Moons: Hey, sorry for the wait…but this chapter turned out a lot longer then I was expecting it to. Any way…I got great news!!
Aurora: You're going into early retirement?
Moons: v.v why do I even bother with you? NO! The news is ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT ON THIS STORY!!!! @.@
Aurora: And then you retire?
Moons: NO! Then I start another story in rotation with Unbroken. Speaking of which, I'm going to hold off on the next chapter so that I can finish this story. Which means chapter five will be out either by this weekend or the middle of next week.
Aurora: And when that one's over you retire?
Moons: NO! But I'm letting you know that my next story is going to be that Sailor Moon crossover I promised in my first Bio. I was inspired by a Def Lepard song to write it and I think that it will knock even my muse for a loop.
Aurora: I'm sure, but after that story's is done, then will you retire?
Moons: I'M NOT GOING TO RETIRE!!!!!
Aurora: heh heh…
My Immortal
CHAPTER NINE: TOURNIQUET
"I tried to kill the pain
But only brought more
I'm dying
And I'm pouring Crimson regret and betrayal
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved
Am I too lost?
My God, my tourniquet,
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet,
Return to me salvation.
Do you remember me
Lost for so long
Will you be on the other side
Or will you forget me
I'm dying, praying, bleeding, and screaming
Am I too lost to be saved
Am I too lost?
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation
My God, my tourniquet
Return to me salvation.
My wounds cry for the grave
My soul cries for deliverance
Will I be denied, Christ
Tourniquet
My suicide."
~ Tourniquet by: Evanescence~
Yugi gasped when he saw the woman from his dream kneel beside Yami. She gently ran a finger down the Pharaoh's cheek. A small grin spread across her face when he moaned and flinched away. She turned to Yugi with a sympathetic sigh.
"He's okay." She whispered. "But he's fading fast. He can only hold on for a little longer. I gave him some magic to help hold on longer. He needs help, you must get him out of here quickly."
"Cleopatra." Yugi breathed, watching her with eyes that still held wonder and gratefulness.
"How'd you materialize in the mortal world, you magic bitch!" Samara suddenly screamed, bringing Yugi back to the problem at hand. "You should still be locked in another dimension waiting for a magic summoning to call you!"
Cleopatra turned to the raving woman and glared daggers at her. Samara hissed and backed away, as if there were magic in Cleopatra's gaze. She wasn't far off.
"A magic did summon me." She growled. "A magic far greater then yours. Yami's desire to save his hikari. He knew that the black was coming and he couldn't protect him when it came back. So I was summoned from his desires to protect the most valuable thing to him."
Samara scoffed and shot a wistful glance in Yami's direction. His eyes, though closed, still showed a hint of their everyday fierceness. There was no way that he was worried about little Yugi's life and that alone. No, he was worried about his own existence as well.
"And you forget the puzzle." Samara grunted. "He aims to protect Yugi because he holds the very key to his existence."
Yugi gasped and tightened his hands around the gold trinket. What Samara said hit a chord in his heart. She may be right. Yami may only be concerned about saving the puzzle and himself. He felt tears welling up in his eyes.
"You are wrong." Cleopatra's voice was soft and caring. "In his last mental plea there was no concern for himself. Why would there be after he selflessly threw himself in harms way to keep Yugi safe?"
Yugi raised his eyes to meet Cleopatra's. She was right. He had faith in Yami. No matter what had happened in the past few days nothing would change the fact that they were kindred spirits bound to the same body. They were each other's brothers!
But Samara didn't seem to think so. She tightened her grip on the knife that was coated with Yami's blood and took a menacing step towards Yugi. Her crystal blue eyes were glazed over with a haze of fury and desire. Desire to gain the power of Yugi's puzzle. Not knowing what to do, Yugi decided to buy himself some time. He placed Yami's head gently on the ground and stood quickly.
"Why do you want my puzzle?" He pointed an accusing finger at Samara. "What could you possibly do with it? Yami isn't destined to protect you, so what good are his powers to you?"
Samara threw her head back in a gale of evil laughter. The sound caused Yugi to shiver from head to toe. It was like someone had run an icy finger up his spine. Samara took another step towards Yugi, but to his relief she began to lower the knife.
"I don't want him to protect me. That would be pointless seeing as I already have a Millennium Item that protects me." Samara gently ran her fingers over the eye in the center of her necklace. "What I want lies with in Yami. His shadow powers. He locked the games away once before and ended an Egyptian tradition that was wiped clean from their history. I want your puzzle because I can then gain the power back to reopen the portal and release the shadow games once again!"
Samara was now giddy with the thought of what she could do. She hoped from one foot to the other in a tiny jig while all the information settled in Yugi's head. She couldn't be serious. There was no way that anyone was crazy enough to try and reopen the portal to the shadow realm. All hell would break lose. The monsters that Yami had tried so hard to lock away, the one's that had cost him his eternal soul would be let lose on the world.
'S-she wants that, aibou.' Yugi jumped when he heard Yami's voice in his head. He quickly glanced down and saw that his dark half was gazing at him through half-lidded eyes.
'YAMI!' Yami flinched at the volume in which Yugi's thoughts blasted through his head but gave his light a tired smile.
'Yugi, listen to me.' Yami was feeling faint again and he needed Yugi to know what to do to fight off Samara. 'Cleopatra has the power to stop Samara. She must find the right element to call on her power and that element is love. She had to sense our love to feel the desire to fight for your world. I'm going to try something and I hope it gives her the boost she needs. Just watch out for Samara, she may try to take advantage of me in this state.'
Yugi stared at his dark in shock. He was planning something that would probably be stupid, just like when he threw himself in front of the knife. It would be heroic, but stupid. Yugi wasn't sure he was ready to let Yami take that risk.
Yami smiled when he heard Yugi's thoughts. That was just what he wanted Yugi to think. That way he would be willing to sacrifice himself when the time came. But being willing to do it and doing it were two different things. If his plan went accordingly, Yugi wouldn't be scratched. He sighed deeply.
'Here goes nothing!'
Yami slowly forced his injured to sit up. Pain screamed through him, beating at him and begging him to just lie down and give in. He chocked on a scream that only passed his lips as a moan. His stiff knees curled up underneath him and supported most of his lower half. One arm shot out to support his upper body while the other hand wrapped around his injured side, trying to lessen the pain. Bolts of lightening shot through his body, coursing from a fiery hot pain in the center of his back. He coughed once and choked on what he could only imagine to be blood. Yami raised his head to glare at Samara but it was deterred when he saw her smiling.
"So the Pharaoh rises." She taunted him. "Not so high and mighty now are we? Too bad this couldn't have happened all those years ago, before you were ever able to lock the games away. I would have killed you outright if that was the case. But I guess good does come from this. Now I can watch you suffer and not be sentenced to death myself."
Samara placed a foot on Yami's side and pushed, causing him to loose his balance. He hit the ground hard, crying out as more pain erupted from his back. Yugi immediately tried to jump up but Yami held up a hand.
"S-stay there, aibou." He wheezed. "Stay away from her where you will be safe. I don't want to see you get hurt because of a choice I made thousands of years ago."
Yugi whimpered and debated with himself. If he stayed where he was then Yami could be killed. But if he ran over and tried to help, he would be killed and Yami would have to watch that before being killed himself. Neither option seemed to help in Yugi's descesion as he continued to stand there and debate it.
But Samara was too impatient for to wait for Yugi to make a daring rescue. She clasped her hands in front of her and began chanting in a language that Yugi couldn't understand. But Yami and Cleopatra could. It was ancient Egyptian. Cleopatra listened carefully to wait she was saying, trying to understand if she knew what Samara was going to do. Suddenly her eyes went wide and she jumped up.
"Samara, no!" She screamed. "You'll upset the balance!"
Yugi looked at Cleopatra with wide frightened eyes. She knew what was going to happen to his yami, but he was still clueless. He wanted to know, whether it would frighten him or not, he had to know.
"Cleopatra," He pleaded. "What's going on? What is she going to do?"
Samara suddenly reached out and grabbed Yami by the neck. He gasped and tried to pull away but was only rewarded by sharp daggers of pain stabbing his entire body. Samara began chanting again and this time Yami caught onto her words. His eyes went wide and he began struggling, trying desperately to loosen her grip on him, to break the spell she was about to cast. But it was of no use. The chant went on and with it came a fuzzy feeling that washed over Yami in unpleasant waves. He could feel a part of him being swept away with each word that poured from Samara's mouth.
Yugi stood rooted to his spot, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Yami was surrounded by a black mist. Wisps of it flowed of his body like dreamy smoke and wrapped itself around Samara. She spoke the foreign words past a plastered smile that sent chills down the boy's spine.
"Yami, no!" He screamed before turning his angry violet orbs on Cleopatra. "What's happening to him? What is she doing to my Yami!?"
Cleopatra looked down at Yugi with sorrowful eyes. She kneeled down beside him and Yugi knew what that meant. Her news was bad news. It was the kind of news that one gave after saying, "are you sitting down?" or "are you ready for this?"
"She's stripping him of his shadow powers by force." Cleopatra explained. "She can take his powers that way but he will still exist to steal them back. That's one downfall of this method of gaining the Pharaoh's powers."
"What's the other downfall?" Yugi was hoping that she would reveal some way to save Yami.
Cleopatra gazed back at Yami who was now fighting to stay amongst their world. Without his powers he would be an empty shell and not much use to anyone. She knew of only one way to stop this, but it would risk Yugi's life and that was something she was sure he wouldn't be willing to give. He may love Yami with all his life, but even brothers have been known to throw each other in the line of fire to save their own necks. Which was why she couldn't harness her powers. She didn't trust their bond. Sure Yami had selflessly endangered himself, but he was a yami and that was his job. Yugi was a mortal and with that came different emotions. Emotions that might betray even his closest friend.
"The only other way to stop this is for someone to throw themselves between the yami and the magician." Cleopatra finally told him. "A hikari. Their light would block the black magic from ever reaching the magician. But it comes at a high price. One as high as death."
Yugi looked at Yami whose body was now hanging limply in Samara's grasp. He didn't have much time left before this process would be done. He wasn't worried about the consequences. Yami had risked his life for Yugi's, and now Yugi was willing to do the same. Tears filled his eyes as he ran towards his injured friend.
"Yami!" He screamed as he hurled himself between him and Samara.
Samara gasped when she felt the magic being cut off and redirected. She dropped Yami who crumpled to the floor and took a step back. She expected to see Yugi lying on the ground, withering in pain as the black magic invaded his mind, the dark feeding on the light. Instead she saw a bright white light and immediately knew what it was. Her lips pulled back away from her teeth and she let out a bellowing scream.
~@~
Joey had no idea where he was running. He knew that Yugi was the only one who could find Yami in this labyrinth of a building. That puzzle would have leaded him directly to Yami. But Yugi had run off ahead leaving him with no guide. Now all he could do was wander until he found something.
He was about to give up and begin searching for the exit when he heard a blood-curdling scream coming from a room up the hall. So he had been close! Forgetting about his idea of waiting outside for Yugi to emerge, he ran full speed towards the door at the end of the hallway.
"I'm coming Yug'." He whispered to himself.
And with all his courage he bust through the door…
~@~
Cleopatra gasped as she felt her magic flowing out of her at such a fast rate. She had been wrong, terribly wrong. And Yugi would have paid for it with his life. He wasn't like other mortals; he did care enough about Yami to give his life. That was something she just couldn't let happened. And if the only way to stop it was to use her magic then so be it.
She released a blinding white light that surrounded Yugi, and protected him when the black magic tried to turn back on him. Instead it was redirected to its original owner, who lay in heap behind Yugi. His whole body shuddered as the magic forced itself back in.
The white light bore down on Samara, pushing her back. Cleopatra knew just what to do. She allowed her magic to release its protective cocoon from around Yugi and direct it's attack at Samara. Samara felt the heat; a burning sensation that sent painful tingles up and down her body. She let out another scream as the light circled around her and then tightened. After a few seconds the bright ball exploded, flooding the room in a light so brilliant that Yugi and Cleopatra had to look away. But when they where able to look back all that was left was Samara's Millennium Necklace. Cleopatra grinned. The danger was gone.
"Yami!"
The cry brought Cleopatra back to the situation at hand. She looked over at the little hikari and saw him clutching the fallen Pharaoh to his chest. Tears streamed down his pale cheeks as he coaxed that taller boy to speak to him. Cleopatra silently stepped up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"The Pharaoh will be fine." She spoke as thought she knew all the answers. "You must trust more in the power of your puzzle. He will receive the help he needs. But I must be going. I am needed back where I came from. Thank you little hikari, you helped me greatly today."
With that said, Cleopatra picked up Samara's necklace and in a bright white flash she was gone. Yugi stared at the spot for a second before turning his attention back to the unconscious Yami. Fresh tears pooled in his eyes as he thought hopelessly to himself.
'How am I going to get him help? I can't carry him out of here.' He sighed and stroked Yami's forehead. 'How will he be okay if he never gets to a hospital?!'
Yugi was about to give up and curl up into a sad ball beside Yami and cry until he finally passed on. Suddenly there was a bang as the door flew open and someone came stumbling in. Yugi jumped, expecting the worst but only seeing the best.
"Joey!" Yugi was overjoyed to see his friend standing there. Joey would be strong enough to help Yami out of the building where they could call for help.
Joey looked up and saw Yugi kneeling beside a fallen Yami. His eyes grew wide when he saw the blood that surrounded the once Pharaoh. Yugi hadn't been kidding, he really had been getting hurt. Joey quickly ran over to the duo and dropped beside Yugi.
"Yug', what the hell happened?" He asked numbly. "What's wrong with Yami?"
"He was stabbed twice." Yugi answered, tears filling his eyes. "Joey we need to get him help. I can't lose Yami, I just can't!"
Joey was flabbergasted. He didn't know how to respond to the teary form of his best friend. And he had an even harder time trying to figure out what to do about the bleeding form of his dark half. He knew one thing though. They had to get Yami out of this building and get him help.
"Yugi, can your puzzle help us get out of here?" He asked hurriedly. "We need to get him outside and I can call for help from the nearest payphone."
Yugi glanced down at the puzzle that hung from his neck. Of course it would help them, that's what it was there for. He fingered the gold metal before looking up at Joey.
"It should." His voice was quiet. "But we have to go fast and you'll have to help Yami because I can't carry him."
Joey nodded and ever so gently picked Yami up. He flinched when a warm sticky liquid washed over his arms. Blood. It was a horrible thought, but he had to push it away long enough to get Yami help. The puzzle glowed dimly and soon Yugi was off. Joey was shocked to see him take off and stumbled to catch up with him. There was no way he was going to lose him again…not with such precious cargo in tow. Yugi made quick left and right turns, almost losing Joey. There was something odd going on. It was almost like Joey knew the way, even if he didn't have Yugi to follow.
'Maybe it's because I'm helping Yami.' He thought aimlessly. 'Maybe the puzzle had to protect him too.'
But that didn't matter at that moment. All that matter was getting out of that building and on to the street where they could find help. A sudden squeak from Yugi grabbed Joey's attention.
"What is it Yug'?" He asked, following Yugi around another quick left.
"The door!" Yugi cried, pointing to a square of light a few feet up ahead. "We're out!"
Joey and Yugi burst through the door, loving the way the sun felt on their skin. Joey smiled and kneeled, placing Yami gently on the ground. He groaned in sudden pain and snapped out with a stiff hand and grabbed Yugi's arm with a tight fist. Suddenly it relaxed and fell back to the ground. The sight of it caused Joey's heart to tighten.
"I'm to go call someone." He announced jumping to his feet. "You stay here with him and make sure that nothing happens to Yami."
Yugi nodded and Joey realized that his friend was going into shock. He gritted his teeth and ran out of the alley, now more determined then ever to find help.
~@~
Yugi didn't know how long he sat in that alleyway alone before he heard the siren from the approaching ambulance, but it had seemed like an eternity. He had spent the whole time staring at Yami's blank face, watching for a change. But none ever happened. Yami's eyes remained closed and his mouth slightly opened, drawing in tiny rasping breaths. It was only when the alleyway was bathed in a flashing red light that he looked up.
Joey was running towards him in slow motion, a team of paramedics were right on his heels. They dropped down beside Yami and began barking orders. Yugi felt himself get shoved away from Yami's side and hardly even noticed. He did feel Joey's hands fall onto his shoulders and hear his muffled words.
The only thing he could focus on was the paramedics who were now loading Yami on a stretcher and screaming at the top of their lungs. He was only able to make one thing out before he pitched forward into the darkness himself.
"Get him in that ambulance quick! This boy's fading fast!"
With that said, Yugi pitched forward and into the blackness.
~@~
It was the smell of cleaner that first invaded Yugi's senses as he slowly crawled back to reality. He could faintly make out the murmurs of people walking around him. Something warm pressed its weight against his arm and it took Yugi a second to realize it was a hand. Then another voice spoke to him, this one coming in clearer.
"Yug' you have to wake up now." It was Joey. "You got me worried buddy. I can't have two of you out on me."
Yugi felt guilty at making his friend worry and instantly tried to force his eyes open. It took him a while, but he finally managed to peer up at Joey through narrowed slits of vision.
"Joey?" He asked quietly. "What happened? Last thing I remember we were getting help for Yami and then I woke up here."
"You passed out Yug'." Joey wore a relieved smile even though their problem wasn't fully solved. "The doctors said it was too much for you to handle so your brain shut itself down. They said you would be fine, but I was still worried. I can't lose two of you today."
That brought Yugi crashing back to the problem at hand. Yami. He still didn't know if he was all right. He could always try contacting him through their link but he could tell that Yami wasn't on the other end. There was a blankness there that ripped at Yugi's heart.
"Did you get any word on Yami?" He asked, hoping that Joey would have gotten some good news.
But Joey shook his head. "The doctors said they'd come in here once they got word on Yami's condition, but no one's been here yet." He patted Yugi's shoulder. "I'm sorry bud."
"It's okay." Yugi gave Joey a forced smile. "I guess no news is good news."
No sooner had the words faded then a doctor poked his head in the room. His dark hair fell into his face as he peered at them over the top of his gold-framed glasses. He gave them a sympathetic smile and walked up to the bed.
"Yugi Mutou I presume." He spoke evenly, like a man who just wanted to do his job and get out of there. His mood set Yugi on the edge.
"Yes, that's me." Yugi's voice squeaked out, causing him to wince.
"I have news on your brother Yami." Yugi blinked at being called Yami's brother but didn't question it when he saw Joey's knowing smile. "I have the update on his condition."
"Then out with all ready!" Joey yelped, startling the doctor who almost dropped his clipboard. "How's he doing and how long before we can visit him?"
"Yes," Yugi whispered. "I really must talk to him. I have to apologize for that fight we had."
The doctor fixed Yugi with a sorrowful smile. He sat down on the edge of the bed and patted his leg gently.
"I'm sorry." He spoke softly.
"A-about what?" Yugi felt the fear rise in his stomach. Why did the doctor seem upset. The doctor gave him a said look before speaking.
"Yami's dead."