-Wild Aces-
Darkness engulfed him, blocking out all his thoughts and almost made him completely numb, but he could feel something caressing him. The caress was hot, as if a creature from the depths of hell was breathing against his skin. Almost drowning in his thoughts, he was quickly brought back to a painful reality as a loud neigh echoed through his ears.
Dusky, glassed over crimson eyes jerked opened to be welcomed by blurred vision. Blinking his eyes lazily, they soon came into focus to notice glossy black hooves a few inches away from his face. Trying to push himself up, Yami hissed as a wave of pain shot across the length of his body, causing him to quickly shift over to the side so that he could sit up and clutch his wound.
Growling at the pain, Yami pulled his hand away to see it coated with blood. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out. Those bastards…" he muttered through clinched teeth before pulling his red bandanna away from his neck and using it to try and stop the blood flow.
Feeling something nudging his uninjured shoulder, Yami turned to look into the amber eyes of his trusty horse. "Looks like I let my guard down, eh boy?" he chuckled dryly as the horse snorted before pulling away to pick up the black cowboy hat laying on the ground then handing it back to its rider.
"Thanks, Phantom," Yami smiled patting the horse before putting his hat on, just as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He knew that he couldn't stay here, and his friends were in serious danger with that damned Silver Mane in their midst. Fighting off another wave of dizziness, he quickly got to his feet, and would have fallen back down, if it wasn't for his horse immediately using its body to steady him.
"C'mon, we've gotta go and find the others… before something… happens to them," he panted lightly while using the horse as a brace since he staggered toward the saddle. Reaching out for the horn of the saddle, he took in a deep breath while lifting his foot and securing the boot into the stirrup and using his leg to lift him off the ground while using his uninjured arm to pull himself up onto the saddle.
Phantom neighed lightly as he looked back at his rider to find him hunched over and panting, tryingto catch his breath.
Sensing the horse's worry, Yami looked up from under the brim of his hatto gazeinto the horse's eyes before painfully tying the reins together to rest against the stallion's mane. It hurt to move his left arm too much since the muscles would flex from his shoulder, not to mention he also had one hell of a headache. Shaking his head lightly, he used his other hand to hold his bandanna in place before nudging his horse with his gold spurs.
"Take me to where the others are," Yami ordered calmly, masking the pain as he quickly locked his legs in position as the horse complied with the order and took off at a steady gallop. Taking a deep breath, he couldn't help but feel his stomach double up in knots as well as the pounding in his skull.
The horse continued to run across the rough terrain, its fluid movements were fortunate for its rider since it wouldn't jostle him around that much. Heading off in the direction that it could still sense the other horses from yesterday, Phantom snorted as he continued to run but something spurred on animmediate burst of speed, as he felt the weight of his rider go limp and shift to where he was leaning over the horn of the saddle with his face against silky black mane.
"Will one of you please explain to me why we are here?" Pegasus glared at the three men that weresitting on the corral fence that currently held at least over 150 head of long horn cattle.
"These are our distraction," Seto sighed, waving a hand to indicate the entire confined herd. "You see, with a distraction it makes the job so much easier and there is a less chance of being seen."
"Which adds up to not having some screwed up sketch of ya hanging on a wall with a price under your head," Bakura smirked before hoping from the fence to the saddle of his horse.
"I find this all rather pointless," Pegasus sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Think of it this way, Peggy. If ya ain't seen ya have a lot more freedom to roam around, and don't have to worry about people wanting to blow your ass off," smiling Marik watched as Bakura got a lasso ready for one of the steers that they had decided to swipe.
Seto nodded at Bakura and Marik before jumping from the fence and getting on his own horseto head over to Pegasus and Keith. "I suggest you two saddle-up, since you both will be helping me and I'll leave those two to cause a diversion."
Nodding, both Keith and Pegasus got on their horses and headed toward the end of the cattle grounds before looking back at Seto and the others.
"Do you think you two can handle this?" Seto asked looking at the two with a skeptical look.
"Oh would you go the hell on, I watched Yami pull off some of the weirdest shit before, so I'm pretty sure that I can cause a little stampede," Bakura groaned as he glared at the brunet.
"I hold ya to it, Bakura," Seto smirked,nudging his horse and joining the two others before the three of them rode out of sight, leaving Bakura and Marik with the cattle.
"So when do you want me to open the gate?" Marik asked looking over at Bakura who had finally decided on the perfect steal.
"As soon as I can lasso up that roan steer there with one of the broken horns," Bakura smiled while swinging his lasso around before tossing it in the corral and successfully catching the steer around the neck. "Now, open it!"
Throwing open the gate, Marik pulled out on of his pistols and shot up in the air, immediately causing the cattle to stampede out of thelarge corral.
Bakura pulled back on the lasso and wrapped the end across the horn of his saddle tightly, knowing that the steer was going to stampede out with the rest of the herd, but when the time came he wasn't totally ready for the powerful jerk that he received and neither was his horse.
Pulling back on the reins, Bakura could feel his horse dig its hooves in the ground for traction, but unfortunately the scared steer was much stronger, causing the girth and many other straps to snap from the pressure. 'OH SHIT!'
"GYAHHHHHHHHH!"
Hearing the scream, Marik quickly turned to see Bakura's horse rear up, revealing that it was missing a saddle as well as its rider. "Bakura!" he called out, looking around before noticing an awful large dust cloud forming behind the steer that Bakura had roped.
"Ow! Ow!... Marik, get your ass over here...Ow!... Ow!...and help Me!"
Grabbing Bakura's horse by the reins, Marik quickly brought the horse with him as he jumped onto his own saddle and nudged his horse, causing it to run after the steer. "Hang on, Bakura! I'm coming!"
Meanwhile at the bank…
Seto, Pegasus, and Keith offered everyone in the building a small smile while scoping out the layout. Tellers were behind their little cages and the large safe was currently open for the moment since cash had arrived earlier by train as well as a few of the patronsgetting out or depositingtheir money.
Over in the corner, Seto immediately noticed the blond from the bar leaning against the wall with one leg bent and propped against the wall while the other one kept him standing. His duster was pulled back enough to reveal one of his six shooters.
All of the sudden the entire building started to tremble, causing everyone to look around frantically. To some they thought it to be the train, since it caused a lot of vibration, but this was almost like roaring thunder.
Offering the two a smile, Seto winked at his two companions before unconsciously starting to count off the seconds before like clockwork, screams erupted throughout the entire town.
Everyone in the bank made a mash dash outside to see what was going on, even the tellers of the bank as well as Joey, but he was being dragged out by one of the tellers, demanding that he being a law enforcer should do something.
"STAMPEDE!"
Everyone screamed loudly at the sight of all the cattle trampling through the town, damaging everything in their path with either horns, power, or pointed hooves.
Smiling at the success of having the bank cleared, Seto and the three others quickly entered behind the teller desk and vault and picked it almost entirely clean. Keith and Pegasus had suggested to take all of it, but Seto had told them 'No', and had held a gun at both at them in warning to not cross him.
Making their quick exit out the back way, Seto blinked as he noticed a stray steer with a large dust cloud behind it being chased by Marik, who also had Bakura's horse trailing beside him. "What in blazes is going on?" he asked,running over to his horse and climbing into the saddle before riding off after Marik with Pegasus and Keith trailing behind him.
"STOP! YOU INFERNAL PIECE OF RAWHIDE!" Bakura shouted while continuing to hold on tightly to his saddle as he was dragged across the rocky terrain.
Marik had managed to tie Bakura's horse reins to one of his saddle bag clips, so he quickly pulled out some rope and formed a lasso in hopes of stopping the steer. Out of the corner of his eyes, he smiled as he noticed Seto and the others coming toward him.
At seeing the problem, Seto had to fight from not laughing at the scene of Bakura still in the saddle being drug behind the rampaging steer. Seeing that Marik was going to try and lasso the steer, he motioned for Pegasus and Keith to flank beside him, so that they could corner the beast.
It took only a matter of minutes as the steer was pulled to a stop by the organized teamwork.
"Have a nice ride, Bakura?" Marik snickered before bursting out in laughter, no longer being able to hold it in any longer. "Oh I can't wait to tell Yami about this!"
Spitting out the dust and grim, Bakura got to his feet and took off his hat and beat it against his clothes in attempt torid the dust off them, causing him to cough lightly then glare at the blond that was howling with laugher. "Not a word out of you!"
Shaking his head at the scene, Seto looked back over his shoulder to notice that apparently many people had tried to go after the wayward cattle that had yet to run out town. Looking back at the others he sighed, "Hurry up and let's get back before they notice that they've been robbed."
Nodding, Bakura unwound the lasso from his saddle horn before picking up the saddle and packing it over to his horse. Taking the reins offered to him, he quickly jumped onto his horsebarebackbefore Marik handed him back his saddle. "Looks like I'm going to need some replacement straps."
"Don't worry, I'm sure we have some spare ones at home," Marik smiled before everyone turned and rode out behind Seto with their new prized steer bringing up the rear behind Marik.
"Jeez, Miss Lily and her love of pinching cheeks," Malik mumbled, rubbing one of his cheeks lightly.
"What do you expect? She's the oldest lady in Vander," Yugi sighed, rubbing his aching cheek as well before looking over at Ryou, who had been lucky enough to avoid the elderly lady and her cheek pinching.
"Oh you two, she was just being friendly," Ryou smiled while patting his horse's neck idly.
Rolling his eyes, Malik urged his horse to go a bit faster when he noticed the town General store coming into view. "Whoa, looks like something happened while we were away."
Hearing that, Ryou and Yugi rode up toward their friend to see what he was talking too. Ryou gasped at seeing some of the pillars broken at the local store as well as the sheriff and Joey standing near the post.
Yugi would have rode up as well, but the sound of a horse neighing caught his attention as he looked around beforenoticing a black horse running out over the horizon. Not sure what to do, he nudged his horse gently and quickly headed toward the approaching horse.
"Yugi?" Malik and Ryou both turned at seeing their shorter friend ride off toward another horse. Curious the two of them nudged their horses toward their friend as well.
"What's going on?"
Quickly dismounting his horse, Yugi rushed over to the black horse, which immediately came to a stop in front of him. It surprised him since the horse didn't rear up, but his attention quickly drifted to the hunched over figure on the horse's back.
"Oh no," he gasped, rushing to the rider's aid as he tried to see what was wrong. Hearing his friends calling for him, he quickly turned back to them. "Ryou, come quick, I think he's hurt!"
Rushing over to his friend, Ryou quickly looked the figure over and noticed the figure clamping a blood drenched bandanna over his left shoulder. Carefully reaching up to the bandanna, he gently pried the hand away to notice the bleeding gunshot wound. "Oh hell, he's been shot! We've gotta hurry and get him to the doctor!"
Nodding, Malik quickly got back on his horse as well as Ryou.
"You guys ride on and tell the Doc to make a room and I'll be right behind ya," Yugi offered while reaching up and untying the black horse's reins.
"Alright Yugi, we'll be waiting for ya," Ryou nodded before he and Malik rode off quickly to town.
"C'mon boy, we'll get your rider fixed up," Yugi smiled while patting the horse's muzzle before walking over to his horse and quickly getting into the saddle. Nudging his horse, the appaloosa took off into a quick canter with the black horse keeping right beside it.
Ryou and Malik quickly dismounted and tied their horses to a post before rushing into the infirmary, nearly running over Joey in the process.
"Hey, what's all the rush?" He asked jumping out of the way.
Malik sighed while watching Ryou rush inside to get everything ready. "Yugi's bringing in a wounded rider."
"What?" Joey gasped, looking around to notice Yugi coming straight toward them with ablack horse galloping right beside him.
"Yup, Yugi seen the horse and found him just right outside of town! Oh yeah, what happened here, by the way? I noticed a few pillars broken at the General store."
"No time to ask questions now, Malik," Ryou said, coming back out of the infirmary with the doctor right behind him.
Dismounting off his horse, Yugi quickly walked the black horse closer to the infirmary as Malik took and tied his horse to the post with the others. Bringing the other horse to a stop, he patting the stallion as it neighed.
"Joey, would you help me get him inside?" the doctor asked as Joey nodded before both men walked over and tried to get the rider off, but were getting no where. "My word, he has his legs locked in place even though he's unconscious."
Hearing what was going on, Yugi tried to help as he managed to get the rider's left boot out of the stirrup before moving and quickly unclasping all the saddle buckles. "Now try."
Giving another firm tug, Joey and the doctor managed to pull the rider from the horse's back along with the saddle, which fell to the ground. "Smart thinking, Yugi," Joey praised as he and doctor rushed the prone rider inside.
Malik picked up the saddle and put it on the porch before turning to see Yugi tying the black horse beside his own. "Come on, Yugi, let's go and see what this guy looks like," he smiled as his shorter companion nodded before they both ran inside the infirmary to gasp at the sight.
The doctor had just managed to remove the rider's black shirt to reveal the bullet wound as well as a well-built tan chest, toned with lithe muscles. That wasn't what shocked them though; it was what was hidden under the black cowboy hat. The rider had outrageous gravity defying spikes of familiar tri color hair.
"Wow," Yugi murmured quietly under his breath as he took in the figure's features. Though their hair was the same colors, the riders golden bangs seemed to give the other more freedom instead of framing his features, even though they did that as well to some degree, but a few of the bangs streaked up like lightning through the raven and crimson hair.
Fighting the urge to run his fingers through the silky looking locks, he ran a hand through his own while he took in the chiseled facial features of the other. One could tell that he was in pain from the stress lines marring the more than perfect face as well as the bleeding bruise above the rider's left temple.
"Well Yugi, it seems you've found your double today as well," Malik smiled, noticing his little friend's shocked expression.
His double, hardly. True they had some similarities, but being double? Yugi didn't think so. The one before them was exquisite in physique and he seriously doubted that he had such handsome features as this one, with his sharp chin and long sooty lashes, hiding what would probably be an eye color that would melt him into a puddle. "Yeah... I guess I have."
"Hmm... well it's a clean shot, the bullet must have went through, but he's lost a lot of blood and might have a concussion since I'm not sure what caused that injury on his temple," the doctor sighed,putting a bandage on the bullet wound while Ryou tended to the wound on the temple.
"Will he be all right?" Yugi asked, sitting in a chair close to the bed while continuing to stare at the prone figure.
"Only time will tell, but if ya like you are welcome to stay here with him, Yugi," the doctor offered, noticing the youngster's worry over the figure.
"We'll all stay with ya, Yugi," Malik smiled, taking a seat against the wall.
"I can't," Joey sighed rubbing his arm nervously. "I have to stay at the Sheriff's post tonight while he rides off Daxon to start a posse."
"What does he need a posse for?" Ryou asked, cleaning his hands in a basin on the other side of the room.
"Well ya noticed the damage outside?" Seeing the nod, Joey sighed. "Well while you were away, there was a stampede of cattle and while that was going on… we were robbed."
"Robbed? You mean there was actually some excitement in this damn town… and we missed it?" Malik asked as he received a nod. Pulling at his hair in frustration he sighed, "Well damn it all to hell."
"Ahem, watch your tongue there, Malik," the doctor scolded before walking out of the room.
"Yeah well exciting or not, the sheriff was not happy, and neither was the bank manager," Joey growled, idly rubbing his head. "That old man whacked me in the head with that damn cane of his and told me that it was all my fault… and he was the one that drug me out of the bank in the first place."
Chuckling, Ryou smiled before patting Joey on the shoulder. "Well other than the bank robbery, did anything interesting happen?"
"Now that ya mention it, I noticed two riders that looked a lot like you two, almost like how Yugi looks like that guy," Joey pointed at Yugi and the rider to prove his point before leaning up against the wall. "There was also this blue-eyed brunet with them… now let me tell ya, that one was a looker."
"Wait, you seen those riders like us today? You went to the saloon and they were there, right?" Malik asked quickly.
"Yup, and if my memory serves me right, I believe Seto, that's the brunet's name, told me that the blond that looked a lot like you Malik was named Marik," Joey smiled.
"Marik, eh? Hmm... I'll have to remember that," Malik smiled while leaning back in his seat.
"How about me? I know there was a white-haired rider as well," Ryou urged while looking at Joey curiously.
"Eh, heh, sorry bout that Ryou, but Seto never mentioned that feller's name," Joey sighed.
Dropping his head in defeat, Ryou sighed while walking over to another chair and flopping down. "Don't worry about it, Joey."
Looking over at his friends, Yugi sighed while looking back down at the rider on the bed. 'I wonder what your name is as well?' he thought to himself before looking down the figure's arm to notice a black leather wrist guard that he remembered the riders from earlier wearing. Taking a closer look at the accessory, he noticed that in gold stitching that there was the shape that he had seen before when looking over the cards in the saloon. What was is called again? Oh yeah, the stitching was in the shape of a Spade. Eyeing it closer he spotted an 'A' in the same stitching, stitched inside of the spade design.
'I wonder what that means?' he mentally asked before unconsciously reaching out and gently brushing the figure's bangs to the side then running his hand through the spiky hair.
"Well I guess I better get going, I see the Sheriff getting his horse." Joey offered the others a smiled before leaving the room and going back to the sheriff's post.
Ryou and Malik both offered one another a smile as they took in the scene of their smaller companion. They could clearly tell that their little friend was already smitten by the rider and didn't know a thing about him, then again it was just like Yugi to come to someone's aid in the need of trouble.
"Love at first, eh Yugi?" Malik teased quietly.
Looking out from the shadows of his face-framing bangs, Yugi's eyes seemed to glow in the dim light of the oil lamp as well as the light from the setting sun. "Is it so hard to believe that?"
"Nope, just you have to be careful," Ryou pointed out with a soft smile.
"Don't worry you two, I will. I just want to take care of him so that he will trust me," Yugi smiled while trailing his eyes down the rest of the figure, taking in the black belts, black leather chaps with golden studs going down the legs, black jeans and black boots with gold spurs.
"If you say so, Yugi, just know that we're with you all the way," Malik smiled as Ryou nodded in agreement.
Nodding, Yugi offered his friends a heart-warming smile. "I know guys"
"Let's just hope he wakes up and can tell us what's going on," Ryou sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, but I think he is friends with those other riders," Yugi pointed out before noticing his friends giving him a confused look. "Remember earlier when I mentioned those three riders having a black leather wrist guards?" Seeing them nod, he gently reached over and brought up the rider's hand to show them the black guard. "He's wearing one as well, but his has this gold stitching of a Spade with an 'A' inside it."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Malik asked curiously.
"No idea, I just think those were his friends," Yugi sighed placing the rider's hand back on the bed.
"If he was their friend, then why wasn't he with them?" Ryou asked, folding his arms across his chest while relaxing back in his seat.
"I don't know that either, but hopefully when he wakes up, he can tell us," leaning back in his seat, Yugi continued to keep his vigil over the rider as he noticed that his two friends were thinking morea long the lines of their own doubles, who were still out there.