11.
Ghost of Vengeance
"Hmm…blood pressure is good, temperature back to normal and the blood tests we ran show nothing to worry about. I guess you're back to health, young mister Muto"
The female doctor was smiling to Yugi, who was now sitting down on the hospital bed, lowering his sleeve once more, from where the doctor had measured his blood pressure.
"Thank you, doctor" Yugi said softly, "Thank you very much"
The doctor smiled and nodded. The room Yugi was in was luminous and comfortable, white and welcoming. The doctor was already gathering the monitor back into its bag.
"You know" she said in the process, "You gave your friends quite a good scare when you collapsed like that, however apparently your fever was not from a cold. I'd say it was a result of too much anxiety and pressure at once. You should be more careful of your health, young man!"
"I'm sorry…" Yugi lowered his head
However the doctor smiled warmheartedly, placing her hands to her waist.
"Well, you young people tend to forget you have limits too. So be it… I would suggest you to take it easy for a couple of days okay? If you feel bad again you can contact with me. Okay?"
Yugi nodded.
"Thank you, doctor…thank you very much"
"No problem. I'll inform your mother to come and pick you up."
Yugi nodded gratefully once more and the doctor left, mumbling something as she did so (perhaps telling something to a nurse outside). Yugi sighed.
"Yami-kun…" he thought, "He was left alone…with all those horrible memories! I have to hurry to his side…"
The door opened to reveal the smiley faces of Honda, Jounouchi and Anzu's. Anzu was also holding a small bouquet of flowers.
"Hey, Yug!" Jounouchi said getting in the room
"You scared us, pal" Honda also said smiling
"Are you better?" Anzu asked placing the flowers close to Yugi
Yugi felt soft tears at the corner of his eyes; tears of pure emotion.
"Guys…" he whispered.
He mopped the tears away with his sleeve and nodded with a smile.
"Yes. I'm better. Thank you everyone."
"It's not us ya should thank, pal" Jounouchi said
Yugi gasped, when realized the true meaning of Jounouchi's words.
"Whew! You gave us quite a scare!" Jounouchi said sitting on the bed
"Yeah!" Honda barged in, "What happened there, man? You just fell out cold like this!"
Yugi looked down in his empty lap. He knew he should explain but…could he do it now? Could he really put his thoughts in order and explain them? However if Yami had found such courage inside him, not only now but also in the past, then he should do the same!
"Alright, guys…I'll try to explain everything to you…"
And started telling them about the vision he and Yami had shared…
Yugi went to school the next day. He was still a bit pale and weak but he just had to go there. He couldn't, no he shouldn't leave Yami alone anymore. Yami needed the mot outmost support at this moment. Yugi had promised he would spent the night with him and still…because he wasn't strong enough to take it…Yami spent the night alone and afraid…without having a shoulder to cry to…
However there was something Yugi feared even more than Yami's broken spirit. He was mostly afraid of Yami's hatred. He still had nightmares from Yami's face back in his future crypt. That look, that was everywhere in Yami's eyes; the look of madness…hatred and anger…the look of the greatest thirst for vengeance. Yami was not an evil spirit, of course he wasn't. He was a tormented soul that needed support and help…however the hatred he felt that moment was genuine. In his madness he came even to hate the little boy he wished to protect so badly…
Yugi was afraid, because he didn't want Yami to lose himself to some hatred that was caused so unfairly in his heart, by a joke of school that went too far. Yami experienced one of the slowest deaths a human being could have because he spoke for a friend. Yugi would want Yami to keep that side of him instead of losing it to vengeance. Therefore, despite the fact the first period was about to start, Yugi didn't head for the classroom. On the contrary he ran towards the Old Building and towards the room everyone knew too well. He had the impression that no matter what Yami felt being in the same room as his crypt, for some reason he knew the room would be equally alluring to him (in a dark, unworldly way). Yugi ran up the stairs, crossed the wooden hallway and reached the door. He opened it and walked in…
When he saw him, he wished he hadn't. Yami was at the corner, hugging himself, shaking like a leaf. It was as if he was struggling with all his memories and the torrential of emotions. He was in an even worse shape than Yugi had thought. Sure, he hadn't gone berserk yet, neither it looked like he had caused anything serious but he seemed definitely at the edge of it. The room around him was a mess; with fallen and scattered objects all over the place while the glass windows were broken in thousands of pieces. Yami wasn't in shape to clean everything up.
"Yami…kun…" Yugi whispered
Hearing his name, and hearing Yugi's voice, made Yami snap out of it and snap around to face him. His face lit up with hope, but it was not the beautiful shine his face usually had, on the contrary it was the desperate kind of hope, the one someone would take when he was nearly the edge of breaking.
"Yugi!" Yami exclaimed and rushed at him like the starving man would run to the bread
He then got hold of Yugi's face with both of his palms and pulled him closer, his lips kissing Yugi's with flaming passion and yearning, as if he was hoping to suck life out of Yugi to get strength himself. It was a desperate, a sad kiss. Yugi's eyes got teary and then closed. He returned Yami's kiss as tears flowed down his cheeks. When he pulled back Yami was still holding his face.
"Are you alright, now?" he asked agonizingly, "I was so scared!"
"Yes…" Yugi whispered, swallowing his sobbing away, "Yes, I'm fine…I'm fine…"
He broke down to tears and hugged Yami tightly.
"Forgive me! Forgive me, Yami-kun! I wasn't strong enough! I wasn't! I am sorry I left you all alone in this place…after everything you've been through! It wasn't my intention! But I couldn't help it! I…I was weak! I'm so sorry!"
"It's alright…now that you're fine…it's alright! Oh, goodness I was so scared!"
Yugi had never seen Yami like this. He waited for a little till they were both calmer and Yugi said:
"Yami-kun…thank you, so much. Jounouchi-kun and the others told me about it, how you did everything you could…to bring them back to help me… Even in your condition…you wanted to help me…you protected me…"
Yami didn't deny that. He only smiled weakly. He seemed slightly better now that Yugi was there but Yugi could tell that danger hadn't passed yet. Yami turned his head elsewhere as if being ashamed to show his face.
"I was…so scared…" he confessed, "I was here alone…and that room…that room is still haunting me! I couldn't bear it! I wanted it to finish! I wanted it to stop!"
"Yami-kun…"
Yami was shaking once more now, his hand got hold of his head and his eyes filled with burning tears.
"I was so scared!" he sobbed, "I was so scared of my heart! I was so scared…!"
He was now looking at his shaking hands as if he didn't believe they belonged to him.
"I was thinking back at that place! I was alone and cold…hungry and thirsty! I knew I didn't want to die! I didn't want to die! And I was thinking why this had to happen to me!"
Yugi lowered his head but gasped as Yami whispered:
"Hate!"
Yami's eyes were wide now, the trembling uncontrollable.
"All I could do was hate! I hated Ushio! I hate him! I hate him! It's all his fault! He did this to me! He locked me in! I hate him! Him and his gang! I hate them! I hate them!"
"THAT'S NOT GOOD, YAMI-KUN!" Yugi yelled holding of Yami's shoulders to shake him up
Yami looked at him, his eyes teary but also full of question.
"You must not hate, Yami-kun! Hatred never helped anyone!"
"Yugi…"
Yami seemed in disbelief.
"Yugi…they did this to me! Because of them I died! Because of them I suffered! Because of them I was tormented without being at fault! If it weren't of them…if it weren't of them then I…"
"Yami-kun, no! They were children! They were just children. They thought of it as a joke! They didn't know what they were doing! They probably did not know that the elders would seal away that path two days after! You must not hate them, Yami-kun! Hatred is poison! You mustn't think of revenge either! Don't lose yourself!"
"But…Yugi…"
"Besides" Yugi didn't give him space to doubt, "this was 70 years ago. Now Ushio-san might already be…"
He couldn't tell it straight forward but it was obvious. 70 years was some long time. Ushio might have died of old age or out of illness already. Yami was frozen to place as if Yugi had now spoken a truth he had never thought of before. His limbs relaxed completely, no, he let them fall soullessly to the floor he was kneeling on.
Yugi could tell what was going on. As a ghost he had remained on this land of the living because of the hatred and this "unfinished business" he had from the past. Now though, that the responsible of his death might already be dead, then what was left for him to do? How could his spirit rest in peace now?
"But…" Yami mumbled, "Then…what can I do…? What's left of me to do…?"
Yugi smiled softly.
"You should remain yourself, Yami-kun. And perhaps if we burry your body, if we give it a proper funeral then you too might be…"
Yami looked at him, as if he didn't know what to say. Yugi was so gentle to him. The warmth touched his heart. He threw a scared glance towards the direction the crypt was and then back at Yugi.
"You…really think so…?" he dared to ask in a small voice, teary
"I know so" Yugi smiled, using the words Yami had used towards that boy
Yami looked at him. The recognition was obvious in his eyes. He managed to smile at last and nodded his head. Yugi nodded back.
"Now…let's clean this mess up shall we? Tomorrow we'll have the school's festival's opening ritual."
Yami smiled and nodded once more. Yugi helped him stand…
Indeed next day seemed quite busy. All hallways of school were now decorated with colored papers and garlands. Students were working all day to prepare the school for the opening ceremony. In reality it would be some older students of the past that had already graduated, to speak about their old times in school and finally the school principal would give the signal for the school festival to start.
Yugi was grateful for the great amount of work because like that Yami and he could get their minds occupied and forget about the horrible moments. Yami had also promised he would think about getting a funeral for his body later on. For now he needed time and Yugi believed this was perfectly understandable, taking under consideration how difficult time Yami has been through the past days. Around lunchtime they had all finished decoration and by the end of it, the first invited people had started to come. Most of them were now students at universities and colleges and some others were already adults that were making their careers. There were also some older people though, grandparents and some other aged people that had graduated from Domino High School. The occasion seemed to be special because of them.
"Whoa!" Yugi said enthusiastically, "Look, how many people have come, Yami-kun!"
Yami gave a weak smile.
"Yeah, I guess you're right!"
Yugi looked at him. He could tell that Yami was trying really hard to be cheerful and get over his shock. He was already slightly better and wasn't shaking so much, but from time to time, while the two of them were cleaning the room the night before, Yami would take glances towards the sealed crypt as if he was expecting the skeleton to come up walking and hunt him down. Even now he seemed kind of nervous.
There was the sound of the school bell that was calling everyone to take seats for the ceremony to begin. Yugi took a glance of Yami.
"I have to go to my seat, Yami-kun"
"You do? Oh, I see…then go…"
Yugi looked at him.
"Won't you come along?"
"I will. In a second"
Yugi smiled and nodded, following the river of students inside the main hall of the school. Yami was left behind for a second. He sighed as he watched students walk. His eyes were sad. 'I could be one of them', his eyes said. 'I could be alive with them'. Yami wasn't even to the graduation photo of the second year. He had so many dreams as a student, and they were all taken away from him, for a stupid joke. He had suffered in a deathtrap because of a stupid joke that went too far… He shook his head to clear those thoughts away. Yugi was right. Thinking of it all the time wouldn't change anything. Perhaps he should enjoy the moment and push the bad memories aside. Perhaps, if gods still listened to him and had the tiniest bit of compassion, he would forget of this pain and hatred with time, like his memories were erased once, a little before his death…
He sighed once more and flowed in the air, passed through the wall and entered the other side of it, inside the ceremony. Children were already taking their seats. The room was packed with people. The platform at the end of it had a counter with the microphone where the speakers would tell their stories. Indeed this was the day the school would celebrate 100 years anniversary and so that was the meaning of the ceremony. More people kept on coming. However a particular person drew his attention. It was an old man, as it seemed between the age of 85 and 90 years of age. He gave the impression that he used to be a tall and well-built man in his youth but now his body was bended over, forming a hump and his limbs were now flabby and cumbersome. His face was full of wrinkles and black dots while his hair that probably used to be hard and good, now were completely white and had started become thinner, leaving part of his scull invisible beneath (which also had some black dots on it). He was dressed in a khaki suit, without wearing a necktie, brown shoes and he was assisting his walking with a wooden walking stick. Yami felt himself narrowing his eyes as if by instinct to observe him better. Something on him felt strange…familiar… One of the students was assisting him in his steps, having his arms protectively around the old man.
"Come…come over here, Ushio-san…" he said politely
The sound of the whisper made Yami freeze to his spot and his eyes widened so much that if they were able to slip out of their phantom-sockets, they would have done so. Their pupils were also so small that seemed lost within the levanter color of the iris.
Ushio! He had said Ushio!
Yami's shaking hands found their way up to his head, which they grabbed as if the fingers wanted to penetrate his scull. Images rushed through his mind like scenes in a cinematic record. Tetsu Ushio laughing arrogantly, Tetsu Ushio ordering his gang grab him, Tetsu Ushio helping them throw him into the dark basement…
"Tetsu-san…welcome to our school…" one of the teachers said politely
Tetsu Ushio! He had said Tetsu Ushio!
Everything in Yami's vision seemed red now. If his body were alive now, his heart would sure have skipped beats hammering against his ribcage and his blood would have reached volcanic temperatures up in his head. Tetsu Ushio was there! His killer had dared to lay a foot in that school, there he was now, heading towards his chair, alive and having lived his life while Yami was now floating in the air, a ghost trapped in this school, invisible and ignored by everyone for more than 70 years!
His fists clenched so tightly that if he had a physical body, they would have bled for sure. He suddenly felt as if his fists hurt him at the back where his physical body had the cracks at the bones. His eyebrows knitted together so hard that they would stick onto the bridge of his nose if they could. Hatred was set aflame inside him like a wave of lava and there was no way he could stop it now. He had his killer right before him!
That bastard! It was time for him to pay for the life he destroyed and took!
Tetsu Ushio had spoken in the ceremony and taken his seat soon afterwards, but now he was walking down the corridors, searching for the bathroom. He had obviously taken the wrong turn since he was not familiar with the new building's plan. He was mumbling something through his teeth as he was looking around. From some satanic coincidence he found himself in the middle of the old hallway. Was it instinct that brought him there or something else? Ushio didn't know. All he knew was that he was lost in this school and that he could only hear the sound of his walking stick against the boards of the floor. When…
"I FOUND YOU!"
That was a deadly whisper coming from Yami's smirking lips. And then Yami moved his arm once and every single window of the hallway broke in thousands of pieces all around Ushio. Ushio let out a loud cry of fear and covered his head with both hands, to protect himself from the rain of glass. When he looked around his eyes widened in pure horror. In the middle of the hallway was Yami, grinning maliciously. He was holding an old baseball bat. He looked the youth he was in his 16, and was standing there with the at all pleasant sardonic grin to his face, having a murderous look in his eyes. Ushio fell onto his butt on the floor.
"Y-Yami!" he rasped out in horror dragging his but backwards to escape as far as he could from Yami, "Impossible! You're dead! You can't be!"
Yami chuckled a dark chuckle opening his arms as if ready to hug him and took a step closer.
"Let's play, Ushio-san!" he said mockingly, walking slowly yet steadily towards him
"STAY BACK! DON'T COME! DON'T COME!" Ushio screamed
And forgetting all his pained bones and his bad waist, he rolled over so he was face down, got back to his feet and sprinted out, running like hell, as if the Devil himself was chasing him. Yami chuckled once more as he started following him, as if he was in no hurry at all. Ushio on the other hand was running for his life, while rasping out like a broken train.
"Ready or not, here I come…!" Yami's voice echoed as if they were playing hide and seek
However Ushio felt this would be a game of life and death. He ran half-screaming for help. Suddenly Yami appeared close to him, passing through a wall.
"I see you!" Yami said in a sing-a-song voice as if he had found the tag
He raised his bat to the air and broke another window close to him, sending another rain of glass to the frightened old man, who screeched in horror and kept running. He tripped, he fell, and he stood again and kept on running. Yami chuckled darkly.
"Tag! You're 'it' Ushio-san" he said the honorific dripping with sarcasm
Yugi was still in the room of the ceremony. He felt a slight flatter in his heart and gasped, holding his shirt at that spot. He felt strange. It also bothered him that he hadn't felt Yami close to him anymore. Something was definitely wrong. He could feel it. Normally Yami would have come to him already, so they would watch the ceremony together but Yami never showed up. Half of the ceremony was over already but still not sign of Yami. That wasn't the only reason Yugi was feeling worried though. Ever since the day he had given Yami his body as a vessel, he could feel parts he did, he could tell when Yami was getting through an intense emotion.
Right now he could feel strangely…angry. It wasn't normal. Why would Yami be so angry? No, scratch that, he wasn't just angry, he was furious, he was almost mad, sad and devastated at the same time. Why? And also where was he?
"Tetsu-san hasn't returned yet…" someone behind him whispered.
In the beginning Yugi thought he shouldn't worry but then the name hit him like a lightning.
"Tetsu-san?!" he thought suddenly, "Tetsu Ushio-san!"
He shot up from his chair (earning a couple of annoyed protests from behind) but he paid no mind. He shot up and started to run. He ran out of the room and upwards the stairway to head towards the Old Building. He was running with all the strength his small legs could give him and as fast as his breath allowed him and only one thing was to his mind right now:
"Yami-kun! Oh, goodness! No! No! Please, don't do it Yami-kun!"
Ushio collapsed to his hands and knees, panting heavier than a train that was climbing the mountain. Sweat was cascading like a river down his wrinkled face, his lungs desperately whistling with every breath he took. He could run no more. However with yet another gasp he turned around so he was sitting on his butt and saw Yami, who was above him, his eyes dark like two bottomless pools of cold glass, he was staring down at him with disgust and absolute contempt. He now looked at him the same way he would look at a vermin, to some insect that didn't have much yet to live. This face of his now seemed a hundred times scarier than the previous playful, dark and sardonic look of his. Before he seemed willing to play with his victim; now he seemed ready to kill!
"You're not so tough now, ain't ya?" he said darkly, re-producing what Ushio had told him
"P-Please! Please, mercy!" the old man rasped out
However Yami appeared to have deaf ears to his pleas and he only frowned.
"I wonder…how should I pay you back for what you did to me? Should I burry you? Huh? Tell me! Should I burry you down to the same crypt to keep some company to the rotten air of MY corpse?"
Ushio's eyes widened, on his wrinkled, pulpy face.
"No…please mercy! Please…!"
"SHUT UP!" Yami bellowed for the first time
Ushio cowered away on the floor, covering his head with his arms. He was almost sobbing in fear. Yami frowned, feeling more disgust for him than he felt when he saw his own skeleton rotting away.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" he mocked him, "Good… Then in that case…"
He raised the baseball bat over his head
"…Perhaps I should give an end to your misery!"
Ushio gaped in horror. This would be the end of his.
"YAMI-KUN! NO!"
Yami gasped in shock because Yugi had rushed and thug himself between him and Ushio, blocking his way with his two small arms extended to either side, protectively. He was out of breath and he seemed scared but he wouldn't move even an inch. Yami surpassed his first shock and his eyes narrowed enraged.
"Yugi get out of the way!" he whispered deadly
"No!" Yugi yelled determinedly, "No, don't do this! Yami-kun! Please don't do this!"
"Yugi I said MOVE!"
"No! Please don't do this! Don't lose yourself like this! Do not paint your hands with blood! You are not a killer! You are not like that! You kept your sanity for so long! Please don't lose it now! I beg of you don't!"
"Yugi! Do you know who this man is?" Yami screamed desperately
The baseball bat he was holding was moving from one side to the other as he moved his arms enraged.
"This is the man who destroyed my life! I have waited in this building for 70 years! 70 freaking years I was alone in this school, with no life, with no dreams! I had promised to myself revenge against those who did this to me! Against this monster who did this to me! I LIVED FOR THIS TILL NOW!"
"I know!" Yugi yelled, "I know what he did to you, but killing him now won't bring your life back! Killing him won't give you back the years you lost! You will gain nothing from it! Please, Yami-kun! If there is Next Life for you to go to, please do not stain your hands with blood! Please go to Paradise and not to Hell! Don't do something you will regret later! Please, Yami-kun! Please!"
Yami was staring at Yugi, his eyes making spasms of anger; his hand was clenching the baseball bat in a painful grip. He was shaking uncontrollably and for a second it seemed to Yugi that he had lost his friend already, that he would strike right now and hit them both. However suddenly Yami dropped the baseball bat, grabbed his head with both hands and fell on his knees to the floor releasing the most horrible, angered, regretful and confused scream he had done so far…
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
While Ushio had thug to the floor for dear life Yugi was staring at Yami pitifully, his eyes now full of hot, burning, salty years. However he made no move to go towards Yami. On the contrary he left him there, screaming as if someone was getting inside his head, splitting it in two from inside…
Well guys, knowing how much you wanted to see the rest of my story...here comes the climax!
Believe me, along with the chapter that shows Yami's past, this should be the most intense chapter I have written in the story. Maybe it is even more intense than the previous one because here you see all stages of Yami's psychology, from absolute horror to absolute hatred and finally to the "change of heart"
I think that is the key to explain why this chapter is so intense. Yami had to stay alone with all his demons for a whole night at school, shaking in fear and hatred. Yugi was not there to help him and support him and I think that is the key to Yami's emotional outbreak. And I think every night he stayed alone till the ceremony (cause you can tell Yugi couldn't sleep over at school EVERY night) triggered the whole thing for Yami to lose control of his emotions.
It is pretty understandable if you think about it because right now he got his memories back and along with them he got all his bitterness about his very own death, thinking that as a child he had made so many dreams and everything was taken from him so violently and so suddenly that Yami feels the injustice drowning him, plus the possibility that his source of suffering might have died earlier and that he had lost his chance even to get redemption was a traumatic experience for him...
My Aibou (MutouYuugiAibouFan) had mentioned that this chapter reminded her of Season 0 Yami all over again and that might be correct. He indeed resembles him but in a way worse way because here Yami is not master of himself and his emotions but engulfed from them. He does not think clear in this part of my story like he usually does in Season 0.
Yes I wanted to be realistic with Ushio; the way he grew old and stuff. You'll see on the next chapter that Ushio grew old quite painfully and yes remorse has to do with it. You'll see soon though what it means and what happened to him
And because you know me I am a Japanese-Freak, I added a few quotes here, having in mind some japanese phrases. For example:
* When Yugi says "That's not good!" it was inspired by the japanese phrase "Dame da yo!" "dame" means "bad" or "not good" and it is a way of speaking when someone gives you an advice of not doing something. It is also used as an exclamation sometimes and can be translated simply as "Oh, no!"
(It is also direct imply of episode 158 of Yu-Gi-Oh when Yugi screams "Dame da yo! Mou Hitori no Boku!" -'That's not good!/Oh, no!, Other Me!'-)
* When Yami sais "I found you!" it is the japanese "Mitsuketa!" which means "found"
* When playing hide-and-seek in japanese instead of saying "ready or not here I come!" they ask "Mou ii ka(i)?", "Is it good now?" in other words "Have you hidden yourself yet?" so that's what Yami firstly says
* Ushio screams "DON'T COME!" before running. That in Japanese is translated "KURU NA!"
As you can imagine I was inspired by music for this. Music ost inspired by this chapter come from animes "Jugoku Shoujo/Hell Girl" and "Mononoke"
(Jigoku Shoujo OST 16 - Kakugo) = plays when Yami focuses on Ushio and till the end of the scene
(Mononoke Ost 06 - Isamashige) = starts to play after Yami says "I found you!" till the end of the chapter - in other words when windows start to break till the end
(I personally found this the most fitting song because it indeed resembles of a japanese ghost coming after you, epspecially since they add that japanese flute in it)
We reached the climax guys! Now we start to get to the point!
