Apologies- I am SO sorry! I kept you all waiting for these chapters
for far too much time allotted for suspense. Hopefully soon, you will get a
full epic of Yu-Gi-Oh. Please forgive me. And thank you; believe me, I
could not have done this without you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I do own several original ideas hosted in this fic. SO DON'T EXPLOIT THEM! Oh, and please read and review. Thanks, and on with the fic.
He knew he was within a chamber, that there were definite limits in this chamber, but those limits changed frequently, swirled from a space the size of a form fitting iron maiden to the two hundred acres of the ancient palace of Knossos in Crete. The look of the place changed with the form, so it could be outdoors, inside a small, dank dungeon, the smothering space of a pool of water, and a myriad number of others. The smell and feel changed, too- all smells varied to the view, the feel, was always numbing.
The only constant was the pain. Pain racked his whole body as his heart exploded and reknitted a million times, as his form was crushed and reformed a million times, as his breath was sucked agonizingly from him, then restored. There were small waiting periods between each wave of pain, so there was euphoric relief when the agony ended, then dread that it would begin again, mixed with hope that it had ended. The worst thing was he couldn't fall unconscious, for some reason. There are always limits of pain a person could endure before they passed out or died; he had passed these limits a number of times, but he hadn't fallen unconscious.
Now why was that? He pondered this in his hazy mind, in one of the lucid times between waves. Maybe it's because I'm- the thought rose, but never finished, because the twinges in his body began again. Then a burst of agony came and he screamed, grating on his already sore throat. And all he could do was scream and scream and...
* * *
In another time, in another place, but the same soul and body, Yugi Motou awoke in his twin-sized bed, screaming primally, pain splintering his tiny body. Next to him, though visible only to Yugi himself, a young man, a few years older than the said sixteen year old, jerked awake. The young man didn't look very solid; his image was fuzzy, indistinct at the corners and edges. He rolled over and flipped up on his knees simultaneously, staring groggily at the boy sitting up in his relatively small bed, and immediately reached forward to seize the younger boy.
"Yugi! What is it? You need to stop screaming, Yugi, you need to stop screaming and tell me what's the mater!" Abruptly, the boy stopped. When he did he collapsed forward, against his own violation, against the older, oddly foggy boy, taking great, gasping breathes that racked his tiny, shuddering body. It was odd to see, the two young men might have been brothers or twins, but the both of them knew that was far from the truth. Their minds, however, were similar, which was what gave them their odd companionship Yugi had never really had a true friend before his Spirit, and the Spirit genuinely liked and enjoyed being with the boy. But now, there were more pressing matters at hand...
The Spirit rubbed the boy's back and arms, chafing his tiny, smooth hands, and was deeply worried and distressed; Yugi had nightmares before, but obviously none as severe as this. "Spirit..." whispered Yugi, his body alternately convulsing and shaking. "I—I'm so frightened! S-something happened and I was in s-so much pain!" As the Spirit began to lay Yugi back down onto the bed his gave a strangled sort of scream, his body arching in the other boy's hands. The Spirit gave an involuntary bark of distress; something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't tell what...
"Yugi, will you let me see?" He asked gently in a voice only Yugi could hear. Yugi's marvelous violet-ruby eyes snapped open as he heard this, then, almost spoke before the Spirit could finish his sentence.
"No! I don't want you to fall into the dark! It's still there, waiting! I know I've seen it before, even though I don't know where... Please, Spirit... I'm afraid..." The older boy's expressive face changed into one of shock as Yugi's hands clutched like a vice at the Spirits shoulders. "Just... wait. It'll all be over in the morning."
"If it makes you feel better, Yugi..." The Spirit said, lying back down in the bed. Yugi turned away from the boy only he could see and curled up, his beautiful eyes fixed on the dark, swirling nothingness only he could see.
* * * *
The Pharaoh later told himself that Yugi had only had a bad dream, and that it was nothing to worry about. But as his walked through the labyrinthine Room that was his mind, he felt distinctly uneasy. Avoiding traps he had put there more than a millennia ago, he entered a room that was wider, grander then the rest and he sat down on a throne that was still intact after all the years and wondered. It was quite some time before he rose and walked back to the door, embossed with an Eye of some long forgotten god and looked grimly at it and, praying to Ra to forgive him of what he was about to do, exited and crossed the Corridor. He didn't wait any longer then he had to before opening his aibou's door and looking inside.
The Room was exactly as he had seen it before; the walls were plastered a gentle yellow, the floor was a plush carpet and all about the Room, there were stuffed animals, toys games, books, all of a varying sort. The spirit passed a cardboard stand-up of a clown and spotted the item that had so attracted his attention; it sat in one spot, lonely, repulsive and sad, contrasting with the liveliness around it. The Pharaoh looked at it with an infinitely sad expression, and picked it slowly, reverently, off the ground. He walked quietly from the Room, across the Corridor, and into the darkness that was his mind.
It had been millennia ago when he had last seen the object and slowly, reverently, he placed his ruined, twisted diadem upon his head.
* * * *
"Watch it, Joey. That was a pretty risky move you made and you left yourself wide open for an attack." Yugi said speculatively, eyeing Joseph Wheeler's Jojikocy. Joey moaned and he let his head fall back on his shoulders.
"Yug! I'll never get this right." The blonde boy smacked a hand into his forehead with disturbing force.
"You keep doin' that, Joey, and pretty soon you won't have to worry about getting Duel Monsters right at all." Tristan Taylor said with a slight sniff in his voice. Yugi made to reply and his body was splintered with pain; it was as if all of the nerve endings he possessed were suddenly set on fire, or stabbed with pins. And, just as abruptly, a booming voice echoed within the corridors of his mind.
"Pharaoh. Heed my warning with zeal. If you do not tread lightly among the paths of the future all will be lost. And when you see me you will bow at my feet. REMEMBER!"
Yugi wasn't aware of the fact that he had passed into oblivion for a few seconds, but when he came to, someone was cradling his tiny form, shouting for someone to get the infirmary. But Yugi could not deny, even past the pain racking his body, the hook that voice had cunningly inserted in him. He could not deny it was pulling him into an oddly familiar destination...
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I do own several original ideas hosted in this fic. SO DON'T EXPLOIT THEM! Oh, and please read and review. Thanks, and on with the fic.
He knew he was within a chamber, that there were definite limits in this chamber, but those limits changed frequently, swirled from a space the size of a form fitting iron maiden to the two hundred acres of the ancient palace of Knossos in Crete. The look of the place changed with the form, so it could be outdoors, inside a small, dank dungeon, the smothering space of a pool of water, and a myriad number of others. The smell and feel changed, too- all smells varied to the view, the feel, was always numbing.
The only constant was the pain. Pain racked his whole body as his heart exploded and reknitted a million times, as his form was crushed and reformed a million times, as his breath was sucked agonizingly from him, then restored. There were small waiting periods between each wave of pain, so there was euphoric relief when the agony ended, then dread that it would begin again, mixed with hope that it had ended. The worst thing was he couldn't fall unconscious, for some reason. There are always limits of pain a person could endure before they passed out or died; he had passed these limits a number of times, but he hadn't fallen unconscious.
Now why was that? He pondered this in his hazy mind, in one of the lucid times between waves. Maybe it's because I'm- the thought rose, but never finished, because the twinges in his body began again. Then a burst of agony came and he screamed, grating on his already sore throat. And all he could do was scream and scream and...
* * *
In another time, in another place, but the same soul and body, Yugi Motou awoke in his twin-sized bed, screaming primally, pain splintering his tiny body. Next to him, though visible only to Yugi himself, a young man, a few years older than the said sixteen year old, jerked awake. The young man didn't look very solid; his image was fuzzy, indistinct at the corners and edges. He rolled over and flipped up on his knees simultaneously, staring groggily at the boy sitting up in his relatively small bed, and immediately reached forward to seize the younger boy.
"Yugi! What is it? You need to stop screaming, Yugi, you need to stop screaming and tell me what's the mater!" Abruptly, the boy stopped. When he did he collapsed forward, against his own violation, against the older, oddly foggy boy, taking great, gasping breathes that racked his tiny, shuddering body. It was odd to see, the two young men might have been brothers or twins, but the both of them knew that was far from the truth. Their minds, however, were similar, which was what gave them their odd companionship Yugi had never really had a true friend before his Spirit, and the Spirit genuinely liked and enjoyed being with the boy. But now, there were more pressing matters at hand...
The Spirit rubbed the boy's back and arms, chafing his tiny, smooth hands, and was deeply worried and distressed; Yugi had nightmares before, but obviously none as severe as this. "Spirit..." whispered Yugi, his body alternately convulsing and shaking. "I—I'm so frightened! S-something happened and I was in s-so much pain!" As the Spirit began to lay Yugi back down onto the bed his gave a strangled sort of scream, his body arching in the other boy's hands. The Spirit gave an involuntary bark of distress; something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't tell what...
"Yugi, will you let me see?" He asked gently in a voice only Yugi could hear. Yugi's marvelous violet-ruby eyes snapped open as he heard this, then, almost spoke before the Spirit could finish his sentence.
"No! I don't want you to fall into the dark! It's still there, waiting! I know I've seen it before, even though I don't know where... Please, Spirit... I'm afraid..." The older boy's expressive face changed into one of shock as Yugi's hands clutched like a vice at the Spirits shoulders. "Just... wait. It'll all be over in the morning."
"If it makes you feel better, Yugi..." The Spirit said, lying back down in the bed. Yugi turned away from the boy only he could see and curled up, his beautiful eyes fixed on the dark, swirling nothingness only he could see.
* * * *
The Pharaoh later told himself that Yugi had only had a bad dream, and that it was nothing to worry about. But as his walked through the labyrinthine Room that was his mind, he felt distinctly uneasy. Avoiding traps he had put there more than a millennia ago, he entered a room that was wider, grander then the rest and he sat down on a throne that was still intact after all the years and wondered. It was quite some time before he rose and walked back to the door, embossed with an Eye of some long forgotten god and looked grimly at it and, praying to Ra to forgive him of what he was about to do, exited and crossed the Corridor. He didn't wait any longer then he had to before opening his aibou's door and looking inside.
The Room was exactly as he had seen it before; the walls were plastered a gentle yellow, the floor was a plush carpet and all about the Room, there were stuffed animals, toys games, books, all of a varying sort. The spirit passed a cardboard stand-up of a clown and spotted the item that had so attracted his attention; it sat in one spot, lonely, repulsive and sad, contrasting with the liveliness around it. The Pharaoh looked at it with an infinitely sad expression, and picked it slowly, reverently, off the ground. He walked quietly from the Room, across the Corridor, and into the darkness that was his mind.
It had been millennia ago when he had last seen the object and slowly, reverently, he placed his ruined, twisted diadem upon his head.
* * * *
"Watch it, Joey. That was a pretty risky move you made and you left yourself wide open for an attack." Yugi said speculatively, eyeing Joseph Wheeler's Jojikocy. Joey moaned and he let his head fall back on his shoulders.
"Yug! I'll never get this right." The blonde boy smacked a hand into his forehead with disturbing force.
"You keep doin' that, Joey, and pretty soon you won't have to worry about getting Duel Monsters right at all." Tristan Taylor said with a slight sniff in his voice. Yugi made to reply and his body was splintered with pain; it was as if all of the nerve endings he possessed were suddenly set on fire, or stabbed with pins. And, just as abruptly, a booming voice echoed within the corridors of his mind.
"Pharaoh. Heed my warning with zeal. If you do not tread lightly among the paths of the future all will be lost. And when you see me you will bow at my feet. REMEMBER!"
Yugi wasn't aware of the fact that he had passed into oblivion for a few seconds, but when he came to, someone was cradling his tiny form, shouting for someone to get the infirmary. But Yugi could not deny, even past the pain racking his body, the hook that voice had cunningly inserted in him. He could not deny it was pulling him into an oddly familiar destination...