Authoress's Notes: Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter from the terribly incoherent story of Pegasus. There are wonderful things awaiting everyone in this. Please note that there will be places in which nothing makes sense at all. When I wrote this chapter, I was under the influence of sugar. How does sugar affect me? Read the thing about Pegasus's necessary bodily function crisis… *wink* So, um… time for disclaimer before I give everything away… ahem! I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" If I did, the series would have been rated R for really bad violence… no, seriously. Duel Monsters getting slashed apart limb from limb on the hologram arena, holographic body parts flying everywhere, large quantities of holographic blood… not that little shatter-image thing… ANYWAY, here's the story.

"Look away lest you be drawn –

Keep away from one from the dark eon.

All it takes is one little mistake

And all you love becomes death at daybreak."

- from "The White Shadow"

            I remember the wine; they had me take a sip of it. I think there was something in it, for I was powerless; I couldn't do anything to stop them. They cut my hair. I remember the pain as the scissors went through my hair; I kept it at my waist because I needed it to be long. Now it was slightly below my shoulders in the front. In the back, it was slightly longer.

            There was no need for the razor, as I never grew facial hair like the majority of men when they are old enough. That isn't exactly a good thing; I am often mistaken for someone younger than I really am.

            Several hours later, after they had made my body the way they wanted it, I realized I had to go to the bathroom. This wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't consumed all of that alcohol. I tried crossing my legs so they wouldn't snicker, but the more I tried to subdue it the more I had to go.

            "Is there a problem?"

            "I have to go to the bathroom."

            "Oh."

            Several minutes later, I made it to a room where several guards locked the door from the outside. There was no other way out, and I quickly did my business. This was my first experience with a flushing toilet. It wasn't like the modern toilets; it was a little more complex in operation. There was a seat and a small tray at the bottom. No water, of course; this was the desert for crying out loud! There were several chains dangling from the ceiling and all of them did something to the toilet. There were symbols that probably told you what to do, but I didn't know the language. That was a problem.

            I then decided to pull them from right to left and see what happened.

            The first chain snapped something that closed off the basin. The second made a really sick gurgling noise from inside. The third made something snap, which I believe sent the waste to God-knows-where. I don't mean to be disgusting; try to imagine being born into a world where you do your business in a large bucket that has to be emptied out or it will smell horrible. You have never seen anything like a toilet.

            It's like sticking a two-dimensional person in a three-dimensional room.

            Anyway, on my way out I saw a mirror. I almost didn't recognize myself with shorter hair. My eyebrows had been groomed, and they were now sharp lines. My eyes were lined with kohl in the Ancient Egyptian fashion. I stared into it frantically as I tried to find something that reminded me of myself in there other than the white hair and the amber-gold eyes, but I might have been looking at a totally different person.

            My skin was pale from being enclosed in darkness for a long time, and I was too thin. I could feel my ribs when I touched the ruffled shirt.

            No, this wasn't Maxamillion James Pegasus. This was someone who looked like him enough to imitate him, nothing more. And there were voices on the other side and someone was unlocking the door, but he was still looking in the mirror with a horrified expression.

            I kept this sense of detachment for a long time. I was like a ghost seeing my body through someone else's eyes. This can't be me. I won't let it be me. He is not me. He is someone else.

            I was drawn back into myself when Midnight stroked my short hair. It surprised me that it had come to this so soon, that I didn't have much longer. Death or death; only one would lead to rebirth in some new form in the same bodily cage. No time to dwell on those issues, though; they were carrying me to a horizontal slab and I was being latched to it.

            It reminded me of the tortures.

            And why else would they dress me so elegantly? I would be dead before the night was over.

            They brought me out to the middle of the floor where there was a large circle and shoved me down so hard that when my right arm came down, pain reverberated through my body. The pain wouldn't have been unbearable alone, but there was more. Almost no light hit the insides of the circle, and I was shoved into the darkness in which I could see only shapes and forms. I saw a form moving towards me, and it was the only thing in the room that remained clear…

            "Midnight, drain him."

            He hesitated like he didn't really want to do that, but then he looked at me like he knew this would happen. I realized I felt his emotions and his pain, but there was also a strange calm coming from him. Whatever it was, it dispelled my fear. His eyes were twin balls of fire in the darkness; his form was that of a radiant angel. I rose to my feet; Midnight was holding me in a loving grip.

            His fingers worked up and down my arm for a moment, and I felt myself become aroused. I reached my arm around and pressed his head to my neck area, and I liken that clumsy mortal move to a fly trying to move a door.

            I won't let you die, Pegasus.

            Mild surprise as I heard his voice speak in my mind… needing… wanting… what to say?' I trust you. Yes, that was what I had discovered when I thought of what happened during my life. When I left him, he was angry and he took me here, but he hadn't killed me. He had threatened me, but he had never killed me. Love is the ultimate trust. When you love someone, you will put your bleeding heart in their hands and trust them not to throw it into the fire. When you love someone, you can move the world.

I loved Cynthia…

            He will have me drain you until you will die of blood loss; my blood will keep you alive for several hours.

            I felt his lips against my neck. I felt myself tense; I closed my eyes and waited for his fangs to sink into my skin. I dreaded that moment and yearned for it, for whenever he drank from me I felt peace and the brush with death brought me closer to him. Scars all over my body where no one would notice from his deadly bite… I thought about this for a moment.

            Yes, deadly, but also lovely… His fangs sank into my skin and I arched my back. It was something terrible I felt in those moments; his dark passion made the link between us swell and I heard a soft moan escape from my lips. I couldn't move; if I had not been tied, I still wouldn't be able to move. I wanted to move closer to him and I also wanted to run away.

            Swirls of color coalesced into an image of my son sitting while Shadi whispered things to him. Another image: Midnight and Shadi arguing.

            "Don't kill him, Shadi."

            "I knew from the moment I saw him what he was. Do you think I am about to let someone like that here when he would kill us all if he had the chance? The white-haired one is dangerous. His son might be salvageable, but for him, nothing."

            Midnight scowled. "You fool. I can see who he is. He is the one you have been searching for, the one who must bear the weight of the Sennan Eye."

            It faded away. I didn't know why he had shown it to me, but it was getting harder to think and avoid falling into darkness. His mind was hovering just inside me; he knew me. That was how he had found me earlier; he knew me. No matter what happened, he would always be with me.

            And I was not going to die.

            My son reached out for me, though I knew the illusion wasn't real. Against my dimming senses I heard him cry out.

            His outstretched hand led me into the darkness. The form paled and melded with the dark until it was only an outline. Finally, even that was gone.

Authoress's Note: In case you didn't get it, they were making Pegasus up all nice because that's how they treat people they are going to kill.