Yami is Life
Disclaimer: I should make up a disclaimer song. All "These are not my characters, summat, summat, summat, I only made this plot, and stuff and things!" ...maybe not then.
A/N: Stuffles... Shounen-ai/yaoi. Yami/Yugi, Bakura/Ryou and possibly Seto/Joey. AU, OOC-ness, will be using mostly American-type names, cause tis be the version I get. Some swearing!
Three cheers to Erckie (Look at the A/N, t'will be shounen-ai. ) and Latius gang. Only ones to review the rewrite. I cry. Heh, nah. Thankies.
Man... Yugi's lack of gender-distinction is hard to write and understand sometimes... Ah well!
Lastly, I find it highly unfair that I've been stuck on Angel Corrupted's next chapter for months, and then I up and write this in under three hours! Bah... stupid writer's block.
Rewrite!
Never:
The Head Scientist stared down at his charge, the violet-eyed boy playing – and winning – his 24th game of chess that hour. The computer simulation was no match for the project's intellect, there was a reason they had called it 'Game King'.
He was alone in the observation room, all other scientists having retired for a time. It was a familiar situation, just him, the computers and the project. It was only when he was alone, when there was no one else to see or hear, to tell of what he doing, that he could talk to it. Really talk. And it was during these times that he taught it things, things that it was strictly forbidden to know.
He taught it about the Earth, geology, biology, civilization. He taught it the existence of 'self' and 'others', of 'you' and 'me' and 'I', and that it could never tell the other doctors what he had told it. He didn't teach it morals, or try to implant ideas in its head, no, he just gave it enough knowledge that it might survive in the outside world, though it didn't yet understand what the outside world was. And by teaching it he gained something that placed him above the other doctors, who were obeyed because 'the doctors are life', something beyond simple dependence. He gained loyalty.
It was sabotage. He knew it well, and he knew that if he were ever caught at it the consequences would probably be grave. Yet he still did it, without really knowing why. He told himself that it was out of spite of his employer, the rich bastard that thought he could get whatever he wanted just by flashing enough money. He told himself that he did it for personal gain, that having the loyalty of a super-human weapon was worth the risk. But there was a voice far in the back of his mind that told him that he did it for his husband. It told him that what he was doing was wrong, that it was a he, a boy that deserved friends and a family and not to be stuck in a lab all his life... it told him that he did what he did so that when he went home at night he could look his husband in the eye. It was that voice that was making him do what he was about to do.
He reached for the intercom.
"Hello."
Bright violet eyes lifted up to the source of the sound, glittering with warmth and childish joy. It didn't smile, it had never seen how. "Hello, Doctor."
"I'm leaving," the head scientist said. It never did to be subtle with the project, it didn't really understand the nuances of human speech – though it was learning – with a tendency take everything literally and it was best to be blunt with it. He had found it tended to get frustrated otherwise.
"Leaving?" it asked, eyes widening in incomprehension.
"Yes. I am being transferred to another facility," he answered. "I'm going away."
"Away... away where?" Confusion swam thicker within those bright pools of amethyst. "I do not understand."
The scientist snorted. "I've told you about the world, haven't I? The planet Earth? Away is another point on this planet that isn't here."
It had always had difficulty understanding the existence of other places, beyond the lab. It knew with its mind that they existed because he'd told it so, but not with its... its soul. Understandable, since it had never been anywhere other than here.
"So... if you're not going to be here... but away... you won't... I won't talk with you anymore?" it questioned.
"Correct. Another doctor will take my place."
"Oh..." It seemed sad at that thought, though it did not frown or pout.
Another being would have asked why, but it wasn't in the project's nature to question those it thought of as life. He would have to remedy that if it were to survive outside the lab one day.
"I need to tell you some things before I leave, things that you have to remember, understand?"
"Yes, Doctor," it answered. "Understood."
"First of all, ask questions. The more you know, the better. Always know as much about your situation as you can. Second, know what's yours and keep it. Like that futon, it belongs to you and no one has the right to take it from you. Not even the doctors."
"But – "
"Just listen! People that take things from others without permission are bad. As are those who hurt you."
"Hurt?" It was confused again. "What is 'hurt'?"
"Hurt... to cause pain. Pain isn't something you're familiar with, though you have felt it. Do you remember when the doctors were seeing how long you could go without food or water? Do you remember how it felt?"
The project tilted its head. "Somewhat."
"That is a type of pain. Don't worry, it's something that when you feel it, you'll recognize it. Never let anyone hurt you. Now, do you remember everything I said?"
"Yes, Doctor."
"Then, goodbye."
"But Docto-"
He had already cut the intercom and was quickly erasing from the computer logs that he had ever been there. Then, without a backwards glance, he was gone.
The project sat on the futon, no, its futon, and stared up at where the doctors' voices came from, his question unanswered. Staring down at the chessboard it repeated it to itself, "But if the doctors were the ones who caused pain back then... does that make them bad, now?"
And without anyone there to teach it, the Game King learned something new.
Doubt.
Light poured in the bedroom window, casting its glow over a floor scattered with dirty clothes and bits of games and puzzles, the beam of sunlight the only illumination in an otherwise dark room. Time passed, and the patch of brightness slowly inched its way towards a bed, on which a mass of blankets lay. It was so silent that you could almost hear the dust motes floating in the sunbeam.
"Yami!"
The silence shattered, and the pile of blankets shuddered, before settling down.
"YAMI!" The noise came again, this time louder.
The pile grunted loudly, shifted some more and fell off the bed, proceeding to become still once more.
The bedroom door slammed open. "Atemu Yami Motou! Wake up!"
The mass of blankets mumbled something along the lines of "No donkeys... baked a pineapple... 'm not Mr. Darcy..."
The short man in the doorway glared down at the pile with large violet eyes, blowing a strand of grey hair from his eyes. Approaching the mass he grabbed the edge of a blanket and pulled. The pile unraveled and divested a rather rumpled looking teen on the floor.
The teenager bolted into a sitting position and screamed, "My muffins are burning!"
Blinking to clear his vision he turned to stare at the old man. "...Grampa?"
The violet-eyed man sighed in exasperation. "You are by far the worst morning person I've ever seen, Yami."
The teen flicked reddish-purple eyes to his bedside clock. "... 's only 11:15..."
"And Joey has been waiting downstairs for almost half an hour for you."
"Joey...?" Yami questioned, before his eyes widened it sudden comprehension. "The camping trip!"
Suddenly, the sluggish teen became a flurry of action, ushering his grandfather out of the room and proceeding to dress.
Sugoroku Motou sighed again. It was a good thing his grandson had the sense to pack the night before.
Six minutes later Yami was bounded down the steps, a large duffle bag slung over his shoulder. "I'm ready to go!"
"It's about time! I thought I was gonna haveta wait all day!"
"Sorry Joey," the teen said, grinning up at his tall, blonde friend, Joey. "Now let's say we get this show on the road."
"Ah, campin'!" Joey exclaimed. "A weekend away from parents and civilization. Jus' three guys and the great outdoors! Though speakin' of three guys, we still gotta pick up Tristan."
Nodding, Yami walked outside and tossed his bag into the back of his friend's rather dilapidated red truck. Joey had saved up for years to buy the thing, and to celebrate its purchase, he was taking his two best friends out into the woods for their first unsupervised camping trip.
A wide grin settled onto the short teen's face. Like Joey said, no parents, no city, no worries, just them and the wilderness for two days, it was going to be a blast. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?
It didn't like it. It didn't like it at all.
It had been 11 cycles of sleeping and waking since the doctor, the one that talked to him, its doctor had left, and it didn't like the way things were ever since. The new doctor rarely talked to it and when the doctor did, it treated it like it was stupid. And the other doctors had never talked to it beyond telling it what to do in the first place. The new doctor didn't even give it puzzles.
And frankly, it was... what was that word? Bored. It was very, very bored. All the doctors made him do what play strategy games, practice fighting, eat, fight, play strategy games, sleep, then wake up to do the same thing all over again. Its doctor had made it do obstacle courses that constantly changed, had given it puzzles, had taught it. It hadn't learned a thing since the new doctor came. And it was- It was feeling- it felt like- It wanted to hit something!
The feelings that were welling up inside it weren't ones that it would have felt before, before its doctor had gone away, before its doctor had said those things. But now, now it had come to a revelation. The doctors weren't life. They couldn't be. Not really.
Sure they supplied it with food, and water and probably air. But it knew that away, in the places that were there and not here, it could get food and water and air by itself. The only reason it needed the doctors because they had put him here in the first place.
It had decided that they weren't life when the new doctor had taken away its futon as 'punishment', whatever that was. Its doctor had said that no one had the right to take away its futon, but the doctors had. And its doctor had said that people who took away its things were bad, and life wasn't bad. The doctors were bad, and therefore couldn't be life.
There was nothing it could do about it though, because the doctors still supplied what it needed to have life, and as long as it was here it would be so. If only it could get away, then it wouldn't need the doctors... but it didn't know how. Because no matter how many times it asked, the doctors wouldn't answer its questions.
The urge to hit something grew, and suddenly, in an strong surge of that feeling that came with being bored it grabbed the edged of the holographic game board and heaved. The metal screamed horribly and it joined in, enjoying the feeling of relief it brought as the sound tore itself from its throat. Pulling free from the floor, the table was pitched across the room where it shattered against the wall.
The new doctor's voice boomed from the ceiling. "What are you doing?!"
It kept screaming, screaming and screaming without breathing. It could go on for so long without needing more air, so it just screamed. Screamed and moved to the toilet. Drawing back its leg it then smashed its foot into the toilet's stainless steel basin. Something cracked in its foot, followed by a strange twinge, but it was much more interested in the sound of the toilet being torn from the wall and colliding with the opposite wall.
"Stop it!" the doctor shouted. "Stop screaming!"
It didn't. It kept screaming, and started to punch and kick the walls, ignoring the small cracks that came now and then, even though they were accompanied by an odd tingling in his hands and feet. It didn't care, because now, now it wasn't bored.
"Doctor Keith! Doctor Keith!" one scientist was yelling at the new Head Scientist. "What should we do? If this goes on much longer the project might seriously hurt him- itself!"
Narrowing his eyes, Doctor Keith glared down at the spazzing project. "Electrify the room."
The scientist's eyes widened. "S-sir?"
"Do it!"
As its fist collided with the wall, creating a small dent, it was accompanied by a large spark. Suddenly a tingling wave washed over its body, small arcs of electricity jumping being its flesh and the walls and the floor.
It didn't understand what was happening. What was this feeling? Why was lighting coming out of the walls? What?
"What?!" it shouted. The tingling feeling grew and its limbs started to jerk about, out of its control. The spasms worsened as the feeling grew and suddenly it was on the ground twitching madly.
It tried to force its body back under control, its eyes beginning to water from the horrible, horrible tingling. Getting a hold of its mouth and throat for a moment it yelled at the top of its lungs, "WHAT?!"
And then it was screaming for a very different reason.
"D-doctor Keith, shouldn't we stop?"
"Not while its still conscious! Increase the voltage!"
"But sir! We might kill it!"
"Increase the voltage!" Keith knew, he just knew that if he let it get away with things it'd destroy them all. It needed to learn discipline, punishment. It needed to know who was boss around here. It had freaked out, directly disobeyed his orders, and now it had to learn what happened when you messed with him! "Do it! NOW!"
So this was pain. It had to be, there wasn't anything else it could be but pain. But it was nothing like what it had felt when it had been deprived of air and water and food. No, this was much worse. It was so much worse, it couldn't began to describe it. And the pain kept growing.
And then a sort of haze settled over its mind, a strange calm that made the pain seem so very far away allowing it to think. Pain. The doctors were causing it pain. Its doctor had said that people who hurt it were bad, had said it in such a way that it was sure that causing pain was much worse than taking its belongings. And its doctor had said to never let anyone hurt it. Never.
There was pressure building at the back of its mind, the more the pain grew, the more it grew, the more it thought, the more it grew. Pain. Bad. Stop. Never. Doctors. Bad. Pain. Never!
And suddenly, it wasn't touching the floor anymore, or the walls, and though the pain was dying away, the pressure continued to build.
"NEVER!"
The scientists stared, stunned as the project rose from the floor, floating centimeters above the ground. Electricity attempted to jump to its flesh but collided with an invisible force, dancing around its figure like the inside of a plasma ball. And if you looked close enough you could see what the bolts crashed against, a nearly invisible shell. A sphere of protection, like some sort of ghostly bubble.
Then there was another sort of electricity in that room, a violet lightning that flashed from equally violet eyes. It blazed out, touching the orb of protection, staining it visible. And then the orb was expanding.
The first thing it touched was the floor, and as the sphere grew the metal of it was pulled up, twisted, bits and pieces tossed about. And about the bubble grew a whirling maelstrom of metal and electricity.
Doctor Keith watched in horror as the storm of energy came closer, and he opened his mouth to speak his last word.
"Fu- "
The world exploded around him.
Yami was jolted out of his slumber by a distant booming sound. Blinking he asked, "Did you hear that?"
Tristan to look at him, raising a dark eyebrow. "Hear what?"
The short teenager shook his head, running a hand through his spiky, tri-colored locks. "Nothing, it's nothing..."
And with that, he went back to sleep. They still had a ways to drive.