Note: I'm not bashing Anzu for once. I thought she deserved a break, you'll see why. Also, this hasn't been proofread or anything because I'm in a rush! Forgive any mistakes, I'm having the week from hell.
Twist of Cain – 2
How the Gods Kill
/Run…Run, Yugi/ Yami managed, the only coherent thought he could put together to send at his light. He couldn't look down, only stare straight at the marble column across from him and try to block out the sound of Noa's sharp laughter directed at his back.
Jounouchi's body was a blur of green jacket and golden hair at the edge of his vision but he couldn't focus on it, only numbly ride out the shock. He could feel Yugi's emotions – usually, anyway, - but all he was getting now was white terror. The only thing he could think was that they all had to run away, before Anubis stopped whatever he was doing to Jou's body and went after someone else.
Next to Yami, Seto also stood frozen in disbelief. Unlike Yami, his own eyes were fixed on Jounouchi, crumpled on the floor in a spreading pool of blood. Anubis was also covered with blood, dripping from his hands and smeared around his wide, thin lips. Seto knew somewhere in the logical part of his mind that Anubis was eating something – even from so far across the endless hall. It made him sick, and he couldn't stop wondering when Jounouchi's body was going to vanish, just like always. Whenever something like this had happened before and someone was…eliminated… they always disappeared. He couldn't understand why Jounouchi was just lying there, horribly still and bringing home the fact that the people he cared for were less than pawns in this game. They were prey.
He knew why Anubis was making such a show of digging around inside Jounouchi's ribcage and tearing out anything he could get his hands on – he wanted them to know that they were all just walking meat to him. There had never been any love lost between Seto and Jounouchi, but this was far, far beyond anything he'd ever wished on the blonde. His family were at the mercy of a madman, who'd just shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that mercy meant nothing to him. He had to play a game while they were being killed – Mokuba was just a child. And Bakura… Anubis wanted Bakura, a fool could see that. It was not a good kind of desire.
The first one to even move – more than a minute after Jounouchi hit the floor – was Anzu. Anubis met her eyes and smiled at her awfully, looking as though he'd washed his face in their friend's blood. She had Yugi held protectively against her, feeling him shaking, and the plan of action was perfectly clear in her mind. She kept Yugi safe, Marik and Bakura took care of the others and Yami won the duel with Kaiba's help. Jou would be fine when they got back and nobody else would get hurt, Yami would be counting on her to look after Yugi, and that was what she did best. Picking herself up from her knees and dragging Yugi's small form up with her, she took his hand firmly and looked down at him.
"It's not real, Yugi. We have to run now, we can't distract Yami."
Her words were strong and commanding, the shaking in the very core of her soul not reaching her voice or her eyes as the instinctive protectiveness of Yugi took over. She could do that on autopilot, so with a final glance towards the others she let all thinking fade into the background and just ran, dragging Yugi with her into the black mist.
Marik saw her sprint off and decided that for once the girl had the right idea. Grabbing Ryou with one hand and Malik with the other, he gave Bakura a pointed look. The thief got the message and picked up the sobbing Mokuba, leaving Otogi to run next to them as they raced off in the other direction. Anubis just slowly raised himself to his feet like a lion and grinned, blood staining his sharp teeth. This would draw it out well as a distraction for the duel, and what was prey without the satisfaction of chasing it down?
XxXxX
"You… You soulless-!" Yami spat, even his ancient mind having no words fit to portray Noa and Anubis.
"Now, now, let's not resort to name-calling." Noa sneered, then turned to Anubis. "Enjoy yourself, we'll be watching. I'm sure you'll give us a good show."
Anubis nodded once as two enormous screens flickered into place, hovering to one side of the duelling area. The sorcerer let his deadly red eyes slide half closed and a snake-like smile flickered across his bloody lips as images of his fleeing prey came to life on the screens.
"It would be my pleasure." Anubis hissed, then began to stalk off in the direction Anzu had dragged Yugi. As he passed the edge of the arena he paused, still smiling.
"Pharaoh," he purred, "should I make your light's death quick, or would you rather I drew it out for your viewing pleasure?"
"If you touch him I swear Ra himself will not be able to save you from what I will do!" Yami snarled, eyes glowing with rage. He wanted to run over and just hurt Anubis in the worst, most awful way he could think of. But, he'd been in similar situations to this enough times before to know that should he step outside the boundaries of the duelling arena, Jounouchi would never wake up again.
Anubis just smirked and switched his predatory gaze to Seto, who stared him down coldly.
"I would tell you of what I will do to your brother, but there is another I am far more interested in. I have seen the way you look upon him – my beautiful thief. His will be a glorious death, be assured that I shall savour his agony." Anubis promised, laughing at Seto's dangerously low growl before continuing off into the dark haze between the marble pillars.
XxXxX
As her mind attempted to reboot itself, Anzu realised that there was no end to the dark hall they were running through. Marik had led the others away in a different direction, but she knew from the look he'd given her that she was next on Anubis' list. Common sense dictated that he would know his own hunting ground well enough to be able to catch up easily, and there was nowhere to hide. The only difference between the place they were and the place they'd come from was that now there were small, dark pools of what looked like oil in the marble floor. Other than that everything was dark and silent, only their harsh breathing echoing from the endless forest of pillars, and sickly patches of light struggling to penetrate the swirling blanket of black and purple fog above.
Pulling Yugi to a halt against one of the perfectly smooth, veined pillars, Anzu took a few moments to catch her breath, gathering the remains of her courage. She knelt down so that she could look up a little into Yugi's huge, tear-filled eyes, then gave him a small smile and wiped the tears from his cheeks, taking comfort in comforting him.
"It's lucky I have a plan, isn't it? I don't know what you boys would do without me around." She forced another smile and Yugi seemed to wake up a little, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering.
"What're we going to do?" He asked in a shadow of his usual, cheerful voice. He could feel Yami's determination to win and the endless stream of strategies constantly flickering through the game king's mind, just seeing them made him want to help in any way he could.
Anzu closed her eyes and kept her smile in place, raising a finger like a teacher speaking to a child.
"You're going to have to do something real hard, Yugi, but I've seen how brave you can be lots of times before and I know you can do it." She told him, waiting for him to nod before she continued. "Great! Ok, what I need you to do is run over to the right a little so you don't run into Anubis, then double back the way we just came, alright? When you get to where Yami is carry on going and you should run into everyone else. Can you do that for me?"
Yugi frowned, looking at her in confusion.
"Why? What about you?" He asked as she stood up and brushed her skirt off.
"Ah, well that's the best part – I'll keep running this way and lead him as far away from the others as I can. I can run way faster than that evil creep, so you can tell everyone else to keep going the way they're going. You should get far enough away that Yami'll win and we'll all get home before he can catch any of us." She explained, giving him a little push in the right direction. She didn't want him to think about it, just start running.
"But-but are you going to be ok?" Can you really run faster than him?" Yugi hesitated, desperate for any type of plan but not wanting to leave Anzu to be a decoy.
"You bet! I'll be a lot quicker on my own, so don't worry about me! Just remember, you have to get to the others and tell them which way Anubis is headed. I know you can do it, Yugi!" She gave him a quick hug from behind, relieved when he finally seemed to accept her plan.
"Ok, I promise I'll tell them. Please be careful, Anzu!" Yugi begged, turning back and waving to her as he jogged off into the mist.
XxXxX
Anzu waited until she was certain Yugi was gone before she slid to her knees, trembling. She'd been praying that Yugi would forget one crucial fact – the shadow realm was circular. Run far enough in one direction and you'd end up right back where you started – the only way she could buy time for Yugi was to send him back towards the arena. Bakura and Marik were both well-versed enough in the rules of the shadow realm that they'd know this and stop, hopefully giving Yugi a chance to catch up with them. She knew Anubis was coming, and if she carried on running forward she'd eventually run into Marik and Bakura's group. Then he'd catch them all though, and she knew he was only chasing her for the moment. She couldn't run faster than Anubis. She hated lying to Yugi, but she wasn't going to lead the sorcerer anywhere – she'd only end up leading him straight to everyone else. It was absolutely terrifying to know that what had happened to Jounouchi was about to happen to her – even worse to know that she was facing death alone. Friendship meant a lot to her, that was why she had to do this on her own. She couldn't let Yugi see her die, it was bad enough that he'd had to see Jounouchi.
The trembling sending her into a cold sweat of fear intensified at the faint sound of footsteps on marble, slow and even, coming from far behind her. Annoyed at herself she stood up, back to one of the pillars, and tried to cover her terror over with rage. If she had to die, she was at least going to die like a woman.
"Little girl, will you not face me?" Anubis' deep, growling voice made her jump, even though she'd been expecting it. Fixing her angry frown in place, she stepped out from behind the column and glared up at the lord of the dead, standing no more than six feet away.
"I'm sorry, it's just those veins. I mean, are you on steroids? It's really unattractive." She said, raising her hands to her hips and giving him the look she reserved for anyone she considered a bully.
"Such strong words from such a frail creature." Anubis smirked, slowly advancing.
"Frail nothing, creep! Yami and Kaiba are going to send you packing, just like last time!" Anzu declared as he stopped upon reaching her. She took a deep breath, knowing she was going to pay for her next action, then slapped him across the cheek as hard as she could. Anubis snarled angrily and grabbed her wrist, eyes blazing with fury.
"It will be a pleasure to watch you die!" He roared, swinging her around and throwing her to the floor next to one of the black pools. Before she could spit another word at him he was knelt over her, one huge fist wrapped around her arm again.
"There is nothing to fear," he sneered, "except fear itself. That and, perhaps, an excruciatingly painful death."
That said, he gave a wicked laugh and plunged her hand into the black liquid.
It took a moment for any paint o register, but when it did she screamed like she'd never screamed before. Her mind gave up any pretence of coherent thought and just flashed red at her – the agony setting her entire body convulsing. It felt like her arm was being eaten by piranhas, and when he drew her hand out of the acid-like substance after a moment all she could do was look down at it in absolute terror and keep screaming. She wished she could just faint, she couldn't handle the thought that what she was seeing was her own hand and not a scene from a horror movie. Her fingertips were skeletal, white slivers of bone standing out on her fingers and hand, the rest just a gory, dripping mass of liquefied flesh and sinew. She couldn't take her eyes off it, even when Anubis' fist caught the front of her shirt, but she tore her gaze away to look up into his laughing eyes at the first burning sensations on the back of her head.
He was holding her over the pool by the front of her shirt, half the back of her head, neck and shoulders submerged in the dark liquid. The pain was unbearable and she couldn't move, only scream as she felt it eat through her skin. Her heart raced and hundreds of random images flashed through her mind, but it didn't take long before the acid burned too far in and her screams died in her throat. Whether it was her spinal cord or her brain that it ate through first Anubis didn't know, but he watched her panicked, tear-filled eyes slowly turn blank and mist over.
Her body twitched twice and went limp, lifeless eyes still wide and staring, and Anubis smirked. That had been a good death, her screams were still echoing faintly through the hall and he knew the other lambs would have heard her die.
"Guess who is to suffer next, my faithful audience?" He hissed, knowing that Seto and Yami would be watching on the screens.
Standing up, he casually tossed Anzu's body into the pool and watched her sink without a sound, the inky blackness covering her completely.
"Let us see who I shall find…" Anubis laughed, turning away from the jet black pool and walking off into the thick mist.
TBC
Leave me a nice review? I'm feeling sorry for myself because I just walked out of my job.
