the entrance and peeked in was Malik. The Myth Queen.
"Malik?"
Malik looked up to Katsuya and his eyes brightened, but then he was pushed over by the Myth King, Marik, who had taken it up to himself to tackle Katsuya into a hug onto the floor.
"Where the fuck were you? You little dipshit! Everyone was fucking worried!"
Katsuya laughed, awkwardly hugging the King back. "Yeah, so I heard. I missed ya too."
"Marik, share, I wanna piece too..." Malik mock pouted. Marik let go of Katsuya with one arm and offered the space to his Queen. Malik just shook his head. "No, put him back on his feet, you freak."
Marik and Katsuya laughed and Marik got up before helping the ever-so-grateful lupine. "T'anks."
"How've ya been? Freakin' worrying us," Marik said, giving his noogie.
"Wit' Peggie. Apparently fer two months until King Stupid took me away." Katsuya smiled. He missed them too! Pegasus hadn't allowed him any contact with the world once the Wolf king had trapped him in his castle. He really wanted to see Bakura now, when he had earlier, he was too upset to really be happy, despite the fact Bakura had cradled him and told him he'd rip off Seto's balls (which Katsuya told him not to, he liked Seto's balls), but with Marik-! Oh the trouble the three of them could make!
"Let's go find Bakura!"
"Wait, a second, Jou," Malik grinned, "Relax, there's enough time for you to get down and freaky together later, but we have to go at least demand where our rooms are so we can unpack our crap."
Katsuya about said that he knew—Because he did!—but then he remembered how badly he got lost all the time...
Oh, well, if it meant being able to get "down and freaky", he guessed he could face Seto.
Maybe.
-haha
Katsuya had been leading Marik and Malik to the dining hall, since it had to be past eight and that's usually where you would find them: at dinner; but they ran into the three other Kings, two queens, and the Prince on their way there.
"Freak!" Bakura called.
"Cunt!" Marik replied before they pulled each other into a man-hug and soon after grabbed Katsuya into it.
"Can't-breathe-!" Katsuya sobbed.
Finally they let go.
"Do I get nothing, Jounouchi?" Atemu smiled and Katsuya hugged him too.
Seto growled. He did not, he repeated, did not like Katsuya hugging other people. But he remembered the hurt Katsuya had felt earlier and compared to the happiness he was feeling from the Wolf now...he couldn't take that away from him.
Everyone started to chatter, especially with Katsuya, but when Katsuya glimpsed at him longingly, Seto swore his balls were set on fire! He had to tell Katsuya not to do that! That and—"I'm sorry, Katsuya!"
The entire room went silent and Katsuya looked at Seto, like Seto had gone insane. "What?"
Seto was always good with crowds, he was a King after all. He didn't have a problem with people staring at him, or paying undivided attention to him, but he felt a chill up his spine as this entire group did just that. Never had Seto felt so uncomfortable in a crowd. "Please, allow me to explain later," he glowered at everyone beside Jou who were obviously just as curious, "in private."
When Seto saw Katsuya's eyes brighten and felt the hope from him, Seto melted. Especially when Katsuya gave him an affirmative nod before the chatter started up again and they headed into the dining room—the smaller one.
As they all sat down at the table and settle, Olga wagged out of the kitchen, not amused. She cooked dinner to have it ready at eight o'clock, but no was there to feed! "You late," she bumbled, "Miss Olga not like tardiness. Only Little Darling get away with it. She should send to bed, no dinner! And more people here then was told! What be this?"
"Please forgive us, Miss Olga, but we ran into some issues," Seto softly explained, "We are indebted to you."
Miss Olga peered suspiciously at them. She didn't know, sometimes Seto's soft words were to manipulate others! She'd seen it happen at business dinners. But she landed her gaze on Katsuya, "What do Little Darling say?"
"I say everyone deserves a second chance." He said and smiled brightly at her. She raised a brow before throwing her hands in the air. "One day Miss Olga punish you. Tumbledorf in your soup! Both you and Little King punished!" But she turned around and went back into the kitchen before the entire table of guests started to giggle.
"'Little Darling'? That is good!" Marik laughed. Bakura laughed in response and said something more unintelligible as well.
Katsuya took a look at Seto who was staring intently at him and blushed. God! Why does Seto have to do that! It made him feel like a virgin all over again! "Ya guys are horrible!"
"But you love them for it," Yugi commented and Katsuya grinned.
"Maybe."
Seto continued to stare at Katsuya and hid his smile. He couldn't wait until later when he could talk to him, because, GODDESS, Katsuya was sexy. And boy, did he need to apologize. Then again how was he going to explain it? Katsuya always got depressed when Seto talked about being mates. Telling Katsuya there was no mark, despite the fact Seto felt they were mates would crush him. And he couldn't tell the Wolf 'just because'... that would just get him into more trouble!
"You alright Big Brother?" Mokuba asked softly to the side, "You and Jou look like you had a fight."
Seto nodded at him, "Yes, my mind is just full."
Mokuba looked at Seto brightly, the King could practically see a lit match over his brother's head. "We should tell him about the girl!"
Seto glimpsed up to see if the blond had heard, but the Wolf laughed at something Ryou said and started to make fun of Bakura. "After dinner."
Mokuba smiled and nodded.
After dinner, a lot was going to happen. Seto felt it.
