Chapter 6 is here! A lot of you were upset at the thought of Yami suffering even more; and yes, he does, but I think you'll forgive me...
Anyway, a note about updates: finals are coming up next week, so I won't have as much time, but I will continue to update this story twice a week until it's all posted (since it's already finished and won't have to spend much time working on it) but this will be the only story I put up until finals are over, about December 15. I just can't do any more...sorry...: : faints from exhaustion : : lol now on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Chapter 6: Getting Worse
After this, Seto and I joined Mokuba at the dinner table. I eyed him warily as I hurried into the room, careful to stick close to Seto, but much to my relief, Mokuba didn't glare when he saw me enter clinging to Seto's sleeve. As soon as we were seated the cook brought out our meal and placed it before us, but before I could touch my plate, something strange happened.
The food morphed into the familiar swirling colors of the Dream World and I gasped in horror. I scrambled to climb out of my chair and escape, but heavy steel shackles appeared and clamped my arms to the suddenly iron-black dining chair. Thorny vines of shifting shades of brown grew from the chair, encircling my neck and torso, and I kicked my legs, the last unfettered part of my body, and shouted hysterically for Kaiba.
"Seto, help, please! Seto, please!" I begged as tears ran down my cheeks. The thorns clenched at the mention of his name and pricked me painfully, but despite my injuries no blood emerged. My surroundings had become a hazy rainbow mist, and I was alone.
"Seto…" I whimpered pathetically.
Someone slapped me hard across the face.
I blinked. The chair had disappeared, as well as the illusory shifting colors of my nightmares. Instead, Mokuba's fuzzy head bobbed before my face, and I lay propped against something soft and warm.
"Why did you slap him? You're grounded for a month!" Kaiba shouted hysterically.
"It helped him! Look at his eyes!" Mokuba snapped back. The warmth behind me shifted and I whimpered at the loss of heat.
"Yami? Can you hear me?" Seto asked worriedly. Slowly, as my mind cleared and my heart slowed its panicked racing, I gradually became aware of my surroundings. I lay on the carpeted floor of the dining room; no, Seto sat in the floor, and I was… in his lap? He had his arms wrapped tightly around me, my back resting against his chest, and a chunk of his thick brown bangs hung over his eyes as he gazed down at me in concern.
His eyes were very bright.
"What…what happened?" I asked, rubbing my face.
"Your eyes glazed over, and then you just fell out of your chair and started twitching," Mokuba said. "You were shaking all over and screaming, and you only stopped when my brother picked you up."
"I saw… The Dream World, it came back," I murmured softly.
At this, Mokuba's eyes widened and I heard Seto hiss. "But why? Seto was right here," Mokuba asked, furrowing his brow.
"That woman," Seto replied darkly. "She was trying something, I know it."
"Isis? Well, maybe," I murmured thoughtfully. I didn't really care how it happened- I was just glad it was over. Sighing in relief at this thought, I started to crawl out of Seto's grasp- but as soon as he stopped touching me the world shifted. Mocking shadows crept along the walls, racing toward me, and I gasped and leapt back into Seto's arms. I buried my face into his shirt as shudders racked my body.
"What's wrong?" Seto asked in confusion, though he wrapped his arms around me immediately, rubbing my back soothingly.
"I think I'm getting worse," I mumbled into his shirt.
After about an hour of "testing" in Seto's study (most of which I spent shuddering in Seto's arms as he tried to calm me) Mokuba, Seto, and I determined that my condition had indeed worsened. (Well, obviously it had, but Seto insisted on using the "scientific method," or whatever he called it, to determine just how screwed up I was now.) Now, I could only move two or three feet away from Kaiba without the Dream World creeping in, and I was only really calm when touching him- though maybe I just needed the human contact after the horrors of the Dream World. After the last test, which predictably ended with me quivering in fear and clutching desperately at Seto, he sighed in exasperation.
"We're going to see Isis first thing in the morning," he snarled. When I saw the furious glare in Seto's flashing blue eyes I scooted away from him as far as I dared.
"I'm really sorry about this. I hate this so much; being this weak, that is. The Dream World, though…it's like being stuck in your worst fears forever. I can't be strong when I'm there," I murmured, and buried my face in my hands, cursing my failure.
The great King of Games cried like a baby and clung to Kaiba over a nightmare.
Seto sighed again. "No one could," he replied shortly, and pulled me back to him, tugging my hands away from my face and forcing me to look at him. He rested his hand on top of both of mine, where they had begun twisting awkwardly in my lap. "Yami, you lasted three weeks there all alone. I probably wouldn't have lasted three minutes," he muttered.
I stared, wide-eyed, at Seto's self-deprecating admission. "That's not true. You…you're…" I forgot what I had started to say as I watched him. His thick brown bangs hung heavily in his eyes as he gazed thoughtfully at Mokuba, who had fallen asleep in a chair. I made up a new sentence instead. "Your nightmares are probably worse than mine," I whispered softly.
He slowly turned the thoughtful gaze to me, examining my face. "Maybe," he murmured, and for a moment his gaze flickered to our hands before he turned his eyes back to Mokuba. "Maybe."
I trailed after Seto, clutching his arm, as he turned off the lights and crawled into bed. As he lay on his back beside me I let go of him and backed as far away as I could, nearly to the far edge of the bed. He deserved a little privacy, at least. "Won't you have nightmares if you're all the way over there?" Seto asked, yawning.
"No," I replied simply.
"Yes you will. Don't be stupid," he snapped. I inched slightly closer, still leaving a good deal of space between us. He sighed. "Yami, just come here," he groaned, and pulled me against him. Relieved, I immediately settled into his side as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Rolling on to my left side, I rested my head on his chest and hesitantly draped an arm over his stomach, clutching his shirt tightly.
"Don't do that," he muttered.
"Sorry," I squeaked, and scooted away again, but he caught my wrist and pulled me back against him.
"No, I meant don't tug on my shirt like that," he explained, and draped my arm back over his stomach so that it reached all the way across his torso. My fingers twitched involuntarily, needing something to cling to; and Seto must have felt them, because he reached up and clasped my hand in his. He rubbed my back softly with his other arm. "Don't worry. We'll work everything out tomorrow."
I nodded against his chest and closed my eyes. I fell asleep to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
I felt the soft pressure of lips against my forehead and I blearily opened my eyes. Seto lay beside me with his arms draped around my back. His eyes were closed but I knew he wasn't really asleep; for one thing, I had felt him kiss me. The thought vaguely crossed my mind that I should wonder about this, but strangely it didn't bother me. It felt…reassuring.
But that didn't mean I couldn't tease him about it.
"Hmm, Seto's still asleep," I muttered, yawning widely. "At least I don't have to smell his morning breath in my face." His eyelids twitched slightly. "Then again, I'd better wake him up, since I can't really go anywhere without him. But how can I wake him up without getting close enough to smell him?" I mused aloud, not bothering to hide my grin. "Maybe I should poke him, or just pinch him really hard."
Seto's eyes flew open and he glared down at my grinning face. "You'd better not!" he snapped.
"Why, were you only pretending to be asleep the whole time?" I asked in mock surprise. "I hope you weren't offended; I wouldn't want you to breathe on me."
"Ha, ha," he retorted sarcastically. His arms tightened around me, and he opened his mouth to say something when someone knocked at the door. The servant (Ned, I think) cracked opened the bedroom door and peeked in- and froze at the sight of us, blushing cherry red.
Well, we were in bed…with our arms around each other…
Suddenly I began to feel rather awkward.
"Mr. Kaiba, Yami has a phone call from a Yugi Mutou. He says it's urgent," the servant mumbled, distracting me from my thoughts. An urgent call from Yugi could only mean one thing…
"Jiichan!" I gasped, and leapt from Seto's arms, tripping over him in my rush to grab the telephone from the servant. I made it halfway across the room before I realized the shadows of the Dream World had returned. This time I didn't move or speak; I just stayed frozen, waiting for Kaiba to come and bring me back to reality.
Closing my eyes, I waited until I felt the now-familiar arms around my shoulders before moving again. "Thank you, Seto," I murmured, grabbing his hand and tugging him with me as I reached for the phone. "You can go," I said to Ned, who nodded and vanished.
"Look at him, ordering my servants around," Kaiba remarked to no one. I ignored him and lifted the telephone to my ear.
"Yugi?" I asked worriedly. A choked sob answered me. "Yugi, what's wrong?" I pressed. Seto hovered behind me, shifting from one foot to another, and I could tell he was worried as well when he rested his other hand over the one I clenched frantically.
"Jiichan's worse. They had to put him on life support," Yugi replied weakly. "I just thought you ought to know." Then he hung up.
"Yugi, are you avoiding me?" I asked the telephone, holding it at arm's length and staring at it. "You didn't even tell me when he got worse." I pressed the button to hang up the phone, and dropped it to the carpeted floor. It hit with a dull thud, muffled by the thick carpet, and bounced across the floor until it rolled under the bed.
I wished I could follow.
"What happened?" Seto asked curiously.
"Yugi said they put Jiichan on life support, and then Yugi just hung up, without even explaining anything," I mumbled, biting my lip. I didn't understand- Yugi should have known how worried I would be; I wanted details; to know exactly what was wrong. But, lately, Yugi hadn't been telling me anything. He hadn't even told me Jiichan was in the hospital until four days after it happened; though he'd said that was because I was too upset about the Dream World already. Was that the case now? Maybe he didn't think I could handle any more bad news…or maybe…maybe…
Maybe he had lost confidence in me.
"Well, he's probably just upset and doesn't want to talk about it any more than absolutely necessary," Kaiba remarked sensibly, interrupting my dreary thoughts, and I nodded slowly, hoping that this was the explanation. "Now hurry and get ready, and we can go to the hospital before we have our chat with that idiot woman at the museum," Seto continued, scowling over the thought of Isis, and he grumbled about her under his breath as I hurried through the embarrassing process of dressing while he hovered nearby.
When Seto and I stepped into the hospital waiting room, we found Yugi-tachi staring at us blearily, slumped tiredly in the hard, nylon-covered chairs. Apparently they had all missed school today to visit Jiichan. As we watched each other silently Yugi approached me, and when he reached me I slid my hand out of the crook of Seto's elbow and hugged Yugi tightly. After a moment, I reluctantly pulled away and inspected his face. Dark, heavy bags encircled his eyes, prominent against his pale features, and he seemed close to dropping from exhaustion.
"Yugi, you look terrible," I breathed. "Have you been sleeping?"
"Yes," he nodded, "but I just can't seem to get enough rest. I must be so worried about Jiichan that I can't relax." I sighed and hugged him again, feeling waves of guilt wash over me.
"I'm so sorry, Yugi. I wish there was something I could do to help."
"It's okay. You've got enough problems of your own, anyway," he replied, eyeing Seto furtively. When I saw Yugi's uncertain expression I instinctively retreated to Seto, slipping my hand back in the crook of his arm. I gave Seto's impassive face a quick glance before hastily changing the subject.
"When can we visit Jiichan?" I asked.
"No one can go in right now. The doctors want him to be left alone for a few hours. Then, if he's better, they'll let in one person at a time for ten minutes an hour," Yugi explained wearily.
"Oh," I murmured, disappointed. "Well, you should be the first to see him, Yugi." I glanced up at Seto and added, "We have to go back to the museum and talk to Isis, anyway, since…" I trailed off before I could let news of my new "situation" slip, not wanting to worry Yugi any more, and hastily continued, "Maybe we could come back in a little while, and see if they'll let him have visitors then." I gave Seto a pleading glance as I said this, and he nodded down at me and gave me a little smile, flashing even white teeth.
I heard Anzu make a suspicious sound in the back of her throat, and Jounouchi muttered something inaudible, though I definitely caught the word "Kaiba."
Reddening slightly (though I wasn't sure why), I hugged Yugi once more and waved goodbye to the rest. Seto started toward the exit and I raced after him; but as I left, through the corner of my eye, I saw Yugi collapse weakly into a chair, running a palm tiredly over his pale face.
A/N: Hmm, that was pretty angsty for something I wrote... Just as a side note, it was hard for me to pick a genre for this story- it seems to have a little bit of everything. Finally I just chose romance and didn't worry about anything else. lol. Next chapter: we learn more about Isis's grounding spell, and Yami finally cracks. (Although he's gotten pretty close already.)
To my reviewers: Once again, thank you so much for reading and responding to this. I love hearing what you have to say! And several of you are still wondering about Mokuba, so I'll give you a hint: read carefully. When Mokuba gets upset, make sure you pay attention to exactly what he's responding to. If you still can't figure it out, don't worry; it'll be obvious in a chapter or two anyway.