Warnings: Mild violence.
Anyone who reads this must surely hate me for how long it took me to update. However I had to put this on hiatus in order to get some of my other fictions done. I have no intention of abandoning this story—ever. This is by far my favorite storyline and I would probably cry if I lost it. I suppose I should call this story my "baby".
I decided to go with the Yami/Malik couple. It's only implied for the most part though. So if you don't like the pairing you have nothing to fear. It really is more for my amusement than anything. XD
Chapter Seven: Tourniquet
"Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor the sinners in the assembly of the righteous." ~ Psalms 1:5
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Ishtar poked his head through the doorway in order to make sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be. Upon seeing that everyone was he dragged Seto inside the room with him. For some reason the brunette seemed reluctant to attend this 'meeting'. It was understandable considering how much teasing he had already taken from the tanned male and Jade just happened to be twice as bad as he was when it came to teasing.
As soon as Ishtar and Seto entered the room, Yugi took in a sharp breath. His eyes fell on the blonde for a moment. There was something off about him. On the outside Ishtar seemed to be nice enough as he was smiling and his lavender eyes were not so cold and dead as normal but there was something about his aura that rubbed Yugi the wrong way. It was dark and sinister, unfeeling even as that of a cold-blooded murderer. None of the others from God's Will had had such powerful auras.
The small boy took a few steps backwards so that he was up against Jade's body. The compassion in the brunette woman's heart helped ease his own a bit but he still could not help but be terrified by Ishtar's dark aura. "Yugi, what's wrong?" Jade whispered the question into his ear. To her—and Viper who was currently looking at the multi-color haired boy with a perplexed expression—the reaction to the two was rather strange.
"Don't let him come near me," Yugi said, the statement being more of a plea than an actual statement. His voice had cracked a bit when he spoke it. Though she was still greatly confused Jade nodded, wrapping her long arms around the boy in an attempt to comfort his fears.
Her grip on Yugi only tightened as Ishtar approached them. She could feel his body go completely rigid in fear, which only proved to confuse her more. In her personal opinion Seto proved to be a lot more frightening than Ishtar could ever be.
The tanned male looked into Yugi's face for a moment, smirking at the way he shied away from him. All of his visions seemed to have been right. Thus far this boy held only the power to channel other's emotions but other powers were beginning to awaken. He reached a hand out, placing it on Yugi's cheek causing the small boy to flinch but he still could not pull away.
Anger, hatred, possessiveness, and sorrow—the emotion burned his heart. "I'm going to show you something," Ishtar said softly, "Whatever you do don't pull away." Still afraid and somewhat overwhelmed all Yugi could do was nod his head dumbly. Lavender eyes flickered upwards towards Jade who still had her arms wrapped tightly around Yugi. "Release him," he commanded.
Jade looked down at Yugi, not sure if it was all right for her to let him go. He tilted his head upwards to look at her, smiling reassuringly. "It's okay," he told her. Though it did not do much to ease her doubt she let her arms slip away from the small frame they held so tightly.
With Jade no completely broken off from physical contact, Ishtar moved his free hand from its place at his side to Yugi's other cheek. "Don't move," he murmured as he placed his forehead against the other's, his eyes slipping closed. The three left in the room turned to each other, all looking for an answer to the same question: what's going on?
For the other two the answer was quite clear. Almost as soon as Ishtar closed his eyes he began having a vision. The close contact and the level of Yugi's channeling abilities allowed the vision to be passed on. It was ironic that Ishtar had known this would work by seeing him doing just as he was in a vision beforehand.
Just as he saw he would, Yugi was trembling from the images flashing in his mind's eye. It seemed almost as if he were actually watching these happen right before his eyes yet at the same time each passing fraction of events seemed just like a dream. Soon enough Yugi's trembling worsened, his eyes brimming with tears, and his body growing numb and weak. He reached a hand out and clasped onto the fabric of Ishtar's black robes. His knees were growing week.
Everyone was dying right before Yugi's eyes but it all happened so fast. There was nothing he could do to stop it. Some of the people seemed to die more than once. Were these images the future? Or the possibilities for the future? So many people were dying. Some of them he didn't know but then some… Yugi shivered. These visions were overwhelming. They were far too real.
The last one came upon him, slowing down as if it were truly happening before his eyes. In the vision there was Ishtar and Viper. All of the previous visions had been about someone dying, which meant that this one would too. The question was, which one of them was the one to go? Though there was also another question floating around in the back of Yugi's mind. Why exactly was Ishtar showing him all of this?
Suddenly Yugi jumped causing Jade to taking a few steps forward. This had gone on long enough. She was quickly stopped from advancing any further by Seto, who shook his head. He himself didn't trust Ishtar, but he knew enough that whatever he was showing Yugi would be for the best. Naturally this action earned the brunette a glare. He paid it no heed.
Yugi collapsed into Ishtar's arms. There was so much blood. It had splattered everywhere covering not only the person who it had come from and the person who had spilt it but all the surrounding area. He could practically feel the warm droplets on his face and taste the copper-like flavor on his tongue. How is it that one could spill so much blood? A choked sound passed Yugi's lip as he felt bile build up in the back of his throat. He was going to be sick. Either that or he was going to pass out.
Through the shock of what he had just seen Yugi was barely able to make out of the feeling of Ishtar's arms tightening around him as he felt all shreds of consciousness slip away. The last thought that entered his mind as everything went black was of what he had seen. 'The man with the red eyes is going to die…'
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It seemed almost as if the water dripped backwards as he stared at the puddle, lavender eyes half-lidded in a daze. Water almost always seemed like it was dripping backwards when he looked at it for two long. Oddly enough, there was never a puddle. It was just some trick of his mind. He always seemed to see things that weren't really there.
He pressed a tan cheek against the hard wood floor, watching the nonexistent puddle intently. Why it that he always seemed to find himself entranced with such things? Actually—why was it that he always saw these things that were not real? It wasn't always water either. Sometimes it was blood dripping backwards in the same matter. Or at times he wouldn't see a form of liquid at all but rather something such as a bird not native to the land flying overhead.
One could call them visions if they wished to do so. They always seemed to foreshadow things to come though he had yet to learn how to properly interrupt them. He never cared enough to try. Though others called what he was able to see a gift he just thought it was from drinking too much absinthe (1). Wormwood has been known for making people hallucinate. As far as he was concerned, that was exactly what his little 'signs' were.
It was usually about this time when he would begin to feel dizzy. The hallucinations would become overwhelming, causing his head to spin and his vision turn black. This was the time that he would normally let his eyes fall close and welcome a state of unconsciousness. Being unconscious was easier than staying awake and dealing with his hallucinations.
Today, however, that was going to happen. He was only able to barely make out the sound of footsteps coming from right in front of him followed by the blurred outline of boot-covered feet. There was no warning before the sound a slap rang through the room. His vision was suddenly clear again and his head no longer spinning as he raised his hand to touch his now stinging cheek. Had that been necessary?
His lavender eyes shifted upwards as he pushed himself up. He wasn't even the slightest bit surprised when he found himself looking into crimson colored eyes. He should've figured as much. "May I ask exactly what that was for, Yami?" He asked regarding the one before him.
The one named Yami gave him a curt look as if the other shouldn't have to ask why he was slapped. "I should've figured you'd forget," he drawled out causing the tanned one to groan. Yami had just used 'that tone'. 'That tone' meant that there was surely a rant about he was 'irresponsible', 'self-centered', and 'immature' was about to come on. They generally went through this once a week.
"What did I forget?" the flaxen-haired male asked exasperatedly. Couldn't they skip this for once? It wasn't as if he meant to forget anything and everything as Yami claimed he did. It was just hard to remember everything that the male said. After all it seemed as if Yami gave himself new that he was supposed to remember every three seconds. He barely had time to breath with all the tri-color-haired male put on his plate. The hallucinations didn't seem to help either. They generally made it harder for him to remember anything considering he normally passed out after having one.
But alas, Yami never took that into consideration. Instead he would always yell at the other until he was blue in the face. "Honestly Malik, don't you think about anything aside from yourself?" Yami asked, placing a hand on his hip, "We were supposed to meet Jounouchi half an hour ago."
Malik quickly took this into consideration, racking his brain for some lingering trace of a memory that might hint to have being told about that. However he was more interested in another factor of the situation. If they were supposed to meet Jounouchi half an hour ago why didn't Yami remind him of it then? This brought a smirk to Malik's lips. As soon as that happened Yami cringed looking down at the tanned male with a bit of a worried look. He knew the question that was about to come from the other's mouth. "Why did you wait to tell me this until now?" Malik asked, his smirk growing wider.
"I forgot," Yami answered quickly, his words meshing into one. He realized he shouldn't have said how long ago they were supposed to meet Jounouchi. That had ended up being his undoing. He knew that it wasn't very likely that Malik was going to forget about this. Oh, no. He was going to enjoy teasing the tri-color haired male for all it was worth. It was payback time for all the times that Yami had gone on and on whenever Malik forgot anything.
Oh yes, Malik was going to enjoy this very, very much. "You, Yami—who doesn't forget anything, ever—forgot that we were supposed to meet one of your best friends today?" Malik asked in a mocking tone-of-voice.
Naturally, this earned him a glare from Yami. Even though he was well aware that he deserved to be teased endlessly at the moment, he was also very annoyed with the fact that they were still running late and the teasing was doing nothing to help it. "Can we go over this later? We're late enough as it is," he asked, holding his hand out for the other to grab and pull himself up with.
After a moment of looking questioningly at the hand, Malik took it, using Yami's help to stand up again. "I suppose since we are running late I can pester you about forgetting later," he stated as walked passed Yami and towards the door, "That is unless I forget that you forgot."
A hand on his wrist stopped Malik from going any further. He looked over his shoulders at Yami just as the other was wrapping his arms around his waist. "Omae ga suki da (2)," Yami whispered, placing a kiss on the tanned male's cheek. That was the only thing he said before releasing his grip and walking out the door.
Malik stood their blinking for a moment. That had been the first time Yami had told him that. What an interesting day. As he too left the room a small smile cracked on Malik's lips and a half drunk goblet of absinthe was left abandoned on the floor.
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(1) This is liquor made from soaking wormwood and other herbs in grain oil. It's illegal to sell in the US if it contains wormwood so US citizens must order it from Europe! It can be quite expensive too! High quality absinthe can cost somewhere around $200. Scary, ne?
(2) Well… it can either mean, "I like you", "I love you", or "I'm fond of you" depending on what way you mean "suki". In this case Yami means, "I love you".
Ah how I love knowing that there are probably dozens of people blinking like mad wondering what the hell happened in that first scene. XD All shall be explained… eventually. Also I would like to advise you all in advance to make sure you have read the warnings. The second I get flamed for killing someones favorite character I will go berserk. I'm warning you all in advance for in about 3 chapters this story is going to become darker and more violent.