Zypher: Hello, hello everyone. I thank you all for you wonderful reviews for the last chapter of Price of Love so I present to you, the second chapter. Enjoy as always.
Note: References of monsters from different FF games will be used due to the lack of demon ideas XP. I will mention which ones come from which games (even if there are more versions of them, it's the fact of which form I like them XD) at the end of each chapter they are used in.
Price of Love
Chapter 2
When he finally reached the palace, the dark, ominous gates opened for him and he walked inside. He continued on until he reached the large, black doors. He stayed back though, seeing two large statues, or what appeared to be statues. Two large drakes with small, wing-like fins sprouting from the side of their heads stood on each side of the door, menacing gold eyes stared into nothing.
The raven on his shoulder cawed and the two drakes looked to him before nodding and pushed open the doors with their tails, letting Yugi gain entry into the castle. Yugi looked to the raven silently and he only crooned softly before leaving his shoulder and flying inside, cawing as he went.
Yugi followed him inside and when the door closed with a resounding bang, he jumped and almost lost track of what he was doing. He went after the raven before he lost him and stopped when he didn't see him no more. "Hello? Where did you go?" Yugi called as he looked around again.
A shadow with dark eyes watched him before getting a silent command from someone and came out from the shadows and tapped Yugi's shoulder. He jumped up again and looked up to the bony dinosaur-like creaturethat appeared before him. /Do not be afraid young one. I'm just here to take you to the king. He has been waiting to see you./ the demon said and Yugi nodded as he followed him.
"Who are you?" Yugi asked quietly. /I am an Monolith, an undead creature born to protect this castle and those that live here./ The Monolith said as they finally came up to a door. /The king wishes to see you now. You can enter and he will take you on a tour of the castle and such before taking you to your room. He left me to watch over you so I'll be there./ he said once more before he left after opening the door for Yugi and taking his bag.
Yugi walked inside and gasped in awe at the throne room. The room was all black like the castle but it was more polished than the outside. It was decorated with drapes of many dark shades and candelabras of all sizes surrounded the room as well, the candles lighting up the room with a dim glow.
He looked around before seeing a shadowed figure sitting on the throne. "Um, hello?" Yugi whispered as he walked closer very slowly. "No need to fear you new home or the people that are here. We will treat you well." he spoke as he stood up and walked towards him.
Yugi was even more in awe when he saw the king but didn't look directly to his face. 'He looks exactly like me. How is that possible?' he wondered but didn't ponder on it much as he felt a hand under his and lift his head to look into the red gaze of the king. "Would you like a tour of the kingdom now?" he asked. "Yes, if it won't be any trouble. I do not want to take you away from any duties you needed to do today." Yugi said.
"It's quite alright, little one. It was getting rather boring in here anyway. Come, I know you would wish to see your new home." Yami said as he took Yugi's hand gently and walked out of the throne room. 'I can't believe it? The king is going to let me stay here in the castle with no exceptions. Oh, I hope he doesn't learn I'm the heir to the Shine Palace throne. He may send me back.' Yugi thought worriedly, never noticing Yami watching his every expression. 'Do not worry. I will never let you go back to your kingdom. You shall stay with me and Aqua for as long as you like unless you wish to go back.' he thought.
They soon came onto a balcony that faced the entire city inside the hidden Dark Kingdom. "Welcome, Yugi, to the Dark Kingdom. Our kingdom is no different than the one you came from or anyone else's. We just rather keep ourselves in secrecy unless we are summoned to balls, get-togethers or other such things other kingdoms plan." Yami said. Yugi look upon the kingdom in wonder. "Yami, do you hold anything here in your castle?" Yugi asked.
"No, not really. We don't bother much with such troublesome things. I think they are nothing to worry about much. I can tell kingdoms have these kind of things just so they can get their precious daughter or son married and ready to take the throne. We don't need such since we are of a demonic shapeshifter race so we don't bother much with heirs or heiresses since we're immortal until we are stripped of our rank by vote of the people." Yami explained. 'You don't know how right you are about parents wanting to marry off their children.' Yugi thought but pushed that thought away quickly.
"Is there anything else you want to show me of your wonderful kingdom, Yami?" Yugi asked. "Yes there is. Come with me." Yami said as he took Yugi back inside the castle, down to the bottom level and outside towards the stables. "I want you to meet with our mounts that we have here in the kingdom. These are very rare beasts that only strive here in the expanse of our kingdom, both inside and out." Yami said. "Really? I thought the kingdom was all that it was behind this magical barrier." Yugi said.
"No, not at all. The forest that you went past is filled with beasts of all shapes and sizes. On this side of the lake is where all these beasts will stay except those that can survive in water or fly then some may head over to the other side and stay there just for feasting and such. You can see that we aren't the type to takes care of horses, chocobos or unicorns. We mainly take care of the beasts that are willing to be tamed and wild animals that are apart of our transformations such as wolves, foxes and tigers." Yami said as they reached the stables. The stable hand, Marik, looked up before bowing down to him. "Hello there, King Yami. What brings you here?" he asked.
"Nothing much, just came to show our new guest some of the mounts we take care of here. Yugi, this is Marik, our stable hand and backup warrior. Marik, this is Yugi." Yami introduced. 'He looks so much like Malik back at home. But I can't reminisce now or else I just may think about going back.' Yugi thought.
Marik smiled and shook his hand. "Welcome to the kingdom, Yugi. So, what brought you here to the kingdom?" Marik asked. "I really don't want to talk about it." Yugi said, not wanting them to know of his relation to the Light Kingdom but he didn't know that Yami knew about it already. "Ah, ok then. Well, as much as I would like to talk to you, I need to get these reptiles fed before going to train the new recruits with Bakura and Seto. It was nice seeing you, Yugi." Marik said before he headed back inside.
"Shall we go in as well?" Yami asked and he nodded as they went inside. Yugi, once again, was in awe when he saw all the different beasts that was held inside. There were so many. Drakes, dragons, reptiles, even sacred beasts that were only heard in legend. 'This is way better than the unicorns, chocobos and horses we raise back at home. I think I will never leave here.' Yugi thought as he walked beside Yami up to a stable.
"Here is my mount, the Guardian Beast or as I named him, Sacred. Sacred, this is Yugi." Yami said and the large dragon looked down to him before moving a tentacle of his wing to caress Yugi's face, seeing as he couldn't nuzzle him with his large horns in the way.
Yugi laughed softly and reached inside to pat the dragon's head lightly before moving away. "He's really nice." Yugi said as he looked up to Yami. "Yes, he is until it's time to battle then he is quite fierce and won't be all that nice to his opponent." Yami said before leading Yugi over to another stable.
They continued to look through all the stables, meeting up with Marik again as he went past before coming back to the start of the stables. "So Yugi, did you pick which ones you would like. You can have as many as you like since most don't have a rider and they all seem to like you well." Yami said.
"Well, I don't want too many so I'll go with Granaldo, Anacondaur, Agama and the Blue Dragon for now. If I wish to have more by my side, I'll ask." Yugi said as the four beasts came up behind him. Yami smiled and nodded. "Alright but there's no need to ask me. You can always come back here and get another beast for yourself." Yami said. "Now, let's get back inside. It's starting to get late and with everything you went through just to get here, you need the rest." he continued and Yugi nodded as he yawned softly.
Yami laughed quietly before leaving out of the stables, Granaldo picking him up gently and flew out of the stables as well, the other three following behind him.
Jounouchi, along with Kaiser, Malik, Topaz and Diamond, looked through the forest. "I don't think we'll ever find Yugi through this storm." Diamond said. "We have to look everywhere. If he's not here then the queen's worries are true and he has been led to the Dark Kingdom by King Yami and Lord Aqua.
"You heard her yourself that day she asked us to be Yugi's bodyguards. She told us that the King and Lord of Dark Kingdom wanted Yugi. The reasons are still unknown though but she rather not loose her son to them just in case they're up to something that involves him." Jou said.
"But if that's true. How in the world are we going to find him? Queen Shiori said that the Dark Kingdom is always hidden unless you are led there by someone from the kingdom itself and that rarely happens unless they are invited to one of the kingdoms and even that's useless since they don't come anyway." Topaz said.
"We'll find a way and the only lead I have so far is crossing the lake into the forbidden territory. I can make a guess that if their kingdom is so hidden that no one knows where it is and that no one crosses the lake into that territory, we may get a lead to the kingdom by going there." Jou said.
"But we still have a problem. How are we going to get there. After that accident with the mysterious monster that took down a few boats in the lake, no one would cross it on a boat and we don't have many gold chocobos since their population is low and the same goes for the Water and Mountain chocobos. The Water and Earth kingdoms are trying to breed more to deliver to us as we speak but that won't happen til the winter is over." Diamond said. No sooner that she said that, a large beast came past them as quick speed.
They saw a flash of white and saw a young unicorn was in the giant dinofish's mouth as the beast turned to them. "That's a Dinictus. What's it doing here?" Kaiser wondered but got hit by Topaz. "What does it look like? It's getting dinner and if we don't get moving, we going to become an after dinner snack." Topaz hissed before they ran off, the Dinictus beast coming up behind them, its previous meal left behind.
Shiori paced inside the room, Kitargi watched her. "Do not worry, Shiori. Yugi will be brought back safely." Kitargi said. "But I don't know if I should believe you. At the most, Yami and Aqua knew that he left the palace and already took him to their palace." Shiori said before sitting down on the bed beside her husband. "They were right. But how did they know this beforehand? How would they know that Yugi would run away?" she spoke to herself.
"I am still wondering that as well, dear, but Jou and the others won't give up on him. If they can't find him or the Dark Kingdom then we will have no choice but to wage war on them to get Yugi back." Kitargi said. She sighed before nodding. She really didn't want to go into war, not because of the fact she doesn't want to hurt her son in any way while he's there, but because of the monsters they train. The monsters they had on their side were completely different to those that roam this side of the lake and because of it, no one know their weaknesses and such.
She didn't want to risk the lives of her people because of a war with the Dark Kingdom. 'But that may be where it leads to if Yugi isn't back in the palace before his father dies.' she thought sadly. She called for a servant and told her what to do. 'If we do have to go to war, then I may need all the help from each of the kingdom's magicians to get pass the Dark Kingdom's monsters.' she thought once more before going to sleep, twisting and turning restlessly in bed. Kitargi watched her silently, knowing she was worried about going into war with the Dark Kingdom.
'But she knows that if I die and Yugi's not here to take the throne, then we will have to get him back by force. We were a peaceful kingdom, never needing to resort to violence and this may be the first time, especially with a kingdom we consider a rival. I hope that Yugi will learn that even he can't escape from his duties.' Kitargi thought before he too, went to bed.
After being dropped off into his room, Yugi would've went to sleep but he then thought the same thing his parents did. If his father was to die, what can he do? He really didn't want to leave the Dark Kingdom but he knew if he didn't, his mother may have to wage war with them to get him back.
'I don't want that. Yes, Yami has many beasts that could help in battle but I don't want no one to get hurt, whether it's from here, the Light Kingdom, or any other for that matter.' he thought and sighed lightly. 'I just may have to go back if I get word my father has died.'
He heard a light caw and looked to the window to see the raven again. The raven flew over and landed on the bed. Yugi looked to him before gasping lightly when he saw the raven shift in form and became a dragon. "And what are you worrying about, little one?" Aqua asked. "Oh, are you Lord Aqua?" he asked and he nodded. "Now, what makes you worry so much?" Aqua asked again.
Yugi sighed softly. "I didn't want to say nothing but I'm really the heir to the Shine Palace throne but my father has a weak heart and if he dies, I was to take the throne and get married all at the same time but I didn't want to do that so fast and so soon. So I ran away and came here, following you, and I'm guessing Yami was the black fox, here. I love it here and I don't want to go back but if I don't, my mother may just have to wage war upon your kingdom to get me back." Yugi explained, tears coming to his eyes.
The beasts that were in the room listened quietly before Agama came over and climbed onto his bed and lied his head on Yugi's lap, Yugi moving to pat the large reptile's head. Aqua wiped away his tears. "You don't have to go back if you don't want to. This is your choice and if you wish to stay, then you can. But if you feel that you should go back, then you can. It all depends on you and we won't hold you back from your choice. You do what feels best, Yugi." Aqua said and he nodded before moving Agama out of the way softly and moved to hug Aqua.
"I really don't want to leave but I may have to when my father dies." Yugi said softly, still hugging Aqua. "I really don't want to go back home." he said once more before he started to cry, Aqua rubbing his back soothingly. "Don't worry Yugi. You can stay here as long as you like. We'll send someone to watch over your father's condition and if he dies before you make you decision whether to stay or go, we'll all go back to the Light Kingdom and you can make your decision then. If your decision is to stay with us then your mother will have to get used to it because we won't let you go if you decide to stay with us." Aqua said and he nodded.
"Now, get some rest. I'll have someone come in to wake you up for dinner." Aqua said and he nodded once more as he got under the comforters and Aqua tucked him in. "Have a good rest, Yugi." Aqua said as he stroked his hair lightly before leaving the room. Agama laid beside Yugi while Monolith, Zairu the Blue Dragon, and Anacondaur slept near the door or window just in case an intruder came. Granaldo laid at the base of the bed and made sure Yugi was asleep before he went to sleep as well.
Aqua went to the throne room where Yami was for the time being and looked to him. "So, what should we do about Yugi's little problem with his parents?" Aqua asked. "I got it taken care of. I sent Seto and Ruby to watch over dear Kitargi. If he even falls from exhaustion, they will make sure he's back up again.
"They may know he has a weak heart but they will never know when he plans to die. We will extend his little heart problem until Yugi is more comfortable here and is willing to be with us as more than friends and then we'll see what he chooses. If he wishes to still go back to his home, we will be there beside him and leave either Seto or Ruby to take our place. I still can't trust with Bakura, Toben, Marik or Crimson ruling over an entier kingdom yet." Yami said and he nodded.
"If he does stay, I hope Shiori will understand. She's so bent on getting Yugi ready for becoming king and getting a wife, she doesn't even know what he wants. Hopefully she'll learn if Yugi decides to stay with us. She should know Yugi is ready to make his own decisions now, not have her to make them for him." Yami said and Aqua nodded.
"Don't worry, I have a feeling she will when that fateful day comes. When we are ready to let his father die and he goes back to the Light Kingdom to give his decision, she will learn that she will have to let him go, whether it's to become king or to live with the one he decides to love." Aqua said.
But then he remembered something. "Wait, Yami. Wasn't that go for nothing princess Anzu from the Fairy Kingdom supposed to be coming here in a few days?" Aqua asked. "Oh great. I wanted to forget about that until the point when she arrives. We'll do something about her when she gets here since there will be no way of stopping her from coming here anytime soon." Yami said with a heavy sigh.
Aqua nodded once more before he left Yami to do whatever he wishes. 'Since I have been reminded of that princess coming here soon, I need to clear my mind. Maybe Sacred would like to take a walk again. He deserves one.' he thought before getting up and heading to the stables once more.
Zypher: Well, that's all for this chapter. Once again, I'm on a FF craze but I blame it on the cute song I couldn't help but listen to over and over again that someone made on DeviantART. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will review. I'll see you all next chapter. If you need a visual on these monsters, give me your e-mail address in your review and I'll send you the links to three websites that have the pictures of the monsters. And if you want, I'll give you the link to the song I listened to as well, you will be laughing alot when you hear it.
FF monsters used:
Blue Dragon - Final Fantasy VIII
Monolith - Final Fantasy X-2
Anacondaur - Final Fantasy X
Granaldo - Final Fantasy VIII
Agama - Final Fantasy X-2
Guardian Beast - Final Fantasy X-2
Nidhogg (the drakes at the beginning of the story) - Final Fantasy X
Dinictus - Final Fantasy X-2
Note 1: In Final Fatasy VIII, Granaldo has scythes for hands so I'm making a modification and giving him claws instead.
Note 2: Monoliths are in the race of Doomstones which are basically monsters trapped in stone. Any that are Doomstones (Tomb, Demonolith, Dolmen, Epitaph) won't be in stone but just bony dinosaurs/dragons with the same head, claws ect. that you can see protruding from the stone they're trapped in.
