QoH: *anime falls* ARG! ive been away for sooo long! GOMEN! *bows profusely* ive barely had time to write at all...  _ gah!

Disclaimer: naturally, "Stand By Your Side" doesnt belong to me (I own Celine's "I Drove All Night" cd, tho... does that count?)

*Yami talking to Serenity, and vice versa*

Chapter 13: Secret Promise

                "Yugi?" Serenity winced as she managed to crawl toward where he lay, an eternal foot from her, in the nightmarishly shadowed light of their prison, "Yugi, can you hear me?" Reaching him, she tentatively touched his wrist in search of a pulse.

                "Serenity..." he gasped painfully, straining to open his eyes and look her over, "he didn't... hurt you... did he...?"

                "I'm fine, really.." she smiled reassuringly, tugging with irritation on the weighty shackle, "Aside from feeling like I've been dumped, face-first, in a few million years worth of pond scum and being tied like some misbehaving dog, I'm all right," she bit her lip, looking around for a way to escape with him, "How do you feel?"

                He gave her a weak, ironic smile as he slowly rolled over on his back, "How do I look...?"

                "Careful!" Serenity chided him worriedly as she tried to scoot closer to him, but was stopped by her captured ankle, "To be completely honest, you look like you were trampled by a herd of wild horses... blast this stupid restraint..."

                "Yeah... that sounds about right..." Yugi breathed as his eyes closed again, a slight, triumphant grin flashing across his battered face, "As for that chain..." he opened his clenched fist to reveal a silver key that glimmered faintly in the gloom.

                Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at it, "How'd you get a hold of that?" She carefully picked it up, in part because she was afraid it wasn't quite real and that she didn't want him hurt any more. Drawing her leg in front of her after she sat down, she unlocked the manacle and threw far away from her, taking a small amount of pleasure in hearing it clatter heavily against the wall as she rubbed her raw foot.

                "I saw it dangling from one of their belt loops on a string..." he groaned as he tried to sit up, his eyes squeezed shut in the exertion, "I managed to snatch it without them being any the wiser... Not very careful, were they...?"

                "Here..." Serenity got to her knees and helped him sit up very gently, cradling him in her arms as she sat back on her heels. She sighed, delicately moving the hair out of his face, "Is that better?"

                Yugi smiled faintly, his eyelids fluttering down again as his strength ebbed, "Much... thank you..." He went limp as the cracked whisper passed his bleeding lips, his head resting on her shoulder.

                Unconscious again, thank Kami, she thought with some relief as she used her teeth to tear a piece from her sleeve to dab carefully at his wounds. A broken sob escaped her as she soaked strip after strip with his blood. Forcing her trembling hands to tie the larger bits into makeshift bandages where she could around his arms and legs, Serenity held him tenderly, making sure he didn't slide to the cold, dirty floor. She knew there was nothing else she could do for him now, and she hated it.

                He still looks dreadful, but at least he's not bleeding so bad, she tilted her head thoughtfully as she studied her efforts after several minutes of attempting to clean him up as best she could. It had taken just as long to get herself under control, now that she thought about it. Her spine straightened as she looked down at him, his head still lolling against her neck. I can't loose my head now. Yugi's depending on me, so I can't freak out. I will not let him down, and that's that. I've got to figure out a way to get us out... But how? Can I carry him all the way to the hospital? Doubtful, but what other choice do I have?

                "I cry, and you comfort me." She gently rocked him, singing under her breath as she held him close, careful to not put pressure on his injuries, "I'm lost, and you hear my scream." Her memory flew back to when he'd burst through her attackers to her side, defending her with all his strength. I'll never forgive myself...

                Serenity's eyes closed as her head bowed over his, tears slipping out to mingle in his drenched hair, " So, it's hard to watch you falling when you run so deep in me..." she smiled sadly as she thought of how they'd laughed together so often, wishing she could tell him all this when he was conscious,"You live in me..."

                She scowled protectively, lifting her head as Tea came to her mind. Somehow, she'd find a way to expose that rotten waste of breath, something that did as little damage to Yugi as possible. If I have anything to say about it, no one will ever hurt you again. I swear it by the blood you shed for me here today. Her gaze softened as she looked down at him, caressing his cheek very lightly, "Gonna stand by your side, now. Let me kiss all your tears away. You can stay in my arms, now. And I know I can make you believe again..."

                Her eyes were riveted on Yugi's face now, quite unable to tear them away from the somewhat morbid fascination of being so near to him in this moment. She remembered how Yami had described him, how he was like no other person ever to walk the earth, in his purity of heart and generosity of spirit. She'd never needed him to tell her any of this, of course. In her soul, she'd known it from that first meeting at the hospital. His gentle kindness, extended to anyone in need of the least bit of help. His willingness to believe the best of someone, even though most others wouldn't trust them as far as they could spit. His love... She yearned so much to be the one he wanted, it kicked roughly at her heart compounded by the second. Seeing him pine for Tea every day was torture to the point of driving her insane, or so it felt at times, namely most of them. He deserves someone who respects him... loves him.... Her eyes burned in a salty inferno and she rubbed at them with her fist furiously, cradling him tenderly as she sang softly in his ear, hoping some part of him heard and understood, "I walk, but you can run through fire. I search for reasons, and, baby, you inspire. But I... I know somebody hurt you, and I know you really need a friend. Well, you can take my hand..."

                Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but she could've sworn the hand she held to her heart twitched just a little, squeezing her own very gently. Serenity stared at his closed eyes, willing them to open. Was I dreaming? Did he just..? Oh dear... A mild panic swept over her for a moment as she took in this possibility. The face she knew better than her own, so relaxed now as his exhausted body slept, bore the faintest hint of his gentle smile. She blushed faintly as she saw the Puzzle shimmer a bit in the near-complete darkness, and realized Yami was aware of her efforts to comfort his injured partner and applauded her for them. Grateful to the spirit, she smiled a little at the Millenium Item before turning back to look into Yugi's bloodstained face, "Gonna stand by your side, now. Let me kiss all your tears away. You can stay in my arms, now. And I know I can make you believe again...."

                Surely, there's a way I can get him out of this place. There has to be! However, after a feverish bout for solutions in her mind, she sighed in defeat when every desperate idea she came across was shot down for one reason or another. For all my bravado, I still don't have a clue what I'm going to do. Not wanting her mounting hysteria to show, Serenity traced her fingers along his jaw and rocked him gently in her lap in a slow, soothing motion, "So, when you're feeling like you can't go on, don't you know you'll never walk alone? No. You live in me."

                She set him cautiously on the floor and ran to open the sliding factory door. I may not be able to do this all by myself, but I have to try. There's just no other option. She went back and knelt beside him, gathering him in her arms before slowly rising to her feet. Holding him close, she walked slowly to the doorway with her jaw set, "Gonna stand by your side, now. Let me kiss all your tears away. You can stay in my arms, now. And I know I can make you believe again..."

                But, just as it seemed she stepped onto the street, there was the hospital's emergency entrance right in front of her. That's odd. I could have sworn the hospital was a good few blocks from the industrial distict. Serenity frowned in vague confusion.

                *It is. I helped you along a bit by, shall we say "shortening the distance" for a brief amount of time.*

                She gasped as she heard the former Pharaoh's concerned voice in her mind, *Yami, what's wrong? How's Yugi?*

                He gave a mental sigh from his soul room, gazing across the shadowed hall to his hikari's locked one, *Not good. His body is shutting itself down. I've done everything I can think of to keep him from slipping into a coma, or worse, but my magic won't hold him for long. He needs physical care, and now.*

                Serenity bit her lip worriedly and rushed through the doors of the crowded, busy room. She was greeted with a blast of urgent bellows for different medicines or such and such room to be readied. She never though she'd ever see anything like it; it was a complete madhouse, but somehow it seemed to work. Standing on the edge as she was, she knew she had no chance of getting Yugi the help he needed in such a place unless she did some serious shouting of her own. She pressed one hand to his ear and held him close as she took a deep breath and belted out at the top of her lungs, "Hey, my friend needs a doctor over here!"

                One of the doctors, a tall, older lady in surgeon's scrubs separated herself from the teeming mass and strode quickly to her, looking down at Yugi in concern as he rested in Serenity's arms,"What happened?"

                "A gang beat him up when he tried to protect me," she answered, her eyes shifting restlessly between them as the dread began to take over, "Please, can you help?"

                "Don't worry, I'll get Yugi the best treatment I can find," she looked over her shoulder and called for a gurney before turning back to her, "Serenity, you should get yourself looked at too, you know."

                It took a few moments for what she'd said to sink in, and she blinked in confusion, "Ma'am, how do you know us?"

                She smiled slightly, "You're right, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Dr. Tamahome; I was one of the doctors with Mrs. Gardener when you came last time. I should have figured you wouldn't remember me, given the stress you're under right now."

                "Hi, Doctor." Serenity sighed in relief, glad to finally see a friendly face as she helped set him on the stretcher, "Yeah, it's been a real nightmare, that's for sure."

                Dr. Tamahome nodded at the waiting orderly, who wheeled Yugi off to an examining room while she took her arm, leading her in the opposite direction, "Now, it's your turn, kiddo. You look quite a bit banged up, there."

                "When can I see him?" she asked, completely unconcerned with the fact that she looked like she'd just been through a tornado as she anxiously twisted the tattered remains of her uniform jacket in her fingers.

                She shook her head, laughing a bit, "As soon as it can be arranged, trust me. Would you like to call your brother now?"

QoH: *hands out floss and Kleenex* eh... was this too melodramatic? #6_6# I've been told that about my writing...