Authoress Notes: Hello, everyone! Thank you SOO much for the 50 reviews for this story! (hugs everyone) I'm glad that everyone likes this and I'm sorry for the grammar errors in the story. I've been doing this for quite some time, and I still haven't gotten it right. (sweat drops) Oh well, I'll never be great anyway this is just for fun! And I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter; I was quite busy with my AlbelNel fics of SO3 (StarOcean: Till The End of Time). Ehehe… Sorry, but I'm just in LOVE with the couple now. But I recommend the game! It's very good with a good storyline as well! Anyway, enough of my rant, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Do I have to say this every time? Fine, I don't own YGO, of course. If you were to sue me, you'd only get a penny!
Pairings: AtemxAnzu, (you all should KNOW that) SetoxShizuka, JounouchixMai.
Warnings: OOC-ness, mature themes, violence, and strong language.
Plot:
((AU Darkfic)) She promised she would run. He promised he would find her. But how would you run, when in the end, you wanted to be caught? AxA SxS JxM
Crimson Lives
By: xKuroSeraphimx((start chapter))
Chapter 2: Broken Butterfly
Anzu was rooted on the spot, her whole body frozen with shock, her sapphire-colored eyes wide with fear as she stared at Atem's cold, cruel face. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as the tri-haired vampire took a few steps toward her, his steps crushing the ground beneath him, slowly, dangerously, never leaving his crimson-colored eyes from her face. The brunette wanted run, wanted to escape, but found that she could not will her limbs to move.
He stopped, only a few feet away from her, narrowing his eyes at her, before he smiled, that same, cold and alluring smile on his lips that Anzu couldn't help but remember the feel of them against her skin until she shook her head, steeling her nerves and glared at him as well.
She wouldn't fall for his trap.
"So… We meet again, little angel," he murmured huskily with a seductive edge in his voice. "I've finally found you after so long…"
She took a step back, wanting so badly to stay away from him, but couldn't, as her body warred against her mind, fighting off her mind's warnings of him. Anzu spoke, "Atem… I—"
"I've let this game go on for too long, Anzu," Atem cut in sharply, taking another step towards her. "It was fun while it lasted, but it had to end sometime. You should understand that I don't let anything of mine, leave me forever. But first things first…"
Anzu held in her breath as he contemplated what to do with her. She could've taken this opportunity to run into the shadows, but she knew he would be on her in seconds if she even made a move to escape him again. Yet Anzu could feel that he was leashing in his anger and annoyance away from her, which, on Anzu's behalf, was a good thing because he was a deadly vampire, dangerous for his temper that could even freeze hell twice over if provoked.
She should know, of course, he displayed his temper many times to her before.
Then he spoke, his voice cutting her thoughts like a sharp dagger slicing a twig.
"Anzu… I must ask, why did you want to leave in the first place?" he asked too softly, crossing his arms in a dignified manner, eyeing her intently, yet she could see the rage in his eyes, and she knew that she had to choose her words carefully.
But it wouldn't be the words that would probably make him go mad, she thought, it might be what she would say…
Bowing her head, Anzu said, "I… I didn't…" she started, but couldn't find anything to say to him. Well, what could she say? She had a lot of reasons for leaving the life that he offered her, but those reasons would most likely land her in a grave that she should've walked into a long time ago.
"You didn't what, Anzu? What would've been better than the life that I gave you? Hmm? What would have been better than getting anything you wanted, whenever you wanted it?" Atem questioned, trying his damnedest to hide the wild tone in his voice. "I'd do anything you'd ever want me to, give you anything you asked, Hell, I'd even give you the world, if you wanted it. Only to just stay by my side. And yet—"
"I didn't want that, Atem!" Anzu shouted, cutting him off, surprising him slightly with her answer. "You see? I didn't want all those things; I didn't want all those gifts…! All I wanted was for you to stay with me as well, but I…"
… Couldn't have that…
The words hung in the air, unspoken, but clearly understandable. Anzu was breathing, as if she finally had a heavy weight lifted off of her. But no, that wasn't even half of it. That was only a small portion of it.
Anzu began again, taking in a large amount of air as if it was the last thing that might save her from whatever was causing her trouble. "And… I didn't want you to kill my enemies for me. You could've just left them alone! Just because they harmed me, doesn't mean—"
"It means a whole lot to me, Anzu," Atem snarled, his crimson-colored eyes narrowing dangerously into slits. "Whoever even dares to hurt you deserve to be killed by me. I won't allow any harm come to you, and let it go unpunished. Those bastards got what they deserved."
"Atem! How could—"
But he cut her off with a shake of his head. "That is enough, Anzu. I'm taking you with me, and that's final. The game's over." With that, he proceeded towards her.
Anzu's sapphire eyes widened with fear as he stepped closer. "Atem, wait!"
"Hold it right there!"
All of a sudden, three male mortal guards in black suits and sunglasses appeared around the corner from where Atem came from, pointing guns at Atem. Atem paused in his tracks, flickering his ruby-colored eyes at them, his expression blank and unreadable. Panic whirled around Anzu's stomach, churning it into tight knots as she knew what the tri-haired vampire was thinking, what he was about to do.
"Who are you and what are you going to do with that woman?" One guard asked, raising the point of his gun between Atem's eyes. "If you're planning on going anywhere with that wench, think again! She's needed here!"
Atem's left eye twitched as the guard addressed Anzu as a "wench." He chuckled darkly, fully turning around to face the three guards. Anzu shivered in fear at the sound of his voice as he spoke, deadly and menacing that she even saw the three men shudder in fear as well.
"Needed here?" he repeated slowly, smirking widely, baring his long, canine teeth. "Why is she needed here? What do you plan in using her for, hmm?" Atem paused for a moment as a cold breeze blew by before his smirk widened after reading their minds. "So, I see now. To lure me here, is it? Well, you got what you wanted…"
Fear was evident in the guards' eyes behind the thick sunglasses as realization dawned on them as to whom they were facing. "No, wait. You can't be—"
His sentence was cut short with a bone crushing snap as Atem cleanly snapped the man's neck. The body dropped to the floor with a loud thump. One of the two other guards trembled violently as he quickly pointed his gun at Atem's face with a fearful cry, but as soon as he pointed his weapon, Atem suddenly appeared before him and crushed his hand into a bloody pulp, causing him to drop his weapon before Atem sank his teeth into the man's throat, sucking him dry, a blood-curdling scream echoing throughout the whole area.
The last guard was too stunned by what he saw to even help his fellow from his imminent death. It was only until he saw the body fall as well, pale and lifeless, that he noticed that the vampire was nowhere to be seen. He whirled his head around and when he turned to his right, the barrel of a gun was shoved into his mouth, and before he could even register what was going on…
BANG!
The man's head exploded in a bloody spray as Atem pulled the trigger of his own sleek, custom-made black gun, sending a special made bullet into his brain. The tri-haired vampire smiled cold, brutal smile at the sight before him, tucking his gun back in its holster and turning to face the brunette.
Anzu had her head turned away, her eyes shut tightly to prevent herself from even looking at what Atem did to the three men. Why bother? She already knew what he did to his victims. Sometimes quick and painless or, slow and torturously painful before the killing blow was dealt after he had some 'fun' with his victims, making them scream. It didn't matter which, it still was gruesome to see him kill.
The sounds of grass being crushed under Atem's feet made Anzu slowly open her eyes and look at his face, not wanting to see the mess he made with the three mortal men, even though she had seen worst. She shivered at the look on his face, the cold smile upon his lips, the dangerous, raw look in his eyes that had a malevolent gleam in them as he inched closer to her.
"Atem—" She began, but was cut off by an arrogant grunt from him.
"I suspect that the foolish bastards that captured you are already paying the price for doing what they did to you," Atem said too softly, not bothering to hide the malicious tone in his voice, the soft croon that he spoke with when he was ready to kill, ready to cause some damage. "I ordered Seto and the others to kill those vampires, I'm sure you'll be pleased to find their mangled corpses."
No hesitation, no remorse in his words and voice as Atem said that, causing Anzu to shudder again. This was another reason why she left him. She didn't want to get others involved in her life, in fear that if they do something to her, Atem would immediately jump on it and probably kill whoever had done the harm to her, friend or foe, it didn't matter to him. Killing was natural in his case. Then again, killing was so commonplace in their world, that even if someone important in society died, no one would even bat an eyelash or shed a tear.
It was that cruel of a world they lived in.
When she thought of that, Anzu remembered the words of what he said about their world. That it was a cruel place and that you had to be strong or else you would be lying on the ground in your own blood. That alone touched a raw nerve in her, and she shook her head to wipe his voice out of her mind.
Atem placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "So now, you're coming back with me and that's final—"
What Atem didn't expect was a fist to connect squarely on his jaw, sending him sending him a few feet back a bit. It kind of hurt, just a slight sting as he stared bewilderedly at a glaring Anzu who had thrown the rather hard punch at him.
"Anzu—!"
Without a second thought, Anzu ran into the shadow of the pine tree and disappeared. Atem's crimson-colored eyes widen with shock before his teeth were bared in an angry snarl, as he knew that Anzu was fleeing from him again.
He was losing her again!
Atem swore so loudly, he nearly shout out his colorful choice of words before he disappeared from his spot, not going to let Anzu have her way once again, following her lingering scent to where she must be going.
((scene change))
It was a bright morning in the city of Domino. The sky was cloudless and a gentle breeze blew by, making it a good opportunity for a younger Anzu to take a stroll around her huge garden in her backyard.
Passing by large, old oak trees, Anzu's innocent sapphire-colored eyes spotted a butterfly caught in a spider's web in a bush nearby. Slowly, the little girl walked toward it, a curious look on her face as she saw the butterfly move and flail around the web, moving it slightly to try and free itself but to no avail. She bent slightly on her knees, reaching out tentative small hands with the intention of freeing the butterfly from its predicament.
Then all of a sudden, another hand, slightly larger than her own, clamped tightly around the winged insect, crushing it and tearing the spider web apart. Anzu's eyes widen as she looked up along the length of the person's arm and peered into her older brother's face.
"It's best to end its life like this, Anzu," he said quietly, straightening from his slightly hunched position. "It was inevitable. It would've died anyway. Either a slow, painful death, or a quick and painless one. Which do you think this butterfly would choose, hmm?" He asked, opening his hand and showing a once beautiful butterfly, now lay crumpled and broken in his open palm, its wings torn and distorted. "It's rather ironic for such a beautiful thing to die this way, now that I think about it…" He said, a sickly innocent smile tugging at his lips.
Anzu slightly stuttered over her words as she looked at the limp and frail little thing, distraught at the sight before her, but managed to speak, "But we could have saved it! Why did you do that?"
Her brother narrowed his sapphire-colored eyes at her, his dark brows knitting into a tight frown on his face before he let the broken pieces of the butterfly fall into the grass. "Why? Don't ask why, Anzu. You're too naïve to realize the fine line between life and death. You need to realize, Anzu, that if you're not strong, then you're better off dead anyway because it's a cruel world outside our home, and no one is going to give a damn if you died or not if you don't make a name for yourself." With that, he turned to walk back to their home, slightly feeling frustrated.
Until he suddenly stopped in his tracks, his back to her, and he knew that his younger sister was still looking at the crumpled butterfly on the ground. The frown on his face deepened and he said, "The strong live, the weak die, and mercy, my dear little sister, is for fools. Remember that if you want to keep up with me." And he moved on without another word, leaving Anzu to ponder about his words, but she didn't understand.
She didn't understand at all.
((scene change))
Anzu stepped out of the shadows, gasping for breath as if she was being suffocated in the shadows once she knew that she was a clear distant away from Atem and the others. Looking around, she found herself in a dark alleyway, and knew, from the looks of things, that she was somewhere in downtown Domino City. She growled slightly, knowing that Atem would be hot on her trail and that she had to move on. Decision made, she ran out of the alleyway and into the secluded, dark street, the full moon above her casting a faint glow on the world.
Then, her keen ears picked up the low roar of a motorcycle coming from behind her, yet it was steadily coming faster and faster, the low roar now growing louder and louder as the motorcycle came closer and closer to her from behind.
Anzu turned around, just in time to see a blade aim for her neck and duck underneath it, just as a sleek black motorcycle curved around her to stop a few feet away. Anzu stood up and faced the bright light the vehicle lit in the street before the rider moved slightly around her, moving the blinding light away from her so that she got a good enough glimpse of the rider.
"Hikaru!" Anzu asked, surprised to see him.
Hikaru sat on the black motorcycle, staring at her with glazed, indigo black eyes that peeked beneath milk-colored bangs. He still looked the same, yet his aura was radiating a menacing glow. He still wore his trademark white trench coat that had a long slit in the back, the same tight, high-collared black muscle shirt that clearly showed the chiseled muscles beneath, while wearing the same leathery black pants with several belts around his waist, the scabbard of his sword attached to one of the belts while his feet were adorned with hard black boots. A cold, crisp wind blew around them, causing his long, white-colored hair that was held in a high ponytail to billow around him.
Anzu glared slightly as Hikaru set his bike steady and stood off the seat. "You bastard…" she hissed. "What the hell was that for!"
He shrugged nonchalantly, dismissing the threatening tone in her voice. "I was testing to see if you were still alert as ever. I'm rather pleased to find that you have not been slacking." He replied calmly, gazing into her eyes.
Anzu's left eye twitched slightly at his answer. Testing! He could've very well cut her head off if she didn't know any better. And she knew for a fact that Hikaru was very deadly with his sword.
Then the alarm bells in her head rang when she remembered that Hikaru was with Atem the last time she had seen them. Or rather, when she met Atem, Hikaru joined up with them a few days afterward, and, seeing his good and deadly skills with a blade, Atem let him tag along. Putting her guards up, her hand automatically going to her dagger holster, she prepared for a fight that would probably soon to come.
But she needed to run. She knew that Atem was coming after her soon, and Hikaru was delaying her further attempts to escape.
"This isn't going to be easy, is it?" Anzu asked quietly, edging her hand closer to the holster.
Hikaru closed his eyes for a moment before he reopened them and pointed his long sword, Tsukikage, at her. "You got that right." He replied just as quietly.
Silence reigned on between them and when a dark cloud covered the moon for a few moments and disappeared, that was when Anzu and Hikaru charged at each other. Since he was a vampire, he was quicker and stronger than her, but she knew his ways. Hikaru began with a downward strike, which she effectively sidestepped and in a second, had her dagger out and was making its way to his neck. Hikaru blocked her weapon and threw her off guard, and in his momentum, swung a vicious sideswipe at her that grazed her stomach.
Anzu took several step backs, seeing flecks of blood splash on the ground before Hikaru swung his arm back and she blocked it. But he was a lot stronger than her than she thought he would be and broke their lock and went for her again. The next few moments of their battle had Anzu dodging Hikaru's lightning fast swipes and lunges by a hair and when he was left wide open from a downward strike, Anzu took this opportunity to summon a Shadow doppelganger of herself and knock Hikaru back with enough force to leave him dazed for a few moments.
Both Anzus grinned before the fake shadow one disappeared. And instead of further attacking Hikaru, Anzu ran to Hikaru's bike and mounted on it, smiling just as Hikaru stood up. "Don't mind if I borrow this, do you? Thanks, Hikaru!" With that, she sped off in a hurry before Hikaru had enough time to go after her.
Hikaru just stood there, gazing at the fading figure of Anzu leaving with his bike. He knew he could catch up to her, even if she was on his bike, but at that moment, Atem appeared at his side, his arms crossed as he too stared at the silhouette of the fleeing brunette.
"You're late," Hikaru said simply to the tri-haired vampire, wiping the corner of his mouth of blood.
Atem grunted slightly before turning to face him. "We could just catch her right now, but…"
Hikaru scoffed, sheathing Tsukikage back in its scabbard. "I suppose our fight confirmed of what you thought Anzu was, hmm?" he asked, staring at the moon.
A small smile curved up Atem's lips as a dark thought passed through his mind. "Yes… Now I know for a fact that my little angel is a Shadow Master, or a Shadow Manipulator,the last survivor from the sudden genocide of her race." Then his grin turned into a full feral smile as he licked his lips, looking expectantly at the direction Anzu disappeared off to.
"Now I want her even more…"
((end chapter))
Sorry for the long wait, people! (bows numerously) I just had a rough time planning this out, and plus, my cousin would some times hog the computer! And like I said, I was busy with my AlbelNel fics! So please forgive the late update! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you want the next, click on that button down there and review! I'll probably update another story of mine, so, see you!
