Chapter Eleven: Aliens of Domino
"I can't tell her, I can't even begin. She's never gonna forgive me. And I missed a year. Was it good?"
"Middling."
"You're so useless."
-Rose Tyler and the Doctor
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Yugi woke up slowly, staring at the room around him without really seeing any of it. He yawned and sat up, surprised that his alarm clock wasn't going off, he had woken up before it for once. But still, did that all have to be a dream? The Nestene Consciousness, the end of the world and the ghosts? It was a wonderful dream, why did he have to wake up from it?
He rolled out of bed, stretching. Yugi paused mid stretch, staring at the skylight that was in the ceiling. His room didn't have that, nor did his ceiling slope like that. This room looked like the pictures of the room that he had lived in while at his grandfather's house, too young to remember anything else other than the pictures. Yugi walked over to the spot under the skylight, staring up at the stars that were visible through it.
This meant that everything was true, not just some crazy dream. He gave an excited squeak at that, partially embarrassed by the sound that came from his own mouth before slipping his sneakers on and opening the door. He blinked at the corridor that was in front of him, swallowing when he realized that he had no idea where to go. His attention was attracted by a series of lights, much like those that ran along the aisle in theaters, that appeared in the corridor, leading one way but not the other. Yugi smiled and reached out to stroke the nearest wall in thanks before beginning to walk the direction that the lights had shown, breathing a sigh of relief when he walked into the console room.
"So, you're up." The Pharaoh was leaning against a column, staring at the console and, apparently, deep in thought. Yugi nodded and walked over, leaning against the console. The two stared at each other for a while before the Pharaoh moved, avoiding where Yugi was to start to move around the console. "Back home then."
"Yeah." Yugi didn't know why he was suddenly so reluctant to go back. He knew that he would have to grab some more clothes than this, and perhaps tell his mother that he would be traveling for an extended time. It wasn't like he was choosing to leave, it was just another pit stop before they were off again.
Automatically, Yugi grabbed the edge of the console, easily falling into the rocking motion of the TARDIS as the Pharaoh steered her into place. He pushed away from the console as the Pharaoh moved his way, falling easily back into the chair, watching at the Pharaoh continued to move around the console, often having to stretch over one section or another. Finally, there was the expected jolt from the ship as she landed, the Pharaoh standing up and walking to the door.
He opened the door, Yugi slipping out from under his arm and taking a deep breath of the air. As much as he loved the traveling, he had missed this, missed the smell of his home. He turned his head to look at where they had landed, easily picking out where his apartment building was.
"It should be about twelve hours since you've left." Yugi glanced over at the Pharaoh, watching the Time Lord smirk. "No time lost at all.
He nodded, his hand dropped to his pocket, fingering his key for a moment before beginning to walk off, turning around to address the Pharaoh. "I'll be back in a bit."
"What are you going to tell your mother?" Yugi smirked at the teasing smile that the Pharaoh had, watching the man walk forward to lean against a pole that was nearly covered in posters.
Yugi shrugged. "I'll just tell her that I stayed over at a friend's house. I don't think she would accept the truth."
The two shared a smile before Yugi turned around, walking quickly towards the stairs of his apartment building. He opened the door and began climbing, pausing to look out one of the windows, watching as the Pharaoh pushed away from the pole that he had been leaning on, gazing at the posters attached to the pole. Yugi shook his head, reminding himself that this would just be a quick visit before rushing up the stairs, missing the look of shock that crossed the Pharaoh's face before the Time Lord took off after him.
Yugi nearly ran down the shared balcony in the front of all the apartments, the keys in his hands as he reached his home. He fumbled briefly with his key before opening the door, sighing as he walked home. He paused for a minute, swinging the door shut before clearing his throat. Usually his mom would be calling out a greeting to him. Yugi shrugged before calling out himself. "I'm home!"
He walked towards the living room, hearing the sound of life in there. He slipped his keys back into his pocket, looking at the floor sheepishly. "Sorry, I lost track of time so I-" He looked up, surprised when he saw the state of his mother.
Junri Mutou looked like she had been through hell. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, dark circles under her eyes and tear tracks running down her cheeks. Yugi swallowed nervously at the look that she leveled at him, one of amazement and wonder. He looked around the room, jumping when Junri gave a sob and lunged forward to cling to him, drawing him close to her chest.
Yugi struggled for a moment, pulling back enough for him to breath, holding onto his mother's shoulders while he tried to figure out what had happened to reduce her to this. "Mom, what happened? Did…did someone die?"
"Yugi!" He turned around abruptly, still holding onto his mother's shoulders. The Pharaoh had rushed into the apartment since Yugi hadn't locked the door behind him. Yugi glanced back at his mother, surprised by the look of shock on her face. He glanced back at the Pharaoh, wondering what had sent the Time Lord running up here so quickly. There wasn't an alien in sight.
The Pharaoh cleared his throat, backing away. "It's not twelve hours. It's twelve months."
Twelve months! Yugi barely felt his mother slip away from his grasp, rushing into the kitchen and picking up the phone. He was frozen to the spot, staring at the Pharaoh with his mouth open in shock.
He had been missing twelve months just because of a slip up of one alien. His mother had been looking for him, worrying about him, for twelve months because he had decided that going on an adventure sounded like a good idea. What had happened to her in those months? Apparently she had gotten a job because the apartment was still theirs, but what had she gone through emotionally?
Yugi forced himself to begin walking, his eyes going to the table that sat near the bookshelf with the pictures, glancing over to realize that one of his own pictures was sitting beside his grandfather's, one more among the missing. He shuddered and looked away, focused on the table and the papers spread out over it. He picked up one of them, his eyes widening as he saw a picture of himself and information.
Yugi nearly threw the flyer down, moving to stand in the living room and staring at all the pictures of him that had suddenly cropped up. He turned in a slow circle, pausing when he saw that the Pharaoh had followed him in. Yugi glared at the man, readying to start yelling when he caught the look on the Pharaoh's face, one of sorrow.
He stepped out of the way, allowing the Time Lord to walk further into the living room, the man stopping before one of the few pictures that had Sugoroku in it. The Pharaoh stared at it for a long time before moving down the line that was displayed on the mantle, looking like he was longing for something.
Yugi backed up until he sat down in his favorite chair, watching him carefully, the carefully constructed comebacks breaking apart. The Pharaoh wouldn't purposefully bring him home twelve months late, it was just a slip up. A horrible slip up, but a slip up just the same. And Yugi's anger just disappeared quickly, realizing that the Pharaoh was the only other person who would understand what he had been through, the only other person he could talk to about these things.
And, as much as some part of Yugi hated the Pharaoh for doing this, even accidentally, he craved to be out in the universe again. Suddenly, the world was too small. He wanted to see everything.
Yugi looked up as his mother wandered back in, wiping away a new set of tears. She knelt by him and smiled, her hand resting over his. "The police should be over in a few minutes. Would you like some tea?"
"No, Mom, I'm fine." Yugi smiled at her, wondering what she meant about the police. He wasn't expecting her to throw herself at him, holding him close and breaking into tears again.
"Oh my boy, my baby! You're home and safe!" Junri took a shaky breath. "I thought that I would never see you again! I hated answering the phone because I was sure that it was going to be the police, telling me that they found your body somewhere. Where did you go?"
Yugi swallowed nervously. His mother would never believe the truth and his cover story wouldn't work now since he had been gone longer than twelve hours. He looked up at the Pharaoh, who had seemed to have snapped back to reality, the Time Lord's face already slipping into his usual mask. The Pharaoh caught his gaze and gave a shrug, the decision to tell her or not resting on Yugi again.
Junri sat up at the motion, looking between Yugi and the Pharaoh, Yugi freezing up at the look that came over her face. She was probably thinking that the Pharaoh was intimidating Yugi to keep him from telling anything, which wouldn't go over well when the officer got here. Yugi wiggled a bit in her hold, drawing her attention back to him. For a moment, he was almost tempted to tell the truth but that was gone as he remembered what the truth would entail. Yugi settled for a shrug. "I can't tell you."
His mother scowled, opening her mouth to say something when there was a knock at the door, Junri hurrying off to answer it while the Pharaoh moved to stand behind Yugi. He looked up at the Time Lord, begging the man to have anything that would help him. The Pharaoh just shrugged again, glancing up at the doorway before leaning slightly over. "I'll follow your lead."
"Seriously?" Yugi raised an eyebrow, not expecting such generosity from the Pharaoh. The Time Lord gave an earnest nod before standing up straight, looking for all the world that he was just standing there, uninterested in Yugi.
Yugi looked up, smiling as the police officer walked into the living room, Junri offering him a seat, preferring to pace the small space. Yugi smiled at the police officer, trying not to shift nervously in his seat as the man looked at him.
"So, you came back?" Yugi was about to nod when the officer continued. "Do you know how much pain you caused your mother with you disappearance? Did you think that running away would solve any problems between the two of you?"
"What?! No!" Yugi forced himself to calm down, taking a deep breath. Lashing out wouldn't get him anywhere with this. "I called her once and I meant to call her again, but I just was busy and…distracted."
Even he nearly winced at his own choice of words, knowing how bad that they would sound. The police officer looked at him for a while before looking over at his mother coughing before looking down at his knees. "Your mother tells me that you refuse to tell her where you have been."
Yugi winced, but nodded, letting them make the assumptions that they would. It was just too fantastic to expect them to believe where he had been. He shook his head, trying to come up with an explanation, ending up just shrugging.
"Yugi," Junri knelt down by his side, glancing up at the Pharaoh before looking back down at her son, "why can't you tell me where you went?"
"I…I…"
"Actually, it's my fault that Yugi has been away so long." Yugi glanced up as the Pharaoh spoke, watching the almost formal air that he put on. Junri stood up, crossing her arms and staring at him. "I employed Yugi when I heard that he was out of work as my traveling companion. We are often out of cell phone service but I plan to rectify that."
Junri didn't seem convinced, but Yugi found that the story was the best simplified version of what was going on. He sighed and looked back at his mother, giving her a nod and preparing to back up the Pharaoh's story when the police officer spoke up. "When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?"
Yugi choked on air, able to imagine the Pharaoh's disgusted face even though he hadn't turned around. He swallowed harshly to get his throat working again, both of them nearly yelling out one word at the same time. "No!"
Junri narrowed her eyes, standing up and walking over to stand toe to toe with the Pharaoh, the difference in their size almost laughable if Junri didn't look likes she was about to murder someone. "Then what do you want with my son? A man like you would have no problem getting any kind of companion that he would want."
The Pharaoh gave a short bark of laughter. "I could, but I prefer some kind of intelligence in my company and your son is quite intelligent."
"Of course he is, but that's what anyone would say." Junri narrowed her eyes and glared at him, the Pharaoh actually taking a step back from her. "I would have believed you better if you hadn't appeared the day he disappeared with all your smiles and charm. And the next day, he's gone. Where did you find him? Internet or out on the streets? Did you just snatch him away without a second thought?"
Yugi winced at the exchange, trying to figure out where he could help the Pharaoh when his mother spoke up again, leaping on the chance that the Pharaoh gave her by being quiet. "Why him of all the people in this city? Because you thought that he was cute, you pervert? How did you convince him to come with you, sexual favors?"
He wanted to disappear into the spaces in the chair, a blush crossing his face as he sunk into his seat. Yugi glanced over at the policeman who looked shocked, Junri was doing his job for him. Yugi gave him an apologetic smile before looking back up and wishing that he hadn't.
The Pharaoh was glaring back at his mother, obviously angry at the accusations leveled at him. "What about you, Mrs. Mutou? You tried to seduce me the first time I came here. I-"
He was cut off when Junri slapped him, Yugi's mouth dropping open with the move. The Pharaoh remained still, his head still turned to the side. Yugi swallowed, afraid to move. He had never seen his mother act like this. His eyes darted to the policeman, who had quickly stood up and was now making his excuses. Yugi stood up when the policeman left, walking over to his mother and pulling her away from the Pharaoh, sitting her down on the sofa.
Junri clung to her son, sobbing as she held him close. Yugi glanced over at the Pharaoh, relieved that the Time Lord had decided to stay after that and hating that he would have to patch things up with the alien. He decided that it could wait until later, wanting to get his mother settled for now.
"Mom, I'm alright. I promise that I am. It's nothing like that."
"How can I be sure? My poor, poor son, lost his virginity to some man who hires him off the street." Yugi winced, not wanting to tell his mother that his virginity had been gone for a long while. He managed to extract himself from her grasp, patting her shoulder.
"Mom, I swear that nothing like that happened. It's like he said, we've been traveling to places where the cell phone service is horrible. And I've been busy."
"With what?"
"I'm his assistant. I catalogue the things he collects and takes pictures of." Yugi gave a half shrug and a smile, hating the lie that he was forced to say. "That's all. He already has someone else, a nice girl back home."
Yugi thought he caught the Pharaoh rolling his eyes before the man jerked his head towards the ceiling and walked off. Yugi assumed that he meant that he would be waiting for Yugi on the roof. He gave a small nod before looking back at his mother, tenderly brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "I promise that I'm alright and I promise to make more time to call you."
"Promise that you'll come back more often." Junri was nearly begging him. Yugi gave a nod and kissed his mother on the forehead before walking away, heading for the front door and towards the roof. Behind him, he heard his mother calming down, turning around in the open door to smile at her. She gave him a wave. "Dinner at five."
Yugi nodded. "I'll be down."
He shut the door behind him and took off at a jog for the stairs, running full out until he got to the roof. He easily spotted the Pharaoh, leaning against one of the housings for some equipment that they had up there. Yugi smiled and jogged over, easily pushing off from the ground and sitting on the top of the metal, smirking at the heady feeling of being taller than the Pharaoh. "So, how was the year that I missed?"
The Pharaoh gave a shrug, tipping his head back to think for a moment before returning his head to its normal position. "Disappointing."
Yugi shook his head before shrugging. "At least I didn't miss anything interesting…or so you tell me."
"No. Just another year in the scheme of things." The Pharaoh sighed, one hand twitching by his side, rising slightly before lowering back to his side. Yugi shot him a sidelong glance before a laugh escaped him, ignoring the scathing glare that was sent his way.
"All of that…and she just slapped you." Yugi pressed one arm over his stomach as he laughed, rocking forward until he nearly fell off the metal casing he was sitting on.
The Pharaoh rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, focusing his glare on the roof. "In all nine hundred years of my life, I have never been slapped by someone's mother."
Yugi tried to smother his laugh, clinging to the sides of the container. "Your face was priceless."
"It hurt." The Pharaoh finally gave in a rubbed his cheek, giving a wince. Yugi laughed at the expression and shook his head, calming himself down. The two of them drifted into comfortable silence, Yugi staring up at the sky as he thought over their conversation. The Pharaoh's age kept circling around his brain until he had to speak.
"You're really nine hundred years old?"
"Give or take a few hundred." The Pharaoh shrugged. "I stopped counting centuries ago."
"Quite the age gap." Yugi smiled and jumped down from his perch, walking towards the edge of the roof and looking over Domino City. Up here he didn't feel as cramped as he did in his apartment, a feeling that was just beginning to take hold. Maybe it was a sign that he wasn't meant to live life in an apartment, a sign that he would happily take. He ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the sky before spreading his arms out and giving a shrug. "I don't think I could go back to this, not after all I've seen."
"I've taken you two places."
Yugi turned around to smile at him before turning back around to look at the sky again. "That was enough. I've seen the past, something that no one ever gets a chance to see. I've seen things long gone and forgotten. I've seen aliens and spaceships…things that other people on Earth have never seen…"
He tensed at a loud hum that came from behind him, turning around abruptly. The first thing that he saw was the grey underbelly of a spaceship before he ducked down low, turning his head to watch as the thing moved overhead. Yugi sat up when it had passed, slowly getting to his feet as he watched it fly over the city, coming dangerously close to hitting a few buildings before finally taking a corner off one of the older ones and crashing into the ocean.
Yugi stared open mouthed at the smoke that he saw coming from the harbor, shaking his head in amazement. He heard the Pharaoh come up behind him, grabbing onto his shoulder and tugging him backwards. Yugi flailed in the hold for a minute, pointing soundlessly at where the smoke was coming from before the Pharaoh forced him to spin around. "That's not fair."
"Come on!" The Pharaoh broke into a run, heading for the harbor. Yugi could only follow him, forcing himself into a sprint to keep up with the long-legged Time Lord.
The two of them tore across the back lot for the apartments and the neighborhood that was behind them, heading for the harbor. Long before they could even get out of the neighborhood traffic was blocked off, making it impossible for them to get through.
Yugi stumbled to a stop, leaning over and attempting to catch his breath, panting for air. The Pharaoh was standing beside him, not looking winded at all. He was craning his head, trying to look over the crowds of people. Yugi shook his head and straightened up, attempting and trying to catch his breath at the same time. "It's blocked off. They won't let us get any closer." He gave a cough before shaking his head. "Did you know that this was going to happen?"
"No."
"Recognize the ship?" The Pharaoh shook his head, still trying to see other the crowds. Yugi sighed and tried again. "Do you know the reason it crashed?"
"No. This should be interesting." Yugi was beginning to hate that enthusiastic and slightly insane smile that the Pharaoh had. "Besides, it's much more interesting to watch history happen without prior knowledge."
"So, are we going to get the TARDIS and take a closer look?"
The Pharaoh shook his head, moving to one side before returning to his original position. "No. We can't risk putting another spaceship in the middle of this. I don't want her getting captured and used. Besides, you would be out of a job."
"You're saying that we're stuck here?" The Pharaoh frowned, seeming to just realize this himself. He looked around at the crowds, probably calculating the distance form they were to the harbor. Yugi saw the Time Lord slump, sighing and crossing his arms over his chest. "We could do what everyone else does. We just watch it on the T.V."
He didn't miss the look of utter disgust that the Pharaoh shot him as they turned around to walk back to the apartment complex, laughing as the Pharaoh began to complain about the short comings of human technology. Yugi led the way back, pausing as they passed the TARDIS again, staring at the words spray painted on the side. He jumped as the Pharaoh walked past, totally ignoring him. Yugi hesitated for a moment, briefly glancing at the words before rushing on, dismissing them as nonsense.
Unless it was an advertisement for something, Yugi had never heard of any gang that called themselves dark game.
He jogged after the Pharaoh, glancing up at the Time Lord. The Pharaoh still looked angry but, surprisingly, was sticking to his own rule of not getting involved in this. Yugi shrugged to himself, looking up at the apartments that they were heading towards, groaning as he saw the people that were hovering around his. Apparently his mother had called people over to share the good news that he was back. Now that the spaceship had crashed into the harbor, there would be no getting rid of them.
If he hadn't been so curious about the spaceship, he would have begged the Pharaoh to take him away now. He wasn't in the mood for dealing with this.
They climbed up to his apartment, Yugi opening the door and giving a halfhearted wave to the people who had gathered in his living room. It was returned with astonished faces before the people lunged forward with a collective cry of, "Yugi!" Yugi saw the Pharaoh duck into his bedroom out of the corner of his eye, managing to shoot a pleading look before he was hugged en masse.
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