From Mortal Lips

By:

Setalina Muro

Summary: It is in grief I now tell this, his tale, dead though he is, this dear man, immortal as his love. I still love my master. And so a tale from mortal lips, giving glory to the Vampire I knew so well…

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any places, people and/or other things you are familiar with from the show or anything else. The plot, however, is mine.

Secondary Disclaimer: I have a sad infatuation with Anne Rice, and I write strangely after reading her books. I'd like to state that this is not based on her marvelous books whatsoever. I will not take plot, character, or phrase from any of the Vampire Chronicles (New or Old) intentionally (if I find that I have, I will remove it immediately, acknowledging Ms. Rice's request that fan fictions of her books not be place on FFN) . I'm only mentioning them for the sole purpose of people knowing what I'm doing and where my inspiration comes from. Thank you.

A/N: Okay, here you all go. Of course, I wanted to get this updated before my choir leaves for New York the first week of April. Strictly speaking, I wanted to get several things updated before that, but if you know the ADD I am currently under, you'll know that probably won't happen right now. At any rate, I am working on 'To Capture Her Spirit' and struggling with 'A Random Act of Kindness' for the moment. There are also a handful of one-shots on the way, just for fun. Eventually, my dears. Anyway, enjoy this!

Chapter Two

I believe I will pause a moment before the eminent time lapse. I suppose you'll find this annoying, but I can only hope you'll bear with me.

Do these plights vex you yet? 'Get on with the story, girl!' I'm sure many of you feel that way, but I only need to ask for my own sake.

Ah, Seto is laughing at me. He stands over my shoulder reading with what I can only assume is a slight annoyance at my slow pace. He tells me this will annoy you. Ramblings often do.

"They are not patient people!" he says. "They want more of the tale, I assure you! Write, Shizuka, there is much more to tell."

I will only laugh and continue this note. Does he fool you? He can't fool me that way. He enjoys having his name inscribed. He likes the way it looks on the paper. And he'll sit behind me and glare at the back of my head for an hour for me telling you such.

I feel so old now as I sit here, writing this by the light of a fire and the pure moon. Does that surprise you? I thought it might. Seto says it doesn't. Hesays young people expect the old to rant about their youth; how things were so much simpler then. I'm not so sure that's true for me. I found everything difficult then. The child…losing Seto…then Pegasus himself said…

Adfoathdgkdjftst!

Oops. Seto has just stopped me. I nearly ended a story in several rambling sentences. Shame on me, I suppose. I see you're exhausted with this now. I shall return to the story.

I can't tell you the year. I know I was fourteen before I saw Pegasus again. I had completely forgotten about the diary (and about Pegasus himself, to tell you the truth) but the reminder was more frightening then I ever would have imagined…

And quickly, before I continue, do not think so badly of Pegasus after you read this piece of the tale. There are reasons in his past for why he acted the way he did. Remember that…

It was my birthday, the twentieth of November. We were having a party in celebration of it. The adults were thrilled, not because I was now of age to wed, but because they had recently discovered a collection of finely aged wines and were beyond happy for an event to celebrate with it.

As I walked through the front room en route to my bedroom it was uncommonly loud. There were many more servants now then there had been three years previous, and their small children ran over the polished floor, sliding and giggling.

I didn't know anything about the party. I didn't even suspect. My mother came in with a box a bit later.

"Happy Birthday, my dear!" she cried happily, depositing it in my lap.

Her health was ailing. I could tell by looking at her. She walked slightly humped over with a small limp in her right leg But she wasn't going to tell me that. So I smiled, swallowing back my grief at her slowly decaying body, pulling a bow of silver from the box lid.

Inside was a beautiful gown. It was long and shimmering, a deep, midnight blue. The skirt below the sequined top belled out from the waist. As I lifted it up to the light, it glimmered brilliantly. The neck was cut in a smooth 'V' shape and thin straps connected the front and the back.

I believe I gasped. I had never been given anything so grand. Mother was very excited and I grasped her hands, proclaiming all manner of thanks. "Try it on!" she urged, and I ran for the dressing curtain.

It fit perfectly.

She brought me downstairs, where the ballroom and dining hall erupted with cheers. I should have been more attentive at the time. It was a coming out party. Many young men had been invited from beyond the island's shores and I was obligated to dance with them. (I suppose that piece is utterly irrelevant and I won't say anymore of it for fear of boring you.)

I went out to the balcony when the suitors had finished introductions. The moon was a crescent and it hung low in the sky over a blanket of brilliant stars. Over the murmur of the large crowd, I could hear the soft beat of the ocean against a distant store. Below me lay an immense garden filled with green shrubs. Milky colored night flowers bloomed gently beneath the rays of the moon.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I was startled by the voice, and I jumped, turning to see one bachelor outlined in the doorway.

"I didn't get a chance to dance with you, Shizuka."

There was a soft smile concealed in the voice, as well as a familiar warmth. Blinking against the light I attempted to identify him.

He laughed softly. "You don't recognize me, do you?" he asked.

(In truth, I didn't. It was Seto, of course, but as I failed to mention earlier, he had been gone for nearly eight months. He had indeed taught me to write and we had corresponded through letters during his absence.)

I slowly shook my head and the mysterious man stepped out of the doorway. He was very tall and when the lights from inside finally failed to shadow his features, I gasped.

"Seto?"

He laughed at my shock, so evidently amused he found our reunion funny. A moment later, he recovered his composure and, though still smiling faintly, approached and embraced me.

"You didn't tell me you were coming back!" I exclaimed as we separated. "You're so tall!"

In truth, he had grown incredibly handsome in three short years. His hair was nearly trimmed and his marvelous blue eyes seemed to fit perfectly into the crafted face now, not of a boy, but of a young man.

"I brought you something," he said suddenly. "From America." Seto pulled from his pocket a delicate silver chain followed by a small tear drop shaped stone. It was a pale blue diamond held in a silver lining. As he held it out, colors radiated from it as it hung, spinning in the light. I could see directly through it. Encased inside was a small key.

I found my breath coming difficultly as I looked at it. "It's…it's beautiful."

He smiled and moved behind me, clipping it under my hair so it hung from my neck. The slight weight it held was comforting and I touched the cool surface softly with my fingers.

"I…I don't know what to say, Seto."

The smile on his lips never wavered as he looked at me, and one of his hands softly brushed aside my hair and lay on my cheek. I felt the heat rise to my face as he held my gaze and slowly he leaned forward. Time stood still for a moment…or I wished it had. Suddenly from inside, a voice called out loudly to us.

"Excuse me! Young Master Seto! A word, if you please?"

I couldn't see the face of the person who called Seto's attention, but he moved away into the crowd, Seto following him with a sigh.

"I'll return soon enough," he said. "Wait for me."

A nod from me and he turned away, leaving me to sigh in turn at his departure. Leaning down onto the balcony, I listened to my own heartbeat as it slowed again, smiling at the light feeling and the butterflies that flew in my stomach.

"Ah, and there you are, Miss Shizuka."

It's only natural for a person with limited to no attention to jump when addressed by surprise, and this of course, is what I did yet again.

The man in the doorway was extremely tall, but it was not the physical attribute that immediately turned me off to him, (Seto, after all, was nearing six feet, and I liked him well enough) but there was something immediately foreign about him; familiar, yet foreboding at the same moment.

I stared.

"Dear child," he said, his voice low. "You don't remember me, do you?" he sidestepped to the left, and my eyes remained locked on him. "I would have thought," he continued, still moving slowly to the side, like a cat talking prey, his eyes fixed upon me. "That something in your mind would not forget what little you knew of me."

He frightened me. My mind told me to get away. It urged my feet to run, but the man was captivating, deathly so. The light beamed off his hair (someone else had had silver hair…); it glistened in his eyes like fire (crimson-brown orbs…so tauntingly familiar…). I felt my breath hitch.

'Stay clear of Pegasus Crawford…'—

"Y-you…" I stuttered suddenly, stepping back. From the doorway I could hear Seto running toward me suddenly as Pegasus's arm wrapped around my waist. A scream rose in my throat, bubbling out of my mouth, but his cold hand lay over it, blocking the sound. Then, there was nothing beneath us or next to us, save for the open, starlit sky. I heard my name shouted from below, and a soft whisper found its way into my ear.

"You'll be very sorry for what you've caused me, Miss Shizuka."

A moment later, there was a balcony beneath my feet again. His hands were off me. I could breathe. I hit the floor, shaking terribly as he cast me away.

"Wh-what do you want?" I choked out as he moved across the room toward a desk I faintly remembered. I paused, sitting up suddenly to gaze around. "This study…It…it wasn't a dream?"

He was sitting fixed in a chair gazing at me. "No, my dear. It was not a dream. I am very real."

I glanced at the double doors behind him. They lay open. His gaze followed mine, and he turned back, giving me a devilish smile.

"Try it."

I stood up, using a bookcase behind me as a support. Pegasus's redwood eyes were fixed on me as he leaned back in his chair, elegantly crossing one leg over the other. A golden pen was fixed in his long fingers and he twirled it slowly. Nearby, a clock ticked off the seconds.

I bolted. As quickly as I could move in the shoes on my feet, I stumbled toward the door.

Pegasus never moved. I doubt he even blinked, but as quickly as I dashed, the door barred itself against me and I barreled into it, sinking to the floor softly.

"Where exactly did you think you were going, my dear?" Pegasus asked, not even turning to look at me. Even without eye contact, I could hear the mockery in his voice.

"Why are you doing this?" I sighed, closing my eyes and leaning my head against the door. My hand rested against it also.

The chair turned with a small squeak when he prompted it to face me. His voice was laced with pure venom.

"You've taken something very precious to me, Shizuka, and I want it back."

The wood of the door was cool against my face as I shook my head. I felt exhausted and ready to bawl. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He did move this time, and I didn't hear it. I was suddenly hoisted up by my left arm and pressed against a shelf with two hands at my elbows, pinning me there, and I cried out loudly.

"You're lying," he hissed. "I want that diary."

"I don't know about any diary!"

I fell forward and was flung back into the case. I realized then that my feet were dangling off the floor. Pegasus barred his teeth and through slightly blurred eyes, I saw glistening points among the snarling mouth.

"You haven't the faintest idea of what that diary means to me, and you don't want to know what I will do if you don't give it to me."

"Y-you'll kill me," I wheezed.

He leaned forward suddenly, breathing into my ear. "There are worse things then death, my dear."

His lips went to my neck and I let out a cry as two needles pricked my skin. Desperately, I attempted to pull away, but he held me firmly.

"Stop…please." I was becoming dizzy, and I couldn't understand why. Vaguely, I heard pounding from the locked door. A voice called loudly.

"Pegasus! God damn you, Pegasus! Open this door!"

Through the advancing blackness, I knew that voice. "Seto…"

"You promised me, Pegasus!" he screamed. "You swore it would never happen again!"

My eyelids grew heavy, and I blinked. Seto's cries became more frantic and he began to bang on the door.

"Pegasus! Pegasus, you promised me! Think about what you're doing! You killed my brother, Pegasus! Don't kill her too! Don't do that to her! Don't do it to me! Not again!"

Suddenly, I felt the floor against my feet and Pegasus stumbled away from me. The lock clicked, and Seto was through the door instantly and by my side the next moment pressing a handkerchief to my neck as I sank to my knees.

"It's alright," he whispered. "It's alright now."

My eyes were wide and I gazed across the room where a man lay in the corner, curling into a small round ball. His fingers ran through his hair, and the short tears brimming in his eyes were full of blood.

"I'm sorry, Seto," he whispered, voice barely audible. "I'm so sorry."

Seto snapped back, but I missed the reply. My head swam uncomfortably and I clutched Seto as the world spun. I was so dizzy. "Seto…" I moaned.

He scooped me into his arms and held me against him as he stood up.

"Pegasus, I'm going to deal with you, I swear it."

He carried me out of the door and down a set of stairs, then through the hallway. We reached my bedroom and he lay me down on the bed, pulling back the salmon sheets and covering me with them. Gently, he kissed my forehead and brushed back my hair.

"You're alright now, Shizuka, I promise. You'll be fine."

And for the moment before I drifted off, I believed him…

A/N: Well there you have it, my dears! Please R&R if you liked it. Love to you all.

Lina