A/N
Hellloooo I hope everyone had happy holidays! Im sorry this took so long, it was supposed to be out earlier but just I started writing I caught a nasty bug, that coupled with my stomach problem already it was a pretty nasty time. That delayed it abit! But im back to full strength now and happy to be writing again :)
So this chapter was longer than I expected so the ball will be starting next chapter, and good lord you should see all the notes I have for them already!
Warning about how dark this chapter is and for the swearing too.
I really hope you enjoy this chapter! I absolutely love writing for you all, you all make me so very happy and I love hearing from you, it honestly lightens my day! So thank you soooo much :)
Big squishy hugs and all the chocolate I have left over from the holidays for Mari, Sunrise Phoenix, thor94, s2Teennovelist, nobody XX, and the anon guests that reviewed!
Also a really big thank you to all that favourited or followed.
Yugi bit his lip nervously and held his bleeding shoulder tightly. The air was thick in the throne room. Atemu had mentioned something about not wanting to get blood in the carpet of their bedroom. That the throne room would be better choice because it was going to get 'messy.' Before dragging the injured traitor down into the large room by his black hair.
From what he could tell, the man laid against the pillar already had a broken arm, several broken ribs and a twisted ankle. Not to mention all the bruising. The wounded man looked positively terrified as the Bloody Red King circled him. His piercing blood thirsty eyes never breaking contact with the man. His body language, the way he could hardly keep the hungry snarl off his features, even his aura positively screamed predator.
Yugi wasn't sure how to feel, after all he had tried to save the man from the kings wrath once already…
The small human gasped awake at the sound of the balcony door slamming off the brickwork. He squeaked audibly as he spotted the figure holding the large serrated knife directly above his chest. Yugi swiftly shuffled back from the hooded man, rubbing his eyes in confusion.
"Y-your majesty!" The figure fumbled back, dropping the knife. "I can explain-" The man held up his hand.
"Can you?" Atemu asked darkly, his deep voice vibrating from his chest as he stepped toward the man.
The hooded figure looked back toward the door, to Yugi and then to the King. He span, turning to flee but Atemu was on him within a second. He brutally pinned him against the door holding him man grunted in pain as his face was pressed against the thick wood.
"Lets see who you belong too-" Atemu growled as he pulled the mans arm behind his back, grinning at the gasp of pain.
The King roughly ripped the mans sleeve, revealing his wrist. His mouth went dry and his teeth ground together.
"one of mine?!" He whispered incredulously. "ONE OF MINE!" He roared, hauling the mans arm roughly.
A stomach turning crack bounced off the room's walls.
Atemu ignored the mans cried of pain as he stepped back and pulled at the mans hood revealing the man's face before slamming him onto the ground. The man cried out as he landed on his already wounded arm, sending excruciating pain shooting through his body.
"Ushio" He ground out through clenched teeth.
He should have guessed. A constant headache from his army, instated and trained during his mothers reign. He had heavy hand, harsh and savage mannerism with the innocent or outmatched opponents…just the way the late queen had forced them to be trained. He had kept him and the few others that still practiced this this way for respect from his late mother and because he couldn't really pick and choose when it came to numbers these days.
He had been demoted from captain to grunt soldier after he had completely ignored Atemu's and Seto's new regime to protect innocents and help the people. Old habits died hard, he supposed.
Atemu stomped down heavily onto the mans ankle roughly, causing another cry. "Can't run now" The King almost laughed, "You've crossed the god damn line"
Yugi swallowed hard watching Atemu, he looked almost excited, like he was enjoying himself. This certainly wasn't the man he had growing feelings for. This scared him… unnerved him.
The furious King grabbed the glass bottle of water from the table behind him, and smashed it against the wall, turning the neck into a sharp shiv.
"You traitorous bastard." Atemu spat, spinning the shiv in his hands. "I'm gonna slit your throat for threatening him." Darkness coiled around the downed Ushio, holding him tight, crushing all the breath out of him.
"Atemu stop" Yugi called , quickly jumping off the bed, jumping between them, grabbing the Kings arms.
The monarch didn't even seem to register Yugi as he stared down at the man behind the human, his darkness crushing the life out of the soldiers body. A twisted smile curved on the Kings face as he gasped and begged for air below him.
"Atemu, stop, please ATEMU!" Yugi shouted, grabbing the Kings face and pulling it down to his own level, making him look into his amethyst eyes.
The King blinked suddenly, his slit like pupils dilating back. He shook his head. The dark power loosening enough for the soldier to take a desperate breath.
"Stop. This isn't you anymore" Yugi attempted to steady his shaking hands that held him.
"I-Im sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you…again." Atemu let a heavy breath out, placing his hands over his small lights, guilt bubbling within him.
Yugi adamantly refused admit he was fearful of the King but it was hard to deny the fleeting feelings that found their way through the mind link.
"He'll be put on trail and punished properly." Atemu nodded standing up straight.
Yugi sighed, he knew that was what the guy probably deserved,but he hadn't hurt him… so maybe he wouldn't get killed. There was no need for anyone's hands to get bloody over this.
Ushio spotted his chance whilst the two were off guard, there was no way he would be embarrassed in some trial, even if by some miracle he survived he would be cast from the army he depended on, loved to some extent. He would taking out the King and his little bitch and make it look like some terrible accident. The soldier rose up lunging to strike Yugi's neck. Atemu grabbed his light and threw him to his side, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow but still striking Yugi's shoulder with the large blade, causing a deep laceration. Once the human was safe distance away, Atemu turned, almost instinctively throwing a fist into Ushio's rib cage.
The Kings mind reeled as he circled the man.
Something wasn't right, what was his motive? How had he got his hands on a key? How had he found out the location of Yugi's room? Ushio was nowhere near this smart, there had to be a larger force behind him, surely.
He knew this soldier was a fool but he wouldn't crack easily. One of the things his mother trained her men on was to keep their mouths shut…'torture training'.
The one night he actually needed Seto and he was off at his own palace, collecting his mother and little brother, to be certain of their safe journey to Tace for the upcoming ball. There was always a silver lining though, he would have stopped him from being too rough, stop him squeezing that twisted light out of the man's eyes.
That's why he had called on two other people to help him. Two people who would definitely help him get the job done.
The golden doors to the throne room opened with a creak, a very grumpy cat and hatter stomped in, followed by two sleepy rabbits.
"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Bakura stormed "THIS TIME OF NIGHT?!"
"OH! Are we having a party?" Marik suddenly picked up happily, seeing the half conscious man against the pillar.
"Ushio?" Malik's face twisted. "What did he do this time?"
"Tried to kill Yugi in his sleep."
Marik and Malik laughed thinking it was a joke, but stopped when they noticed the Kings extremely serious face.
"What, really?!" The hare shook his head incredulously.
"Why sent he dead yet?" Marik asked curiously, taking off his top hat.
"You two need to help make him talk so I can find out who ordered this." Atemu explained.
"OOH FUN!" Marik danced happily, reaching inside his hat and pulled out a long rusted chain.
"Yugi your arm!"Ryou gaped.
"Its not so bad." Yugi smiled, letting the rabbit inspect the cut.
Ryou took a deep breath allowing the rings power to flow through him, his hands glowed a warm orange as he placed them over Yugi's wound. The human's arm tingled as the wound sealed itself not even leaving a small graze.
"T-thank you!"
Marik hummed happily as he threw the chains round the pillar and round the soldiers arms tightly, holding the man to the stone behind.
"You feel like singing for us Ushio?" Atemu teased.
"You and all your freaky friends can go fuck yourself" The soldier spat looking at the ground.
"FACE your king when talking to him" Marik growled, roughly forcing the chains up and Ushio into a stand, causing another hiss in pain.
"Sucks to be you right now" Malik laughed.
"RYOU" Bakura shouted causing the timid rabbit to flinch alittle. "Take little red for a walk."
Ryou nodded in understanding as he watched the scene unfold before him. "Come on Yugi" The white rabbit quickly pulled him from the throne room.
"You too Malik!" Atemu could be heard shouting behind them when the hare didn't move to follow.
"Aww, I wanna break some bones too." The hare whined
"NOW MALIK"
"FINE. Keep your crown on!" He grumbled
The throne doors shutting didn't silence the terror scream that suddenly echoed down the halls.
"Wait stop" Yugi begged dragging his heels." How can you be okay with this?"
"He DID just try and kill you Yugi." Malik rose his eyebrows.
"I know, but really? They're gonna torture that guy!" Yugi shuddered.
"If it helps at all, he's not a very nice man." Ryou tried, keeping old of the humans hand, to stop him running back if anything else.
"Yeah he totally deserves it." Malik crossed his arms. "It"s about time to be honest"
"I don't think anyone really deserves whats about to happen to him" Yugi frowned.
"I know it's horrible Yugi, but the truth is we are at war, we cant afford to have traitors in our midst. They need to find out who ordered this and stop them before this happens to someone else." Ryou rationalised.
Yugi sighed and swallowed the lump in his throat. He understood what he was being told but it still didn't feel right.
Another scream caused them all to flinch.
"Come on, lets get out of here and get a hot chocolate or something. Im sure the kitchen staff wont mind if your along with us" Malik patted Yugi on the back ushering him forward.
The council members sat in complete silence anxiously shifting in their seats ready for the King to speak, after calling them in for an emergency meeting.
"Your majesty-" Isis spoke quietly as she looked him up and down.
He sat with his feet up on the table, staring into space, twirling a curve blade between his red stained fingers, splashes of red drops covered his face. Various large stains covered the night clothes he still wore. The hatter also stood behind him, In the same state of the King sat infront. His arms crossed and a stoic look plastered on his face.
"All this blood… Are you alright? Are you both hurt?"
"Its not my blood." Atemu stated quietly.
Harol smiled under his hand as he sat at the table. Had his little mission been a success. The way the King clearly wasn't himself and with all the blood. Surely it was the blood of his lost mistress? Lady Vivian would be so very happy. The King would return to his old glory and it was all because of him. He'd be praised as a hero.
The knife in his hand unnerved him slightly, but he didn't have any care for Ushio or if he had been caught. After all, he wasn't the most subtle tool in the shed.
"Last night" Atemu began, gaining the councils attention. " There was a attempt at the life of my light."
"What?" Mahado blinked in disbelief.
"Yugi? Is he okay?" Isis asked quickly.
"Obviously, the attacker had not heard about me sharing the same room after mine had been destroyed." Atemu continued.
Harol could literally feel all the colour drain from his face.
"I'll skip the details, but it turns Ushio Tetsu was the attacker."
The elderly council member let out the breath he was holding.
"But after the correct 'persuasion' we learned an extremely interesting fact." Atemu sat straight in his set placing his bare feet down on the ground.
"We learned that one of you is a traitorous bastard" Marik giggled menacingly, behind the King.
The council members shifted their eyes among each other anxiously in their seats.
"Oh come on, you cant possible believe the ramblings of some stupid criminal!" Harol urged
"Oh really? Because Harol YOU have the motive, YOU yourself said Yugi was outright dangerous, a liability to have here. YOU were both instated when my mother was queen, so of course you'd be able to twist Ushio round your crooked fingers. Its just so perfect… want me to continue?" Atemu seethed.
The council members looked towards him with contempt, some shook their heads whilst overs kept their eyes down silently.
"How could you?" Isis gaped.
"We all agreed to protect him, yet you go behind our backs!" Mahado joined.
"You try to destroy the person our King has awaited so long for" Shada slammed his fists down.
"Looks like you're outnumbered." Marik laughed lowly.
"THIS IS RIDICULOUS! You all know that having him here is putting every one of us In danger. If, no when, he gets put in that machine we will face our death!" He cried out." Your mother would have known that! YOU'LL NEVER BE AS GREAT AS HER!" The elderly council member roared, a thought he had always kept deep down.
"NO, IM NOT LIKE HER!" Atemu roared back standing up abruptly." But if you want something to remember her by I will gladly cut off your head myself."
Harol tried to shoot of his seat in attempts to escape, in attempts to flee the Kings wrath but screamed in frustration and terror as he found he was stuck in place.
"I don't think so." Bakura hummed as he suddenly appeared behind the member, holding him tightly in place.
"Your going to kill me? Here? You cant do this!" The council member struggled.
"I can… BUT Seto would most definitely chew my ear off for atleast a week if I offed a member without his consent. Plus…its to easy. I want you to suffer first. " Atemu glared at him. "Bakura, Marik take him to corridor twenty four."
"WHAT?! You cant be serious! That part of the dungeons?! NO GET OFF ME-" The elderly man screamed as Marik and Bakura took hold of the mans arms.
Harol screamed and begged as he was dragged from the room. Atemu stood to follow but turned at the door, staring down the other elderly members from before his reign, that sat among the members he and Seto had elected themselves.
"Anyone else thinking about doing anything this stupid?"
Silence followed the Kings question.
"I thought not!" He said with a warning in his voice as he followed his friends down the corridor.
"Would you like me to go over the mission again, my queen?" A tall figure dressed in slick black armor wearing a sleek streamlined shaped helmet covering his face asked calmly.
Anzu nodded silently, watching the world go by out the circular carriage window.
"Your too use your power to gain access into Tace and then into the royal palace, only to drop once safely in the palace. Whilst at the ball, your to gain information on security in and around the palace, Condition and numbers of the royal army, information on the lights, namely the Kings and if possible the location of lady Cecilia."
"I understand." Anzu said quietly as she mindlessly toyed with the grand golden feathered masked that she held in her lap.
"Im sorry my queen" The black armoured man knelt at her feet and placed his hands over hers. "If anybody else could do this, it would be them instead of you."
"I know its just, Are you sure you cant come with me? I have been training my power a great amount, its possible I could disguise you also. Id feel so much safer with my personal knight by my side." She asked desperately.
"Im sorry, I used to be a part of that army before I joined you remember? Disguise or not, that hare would be able to feel my power if I got close enough our cover would be blown. I will ride with you until we reach sovereign forest surrounding the city and that's when I take my leave"
"Please, I don't know if I can do this alone. Ive never done anything like this, I know its just a party but-" She rambled nervously.
"I know your scared, but under no circumstances are you to put yourself in danger. If anything happens that could cause suspicion or harm your safety you are to leave immediately. Im sure Pegasus would rather have you safe than the information?" The armoured man soothed.
"You obviously don't know him very much." She sighed. "Ever since that I laid eyes on that beast, I have been questioning myself."
"Questioning?" The knight repeated.
"Who would nail someone they loved into a machine like that? Condemn them to that fate… and in the condition she was in." Anzu stopped abruptly when she felt a wave of nausea pass over her. "Im sorry, forget it. Maybe its just my nerves talking." She shook her head.
"Please don't do this, not here! I'd rather die then be in this squaller!" Harol beseeched.
"Should have thought about that before you tried to kill a light, Atemu's at that." Bakura growled throwing the man into the grubby cell.
The cell was poor and cramped, with just enough room to fit a pile of straw as a make shift bed and a bucket in the corner. Barbed iron bars and damp cold walls that dripped with unknown liquid, mould growing up the brickwork coated the walls in a green slime causing the man to shiver. He gulped as he looked around him, the eyes of the worst war criminals in the stalls that surrounded his bored into him. He himself had condemned many of these undesirables that wasted away here. The lanterns creaked ominously, swinging from the small breeze flowing in from the cracks in the unkempt dungeon.
"You must be some kind of moron" Marik laughed, before dropping the key to his cell in his hat.
"PLEASE, I DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS! I SERVED THAT COUNCIL FOR YEARS! I WAS TRYING TO HELP." The elderly man shouted at the two before they disappeared into the shadows.
Harol fell back against the wall, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. He had worked for this family for centuries. Always putting them before his needs, always looking out for what was best and how was he rewarded for that? By getting thrown into this disgusting place. His only hope now was that Seto would return soon and smack some sense into that spoilt monarch.
"Now tell me." A slow almost sultry voiced hummed from the cell opposite his, breaking the silence. "How is it that a member of the Kings own council goes about an attempt on the light whom he has awaited? You're a man after my own heart" Cecilia walked into the small spit of light that broke into her cell revealing her unscrupulous smile and hollow eyes. Her hands were held together with tight white handcuffs.
"Cecilia Pegasus." He spat. " I don't talk with the likes of you…criminal."
She giggled. "Look where you are. I'd say that you've achieved the title of felon just like the rest of us."
The old man sighed a defeated breath and plonked himself down on the small pile of straw.
"Why did you try to kill Yugi hmm? He serves to make the King stronger, does he not?" She leant against the iron bars ignoring the sharp barbs.
"He does nothing but weaken the King, softening him. To win this we need him back at his former dark glory. Even having him here is a danger to us, with your insane heinous husband-"
"Don't you DARE talk about him like that." She snapped interrupting him.
After a heavy silence between the two she collected herself and spoke again. "Why I'd say you're going to die here anyway. Help us take Yugi, and you could be famous in Regalia, rich beyond your wildest dream. Even a war hero."
He instantly looked up at the dishevelled women. That offer was mighty tempting, and lately he had felt on the losing side, even if he had served the queen whom he secretly sort after, her son was nothing like her and was nothing but a spoilt little brat. But could he really turn against the family he served all this time like this?
"I can see your wise beyond your years, you are far too good to be working at such a place like this, to be treated in such a dark manner. Help with this and I promise, you'll get the treatment you deserve." Cecelia gripped the bars tightly.
"Even if I could help, we're stuck in this prison. Plus now that this has happened, the security around that human will be even greater. There's no way we could take him now." Harol shook his head.
"Then we make those that protect him cast him out themselves."
The elderly council member looked up with a furrowed brow. "Are you completely insane? They would never do that!"
"I would say that maybe yes, I am quite mad, but maybe just maybe… the Kings growing feelings would change if he knew the truth about that child." She said slowly.
"The-the truth?" Harol stuttered, his curiosity grasped within her words.
"If he knew that the blood of his mortal enemy runs through that boys veins."
"Just what are you saying?" His mouth fell, completely dry.
"That child knows me as his aunt, but officially…"
She paused as she swallowed the bile in her throat at the word she never wanted to say formed bitterly on the tip of her tongue.
"I am his mother."
