Hey everyone! Here it is the next chapter! Enjoy.
Please review! All criticism is greatly appreciated. It allows me to learn from my mistakes and make a better story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of the charaters.
Summary: The world is controlled by demons and the humans are slaves. Most humans are used for labor but some are made into bonded humans. These humans allow the demons to become more powerful. If the human runs away the bond with the two demons will kill them. There is no hope for those that are bonded, is there?
Thank you:
GirlFish for the review and continued support. There are some proverbial storms on the horizon. The royals are the strongest.
Akayuki Novak for the review and continued support. Mahad does rock and I always felt he never played a big role in other stories.
Vir for the review and continued support. I'm happy you liked the backstory. It took a long time for me to write. There will be more action in the near future.
Thank you for your support of the last chapter. I went back and forth on how I wanted it to go and I am so happy that you all like the result. Enjoy the next chapter! Please read the important announcement at the bottom!
Chapter- 10 – Return
During the next days, I spent most of my time with Ryou. He came by every day to play games and to talk. I learned more about him and his life. He had been bonded for seven years now. Bakura and Akefia had found him during a raid on another city.
"I had lived with my first master, who was the scribe, for ten years. He died when I was twelve. I was sold to a different demon family and they had my soul tested to see if it was pure. They weren't interested in bonding though. When they found out I had a pure soul, which had not been tainted, they kept me like a prize. They liked to beat me and embarrass me. They wanted to see if they could taint a pure soul. One day they gave up and were about to kill me. I had already been seriously injured and unable to move away as my mistress came toward me. She had already spent the last hour whipping me, and she had a knife. Her husband was standing off to the side laughing. That was when they came through the window of the manor. They killed my master and mistress, and Bakura walked over to me and looked at me for a few minutes. They took me to a healer and nursed me back to health. I have been with them ever since."
I thought about telling him about the Duke and Duchess and my past, but I wanted to tell Atem and Yami first. His story was close to mine but we differed in some ways. He agreed that they should be the first to know, but that I could talk to him anytime.
Today was the day that Atem and Yami were set to return and I was anxious. Ryou couldn't come by today because Bakura and Akefia, being two of the four generals, were heading to another part of the kingdom. Malik was still recovering but was doing well. Mariku came by to tell me that I could visit tomorrow.
It was past noon, and I was bored. There wasn't much for me to do. I walked out to the balcony. I had been spending almost every night out here so far. I looked down toward the garden. I probably could ask Mahad if I could go down to the garden. I walked to the door. During the past week, Mahad and I had developed a friendship. I smiled, it was beginning to feel like home.
I opened the door to see him in his usual spot.
"Mahad, can I go down to the garden. There isn't much to do right now."
"Sure, it would be nice to spend some time in the sun."
He took off the longer chain and replaced it with the smaller one, the usual one that I have on when I leave the room. It was a short walk down to the garden through the sand colored and gold walled hallways and the white marble staircase, to reach the garden doors again.
"I am going to stand against the wall by the door. Go have fun, Yugi."
I smiled and walked over to the fountain and sat on the side. I pulled my legs up to put my feet in the water to face the hummingbird statue. The water was cool as I moved my feet through it. The fish came over and nibble on my feet. I put my hand into the water and they swam toward it. They may be hand fed a lot so they were tame and looking for food. The hummingbird statue was covering my skin with mist, giving me goosebumps. There was birds singing in the area. It was so peaceful here.
I looked at the right hand side of the garden where I knew the bench was hidden. I got up and moved over to it. I walked around the corner that Pegasus must have walked around all those years ago. I sat down on the bench and moved so I could lay down. My feet hung over the end and the white stone was cool on my back. Even though I knew that there were birds chirping in the main part of the garden, it was silent here. What drove the boy to want to die this way? What was he so afraid of? Why did he think this was his only way out? I closed my eyes. I had been that desperate too when I first came here.
I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes again the sky was orange and I could hear people talking on the other side of the hedge.
"… been over there all day?" A voice asked. It was Yami's voice.
"Yes. He fell asleep only an hour ago. I have been watching him." Mahad said.
"How is he?" Atem asked.
"I think you will find that he has changed quite a bit, my King."
I moved to sit up and I put my feet onto the ground. I was hesitant to get up. What if they were angry with me?
"We heard what Mariku and Marik did. We are worried he is angry with us."
I wasn't angry with them! I am the one who should be apologizing to them. I shot up but ended up tripping over my own feet and I hit the grass.
Great job, Yugi, I told myself.
Atem and Yami ran into the alcove when they heard the bang from me hitting the ground.
"Are you alright?" Atem said as Yami pulled me into his lap. I nodded and grabbed onto Yami's hand that was wandering along my body looking for injuries. He looked shocked so I let go, but he held on. I blushed.
"I'm not angry with you. I should be apologizing to you for the way I acted," They looked ready to interrupt but I moved on with what I was saying, the words coming out fast, "You told me your feelings and I threw them back in your face. I was so afraid to love someone that I couldn't trust anyone for a long time. But now I want to try and love. I want to try and love you. I don't know how to love though…"
I trailed off, embarrassed. I looked down at my lap as the silence stretched on. Before the silence became, a tan hand reached down to my chin and lifted my face. Atem's lips touched my own and I lost all ability to think. I wasn't sure what I needed to do, so I moved my lips with his.
"Hey! I want to kiss him too!" Yami said with a pout.
Atem moved away with a smirk on his face and Yami's mouth came down on me. His kiss was just as good as Atem's, but while Atem's was demanding, Yami's was gentler but still commanding.
When he moved away, Yami curled me up in his arms and put my face into his neck. Atem pulled both of us toward him.
"So?" I asked still breathless.
I felt warm in their arms. I felt safe.
"We will always love you, Yugi, and it means everything to us that you are willing to try and love." Atem said into my hair.
"Don't worry about not knowing how to love. Trust in us. We will teach you. Don't feel rushed to love us." Yami told me.
I nodded and closed my eyes happily. I felt myself being lifted into the air by Yami. The chain was resting on my stomach. When we walked around the hedge, Mahad was nowhere to be seen and the sky was purple. Atem walked ahead of us to open the door.
"Let's see if we can beat him back, shall we." Yami said with a mischievous smile.
I smiled and nodded eagerly.
He started running but before we got to the door, Atem caught Yami by the waist.
"Not so fast," Atem said, "We need to be careful when running with our human… so I'll be running with him." He pulled me out of Yami's arm and took off.
I laughed at Yami yelling behind us. Atem ran up the steps and down the hallway toward the room, but when we got to the room the door was open. Yami stopped behind us.
"Did you leave the door open when you got here?" I asked hopefully.
"No." Atem turned to Yami, "Take him."
Yami pulled me to his chest. They walked slowly to the room. The lights were off so it was dark. We continued walking until we got to the center of the room.
"They're here." I heard Yami whisper.
Atem nodded.
The light at the desk turned on to reveal two people there. I recognized Pegasus, but there was a man with blue hair and two different colored eyes that I did not know.
"We heard you had been looking for us. We figured your trip would be unsuccessful so we came to visit you here when you got back. And I wanted to see Yugi for myself. So pretty." The man with the blue hair said with a sigh.
Pegasus stood up and walked around the room so he was opposite of the other man. Yami sat me down and turned around so his back was to me. He backed up so I was tightly pressed between my demons backs.
"Don't look at him, Dartz." Yami snarled.
"Leave here now." Atem said.
I couldn't see their eyes glowing but I knew they were. Their claws and fangs also emerged.
"You know why we are here. You were looking for us because of it." Dartz said, "Give us your true bond."
"Never!" Yami said menacingly.
Pegasus kept moving trying to look at me behind Yami, growling lowly every time Yami moved in his way.
"Why do you need him, Dartz?" Atem asked.
"You took our true bond from us. We will take yours from you and we will take the true bonds from the generals as well, as retribution. Yugi, you should just leave with us now. They are going to kill you too. Just like they did with their first bonded slave, before the ritual, because he wasn't their true bond. It's the curse of the royals after all to kill their bonded. Isn't that right Pegasus?" Dartz said the last part nonchalantly. Pegasus nodded and laughed.
I stared at him confused.
"Oh you don't know. Well then, you will know soon." He said laughing.
"Be quite, Dartz, don't tell lies to him."
"You have been lying to him all along. Dartz is telling him the truth he deserves." Pegasus said laughing and growling again as Yami blocked me from his sight.
"I think we will leave now. Say goodbye, Pegasus." Dartz stood up and ran his hands down his pant legs.
"Goodbye, Yugi. Next time we meet, hopefully your demons won't be around and you won't be wearing clothes again." Chills ran down my spine. I started to shake.
They laughed once more and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I fell to my knees.
Yami and Atem fell next to me and pulled me close. They were shaking too.
"I don't believe what they say. I trust you. You would never hurt me."
"Yugi, I know you were upset before that we were planning on doing the ritual without your consent but…" Yami whispered.
"I want to do it. I don't want to lose you if you have to fight them. This is the only way that I can help. I want to go through the ritual. I'm ready."
"Are you sure, Yugi" Atem asked.
"Yes." I steeled my voice.
They were silent for a few minutes, then Yami broke the silence.
"Very well. We will do the ritual tomorrow night."
And in that very moment, I sealed my fate.
Important: Alright. Question time. I want Yugi to reveal what happened in his past before the ritual happens. So here are your choices for how the next two chapters go. Chapter 11 is his past and some other things happen and it ends just before the ritual starts making Chapter 12 just the ritual and recovering. Or, second choice, they both go together in the same chapter. I prefer choice one because I can add more detail to both chapters and it seems more evenly spaced instead of rushed because I don't like chapters with a lot of important events. But I know people hate cliffhangers so I want to give you all the option. You can review or private message me with your choice. However on WENDSDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH I will stop taking your choices into account (I need time to implement them, ya know). Thank you all for your support!
The next update will be on September 11th (I am moving the updates to FRIDAY. I have been thinking about doing this for a while. I'm sorry but at least you only have to wait on more day.)