Title: A Game of Masques
Chapter: 15?
Author: Silvershadowfire
Rating: This chapter – R.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own YuGiOh, - the story is mine.
Warnings: Lots of blood and gore, as well as violence.
A/N: This is MOSTLY the same as before - the differences are in the last part of the chapter. I kind of wrote myself into a corner, but thanks to Lady Laran and her muse (huggles both) I managed to get out of that corner.
Thanks to my beta readers Maggiemay and Draconyx, and to Lady Laran, who was kind enough to lend me a muse to get working on this… I love you all. And thanks to my readers, who have hopefully been patient.
Chapter 15 - Fetters
Yugi stumbled along the hallway, wrists and ankles bound in chains, his wings tied uncomfortably closed. Not that he ever had a chance of escaping – not with Malik and Marik on constant guard to either side.
He was led to a 'holding chamber' while the Demon Lord took care of other business before his trial. The barred door slammed shut behind him, leaving Yugi with a lovely view of the throne room and far too much time to contemplate his fate.
Marik smiled at him. "We'll be back to see you to the trial, Ludus."
He sat on the floor, trying not to fear – he couldn't take the chance that it would leak through to Yami. But it was hard – about as hard as not thinking of a red elephant, especially knowing through whispered rumours of the Demon Lord's sadistic cruelty disguised as justice.
"Ludus?" A voice caught his attention. He blinked out of his contemplation, startled.
"Mother?" he murmured, drawing his gaze to the two people now standing by his prison. "Mother…Father!" He rose to his feet and stumbled to the bars, running his fingers through the grate to entwine them with his mother's.
Idra and Joseph smiled at their son, despite the sadness in their eyes. His mother was beautiful – a succubus with red hair to her waist and bright amethyst eyes. She leaned forward and kissed her son's cheek.
"Ludus…is what he said true? Did you seduce and impregnate that woman?" Joseph asked, concerned. He was an ice-demon, with white-blond hair and ice-blue eyes; his body was slender and delicate, like his son's.
"No…I seduced her, but I didn't father her child – I know better. For all the good it will do me…you and I know that he'll find me guilty of the crime anyway. I…I'm scared, Mother. I don't want to die…not now…" he fought the tears, and the pain. He couldn't let either one get to Yami.
"I…I've found a mate," he whispered. They had to know. "He's mortal…but I love him. When I…"
"We'll take care of him, and watch over him." Idra's voice caressed her son, trying to bring some measure of comfort. "What is his name?"
"Yami – Yami Mutou, from Domino, Japan…but he's at my apartment in Kyoto now. He came from an abusive home; please keep him safe."
"We will," Joseph murmured, stroking his wife and son's entwined fingers. "Come on Idra… the guards are coming back. We can't stay."
Reluctantly, Yugi pulled his fingers away, fighting back the tears. "You shouldn't see this," he murmured. "We all know what's going to happen – you don't have to be there to witness it."
"I was there when you were born, son, and I will be there until the end – and we will plead with the Demon Lord for clemency."
----- ----- -----
In the end, it was only Yami, Bakura and Ryou who entered the portal into Hell. Seto had his own interests, Mokuba was far too young, and Otogi stayed behind to keep an eye out for Kyoshori and his goons, in case they decided to make a move.
Bakura, with sublime skill and millennia of practice, opened a portal to Hell in such a way that it would be undetected by the Master of that level. It wouldn't give them too much of a head start, but Yami didn't seem to care. The gaki watched him go through the portal, determination in the cold, shadowed crimson-violet eyes.
"Be careful," Otogi murmured as Ryou passed through the portal. Bakura nodded and passed through, closing it behind himself.
The place where the trio found themselves truly deserved the name Hell. Black sand covered the ground, glinting like spilled blood in the red, source-less light. Above them, the sky burned a crimson red, black clouds billowing restlessly through it. The air was icy cold, cold enough to burn their lungs. In the distance, graceless mountains of black rock spiralled up, biting at the sky. Framed in by the mountains' feet lay the castle of the Demon Lord – Bakura had thought this the most likely place that Yugi would be held. After all, Azmodeous would want him held for 'trial' and sentencing.
"How far is it?" Yami asked quietly. No fear echoed in the transformed human's voice as he studied the terrain.
"Not far – maybe an hour as the crow flies," Ryou noted. "Well done, love."
Bakura snorted. "I didn't want to take a chance that he might sense us by getting any closer – is Yugi in the castle?" Closing his eyes, Yami passed a hand over the Puzzle – it gleamed darkly in response, the gold ruddy in the tinted light.
"Yes – he is there," came the reply. Opening his wings, the youth lofted into the air lightly, as practiced as if he'd been doing this all his life. Bakura and Ryou followed.
They flew silently over the black sand, the castle growing closer and closer. Yami back winged suddenly, pointing.
'There – guards," he murmured softly, folding his wings to drop to the sand behind an up thrust, jagged pillar.
"Not many," Bakura noted. "But they're the elite – I wouldn't want to take them on. Anyone have a plan?"
"I do." Yami's voice was cool. "Ryou – we need a distraction… can you call a storm?"
"Yes, of course." Ryou closed his eyes, concentrating on his powers. The storms he could call in the human realm were nowhere near the ferocity of what could be summoned here – and he strained his power to the utmost. Black clouds boiled out of the red-tinted sky, winds howling towards the palace and the palace guards with enough force to strip the skin off a human in moments. Ryou's eyes were glowing, his wings spreading into the wind to lift him high, white hair whipping around his face. He raised his hands, clenching them into fists; vermillion and azure lightening crashed, leaving smoking holes of fused glass in the black sand of the ground. The guards were no match for the ferocity of the storm… they stumbled their way inside the building, leaving the way clear for Bakura and Yami.
For the first time since his transformation, Yami showed emotion other than determination. "Kami…" he breathed, wide eyed. "I didn't know that Ryou was so… powerful."
"Yeah." Bakura's voice was gruff, but that wasn't enough to hide the pride in his voice. "Come on… he's probably going to blast the doors soon."
No sooner had the words left Bakura's lips then a mass of multi-coloured electricity slammed into the front doors with a sound beyond noise. Bakura closed his wings around himself in automatic defence – Yami raised a hand, his eyes glowing slightly as a rainbow-coloured barrier appeared, blocking the debris.
"Let's go." He took to wing, followed a bare breath later by Bakura.
Bakura and Yami entered the castle, staring at the moaning bodies around them. Most had been injured by the flying debris; some were still on their feet – six, no more. But it was six against two. Bakura set himself to fight.
"I don't have time for this," Yami stated with all the arrogance of a king. "Dark Magician, Dark Paladin; come forth to serve your master." He murmured for a moment in a language long dead. He raised his hand again – the black light Eye on his forehead flashed to life, and in its unearthly light a figure began to form… a man in purple robes and armour, holding a glowing green staff. Beside him stood another man in darkly glittering silver-chased armour.
The guards – on the verge of attacking the intruders – stopped as Dark Magician raised his staff in salute to Yami and turned to face them, body flaring brighter with power. Dark Paladin charged into their midst.
"Come, Bakura – my servants are more than a match for them." Yami's tone was cool – but Bakura detected a bit of nervousness behind it. Was it simply because Yugi was in danger, or was the teen starting to scare himself with this strange power?
Not that it mattered at this point. As long as Yami kept it together long enough for them to find Yugi and get out of there…
"Which way?" he asked. Yami shook his head.
"He's blocking me. I can tell he's deeper in the palace, but not where."
"Probably in one of the dungeons or the throne room. Come on." Bakura took the lead, slipping with no more noise than a shadow deeper into the depths of the castle.
---- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Yugi shivered as Marik and Malik took him from his cage, brushing aside his parents rudely. The Hunters took his arms, trying his wrists together with some kind of enchanted chains, binding his wings uncomfortably. Without a word he was dragged to the throne and forced to kneel.
"Ludus…" Azmodeous's voice was smooth and cold as ice. "Bring in the witness." Another figure came forth, dressed all in long midnight robes that covered every glimpse of skin.
"My Lord?" Yugi recognized the voice. He'd last heard it screaming his name in ecstasy as he pleasured her.
"Welcome, my lady. I have found the one who defiled you. Face him and tell me… is he the one who is the father of your child?" The figure turned to Yugi, features lost in the depths of the hood.
"He is. Ludus, who used his powers to seduce me and got me with child."
"That is a lie!" A voice called from behind them. Idra struggled in her husband's arms. "I taught Ludus myself… he knows better than to impregnate one of his partners! And he never uses his powers to take someone unwilling… all of Hell knows that!"
"Silence!" Azmodeous snapped. "I find him guilty as charged." Standing, he stepped from his throne towards his prisoner. "As his sentence, he will be made to serve me . . . as a drone."
Yugi stared up at the Demon Lord in horror. A drone… death would be a mercy. He heard his mother screaming and weeping behind him; he shook his head in denial. His will would be bound, unable to disobey anything that his Master wanted; but the worst part of it was that he would know everything that was happening… and be utterly unable to stop it. It was rumoured that those who had been drones for a long time eventually broke, going insane, trapped in their own minds, slowly loosing the will to live until the spirit that powered their flesh just faded away.
"No!" Idra screamed again. Yugi couldn't move. It seemed he couldn't even breathe as the Demon Lord's hand came down on his head.
Magic writhed and burned through his body; he screamed as it forged bonds around his mind, forcing it into one corner. His body drooped as the spell continued its work. He could feel his will draining away into nothing.
Then he felt the spell trying to surge along the link to Yami, and did the only think he could think of… he cut it off. Completely.
The pain – was beyond anything he'd felt before. His soul screamed for his now forever lost mate; he wept helplessly as the chains closed tighter. It didn't matter what happened to his body now. Yami was safe – and he was already dying. Like a candle deprived of the air it needed to live… he was dying without his Yami.
--- --- --- ---
He wasn't in the dungeons. Yami hissed in irritation leavened with a healthy dose of fear. They had to get to Yugi, and fast.
He sensed an enormous power wreathing around Yugi, and the Puzzle flickered, as though it too had sensed something wrong before the link between he and Yugi abruptly cut off. He gasped, shuddering, falling to his knees as mind and soul screamed in denial. Darkness threatened to overwhelm him, literally – it was as though a light had been snuffed, leaving him directionless and alone.
"Yami?" Cold hands caught his shoulders and he whimpered.
"It's Yugi." He took a deep breath – the Puzzle started to glow with a pale white light and the darkness retreated. "I… can't feel him anymore."
"They must have done something to block it off." Bakura glanced around. "Come on – let's get to the throne room. Chances are that he's there."
"Ra, don't let him be dead." Yami whispered the prayer softly, following Bakura towards the throne room. He could feel the shadows and his own anger tugging as his control, wanting nothing more than to lash out at the one who dared to touch his mate. "Hurry, Bakura."
"I'm going as fast as I fucking can."
As they had expected, the throne room was guarded – but not well, not here, so deep within the heart of the castle. Bakura dispatched one easily while Yami called the shadows, smothering the other into unconsciousness.
The pair entered the vast room silently, ignoring the wailing of a woman to one side, and the decorations that made the place look like a magpie den; flashy, gaudy, and vastly overdone. The floor was icy under his feet, but no where near as frigid as the ice in his soul when he saw the scene.
The Demon Lord Azmodeous sat on his throne, slouched casually to one side, drinking from a golden chalice. Yami's eyes darted from one side to the other, finally spotting his mate. Bakura swore.
Yugi was dressed in only a leather thong and harness, decorated in silver chains and studs, his wrists and ankles bound in steel manacles. Those glorious amethyst eyesstared aimlessly,dead in his bruised and battered face. His glorious wings hung in a shroud of shredded skin and bare bone, black blood still dripping to the floor and pooling around his feet.
"What have you done to him!" Yami screamed, running over to his mate, only to be caught in the grasp of the twin hunter demons Marik and Malik. "Let him go at once!"
The Demon Lord seemed unimpressed, however. He merely met Yami's furious and not quite sane gaze with his own mocking one, his fingers flicking towards Yugi in a come-hither motion which the other obeyed instantly.
"Kneel, slave." Azmodeous leaned forward and petted Yugi's hair. "Do you love me, slave?"
"Yes, master." Yugi's voice fawning, passionate; but his eyes remained the same, dead chips of dull amethyst that gave lie to the words.
"What have you done to him?" Yami's voice was a bare whisper, shaking with suppressed rage and hate.
"It's the Drone spell," Bakura murmured from behind him. "His will's been bound. He can't disobey the one who cast the spell."
"Indeed," Azmodeous acknowledged. "I though this fitting punishment for daring to cuckold me in my own palace."
"Let. Him. Go."
"Because you said so, little mortal?" With a smirk, Azmodeous patted his lap – Yugi crawled up there and snuggled against the Demon Lord. Yami twitched, his temper loosening another notch. "I do not think so. He is mine forever, you see. The only way to destroy the spell is to destroy him."