Lovers' Collection Chapter 25: Wax Nightmare, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Zypher: Hi all and welcome to another ficlet for Lovers' Collection. Glad that you enjoyed the last chapter now here's a new one for ya only with a little darker tone to it. Hope you enjoy.

Summary: Yugi joins up with a group of people to go see a competition over in another town but after the van breaks down, the group made a detour in Sakkaku filled with what seemed to be people. But they soon learned the gruesome truth and now had to fight for their lives to survive. But the creatures within had a different goal in mind and it all focuses on Yugi.

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu-gi-oh or the movie plot to House of Wax.

Note: The setting will be different from the usual Japan setting that I use oh so often so for those that have seen the movie before can get a good idea of settings although I will be switching and sprucing things up a little.

The Wax Nightmare

Yugi sighed, taking a glance at his watch to check the time. It was 10:58am and he was still waiting for the group that was coming with him to the competition. The motley group joining him was far from his average friends, who couldn't make it, but since they wanted to see it decided to offer to take them since his grandfather had a van they could use for the trip. He soon spotted the five coming with him and gave a relieved sigh. "About time you got here. We're going to be late." One of the girls in the group gave an indignant sound, brushing back her shoulder length hair before wrapping an arm around the blond male that was coming with them. Yugi really didn't like Keith Howard, going by Bandit Keith by countless people that had met him before. His girlfriend, clearly underage by two years was Anzu Masaki. The other three were Vivian Wong, whom he believed to have come only for him, "Dinosaur" Ryuzaki and Insector Haga, the last two always partnering up to commit timeless pranks on people.

"Oh, stop whining, kid. At least we made it. Honestly, I rather get another ride but seeing as my car's in the shop and you're the only other person we know that's going, you were the last hope to making it to the competition." Keith spoke, rolling cobalt eyes before wrapping an arm around Anzu's waist. Yugi sighed, thinking to himself about the same, before heading over to the driver's seat and climbed in, the others taking their seats with Vivian sitting in the passenger seat. Soon, they were on their way to the town where the competition was held, only a day away from home. After a good few hours, it was soon hitting dusk and they all came to a stop at a nearby inn for the night. They got their three shared rooms, Yugi having the displeasure of sharing with Vivian, and were now in the nearby diner to get something to eat. Anzu was uneasy, seeing as they were the only people in the diner but didn't mind as the waitress brought over their food. As they ate, a scent wafted in through the open door and Ryuzaki gagged, holding his nose. "Ugh! What is that smell?!"

"Eww! It smells like something's rotting around here!" Anzu whined.

"Man! That's sick if it is!" Keith murmured, placing down the burger he was eating, too sick to finish it. The same went for the rest of the group as they got up and paid for their partially eaten meals and ran back to the less rancid smell of their inn rooms. When they didn't see was a figure watching them from the shadows before disappearing as quietly as it had appeared. After getting a shower and into some fresh clothes, Yugi went to get into bed. "Hey, Yugi, why don't you ever ask me out for a date?" Vivian questioned. "Because I'm not really looking for a girlfriend right now." Yugi answered as he sat down on his bed. "Oh come on, you're 20. You should be going steady by now." she whined as she sat up in her bed. "I'm perfect for you. I can promise that."

"But even if I was, you don't have anything I'm looking for in a girlfriend."

"What?!" Vivian started to tear up from his words. "Then tell me what you're looking for in a girlfriend! I can do whatever you want to be the person you're looking for!"

"No, Vivian. Get some sleep." Yugi announced before shutting off the lights and got comfortable in his bed. Vivian uttered a small curse before she did the same.

It was late in the night when the figure from before came up to the inn. Cloaked in all black that covered every part of the figure, it ascended up the stairs to the second floor where the group rested. It walked to the room that Ryuzaki and Haga slept in and heard nothing but snores from the two. Next was Anzu and Keith's, backing off with a hiss when it heard less that savory sounds coming from the room before walking towards the last in which Yugi and Vivian shared.

All was quiet and the person didn't give a second thought as it slipped back downstairs, stepping to the van parked in the lot. Easily opening the hood with a few tools it contained, the person snipped the fan belt and took it before leaving the scene, disturbing nothing in its wake.

The next day, everyone ate a quick breakfast, mostly to avoid catching the cloying scent of roadkill permeating the diner again, before they piled into the van, ready to get going again. But when Yugi tried to rev up the van, the engine stalled. "Come on, this thing was working fine yesterday." he muttered, trying again and again only to get the same result. Yugi climbed out the car, followed by Vivian, and went to check under the hood for any problems with the van.

"Oh man." Yugi murmured and Vivian asked what was wrong. "We need a new fan belt. Somehow, the one in the van went missing. Where, when there's nothing nowhere around here except this inn and diner, I have no idea." Vivian frowned and went back to the open door to tell them rest the bad news. "Well, this is a load of bull. How are we going to find a town that's nowhere near walking distance?" Haga inquired. "We'll just have to see. I rather not be stuck here for the next few days. I don't have enough money to feed the five of you constantly." Yugi answered as he started for the diner to ask about directions to the nearest area. The others waited outside as he did so, not noticing the pickup truck rolling to a stop before them and the window being cranked down.

"Hey. The lot of you over there. Having some car troubles?" A voice called and Keith turned to look to the male looking over to them. He was quite scary looking with hard burgundy eyes that seem to promise something deadly and shocking grey-white hair. His mouth was pulled to a faint grin as he looked to them. Keith gave a nod, pulling away from Anzu to confront the odd male speaking with them. He told him what was going on and the person nodded, turning to the driver for a brief chat before looking back out the window. "We have enough room for two riders." Yugi came walking back out and the person pointed out that he could fit in the pickup truck. "Eh?" he asked, confused, before turning to the group he was joined with. "What did you guys agree to now?"

"Hey, the guy knows of a place not far from here where you can get a fan belt. So stop bitching and get into the truck so we can get out of here." Keith spoke and Yugi mumbled something as the door was opened and he climbed in. Vivian agreed to come along and she got inside as well before the door was closed and they were off.

The occupants of the truck were quiet, Yugi looking between the two men that he and Vivian sat between. The first that offered the ride, Bakura he said his name was, was looking out the window completely silent. The other who drove looked just as maniacal as the one they sat next to. Bleached blond hair stuck out in an array of spikes and the dark lavender eyes just seemed to circulate with psychotic mirth. How the other was so calm with driving without looking as if he would run the truck off the road will be beyond Yugi's comprehension. "So...what do you guys do out here?" Vivian asked hesitantly. "We gather up roadkill from the road and toss them out. You just don't know how many people are always out hitting deer and whatnot when you drive down here." The driver answered, grinning slightly. "But it's quite the fun little job once you get used to the smell of decaying rawhide." He gave a raucous laugh and Vivian shrunk away from him. Bakura gave a light chuckle as he looked to them. "Don't worry about Marik. He enjoys the job so don't question him about it." She gave a faint nod and was silent for the rest of the ride.

They turned off onto another street that was craftily hidden amongst the forest brush, Marik driving through with expert precision as if he has been on this road countless times before. Soon, he came to a stop and Bakura opened the door, climbing out. "Alright. Out you go. The town is just a little ways off if you keep going down that way." He pointed north and they nodded as they climbed out. They watched as Bakura entered the truck once more and Marik backed out, soon leaving them there. "Well, we best get going now." Yugi muttered as he and Vivian started for the hidden town.

In the truck, Bakura gave another smirk as he picked up a cell and pressed the quick call key.

In the shadows of a dark house, a phone rung and something moved in the shadows before picking it up. "You'll be having visitors momentarily." Bakura's voice drifted. The figure gave a smirk.

"Thank you...nii-sama..." The phone was placed back on the hook before a pearly white grin showed in the darkness as the figure disappeared.

When they reached the town, Yugi looked to the sign that read 'Welcome to Sakkaku. Home of the House of Wax museum'. "Oh, a museum. We should check it out, Yugi." Vivian suggested. "We don't have any time to do that, Vivian. We need to get a fan belt from the gas station and get back before Keith gets into a fit for taking so long." Vivian pouted, looking over to the grand structure of the museum as Yugi headed towards the gas station that he spotted. She followed behind him quietly, looking around the deserted streets and into shop windows, seeing people doing their daily jobs. Yugi knocked on the locked door of the gas station to see if anyone was there but there was no answer.

"Hmm, wonder where they are?" he murmured, looking through the glass door for any sign of a mechanic. Vivian rubbed at her arms lightly, getting a foreboding feeling before she saw a shady figure entering the museum and tugged on Yugi's sleeve hard. He pulled away, asking what was wrong and she explained about the person she just saw. "We should go see who it is. Maybe they know where the mechanic is." she suggested. "I suppose you're right. Besides, we'll be hitting two birds with one stone since you want to see the museum so badly." Yugi answered as they ran over to the wax museum.

Down in a basement, it was far from any ordinary basement. Inside were items and machines that had a macabre feel to it. A figure stood before a huge cauldron, mixing something in silence. Another came walking downstairs before removing the wrap that covered his face, revealing him to be a young-looking dragon covered with black plated scales, glittering crimson eyes being one of his eye-catching features. "We have some new visitors to our town. Nii-sama brought them here." The figure stopped mixing the boiling vat before turning to the dragon, smirking softly. "Then shall we give them the family greeting, otouto?"

The other gave a nod and the first snuffed out the fire before grabbing a wrap from the hook next to him and wrapped it over his face, waking over to replace the one over his younger brother's face and they headed upstairs.

"Oh wow. All this is magnificent." Vivian whispered when they entered the wax museum to find themselves in a near clear representation of an Egyptian palace done up in wax. Many figurines consist of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, items that a pharaoh would own and it was even complete with very good standees of Egyptian royalty and slaves that were scattered throughout the place. Yugi walked over to a wax figure of a tiny jackal and picked it up, examining the craftsmanship of it. "I have to agree. Whoever the artist was sure did take their time with this." he said, turning the statue over to see a name carved into the bottom.

'Kkwy. Odd name to mark the work with.' he thought before replacing the statue. He and Vivian continued looking around, coming across the throne room, dining room and slave quarters before their final stop was made into the kitchen area. Yugi looked at some of the dishes and cookware as Vivian examined the cook that was placed into the room. "You know, Yugi, its eerie how real these people look." Vivian whispered as she gazed out the window that let light filter into the room and screamed, backing away when something huge and dark passed by quick as a flash. "Vivian, what's wrong?" Yugi questioned.

"Th-there was something at the window!" she screeched and Yugi checked to see if anything was there but seeing nothing, he turned back to her. "Well, whatever it was, it's not there anymore. Come on. Let's go see if there's anyone at the gas station now." She nodded, taking Yugi's offered hand and followed him from the museum, never seeing someone watching them leave, preferably Yugi most of all.

"What's taking them so long? It shouldn't take this long to get a fan belt from a gas station and come back." Ryuzaki muttered. "Shut up, Ryuzaki. Maybe wherever they had to go is far and if those guys that dropped them off aren't waiting for them, it would be one hell of a trip back." Keith countered. "That or when they were dropped off, they took a page from your book about what you and Anzu do in your spare time, Keith." Haga chirped, giving a nasally snicker. "As far as I know it, Yugi doesn't even like Vivian that way so the possibilities of that are highly unlikely." Anzu spoke before looking up, hearing a car coming down the road and saw it to be the same pickup truck that offered the ride to Vivian and Yugi. "Hey! Hey!" she cried, waving her arms to catch their attention, and the truck came to a stop again, Marik peeking his head out from the window.

"What?"

"Where are our two friends that you gave a ride to?"

"Who?"

"You know. Short kid with the wild hair and the Chinese girl."

"Oh...them..." Marik pulled his head back in, giving a smirk and Keith demanded to know what was going on. Marik gave a dark chuckle, putting his head back out the window and looked to the remainder of the group. "Let's just say once you go to Sakkaku, you'll become permanent residents there." He gave another laugh that brought a chill down their spines before the truck tore off down the road. "Shit. What did he mean by that?" Keith muttered. "I don't know but I think we need to find a way to that town and find out before something happens." Ryuzaki suggested. They gave a nod, looking down the road Bakura and Marik came down, knowing that it will be quite the hike to find the town of Sakkaku.

Yugi and Vivian were back in front of the gas station again, looking around for any sign of the mechanic. "Come on." Yugi murmured, pounding on the door. "Is anyone there?" Soon, footsteps were heard as someone came around the corner. It was a dragon, much taller than the two of them, wearing the mechanic uniform. "Ah. There you are. Where were you earlier?" Yugi questioned as he looked to him. The dragon gave a light chuckle, giving a soft smile to the two. "Terribly sorry. I was on my break and when I came back, I didn't bother to open my door since I went back to work in the garage." he explained as he walked over, kneeling down to eye Yugi. "So, what do you need, little one?"

"Well, my friend and I here came to get a fan belt. My van is missing one and we have to get somewhere before dusk." The dragon nodded, smiling as he stood. "Then come with me and I'll get you a new one from the back." They nodded and followed behind him into the garage, coming across another person with a mask over his face as he worked with a torch to meld something together on the car that he was working on. As they walked by, neither Yugi nor Vivian notice that the other stopped his work to examine them. Reaching the storage room, the dragon turned back to them. "Well, let me get that fan belt. If you have any question, just ask my partner over there." They nodded and soon, the dragon disappeared into the back room.

Vivian and Yugi were quiet, sometime looking over to the man that was working on the car. Yugi gave a sigh as he stood, causing Vivian to look to him. "Something wrong?"

"Need to use the bathroom." Yugi murmured as he walked over to the man working and tapped his arm lightly. He stopped his work, looking down to Yugi. "If it isn't any trouble and a distraction from your work, can you direct me to the bathroom?" The male gave a nod, placing the torch on the floor before leading Yugi away. Vivian watched them go before giving a sigh, wondering what was taking the other so long to fetch the fan belt. She was completely unaware of the storage door opening and the other, holding the fan belt in hand with a dark grin on his face, slipping out.

"I hope he doesn't take long…" Vivian murmured. "Where you're going, it won't matter." She gasped, ready to turn and confront the other when the belt was wrapped around her neck tightly, cutting off her air supply until she fainted. He let her body fall to the floor, tossing the fan belt before grabbing her and slung her over his shoulder, walking out the gas station and toward the museum. "Aniki will be happy to add you to the collection…" After Yugi was done his business, he followed the man back downstairs to see that the dragon took up where he left off and Vivian missing. "Hey, where did Vivian go?" The dragon looked to him. "Oh, your friend? She left with the fan belt already." he answered. "Really? I wouldn't think that she would leave me here."

"She'll come back with your friends once she gets that belt installed." Yugi nodded and sat down in a chair to watch the other two work. "So, why is everything so deserted around here?"

"That's a secret that no one is to really speak of around here. Some say that Sakkaku is a haunted town after some accident that happened years ago but people still go on about their lives without too much distraction." The dragon spoke. Yugi gave a nod before he felt stupid. "You know, we've been chatting and I've yet to get your names. I'm Yugi Motou." he introduced.

"I'm Aqua and this is my sibling, Yami."

"No surname?"

"Nope."

"I see."

Yugi sat there quietly, hoping that it wouldn't take long for the group to get here so they could continue their trip. But like Vivian, he felt something off about the two before him and the fact that Vivian would leave him to give the fan belt to the others. He knew for a fact that with an opportunity to spend time like this with him, just the two of them, she wouldn't leave without him. He looked around before spotting the fan belt on the floor and gasped, looking back up to inquire about Vivian's whereabouts but was only met with a blow to the back of his head.

"Hey, there's a road." Haga pointed out and the group of four turned down the road, soon coming up onto the deserted town on Sakkaku. "Well, here we are." Anzu murmured, looking to her watch. "After an hour of walking. We need to take a break." The other agreed and went over to the gas station, Keith knocking on the door to see if anyone was there but all was quiet. "Guess they went out on break themselves. Let's just wait here." he spoke and they agreed, going over to sit on the curb to rest their aching legs and feet. They looked around the empty streets, looking in windows at the people supposedly working and getting a good view of the place before Ryuzaki pointed to the House of Wax museum down the street.

"Maybe we should check over there. If Yugi and Vivian aren't here getting the fan belt, they might be in there."

They nodded and once they were well rested, they started for the museum.

Vivian blinked faintly, gaining her bearings back and looked around but winced as something poked her cheek. Her vision cleared and she gasped, realizing she was in some sort of machine. Encasing her head was a contraption with needles sticking out from all ends, leaving her practically immobile to move her head without getting pricked. She looked around with her eyes, only faintly seeing something moving in the corner but since she couldn't turn her head, she couldn't see who it was for sure. "Aniki, shall we start the waxing?" A familiar voice spoke and she tried again to turn without causing herself damage, catching faintly the sight of a blue uniform. The very same blue that the uniform the dragon mechanic wore back at the station. "Yes. Let's prepare her then we shall attend to the little one." The other spoke and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. 'No! They have Yugi!' She wished to call out to the smaller but seeing as he might be in the same position as her, they couldn't do anything to escape.

Her eyes widened as the face of the other came into her view, a dark grin settling over his face. "You'll make a fine princess." he whispered before leaving, heading over to the switch for the machine and turned it on. Vivian started to struggle but her hands and feet were bound tight and she started to whimper. The nozzles that surrounded her came on, spraying her entire form with piping hot wax and unable to resist the chances of getting Yugi hurt in any way any longer, she cried out to him. "Yugi! Yugi, save me!" The other was still on the ground unconscious, Aqua standing by his side to make sure he stayed that way. Seeing as there was no hope, she continued to scream out in horror, Yami turning the machine off and leaving the wax to harden. "We'll see you soon to give you your new position in our museum. Don't ruin that expression with looks of horror." Yami backed away from her before turning to Aqua and gave a nod. Aqua nodded back and picked up Yugi before they left from the basement.

Keith opened the door, looking inside before giving a nod to the rest standing behind him and walked in with Anzu, Ryuzaki and Haga following behind him. "Alright, we're going to split up and look around here to see if we can find them." Keith announced and they gave a nod before splitting up to look through the museum for any sign of Yugi or Vivian. With Ryuzaki, he was looking through the throne room area, also amazed by how lifelike each of the wax figures looked before he started calling Yugi and Vivian's names, hoping they will come out from wherever they were.

Haga was looking around the little slave quarters, Anzu in the main room and Keith getting ready to search upstairs. In an empty room that was the only normal room in the wax museum with a real bed and furniture were Yami and Aqua who were admiring the greatest gift to ever enter Sakkaku. "He looks so sweet. We must keep him. We surely can't turn him into another wax figure like the rest." Aqua spoke, looking to Yami. "And we won't." Yami answered as he looked down to the knocked-out male. "But if he runs...runs far from here, I want to have a memory of him." he whispered and Aqua looked to him before giving a nod, placing a hand upon Yami's shoulder.

"I'll go get a mold ready." Aqua soon left, leaving Yami alone. Things were silent in the room before Aqua came running back in. "Yami, we have live ones…they're looking for him." Yami bolted from the bed, giving a dark growl before giving a nod and he walked over to the wall where a hidden staircase was located and walked down, Aqua going over to lock the door so that none would find the room before following behind Yami.

"Yugi! Vivian! Where are you?!" Anzu called before giving a sigh, looking out the window and see it was getting dark, lights coming on in the shops that were outside. "Man, this place really gives me the creeps now. It's like this entire town was abandoned long ago." she murmured as she continued walking along until she found a door and opened it, seeing stairs leading down deeper into the museum. She headed down to check it out as she nothing else to do. "Come on out, Yugi! You and Vivian are going to make us late!" Haga called, adjusting his glasses as he looked through the dim room. All the eerie faces of the slaves that were malnourished and wearing drab clothing gave him a bit of a fright. He never noted the figure behind him until he heard more than one breath in the room. Haga looked back to see piercing red eyes watching him, a spark of death hidden among them and started running. The figure followed, lunging at him to grab him but he sidestepped just in time to avoid him and started for the door.

The figure hissed, pulling a dagger from his boot and tossed it at Haga's fleeing form, aiming right for his head but luckily enough, Haga slammed the door shut, seeing the dagger easily impale the wax door like butter. Gulping fearfully, he ran to find anyone else and warn them of the danger that nearly took his life.

Keith checked all the doors upstairs, not finding any sign of Yugi or Vivian, just more wax figures and furniture. 'They have to be in here somewhere. This is the only other place they would be at in the whole entire town.' he thought as he went for the last door and unlike all the others that were unlocked, this one was locked. He rapped on the door, finding it to be solid wood, and wondered if there was something in the room that the person who created the building was trying to hide. Ryuzaki found another doorway that led into the bowels of the museum and he went down there as well, looking around the dimly lit halls for any sign of someone being down there. "This place is like a maze…" he muttered, coming across another set of stairs and two more halls on either side. As he was contemplating where to go next, he never knew of the person coming up behind him, wielding two lethal looking daggers that looked to be of Egyptian lineage.

"You will not take the boy from us…" The voice hissed and Ryuzaki turned to face the figure. Seeing the three colors that matched perfectly with Yugi's, he debated if the other was actually the smaller trying to scare him. That changed quick seeing the narrowed crimson hues peeking from the cloth and he stumbled back, falling down the stairs. He winced, feeling like he twisted his ankle during the fall as he tried to get up but the figure only laughed. Dashing down the stairway quickly and without mercy, the figure stepped on the twisted ankle hard and making Ryuzaki howl out in even more pain. "I would make you into another addition but you are too damaged. No need for people to see you with a twisted ankle and wonder." The person murmured as he crossed the blades of the daggers he held. Ryuzaki pleaded for his life but was soon silenced as the daggers were brought down upon him. When the deed was done, he stood, dusting his hands before touching the tiny communicator that rested on his ear. "Otouto. Forget the others. I'll hunt for them. Attend to our new mannequin and get her set up in the throne room."

"Right away, aniki."

With that said, he was off, leaving Ryuzaki's decapitated head on the floor.

Anzu continued to explore the underground maze, looking around corners and backtracking occasionally when she found herself lost. "There has to be something down here if it's so confusing like this." she murmured, soon coming up to another room and was horrified at what she encountered. Macabre items filled the room, giving the sense of death to all that were brought there. She looked around, seeing something scarier each moment. She heard movement not far from her and peeked around, coming to a sight that would forever haunt her. Like he was told, Aqua was working with Vivian, moving every limb as he worked on clothing her with garments of an Egyptian princess. "You would probably be better off as a concubine but oh well. Your physical appearance won't matter anyway." Aqua whispered, cutting off a good portion of Vivian's hair before setting it in the right place and stepped back to admire the work. "Good. All you need is your circlet and we're done." he murmured, walking off to go fetch said item. With Aqua gone from the scene, Anzu quickly ran over to Vivian.

"Vivian, what happened to you?" Anzu questioned. Vivian didn't answer or even move and Anzu became more fearful about what happened to her. She reached out to touch her cheek lightly and reeled back when her skin felt softer than normal. "What the-" She prodded at Vivian's skin more until she was able to dig into it with a nail and tore a bit off. A horrified gasp left the brunette when she literally ripped it from her face, showing nothing but muscle and tendon underneath. "Oh my god! Vivian! What did they do to you?!" she cried out in panic, stepping away from the prone figure that was one of her friends. "Why, she was going to be part of our exhibit but now you ruined her." Aqua spoke as he appeared from the shadows, the gold circlet with a sapphire, teardrop cut gem resting on it gripped in his hands. Anzu quickly turned to face him, giving a squeak when she was caught. "W-who are you?! And what have you done with Vivian?!"

"She was going to be another perfect model in our homely palace. The princess of Egypt. But you ruined her face so she must be scrapped now." He dropped the circlet, his gaze still trained on Anzu. "But you'll be able to take her place quite nicely. A little cleaning and coat you in wax and you'll be ready." Anzu gasped, backing away before running. Aqua chuckled, giving a dark grin as he followed behind her at a leisure pace.

"You can run but you can't hide here…"

Haga was still running, breathing heavily as he tried to find somewhere he could hide. "This place is like a death trap." He spotted the front door and ran over, trying to open it but found it locked. "Come on. Open up. Open up…" he whimpered but seeing as he wasn't going to be making any progress, he decided the best course of action was to find someone and the only one he knew that could probably handle this was Keith. With that thought in mind, he started for the stairs leading up to the second floor, unaware of the person hiding in the shadows and waiting for the right moment. Glittering cerise watched Haga intensely and seeing as he was ascending the stairs, he made his move.

The glint of something in the shadows caught Haga's attention and he looked just in time to see the dagger being tossed his way, ducking out the way as the dagger dug into the wall. Taking erratic breaths, he started dashing up the stairs with the person following right behind him. "Keith! Keith, damn it, you better be up there!" Haga cried as he made it to the second floor. Keith heard Haga's cries and left from the door he was trying to kick down to see to Haga. As he ran, his mind reeling with panic, he wasn't watching where he was going and tripped, landing hard on the group and his glasses skidding across the floor. 'Shit. Not my glasses.' Haga cursed, trying to find them fast before the killer reached him.

But luck wasn't on his side as Yami appeared over the final step and glanced to him before giving a grin, starting for him. Keith was still running down the halls until he spotted Haga on the floor searching for his glasses. He looked up, seeing Yami wielding another dagger and looked ready to stab Haga in the back and without hesitation, leapt at him. Yami gasped as he was knocked over by the other, surprised that someone was even on the second floor and feared that he could've gotten Yugi from the locked room and helped his escape. 'No...I can't think that way...' His eyes narrowed as he looked to Keith. 'Cause I'm not going to lose him...' Soon, the fight ensued as Haga finally picked up his glasses. He placed them on before looking to the fighting duo on the floor. "Keith! Watch yourself!" he called.

"I know that! But I need you to do something! At the end of the hall is a locked room. Get that door open and see what's inside!" Keith told him and Haga nodded as he ran off. "No! You will not take him from us!" Yami hissed, kicking Keith back before brandishing the dagger and stabbed him through the arm, pinning him to the floor. Keith hissed in pain, reaching down to remove the dagger but to no luck. Yami walked over, looking down to him and taking another dagger from his cloak. "Let this be a lesson to you. No one steals my work from me. No one." He flicked the dagger down at him before he went back to his chase for Haga, leaving Keith lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, a dagger thrown with great precision right between the eyes.

Haga reached the door that Keith mentioned and tried to think of a way quickly that would open the door before the killer reached him. Inside, Yugi started to wake from the blackout he was in and looked around, seeing that he was in a room that he immediately knew was in the wax museum. 'Yami and Aqua...they've must've brought me here but for what reason?' he wondered before looking to the door, hearing muffled words from someone on the other side and slipped out the bed. He walked over to the door, unlocking and opening it, seeing Haga there.

Haga jumped when he heard the door open and seeing Yugi, he gave a huge hug to the other. "Yugi! I'm so glad to see you alive!" he cried before backing off. "We need to get out of here and fast! There's some maniacal person in here trying to kill us! Keith is holding him back but I don't know how long he can since he's armed!" Haga spoke, Yugi nodding as he followed Haga back towards the stairs but were soon halted by Yami who was standing before them. "You're not going anywhere, little one." he whispered, looking to Yugi. "Why are you doing this, Yami?! Tell me what's going on with this town!" Yugi cried. Yami watched him before giving a sigh. "Alright, I tell you what happened. Sakkaku was a wonderful town filled with good people. Our parents created this place since our mother had a profound love for wax art. But then, she had Aqua and I. We were quite the opposite pair." He gazed down to the floor.

"I was wild and reckless while Aqua was calm and easygoing. Every day when I was young, I fought, kicked, bite, screamed and scratched. My mom couldn't handle me so she always had to bind me just to make sure that I stayed still. I was force fed and always bound to make sure I didn't cause trouble." Yugi frowned as he listened to his story. "But soon, they died, and we were left alone. Soon, Aqua saw things my way and joined me to create this world of mannequins that we live in. Those people outside, they were once people of the town but we transformed them into permanent residents to never leave. This entire town is dead except for me, Aqua and our two siblings that we gained outside of Sakkaku's borders." Haga blinked before gasping. "You don't mean...those two people that brought Yugi and Vivian in the first place?"

"Bakura and Marik?" Yugi added and Yami nodded. "Yes, they always bring victims here so we can add them into our collection. But this haul was quite different for we never saw someone as beautiful as you, Yugi." He looked directly into Yugi's eyes. "We don't want to let you go. We want you to stay here with us but your friend won't be joining you." Yami lifted the dagger and Haga backed away. "I...I..." Yugi whimpered before running past Yami, shocking the other and Haga wasn't far behind him. "I can't stay here!"

"Yugi! Come back!" Yami cried before giving a growl, tossing the dagger at Haga's fleeing form. Haga gave a gurgle, hitting the floor with the dagger in his back and Yugi cried out as he ran down the stairs. Yami gave chase, contacting Aqua about Yugi getting away and intercepting him before he can reach any form of opening to get him outside.

'Ok. I've been out for who knows how long. I've lost track of Vivian and now I'm stuck in a house with some insane killer that rather keep me here alive instead of killing me.' Yugi thought as he looked around. He soon heard screams and Anzu dashing up from the basement, closing the door behind her and breathed in relief. "Got away...just in time..."

"Anzu!"

She looked up when she heard her name being called and ran to Yugi. "Oh, Yugi! It's horrible! Vivian was turned into a wax figure! We need to get out of here before we end up the same!" she cried and Yugi nodded as he looked around for an exit before spotting the front door and ran over to it with Anzu. He tried opening it but like Haga found out, it was still locked. "We have to find another way out and fast." Yugi spoke and Anzu nodded as she followed Yugi like a lost puppy around the creepy museum filled with two dangerous killers out for them. Yami descended the stairs, looking for any sign of Yugi, encountering Aqua on the way and was told about the girl that found out about their secret. "Then we'll take care of her. She must be with Yugi right now." Aqua nodded and both worked together to look for their two missing victims.

Yugi and Anzu found themselves back in the kitchen area and Yugi went to check about the window, trying to open it with but there was no luck. "We need to find something to shatter this glass with and fast." Yugi spoke and Anzu nodded, looking around the kitchen before grabbing some of the wax cookery and handed it to Yugi who tried valiantly to break the window but nothing seemed to be working. He then touched the glass and felt it to be wax. "Ra, the windows are made out of wax too. And it's probably layered so the only thing that could get through is some flames." he whispered. Anzu started shaking in fear before remembering something. "The basement, Yugi. There might be fire down there since that's obviously where these killers do their work with the wax." Yugi gave a nod, looking to her before they ran out of the kitchen and towards the door that Anzu came out off. Opening the door, Yugi looked down the stairs before walking down quietly so they wouldn't attract attention to where they were heading. When they reached the bottom stair, Anzu led Yugi along, trying to remember her way through the twisting hallways of the underground area back to where she last found Vivian. When she rounded a corner, she gave a cry, backing up into Yugi who nearly toppled over from the unexpected reaction.

"What's wrong?"

"Ryuzaki!" she cried, pointing to the male that was dead on the floor, his head rolled far from his prone body. "Oh Ra...they must've got him..." Yugi whispered before pulling Anzu away and started down another hall. Back upstairs, Aqua spotted the open door and motioned to Yami before heading down into the bowels of the museum with Yami right behind him. They had a fleeting feeling where the two are trying to head and will cut them off at the pass.

They soon found the room and Yugi shivered as he looked to all the various items that rested in the room before he told Anzu to stay put where she was as he looked for a torch or something to carry fire back up to the window that would grant them freedom. Anzu watched him silently, wringing her hands together as she watched Yugi, not watching her own back and never saw that Yami and Aqua were right behind her. She gave a yelp, collapsing to the floor in unconsciousness and Yugi turned quickly to see his worse fear standing there at the doorway. "Yugi..." Yami whispered as he started over to him. "No! Stay back! Stay away from me!" Yugi cried, backing away before tripping and falling back, giving Yami the advantage to reach him and he grasped his shoulders. Yugi screamed and cried, trying to pull away from Yami but he never released his grip on him. "Yugi...hear me out...I love you..." Yami whispered and Yugi stopped all actions, looking to Yami in shock.

"No...you don't mean that!"

"I do! Why don't you believe me?!" Yami hissed, gripping Yugi's shoulders more. "We killed your friends! We know that! But you're the only one that we see in such a light. Please, don't leave us here! We can't stand this place but we stay only because we don't have anything to live for outside of Sakkaku!" Yami said before he started to cry, burying his head into Yugi's shoulders as his arms came to wrap around him. Yugi was still deftly afraid of the other but seeing his express so much emotion led him to think that what Yami spoke of was true. 'Love at first sight I guess. They've been isolated for so long and I guess being the only person of interest, they wanted to keep me here...but I can't stay but I can't bear to leave them here now...' Yugi thought as he reached up to rub Yami's back lightly. Aqua walked over as well, kneeling down to Yugi's side as well and gave him a small smile.

They never noticed that Anzu was starting to wake up from the daze she was in, the blow that Aqua gave her not being enough to knock her out for a few hours. When she saw the position Yugi was in, she feared the worse and jumped up, charging at them in hopes to do something. "Yugi!" she screamed, startling them all and Aqua stood, ready to stop her but she knocked right into him, causing them both to fly back and hit the cauldron holding the wax. It toppled over, spilling hot wax across the floors. Sparks of ember came from the active fire, landing across the floors and some of the flammable material, causing it to light up in flames.

"Anzu! Look at what you did!" Yugi gasped in horror as he stood along with Yami. "We need to get out of here, Yugi." Yami whispered and he nodded, following Yami back up the stairs. Aqua gave a snarl, pushing Anzu off of him before taking a dagger from his sleeve, stabbing it into her shoulder, relishing in her cry of pain. "Hope you enjoy your death in your self-made crematory." he hissed before he followed behind Yami and Yugi. Anzu tried hard to remove the dagger but to no avail and she cried, still trying to get the dagger from her shoulder as the flames advanced closer to her. Upstairs, Yami and Yugi continued to run along, heading for the front door until Yugi came past the shelf holding the small statues and remembered the one that he was interested in. He stopped, pulling Yami back. "Hold on!" he called, running over to the shelf and picked up the wax jackal statue before running along with Yami right behind him. The fire below grew, causing everything to melt around them, including the floor. The two struggled to walk through the melting wax that acted like quicksand, sucking down their feet and causing problems to get to the door.

"We might not make it!" Yugi cried.

"Keep going, Yugi! Keep going! I won't let you die here!" Yami hissed as they continued, getting closer to the door until the inevitable happened. Yami gasped, a gaping hole growing out behind him and he fell through, Yugi turning and giving a cry out to him. "Yami!" He looked up just in time to see a black form glide down, grabbing hold of Yami just before he contacted the roaring fire below. Aqua flapped his wings as he emerged from the hole and flew on, grabbing Yugi along the way as the hole grew from the fire. The dragon unleashed a flame of his own, melting down the wax door that led outside and flew out, landing a few yards from the museum and turned back, watching as it melted down into nothing, taking with it the bodies of those used for wax figures as well as the bodies of the group that came with Yugi.

"Well our home is gone. What…should we do now?" Yami questioned, looking down to Yugi. "Well, I don't want you two to stay here since this place is a literal ghost town. I'm sure wax figures aren't much company." He gave a smile up to Yami. "And even though you both gave me one hell of a fright, I'm sure we can work out this blooming relationship." Yami smiled back, hugging Yugi close before they started leaving, Aqua running into the abandoned gas station to fetch what caused so much trouble. Outside on the main road, they saw Bakura and Marik waiting and they asked about what happened, obviously seeing the fire smoke from wherever they were and Yami explained briefly about what happened.

"Stupid broad. I love that place." Bakura muttered as Yami and Yugi climbed into the front, Aqua taking a seat in the back of the truck and Marik turned around to head back to the diner and inn where Yugi's van still waited. "So, what are you two going to do now? Some of your best work was in your mother's museum." Marik questioned as they reached the diner and their occupants climbed out. "With such talent, I'm sure they could sell their stuff after giving it a little detail and color." Yugi suggested, holding up the jackal statuette before looking to Yami. "All your stuff doesn't have to end up like it did for those countless years you were stuck in Sakkaku."

"I think you have a good idea there." Aqua replied, shutting the hood on the van and smiled to him. "We're glad you decided to still take us along with you. We're sorry for what happened but you really cleared our minds from what it once was." Yugi laughed softly ushering Yami over before waving goodbye to Bakura and Marik, who still had their own work to do, and watched as they drove off before heading to the van. Aqua climbed into the back as Yami took the passenger seat. Yugi got in on the driver's side and revved up the van before taking off back home, seeing as of now, after everything he went through, there was no need to continue on the trip he was on prior to the incident at Sakkaku.

A few years later, Yugi smiled softly as he walked inside and greeted to an embrace. "Afternoon, little one. How was work?" Aqua asked. "It was the same as usual. How's the shop?" Yugi asked as he hung his coat and followed Aqua into the little shop that they opened up. Yami was at the counter, selling the many statues, statuettes, even faux plants and animals made of wax to the public. He smiled, giving a wave over to Yugi as he jotted down notes of a personal order for one of the customers before she left. He left the counter, seeing as more people were browsing for the moment, and walked over to Yugi and Aqua. He leaned down to give a quick to the other before giving Yugi a small hug. "Have a good day, love?"

"Yeah. It was the same but nonetheless still a little enjoyable. Just glad to be back home here with you two." Yugi replied. "So, any special request for dinner tonight? My treat." he asked as he started for the back where the house was.

"Whatever you want to make, Yugi. All your meals are special to us."

Yugi chuckled lightly before nodding and headed back into the room to get started with dinner as Yami and Aqua went back to work. As he gathered the pots and pans, Yugi reminisced back on the day they first met. He still got shivers at the memories he received for all the trouble he went through back at Sakkaku but all in all, he was happy to have given Yami and Aqua a second chance at a better life. He looked to a single shelf that sat in the kitchen and smiled. Resting there was the jackal statuette with Yami's alias name still carved on the bottom. It had a fine layer of dust on it but it was still as magnificent as it was when he first saw it. Accompanying it was more little figurines of various Egyptian gods and goddesses that Yami and Aqua made personally for him and Yugi loved each one and promised to cherish them for days. As he prepared dinner, he wondered to himself what would've become of Yami and Aqua if they never met. Would they still be living in Sakkaku with no hope of seeing the outside world? Would they still add to their growing world of wax people with the use of real ones?

...Would they continue to kill just for the pleasure of it? Yugi shook his head from the invading thoughts and was just content with the fact that he was there and was able to help them out from such a life. The boy promised to keep them happy and never be reminded what they once were when in the fake world they once lived in.

When they closed the shop for the evening, Yami and Aqua walked into the smell of stir fry and went to sit at the table as Yugi served them their plates. Yugi grabbed the newspaper off the counter as he sat down with his own plate and looked through to see the news for the day. He gasped to one article in particular and took it out, crumbling it to toss into the trash. Aqua looked up questioningly and Yugi waved it off as nothing as he went to eat. The article Yugi tossed was a report about Sakkaku and the fact that officials found out about it after so long. They were baffled not only by the amount of dead bodies they found hidden amongst the hardened wax but the mysterious reason about how such a grand tourist attraction melted into a pile of nothing.

'Sakkaku House of Wax: A Sign or Just a Conspiracy?'

Zypher: And there you have it. Another little ficlet filled with deaths (of our most hated characters), frights, chills and the maniacal actings of our two favorite yamis. Hoped you all enjoyed and I'll see you soon with another chapter. -waves- See ya soon!

Translation: Sakkaku - Illusion