Whoa, I took my time with writing it, and it is so short ;_; But I assure you, I'm doing my best here. My studies don't like me working on anything else.
But I want to thank all of you and each one individually, thank you for reading and reviewing this story, it always makes me so happy and motivates to write, thanks!
Today we're leaving Maze City for good and Yugi discovers something new inside him: bitterness.
Yugi would like for the rest of the day to pass him by, to simply be in such a daze that he wouldn't notice it. People in books often did that, disregarded their reality because of their inner turmoil. Unfortunately for him, Yugi experienced something completely different.
He was hyperaware of reality. He was well aware of the moment prince's lips left his, and of the smile on the other man's face that for a short second looked sinister and then morphed into fondness Yugi knew so well. He knew that he had not reacted, for he had no idea how to react.
The idea of a kiss did not bother him so much, after all people kissed each other all the time. Mother kissed him an Anzu all the time, father did too. Anzu sometimes still pecked him on the cheek. Arkana kissed his mistresses lustfully and unabashedly, young and old couples back in the town exchanged chaste kisses on daily basis. There was nothing perplexing about kiss itself. But kisses were given in certain situations and relationships, and Yugi had no idea as to what this kiss was supposed to mean. Neither books, nor experience provided him with any explanation as to why two grown men could kiss. Especially, them. People kissed each other when they loved each other. Yet this was not the relationship Yugi and the prince had. So why? How should he react?
The prince didn't seem perturbed by Yugi's lack of response. He simply said. "Think about it." and laid down on his blanket, or whatever, clearly waiting for Yugi to go away.
With an unsure bow of his head, Yugi left the tent, still, the daze didn't come. He felt his heart beating almost painfully, he felt that his hand, the one that was for a moment covered with prince's, was trembling, and instead of blankness in his mind, he could feel myriads of emotion.
He could hear Timaeus and Joey exchanging quips and discussing many different ways of making tents, both men determined to prove to the other that they were in fact, a better expert on the subject.
He could see Mana, apparently bored with the horses, stealing glances at the duke's side of the field, probably once again dealing with her guilty conscience and wondering, whether approaching their sort of new allies with her condolences would be appropriate.
He was getting good at reading his companions, so why couldn't he read the prince? Why couldn't he see into himself? He thought that their relationship resembling apprentice and his mentor, was unclear before, now it was... even harder to name.
Yugi glanced at the duke's camp.
No changes there, so with nothing better to do, he got on with his own tent.
It was not that he didn't like the kiss. It didn't repulse him, sure, he was taken aback, but that's it.
It was not that he didn't like the prince, he wasn't that ignorant of his feelings.
It wasn't even that they were both men, because the novelty of it aside, there was nothing wrong with it, not as far Yugi knew.
And yet, something about the kiss felt wrong. No, it was even before. Prince's words... He said something about wanting Yugi's heart.
And the old Yugi, the one that didn't know the prince at all, that Yugi would understand it immediately as a love confession. After all, when people were in love, they talked of hearts, of taking them and giving them all around, as if they were even able to do that.
The slightly less old Yugi, the one terrified by the prince would take it as a threat that the monstrous, nocturnal prince wants to rip Yugi's heart out of his chest and do gods now what with it.
But this current Yugi was a sum of all older Yugis, and he was terrified. He was terrified, that he was being manipulated. The words, the kiss, the smile...
Everything.
Everything warned him.
Oh, it actually worked. He was so focused on his thoughts that he actually managed to raise his tent.
Yugi sighed.
No sense in stressing over it now. They had not much time for relaxation, soon there will be more important tasks and worries that Yugi's mind could latch on.
Besides, what reason could the prince have for manipulating Yugi? The duke, yes... Not that Yugi would be keen on seeing the prince actually doing that, kissing the duke and smiling at him and... Doesn't matter.
More important things were at work right now. Yugi could examine his heart like young maidens from his books later.
Or simply not live long enough to worry about it.
The moment Yugi was joined by the rest of his companions for a meal, his thoughts has moved on from the kiss.
Munching on bread and wondering whether making a fire would be against the rules, they observed men approaching the duke's camp, discussing whether the strength in number would cause the duke to change his mind.
Yugi doubted it.
He spend the rest of the day observing the other camp, and any thoughts of the prince were absent from his mind.
They returned at night.
/
"They are not coming back." Serenity started and Anzu didn't really have the strength or belief to convince the girl otherwise. She was too, giving up on hope. Mai rolling her eyes every time she caught them doing that was not helping. Anzu liked the blond woman very much, but in this case, she was truly angry.
Mai was accustomed to waiting for her companions to come back, she knew from the experience that they returned from far worse perils, Anzu reasoned, that's why she was so... detached. Or, maybe she was too, so scared that she simply acted as she did, to hide from them and from her own self how worried she was. No matter the reason, Anzu would appreciate it if she could kindly stop.
Truly, the only thing keeping her from shouting at Mai was the fact that Mahad would simply laugh it off, and that she had something else to occupy her mind. The plan Mai introduced seemed risky at best and foolish by definition, as Mahad summarized it, but it here Anzu had to agree with Mai. Apparently, plans changed and if they were truly running out of time, it was the best plan they could come up with.
That, and Anzu couldn't deny the simple truth that she simply liked the plan. It was like in that books father read- a daring plan, when everything seems to go wrong, only to come out great in the end. The day will be saved, a kiss will be shared, and all of this in amazing clothes they were designing right now.
It was that stage, taking measurements and sewing the clothes that kept Anzu from arguing with Mai too much, and it was the only thing that held Serenity as well. Since the poor girl couldn't see, her needlework was far from satisfactory, but her fingers were good enough to rip, shred, and in any other way damage and separate pieces of materials they needed. That, and she was actually a good company, because she spoke of her worries out loud, unlike some Anzu could name.
"Their loss." Mai answered curtly, not even looking up from her work" If they do not come back they will not wear these beauties. " That was almost kind of her. She was worried, Anzu realized. Mai was also getting worried.
"I don't think Joey would miss wearing anything very much. He never cares for his clothes." Serenity responded, and Anzu thanked all the god she knew, that the poor girl didn't start using past tense. That would crush them, all three of them.
"Well, look at Mahad! He even stitched his tunic after the attack!" Mai shouted, forcing cheerfulness in her voice and waving at Mahad, who had just entered the living room in which they opened their 'tailor business', as he called it. " A man after my own heart, that's the kind of gentleman for m to marry!" Serenity chuckled at that and Mahad was doing his best not to betray any emotion. But he was failing, his eyebrow was twitching.
He muttered" Gods forbid" and sat down on a sofa, next to Serenity .
"Are you feeling well enough for another lesson?" Serenity nodded.
Mahad started to move around two days after the rest of the company was gone, despite Mai calling him irresponsible and 'bad example for young ladies present here', but since he wasn't bleeding on Anzu's furniture and seemed to be more or less alive, she couldn't fault him and torment him as Mai did. He too, couldn't stand the idle waiting, and simply reading more and more concerned reports of others. So he did what he did before he was hurt, namely trained Serenity.
Anzu wasn't sure why, but for some time, their lessons were private, Mai and Anzu were no longer invited to join the other two, at some point they were even out rightly forbidden to come in while the training was in session.
"He is training her to be a witch, just you see." Mai commented at some point, and Anzu had a feeling she wasn't entirely joking.
She herself fought as best as she could with the overwhelming feeling of uselessness. True, Mai was in the same situation, theoretically, but she was not behaving like an understanding ally, so Anzu didn't try to look for support in her.
Therefore, when she wasn't preparing the clothes to the action that was not even official, Anzu busied herself with restoring her house to its previous glory. Mother's things that were stored in Arkana's room, she moved back where was their place.
The rooms she and Yugi occupied during their childhood, now seemed too small. They stayed as they were, full of pastels, with animals drawn by their mother's hand, now faded and covered with dust. She cleaned them as well as she could, but they were simply there, not used by anyone. The knights were sleeping in what was servant's quarters, Anzu and Yugi took their parents' bedrooms and the prince was in grandfather's room. Anzu couldn't recall grandfather at all, but from father's stories, he was an interesting man. He always left the mansion to look for adventures and left gifts from his travels during this short periods when he was back.
When Anzu ran out of rooms to restore, she started to compare old butler's catalogues with the one she was doing, looking for things Arkana sold, lost or damaged. Yugi told her how much he loved this house, and no matter whether he was coming back or not, she was going to return this house to him in the best shape possible.
A week has passed, and still, they were nowhere to be seen. Mahad said that the road to Maze City should take a day, two if one was taking many breaks. Week had seven days. They should be here by now, they should be here long time ago.
And yet, Mahad refused to let Mai go search for them.
Maybe he knew something Anzu didn't.
She was feeling that everybody knew something she didn't on a daily basis, since the knights first arrived, but now she was no longer willing to let it stay this way. She was angry, tired and missing her brother, the least she could do was gather information.
No more feeling guilty after listening to conversations, no more hesitation. If they were all in some kind of game, she was no one else's piece, just her own.
/
It should be fitting that they were coming back in the night.
The prince and the rest had arrived this way before and apparently, they were going to repeat it with gusto, for it was long after midnight when Yugi finally spotted the lights of his home city.
"Oh, great. We are finally here" Said Timaeus on Yugi's right, stealing a glance at his cousin that led the whole party, the duke firmly by his side.
It was the duke and his men that caused them to wait so much. They spent two whole days sitting on the Fields, until the duke finally accepted the harsh truth, that these twenty people that joined him was all that was left of his whole squadron. When that thought finally settled in, the duke, grieving and hurting, once again trained to bring the prince to justice, but this time, Yugi's foolish rant was not needed.
The prince, his wounds still evident, managed to talk the duke out of violence.
Even though the duke still preferred to deal with Yugi whenever he could, an uneasy truce was forming. With alliance in place and the survivors treated and fed, they should be ready to go. But this time, the City stood on their way. Finding a way out of the Fields that neither the prince nor any of duke's soldiers knew was hard. Every time they managed to find one of the exits, one of duke's men would raise his hand and fear evident in his voice would say 'I passed that way once'.
After fifth attempt, Yugi was sulking. Truly, it must be fun to be a soldier. So many places they could see, so many adventures they had. True, they died horribly when the occasion called, but hey, at least they could say they actually have been in this City before. Or any other city for that matter.
Like the duke. Who was probably everywhere and now was telling this to the prince, that's why the prince is looking at him with such an interest. Not because he was of nobility, had long black hair, intelligent eyes and was mentored by the same guy, and certainly not because he found the duke much more interesting than his previous companion, the peasant boy Yugi.
If someone asked, Yugi would admit to feeling a little bitter. Even since the prince kissed him, the universe made sure that a) Yugi never forgets it, because he was reminded of it every time he even glanced at the prince, and b) they never get a chance to discuss what happened, because the prince was constantly by the duke's side.
Mana was sulking openly, because she was not as invested as Yugi.
"Gods, I hate looking at them. I know, we are on the same side suddenly, but... There is some other universe when he and his army slaughtered us all." She whispered to Yugi during one of their breaks.
"I think the duke's men are thinking the same." Yugi offered, not even bothering to be subtle about stealing glances at the men camping in a safe distance from them. The prince and the duke of course had their own fire.
"Pshh. They look like they are too good for us suddenly." Joey muttered, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Well, they need to keep each other in check. Out prince cannot let the duke to conspire with his men, and the duke is preventing our prince from doing the same. They are keeping each other close until they figure out whether we are truly friends, or cloaked enemies." Timaeus explained, and Yugi was struck with the observation, that Timaeus was here. He was an actual king.
"Shouldn't be there, at the High and Mighty fire?"
"No, Joey, apparently I do not qualify. Nobody wants to conspire with me." He said it jokingly, and yet for a second Yugi felt Timaeus's gaze on him. He still didn't have the time or even opportunity to think on what the king told him. Too much was happening right now to even bother about the future.
Their next break ended with a big discussion and brought the duke's men and Yugi's friends closer together. While their leaders were busy arguing, the poor common folk sat together at the fire and swapped stories of the Maze.
Yugi got fed up with the topic very soon, not seeing any truth in what Mana told as his story of beating the Maze, and stood up. He walked for a moment, careful to stay close to the fire so that he won't be overlooked when the break was over and he somehow misses it.
From his spot he had a good view on two men, still whispering furiously and exchanging what Yugi assumed, were threats.
He was supposed to be the prince's advisor, wasn't he? So in the time like this, shouldn't the prince require his presence? Apparently not, for Yugi spend all the break waiting for a call that did not come. The leaders somehow resolved whatever problem they had and the whole party, now on slightly better terms, moved on.
And finally, they could see Yugi's home.
He was sure glad to be back.
"Men, we are staying here. " The duke suddenly said, not without a glare directed at the prince, who answered with a glare of his own. " The Mad Prince and his people go back to their base. We are not to know where it is. We shall meet here every noon to discuss our next actions. Prepare the camp!" And with few nods and waves directed at the prince's party, the duke's men went on their way.
"We are coming back." That's all the prince said to them. But it was quite enough, for all four of them simply hastened their horses.
"Why are we leaving them here?" Yugi asked Mana, but it was the prince who answered, his horse suddenly in one line with Mana and Yugi's ones.
"That's what the duke wanted to know too, that's why he was so angry earlier. I trust them as much as I can, but your house is not a castle, nor it is a military base. There are innocent civilians in the house and I cannot take such a risk, to bring an army on their doorstep. I promised you to protect this house, Yugi, and I shall do that." The red eyes gave Yugi a short, inquisitive look, as if they were waiting for Yugi to protest, but all Yugi was able to do, was to lower his head.
The prince did it for him. He protected Yugi's house. It made his heart skip a beat and that unfortunate kiss was once again on Yugi's mind.
"Hey, look ahead!" Mana shouted, and he raised his head. The prince was once leading them, this time with Timaeus by his side.
"So that's what they were fighting about. Interesting." That was all Mana had to offer on the subject.
But soon, it didn't matter.
They were once again riding up the hill to the mansion.
Few moment later, they were already on the grass, jumping down from their horses, Joey volunteering to take them to the stable.
Even thought they were trying to keep quiet, the door opened before any of them could touch the doorknob.
"You are terribly late."
Next on: The Big Plot, The Pretty Dress, And One More Kiss. Stay tuned ;-)
Oh, and Happy New Year, everyone!