Chapter Nine: Speaker for the Gelth
"I saw the fall of Troy. World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon. In Cardiff!"
-The Doctor
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Yugi's head pounded as he woke up, raising one hand to rest on his forehead as he sat up. For a moment, he couldn't remember what had happened, and then he remembered the two people and the elderly woman who had died. He quickly sat up the rest of the way, gasping as his head pounded more viciously. He groaned and cradled his head in his hands, waiting for the room to stop spinning before looking up. He swallowed nervously as he realized where he was.
The walls were painted dark red and draped with dark red fabric. His eyes widened as he connected the dots, one hand dropping to touch the surface he was sitting on, his gaze dropping to the grey fabric. His hands stroked absently over it, not noticing the blue gas that leaked from the lamps, flowing from them to the two bodies in caskets, other things that he had not noticed. He shuddered at the thought, wrapping his arms around him and turning around, falling off the small table as he found himself staring at the empty eyes of two people; both of which who were sitting up from the caskets. Yugi scrambled to his feet, backing away as the corpses climbed out of their coffins and began walking towards him.
Now Yugi cursed himself for being so stupid for not noticing the paleness of the elderly woman's face, she had been dead before he had gotten into the theater. He backed away from the slowly advancing corpses, feeling his breath coming in quick pants as he tried to think of something to do. He leapt to one side as the corpse of the young man lunged for him, grunting as he hit the door. Yugi turned and pulled at the doorknob, letting out a low curse when he realized that it was locked. He was still trying to turn the doorknob when one of the corpses grabbed him around the neck, Yugi giving a choked gasp before he was pulled against the cold body of the corpse. In the moment that the grip loosened, he let out a scream, struggling until the chokehold came back.
He clawed at the arm, shuddering at the feel of the skin under his fingertips, wondering if he should just go limp in the hold when the door was forced open. He smiled when he saw the Pharaoh standing in the door. Yugi was yanked out of the corpse's hold, forcing himself not to cling to the Pharaoh. He glanced back at the other people who had followed them, recognizing the two people who had brought the woman from the theater and the man who had been standing onstage. The Pharaoh took a moment to look down at him, glancing back at the man before shrugging. "That's Charles Dickens."
"Really?"
His question went unanswered as the corpses lumbered closer the body of the young man tipping his head to the side. To Yugi's surprise, the corpse spoke, the rasping voice echoing, like there were two voices in the body. "Fading. Can't sustain this form. Open the Rift and set us free!"
Yugi felt the Pharaoh stiffen beside him. "Rift?"
The corpse didn't answer, still staring blankly ahead at them. "No time, fading. Pity us. Pity the Gelth!"
The two corpses convulsed, their heads jerking backwards and the blue gaseous forms emerging from them. Yugi gasped, watching the specters appear briefly in a wavering form before they were sucked back into the nearest lamps with a wail. Seconds later, the two corpses collapsed to the ground, Yugi shivering as he watched them go still. What if the Pharaoh hadn't gotten here in time? Would he have ended up like them as well? He shuddered violently at the thought, feeling a light touch on the shoulder from the Pharaoh before the contact was gone. They remained in silence for a while before the woman moved, picking up her skirts to move around the cluster of men in the doorway. "I'll make tea."
Yugi found himself steered down the hall after the rest of the group, the hands on his shoulders directing him to a room and sitting him down in a chair. He continued to stare at the floor, waiting until he felt the Pharaoh had stopped his pacing around the room before speaking. "What were they talking about?"
"Oh, come now!" Yugi looked up at Charles Dickens, watching the man pace by the fireplace as he talked. "You cannot believe that those things are real! It's just a matter of smoke and mirrors, someone trying to trick us."
The owner of the house looked up. "There are rumors about this place being haunted, that's how I got the house so cheap. It's almost expected for someone in my line of business."
"See!" Dickens pointed at the house owner, turning to glare at the Pharaoh. "There is nothing important about this. You've got your little friend so now I am free to leave. You can carry on with this mad ghost hunt but I shall not be a part of it."
The Pharaoh rolled his eyes, leaning on the back of the chair that Yugi was sitting in. "And that shows how little you truly know. Something is going on here. Now, about those rumors?"
The man nodded. "Well, I bought the house cheap because of the ghost stories, like I said. People have always said this house has been haunted by spirits, said that they heard things or saw shapes. I thought nothing of it because I never believed it until…" He bit his lip and looked over at his maid, who had just come in with the tea. "Until the first corpses started walking, nearly scared me to death."
Yugi quietly accepted his cup of tea, staring at the china for a moment before glancing up at the Pharaoh, noticing that he was still deep in thought. He cleared his throat, watching the Pharaoh's blue eyes dart to look at him. "They mentioned something about a rift."
"The Rift." The Pharaoh corrected him offhandedly, standing up straight to stare into the fire in the fireplace. "It's a break in space-time that grows and shrinks, like a fault line. This house is built on top of it, which would explain the rumors of haunting." Yugi stared at him, the Pharaoh rolling his eyes. "Things can slip in and out of the Rift from different points in time and space. If people can't understand it, it's supernatural."
"Ah-ha! So you admit these things aren't ghosts!"
The Pharaoh looked over at Dickens before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "They are not ghosts. They're creatures from another world."
"That's almost as preposterous as the ghosts!"
"Believe what you like." The Pharaoh snapped the words at him, turning around to face the man and the maid, leaning back on the back of Yugi's chair. "These creatures seem to need gas to survive."
Yugi's eyes widened as he turned around in his chair. "Which is why they are using the gas pipes and the human bodies! We release gases when we decompose."
"Exactly." There was a nod from the Pharaoh, Yugi catching a glimpse of pride before it was smothered again, the Pharaoh concentrating back on the matter at hand. His fingers drummed against the back of the chair before he shrugged and stood up. "We need to find a way to talk to them for a longer amount of time. Even though they seem to thrive on gas, they're too weak to survive on the mixture of gases on Earth at the moment."
Yugi shrugged, feeling useless. He stared at the tea, taking a sip and watching the other people in the room. The owner of the house looked very relieved, probably because he wouldn't have to deal with the walking corpses any longer. His maid also looked as relieved, but also a bit scared. Yugi stared at her for a moment, tipping his head to one side. Why would she be scared if this could get rid of the problems that they were having? It would probably take some of the stress off of her if these aliens stopped using the dead bodies to try and talking to them. Yugi blinked and looked over at Charles Dickens who was looking increasingly nervous. He was about to ask the Pharaoh about Dickens, his only experience with the author coming from the books that he had read in high school, when Dickens nearly fell into the nearest chair.
"So this means it was all for nothing? All that fighting against the injustices of the real world, or what I thought was the real world. Now it's full of specters and ghouls, the things I once thought illusion." Dickens sighed, leaning his head into his hands. Yugi felt sorry for him, shifting in his seat but afraid to get up. No one else seemed to know what to do about Dickens, all the humans looking at him in surprise.
The Pharaoh finally shifted, staring at the author with a shrug. "Everyone has more to learn. Your world is just now a little wider."
Dickens gave a miserable nod, placing his hands over his face. The maid took the moment to begin to clear up the tea things, Yugi standing up to help her. He wanted to talk to her and try to figure out what more was going on. He looked back at the Pharaoh who gave a slight nod. Yugi had to smother a smile, helping gather the cups onto the tray and following the woman out of the sitting room with a smile. They were finally developing some pattern of working together, unlike their other two adventures when they had spent the entire time sniping at each other. But maybe that had changed when the Pharaoh had finally told Yugi what had happened to his planet, because now Yugi understood. Or he thought he did. He hoped that he did.
The two of them entered a small room with a pump that fed into a basin, a basic sink. The woman pumped some water into the sink, carefully lowering the pieces of china into the water one at a time to wash them. Yugi reached for a towel, beginning to dry the pieces on his own, earning a surprised look from the woman. "Sir, y-you have no need to-"
"But I want to." He gave a kind smile to her. "And it's not sir, it's Yugi."
"Oh, alright." She stared down at the sink before hazarding a question. "If it's not too forward of me, I have never seen someone like you."
"I'm from…" Yugi struggled to remember history lessons, trying to find the right word. "The Orient? Japan, specifically. Are you from around here?"
The woman smiled. "Yes, born and bred in Cardiff, I've never been anywhere else in my life. I lived out in the streets for a while before Mr. Sneed adopted me and I've worked for him the rest of my life, he's very good to me. He even let me begin an education."
"Really?"
The woman nodded. "I wasn't too interested in it. It got boring at times, I actually spent most of my time trying to get out of it, but I did go regular, so as not to waste Mr. Sneed's money. But I'm very happy with what I have now." She paused for a moment, staring at the piece of china in her hand. "Well, almost everything."
Yugi set the piece he was drying aside carefully, watching Gwyneth carefully as she looked over at him, seeming to think something over. She glanced up at him before leaning back against the bank of shelves that lined the wall behind her. "I have the Sight…the ability to see things about people. I've had it since I was a little girl. My mother said that my family has had this power for generations."
"That sounds really interesting." Yugi leaned a bit forward with a gentle smile, Gwyneth responding with her own smile, her eyes going unfocused a moment later. Yugi shifted nervously, not sure what to make of the change. He carelessly flung the towel over his shoulder and took a step forward, reaching out to touch the maid when she started back into motion, opening staring at him.
"Interesting? What's so interesting about me when compared to you? You're from the Orient. I've seen drawings of the cities there but never like that. All those people rushing about… half-naked, for shame. And the noise. And the metal boxes racing past. And the birds in the sky-no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you... you've flown so far, further than anyone. The things you've seen. The darkness... the darkest game of them all." Gwyneth stumbled away, bumping into the shelves behind her, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't control what I see."
"But you could." They both turned around at the sound of another voice, Yugi trying to control his breathing as the Pharaoh walked into the small room. "If you concentrated, you could probably talk with the Gelth."
"I don't know." Gwyneth shook her head, looking scared. "I've never been able to control it and I…I…"
"You can do it." The Pharaoh nodded at Yugi before walking back to the main hall. "We'll have a séance."
He left them, Gwyneth slumping for a moment before going back to her washing, Yugi automatically helping her as well. They completed their task in silence, Gwyneth too focused on what was coming next and Yugi was too disturbed by her words. He was scared that she had been able to pick that out of his mind, unable to comprehend how a person could do that. He was more than ready for the idea that people from the future could do that, but not that a person from the past could.
And that last sentence, it sent chills down his spine. Like it was supposed to be some sort of warning to him. But her voice during that had dropped so low, and she had seemed so scared. What was going to happen to him?
Yugi was lost in the circle of his thoughts as they walked out of the small room and down the hall, heading back into the sitting room. He found the Pharaoh and Mr. Sneed sitting around a circular table. A glance at one of the corners of the room showed that Charles Dickens was pacing again, the writer apparently reluctant to join them. Yugi shrugged to himself and went to sit at the table, drifting over to the Pharaoh. He was almost sure that he got a smile, peeking out of his increasingly depressing thoughts for a moment only to have missed it. He sighed and took the offered hand, a smile twitching at the corner at his mouth at the soft feeling of the Earth turning beneath his seat. It was only for a moment, because then Gwyneth sat down and the maid didn't start, which meant that the Pharaoh had put forth the effort for Yugi to feel that gentle spin.
He looked over his shoulder at Dickens, the author slowly making his way to the door. The man was stopped by a sharp glare from the Pharaoh, Dickens glaring at the one empty seat at the table. He shook his head, backing away until he was close to the door. "No. I will not take place in this nonsense."
"The only nonsense, Charles," the Pharaoh nearly growled the words out, "is your continued denial. You were there, you saw what happened, now sit down and we'll get to the bottom of this."
Dickens stared at him for a while longer before submitting and coming to sit at the table, muttering under his breath. Yugi stared at him for a long time before offering his free hand, which Dickens snatched with a grumble. The Pharaoh leveled another glare at him before softening the look and turning back to Gwyneth, the maid taking a deep breath before looking up at the ceiling. "Speak to us. Please, speak to us, we are listening."
At that moment the lights went out, darkness closing in around them before a faint blue glow came from Gwyneth. The glow began to rise from the woman herself, forming around her back until it gained the shape of what looked like a teenage girl. The girl grew, rising above Gwyneth and looking over them. The Pharaoh stared at the form, swallowing nervously when the form flickered, hoping that his plan worked. He couldn't help the Gelth if they couldn't tell him what he had to do. There was too much of a chance that he would do something to make it worse. And it would take longer than they had to recreate an environment that they could live in so he could just talk to them. He relaxed when the form stabilized, staring at the blue gaseous girl that looked down on them.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us."
The Pharaoh's hearts started to beat faster. This would work, they would hold long enough through Gwyneth. He glanced around the table before deciding that he would be the one to speak. "What do you need?"
"The Rift. Take the girl to the Rift. Make the bridge."
He blinked at the girl, trying to calculate how that would work. Something in the back of his head told him to be cautious. The Pharaoh gave a short nod, leaning forward slightly. "Why?"
"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction." His eyes widened, the girl taking his silence as permission to go on. "Once we had a physical form like you. But then the War came."
The Pharaoh had to lick his lips, suddenly finding them dry, like his throat. They couldn't be talking about that. It just wasn't possible. There couldn't be another species…not another one that was his fault. He felt Yugi squeeze his hand, that touch enough to encourage him to continue speaking. "What war?"
"The Time War." The Pharaoh gave a choked gasp at the name, a shudder running through him. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged, invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."
So, it was his fault. They were stuck like this because of him. How long would it take for him to run away from reminders of that one war? His gaze sunk to the table, unable to look at the Gelth anymore. Now he had to do something to help them, since it was his fault that they were like this. The Pharaoh sighed, shaking his head. "So that's why you need the corpses."
"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form and your dead are abandoned. They go to waste. Give them to us."
He felt Yugi tense beside him, going to stop any response from the human when Yugi spoke out anyway. "We can't!"
"Why not? Is it disrespectful?" Yugi stared at him, the Pharaoh barely able to see the human in the darkness. "There's nothing left there anyway! And you're not using them!"
"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us… Pity the Gelth!" The Pharaoh jerked his head around, staring at the gaseous form at it flickered and disappeared, the lights coming on moments later. He stared at the spot where the Gelth had been quickly standing up when he saw that Gwyneth had fainted. Yugi beat him to the maid first, catching her and sitting her back up in the chair before shooting a glare at him. The Pharaoh didn't bother to respond, staring at the mantle of the fireplace and thinking, partially aware that Yugi was moving Gwyneth over to the settee on the other side of the room.
The Gelth were victims of the Time War, almost exterminated because of the destruction of Gallifrey. And he felt that he had to fix this, like he had tried to fix all the other species, but so far he had only gotten hatred and death threats. This time it looked like he could actually helpful instead of being forced to one side. No one wanted a Time Lord to help, especially after what the Time Lords had done. Thankfully, he was slowly becoming myth. He could actually work for the universe instead of watching what was going on helplessly. And he wouldn't let this chance get away from him.
"You're not going to use her." He turned around to look at the human he had brought with him, Yugi kneeling on the floor beside where Gwyneth was lying on the couch. "You're not going to talk her into doing this. It's not right."
"What part of it is not right? The use of dead bodies or the extinction of a species?" Yugi hesitated, the Pharaoh smirking. He had Yugi there, and he knew exactly what Yugi would try to do. He leaned against the wall, staring at Yugi. "Is it because they are the respected dead? They're just bodies, Yugi, nothing important about them."
"It's not respectful!"
"Says you!" The Pharaoh glared at him. "Says your culture. There are other cultures out there and you have to accept what they think. You cannot continue to be so closed minded around me."
Yugi stared at him, his mouth hanging open in shock before he purposefully turned around to look at Gwyneth, who was just waking up. The Pharaoh was surprised at how easily Yugi hid his anger, calming the girl with a gentle smile and pushing her back down, stepping away when she seemed nervous. The maid looked up and him, clearing her throat before speaking. "Those poor creatures…what do they need?"
"A way to get into this world."
"No!" Yugi glared at him. "I told you that you will not use her like this!"
"But I want to help them." Yugi stared at Gwyneth, the maid smiling back up at him. "They've been nice to me for so long, singing in my head when I was lonely here. I want to help them. Tell me what I need to do."
The Pharaoh nodded, ignoring the glare that Yugi sent his way. The human would have to deal with the choice that Gwyneth made, after all, he had said that it had to be her own. She had made her choice and Yugi would have to abide by it, unless all his posturing was just that. The Pharaoh watched Yugi carefully, ready to physically stop the human from interfering in what was going on. They were going to save the Gelth, with or without Yugi's help.
Satisfied that Yugi wouldn't do anything stupid, the Pharaoh turned to look at Mr. Sneed. "Where's the place that has had most of the 'ghost' sightings?"
Dickens looked up from his corner, looking shocked. Of course the writer wouldn't want anything to do with this, he was too afraid to move out of his comfort zone, but he would follow. Some part of Charles Dickens wanted to see what this new world offered to him while the rest rebelled. The man thought that he had seen everything that the world had to offer in his life, but was wrong.
"Most…That would be the morgue."
The Pharaoh nodded, ignoring Yugi's mutterings. He began to usher the people out of the room, nearly hauling Yugi from the place where he had planted himself. The human didn't struggle as he was pulled down the hall, the two of them following Mr. Sneed as he led the way to the basement of the house. In fact, Yugi didn't say anything at all, strange for the human. The Pharaoh shot a glance at Yugi, surprised to see that the human was still angry, too used to the times that Yugi had let his anger go after a while. But that might have been because he was overwhelmed. Now, he had settled into the swing of things and was going to be stubborn. That was fine with him, he could deal with one stubborn human.
Yugi shook his hand from his arm, walking down the stairs to the basement, the Pharaoh staring after him. Hopefully they would manage to get over this once the Gelth were dealt with. He forced himself not to glare at the back of Yugi's head, instead focusing on the covered bodies that rested on slabs in the basement, feeling a shiver pass through him.
His attention was attracted by a wraithlike form that appeared, taking a step forward through the crowd to look at the Gelth. She smiled, giving him a shy wave. "He has come, praise him. He has come to save us."
"What do we need to do?"
"She must stand under the arch." The Gelth disappeared, one of the gas lamps flaring as she was sucked back in. The Pharaoh nodded, looking at Gwyneth and then frowning when he saw Yugi move from the group.
"You don't have to do this."
"But I want to." Yugi's hand fell from her shoulder, the human staring at her for the longest time before nodding and taking a step back. The Pharaoh forced himself not to move, letting Gwyneth do this on her own. At least Yugi was smart enough to know when to back off.
There was a moment of silence, Gwyneth looking increasingly nervous before she suddenly tipped her head back, the Gelth appearing above her in a blue gaseous form. The Pharaoh smiled, inwardly cheering. Gwyneth had opened the Rift! She was strong enough to do it, the brilliant human.
"We're free!" The Pharaoh blinked as the blue glow of the Gelth changed to red, the peaceful wraith turning into something more aggressive. He took a step back, Yugi turning and running into his side as more of the Gelth came through. There were more that the Pharaoh had guessed. He scowled before staring at the Gelth that was hovering above Gwyneth.
"You said you were nearly going extinct!"
"We played upon your compassion. We do not care for your pity. We want your world!" The Pharaoh jumped to one side as one of the corpses jerked back the sheet that covered it, standing sluggishly on his feet. The Pharaoh grabbed Yugi, pushing the human back toward the back of the basement, keeping a tight grip on him as he tried to lunge for Mr. Sneed.
The undertaker was grabbed by one of the corpses, his neck snapped before his body was left to fall. Yugi gasped, clinging to the Pharaoh was they were forced further back. The Time Lord tried to come up with a plan to get them out of there, being distracted by Charles Dickens as he called from the stairs. "I'm sorry, I can't do this!"
He disappeared up the stairs, safe from the walking corpses as the Pharaoh was forced further back. There was no chance of escape, they were blocked from the only way out by the corpses. The Pharaoh looked over his shoulder, seeing a metal gate and a space behind it. He lunged for it, yanking it open and shoving Yugi into the space before moving in himself, slamming the gate shut behind him and hearing it lock.
"So…now we're trapped." Yugi spoke slowly, flinching back against the cold stone as the corpses began to reach through the bars of the gate. The Pharaoh nodded, glaring at the corpses, his gaze moving to the flickering red form that hovered over Gwyneth.
"I trusted you."
"We told you we cared little for your pity or your trust." He moved away from a hand that lashed out at him, his gaze focusing back down on the corpses, staring at Mr. Sneed. He hadn't even been able to save the undertaker because he had been too busy with his survivor's guilt about the Time War. He should have listened to Yugi. "Give your bodies over to the Gelth."
The Pharaoh shook his head, not sure if he was answering the demand or unable to deal with what happened. He backed up until he was pressed against the stone as well, staring at the bodies that were reaching for him.
"It's a bit like a zombie movie." Yugi spoke up softly, rubbing his arms as he looked out on the corpses. The young man shuddered before looking up at the Pharaoh, his violet eyes wide. "Can…can I die?"
"What?" The question threw him.
"It should be impossible, right, because I wasn't born until 1986. I can't die now because I don't exist."
He really wanted to lie to Yugi, wanted to say that it was just impossible. Because this was all his fault. This human, this young man was only nineteen; a mere child in the whole scheme of things. Yugi had yet to see the world or accomplish his dreams, and he would never do that because some idiot Time Lord had gotten him trapped in a basement in 1869.
The Pharaoh hung his head, talking to the ground instead of Yugi. "You can be born in the future and die now, because of me."
He waited for the condemnation or the hatred. Even for an 'I told you so'. He deserved all of them. But what Yugi did surprised him.
The young man took a deep breath, straightening himself up, staring at the corpses as they stared back at him. "We'll go down fighting, right?"
The Pharaoh stared at him for a short while before giving a short nod, his voice cracking over the one word that he forced out of his mouth. "Right."
"Together." It wasn't a question. Yugi turned to look at him, the Pharaoh feeling horrible for the tears that were beginning to appear in the young man's eyes. They shouldn't be there. Yugi shouldn't have even had to show this courage, but he was. And that made this little human better than all the others.
"Together." The Pharaoh paused, really looking at Yugi for the first time, seeing past he short stature and the crazy hair. Beneath all of that, there was something strong, something that never got out because Yugi had always been stepped on. A smile crossed his face, the Pharaoh pulling the young man close and holding his hand. Yugi jumped and looked up at him, looking shocked at the sudden move for contact. "I'm glad I met you."
Yugi stared at him for a long time, probably trying to decide if it was just another attempt to beat him down. Finally, he smiled back. "Me too."
The turned to look back at the corpses, the Pharaoh feeling Yugi shrink back against the wall.
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