Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh
Update schedule: Every other day (no update on June 2nd)
Chapter Warnings: Discussions of Bloodshed/War, Discussions of Death, Hints of Puzzleshipping, Hints of/Implied Yugi x Valon
Okay, guys, so this is the first time that the Lunar Ascension is brought up in a little bit of detail. This story is skewed and messed up and, depending on who is telling it, altered in various ways. The truest version of it is lost among the living wolves, as Yami tells him at a later point in the story. But the gods know it well.
As they do Atem's "verse" (the proper telling of his arrival) but it's at a much later point in the story that the TRUE story of the Lunar Ascension is fleshed out and told to Yugi. And I haven't decided yet if I'm going to make the verse for Atem's arrival or leave it as vaguely mentioned/hinted at in order to keep the wolves in the dark for the most part as to his meaning.
So, the monitor lizard thing? Debunked. They finally realized it wasn't the bacteria in the mouth that was killing the prey and that the lizards produce venom. I didn't find that out until I was doing research again when the chapter was already written (about a month or two afterwards actually haha) and I don't entirely think it's necessary to change it simply because it's only brought up once or twice.
Also, DOES ANYONE know the name for the ship for Yugi x Valon? I checked like ten different lists and couldn't find it anywhere?
Chapter XXXIV: History
Work Log Entry XXXIV: April, 2002
April 19
A.T.E.M. does not seem to possess any signs of depression despite having been exposed to death so openly on numerous occasions.
The boss is pleased to find that he responds well to both verbal and visual cues. It is under speculation if this is his wolf responding or the shell of humanity that the Pure-Blood wears so easily.
April 28
A.T.E.M. has begun to show the ability to predict certain behaviors. He has learned to watch muscle movement in order to predict the signal and reaction expected of him.
When I tried to raise my hand to gesture that he back up, he had already done it and was waiting for me to feed him from the very back wall of his cage.
He is learning at a stunning rate.
His adaptation skills are beyond human capabilities.
Yugi was lying close enough that their body heat was shared equally between them. The smaller teen had somehow found Yami climbing under the comforter with him beneath the sheets as if he belonged there. It had made him grin and snort softly, but he had the feeling his sudden bravery to do so was because he had scared him earlier. Their conversation had turned heavy when he had asked him his estimation of his lifespan. And the silence had been deafening when they had not spoken for a solid ten minutes and awkwardly avoided looking at each other altogether. He had scooted closer when Yami had gotten under there with him, desperate for the sensation of his alpha being there. Something about the idea of regulating himself to his beta again at the moment made him feel calmer, more relaxed, gave him the ability to breathe again without choking.
"So what were werewolves made for? Was there a reason or was it some weird kind of evolutionary branch or something?" He snorted. There was no way humans turning into wolves was a new branch of evolution. There was just no way whatsoever.
"War," Yami replied quietly, staring at the television as it might save him from this conversation. But the word caused Yugi to sit up, turning to him with wide eyes full of shock and horror. He wrinkled his nose slightly, the motion reminding the smaller boy of a rabbit twitching, and then shook his head slowly. "They were created for war. Against the humans. During the time of the Lunar Ascension, the humans had turned on the wolves—"
"Lunar Ascension?"
Yami was quiet for a moment. "It is what we call our origin story. Every species has an origin story, I'm sure. We call ours the Lunar Ascension. It is, after all, the moon that we were created from," he muttered quietly. "It's why we change on the full moon, why nighttime makes us happier than day…"
"Whoa, wait… What? Created from the moon?" Yugi shook his head and felt dizzy for a moment. "Is this a mythological story or an actual thing? Because this honestly just sounds insane and impossible, Yami."
And immediately he felt bad for saying such a thing. Though it did sound like a child's fairytale, he had not meant to so blatantly display his narrow-mindedness like this. And he feared Yami taking it the wrong way, as an insult of some kind. It was like disclaiming someone's heritage, saying that there was no way they were a certain ethnicity when they clearly knew their own culture.
He felt sick, horrified, and for a moment he opened his mouth to apologize to him, faltering when the other boy did not seem offended.
Yami's lips had quirked into a wide smile of amusement. He looked at him fully now. "Not quite the moon as you are thinking," he chuckled. "When I say the moon, I mean the Mother of Wolves, Lupa…or Luperca, depending on whom you speak to. She is the embodiment of moon and starlight and her mate Fenrir is the one of night and winter."
Yugi stared at him for so long without blinking that his eyes began to hurt. When the other boy snorted, he rolled his eyes and huffed. "No, seriously, Yami."
His lips tugged into a wider grin, his eyes bright with laughter before he shook his head. "No, but Lupa is the source of the lycanthrope subspecies. Her dormant state as a slumbering god is the moon and the stars, which give us our power to change and our insomnia." Yami fell silent for a moment at Yugi's skeptical expression and his own face began to slip slightly as he analyzed his cynicism. Suddenly he wondered why he had even thought to open his mouth for explanation. Surely saying it was a war and then refusing further information would have served better than this. "Fenrir comes to the hellhounds in the formation of the blackness of the night sky and the cold chill of winter. He is the father of the hellhounds and that is why they change on the coldest night of the winter season."
The smaller boy studied him, unable to believe his own ears. He had listened to the Japanese origin story growing up, listened to tales of the wolves being gods and guardians. Yet somehow this sounded so far from the truth that Yugi could not help but hesitate. And he could see the hurt coming on the other boy's face and it made him ache to realize he was inflicting it. He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled quietly.
He had met Slifer, had he not? She had known their names without them telling her. And she had seemed to know so much. It was more possible to suspend his disbelief as he considered this.
"I'm not going to lie, Yami. I'm honestly struggling with the idea. If they're gods, why should they go dormant? They hadn't created the werewolves yet, right? I mean… So Ra and Slifer and Obelisk and the other three… They wouldn't exist yet…?"
Yami opened and closed his mouth. Then he too drew in a deep breath, sighing heavily before shaking his head. "I would think that immortality would bore a creature that had existed since before time and the earth. I would assume they slumber because it is a time of peace and when they awakened, they hoped to find something new, to see a progression in the world that might be more exciting…?" He trailed off. "I would not know. Perhaps they wished to cease listening to the suffering of the world below so they slept. I don't know."
Yugi blinked wide eyes. How was it possible to turn away from someone else's suffering and grief? He struggled to consider, then froze in place.
Fear.
Fear was enough to make even the bravest person turn away from pain that might overwhelm them. He could not see Yami being truly afraid of much, however, and the idea that he could turn a blind eye hurt so much more than even the thought of his own death. What would happen if he was his last resort on that fateful day and he turned away when he needed him? Was it possible that Yami would be so overwhelmed as to race the other way when push came to shove?
He bit his lip until it bled, wincing at the faint prickle of pain. It must have been healing earlier, as it was not nearly as painful as it'd been formerly. He looked away from the other boy for a moment, studying the screen.
"Okay, so then… Tell me the story, Yami."
Yami faltered for what seemed to be hours. The silence was long end suffocating and seemed to weigh upon them forcefully for what felt like a lifetime. Then, slowly, with obvious hesitance, the taller boy began to speak again.
"It was the most brutal winter the world had come to know. The humans call it the Ice Age"—Yugi's head snapped around and his eyes grew wide with bewilderment, startled—"and both subspecies call it the Lunar Ascension. In the midst of the winter, when the ice would not cease, and it seemed the sun would never appear again, the humans turned on the wolves. They had been harnessing dogs for years before that day. But the prey had long since moved and the wolves were starving. The humans were starving. Many animals were migrating in patterns I am sure would be unnatural now. The gray wolves and the dire wolves had begun to share territories. Packs were immense, the ranks of hundreds…"
Yugi nodded at him when he fell quiet for a minute. His red eyes were troubled as they peered back at him and the smaller teen wished he had words to wipe it from his face. His obvious discomfort made him feel somehow small and responsible, but he did not dare offer him a way out. Today Yami had been oddly open and willing to converse with him.
And his quiet nature, as much as he enjoyed its company as well, would dictate the subject be swept under the rug completely.
So he waited.
And a few long minutes trudged by.
Finally, feeling somewhat cornered but also incredibly obligated to tell him such an important story amongst their species, Yami closed his eyes and continued.
"The wolves had prepared to move to chase the herds, perhaps the mammoths or the horses or whatever it was that they would eat." He shrugged and Yugi smiled faintly. "I do not suppose it matters what they planned to hunt. It only matters that upon their plans to do so, the humans had another idea altogether."
A sudden certainty crept through Yugi and his stomach clenched. His heart was in his throat and his body felt small and sick.
"I suppose they were desperate and the dogs starving as well, for the set upon the wolves for their new source of prey. The packs were not made to fight against spears and human weapons even back then. And the dogs had fared better from the last of the humans' meals which they shared with them throughout those cold months." Yami paused, then sighed softly. "The wolves broke apart into smaller packs, panicked and confused by this sudden threat. The humans had, after all, been something resembling their hunting partners before then. But they had turned on them and their own former brethren had come for them too."
Yami bit his lip and opened his eyes. He was looking at the television, gaze shadowed faintly, and now Yugi was sorely tempted to simply tell him to call it quits. They could just lie down and go to sleep instead and he could tell him again some other time.
"The humans used the dogs to trap them. The wolves were often too tired to fight them away and even if they tried, they would come to die in battle. They were stronger, but they had suffered more. So the fights were heavily outmatched and the weaponry, as primitive as it was, served in human favor." He snorted quietly. "The packs dwindled to about half of their immense ranks. Their constant prayer finally woke Fenrir, who came to earth in his all of his glory and gave the wolves of darker fur a gift, for they were the ones picked off first. He allowed them the ability to change forms, to become the animal of any shape whose heart they consumed. They changed into dogs, infiltrating as necessary, and killing and slaughtering to drive them back. The gray wolves he gave the ability to draw strength from the blood of an enemy. If they could drink a mouthful, they could heal themselves almost instantly. And the white wolves, he gave the ability to change into shimmering mists, ghosts of themselves. When he came to the dire wolves, he gave them another gift, one of which he knew would decimate the humans. He gave them ability to inflict with disease upon the man who they could cut through the skin of."
Yugi felt his mouth fall open, horrified. "Holy shit…" he muttered, unable to help himself. His cheeks reddened at Yami's slightly surprised expression but he waved it off and the other boy grinned almost mischievously.
"The wolves turned the tide. And eventually the humans and dogs were all but slaughtered. Fenrir did not care to cease the death toll. And eventually the rage from these first hellhounds awakened Lupa who saw the suffering of her own species and grew just as enraged. However, unlike her mate, she encountered mercy from the humans. While she went to check on a litter of pups that had been left defenseless in their den, left to the elements and hunger, she found a human woman. And the woman was feeding the pups, who were just old enough to accept the meat she offered."
Yugi nodded slightly, but his disbelief was growing a bit more. It sounded all so much like a fairytale, like a myth of epic proportions, with just enough truth to be possible…
Yami sighed quietly. "When she saw this, she thought that there had to be some good within the humans, and that there had to be at least one reason to save them. So she tried to convince Fenrir to listen to her plea to cease the bloodshed. But he was still angry and he refused her." His eyes flickered away. "He encouraged the fighting to escalate. And so Lupa came upon her own decision to cease this fighting. She found the yearlings of a crossbreed, with the leaner design of the gray wolf but the harsher jaws and firmer chest of the dire."
Yugi froze in place, eyes widening in shock.
"There were only six but their strength and determination gave her hope that it would work. And so she gave them a gift, one so powerful that even those early hellhounds could do nothing to stop them. She gave them the ability to come back to life no matter the cause of death. She gave them the ability to best the greatest predator when they were under the pressure of battle. She gave them the health of a million wolves, allowing them to heal as rapidly as necessary in order to win. And she allowed them the gift to infect the humans, to give them the chance to fight back. She warned them of their potential 'offspring' having a lack of strength and ability in revival. And she told them the change for them would be excruciating."
Yugi blinked in shock, then shook his head. "They came from the wolves?! Werewolves came from the wolves?!"
Yami paused and nodded. "We came from the wolves, hellhounds and lycanthropes alike." He hesitated briefly, then ran a hand through his hair. "When the war between both sides began, Fenrir accepted this as a challenge of authority. He gave each of the hellhounds the ability to change into the human form, to allow them to utilize weaponry. But in turn he created only six other hellhounds to match the caliber of the new wolves Lupa had given life to. He created six beasts, the Harbingers, with the ability to utilize shape-shifting, blood drinking, and infection. They were altered significantly by this power, however, and their minds deteriorated from the pressure of the war. They became unstable and more chaotic, but held together enough to fight back. However, the shape-shifting into dogs began to change their molecular structure and their features became somewhat deformed. They became more dog-like, less like wolves, all but three who did not change beyond into their incorporeal forms."
He bit his lip. "Let me guess, that would be…Skoll, Hati and Morrigan… Right?"
Yami smirked. "Perception of that magnitude can be very dangerous," he teased before rolling his eyes. "Yes, and the three Pure-Bloods to fare the best were given the ability to become gods to rival them and maintain the balance over both lines of werewolves. However, it was neither side's victory which caused the fighting to stop."
"No?"
"No, it was the sun. It finally came back and the ice began to slowly melt enough that the herds began to migrate back. The humans had learned their lesson and they did nothing to disturb the wolves. They moved to chase the mammoths and the wolves came to chase the horses and rabbits." He shrugged. "Lupa and Fenrir were so relieved by this that they came to settle with the wolves an agreement that if they should need them again, a wolf of both sides would be born. They would be descendants of the original packs, with the bloodlines of gods, and would have the abilities of their ancestors. You. You are gifted the immortality of the Pure-Bloods."
Yugi blinked stupidly. "But I'm not descended from…" He shook his head. Ra's words echoed in his head, her declaration in which she had claimed him her "dear child". His heart hurt, staring at Yami now. "And who would be the hellhound to rival me? I don't… I mean, that's what this is, right? If I'm born, then that means there's a Harbinger, right?"
Yami shook his head. "Yes, but it does not mean that you are truly to fight them. You forget yourself, Yugi. You are meant to fight to protect the wolves from the humans. You are meant to fight them away and protect us."
"But the alpha, she mentioned that I would win a war against hellhounds, Yami."
He frowned, studying him. "Then perhaps it is both. Maybe the Harbinger will prove to be a problem and you will have to eliminate them as well." He tilted his head. "But I do not think you have met them yet."
Yugi looked at him, shaking his head. "So, you don't think it's Valon?"
The snort that left him was derisive. "You're kidding, right? Valon is very aware of his condition. And he is very stable as well. He is not the one who would lead a war against you by any means, Yugi."
He felt blood flood his tongue as he clenched his eyes shut tightly. "Well, that's good, at least. I don't want to have to hurt him."
Yami raised a brow. "You don't want to hurt anyone."
His cheeks flushed. "No, not really," Yugi admitted reluctantly. "But Valon has been really cool and good about everything, honestly, Yami. He could have been a lot worse when we've had run-ins. But he's very mild and…"
He nodded. "Yes, I know. He is doing well to maintain his disease," he said quietly, and Yugi could see a small glimmer of respect in his darkened eyes. "He is doing very well with the task of keeping himself from public scrutiny and any sense of detection. He has figured out his limits and works around them. It is admirable, especially for a hellhound. It must be much harder for them…" Yugi blinked, then pressed his tongue into the back of his teeth forcefully for a moment, closing his eyes. "If we were to stop anyone from getting infected, do you think that would help to slow down those people in the lab?"
Yami was frozen for a moment, then bristled as he growled, "No. You seem to be forgetting that many of the people who are experimented on are regular humans who have been kidnapped and infected forcefully."
He looked at him, blinking his eyes open slowly, then glanced away again. "Well, I mean, if there's some way to help them…"
Yami curled his lips back. "The best way that you can help right now, as Yugi, is not to get caught. When you are caught, that is when we are all finished, understand?"
He bit his lip. "Do you believe that?"
"I have to."
"Why?"
"Because, otherwise, all of those sixty wolves who died to allow your escape suffered for nothing." Yami tilted his head and his eyes grew sad and troubled as he looked at him. "I…I think… I think I need to go outside, to get out of here…"
Yugi blinked, then nodded as his heart somehow shattered further at the sight of his mounting distress. He had not realized it was possible to hurt this much before. "Okay, but it's after curfew. You'll have to be careful—"
His eyes grew owlish. "You will not be joining me?"
The smaller teen blinked, eyes widening to thrice their usual size in confusion. "I figured, I mean, from way you said… Uh, yeah, I'll definitely come with you. Give me a second to change into jeans."
Yami nodded distractedly and went over to the window.
"Are we doing a hellhound hunt or something?" he teased minutes later, hoping to lighten the anxious mood Yami had been in since the moment they had crept out of the window. His words seemed to fall on deaf ears, however, and Yugi sighed softly as he looked at him. They were in the lesser used cemetery, both of them standing within inches of the gravestones, and Yugi could already see his eyes on those wispy tree limbs where the snow still dusted the tops. He tilted his head, watching him curiously, and then bit his lip as he saw his eyes so heavily focused on the willow.
Abruptly the other boy turned towards him. "No, I wanted to stretch my legs," he muttered, but his voice was oddly small and more acutely relieved than anything else. Yami licked his lips, watching him for a moment, then offered a weak smile that was so frail it seemed that it might shatter away any moment. "I just wanted to get out for a few minutes. We were… The conversation was a little uncomfortable and heavy to me."
Yugi nodded slightly, biting his lip. "Can I ask your opinion on something?"
Yami blinked and his brows furrowed in confusion as he considered him. "Of course," he finally answered, studying him a bit closer.
The smaller teen smiled a little in amusement. "You can't always say that because you tend to get upset with some of the things I say, remember?"
He snorted, smirking faintly. "I never said I might answer."
Yugi laughed quietly, raising a brow. "How rude," he teased, though something solemn crept through his system, pushing away his amusement. "I wanted to ask Valon something."
His brow rose very slowly and his face screwed up in mounting confusion. "Okay," he coaxed when his beta fell completely silent again.
"Since he's a hellhound, he would know, right? I mean, about the body that was drained of blood along the pulse… He would know if it's a hellhound kind of thing, right?"
Yami faltered, startled by the question, and struggled to remember the conversation which had accompanied the body. They had spoken about it, right? They had held a conversation and—yes, he remembered now. He had suggested it was a hellhound.
"I believe he would, yes."
Yugi caught onto the hesitance in his voice and immediately asked the question which had just crossed his mind as well. "What if it turns out that he did it?"
Yami studied him. "Take it in stride. We have very limited knowledge of hellhounds as it is, Yugi. There could be a very important reason if he did do it. And I don't know that he'll explain it to you seeing as he knows that you're a Pure-Blood and, by deduction, most likely Atem." He shrugged at his startled expression. "You have to be calm if he does reveal this to you. It means he's putting enough trust in you to actually tell you outright. And if he says no or feigns confusion, humor him. He may tell you more that way."
He nibbled his lip. "I'm not sure I can do that," he admitted quietly. "I don't like the idea of having to face him later knowing that he might have killed her…"
Yami shrugged. "Then do not ask."
It was said with such simplicity that Yugi felt his eyes grow thrice their size in shock. His cheeks felt slightly warm as they looked at each other for a long moment. But his words made sense. What it truly came down to was necessity versus curiosity and to fall prey to his own desire for answers or to shy away from a possibility that made him nervous.
But what was he really going to do if he was to say he had done it? Yugi doubted he would be able to fight him if it came to that. At any rate Valon possessed such experience being older and more knowledgeable of the Change that he had no chance.
"I guess I'll just figure it out tomorrow when I see him." He bit his lip until it seemed to bleed in a metallic river upon his tongue. At Yami's confused glance he explained, "He goes to school with me."
The taller teen blinked, then nodded slightly. "I should have assumed that," he muttered with a shrug before his eyes flickered briefly to take in the shape of the willow tree. "But I would not recommend asking such a question when in the company of others. If your classmates truly are wolves as well…"
"Considering the way they all think I killed Tomoya and Ushio and Kaokurano, I think they'd find it great to see me accusing someone else," Yugi snapped bitterly, running a hand through his hair, "especially when Valon made them shut up the first time by pretending that he could have been the one to do it."
Yami blinked. "Huh?"
The smaller teen raised his eyes to his, then smiled at his bewildered expression. His brows were pulled forward, his eyes crinkled with the wrinkling of his nose. The way his lashes cast shadows on his irises made Yugi think of just how handsome he truly looked.
"I forgot I didn't tell you about that," he mumbled, blushing faintly when he saw the way he arched a brow in confusion. "The other day when they found her body, everyone started to make jokes that it was me because she was found so close. And they all started adding on about the other deaths—Miho, Kokurano… They all got really enthusiastic about it when I ran off. So Valon told them that they might as well accuse him too because he had been in each of those areas around their times of death…"
The red-eyed boy blinked and tilted his head. "That was very kind of him…to take their focus off of you," he remarked thoughtfully.
"It was. But it didn't last."
"No, I don't suppose it did."
Yugi huffed an annoyed breath. "But they're pretty convinced that I'm apparently the one who did all of this and I'm sure that'll change with a new rumor sooner or later. Valon saying he might have been the one to do it will probably make them think we're both in on it."
"Do you believe so?"
He scoffed, "Either that or we're screwing because one of us caught the other and forced them into it with blackmail."
"That's disgusting."
Yugi found himself blinking in confusion and looking at him curiously. "You mean two guys screwing?"
Yami gave him a disdainful glance. "The idea of forcing someone to sleep with another through blackmail," he corrected him quietly before shaking his head. "What one does with another is their own business as far as their preferences, be it sexual or anything else."
"So you don't care one way or another."
"It does not concern me." He paused, considering the real question behind his words, and then slowly shook his head. "One's feelings need no justification. Should they be attracted to the same sex then that it as it is meant to be for them. Love comes in any way it wishes."
Yugi seemed to visibly relax for a moment, then looked away as he licked the sore skin of his lip. His breathing was slightly shaky for the smallest of seconds before he cast him a wide smile. "So you wouldn't even think much if I did say I was screwing Valon?"
Yami's eyes flashed faintly before he scoffed. "I would smell him on you." He wrinkled his nose, pausing, and slowly shook his head. "If he should be the one to make you happy…"
His insides felt warm with relief for a split second before he tilted his head when he saw the slightly troubled expression which made the other's eyes glitter faintly. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, his voice slightly demanding but more so confused.
"Well, it is simply…if you are truly interested in him, please heed caution. Lycanthropes and hellhounds cannot be as willful and simple as humans. Our salivas are toxic to each other when they hit the bloodstream…"
Yugi blinked, then blushed. "I'm not interested in him! I'm interested in…" He blinked again, because his first impulse was to say another. "Anzu."
Yami nodded and bit the inside of his cheek, looking towards the tree with its draping snow-covered limbs again with darker eyes. "I simply mean to say that should your tastes change, remember caution should it be towards a hellhound. Their saliva may not kill you unless in heavy doses but if you were to have a wound and they were to attempt cleaning it, it would cause infection. And it would be one of the most painful sensations you will ever feel."
He shivered. "Did something happen to you to…?"
Yami blinked, furrowing his brows, and slowly shook his head. "No. I simply remember the wounds my…friend suffered when he was pitted against one in the lab," he finally muttered. "He was unable to heal properly for days and they were forced to run blood tests when they realized the hellhound was in just as bad a shape."
"What happened to him?"
He turned his head in silent questioning.
"Did he…?"
The sound which left him was something between a sneer and laughter. "No, he did not die from that. He was too strong and smart." He fell silent immediately after.
Yugi wanted to ask, but instead turned away. He didn't have to look again to know that the other's red eyes were on that tree again. But it did not stop him from asking the next question to come to his mind. He turned to him, eyes pleading, and whispered, "Will you come with me to see Slifer? I wanted to talk to her…"
His countenance was nothing short of bewildered as he looked back at him in silent inquiry, but then the taller wolf finally nodded. He tipped his head to the side, watching him, and then looked away. "Yes, I will go with you."
"Thanks."
He nodded.
Yugi was unsure why it was that Yami took to going as a human when he had announced he didn't want to change. He wondered if Yami had any idea why it was that he had decided against the idea of going as a wolf. He sincerely hoped somewhere in the back of his mind that Yami truly had no idea. He didn't want to have to admit to the reality of his fear of changing his skin when the other was so clearly enamored with his own ability. How was he supposed to explain his unease of such a thing to someone who so obviously revered such an ability?
He tilted his head and glanced at the red-eyed lycanthrope as they stepped further into the small tunnel. On two feet he could sense the nearness of the roof, the rocky surface of which would brush against his hair if it were only a couple of inches smaller. It surprised him that Yami did not seem to care when he realized his hair had to brush against it. His hair was longer, a little wilder, and it had to touch it considering his slight height advantage over him.
"These are like the catacombs," he muttered quietly. All he could hear was their sneakers against the stone and his own heartbeat in his ear. Every now and then he could catch the smallest tickle of noise of which he would gain from Yami's gentle breathing. When he kicked a stone and it skirted forward in a rasping hiss of noise, he sprang like a cat. The impact with the ceiling nearly made him wail, but the wind had been knocked from his lungs beforehand. He nearly choked as he turned his head to glance at the other boy's face.
Yami, at first, appeared startled, then concerned, but very quickly looked amused; he seemed almost to be swallowing laughter as he stared at him. But the smaller teen hardly cared around trying to catch his breath again.
"Shit," Yugi muttered, blushing when the other snorted roughly through his nose in an effort not to guffaw. "Shut up."
"That must have been one terrifying rock monster," he chuckled, biting his lip and looking away quickly. "I can't believe you jumped that high!"
"Um, I'm not entirely sure what you might have heard, but I think I told you to shut up," he grumbled, scowling at him playfully. He shook his head when he saw Yami's shoulders shake silently before he straightened and started walking again. Yugi huffed and hurried to get back to his side. "You would have freaked out too! I mean, the last time I was here and kicked something it was a bone, remember?"
"Yes, and I also remember you jumping then too," he snorted playfully. He glanced around cautiously and then bit his lip. "You have an impressive ability to jump almost three times your height when you're scared."
"Shut up," he grunted, his voice wheedling as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not scared that often! It just surprised me, that's all! It was all silent and then—"
"Oh please, don't even try to justify that! It was hilarious!"
"Yami!"
"Yugi!"
He rolled his eyes. "You're such an ass."
"I am not." He fell quiet for a moment, then wrinkled his nose. If Yugi hadn't been looking at him prior, he knew he would have missed the action. He turned away, drawing in a deep breath. He nearly recoiled at the decaying smell, then grimaced. "We're very close."
"I wish it didn't smell like that. It's disgusting."
"The smell of death doesn't make you happy?" Yami drawled sarcastically. "I am amazed."
"I think I'm going to start calling these tunnels the catacombs," he announced, ignoring his words, and rolled his eyes again. "I mean, technically catacombs were used for ritualistic purposes and all that, but it was still tunnels with dead bodies so maybe…"
"Yes, well, I highly doubt that Slifer does much with them ritualistic or otherwise. I am almost certain she merely harbors them here and then helps their souls into passing into Paradise," Yami muttered, looking around and then stepping over a stone that might have gone flying had he kicked it. "After all, she is the guardian of the dead, not some random scavenger looking to devour the remains of the corpses she runs across."
"That's…disgusting," Yugi huffed. "Why would you even bring that up?"
"Well, what would be more ritualistic than having some purpose for the rotting meat on their bones?" His lips pulled into a wide smirk. "You can't do much else unless you were going to try peeing around the—"
"Please stop. Or else I'll puke on you."
Yami rolled his eyes. "You don't even know where I was going with that," he teased, "it could have been a way of getting laid and—"
"Necrophilia is not something I'm interested in, thanks." He snorted loudly and rolled his eyes. "But seriously, let's not talk about that anymore, okay? This place is making me a little queasy."
Yami frowned. "Okay."
It took a few more minutes to come upon the small stray beam of light which would lead them further towards the cavern's dip. Yugi shivered but the other male hardly paid attention. In his mind was the clear image of the bones set against the light, rows upon rows of shadow and decayed meat, of wasted muscle and breaking skeletons so fragile one had only to touch to grind them to dust.
"So what now?"
Yugi blinked and tilted his head. "I don't know. Where do you think she is?" he asked awkwardly. "I mean, wouldn't we sense her?"
"If I recall correctly, it was not you who recognized her to be here."
He felt his cheeks heat and shot him an annoyed look. "Oh shut up. It's not my fault I was more concerned about your shoulder than you were!" he snapped, blushing harder when Yami gave him a surprised glance. "But seriously, where do you think she might have gone?"
Yami tilted his head, then smirked as he pointed downwards into the dip of the cavern, towards the center of the pool of incoming moonlight, as soft and silky as a sheer silver curtain. Yugi strained his eyes, then caught sight of the pair of golden pinpricks of bright light from the center of the space. They glittered with something almost like laughter as they looked back at him and the small teen was frozen in place beside him. She was nearly invisible upon the face of the rock, her bright red coat the shade of granite in the moonlight, blending in to near perfection with the stone beneath her.
"Oh."
She rose to her feet, shaking herself out, and began to move to the edge of the stone lip to look at them. You are human now, she acknowledged, though her statement was geared more towards Yami as Yugi blinked at her in confusion. I would have expected it from Yugi, but you, Yami? It surprises me.
Yugi bristled faintly at the wondrous note in her voice but Yami seemed hardly worried about the tone or the words that were spoken in it. He tilted his head and watched him for a moment. "Changing would have been arduous for such a small amount of time spent here," he answered without pause. His red eyes flickered towards the smaller teen for a moment, then back to the goddess. "I considered it, but it seemed a waste of energy to do so."
Ah, yes, and you have no reason to feel need to protect yourself either, she said softly with a flick of her ear. Your teeth and claws would have been displayed for nothing.
Yami hummed and then moved to take a seat. He scooted to the edge, tilting his head towards Yugi as if awaiting a protest. When a full twenty seconds had passed he leaned forward and threw his legs over the edge. He moved to lay his hands flat behind him, leaning into his arms with a lazy, thoughtful expression.
Yugi hesitated, staring at him in complete confusion. Since when had Yami ever been so inclined to relax so easily? His stomach tossed for a moment and he bit his lip as he considered his reluctance to truly be around him physically for too long an amount of time. He faltered, glancing at Slifer, but reality struck that he most likely looked cowardly simply standing and staring at the other wolf. So he moved forward, took a seat, and threw his legs over the edge as well.
Yami shot him a sideways glance but did nothing more. Slifer seemed to smile faintly as she looked at them curiously, and her black lips had drawn back into something like the smile of a golden retriever dog. If her tongue had been displayed in a pant he would have assumed her to be a red-furred mongrel of some kind.
Yugi shivered and his first impulse was to bunch his limbs or move towards Yami, who would have served as something of a buffer between them. But he was abundantly aware of his fascination with the she-wolf and it unnerved him how much his stomach twisted and his eyes threatened to narrow. And he was more aware of the fact that Yami had put inches of space between them for a reason and so he would maintain that distance.
"I wanted to ask you something," he announced in order to cut their attention away from each other. But Yugi realized, flustered, eyes slightly widening, when neither of them turned their heads, that they were both focused on him instead. He twitched, then chewed the inside of his cheek, feeling something like shame sweep through him. He felt stupid and childish now. "Um… There was a girl that was found. She was…heavily mutilated and her body was found with a line cut along her pulse and her blood drained…"
Yami blinked. "You wished to ask about that?" He turned to face him completely, brows furrowed. "I had thought…"
Yugi shook his head, and it was oddly comforting to face him now as well. "I was going to, but she's a goddess, so she might know…right?"
"Possibly," he muttered, shrugging.
She pricked her ears forward in slight wonder, tilted her head, and shifted to sit on the rock comfortably. It is hellhound, if that is what you meant to ask. And it is not your friend, the one whom you helped formerly. Her ear flicked and Yugi bit his lip until it nearly bled. It was a new hellhound, related by bite to the one who ate your classmate's heart and the owner of that shoe store.
Yugi sat up a little straighter. The owner of the Junky Scorpion? He had thought it might have been Ushio to kill him…
But I am lost as to their name. They are not a lycanthrope and so only Morrigan or Skoll might know of them, she said dismissively. But the bloodletting was done in order to attempt awakening the blood drinking trait of the hellhound. If one can drink blood then they can heal faster in battle and regain energy at a much greater rate. It's a gift only the Harbingers possessed, as is shape-shifting and spreading the disease.
He tilted his head. "So hellhounds aren't able to infect you through bite like we are?" he asked, glancing at Yami sideways. "Why not?"
Their ability to become incorporeal makes their most of their genetic coding unstable. They suppress more and more of their natural chemicals whenever they change into that form and that also makes their brain a bit more unbalanced. The saliva's molecular structure would be altered enough that it would be impossible for the infection to be transmitted in such a way. Slifer looked away from them and her face appeared smooth and warm against the cold moonlight. She had a narrow skull but her jaw was larger and somehow narrower than Yugi had seen on wolves in pictures. He supposed that had to be the dire in her genetic formation.
"Then why is their saliva toxic to us? If it can't spread their disease then…?"
Their saliva is still full of toxins, just not the ones that carry the disease. If they bite anything that isn't another hellhound and it survives, the wound will become extremely infected and they will have a matter of hours. Once that time has passed, they'll drop dead from the infection reaching their heart.
Like the monitor lizard family, Yugi thought, feeling slightly sick. He remembered Ryuzaki talking about them in class in middle school, the year before. He'd been so determined to talk about dinosaurs when the teacher would not allow him to and had found that loophole. She'd found it funny that he had managed it when he had not always been too good at finding third options. But Yugi had found it somewhat admirable and he had been slightly surprised when the class had laughed about his obsession with them.
He blinked.
And now Ryuzaki was dead, probably still somewhere in the woods with Haga and Ryota's corpses…
"What is Paradise?"
Yami blinked in confusion. He could have sworn he'd talked to him about it at some point. But then again, maybe not. With everything happening and the lag in his mental abilities because of his blood loss, he had not assumed his memory to be absolute any longer. Oftentimes it became fuzzy in certain areas and that was not something he could force away without proper healing. So he stayed quiet, looking between them.
Slifer was silent for a moment. Then her golden eyes fell on Yami. You have not told him? she asked slowly, head tilted. It was curious, but held the slightest tone of accusation.
"I was not aware I was expected to constantly talk about death with him," he scoffed, turning back. "I suppose I would have answered had I ever been asked."
Yugi didn't like the way they were staring at each other now. He shivered, moving to lightly move his arm to nudge Yami. The other boy turned to him immediately, confused. "I didn't ask him before," he said, turning back to the female. "But someone mentioned it recently and I want to know what it is."
Who had mentioned it recently? Yami bristled faintly. Yugi had not smelled of other wolves beyond the pack. It was possible they had told him of it. He would not have been surprised. With all of their preaching and mythology he would not be the least bit inclined to believe otherwise.
It is the afterlife for werewolves, Slifer stated simply. She flicked an ear. Every wolf goes there when they have died, regardless of what path they have chosen formerly in life.
Yugi blinked wide eyes. "So Ryuzaki or Ushio…?"
The other teen could not read the emotion in his voice. He could not tell if he was hopeful or if he was angry. It sounded a mix and that unnerved him slightly.
They are in Paradise. Any wolf who has passed will come to find their way there. I take the lycanthropes and Morrigan the hellhounds. She watched him now, eyes sharp, full of cunning and question. Paradise is a place of eternal rest. The hardships of their lives are more or less forgotten and they can be among those they loved and lost. Their actions in life do not determine their place in death.
Yugi chewed his cheek. "Is Ryou there?"
Yami startled. "Ryou?" he muttered, confused as he blinked wide eyes at him. "Why would you wish to know about Ryou?"
"I owe him." For helping me save you.
Slifer tilted her head in puzzlement. Ryou could not change. His soul was not wolf. He was merely bitten. The red-furred she-wolf considered him for a moment. I do not know where human souls go.
He swallowed hard. "Okay." He hesitated. "They have to have changed in order to go into Paradise when they die then…"
Yes.
Yami was still watching him, suspicious and unnerved. Yugi still thought there had been something between himself and Ryou, didn't he? He shook his head slightly, then muttered, "Humans have their own version of Paradise, yes? It's referred to as heaven or something of the sort?"
"Yeah, but I mean, you have to basically be the best person ever to get there when you die. I just… It's strange to me. The wolves can go the moment they're dead. But humans have to work to go there or end up in purgatory or hell."
And hell is perceived as a place of punishment, yes?
He nodded slightly. "Yeah, it's the place someone like Ushio or Haga or Ryuzaki or Ryota would end up for murder and trying to kill someone."
Yami glanced away. "And the fact that they are in Paradise upsets you?" he asked finally, furrowing his brows. "Not the idea that they were killed in just as painful ways as they inflicted?"
Yugi flushed bright red, then looked at him with wide eyes. "I didn't say that! It's just surprising, okay? I mean, if you were raised thinking as a person, you would find it weird too!"
He bristled. "Does it truly bother you so much? If you hate your life so much, why do you not just take it? You can end it any moment that you wish yet you just keep complaining and—"
And allow both worlds to become further awry? Slifer cut in with a smooth, lyrical whisper which made them both spin on her in confusion. With the unbalance they already suffer, why should you upset it further?
Yami stiffened immediately. Yugi frowned and tilted his head in puzzlement. Neither of them so much as glanced at each other, the heat of their argument lost completely.
"Unbalanced?" the taller teen said slowly. "What does that mean exactly? What kind of imbalance?"
Too many wolves are passing. Morrigan and I are both unable to help them as much as necessary. When one soul is guided to Paradise, another is immediately awaiting us. Their deaths are near constant.
Yami curled his lip back. "And, of course, Atem is expected to be able to stem this flow and stop Paradise becoming flooded," he scoffed. "And I'm sure Obelisk is happy to find that his domain will be enlarged."
Obelisk is as enraged as the rest of us are, Slifer snapped. None of us wish to see the wolves suffer so! You cannot truly expect that any of us should ever be so glad to see the suffering you all go through.
"Wait, Paradise can become flooded?"
"Not truly. It is a figure of speech. I just meant that there are so many dying that Slifer and Morrigan are overwhelmed. Paradise is endless." Yami looked away quickly when Yugi glanced at him with wide eyes. "Regardless, that's disturbing all the same. What is happening with the souls already there?"
Slifer stared at him and, when Yugi glanced at her, he thought he saw a million secrets and the most powerful of knowledge buried there within her gaze. He swallowed hard and resisted the urge to flee away from her altogether.
They are growing restless, she stated simply. They are restless and tired and growing anxious. I suppose they will begin to find rest again when they are assured of the fluctuations of death ceasing eventually.
Yami fell silent for a long minute, staring at her before looking swiftly away. "But they are not fighting each other?"
No.
"What happens if they start fighting each other?"
If they should destroy each other in Paradise their souls will be expelled into reincarnation. But such a thing is usually done by choice rather than punishment. She flicked an ear, facing Yugi more fully. All of the wolves that are dying and scattered about for us to guide are from the experiments. Many bodies are dumped within the woods, as many as are then incinerated beneath the ground in their lab.
Yugi blinked. "Okay, but if I were to go down there, it would be suicide. I don't even know where I would be going…" He trailed off as her eyes fell on Yami and the other wolf bristled faintly with distaste towards her expression. "And asking Yami to take me there is just inconsiderate and rude."
Yami blinked wide eyes, then glanced at him in confusion. "I could not take you there regardless. I do not remember the way."
Slifer flicked an ear, turned her muzzle towards the floor, and rolled her shoulders in an almost human shrug. I suppose it does not matter whether he could or not. The fact is that you are unprepared and would most likely see yourself to your death should you do such a thing. I would suggest that you do not do something so foolish by any means.
"Then I guess it's a good thing that I wasn't going to," he snapped, blushing when both wolves gave him slightly surprised looks. He ran a hand through his hair, then glanced towards the ceiling. It was so bright beneath but he could hardly see the sky from there. It was too thickly covered. "I don't plan on going there anytime soon."
Yami watched him for a moment with an expression that looked almost faintly suspicious. He tilted his head, studying him, and his eyes were garnet gemstones beneath such low light. His lips tugged into the smallest of smirks. "Well, now that that's settled," he commented, drawing the words out and turning away, "I have something to ask you."
The she-wolf pricked her ears forward. You? The inquiry was soft, faintly mystified, and Yugi felt suddenly small and indescribably stupid. Was he the only one who seemed not to know anything about the wolves? Sure Yami had more experience than him and Slifer was a goddess, but everyone seemed to know more. Valon knew more, Ushio, Ryota and Haga, Ryuzaki, Mai, Otogi, the wolves in the pack…
He could have groaned for all his inexperience and missing knowledge.
"I want to know why it is that you saved us that day in the woods," he announced in a calm and clear voice that immediately drew Yugi from his self-deprecating thoughts. "You led us to the brambles so that Yugi would fall in. But I was told when I was young that the gods were never to interfere with the events of a lesser wolf's life, yes?"
Slifer tilted her head. I broke my oath, she said slowly, eyes narrowing faintly as she curled her lip back. I broke my oath, but Ra has before done the same with you both as well. She has visited both of you in dreams, though her focus is mostly upon Yugi. She favors him, but that is for reasons I have no right to tread upon. I value you both, and so I distracted your thoughts with fatigue and bewilderment until the moment Yugi stepped too far and fell into the tunnel.
Yugi blinked wide eyes. She had distracted them...? But how was that even possible? He supposed it was within the realm of possibility that if one was touched by death then perhaps she could influence their thoughts. But he had never been touched by it…had he?
The hunters were coming back. One of them claims himself to be psychic and he seemed to sense your trick. Hiding within the snow… It was a brilliant plan, Atem. And had you left any later than you had, things would have fallen apart. But it was your detour to gather your things that left you both open to their approach. Had you never have done so, you would have been long removed from the forest before they got there.
Yugi blinked. "If I hadn't gone back they would have found another way to track me," he spat, eyes widening and his cheeks growing hot with misplaced pride. "And then what? I don't know about Yami, but my best interest is in what helps me live longer. And letting them figure out what school I go to or find that extra pistol is not a way to let that happen."
Yami glanced at him dismissively. "You broke oath in order to save Atem. Does that mean you shall be punished?"
His eyes grew wide and his head snapped around. "Punished?" he muttered, amazed by the very idea. How was that even possible?
I will accept any punishment my brothers and sisters see fit, but they know as well as I that the rules must be bent. If the werewolves are to survive, we must be willing to step from our havens and suffer consequence should it become necessary. You both are our priorities, not our need to remain hidden and away from influence of the wolves' lives.
Yami nodded. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense."
Yugi shivered faintly, watching the two of them again. If the gods were going to step out at some point and walk among the regular wolves…
"How did you break your oath? I mean, what was your oath then? Just to not interfere with living wolves?"
She sniffed loudly, and the noise seemed almost indignant. I am never meant to interfere with the living as my domain is death. Ra resides over the living. I am but the guardian who helps souls to their eternity of peace. She turned away. None of us are meant to directly interact with a wolf because their beliefs might change and their free will might be tampered with.
Yugi blinked and his thoughts fell immediately on the wolves in the pack. Had their free will been taken by the alpha preaching about him? Had they all been brainwashed and forced to believe in him and the war he was meant to win?
"I think we need to return," the taller teen said abruptly, pulling himself to his feet and stretching himself out. Yugi looked at him for a long moment, unable to do much more with his head spinning as it was. Then his eyes fell on the hand that was stretched towards him and he swallowed hard as he reached up to clasp it. Within seconds he was on his feet again and Yami didn't bother to look back at Slifer even when Yugi did so.
A raven was crying when he looked up. It was a smear of ink, stretched both ways, against a red-orange sky. The clouds were small darker touches of color, though they had no true definition or form of any kind. He watched it for a moment as it tore across the sky and cried louder. He craned his neck until it felt sore, watching it with wide eyes in order to keep from looking downwards. He knew what awaited him if he did and the thought was not a comforting one. His stomach ached and tossed as the bird swooped downwards, and his eyes refused to raise themselves from it.
The river was immense and red, burning with the cold chill of orange splashed against it in reflection. And, as he looked at it, the earth beneath his paws—whatever surface that may have been; he could not be sure—began to break away. He thought to look down but his eyes were still on the raven. It was the size of an eagle, beautiful glossy black with a beak the same shade and eyes with a beady reflection and a ring of hideous red.
It landed on a branch which seemed to swell up into the air out of nothingness, as if the fog were crystallizing itself in the formation of such a thing. It was jagged and glorious and silver in sheen as if it were glowing. He struggled as the world began to disappear beneath him more completely. The liquid was hot and acrid, the scent trickling through his nostrils as his eyes burned with it. It sloshed upwards into his fur and tugged like claws and teeth as it began to weigh him down.
He thrashed and his paws flailed as he kicked to keep himself above the surface. His throat ached as he panted and he drew his lips back with displeasure. He gasped and chomped his teeth, a name appearing in his mind as the raven began to change. Its feathers dropped away in rivulets of blood and black gloss. The beak broke away in half and teeth protruded forward, the nostrils formerly hardened soft and moist and calloused.
The beadiness of its eyes became a violent and mesmerizing cunning and the hideous red began to brighten and glow. The last of its feathers fell away and the creature that stood before him now shook itself out and looked at him calmly.
The blood swelled up and tugged firmly at his throat, trying to pull him downwards. But the other stared, not the least bit alarmed or considerate towards helping him.
Morrigan, he gasped out, his muzzle swaying beneath the blood. The salt of it burned his throat and the heat scorched him violently. He struggled and coughed. The she-wolf tilted her head and slowly she wagged her tail in acknowledgment. But still she did not help him.
He felt something like teeth in his side. The bright burst of pain made him yelp. The blood swept into his mouth. He choked and kicked his legs. His claws were dripping with blood. He gasped and panted. The teeth dug in further. Then another caught his other side. Another captured the base of his spine. He screamed. The blood welled up and swallowed him.
Atem! Atem! Code Name Atem!
His vision was colored in red but when he twisted there was white. He snapped his teeth. The creature held tight. Without the skin and nose, it did not look like a wolf. But the skull was so narrow. And the jaws so incredible. He could not mistake it for a common dog or another animal.
There were so many of them. They created something like a chain. Rows upon rows of teeth were dug into the wolf in front of them. The skeletons were bright white as if bleached by the sun. The teeth were sharp and hooked. The bones had cracked and split where they touched with their jaws.
They were tiny deep black fissures. Yugi struggled. He could feel his own blood mixing with the river. It was boiling and yet so cold all at once. He snarled and snapped. The wolves did not release. But he was breathing. Even beneath the blood, he was breathing. He snapped again but there was no release.
Atem!
He bristled.
Son of Lupa and Fenrir!
He squirmed, struggling to move away. He could hear their teeth clicking as the call trailed through the skeletons. They tugged and pulled him further. The cry rose again.
Morrigan! he pleaded louder. Perhaps if he appealed to her she would save him. Maybe she could make them stop. She was the goddess of the dead too, right? She or Slifer could—
They rattled and collapsed as his paws touched ground. He startled and jumped, for it sounded like a hideous landslide. He sprang and spun around, confused. They all snarled lowly until the noise died away. He shook himself out, trembling, and then pricked his ears forward. His stomach tossed and flipped. He bit his tongue with the force of his own panic.
Relax, my dear child.
The voice was low, somewhat rough, and Yugi felt his head snap in the direction of it. He chomped his teeth fearfully, fur still raised in a hideous bristle. They stared at each other for a moment. Then the wolf flattened his ears back unhappily. Ra… he muttered, his voice nearly cracking with uncertainty. He glanced around, desperate to see a face besides hers who he might recognize.
Where was he?
Where is who?
Yugi blinked, confused, and turned to her. Instinct said not to take his eyes off the potential threat. He ran his tongue over his teeth for a moment, unnerved. She had read his thoughts?
You are dreaming. Your mind is most vulnerable in this state of being, child.
Yugi bristled somehow further. Where was he? Who was he? Was she playing with him? Slifer had said… But then she wasn't here. And who had been beside him?
Atem.
He took a moment, alarmed and confused. Then he looked at her more fully. His breathing came out uncomfortably tight from within his constricted lungs. Atem was his name. He remembered that much. He blinked, flicked an ear, and kicked at his nose with confusion.
Yes. The golden she-wolf looked as awkward now as she had the first time he had come across her in this dreamscape. Her wide chest, the shape of an immense barrel, the long legs and sharp claws… He blinked up at her and curled his lips back further when she moved a little closer to him. He tilted his head, studying her for a moment, then bristled a little more. His eyes flashed as he looked away again. Listen to me.
He blinked and turned back. When he had been with Slifer… Yugi pricked his ears forward. He fought for a moment, grasping strangely for purchase upon thoughts that felt foreign to him. He strained his senses, his ability to focus. His mind spun and danced. He struggled harder. An image was forming, imperfect and shattered like broken glass.
Do not strain yourself, child. You will recall all as needed when you are closer to awakening. Doing so now will only stress—
He snapped his teeth. You cannot tell me not to wonder! I have a right! he spat, though instantly his insides curled with shame and confusion and a sense of brief and uncontrollable loss. He looked away, eyes sharp and narrow with frustration. Who was the other wolf…?
The she-wolf let out a loud noise, a cross of snarl and snort. She watched him and her eyes were sharp with laughter and cruelty. You wish to know who it is you are trying so hard to remember? she spat in a tone of malevolence that made his head snap up in confusion. He blinked, watching her, and then struggled again. That image, as fragmented as it was, had grown misty and unusual within his mind. What was he seeing? It was so…almost estranged and otherworldly. It reminded him faintly of her.
She flicked an ear. Beside her the mist seemed to swirl and dip upwards. It danced, laced with the brilliance of red blood, and then began to sweep in the formation of a shower of rainfall. He shivered, for something powerful and strange seemed to swell within his senses. The mist darkened and its torrential pattern fell away.
An immense black form stood before him. The ears were small, curved gently. The face was wide, bushy. The slope of its head was sharp and narrow. Its eyes were an ungodly shade of red he did not recognize. He blinked and stared. The figure towered by an inch or two. And its weight was greater than his own. Its paws were huge, its claws long and sharp and hooked. The chest was narrow but the bones were thick and he could see the broader curve of them towards the center.
He frowned and tilted his head and a light dawned in the back of his mind of this wolf's apparent identity. But the eyes were wrong and as the name crossed his mind, instead he said, This isn't Yami.
She flicked an ear dismissively. No, of course it is not. He is not dead. And you are dreaming. He is not. This is as close a representation as I may gather of him.
Yugi remembered the lively gleam in Yami's dark eyes and the thought made his tail twitch in the beginnings of the smallest of wags. He watched the she-wolf, ignoring this unnamed scepter beside her. Just knowing his name, remembering it as fully as he could, able to apply it to a face so often troubled by what seemed to be mere existence but still soft and patient as well, calmed him some. Yami was still beside him, asleep in his room, probably next to him under the covers. Or no, he was probably—
Focus on me, the she-wolf spat now and his attention was caught on the blaze of her dark blue eyes, so much like royal gemstones. She bore her teeth, bright white and flashing against her pelt. She looked like the embodiment of the sun, of silken fur and spikes of enamel. You do not have need to rely so heavily on him. Atem is meant to rely upon himself, without such obvious need of another!
Yugi flicked an ear. Atem is a name applied to a living person. I was raised as human. As such, I need social structure. I need people to fall back on. That's what friends and family are for. If I do not have them, then what do I have? Who am I without them?
Self-reliant, self-efficient, capable, adaptable.
He blinked. All of the things that others are. But I've never managed it. I can't be alone like that. It hurts. I can't prosper with it. He hesitated. But neither wolves nor humans are meant to be alone for all eternity.
She blinked.
But who does Atem have, Ra? Who is meant to help him? If he is all alone, who will catch him when he falls?
He should be capable of picking himself from the ground! the goddess snarled in rage, her pupils vibrating with the immensity of such an emotion. He should be able to stand on his own four paws. He should have the ability to stand and fight and do as he must!
Which is fine in theory. But neither wolf nor man can prosper like that!
A werewolf is neither—
A werewolf is both! A werewolf is human and wolf! It is born with both forms and sets of instincts. Surprisingly, most are one in the same. The only difference between them, truly, is that wolves are not ruled by society and expectations beyond their capabilities. They are only asked to survive and they do so as well as they can!
Ra flicked an ear. You were born with another. Atem was born with another, she snapped bitterly, eyes flashing as Yugi peered at her in confusion. I allowed not one Pure-Blood to be brought to life through unnatural cause, but two. I allowed two wolves to be born that day. You know the date.
He stared at her, eyes wide and full of disbelief. There are two of us? he asked in amazement. There are two Pure-Bloods? Two Code Name Atem?
She scoffed loudly, stepping closer to him. No, there is but one Atem. The second wolf was meant to be the backup. He was meant to be his companion. His sole companion. As you have said yourself, my dear Atem, wolves were not meant to be solitary creatures.
He stared at her, amazed and bewildered. Because the truth was that, no, they were not meant to be solitary. But Atem was not a natural wolf. He was not a natural werewolf. He was a creature that seemed to defy explanation. He was someone burdened with immense destiny.
And what was that destiny to do for him but wreak destruction and havoc?
How was it that a god could perform such a callous act? She brought first him and then another into a fate not too terribly unlike his own?
You condemned not one wolf but two, he hissed softly. You condemned them to something worse than death.
A great many things are condemned to things beyond others' understandings. Your knowledge is so limited and narrow in vision. You have no idea the greatness which you possess. Your partner will show you such power and ability when the time comes. She bore her teeth. But first you will have to learn of self-reliance and strength, of the ability to stand upon your own paws and face your threats without mercy. You are nothing but a shadow of the wolf you are meant to be.
Yugi stared at her and his body felt cold as he watched her. Perhaps to a god, immortal and with such power as to mold the world to her fitting, the realization was a lazy and stupid one. But to him, his world felt small and meek. Reality bit at his body and tore at his bones.
He was an instrument, a means to an end.
And, when he fulfilled his purpose, when his life held no more merit, what would become of him?
Perhaps it was merely a pawn she saw when she looked at him. Maybe she could not see Yugi, and only Atem. Unlike Slifer, perhaps her own vision was narrow and tunneled and her goals kept her from realizing the importance of this realization.
As he looked at her, he thought he saw the madness he had seen in Kokurano's that last day he was alive. He thought he saw the spirals of madness and prophecy.
And he wondered at it.
Was it possible for a god to fall upon madness?
He watched her. And his insides warmed with laughter and disbelief. Was she so far removed from him that she could look at him now and tell him that he had a sibling of some kind who shared an equally despicable fate as his own without so much as a care?
How cruel.
The gods did not care.
And the pack saw Atem as merely a leader to their own victory. They saw him as a means to propel themselves further. He was nothing but a puppet for either of them.
Code Name Atem was a puppet.
Code Name Atem was a curse.
Code Name Atem was a creature that shouldn't exist.
He woke moments later to Yami beside him. He was fast asleep, face buried in the pillow. His eyes were twitching behind his lids. He was breathing slightly hard. His fingers would twitch faintly where they rested against the blanket draped over him. When he snorted loudly in his sleep and the movements stopped but for his eyes, Yugi felt he was dreaming of a hunt gone wrong. The simplicity of it burned at his insides briefly and bitterness came over him for only a moment.
Then he scooted closer to him. The movement jostled the taller wolf. His eyes snapped open. His gaze penetrated the darkness like fire. He blinked and stared at his face. And Yugi's cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. He felt like he was eight again, when thunder had scared him so much he had crawled under the covers with his mom out of fear.
But, unlike his mother that night, he was not told he needed to get out and sleep in his own room. He was not taken back to his bed and he didn't make a pillow fort with her. She didn't sit in front of him and tell him a story until he fell asleep after taking medication. She didn't leave him sometime in the middle of the night again.
This time Yami blinked, sat up, stretched himself out until his bones popped, pulled the blankets back, and burrowed beneath his comforter and sheets. Yugi stared at him, somewhat amazed and mystified, and then smiled faintly. The other wolf watched him, staring in silent question, asking if it was okay, and then snuggled into the pillow. He hesitated only a moment, scooted closer until Yami's scent seemed to swell and burn within his lungs. When all he could remember was ice and moonlight and fallen pine needles, his dreams were soft and gentle.