Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I do own the plot, Wellingshire Manor, the titles, Leonardo Marrison, and Yami's female persona.
Warning: Blatant sexual content in this chapter mixed with a mild traumatizing event. This is the turning point in the story where I start reeling the dynamic duo into a romance sequence, but things have to happen in order for things to progress. No worries, things don't get too bad, but there is a scene where Athena disembowels a man. You have been warned. On with the story!
Chapter Nine
Athena was in danger of going mad.
Leonardo Marrison has remained in hiding for the last three months, ever since the night he and his late wife Agnes had broken into Wellingshire Manor in hopes of recruiting, and then failing that, trying to kill Seto Henderson. Athena would think that somebody who would have the audacity to come to Athena's place of residence to try and get her killed would have long since taken advantage of her broken arm, which was long since healed and Athena was at full strength again. It baffled her that somebody as low as Leonardo would have waited so long to make his next move. Perhaps he had to formulate some sort of new scheme since he had lost his wife to use at his disposal?
But now something even more taxing to Athena's patience has occurred.
Autumn symbolized the first of many formal engagements among the upper crust of London. Every year the wealthy and titled would cast aside their long-standing rivalries to socialize in false harmony, attending celebrations, special suppers, and formal balls while making nice with their enemies.
This never made sense to Athena. Why would anyone take time out of their hatred of each other just to eat, drink, and make merry with the same people they had been wishing dead a few days prior? It seemed useless and tiresome, a complete waste of her time.
Invitations started coming to Baron Wellingshire by the dozens, and shockingly enough Raphael accepted every single one of them. Baron Wellingshire, Mokuba, Rebecca, and, much to Athena's distaste, Yugi were among the few in the Wellingshire entourage, and by default Athena was forced to accompany them. She envied Seto from getting out of going to these celebrations on account that he was a cold, unfeeling, callous bastard. If it wasn't for Yugi, she would have much rather stayed at the mansion and practiced her swordplay, archery, chess strategies, and what have you, just glad that she was far away from the dazzling, confusing world of the English ton.
In consolation for her irritation, Athena figured she could divide her time between keeping a sharp eye on Yugi while she did some investigations into the whereabouts of Leonardo Marrison.
She was subtle in her inquiries, acting the perfect example of how a prim and proper lady would behave, even though she was seething in her rage at being placed in this uncomfortable position. She had such strong opinions on this particular gathering on English nobles, and she had to continuously check her language so that she would not let any of her true feelings slip and bring embarrassment and shame to Baron Wellingshire and the others she had become fond of in the last few months.
The nobles thought nothing suspicious about a lovely young lady asking questions that would seem odd to anyone who was not so avidly focused on her cleavage, but she would take what she could in order to reach her goal.
This particular gathering was a coming-out party for Earl Joseph Thompson and Countess Mai's young daughter, Alexis at their winter mansion. Isis and Serenity had spent three hours trying to make Athena presentable, going so far as to dress her up in a deep scarlet, floor-length gown that had a bejeweled bust line, a sweetheart neckline, and a corset-style bodice that made it impossible for Athena to take a full breath without fear of busting out of the seemingly fragile but constricting fabric. They then attacked her hair until it was now a mass of curls and waves that made Athena believe Isis and Serenity had placed one of those miniature toy dogs that noble ladies prefer to own on top of her head. She felt ridiculous and looked it as well. Yugi had told her she looked beautiful, but he obviously thought the same as Athena; that Athena was now inhabiting the body of some prim, prissy noble, English lady and she felt so uncomfortable in this form.
The party was quiet, and extremely boring. The music was dull, it made Athena want to fall asleep right in her seat during the supper feast in Alexis' honor, but Athena refrained from showing her displeasure so she could achieve her long-term goal.
When the ball transitioned to the dancing, Athena received many invitations but inclined every one of them. Athena did not dance; she was not a ballerina, she was a warrior.
"Pardon me, but I must decline. I am not feeling all too well at the moment." She almost choked on her too-proper language as she declined yet another insistent offer from a man who was twice her age, twice her size, and was beginning to show the signs of his true age. He smelled like a boiled hog baking in a layer of mud and swine feces, and it made her nostrils burn and her eyes water. She supposed it was the man's scented oils, but Athena found the scent disgusting.
The man scuttled away, looking disgruntled, and Athena leaned back with a sigh of both aggravation and relief. Please Zeus, let that be the end of them.
She turned her attention to Yugi, who had asked Rebecca for a dance. Yugi was taught all of the ways of proper noble etiquette from his parents while they were alive, and he was a divine dancer. She smiled fondly at Yugi as he twirled Rebecca around the dance floor like he was born to it. He and Rebecca parted with a bow and then Yugi asked the lady of the night, Alexis, to dance. Alexis was flustered and flattered as Yugi began the waltz again.
Athena felt lightheaded from the lack of breathing from her stupid dress, and she stood and headed for the open balcony doors to get some fresh air. Once outside, Athena laid one hand on the railing while the other resting on her abdomen. Her head bowed slightly, she tried to force the fresh air into her lungs that burned from the lack of appropriate oxygen. The night breeze felt wonderful on her heated skin, but she could not take pleasure in it as her priorities were on more vital matters.
Athena's head snapped up and she whirled, one hand burrowing into the front of her bodice to retract a small palm knife. On the other side of the balcony to Athena's right, hidden in the shadows was a strange man in a black tuxedo, copper-gold skin, dark eyes that she was unable to determine an exact color, short, shoulder-length hair that was straight all the way around his head, a band of solid gold settled around his crown. He held himself like a warrior, but had the air of a noble.
Athena could feel chills running up her spine as she took in this stranger. He was not English in the least, that was for certain, but she could not differentiate a region of where he might have come from.
"You heard me? I am impressed. No one usually does until it is already too late." The man spoke in a low, sinister tone, a smooth baritone that was thickly laced with some foreign accent. Athena finally decided on a place of origin. The man was Egyptian.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" She demanded, quietly as to not draw any unwanted attention from the partygoers.
"My name is of no consequence. I am Kalim Hassan from Cairo, Egypt." He stepped closer, more into the light from the ballroom, "As for why I am here, I would think that would be rather obvious for a woman like you, Athena Yamiri."
Athena braced herself for the inevitable fight, hunching her shoulders slightly, cutting that damned corset off of her, and she even tore the side of her gown from hem to the top of her right hip, exposing all of her right leg.
She took in every detail of this man. He had broad shoulder, a solid, muscular frame. Although he was muscle bound, Athena had no doubt that his size would inhibit his power or speed. He had long limbs, good for flexibility, and his hands were almost twice the size of hers. He could knock her head off her shoulders just with his bare hands if he got the chance. He had a malicious glint in his dark eyes that spelled grave trouble for Athena. She thanks the gods that her arm was better, because she knew she would need everything to take down this man-beast before her.
"Marrison hired you to kill me?"
"Almost, little warrior, but not quite. See, Marrison did offer me your case, but I decided I would take your bounty for free. A runaway slave, a bloodthirsty murderer, a thief, an ostracized Spartan with no home or family to call your own; Athena, in another life you would be the perfect match for me. It is a shame to have to kill such a specimen as you."
"You talk a lot. See if you can put action to those threats." Athena challenged.
Before the words were completely out of her mouth, Kalim moved with frightening speed to close the distance between them. Athena just barely had time to block the dagger that was aiming for her gut with her palm knife, and she kicked her right leg out and connected solidly with Kalim's chest.
He did not even budge. He immediately brought his huge fist around and he slammed it into Athena's kidney. She was thrown to the ground. her slight weight and form gave little resistance at the force of his punch. She rolled with the strike and got back on her feet, but she found that her gown was inhibiting her movements far too much.
Kalim launched himself at her again, kicking out in an arc and bringing the heel of his foot down hard onto Athena's abdomen. She heard more than felt a few of her ribs crack and blood splattered out of her mouth. She coughed, but Kalim did not give her time to recover. He was on her, dragging her by her hair down the stairs of the balcony out of sight of the rest of the English nobles.
Athena struggled fiercely against Kalim, her hands tearing at Kalim's as she sliced her palm knife down on the top of Kalim's hand. He released her, and as Athena tried to get to her feet, the pain in her abdomen was crippling. She rolled to her stomach ad tried to crawl away, but Kalim recovered fast from the knife wound and came at her again. He flipped Athena onto her back and used the palm knife that was still embedded in Kalim's hand to slice open Athena's bodice, exposing her bare, modest breasts, slender waist, and the top of her pelvis.
"Glorious. Even with these unsightly scars, you are still an extremely beautiful woman. Just like your mother." Kalim said as one huge hand covered her mouth as the other covered her left breast, squeezing painfully, emitting a cry of pain from Athena that was muffled by Kalim's palm.
Athena's scarlet eyes were wide as saucers as Kalim continued his brutal foreplay while he sliced the remainder of her gown off of her body. She saw him cringe a little at the ugly burn scar stretching clear down Athena's left leg from hip to mid-calf, but he pushed his disgust of that particular wound out of his mind as the hand that had been tormenting her breasts moved to cup her mound through her simple, thin loincloth.
Athena screamed in outrage as she moved her head enough to clamp her jaws down tightly onto Kalim's hand. She bit until she could taste blood, and continued to bite down until her bottom teeth and her top teeth clicked together, embedded clear through Kalim's hand.
Kalim screamed in pain as he used the hand that had been about to remove her loincloth to pound his fist onto the top of her head repeatedly.
Each punch caused Athena to bite down even harder. Kalim thundered blow after blow onto the side of her face, her temple, anything he could reach to get this she-devil to let go of his hand.
While the pain of Athena's teeth distracted Kalim, Athena's hands scrambled in search for her palm knife. She finally brushed the fingertips of her left hand over the butt of her palm knife and pulled it into her hand before she brought the knife down straight into Kalim's fully erect member. He let out a strangled scream and he cupped himself while Athena scrambled out from under the Egyptian.
Athena ran from Kalim, just as some curious attendees of the party were coming to investigate who was screaming so much. While everyone else was distracted, Athena continued to run as fast as she could, considering her wounds Kalim had dealt, until she found familiar road. Keeping to the shadows to shield her nudity, she eventually found her way back to the Wellingshire Manor where Mahado swung the door wide, his face horrified at Athena's appearance. Just a loincloth and Athena's arms covered her nudity from his gaze, and bared her scars to his scrutiny.
"Isis! Come here now!" Mahado bellowed, as he hurried Athena inside.
Mahado's wife and Athena's friend came rushing to answer her husband's command. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Athena and she gasped in shock.
"Oh my God, what on Earth happened?" Isis demanded as she drew closer.
"Could I at least don my cloak before you interrogate me?" Athena half-pleaded. Although she did not care about her nudity, her scars that symbolized a horrific past was an entirely different matter.
"Yes, of course. You sit in the formal greeting hall and I will go fetch it for you."
Athena hated the pity she saw in Isis' eyes. She knew this would happen if they ever found out.
Isis returned quickly and draped the crimson fabric around Athena's trembling shoulders, "Go call Doctor Hopkins." Isis commanded to her husband. Mahado was the only man Athena had ever known who allowed his wife free reign of her mouth. That was mostly because Mahado was half-Highlander and that he kept the beliefs and statutes of the Highlanders closer than he did the English.
Mahado obeyed immediately while Isis tried to worm answers out of Athena. Athena allowed Isis to have the scarce details of what had occurred that night, but refused to go any deeper into her past when she inquired about her scars.
Mahado returned with the doctor, and they hustled Athena to her bedchamber before Doctor Hopkins started his procedure on binding Athena's ribs and checking for internal bleeding and also for any signs of rape. Thankfully none of the latter two were found, but Athena was expected to stay in bed for a few weeks in order to allow her ribs to heal, and she would be sore for a quite some time.
None of them noticed that Seto was hovering close by, watching everything from the moment he heard Mahado shouting to the time Arthur Hopkins announced his prognosis. He was seething inside, a feeling he could not identify welling up life a tidal wave within him.
He wanted the head of whoever was responsible for Athena's condition on a platter, wanted to tear into whomever had dare lay a hand on her.
His emotions were haywire where Athena was concerned, he could admit that. As confusing as those emotions were, Seto ignored them for the moment as he watched Hopkins say his goodbyes, prepare a pain medication for Athena and a mild sedative to help her sleep. He watched from the shadows as Mahado, Isis, and Arthur left and did not move from his place until Athena had drifted off into a fitful slumber.