The Frost King Chapter 21: The Diagnosis, a Yu-Gi-Oh + Don't Starve Crossover fanfic

And now for Chapter 21, in which things happen and Wilson has to be the bearer of bad news….And it's the first day of the new schedule! What do you all think?

Yuko13, thanks for the review! Aha, yes, a little advance warning would have been better, but my Mom senses storms a few hours to a whole day before they happen, so I'm guessing it's not an exact science. It went on vacation, I'm going to say….

The next three days were spent with Wilson, Joey and Tristan in the cramped basement, working on the boiler.

Yugi and Willow were acting mostly as gofers, making sure that everyone had everything they needed for scientific advancement. After three days, Yugi could finally see something in the metallic mess the three had been working on.

It looked like it could work.

"Okay," Wilson said, blowing on his hands to warm them. "Now we put snow in the belly here, light a fire beneath it, and the steam should warm up the rest of the building."

"Or, y'know, we just cram everybody down here," Joey said, rubbing at his arms. "Tristan said something about that the other day."

"Oh sure, blame me," Tristan groused.

Yugi and Willow simply watched the older kids and waited patiently for Wilson to do what they all had been waiting for.

Wilson's hand hesitated on the lever.

"Just do it," Willow commanded.

Wilson did so.

There was a mechanical whirring as the machine struggled to life. Yugi started to feel a little warmer.

"I think it might be working," Yugi announced.

"Not properly," Wilson said, examining something in the ceiling. "Tristan, I told you to work on this."

"Got it," Tristan said, fiddling with something where Wilson was looking. Yugi wished he had a better angle.

They waited a few more minutes, Joey feeding the fire beneath the boiler.

Yugi could hear the now-water bubbling.

It was a full hour later that Wilson finally said what they all had been hoping for.

"Gentlemen—and lady," he said, dipping his head towards Willow. "I believe we have achieved success."

Yami sat outside his home, happily watching the storm roll in.

Woo yes, it was going to be a doozy. Just look at how those clouds roiled!

Yami bounced happily a bit at the thought and the wording. Hanging around three new friends had certainly expanded his vocabulary. He would have to thank Cardinal-friend for introducing him to Yugi—

That took the wind out of Yami's sails. He had met Yugi due to the fact that he was dying in a snowstorm just like this one. No…one weaker than this one.

Yami suddenly felt something he wasn't accustomed to.

A bad feeling deep in the pit of his stomach.

Over the next few days, Yugi did note a minor change in the temperature in the hall, although Wilson attributed this to the heavy blanket of snow coating it and refused to give his boiler much credit.

"I don't get it," Yugi said to Willow as they sat in front of the fire, darning clothes. "He goes to all this trouble, and then when it's finally working, he doesn't think it works."

"It's a science thing," Willow replied sagely. "He's hedging his bets so he can look all smart once it works."

"Now Miss Willow, that is not the case," Wilson said, coming up with fresh clothes in need of repair. "I know just how smart I am, and I don't need anyone else to know."

"Right," Yugi and Willow chimed.

Wilson harrumphed and deposited the clothes, crossing over to converse with Joey, who was sitting next to his sister.

Yugi felt his eyebrows knit at that. It was strange…Joey had been sticking close to his sister Serenity ever since she developed that cough….It wasn't much, but it had been niggling at her for over a week now. Maybe she was coming down with something. And if she was coming down with something…they all would. They were in an enclosed environment for the next two weeks, according to Yami. There was no getting away from the germs.

"Do you think Serenity's contagious?" Yugi asked Willow in an undertone.

"I'd be worried more if Joey was," Willow replied, not bothering to keep her voice down.

"I heard that!" Joey yelled.

Yugi rolled his eyes and went back to work. That hadn't answered his question. If Serenity was contagious, Ushio or one of the other guards might send her out in the cold. If they did that, then Joey would go with her. If Joey went, Tristan might go too—that made three gone.

Yugi glanced over; Wilson was over there, scientific tools in hand, talking with Serenity and taking her temperature and using a stethoscope (which was not pre-heated—Yugi knew that for a fact) to listen to her heartbeat.

He wondered if anything was wrong.

"Well?"

It was late, and most everyone else was asleep. Only a handful of adults were awake and conversing, and Wilson was sitting with them, plus Joey and Ushio—who had taken some time off of guard duty to attend.

Wilson knew the real reason for this circle—had known it the minute he had said something about bad news: they were there to potentially prevent Mr. Joseph "Joey" Wheeler from doing something incredibly stupid.

Wilson, however, didn't feel in any particular hurry to share this parcel of bad news. It made him sick to think about it, but he realized there was no choice. He took a deep breath and said it.

"It's your sister, Mr. Wheeler. She's…ah…."

"She's dying," Ushio said, all bluntness.

Joey spun around. "What?"

"It's obvious."

"And you're remarkably blunt," Yugi's mother, Hannah, noted.

"It's pneumonia," Wilson said, intercepting Joey before he could physically assault Ushio. "It…I'm pretty sure it's complications from being in this sort of weather so long—"

"So?" Joey seethed, turning his ire towards Wilson instead. He shoved Wilson away, sending him tumbling into Ushio. "You're the egghead! Fix her!"

Ushio righted Wilson. "I can't, Mr. Wheeler," Wilson said testily, straightening his shirt out. "We don't have that sort of technology anymore." A moment of confusion flicked across Joey's face. "We don't have much of anything left here anymore," Wilson sighed.

"But you're the resident genius! Fix her!"

"We didn't have anything like that in the Sunlit Kingdom," Hannah's grandfather, Solomon put in sagely.

"Of course you didn't," Wilson retorted. "The heat and the dryness would dry up any cough."

"So let's go!" Joey said, waving his arms. "We head for this place and be done with it!"

"Did your brain freeze recently?" Ushio asked. "We're snowed in. Even without this storm, no one's ever made it past the Pass. The Frost King got them all."

Wilson grimaced at that; he couldn't link Yami with that image anymore.

"So we get everyone together and rush the Pass! We've been wanting to get out of here for ages!"

Wilson glanced at Hannah and Solomon, who had glanced at each other. It wasn't lost on Ushio, but he was too preoccupied with Joey to comment. "So we all die?"

Joey looked winded. "So my sister dying is better than everyone dying?"

"I didn't say that."

"Oh sure! Trust me, I got what you said! And I'm not putting my sister on the chopping block fer you!"

And with that, Joey stomped off.

Wilson watched him go with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There went three more denizens of Frostmore.

He turned—

And caught a glimpse of something.

There, snuggled with Willow, was Yugi. Wide awake, but feigning sleep, there was something very horrified in his expression when he locked eyes with Wilson.

Wilson sighed and walked off.