...Wow. You guys still like and read my fic despite the horrible posting schedual and bad, baaaaaad writing? Pinch me, I must be dreaming - OW!
Oi! It's just an EXPRESSION! Sheesh, some people...
Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh
Claimer: I DO own the stuff I invented
…
It would have been far better for them to get even just a little more time to understand their new connection, Yami knew, but there simply was no more time for the two of them to spare anymore. They would have to settle for defining it while they walked - hardly a wonderful prospect - and Yami found himself doing most of the work, as Yugi was completely untrained in this area and so had very little idea how to manipulate anything this way.
Thankfully the boy was a fast learner - already the emotional interplay was far more controlled, and as Yugi was feeling more than a bit rattled, Yami was grateful. The boy had every right to feel so - the part of the city they had appeared in was far from welcoming.
Yami and Yugi had ended up nearly halfway across the city from where they had been before; there were nothing but the tallest sky-scraping buildings here. Not a one stood without some damage - cracks in the glass traced errant lines from street to sky - but the area was fairly intact. It was very quiet, but that was probably because the only things around were himself, Yugi, and many, many corpses.
The corpses all belonged to various beasts, suggesting that here, at least, the humans of the city had fought back against the invading wave of darkness and monsters. There were no human bodies in sight, and Yami privately wondered (in a small section of his mind that he was certain was still private, even now) whether that was a good or bad sign. Human survivors might remove their fallen comrade's remains for burial, but enough beasts that dined primarily on humans were not too picky whether the human was still living during their meals…
Yugi's displeasure at having to pass through this particular street would have been easily evident without the bond connecting them - though the boy was putting up with it surprisingly well.
"I hope the others are alright," Yugi said, trying to break the oppressive silence.
It was a matter to be concerned about: even though neither of them had wanted to be trapped within the Hellpit, however temporary their stay had ended up being, they HAD left three helpless mortals all alone with Bakurah. That alone was most worrisome.
"I heard that," Yugi piped up, a note of something lighter in his voice, "You know, plenty of bad things do happen in the world that aren't actually Bakura's fault."
'Wouldn't stop him from taking full credit,' Yami thought sourly.
A half-muffled giggle informed Yami straight away that Yugi had picked that thought up quite clearly. Feeling slightly annoyed at being teased (it was proving very hard to be irritated when Yugi was the one doing the teasing), Yami stopped walking and turned to regard the smaller of their pair.
"You do know that I'm right," Yami pointed out.
"Not as much as you think," Yugi replied, "And I'm pretty sure I get to be an expert on that now."
Yami couldn't decide quite how to reply to that, settled for a mutter of 'Phf', and turned to continue leading the way. Yugi didn't laugh out loud this time, but Yami felt enough of the wave of amusement to leave his ears ringing. Their shielding definitely needed more work, this could get very embarrassing very quickly.
Leaving the street of corpses improved Yugi's overall mood, and the boy's sudden inclination to tease faded shortly afterwards. The return of Yugi's melancholy mood was far less welcome.
It was to be expected: the only likely place for the others to be at was at Hauru's stronghold, which had previously been the home of that girl, and Yami could say for certain now that Yugi knew that the girl was dead. Whether or not he had been watching when Seto had slain her was still a mystery: Yugi was keeping that information to himself, and Yami didn't feel any desire to pry.
As they got closer - thankfully the walk back wasn't too inconvenient - there were signs of more active beasts lurking about. Their master's untimely demise might have left them scattered and disorganized, but that didn't make them any less dangerous, nor Yami any less wary. At least the Dammugs, the only ones that couldn't get out of the open, proved they had SOME intelligence by letting the pair pass by unmolested.
"Oh, that's really unattractive," Yugi mumbled after getting his first glimpse of a Dammug Beast.
Ah yes, normally the boy couldn't see them, but since Yami could and the two of them were connected now…Yami actually felt apologetic, though he didn't say anything out loud.
"Umm…exactly how are we supposed to get rid of all these monsters now anyway, do you know?" Yugi asked, eyeing the front of a nearby building, where a Dammug Beast was standing, watching their progress, "If they obey that Hauru guy, and he's, well, dead now, do you think will they just leave on their own?"
"It's doubtful," Yami replied, "Most of these creatures are likely to find a city to be a good territory for hunting…"
Yami walked around the next corner - the last one, their destination was just a few blocks up the street - and stopped in disbelief. Yugi stopped right behind him, startled, and moved to see what was so shocking to his companion…and froze, gaping.
The small, innocuous-looking blue house that had once sat so innocently only a few blocks away was no more. Instead, it appeared as if a boulder the size of a small mountain had been placed where the house had once stood, and then exploded. Slabs of rock and twisted beams of metal littered the area - the parking garage and other nearby buildings had taken enough damage to turn them into more, though less-spectacular, rubble piles of their own. The exploded rubble was giving off a particularly unsettling aura…
"Yami?" Yugi finally managed to force some words out, "What happened?"
'It looks like the house popped open and spewed a bunch of rocks out.'
Yugi's thought sounded unintended, random speculation, but the pieces clicked inside Yami's mind almost instantly.
'I think it did,' Yami thought - a subtle reminder for Yugi to organize his thoughts if he didn't want them heard.
Maybe it was too subtle - Yugi started, as receiving a response had clearly not been on his mind.
"What?"
'Hauru used magic to place his fortress inside of that house,' Yami clarified, still using the bond, 'Once he died…the spell must not have been able to sustain itself for very long…'
'And since his fortress was way bigger than - Anzu's house,' Yugi's mental voice stumbled over the name, 'The house…popped…like a balloon.'
Yugi started walking towards the rubble as fast as he could. Yami followed him right away, the same thought in mind.
Had anyone still been inside when…?
Yugi wasn't very far away from the blast site when he suddenly ground to a halt, suddenly enough that Yami almost ran into him. Something was in amongst the rubble, something moving and alive and likely to be very dangerous.
Yami stretched out his senses - he was getting in some details he couldn't normally pick up, Yugi must be trying to do the same thing, though he wasn't trained - and at first all Yami picked up was the same residue of monster and demon that seemed to have permanently seeped into every stone of Hauru's fortress.
Then there was a slight flicker - something small and agitated and oddly alive - and Yami realized, after another moment, that this was something familiar and not even unwelcome.
"I think -" Yami began.
There was suddenly a blur of motion as the moving thing in the rubble detected them and headed their way as quickly as it could. Yami barely had time to tense before the black blur skidded to a halt at his and Yugi's feet, whining and snuffling excitedly -
"It's Rosa!" Yugi exclaimed, "I can't believe it - and she's okay!"
Indeed, it was the thorny plant-beast that had accompanied them to Hauru's fortress. In all the rush and fighting to get to Hauru, Yami hadn't had time to spare more than a faint thought for her, but the loyal creature had remained here, searching for himself and Yugi.
Rosa seemed especially pleased to see Yugi, nuzzling the slightly shorter mortal eagerly since he was closer to the ground. She did lick Yami's hand, but was focused enough on Yugi that Yami actually felt a bit jealous.
Once the plant-beast was finally petted enough to calm down, Yugi turned pleading eyes Yami's way.
"We can keep her, right?"
After a long pause, Yami shrugged.
"…Ask your grandfather," the mage-demon finally said.
That small matter out of the way, Yugi turned his gaze back towards the remains of the fortress.
"Is anyone else there, do you think?" Yugi asked.
"I didn't sense anything else," Yami said, turning his gaze towards Rosa, whose tail was still waving merrily.
Seeing the mage-demon's gaze resting on her, Rosa sat up more alertly, awaiting a command - just as Yami had suspected.
"Find the others," Yami said, peripherally aware of the confused look Yugi was now sporting, "They should still be covered in Light and Fire, at least."
Rosa rumbled an affirmative growl, then turned and began sniffing the ground, searching for the correct scents.
"This is one of those 'It's magic', things, right?" Yugi asked a moment later.
'Some creatures are more intelligent than others,' Yami thought at the other, 'Remind me to teach you at least some of the basics when we have a moment.'
'…Sure!'
Yugi sounded nearly delighted - the boy was quite tired of being confused all the time, he really did want to know how everything worked.
Rosa began walking away, nose still to the ground and sniffing. Then she stopped in her tracks, turned back towards them, and barked sharply - time to follow the trail.
…