Shadows That Bleed

by YamiYugiPuzzleshipper

Pure-Bloods are said to be myths, not even well-known within stories. "A specialized genetic coding of the moon and the dire," their spoken lore proclaims. They are creatures beyond the power of mortality, gifted by the gods themselves. Known as the Eternal Ones, their existence once extinguished, resurrection foretells a powerful omen.

45. Specters

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Every other day

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Death, Implications of Homosexual Relationships, Implications of Sexual Relationships, Consumption of Blood, Mentions of Consumption of Blood, Hallucinations, Emotional Breakdowns, Nightmares, Gunshots

All right! So it's our favorite hellhound for a part of the chapter. And he's actually a LOT of fun to write the point of view of? Like I wasn't expecting to have so much fun with that? Anyways, you'll be finding out a few things about Valon.

Coffee is made in several ways in Japan from what I was reading and none of them really require a coffee machine of all things. That's why Yugi is kind of surprised/put-off by it. For the sake of being able to make the coffee faster, Valon uses the machine in that scene (it's rarely used otherwise, as his family mostly makes it in the traditional sense instead). Usually it's "drip" coffee instead of anything to do with a machine so yeah... Some needless trivia but it explains Yugi's surprise so it's somewhat necessary.

Yugi uses a new nickname for Yami, by the way. He uses it throughout the book later, scattered about rather randomly instead of frequently. And you'll see the way that Yami reacts to it much later when Yugi calls him by it but for now, just know that it's going to be a bigger element later on. I promise I didn't just throw it in just because~

Anyways, it's totally my fault that this didn't get updated this time. I kind of got distracted with other real life stuff and then I lost motivation for a good minute because I SUCK at going to sleep on time and then caffeine tends to just drain me SO badly, holy shit.

And then I got distracted by a couple of other things (including a couple of other plot bunnies that won't leave me alone, send help omfg). Anyways though, I am SO sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter posted. I have no idea when the next handful will be updated, but I'm going to TRY to get it done so that I can take a break and work on edits and things after this part of the story is completed (so basically chapter forty-eight will be the end of part three and then I'm taking a small hiatus to get things running smoothly with updates and some additional details and things I need to fix).

Chapter XLV: Specters

Work Log Entry XLIV: March, 2004 (Part II)

March 21

A.T.E.M.'s lung capacity has grown in intervals of twelve minutes since the first time we attempted the task of drowning him. The boss thinks it may be because of his wolf nature and its tenacity to survive or the fact that Pure-Bloods cannot die that this is the case. But I think it is simply because he does not know what else to do.

March 22

The boss is unhappy with "Atem's" sudden plunder. He cannot last more than twenty seconds underwater now. We speculate that his brain may be damaged from all of the experiments we have performed upon him.

The boss wants to perform a surgery tomorrow to see if we can correct this.

March 23

No matter how much we try to get through his skull to his brain, he heals far too fast. It has been rendered impossible to do more than guess at the reasons behind his sudden lack of lung capacity.

Under anesthesia, "Atem's" blood pressure rises with each incision we make. It would appear that while asleep, the Pure-Blood's body has the capability to heal itself without so much as a pause in its instantaneity.

We think that this must be how they remain immortal.

Yugi stared at him blankly. Obelisk? He could not think straight for a moment. This was Obelisk? The war god was this large gray wolf, the size of Yami, with a somewhat longer jaw and heavier cheeks? He was the one with the larger nose and the fur which didn't look as thick he imagined his own was? This was the war god, the one which all of the wolves seemed to worship within the pack? He blinked stupidly and stared at him blankly once more. He was barrel-chested, though his frame was still somehow narrow and slender. But his shoulders were wider, broader, and his back legs were well-muscled. His legs were somewhat thicker, his paws immense in size.

His eyes flickered to Slifer, a sneer coming over his tone. And you claimed that the gods would not come to cross paths with me any longer. Or that there would not be direct interference. It was cruel and cold, but his anger was wild and burned beneath his skin.

I said that we would not dictate your decisions, she answered softly. Her ear flicked and her golden eyes were glowing beautifully in the dank underground tunnel. The lack of lighting made her eyes uniform, golden-gray in color. Her head tilted. Nor would we give you answers which might change the course of the necessary directives in order for our outcomes to be favorable. We are all walking upon thin lines. Influence could ruin everything.

Obelisk considered them both for a moment. Gods are not meant to direct the future. We were born and raised within the past. That was where our influence was meant to remain.

Yugi shot him a furious look. I don't really care for all of your deity bullshit, he said angrily. I got a bunch of it from her. And I'm done hearing about it. It's very clear that none of you will actually help me with the problems I have. Not one of you will help me find Yami, or help me run that damn pack, or even give me enough advice to deal with it all. I'm alone in this. You three had each other! But I am alone now. Yami is gone and he's the only one that was willing to give me answers.

Slifer closed her eyes, voice soft. He is not the only one. If you were open to your dreams further than panicking and waking early, you might find more answers. I am aware that you know Bakura. He would give you answers. And what of Yami's former lover? Her eyes opened now. Yugi stared at her for a moment, then flattened his ears against his skull and snarled low in his throat. What of his cage mate? He has made contact with you on several occasions. Why not attempt to find your answers from him?

Yugi breathed out with a shuddering body. He bore his teeth again, snarling furiously. You are shit, Slifer. You are a worthless piece of shit, he snapped, his teeth chomping into the frigid air. He moved and leaped to take the ledge which separated them. His fur bristled and fell in a rapid shudder. But his body hurt and he did not want to fight further. He was angry and refused to glance at either of the gods as he began to move again.

A soft clicking noise echoed after him. Yugi did not look over his shoulder. He could tell that Slifer was not the one following him. He narrowed his eyes. His stomach hurt and his lips curled back in anger. Why are you following me? he spat at the newcomer trailing after him.

There was silence for a moment. I am trailing you, he said simply. Yugi ignored him, speeding up into a trot. His impulse was to spin around and face him in his anger. His lips pulled back completely and he snarled viciously. Because, when you should run out of energy as your anger fades, you will need a friend.

Yugi bristled. A friend? he spat. You are not my friend.

No, perhaps not. But I shall be your companion until you have recovered yourself.

He snarled softly. A companion? Really? You aren't. You aren't a friend and you're not a companion. You are simply watching me. Because all of you apparently expect a war to be won when I am unable to.

You do not even truly know yourself. How are you truly meant to lead a pack into war and be victorious? Obelisk said in a low, somewhat scornful tone. You do not know yourself as Yugi nor as Atem. It is not within your capabilities for now to find victory.

Yugi bristled and snapped his teeth sharply. You expect to tell me that I don't know myself and think that I am supposed to think you might know better for me?

He snorted loudly behind him. Hardly, he scoffed in a cold tone. It was indifferent and chilled and Yugi ignored the urge to spin around and glare at him. But, should you truly desire to be as you are expected you would have to have more strength and ability. In order to do that, you must find yourself. And your definition of identity comes through your friends. That is not something that you will have the ease of doing later. It is impossible to be a leader and not know yourself expect by how others might define you.

How nice. You're a psychiatrist now. The war god of the lycanthropes is a fucking psychiatrist, he snarled furiously. But a part of him was stung and another wanted to sneer. Obelisk was not wrong. He was unable to know himself in more ways than that of the way others saw him. When he was asked to define himself, he used the descriptions his friends gave.

You're a lost, confused little bastard. And it is impossible for any of the other wolves to miss. Your human counterparts within school most likely have capability to see the same.

Yugi blinked and almost slowed. Then he hurried a bit faster. He hated him in that moment. Obelisk was a piece of crap just like Slifer was. Both of them were useless and pathetic.

When you run out of steam, an ally will do you well, the gray wolf continued lazily. His tone was untroubled and somewhat amused. Yugi wished he could have turned around and attacked him. But Obelisk was far more experienced and stronger than he was. He'd pinned him in mere seconds back there.

Yugi ignored him, following the water of the stream until he could see the tunnel's entrance. The jagged cut of the light filtering through was like a gaping maw. The tunnel continued for miles beyond this exit. And in the dark he could hear the water swollen to tenfold its current strength. He flicked his ears and turned away, heading for the entrance.

The river gushed in the dark beyond him. The sunlight bathed him as he came through the sunken hole. The edges of the stone were covered in snow and slicked ice which hung from the top in large stalagmite formations. When he'd used this exit formerly, there had been nothing but the chill of winter air. Yugi would have to squeeze around the large spears of ice. He thought of glistening swords and pale blood, then stood on his back legs as he came to the wall. He grasped the bottom of the mouth with his paws, them moved his right leg to grip with his nails into the hardened dirt. Then he drew himself upwards. The ice stroked his ears gently and his skin pricked with unease. His eyes flickered towards the ice and then away again. He squared his muscles, then squirmed beneath the touch of the cold crystals upon brushing his side. He felt like a cat attempting to climb into a box too small for them.

Yet somehow he managed to pull himself out with the smallest passive touch of ice which slicked his coat down on one side. He landed in the snow comfortably, shaking himself out, and would not have turned back if he had not heard the harsh breaking noise.

His head snapped around, eyes wide, and his ears pricked forward as the icicles were thrown through the air and into the snow. They landed with loud thuds and large waves of white from the impact.

Yugi blinked and flicked his ears. It was hard to look at the other wolf and not feel as if he were staring foolishly. But the gray canine ignored him, the smallest hint of water touching his cheeks and muzzle. His whiskers were slicked slightly towards the front. Yugi shook himself out and regarded him for a moment. No, Obelisk's eyes weren't truly flecked with red, or at least not the same shade as Yami's. His seemed more scarlet or perhaps with a small touch of orange which made it seem almost like a paler shade. There were the smallest hints of golden within the orange, giving them something almost akin the center of a wild flame.

His eyes were more orange and gold. The red must have been from the way his pupils had expanded and flashed in the dark. Yugi saw that now and his stomach sank as the realization came through him.

He'd never seen anyone else with red eyes like Yami had.

It made him wonder how it was that Yami had them. Was it because of the experiments done to him? Had they somehow altered his eye color? Shizuka had mentioned that her own eyes had been hazel rather than the gray they'd appeared when he'd met her.

And he could imagine her with eyes like that.

But Yami?

Perhaps it was prejudice and how he'd only ever known him to have those eyes, but he could not picture them another color. Gold was impossible. Brown was too standard. Green would have made his skin look oddly pale or dark. Gray might have been a possibility but it might also have made him look incredibly pale.

He watched as Obelisk began to move to his side. Yugi flicked an ear, uncomfortable as they considered each other.

You could have done that, the other commented in a slightly gruff tone. He was dismissive, eyes sharp and cold but tempered with intelligence. He watched him and Yugi bristled as he stared back. The silence was pregnant and his fur rose further with suspicion. Had you cared enough to try.

He bore his teeth. Why should I have cared to do that? he scoffed petulantly. A small part of him was curious, however. Obelisk did not have even the slightest scratch on his face nor did he seem the tiniest touch winded.

The gray wolf regarded him for what felt like ages. Yugi had begun to bristle furiously, his lips curled back as his ears pricked forward. His anger was rising further now, his blood hotter than ever. A tremble came through him. His voice began to curl upwards in a hideous low snarl. Obelisk, however, remained impassive. It was so simple a stare that it unnerved him somehow further.

You do not know your abilities as a wolf because you so foolishly regard your human side to have more worth, he said dismissively. You do not know the strength, or the greatness of which each wolf possesses. It is impossible to step foot within this world and embrace one half of yourself and refuse the other. You are childish in your attempts to try. As a wolf, your capabilities are beyond many humans' wildest dreams.

He flicked his ears away. Have you ever been human before, Obelisk? he said softly. He stepped forward and watched him with dark eyes.

I have. On several occasions I have shed my fur for that hairless hide, he said distastefully. Not once have I ever come to care to do so more than necessary.

Yugi growled low in his throat. Then you don't understand it, do you? I was raised as a human, by humans—

Obelisk's laughter was harsh and barking. You were created through a series of disgusting experiments done solely to your parents. You are the result of years of tampering with evolutionary traits which should never have been done. Whether you have become so traumatized that you have fabricated your memories in order to suppress your past, is not my care. You were adopted by your mother and grandfather when you were able to escape. Your mind further fabricated these memories in order to allow you to adapt.

Yugi bore his teeth. And Anzu, Jonouchi, Honda, Valon—? he demanded, jumping when Obelisk snapped his jaws at him angrily. He stepped closer and the white wolf flattened his ears against his head in confusion.

You have associated yourself with the Harbinger?

He snarled louder now, then wagged his tail slowly. His hatred swelled as he stepped closer now. One of them. Yugi was unable to stop himself from sneering now. But there are two, aren't there? There are two Pure-Bloods, one of which I haven't met yet, and I am Atem. Now, Valon is one of the Harbingers, and he claims Morrigan is his mother. And the second Harbinger? I have no idea.

Do you have a suspect?

Yugi ignored him now. No. He tried not to run around accusing other people of being mythological creatures that could potentially destroy the balance of the world. He huffed and began to trot forward. For the long hour that he kept moving, Obelisk remained mere steps behind.

It was unnerving to him how he remained so close and yet did not attempt to interrupt him nor guide him any longer. It made his skin crawl and Yugi could not fight away the very sense of disgust which crept through him at the thought. The only wolf that should have been following him was Yami.

A wave of pain tugged at his insides. With it came a crashing tsunami of exhaustion. Yugi slowed in his steps until he was walking so minutely he did not think he was truly moving anymore. Obelisk was still behind him and he wished more than ever that he might turn his head and see Yami there instead. It was a heartbreaking thought for him and so he felt his breath come out in a slow, uncomfortable squeeze of his lungs. Cautiously, terribly aware of the god's presence behind him, he lowered himself into the snow.

On his belly, Yugi laid his chin upon his paws and closed his eyes. He felt weak and beyond physical exhaustion. His entire body was weighted beyond recognition. And he wondered if he might never be able to find the strength to get up again. His stomach knotted, hurting, and he wanted for a moment to burst into tears.

But the wolf had no physical outlet like that. The tear ducts were only meant to expel foreign objects within the eye. They pushed at the layer of lint or dust or snow or whatever it was in order to shed it from the organs.

But he was breathing harder. Yugi recognized that all the same. The pain had strangled his lungs and forced his windpipe to squeeze tightly. His heart was in his throat and his body was shaking in ragged jerks. He shuddered and rasped and the wheezing made his ears ache and burn. The sound of his own heartbeat seemed muffled beneath it all.

He lay like that for what felt like hours. The white canine did not remove himself from the snow even once. He didn't lift his head beyond his bodily convulsions. And he was tired as he kept his eyes tightly shut. When he stilled, he couldn't comprehend the time that had passed. His first thought was that it had only been minutes, because, when he opened his eyes, Obelisk remained close by. He was seated a few feet away, eyes on him and head tilted somewhat to the side.

Yugi looked up at him, unable to find the strength to raise his head. He hadn't found Yami. Nor had he even slightly managed to do more than kill two humans. That had not freed Yami if he truly was trapped within the labs again. But then, it may have confirmed that Yami was not there. The wolves had shouted his code name as if they had a right to. Perhaps they had sensed the strength in him, felt some tie to him that he did not think he shared.

But they would have reacted similarly to Yami, right? Mai and Otogi had both said they smelled extremely similar. Yami had said it was because of the bite. He thought it was because of bloodline more than anything. He was a Pure-Blood and Yami was not the second, but he was close. He was purer in blood than even Mai as a Full-Blood.

Hadn't he claimed such a thing?

Yugi felt lightheaded and overwhelmed. He closed his eyes again, then shifted his chin slightly to press his muzzle more pointedly into his forelimb. He felt altogether stupid and childish, foolish beyond reason. His stomach knotted and the impulse to shake and quiver came again.

For a boy so keen upon pretending to be of a human frame you do seem rather wolf-like in your mourning, Obelisk stated in a soft tone, his orange-red eyes boring into his skin. At first Yugi ignored him. Then he finally tilted his head and looked at him from the corner of his eye. Do you reject the wolf so much that grief is the only thing to fuel your ability to use it?

Yugi looked away again, flicking his ears again. He wanted to turn his back on him completely and ignore him altogether. But it was impossible to think more towards such ability than mere subconscious beckoning.

Rage.

Hmm?

Rage fuels it too.

Rage? What rage? Your anger, spurred on by the loss of your friend? Obelisk said slowly, and Yugi felt a part of him sting at the soft rebuttal. It was almost painful to think that someone else might see so far beneath his skin. Your rage comes only from your shattering heart. This is because of your imbalance as a lycanthrope. You use your wolf skin only for the sake of releasing pent up energy. And in turn your emotions become unstable and unrestrained within your true form.

Yugi did not look at him. Becoming a large canine again was not my first choice in life, he spat childishly. My first choice was to get through the end of the year at school, then to get to college, and eventually to make my way into veterinary practices.

Life is altered all of the time. Should it not be, free will would be nothing more than ideology. You have made your bed in rejection of your true form. And now you shall have to rest in it. Obelisk was scornful for only a moment longer, then huffed and turned away from him. He took in a landscape of white where the branches were thin needles like the smallest splinters of lightning as it forked the sky. The heavy blanket of snow upon each surface was serene and beautiful, so opposing of the pain this young pup displayed before him. Would you like to come to know how to embrace your strength without sacrifice of your mental capabilities, Yugi?

The white wolf turned to him now. He was bitter and his eyes cold as he snarled, I don't care. I don't want this. I don't want to be Atem. Find the other Pure-Blood. Force them to this fate.

Obelisk faced him. His gaze was cold and crystalline, clear with displeasure and an abundance of mounting annoyance. There was a lingering shadow of wisdom, eternal and long forgotten to the living, and a sense of foreboding which made him lose his younger appearance. Yugi could see the strength in him, the power and beauty of a creature never meant to exist, with greatness which rolled from him in billowing waves.

Do not be a petulant child. There is only so much room for them within our world. You chose to announce yourself this way. You shall live with the consequences. And you shall have to learn to adapt to the changes necessary, to grow beyond your mortal body's restraints. Half of the battle is embracing your nature. The other shall be learning yourself in ways you never considered. Now, I offer you assistance in way of both of these tasks. Shall you truly be so pitiful as to turn it down?

He was not sure if it was fear or desperation which made him stare at him so blankly. His body shuddered, fur rolling along his skin, and his eyes bore into his for a moment. How unusual that Obelisk met his gaze with such little reaction when Yami had always either looked away or begun to lose his temper.

What is it that you have in mind?

The god looked neither relieved nor expectant. His gaze was curiously blank, his expression one of mild contemplation. Slowly, with his head tilted, Obelisk rose to his paws and watched him. Now his gaze became intense, burning into his, the strength of which he projected the expression making Yugi's skin burn.

We have but a week, perhaps two, before things shall begin to change for you, he said slowly. In this time, we must hasten to bring you to your strongest.

Yugi flicked an ear. Then he got to his feet as well. Obelisk circled him and the white wolf thought of snakes preparing to strike. Then it drifted from his thoughts and he found himself flattening his ears against his skull.

There is much we must do with you. You must have at least basic control of yourself before that time comes. He turned away and began to move briskly through the trees. Yugi hesitated only a moment, then quickly began to give chase. They traveled only a short distance, in which Obelisk moved to the center of a small clearing. The rock he leaped onto was flat and smooth, layered with snow, inches of which covered his enormous paws and came to his wrists. He gazed down at him as he took a seat. You tap into the residual strength of the wolf each time you experience a strong emotion while in this form. You were so enraged upon entering the underground lab that you killed without thought or remorse. Formerly, you tore the head from Bakura's body in order to save Yami. First you felt the need to protect Yami. This time you were driven by the desire to save him when you were convinced you had done wrong in the first place.

Convinced? Yugi nearly scoffed at him in disgust. He was not convinced of anything. He was certain that it was his own misguided attempt to get a closer look at the carcass which had caused this. He had been brainless, thinking so pointedly of the idea that Anzu and his mom saw something from Yami that he himself did not, and that had caused him to forget his caution and step into the trap. It did not help that he knew he'd raised his voice when he'd snapped at Yami to fuck off and leave him alone. And if he had listened when he'd pleaded with him not to move, neither of them would have fallen through the ice.

You formerly assumed it to be an adrenaline rush, yes? Obelisk continued, taking his silence for deep consideration though part of him was aware that Yugi was simply berating himself. The gray wolf ignored this, however. You would be right. But not in the sense that you suggested it.

Yugi pricked his ears and tilted his head. Meaning what? he drawled in a somewhat sardonic tone. He wrinkled his muzzle slightly.

For most mammals an adrenaline rush means simply that they are coming upon the instinct of fight-or-flight. For the werewolf it means something greater than just that. He considered him for a moment, then closed his eyes as he picked his words. He was still for so long that Yugi leaned forward and peered at his chest to see if he was truly breathing any longer. Satisfied upon seeing the rise and fall of his ribcage, the white wolf settled back again into a straighter posture. Finally Obelisk opened his eyes again, peering at him with something akin humor in his gaze. When we experience a rush of adrenaline, it pushes our bodies into the trigger of healing rapidly. We cannot feel any pain inflicted at that time. It makes us stronger than ever before, immensely so, and our strength goes beyond that of even an African gray elephant.

Yugi blinked in bewilderment. And a jaw pressure of over three thousand? he queried, curious.

My own exceeds such meager numbers. But for now yours shall be much within that range when your adrenaline is triggered. Once you are able to control your strength without such necessity, you shall find yourself able to call upon much more strength than ever imaginable in doing so. Your jaw power will become beyond that of three thousand. He fell silent again, then blinked once in a long, slow measurement of time. You must attempt to embrace your strength. You'll have to channel the energy from the very first moment you experienced it. Which would mean more to the point that you will have to feel those emotions and hold them more firmly, influence them to give you strength but not to cloud your judgment.

Yugi could not help but stare at him in slight bewilderment. I can't do that.

Not as you are now, no. But you can learn. When you accept that you are just as much wolf as you are human, you will learn. But the human half is far more emotional, while the wolf amplifies such sensations and makes them a thousand times stronger.

He fixed him either a cold stare. Just because I decide to "accept" the wolf side of me doesn't mean I'll turn into the ultimate war weapon for the lycanthropes. I don't think any of you truly understand how much more it would take for me to do this kind of thing.

It will hardly be an easy feat. Things will be dire and terrible and much blood shall be shed. You assume because I can instruct you that it shall be easy? I will not do the work for you. You shall have to find your own path and your own way upon learning to do as necessary. Leaders are not made in minutes. And great ones are trained rather than spawned.

Yugi glared at him, lips curled back. You say it with such ease still. What is wrong with you all that you assume I shall be able to mold into this being you all wish me to be?

Obelisk did not grace him with more than a dismissive flick of his ear. Because your reluctance and prejudice shall cloud your mind, I will deliver you the truth of your choices and the consequences of your desires and journey later. For now, I will teach you something else.

He was frozen for a long moment. Then he tipped his head up slightly and wrinkled his nose back faintly. Like what?

Obelisk rose to his feet. With a great snarling face, the wolf sprang forward with dark, glowing eyes. He landed a step in front of him, so close that their noses were mere inches apart. His teeth were a glittering mass of bright enamel which made Yugi stiffen upon seeing them.

I shall show you how to fight.

When he sprang at him again, Yugi was frozen for a moment. It was an unconscious, instinctive reaction which made him jerk to the side. He sidestepped by mere inches. Obelisk didn't even pause. Somehow, on two long forelimbs, he turned on him. His large jaws were open and bared. And they clipped his shoulder as he landed completely.

Yugi didn't know what to do or say. He stared at him, uncertain and blinking. The attack sent his shoulder reeling in pain. But he had not drawn blood. Nor did Yugi think he'd truly caught his fur even. It was a small, groggy realization, one which shocked him. Obelisk had muzzle-punched him. He'd had his jaws wide open and his teeth bared. And he'd punched him on the shoulder with his muzzle. Yugi was stunned.

The single moment he stared at him, Obelisk acted again. He threw his muzzle. The impact sent Yugi rolling. His shoulder stung and ached now. He quickly moved to his feet again, however. His eyes were wide and cautious as he stared at him.

He blinked at him. Obelisk responded by hitting him again. Yugi fell to the side once more. He yelped, then rolled to his paws as he had before. His eyes were wider than before, shocked. Obelisk stepped closer. Then he sprang. Yugi reacted instinctively once more. He stepped aside, stunned. The gray wolf took a swipe at him when his paw. The white wolf yelped as his shoulder was caught. Obelisk threw him onto his side again.

The gray wolf loomed over him now. He was a colossal shadow of sharp white teeth and cold orange-golden eyes. His ears were pricked forward. His lips pulled back to display white enamel. Yugi did not move. What was the point when Obelisk would simply throw him down again? Why should he bother to try to stand when the snow was so soft and welcoming?

So you plan to simply lie there now?

Yugi bore his teeth. I'm tired of getting hit in the shoulder or thrown down like this, he snapped coldly. His fur rose and fell into a bristling wave. You aren't teaching me anything either. You're just knocking me around.

Obelisk wrinkled his nose. I am testing your reflexes, which are disgustingly weak and slow beyond understanding, he scoffed, watching him darkly. Do you realize that, had I truly been a threat, you would be long dead?

Yugi huffed. But you're not.

You didn't know that in the lab. And how should you know that I am not planning to kill you while you are defenseless now? Are you truly so foolish? You cannot trust others so easily.

The white wolf bristled again. Then he looked about them for a moment. The movement earned him a muzzle-punch to his shoulder again. He snarled and turned on him angrily. Obelisk did not blink.

It was hard not to spit at him that the only one he'd ever trusted blindly was Yami. Now that he was gone, there was little to bother with. But he could feel the sharpest rebuttal in the back of his mind and his blood burned in denial.

I don't trust you, Yugi snapped, getting to his feet. But if you wanted to kill me, you would have done it by now, right?

There is truth to those words.

Obelisk flicked an ear and glanced at the red she-wolf with distaste. Slifer came along the top of the dune of snow nearby and began to trot leisurely towards them. Her golden eyes flickered to the gray wolf and then to Yugi. The white wolf took the chance to shake himself out as he took a single step closer. A spiteful part of him said he should muzzle-punch Obelisk while he had the chance but the rational said Obelisk could rip him to pieces. Slifer was watching him with something almost like amusement and Yugi wondered not for the first time if she able to read his thoughts.

I don't kill without reason.

Yugi flicked an ear. Neither did Yami, but he had a feeling that Obelisk didn't share the same meaning as the other boy did.

Slifer stopped a foot away from them. Yugi was suddenly aware of how much taller Obelisk seemed than her. His shoulders were broader, his neck even thicker, and his tail was a little shorter. He stood on long legs and immense paws, and his muzzle was more rounded than hers, broader. His coat was thicker, longer, and for the first time, Yugi noticed patches where it appeared to be sliced with black. He bristled faintly, eyes widening, and wondered at the idea that a werewolf might be able to have scars. He should have had scars if that was possible. His chest, his throat, his shoulders…

Obelisk, however, was marred with them everywhere. His entire face was pocketed with them, along the muzzle, the ears, his right eye, his shoulders and legs. He was riddled with them. The rest of his fur was so dark and long that Yugi did not think he could see anymore.

You should teach him rather than simply launch yourself at him as you did, Slifer drawled, ignoring his response. Her voice was chiding and her eyes were pointedly annoyed. He is a pup, after all. His reflexes aren't as great as someone such as Marik or Valon.

I have to know what exactly I am working with, do I not? You cannot honestly say to me that I should not have at least attempted to know how much or how little he might know.

You attacked him senselessly.

I'm a war god!

Slifer looked older, full of a wisdom that neither wolf could touch. Yugi pricked his ears and Obelisk wrinkled his nose in disdain. The she-wolf watched him with an annoyed expression glittering in her eyes. And I rule over death. Yet you do not see me killing him or throwing him among carcasses for my own entertainment.

Chastised, Obelisk curled his lips back, growling, Why have you followed us, Slifer? What is your reasoning for this?

Yugi flicked his ears and glanced between them more curiously. Both deities stared at one another for a moment, and he swore something passed between them that he could not fathom. Were they communicating privately, cutting him away from his ability to hear? He'd done so unconsciously on several occasions when speaking to only Yami. It had been shocking for him to do so, seeing as no one else responded beyond the black wolf.

Had he someone managed to shut others away by some touch of his subconscious? It had to be something of that nature. Nothing else made even the slightest hint of sense regarding it.

I have come to tell you something, Slifer stated now, turning to him with glittering golden eyes and a look of wisdom which made his skin crawl. Yugi flicked his ears and his eyes shot towards Obelisk and back. The gray wolf was studying them both speculatively. The white canine turned back to her with a tilted head, feeling small as they both watched him. It regards my rank as your beta.

Yugi blinked and flicked an ear again. Then his head turned to Obelisk and back, eyes narrowing faintly. You want him to replace you in the pack.

Both wolves watched him with cool expressions, untroubled even slightly by this announcement. Slifer nodded towards the gray wolf with a glint in her eyes which was both tired and proud. He has never once lost a battle, Yugi, and he can teach you much more than I can.

Some part of him agreed with the statement. Obelisk was a wolf which could fight beyond what meager degree he could. And he had no doubt that Slifer could do so similarly. But, the truth of it came in the line of his more muscular shape and lean build. He was more likely to teach him and battle it out with him than Slifer was. It occurred to him, looking at her now, that her place was among the dead more than the living. She was worn and tired even if she seemed boundless in energy, and it was clear that there was nothing that she might teach him. Her old wisdom had sucked the life and ability of others as the years had passed. Perhaps the death she'd been confronted with so long ago still held her in a vice grip. Because, as he looked at her, he could see the disregard and now he wondered if it had always been there but he had overlooked it formerly.

He looked at Obelisk. He seemed more or less lively, though immortality had done well to remind him that his life was not that which rested in the present. It was in his wariness, a sense of acknowledgment that accustomed itself in the form of hunger for battle. He would teach him, he would do what he could to help him remain alive, but he too was incredibly removed from the very fabric and idea of life.

Yugi shivered. Yami had said he did not care for his life as much as he did his. He'd told him, had said he was not suicidal and dying was not what he desired, but that when it came he would not fight it. Obelisk and Slifer did not get even that privilege. They would not die. They could never pass peacefully. Paradise was but a momentary resting place of dreams and myths for them.

And it occurred to him that they had subjected him and this other Pure-Blood to a similar fate as well. It was shocking to look at them and realize with such disgust that if they somehow survived and pushed beyond all of the war, there would be no Paradise to walk into.

Yugi swallowed hard and felt as if he were choking. His eyes flickered between them. Immortality was not a blessing. It was a goddamn curse…

Do you want to take her place as the beta? he asked, voice somehow steady. He assumed that the numbness in his bones was what kept him so eerily calm at the moment. More than half of him felt broken and the other was raw and jagged with ache and despair.

Obelisk looked at Slifer for a long minute. Yes, I suppose I might as well take her place. She would rather rest than fight in another war, I am sure.

I lay with the dead. This world here is not one my paws are meant to tread, she said dismissively. Her tail moved slightly to the side, a small bristle rising faintly along her shoulders. Death is not meant to linger among the living.

Yugi felt his own fur lifting along his back, skin twitching and shuddering beneath his pelt. By the gods, did she truly have to say something like that? Did she truly have to say that? He felt sick as he looked at her.

Death was everywhere, because he was Atem. That made it all the worse. If death were to stalk his paws, then why was it that she backed away now?

---

He could hear the broken breathing as he considered it. It inspired nothing from him. As with all other things, living or otherwise, he failed to truly feel the slightest emotion towards them. His sympathy for living things had not existed in his life, not for more than two years now. He still remembered, years back, when he had sat upon his driveway, legs crossed and head tilted to the side. His adoptive parents had been gone for hours.

He was seated beside a complex trap fashioned of twigs and twine and a little bit of netting. The rabbit was screaming in vain, squirming anxiously to get out from beneath his fingers. He watched it as it clawed viciously at his wrists and the thin, sharp keratin tore through his skin. The little ribbons of blood had been brilliant against his pale skin.

What he remembered most, however, was how its throat had broken with the heaviest popping of a noise.

It still brought him a thin smile of amusement.

Valon smirked as he considered the choking rasp of the breath from one of his classmates only a few chairs aside. He glanced sideways, head tilted, and his smirk grew tenfold with amusement. The teacher had stopped talking now. Everyone seemed to have collectively grown still, somehow aware of themselves now.

The heavy breathing was ragged now.

The enjoyment was growing more abundant now. His lips pulled back further. He turned his head enough to watch him. And, when he abruptly leaned to the side and lost his breakfast on the floor, the hellhound was the first to nearly laugh. A part of him trickled with the faintest touch of confusion and reluctance, of discontent towards his own reaction, and he felt his smirk fall away completely.

When Yugi raised his head again and rubbed the back of his hand along his mouth, his eyes were glazed. He looked, not for the first time, physically and mentally exhausted. Valon wanted, for the briefest of moments, to offer him assistance. The other half of him was cold and void, a blankness which Valon had always known.

He leaned forward slightly, intrigued by something far from the mess of Yugi's expression. His vomit smelled strange, to a point of which it made his stomach coil with disgust in response. Alarm trickled through him as he looked down. The smell was hideous, burning, and it seemed to sear within his nasal cavity. He wrinkled his nose, then looked upwards towards the other boy's face once more.

Yugi wiped at his mouth again, then got to his feet. He looked unusually ashen, and Valon almost snarled at him in disdain. The small teen wasn't eating regularly. He had vomited up only dark golden-colored vile. It looked slimy and hideous against the tile flooring. It was all liquid in appearance and his wrists looked like broken twigs.

Now the other boy did get to his feet. The movement surprised Honda who had started to rise as well. The brunet froze in place, hazel eyes shooting between them. Yugi didn't look at either of them and instead scooped his textbooks up to head for the door. Valon might have simply moved to another seat had it not been Yugi who had puked.

But the hellhound glanced at Honda sideways, curled his lip back in a brief sneer, and followed Yugi out the door. The moment he stepped into the hallway, the small lycanthrope halted from where he'd been about to turn around the corner. His head snapped around a moment later, eyes wide and dark against his pale face. As Valon approached, he swore his pupils seemed to be vibrating. The sneer grew on his face.

"How long do you plan to starve yourself?" he scoffed, wrinkling his nose back and beginning to step closer. His chin tipped up and Yugi tilted his head, blinking at him in shock. "You stink of rot and your vomit smells of death. You haven't been eating and your body is going to start losing more and more strength and muscle tone."

Yugi blinked and swallowed thickly. His eyes flickered away to the lockers and then back to his face. The reluctance in his gaze made Valon bristle further. "You say that like I had muscle tone to begin with," he muttered softly, unable to meet his golden eyes and looking quickly away from him even in his peripheral. He began to fidget, tugging on his sleeves with the opposite hand.

"It was subtle but you didn't look like a wind might knock you over," he spat, eyes frosty when Yugi risked a glance towards him. "Now I think the smallest movement might make your bones break. I feel as if looking at you might endanger you somehow. You are a shell of the little bastard I saw the day you wandered into the library."

"A… A lot has changed since…"

Valon wrinkled his nose. "It is odd that you should smell so strong according to your bloodline as a lycanthrope. Yet, I do not smell him on you any longer. Nor do you come off as powerfully as you once did…"

Yugi cringed visibly. His head was bowed a moment later, and he trembled once. The hellhound considered him. The merciless half of him sneered that he should tear into him, make him squirm. It was that part of him that, growing up, had often whispered how easy it might be to kill his adoptive parents, the one which had reveled in breaking the neck of that small brown rabbit. The other part of him was pained to have caused him grief and that side both startled and angered him. Why should he feel so attached to him simply because they were both wolves?

Yugi was not his pack.

He didn't have a pack…

The thought was both relieving and pained. Valon shrugged it off. In a disdainful voice, he hissed, "You are a walking target for the next wolf or hunter brave enough to come upon you."

Let them! Yugi nearly spat, though his inner hatred was far stronger than his outward despair. He shook his head and sighed, tugging on his jacket sleeves harder. "I just want to go back home."

"Your alpha left you."

But the symptoms did not align. A beta abandoned by their alpha was usually resentful more than so incredibly broken over it. And Yugi was shattered. It did not take more than a glance to realize that. So what had happened between them? If he did not know any better, he might have assumed…

"Oh shit."

The soft expletive made Yugi raise his head. He was exhausted, and it showed terribly on his face. But it was alarm and more abundant fear which gripped his expression now.

"Do not…" Valon opened and closed his mouth for a moment. Then he looked down and away and back again. He grimaced and his stomach twisted with misery. "Look, I know that it hurts, but you are foolish if you assume that starving yourself will do either of you any good. Yami isn't—"

"He's gone." Yugi was shaking slightly, though somehow his eyes had hardened and he looked furious. "He's probably dead by now. Or he's still trapped under the ice… Fuck, he could be frozen for all I know…"

Valon stepped back several paces when Yugi threw up once more.

Gods, his bile stunk of rot. He was so starved and his body so forcefully turning back on itself in desperation that he seemed to smell of organs left in a heated room. He was ill, yet somehow he had not lost his ability to judge and calculate mentally. But if he changed again anytime soon he had the feeling that Yugi might damn well lose any semblance of who he truly was.

A starving werewolf was never a good thing.

He struggled to think of words necessary for Yugi to understand his growing alarm. "If you keep going like this, you'll kill someone." It didn't sound urgent enough in his head but the effect it had was immediate. Yugi stiffened, then stared at him as if he'd been struck. The hellhound wondered how the thought of that could scare him more than his own identity. Wolves were going to die merely because he existed yet human death was what made him tremble?

"You're starving. If you don't feed yourself before you change again, you're going to kill someone. You're going to completely destroy anyone who crosses paths with you, whether you're human or wolf." He bore his teeth, voice bordering hatred. "I don't suppose that your alpha happened to tell you that anorexia is not the way to go."

He narrowed his eyes, anger beginning to boil in his blood. "Anorexia?" he hissed. "I'm not anorexic."

"Well I don't see you making an effort to sustain yourself," Valon snapped. "You think that punishing yourself will bring him back? Try again. All that you're doing is setting yourself up for murder. And I'm sure Yami wouldn't have wanted that for you."

Yugi blinked at him. "Yami is probably dead. Does it matter what he would have wanted?" he said bitterly. "And it's not like I'm trying to starve myself. I just… It's hard to eat anything when it tastes like mud!"

The hellhound considered him for a long time. He'd heard stories about that kind of thing happening. When a wolf lost their mate to death, most of them either ceased to have the will to survive or became increasingly reckless to the point that they often almost got themselves killed. They might charge another pack during a border patrol, so that the wolves would most likely slaughter them. They might fall into a hunter's trap and welcome the opportunity to be their newest kill.

Many of them who remained living were so aggrieved that most efforts that had been day-to-day for them before had become torturous. They weren't foolish enough to deprive themselves of food but they did say it lacked in taste and quality. Many of them even said that they had lost the ability to see in color or that things were too strenuous.

He did not know the truth of the former claim. It seemed impossible to him that it might be truthful. Perhaps in their sorrow the colors were less intense or possibly even dull. But he did not think that sorrow reached so far as to entirely corrupt the perception of their vision and color values to such an extreme.

"You have to find some way to get over that. You are Atem, not a pup. If you let yourself deteriorate farther, you'll be a killer who doesn't know how to stop. Do you understand that?" he bit out. His golden eyes were sharp, hooded with his long black lashes. He watched him for a moment, then wrinkled his nose back. "Imagine the damage you could do. You would lay waste to this entire island even as they tried to put an end to you."

Yugi bristled at that slightly wistful note in his voice. "I'm not going to kill anyone—"

"Not if you stop starving yourself."

His cheeks were slightly hot but he could not stop glaring at him in response. Yugi shook his head and spat, "Do you even know what it means to lose someone? Because I have the feeling that you don't know what emotional pain is, considering you're a sociopath."

"You say that as if I should be ashamed of that. Being a sociopath puts me steps ahead of the rest of you. Now, as for feeling the loss of someone? No, I never have. My emotional ranges are very limited, as I told you before. I understand you're grieving, however, and I don't know the feeling so I cannot sympathize, but I do care to make sure that the rest of us don't end up killed because one wolf was foolishly starving himself." Valon paused and tilted his head, watching him for a long minute. His lip curled back and his eyes flashed. "I may not understand what it means to have lost someone, or to think that food tastes of mud due to depression, but it does not change anything. The point is that you cannot allow this to deter you from taking care of your own health. It will destroy you. You are already immortal. What do you think will happen when you go up against humans and end up killed for one second and alive the next? You'll completely desecrate this damn island."

That wistful tone had not abandoned his voice. It was horrifying to hear, beyond any idea of comprehension he could offer. Yugi wanted to shake his head, both in bewilderment and in disgust. How was it that his voice could carry so much emotion when he himself did not experience it?

Was it an adaptation to allow him to seem more normal and human?

Was it something that the werewolf itself was able to manipulate in order to blend in?

"What am I going to do?" he asked softly, swallowing hard. "You don't understand what I'm going through and yet you're passing some kind of judgment over me—"

"You're right. I am passing judgment. Because you are being considerably stupid and idiotic in your decision to forego food, Yugi." He bore his teeth, white gleaming enamel with the softest touch of blue from the fluorescents overhead. "If you start killing all of the humans, I'm going to be the one to rip your throat out."

"It almost sounds like you care."

"No. I simply have an instinct for self-preservation, something I feel you may be very unfamiliar with at a time like this."

Yugi's skin crawled, an echo of a threat rattling in his thoughts. Then he shook it off, scowling at him as his stomach lurched and ached. What the fuck did he actually know? Valon didn't even know what emotions were! Or at least not the ones that were worth anything. He said he felt what dogs felt. He didn't get a full spectrum of anything else outside of that. And that should have made it clear that he had no right to judge.

Valon wrinkled his nose at him. It was hard not to respond to the waves of anger which came from the small teen in front of him. But it was not with sympathy and parts of him were desperate to lash out and beat the defiance out of him. Wolfdogs were often territorial, the hellhound decided, fighting the urge to snap his jaws at the smaller boy. Yugi was fucking immortal, unlike him. If he got a good twenty deaths in, it took only one moment for Yugi to let his control slip in his feral state and he'd kill Valon permanently in turn.

The risk of that was far beyond what irritation he felt towards Yugi's dismissal. He drew in a deep, ragged breath, then looked towards the locker. Both of them lost part of their ferocity in the single span of that movement. Valon found his irritation prickling upwards as the moments passed but it slipped and slithered like a snake mere heartbeats later. He exhaled harshly, then looked towards Yugi again.

"Here, come with me."

The lycanthrope hesitated for only a second, then began to slowly pick his way after the hellhound. It was about ten minutes later that they began to slow down once more. Valon had led him back to his locker to dump his things and then taken a detour to do the same with his own. Both of them had walked down the street until they had come across a small café where Valon immediately prickled with tension but relaxed enough to lead him in.

Yugi felt his skin heat with shock for a moment, his body slightly burned with the warmth of the air. His stomach curled slightly. His mouth grew dry. The smell of coffee tickled his nose and he felt almost sick as he looked around them. He couldn't imagine Valon ever existing in a place like this—not for a casual cup of coffee, not for even people watching in order to emulate them all.

The coffee shop was tiny in comparison to the one he'd taken Yami. There was no upper level and the slanted roof overhead was lined with dark umber beams for support. From many of them hung large lanterns with hand-wrought iron which held designs of stained glass in the formation of leaves of fall colors. The tables were dark, a mixture of cherry and brown in color, with such a smooth finish they seemed to almost glow beneath the gentle touch of the sunlight from the large panels of glass to the right. The middles of each table were plated with glass with what seemed almost random designs within the wood beneath. The chairs were somewhat lower to the ground than the usual, and they lacked any arms, but held the same shade of wood.

Feet beyond this was a desk of wooden paneling, layers upon layers of shutter-like designs like the doors of a pantry. It curved around the left side, then stretched only about a yard to either side, where the cash register sat comfortably on a much shorter space of similar woodwork. This stretched the length to a very mere inch from the glass door exit. Beyond this hung large mugs waiting to be filled with coffee, and Yugi could see the various creamers and a small display of desserts beside it. Various shelves held a few items of which Yugi couldn't quite remember the name of, nor cared to bother much more with.

"What, um…?"

"It's my family's café," Valon admitted in a grudging tone, his voice dry with disgust. He glanced around once, then turned to him with his nose wrinkled. "For some reason my adoptive mother thought that this little spot needed to be turned into a coffee shop. She gets decent business, I suppose, but—"

"Valon, is that you?"

His entire face morphed for a split second. The hatred was sharp and singular. It lit his golden eyes and made his brows furrow and his teeth glint when he peeled his lip back. He bristled for only as long as it took Yugi to blink. Then he looked emotionless again and his voice was calm and soft as he called back, "Yeah, it's me."

Yugi was bewildered when a woman with long brown hair came out from what looked to be a dark black curtain. He blinked and narrowed his eyes. Had he truly missed that? He glanced around once more and then shivered. He'd missed the paintings as well, of raccoon dogs and cats and the foxes from the village in Honshu. He'd missed the cobblestone-like pattern of tiling beneath his feet as well.

The curtain did little to give him a look beyond the small shop entrance. There was not a single bit of room to see what or who might stand beyond it. He tilted his head and considered for a moment, searching the emptiness of the black material. Then he looked at the woman.

Her hair was dark brown, a shade from the chocolate color Valon possessed, and fell beyond her shoulders. Her eyes were a wide, rich blue that bordered on baby, and her lashes seemed almost dark brown rather than fully black. Her face was soft, warm, and she looked perplexed and bewildered.

Yugi looked at her and tilted his head. His eyes flickered between the two of them curiously. Valon had lost his irritation. But his annoyance was becoming clear.

"Is something wrong? You've never been here before…" She considered him for a moment, blue eyes confused. She looked at Yugi for a long moment. "Are you okay?"

The hellhound flashed her what seemed to be a calm, almost friendly smile. But the look of his eyes was predatory and cunning, almost simplistic in design.

"No, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong." His eyes flickered to Yugi, the golden blaze of them dark and strange upon locking with his. The sharper angle of them and the color were brilliant in contrast to hers. "I simply wanted to bring a friend here for a cup of coffee."

"You should be in school…"

"Lunch break," he answered in a drawl. His voice was oddly restrained in tone as he looked at her. Yugi felt his stomach drop, remembering only then what Valon had said about them before. He wanted to kill them, but to do so would place him as the first on the suspect list when the police began to search.

"Oh." She hesitated visibly. "But that's still… Valon, what's going on? You've never come here before."

Saying it like that didn't give it new meaning. Valon wrinkled his nose at her dismissively. "He wanted coffee. This shop is the closest."

Her eyes were wide, worried, and she glanced at Yugi almost dismissively in her haste to understand what the hellhound was hiding from her. "Valon…"

The boy blinked. "Seiko," he commented, an almost mocking tone entering his voice. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, watching her for a moment. Then he sighed loudly, yawned once, and began to make his way past her just enough to peer at the curtain. Yugi wondered if somehow Valon was capable of seeing through the thick strands to the other side. Perhaps it had to do with his being a hellhound instead of a lycanthrope.

"Is Kris here?"

She frowned at him. Her eyes flickered to Yugi again. "Um… Yes. She insisted on coming to see about some new flavors I was trying to make," she answered with another reluctant glance towards the lycanthrope. Something about the way she studied him made him think she was fearful. Did he look so bad?

Valon's expression had become frigid. "She's supposed to be at home," he spat through his teeth. "Why isn't she there?"

"She followed me here! What was I supposed to do?" Seiko argued, blushing when Yugi blinked in surprise at the harsher tone. She was soft-spoken and her voice reminded him slightly of wind chimes. But her rising anger made it almost brittle. Yugi glanced between them again. "And, besides that, she can't stay in the house forever!"

Valon let out a low, hideously exasperated sigh. His voice was a snarl now. "I said until the end of winter. She needs to recover and not catch something else. So she should stay home until winter has passed."

Yugi felt his skin crawl. Valon had said before the coming winter would be horrendous. He'd hinted at a catastrophic effect, that it might be as terrible as the one which had come upon the Lunar Ascension. If he was saying she needed to stay hidden until after then, did that mean he considered the war was going to happen soon as well? That it would be contained within the season?

"Yes, well… You try to tell that to her."

He rolled his eyes. "I already did. That's why she was crying earlier when I left for school, remember? You simply took pity and let her come here."

"I can't help it that you seem to be lacking a heart! She's a six-year-old, for Pete's sake! Ignoring her when she's unhappy isn't something a mother does—"

"Then, I suppose it's a good thing that you're not her mother, isn't it, Seiko?" Valon sneered, unable to stop himself now. He watched the hurt come across her face, then the way her entire expression shattered before his eyes. And not once did it elicit even the slightest of reactions. Even his wolf half did not respond to her pain.

Her eyes flickered to Yugi again and this time they were incredibly wet. The small teen looked away immediately, cheeks heating with embarrassment. He didn't need to be here. And he didn't think he wanted to hear anymore about it all.

"I pity the girl to fall in love with you," she spat in an acid tone. When she stalked away, Yugi could only hear her boots on the floor and it made him feel sick. His heart went out to her but another part of him seemed to laugh at the idea in and of itself. Someone love Valon? He didn't think the brunet would ever let someone close enough to truly do so. Nor did he truly consider him malicious enough to play with someone so cruelly.

Valon may have lashed out at his adoptive mother, but he did not seem likely to purposely destroy someone else. There just…seemed to be something cold and hard about his treatment towards her that expanded only so far as the brunette. He did not think Valon might turn that on anyone else without reason. But why was he so vicious towards his adoptive parents to begin with?

"Damn it, Valon." Yugi looked up in surprise. The boy stalking towards them was a good foot taller than the hellhound. His shoulders were broader and his arms boasted of wiry muscle. The small teen felt the urge to both bristle and back away to let a more powerful opponent pass without delay. His stomach knotted. The boy had the same brilliant blue eyes as Seiko, but his face was harsher, square in shape, and his gaze was oddly wide and crystalline. In his anger he was scowling but Yugi imagined he might have looked like the average big brother figure otherwise.

But…

Was he older than Valon? The thought shocked him somehow.

"It's not my fault that she doesn't listen and then cries over nothing," Valon said in a bored tone. He didn't even grace the newcomer with a sideways glance. Rather he began to pick his way towards one of the coffee machines, slipping behind a small swinging door. The brunet scowled at him more deeply, even further put off by his dismissal than ever, it seemed.

"You're such an ass." His eyes were on Yugi now and the small teen bristled at the distasteful glare he was given. "Who is this? Your newest fuck toy?"

Valon didn't look up from the measurements of coffee he was putting into the machine. "I don't know yet. Yugi, do you swing that way?" he asked without a care.

Half of him hated that Valon could pull off such responses with so little effort. Another part of him snarled with dismay at the very concept. But a more prominent part of him wondered at how it was that Valon could sleep with someone when he didn't feel anything. Did that make it easier or harder to understand?

How many had he slept with?

How many had he dismissed seconds later?

Part of him was well aware that he didn't need to bother to worry about it. Yugi was not attracted to him in the slightest and he was sure Valon cared more about the aspect of him being Atem than anything else. Still, he had to wonder about it…

"No. No, I don't…"

"Well, there you have it. He's not my newest conquest." Valon snorted loudly and the machine made an obnoxious beeping noise. Yugi realized slowly that it was an American model that he'd never seen before. But the machine itself was a concept he'd heard of on multiple occasions. It took out all of the effort of making a good cup of coffee by simply draining hot water through the paper filter and into the pot beneath. His skin crawled again. Why would a café have one of those? "Regardless, what I do with other people is absolutely none of your business, now is it, Houzan?"

The look he shot him was scathing. Yugi was staring at the wall to avoid seeing the tension both of them wore. It was in the back of his mind that Valon could easily destroy this human boy. He was capable. And his temperament was so void that he might even have seen nothing wrong with it. But for some reason he held back. For some reason he did not speak a word against him now or even lash out.

It reminded him of Yami. When he'd first come into his house, he'd been nervous and so much like a cornered animal. If he'd lashed out Yugi would not have thought twice about it.

Yami could have easily killed him on those occasions he'd angered him. They were both well aware that he was capable. Yami was a lot of muscle and power that Yugi just did not possess. He knew what he was doing and he had a keen insight into what he could and couldn't do as a wolf. He knew limitations and strengths and he was strategic. He could have killed him and his family any time he had so desired.

And Valon could do the same. And it was clear that he felt enough to hate the two to adopt him. But Yugi wondered if he hated his siblings. From what he knew there were two of them, a boy and a girl.

"Is Kris's fever down yet?"

Houzan blinked, then sighed. "Seems to be. She wasn't shivering the last time I checked," he answered with an awkward glance at Yugi. The blue-violet eyes were trained on his adopted brother, boring into his skin with confusion and wonder. His face was oddly blank, however, and the way his eyes spoke of such emotion unnerved him.

Valon turned around, leaning against the counter. Yugi could see a small green light as a pinprick from the distance, next to the uppermost button in the center. He blinked at it, but was instantly watching Valon and Houzan once more.

It was odd, how much they looked alike. They both had the same chocolate brown hair and their eyes were even shaped similarly. Valon had darker, longer lashes, and Houzan had a sharper jaw and larger build. But, in his school uniform, Valon looked unassuming, and in Houzan's dark royal blue jacket and gray shirt he seemed oddly enough like Ushio in body mass and intimidation factor. Both of them had spiky hair, though the direction of it and the way it fell across their foreheads was different.

But what struck him was that Houzan had blue eyes, the shade of a robin. And it reminded him a lot of Valon's own sky blue before he'd hit puberty and the hellhound gene had expressed itself.

"Are you sure you're adopted?"

Houzan and Valon both stopped their newest conversation to look at him. Those golden eyes were somewhat amazed, but the pupils had expanded and Yugi could almost feel the hatred radiating from them like heat. His brother's blue eyes were wide, startled and confused, and he looked between them almost nervously. Yugi realized only then that Valon had gone completely still, almost statuesque, and while his expression seemed outwardly amused, he also seemed to push forth waves of anger and disgust.

Houzan must have sensed it. Even with his dull senses, he must have known and felt it and so he was cowering as it bore down on him. He shuffled nervously and he looked incredibly like a small boy watching his parents rip into each other at the dinner table. Or perhaps he looked liked a gazelle caught between a lion and a crocodile, a piece of prey far out of its league and being challenged by the two most vicious of predators.

But then the ferocity seemed to ease away from Valon altogether. In a lazy flourish, the golden-eyed boy pulled his lips into a grin, flipped his wrist, and said in a low, drawling tone, "I think I would know if I was related to this moron."

Houzan shot him a dirty look. "Screw you, Valon."

"Not now, thanks. Try another time."

Yugi awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, licking his lips and turning towards the coffee machine next to Valon once more. "Sorry, you guys just kind of look alike."

Valon's grin was that of a wolf. His eyes were glittering and his stance was somewhat straighter. "Well, I'm lucky, I suppose, that my adopted parents aren't blond or another ethnicity, yes?" he asked in a calm voice, but when Yugi looked up, his mouth moved in the corner. His voice was so low as to be inaudible to his brother, but just enough to reach him. "Camouflage."

Yugi's stomach dropped, eyes stretching wide. Camouflage? Hadn't Valon been adopted with proper paperwork? He hadn't even considered formerly that perhaps his parents might have influenced his adoption, made sure that this couple was the one to get him. How many favors had been pulled to ensure Valon was here, in Japan, among the Domino City High students in a grade above him?

His stomach knotted again and he looked towards Houzan. Did Kris look similar to him as well? Did they look the same? Was she related to Houzan or was it possible she was truly Valon's sibling? He seemed to care for her, so much more than he did than his adoptive family. Was it possible then? But how…?

Now his blue-violet eyes fell on Valon again. And the brunet was watching him with smug laughter in his eyes, a sneer crossing his lips only minutely. He looked like how comic artists had drawn Two-Face as in the Batman series. Half of his face was moving, the other completely still. He looked beyond himself with laughter and amusement and Yugi felt sick to his stomach as they watched each other.

Who were his parents?

Yugi blinked and his breath felt harsh when he inhaled again slowly. He'd said he'd met his mother, that she'd visited him before. The thought burned in his mind and his mouth was drying out. Morrigan. Morrigan was the only hellhound that he knew of in his dreams. She had to be…

But how was she his mother? She couldn't be. That was impossible. Was he simply related to her as he was Ra? It made no sense otherwise. There was no way that she had…

But Slifer had buried her own daughter in the tunnels. She had…

And the alpha had been directly descended from…

"Where is she anyways?" Valon asked, turning his attention completely to his adoptive brother. The brunet was staring at Yugi with a confused, almost horrified expression, stunned and unable to look away from the dawning of comprehension and disbelief on the lycanthrope's face. The hellhound leaned forward, then snapped his fingers hard in front of his face. The sound of it seemed to echo in the small room and Yugi blinked at the addition to his thoughts just as Houzan jumped and gave Valon a startled look.

"What the fuck was that for?" he complained.

"You weren't paying me any attention. Stop ogling Yugi and answer my question," the hellhound dismissed him. His eyes were bland, void of emotion, and his voice was flat. Houzan shivered, unable to suppress it in time; damn his parents for never listening to him. Something was wrong with Valon. Something had always been wrong with him. He did not even understand at all how it was that he projected such life one second and looked so deathly the next. But he did it only when he was beyond caring to keep up whatever facade it was he was projecting. And so far it seemed only he had seen it. Valon smirked at him, the curve of his lips cynical and vicious. "Where is Kris?"

Houzan watched him for a moment, unnerved by the way he seemed to project himself so easily without even moving an inch more. He almost felt as if Valon were close enough to smother him, to just draw the air out of his lungs without a second thought. And yet, he was inches away leaning against the counter lazily, and not once had he made a move to come closer.

There was something just so eerie and unnatural about him altogether. His eyes turning golden had been the last straw for him. He'd considered him an anomaly and exceedingly vicious from that moment on. After all the animals he'd witnessed Valon pinning with pencils on the lawn so that he could watch their intestines shake and slither with each heartbeat…

He shook the thought off. He was simply amazed Valon had never laid a hand on any of them. And, by the gods, if he wasn't seemingly obsessed with Kris! Houzan wasn't related to her, so perhaps it wouldn't have bothered him as much if Valon had gone after her, but he did worry about it often.

"She's at the house. Why?"

Valon tilted his head. "Funny. Seiko said otherwise." He glanced sideways at Yugi, calculating for a moment if he might be a threat to her or not. Then he wrinkled his nose. He wouldn't be intentionally. But she didn't know that. Exposure to him on top of Valon would surely ruin her, however. "I don't want to see her right now. I just wanted to make sure she hadn't wandered off on her own. Again."

The last word sounded like a stab. Yugi blinked, looking up at blazing golden eyes that Valon aimed at his adopted brother. His lip was curled faintly and the tip of a canine showed there.

Houzan struggled not to flinch and when he pulled through Yugi was actually somewhat amazed. It had seemed so much more likely that he would step back and possibly even flee. Instead his hand was shaking slightly but his eyes never left Valon's.

"If she's here then I didn't know. I just got here a few minutes ago," he said in a somewhat strained voice. His eyes flickered to Yugi again, then back towards the hellhound who merely studied his in response. "Although, I wasn't expecting you to be bringing a new toy to my mom's café."

Yugi felt his cheeks heat but it was with anger that he snarled, "I'm not fucking him, all right? Leave it alone."

Valon snorted loudly. "Put your claws away," he scoffed at him, turning immediately to his adoptive brother. "Regardless, I just didn't want her to run off on her own. And whether I screw Yugi or not is none of your business. N—"

"What?" the smaller teen burst out, eyes wide and face red with indignation. "I'm not—"

"Could you lower your voice, please? There are other people here. Thank you," Valon said without missing a beat. He was back to his brother before Yugi could blink. "I need her to stay in the back and not come out here until Yugi leaves, understand?"

"So you are going to screw him!"

Valon sighed loudly, clearly exasperated. "And this is when I remember that you're only fourteen," he grumbled, reaching over to shove him away gently by the shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, then yes, go for that excuse."

Yugi blinked and looked at Houzan with wide eyes. He stood so confidently that he could have passed for the same age as them. The realization threw him for a loop that he was only fourteen. Even when he was nervous, he was able to carry the weight of his projected image rather than his actual one.

He wished he could so easily project the image of Atem to those wolves, that he could pretend to believe in it and hold himself in the way they must have wanted. His skin crawled. What did a fourteen-year-old boy have that was so much better than him? How was it that he had gained this trait when Yugi himself was left without it?

He imagined Yami could do the same. He'd probably be able to twist someone's thoughts to his whim if he tried. And he'd effortlessly show himself to be exactly as he described in order to prevent their questioning of his status, whether it was his age or his name or whatever he wanted.

Yugi felt a sharp sting in his throat and the way it gripped like a vice when he swallowed made him nearly flinch. His heart hurt, twisting painfully in his chest and he felt almost dizzy for a moment. But Valon and his adoptive brother had not taken even a moment to consider his pain and somehow he was so grateful that he almost wanted to wail his happiness.

"Whatever. Just keep her out of here."

In a rare show of affection, the hellhound reached out and caught him around the shoulders, drawing him close enough to run his knuckles over his hair. Houzan cried out indignantly and squirmed, whining about his hair, and Yugi stared at the display as if the sight of it might somehow save him.

Finally, panting and falling on his butt, Houzan escaped the werewolf and glared up at him with an indignant huff. His blue eyes narrowed and his mouth turned downward in a pout of frustration. If Valon was even mildly interested in his display, he did not show it by any means. But the humor in his eyes was relieving in its genuine touch and it made Houzan stare for a moment longer, confused and bewildered at the sight of it. He was so…odd.

Yugi let out a small breath, something which shuddered and choked in his lungs. Valon looked to him now, and the ease disappeared from him entirely. In front of him, mere inches away, his adopted older brother turned into something stealthy and vicious. His shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowed into slits as his lips curled only faintly. For the smallest moment he looked as if he were a predator prepared to fight for a member of its family. Then he blinked and the tension was long gone once more.

"Houzan, go keep Kris company. Yugi and I have a few things we need to discuss. Keep your parents back there too. I'll tell them when a customer comes," he directed, his tone something cold and slithering. The tone of it was enough to make the youngest boy immediately jump to his feet and run off behind the curtain again. It left the two wolves to stare at one another, golden eyes boring into blue-violet as Yugi struggled to look back at him properly. "All right, so we're going to have to keep our little doggy ears perked up in case Houzan decides to ignore me and give in to his curiosity instead of listening for once. He never has been too bright. Listening in would be one of those foolish things I know he'd do right about now."

Yugi swallowed hard and looked towards the coffee machine at Valon's side. It made his skin crawl as it beeped loudly once and the smell of coffee was harsh and burning in his nose. The smaller teen watched the little green light for what felt like hours. Valon hummed and turned away to face it and when he reached over for a small pitcher behind it, Yugi felt almost dizzy. There was something in it. He could sense it and feel it and just the thought of it being around him made him slightly nervous.

He shifted his weight more than once, anxious as they glanced at one another. His eyes flickered back and forth between the coffee maker, the small pitcher, and the hellhound who was reaching for a cup from the iron rack which held them over their heads. He selected one with a smaller bottom and wider rim, poured the coffee inside, and did the same with his own cup a moment later. When he poured what looked like creamer into the cups, Yugi felt his skin crawling.

That wasn't creamer. Every part of his body told him that if was not just creamer. His head was spinning even as Valon casually handed him the cup with what looked like the most. The coffee had become a deep burgundy color, as that odd shade of creamer had seemed. And the bubbles at the top were small, soft, and it was deceptively pretty where Yugi felt that it was toxic and vicious.

"Just drink it," the hellhound snorted, taking a sip himself and licking his lips pointedly. Yugi stared at him blankly for a moment, then looked back at his mug. "It'll help with your hunger. That way you won't end up murdering someone without meaning to."

He swallowed hard. "Because murder should always be consensual and conscious," he said dryly, rolling his eyes. Valon's answering smirk made him shiver. "What's… What's in the creamer?"

"You tell me your secret and I'll tell you mine."

Yugi raised his eyes and glared at him for only a moment. Then he blinked and shook his head, looking down at his cup once more. "I'd rather keep my secret to myself. Thanks."

"Then you don't need to know what's in the coffee."

"I do if I'm going to drink it."

The humor was gone from his face and his eyes looked cold and harsh. "You don't. Because truthfully, I am not giving you a choice," he growled. His words made Yugi look up and his blue-violet eyes grew thrice their regular size in shock. Valon was radiating anger, the push of it so violent it threatened to knock the small teen off his feet. "If you won't drink it of your own volition, I will force you to the ground, pin you, and pour it down your throat. Now, seeing as someone might walk in and see that, I'd rather not have to. But, push my hand and I'm going to make you regret it."

Yugi stared at him, unable to do more than gape for a long moment. Then his eyes shot to his cup again. His stomach knotted and his heart skipped and pulsed harder than ever. Then he blinked again, lowered his eyes further towards the floor, mind racing.

"It's nothing that will hurt you. I even drank the damn thing in front you. And you watched me put it all in my cup, right? So then why wouldn't you assume to think that it's not poison?"

"The last time anything was put in my food or drink, it was wolfsbane." He hissed out a breath and shook his head, eyes darkening with remorse. "I nearly got my friends killed because of it all."

Valon drummed his nails on the counter. "Funnily enough, hellhounds can't drink wolfsbane either, considering how poisonous it is." He rolled his eyes when Yugi failed to respond. The broken look in the lycanthrope's expression made him bristle. "Just drink it."

"It smells weird."

"But it will help you. So. Drink. It."

He hesitated for a moment. It didn't smell like wolfsbane but it did seem familiar. Yugi struggled to consider where he had come to know this sweet scent from. But he could not fully recollect it and so the small teen finally licked his lips, looking towards him pointedly, and took the smallest sip.

All he could catch at first was a dark, roasted coffee blend with an undertone of something like cherry and chocolate. Around this was a brilliant current of sweetness that he recognized as hazelnut. But beneath it, swirling on the tip of his tongue and soaking into his taste buds, was something entirely different. He could not describe it at first, but then it came to him that he thought it had a hint of copper or perhaps metal instead.

Yugi stared at the hellhound for a long time. Valon was smirking, drinking from his cup once more. The lycanthrope lowered his eyes only then, taking another small sip. Some part of him rejoiced at the sensation of the coffee in his veins. The taste burrowed itself further under his skin and into his bloodstream. From there it seemed to travel rapidly and pulse through his entire body in a brilliant flash of strength and energy.

A small part of his mind was backpedaling rapidly. The scent was too familiar and the taste… He'd known it on a couple of occasions, but usually it was…

But this wasn't…

Yugi blinked at his cup. Then he raised his eyes. Valon did not feign innocence nor disregard for his silent question. Instead he nodded slightly and settled more comfortably against the counter behind him. His eyes were calm, mild, and he studied him impassively for a long minute.

"It has to be a part of Kris's diet."

The smaller wolf blinked and slowly tilted his head. His brain was still struggling with the concept of what had given him energy just that moment. But part of him was desperate for the touch of it again and the taste on his tongue was somehow so pleasant it seemed to make his blood sing.

"Kris?"

Valon watched him for what seemed like hours. Then, slowly, the golden-eyed wolf considered him and then the cup as well. He looked at the contents, the deep burgundy shade of it, and lowered his index finger into the coffee drink. It was still rather hot but he didn't bother to flinch. He stuck his tongue out and a single droplet splashed on its surface as he continued to stare at him.

"My little sister has begun changing prematurely due to exposure to me," he said slowly, quietly, eyes sharp and calculating. He was cautious and wired but somehow his frame was still incredibly relaxed. Valon seemed not even to notice his shock or perhaps he was simply waiting patiently for his response.

"Exposure to you…?"

The hellhound stuck his nail into his coffee again. "A werewolf exposed to one stronger and more pronounced than themselves has the ability to sometimes trigger the dormant gene within others that haven't changed yet."

"We can…?"

His expression was unimpressed and bored now. "I'm a Harbinger," he drawled lazily, once again flattening his tongue and dripping coffee from his nail. "I am the strongest hellhound in existence…or, at least, the mortal one. And you, likewise, are the strongest as a Pure-Blood. You trigger lycanthropes to change early as well."

Was that why so many kids at their school seemed to be changing so abruptly now? Yugi didn't have any proof that it had been him. But he didn't have any that it wasn't either.

He stared down at his cup, drumming his fingers along the handle. It made a lot more sense now.

"Relax. It wasn't human blood." When he looked up, Valon flashed him a smirk of such mocking brilliance that it made him bristle in surprise. "Well, yours isn't anyways."

"But yours…"

"It's animal blood in this cup. My sister needs human blood. As do I. But I have animal blood in case of emergencies as well." He looked leisurely, without a care in the world to grace his expression. The hellhound probably only felt the need to worry when it directly affected him in some way. Yugi felt small and stupid before the face of his indifference now. "My saliva acts as an anticoagulant just as a vampire bat's does when I should desire it. When I hunt, sometimes I bring back vials in order to make sure Kris doesn't go hungry. And sometimes I have to get blood from humans stupid enough to come home with me."

"So, all those people your brother thinks you've hooked up with…"

The laugh which left his mouth was a cackling and his golden eyes were wild with amusement and darkness. "I'd break a human if I took them into my bed," he sneered, smirking widely and tilting his head to the side in open mockery. "And when there are so many wolves to choose from? What is a human to a wolf?"

Yugi felt sick as they looked at each other. "How does a family end up adopting two hellhounds?" he inquired after a long minute.

"I'm sure my mother had something to do with it."

The lycanthrope stiffened. "Your mother?"

The bored expression on his face intensified now. "Morrigan, yes," he said with a lazy wave of his wrist before downing his cup and putting it aside on the counter next to his arm. His smirk was malicious and his eyes cold, threatening, as he looked at him now. "I think it might be a good time for you to get a move on, Yugi. The blood will last you two days at the most, I should assume. If you change, I'm sure it will only last as long as it takes to change the second time. Be careful what you do in the meantime."

He sounded cautious, full of a darker promise that Yugi did not quite understand at the moment. Then he blinked and looked away, shaking his head.

"Finish your cup." His eyes flickered back to his. As Yugi obliged in downing the rest of his cup, Valon closed his eyes and somehow slumped further back into the counter. His arms crossed loosely over his chest. "You should start eating again."

---

The woods were too broad, Yugi decided as he paced about the river. Maybe if it was shorter the trip wouldn't be so taxing and he'd be able to get back and forth with little difficulty. But the woods stretched for miles upon miles. And that was something that Yugi had not completely considered when he'd gone running out there. After he'd heard about the blizzard coming through he'd initially assumed that he would have more time to search for anything before it began. But it was as if, the moment he stepped outside, the heavens had opened up and the snow had come in large bundles of white crystal and small frozen droplets of sleet had come crashing forth as well. He'd been covered in mere minutes, his constant movement shedding it to the ground like a second pelt.

Yugi was running when he came to the bank. The ice was frozen solidly again and the new snow simply layered on top of it like it would a car's windshield. And it was already several inches and the white wolf wondered how it was that he had not gone blind yet beneath the onslaught of snow. The thick flakes and the rapid speed of their descent made him nervous. The earth was one massive flash of white and his vision seemed keen enough to just see yards ahead of him. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw no prints left within the white.

The wolf shook himself out slightly. His pelt was bitterly pressed down and his stomach ached as he looked around himself nervously. The river was frozen completely. There was not the slightest trickle of water to be heard and it was even more terrifying to him than anything else. He could be lost in this blizzard forever and he'd still think the unnatural stillness and the silence safe the snow falling to the earth was too suffocating to endure.

The shadows which underlined their descent were constant, black against the bluish gray of the ice beneath the night sky. Yugi glanced up and the sky was a hideous off-white that reminded him too much of fresh ash. His fur shuddered and twitched and his muscles grew taut with confusion and disbelief at the smothering vice grip.

His ears flicked. Despair lit its way through his veins and pooled in his stomach until it became a harsh lump of stone. He did not even know what he had expected. He'd traced the river for weeks now. All traces of Yami's existence there had begun to fade just as it had from his own bedroom. The sheets had begun to lose some of the more frosty scent, but the moonlight and the softest touch of pine was resilient, buried there in each strand.

But all traces here were gone. And any sign he might have found before lost. And with the idea of searching came the more abundant burst of Slifer's words, that he would not find aid in her or Obelisk. And Malik had said he was dead. His skin crawled and his heart hurt as he flattened his ears against his head.

Was Yami lost to him?

What if he was already in Paradise and refused to visit him in his dreams like the other wolves did?

What if he hated him?

What if he blamed him for…?

He choked and the noise that left him was a sob. It was unnatural, brutal, and bore an echo of defeat he had not known himself capable of. His legs threatened to buckle beneath his weight. Pain lanced through him forcefully and he felt dizzy and weak. His breathing grew tighter than ever. He was dry-mouthed, aching, and everything felt heavy and large and burdensome. And the pressure on his bones was harsh and terrible and he felt sickly once more.

Atem…

His lips curled back, disgust surging through him. Atem? He wasn't Atem. Atem wasn't this weak. Atem couldn't be this weak. Atem was supposed to be some kind of savior, a warrior that didn't fall. He wasn't forced to his knees by something so small and weak as the loss of someone else.

No matter what they might have meant to him.

Ragged, breathing so harshly that his head spun, Yugi bore his teeth and raised his head. Against the ice, she looked like a scepter of golden fur tugged by harsh wind and blazing blue eyes. What more do you want from me now, Ra? he spat bitterly. You've already taken my life.

The goddess cocked her head to the side, in something of a foreign expression of perhaps forgetfulness or sympathy. But he thought it more mocking than anything. A feverish heat came through his body, rage and hatred bursting in his veins in waves.

Your life? Her voice was wistful, drifting through the air on the softest of breezes. She stepped forward again and the edges of her fur almost seemed to shimmer from the angle of the snowfall. But some part of his brain wondered. Slifer and Obelisk had appeared in the physical plane. He'd yet to see Ra in any way beyond his dreams.

Was she really there?

You consider him to be your life? Truly, Atem? It is not your freedom that holds such priority?

Freedom? What freedom? Yugi snarled, baring his teeth again. The snow was so thick and he swore her image seemed to waver beneath the force of it. And he wondered, again, if she was real or something projected at him in the dark, to make him feel less alone and more encompassed by the goddess before him. There is no freedom! I'm nothing more than a symbol—a sacrifice on top of it! What happens to me when the war ends? You'll all kill me. What kind of life is that?

At least you would know your purpose. Name one in your world who knows theirs as well. None of them do. Humans and werewolves alike drift through this life with no idea the greatness that comes from their suffering. The immensity of your pain is measured in reward later.

How? How can that be when we're already suffering so much? And what about wolves who don't deserve to go to Paradise? What about them?

Who are you to judge my children?

Yugi snapped his teeth. The creature that you made to save them!

Ra was silent for a moment. Then she seemed to slip and shiver into nonexistence, as if someone had quite possibly smeared her image away. It struck him with fear for a moment, then anger.

Of course she was not there. How foolish of him to think she might have been. He should have known better than to assume she might recognize his need of her appearance there. The fact that she'd even shown herself like this was insulting, mocking beyond what he could fully understand.

Yugi looked away towards the snow. His ears flicked and his eyes darted about for a moment. Then he bore his teeth again, growling low in his throat. Is there never enough for you gods? Is there never a time when you look at us and think twice? The suffering we go through—is it truly worth it to you? Do you actually consider that to be a concept of our importance? You disgusting little—

He had expected her image to still be there, that perhaps she had projected it again. The waves of anger that came through him were violent and hideous. His teeth were flashed against the wind and his tongue dried out from a blast of frigid cold. But the sight to greet him made him freeze, cold and stunned and altogether horrified.

Yami? He was trembling and his voice was cracked. He stared at the figure, a large face of immense black fur that whipped violently in the growing wind. Unlike Ra, he looked physically present, as if Yugi could reach out and touch him. But he didn't have the strength to do so and it made his heart race and his body quake further. When he fell onto his stomach Yugi wasn't sure what forced him there.

Had he really come to visit him now?

Was he truly dead?

He was standing exactly where Ra had. And he did not seem to either recognize him or perhaps he did not care to fully acknowledge him. His indifference was a stab to the white wolf's trembling heart.

Oh, Yami…

The wolf blinked once, lowering his head slightly. Yugi did not hear him when he moved. And he could hardly see the movement of his large, dark frame when the snow fell so quickly.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…

He watched him with dark red eyes, a shade deeper than Yugi was used to seeing. But he remembered the pain he'd seen in that same color, the way he'd almost folded in on himself in the warehouse.

Did he pity him? It was the only expression Yugi thought himself able to see in his face. The white wolf felt small, immensely so, and he was exhausted as they looked at one another. His stomach knotted painfully. He swallowed hard, head swimming, and he wondered if he was truly dead, if there was nothing in him that truly retained care for the smaller wolf in front of him.

Did he blame him?

Yugi blamed himself, so why not Yami as well?

And, oh gods, wouldn't it have been better if he'd never opened his mouth and…?

The noise which left him was pitiful, crying, so tight in his throat that it choked pathetically. He gasped and sputtered and his sides shook as he wheezed.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should never have lied. I shouldn't have… I… Oh, Yami, I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen and… He gasped and his body shook like a tightly wound bow. He opened and closed his jaws, eyes horrifically wide, the whites of them showing in his despair. Yet the figure in front of him did not move. Not an ounce of mercy or acceptance came to him. Yugi shook harder.

Something dark beckoned at the back of his mind. Yugi could feel it crashing forward at the edges of his thoughts. Pathetically, shaking, he opened his mouth again, the noise of a whine leaving him. Please, Yami, I… Aibou, please…

Now the wolf raised his head and the look in his eyes seemed shattered. In the silence the snow seemed to crackle with heat against his long fur. Yugi shuddered and panted and his breath was so white it matched the world surrounding them in billowing curtains. He gasped harder and looked up at him desperately but the wolf merely turned his head away. Then, as if with a great effort, the black canine threw his head back.

The noise which left his throat sounded so thick and powerful as to draw the dead from their resting places. Yugi blinked as the darkness dragged at his limbs and soaked into his blood as if it might weigh him. He could not keep his breathing steady and his heart hurt as he watched him. As the noise hit a crescendo, the earth seemed to quiver. And the ice seemed to fall faster. And the darkness was heavier than ever. And Yugi was screaming on the inside. He struggled for his paws but Yami was disappearing in front of him. First came ripples of white beyond his shoulder, then his long arched neck, and beyond his muzzle and head. Then, against the gray of the sky, he became but a faint silhouette.

No, please! Aibou, please! Come back! Don't leave me! Yugi screamed. He tried again for his paws but somehow he was rooted. And the darkness swept forward with long fingers. He sobbed brokenly as red eyes peered at him for only a moment.

He did not know who disappeared first. Had the darkness come to him before Yami faded? Or had the opposite happened?

Regardless, he was alone again. And Yugi hated the overwhelming sense of need which came with it. The darkness was so complete as to swallow him whole. He screamed and bayed until his throat began to burn and he thought he might choke on his newest breath.

And, as if in answer, a voice hissed, Rise then, Atem.

But Yugi was falling. He could feel it. And the darkness seemed to be splitting. Colors of different magnitudes, brutal and with shades of which he had no name, began to spiral up and out. It was a ribbon, a hairline fracture, then bursts of color. They swept upwards until it burned his eyes to see them. And, as he clenched his eyes shut, a smell of metal and sweet rot came to him.

No…

He was dizzy as he spiraled closer to the smell. And he knew instinctively where he was. It hurt simply to consider his place within it. And, as he hit the liquid, his body was swept in a frantic current of panic. He thrashed and the stickiness clung to him like death. Yugi flailed his paws and tried to throw himself out from beneath the weight of it all. But something brushed against his side. And, as much as he tried, he could not stop himself from opening his eyes wide in horror.

A long, white form of splintered bone, perhaps a rib or a femur broken in half, floated in front of his eyes. He sputtered, gasping and choking, and his head spun with horror. What the hell was going on? He'd never seen this before… He'd never… What was going on…? Why was he…?

The fear made his entire body thrash. The blood seemed to seep into his body, drenching his skin and swimming into his own veins. His heart was shaking and stuttering within his chest. His body quivered and shook. He opened and closed his jaws and flailed but nothing helped him.

He was choking. He could feel it. He was dying—

You are not dead. The voice was snide, harsh, with not the slightest touch of sympathy. Atem cannot die.

I'm not Atem, Yugi wanted to cry. But wasn't he? He'd taken on this responsibility and he knew what was going to happen. And he was sick, thrashing, dying. And he'd drown beneath the blood and choke on bones and he'd rot in the snow where he truly was and—

He was flailing again, a vain attempt to save himself. But somehow he managed to right himself. And further, somehow, he seemed to catch his balance. His breathing was still choked and sluggish, weighted with this heavy decay in his nose. But he was managing it. In some way or another, he was upright and he was…

The heat in his body was one he did not entirely recognize but it was not completely foreign either. Yugi choked and sputtered. Parts of him seemed to ripple with pain. Others seemed to swell with relief. He flailed again. He gasped and choked. And he threw his head back as he seemingly breached the surface.

But all he could see was red around him. Bones were still scattered about. Most of them drifted along in the slightest tug of the current which caught at his skin and threatened to drag him away. In his exhaustion, Yugi almost did not notice it. But then he glanced down. His clothes were against his skin, tugged and beckoned by the river surrounding him.

When his eyes flickered up, a face of long gray and white and black fur peered down from the surface of the river. He could see the way the blood reflected in his gray eyes and it shook him to the core. The balance of dark orange against its surface boring into his made Yugi dizzy.

Bakura! But he didn't know if the thought would reach the other wolf. If he was dreaming and he was human, did the laws of their communication transcend here too?

But if he opened his mouth, he would taste blood and he was scared. He didn't want to choke on the redness that surrounded him. And what if it swallowed him whole? But what if, somehow, for some inexplicable reason, it all swept its way down his throat and became a part of him?

He was terrified as he looked about himself. Bakura continued to watch him. His voice was cynical and cold, his loyalty visible but his disgust far more evident.

Does death scare you so, Atem? Maybe you should never have been stupid enough to open your mouth and tell everyone who you are. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Can you hear me, Bakura? He was whispering, for some reason he did not recognize. The fear was gripping and his body was held within it. Yet Yugi raised his eyes and Bakura peered back at him plainly.

Do not use me as your anchor within this place, the wolf snarled, peeling his lips back and baring his teeth fully in response to his plea. I am not the one to save you. I have done what I was meant to. Now you are on your own.

Wait—

You will become trapped here if you are foolish enough to attach yourself to one of us. We are ghosts now, Atem, a new voice said, equally as cold but with a hint of disapproval and affection as well. His head turned and Yugi wondered why he was at the bottom of this river when the others were so far above him. A face of black and dark brown, with the smallest touches of tawny and silver, peered down from the opposite bank. Beside him was a russet-furred wolf with light gray across its forehead and tawny undertones. They were none he recognized. Scepters do not interact with the living so fully. Should you try to use us as an anchor, you will find yourself lost here, within the darkness.

Why? Why aren't you all in Paradise?

We are, a quiet voice whispered and his head turned again. Beside Bakura, the dark gray wolf stood, green eyes soft with sympathy but hardened with frustration. But we are here for you. Until he comes again, and the cycle begins anew.

He? Yugi asked, confused. His eyes flickered about them. More wolves were gathering. But the blood was growing thicker and it was harder to see them. Could they even hear him any longer?

Do not fear this place, the gray wolf called to him, voice as prosperous as rolling thunder. It will not harm you. But there is someone who needs you more than he does us. And so you must go to him rather than stay with us.

Who? Who is he? Who needs…?

He fell silent because he could no longer even sense them. And the blood was so thick as to be black around him. Yet this blackness was not terrible. Something about it tugged at him with delight and a sense of gratitude touched at his insides. His heart felt filled to burst and his body quivered.

Someone needed him more than they needed the other wolves? Did they need Atem or was it Yugi? He looked at himself. There was not a single hint of his wolf persona in this human form. So did that mean they truly needed him? That they needed Yugi? Insignificant little Yugi?

The idea was shocking. Atem was the god, the wolf. Yugi was a mere lamb in comparison. Who could need Yugi instead of Atem?

The blackness was inky and surreal. For the longest time it surrounded him, swallowing him whole. And then, abruptly, it began to recede. It swelled away and disappeared as if it had never existed. Yugi looked about himself. The blood was gone. The area around him was littered with thin trees and soft mud beneath his knees. Was he kneeling? The ring of growth seemed only to go as far as he could see, as if the world were swallowed beyond it.

It was a dream. Of course the world might be secluded to one small spot. Yet part of him yearned to explore. It was momentary and it ceased immediately, but it had been there.

Yet the water in front of him reflected only the darkness. When Yugi finally inched closer, his tongue was pressed hard against his palate. And his hands were shaking. He was cold, almost frosty with ice from the temperature. He swallowed hard and inched closer. And his heart threatened to leap out of his throat and his mouth was so dry he wondered if he had ever known it to be otherwise.

What stared back at him was not his own reflection.

He had never known such a skin tone. And his own face was not marred by wounds as this one was. And the sunken hollowness of those eyes may have been mirrored in his own, but his defeat was not present. His despair was replaced by livid anger, by hatred which could have made the earth freeze. Their pupils were blown and the ringlets of their irises were blank and cold and so far smothered that Yugi almost did not see them at all. Their lips were caked with blood but Yugi did not think it was their own. The wounds that stretched across their face were so red it looked as if it would never cease bleeding.

"Yami…" He was breathless, choking, and he felt sick as he looked down at the water. The name offered the reflection no sense of acknowledgment or comfort. This face peering back at him was layered in things that Yugi had never seen before to be expressed there. But he knew it all the same, blown pupils and hatred and the scratches and wounds… "Oh, Yami…"

There was the faintest hint of recognition in that cold gaze now. But he did not know what stirred it, his name or his expression or Yugi's voice or what. But it was there. And, as they stared at each other, Yugi felt tears in his eyes and his knees were glued to the bank with mud. But his hand reached out slightly, shaking with such fine tremors it made him feel sick. And, in response, warily, Yami watched his fingertips, seemed oddly as if he knew them more than he did the boy who owned them, and reached out as well. Before his eyes, Yami had begun to heal. The wounds had begun to stitch together. But the toughness, the rough exterior, the chill of his posture, did not fade in the least.

And, as Yugi almost touched the surface, a harsh burning sensation crept through him. Yami blinked and something panicked and dazed began to cross his expression. He moved frantically. His hand stretched further. Yugi wondered if he might reach out of the water and touch him.

"Yugi!"

The boom of noise spread through him in echo of his name. His heart skipped and flushed and his skin crawled pathetically beneath his pelt. Yugi jerked awake and the darkness was soft and warm. He blinked stupidly, the ice clinging to his face. His vision was gray and the length of his body was layered with something soft and reassuring. But the noise came again. And this time he heard a whistle of air and the burst of snow nearby.

He was in a panic when he got to his feet. The movement was so swift he barely processed it. And, when he ran, his body was shaking. The gunshot came again. It missed him by an inch. Yugi bore his teeth, panicked even more so. But it came to him as well. The snow falling and the inches which had accumulated did well to shield him. It did the best it could to offer him the camouflage to escape should he move fast enough.

They were aiming at movement but did not see him clearly enough to anticipate his trek. And he was so brilliant white that he blended all but effortlessly. But he did not know which was safer in the long run. Did he race for safety amongst the trees? Or did he move slowly? Both held so many risks of their own…

Instinct did nothing to guide him now.

His racing mind held his thoughts in sharp claws and bared teeth. Yugi could not, however, process which threat was more immense. In the shadows of his mind, Yami was still crying his name in empty despair and avid hope even as he faded from his dream and returned to this situation.

So Yugi was frozen in rationalism.

Even as he began to run again, speeding along, he could not think more on his odds of survival. Yami was alive. Yami had to be alive if he had been healing in this dream, right? He had to be alive and he was going to be okay.

He'd recognized him!

His heart leaped with joy but the rational part of his mind told him celebration was foolish at the moment. But still, he could not stop himself thinking of it all. Yami was going to be okay. He'd healed and he was going to be okay and he was still alive and—

The gunshot echoed behind him. But Yugi did not react to this beyond a flinch. His eyes were glazed fearfully but he did not move faster. Nor did he attempt to make a noise of protest. But his breathing quickened and with it, his paws began to feel heavy. He drew in ragged gasps, shaking it off minutes later. The heaving he was thrown into nearly forced him off balance. Yugi struggled for a moment.

But the gunshots had stopped. He moved a small bit faster. The snow was lightening in its fall. He didn't want to be out in the open if it ceased altogether. He was shaking when he reached the tree line. And it occurred to him, abruptly, that he'd made a grave mistake.

They had purposefully missed him each time. They had wanted him to move. And he'd done exactly that. He'd gone for the trees. And that was where they would be waiting for him.

Because, in the trees, it was more obvious when he was moving. And it was easier for them to outline him against the trunks. He was so stupid. He was a fool. And he was going to die for it.

Perhaps he deserved that.

He didn't think he could lead the pack. And if that was what he was meant to do and he failed at such a responsibility, then why shouldn't he see this as a just punishment?

They would die with or without him there.

They would rot whether Atem was involved or not.

He wanted to puke.

His movements slowed.

His eyes darted about.

There, in the snow-laden undergrowth. He could see the human. They were feet away from each other but the human did not see him. In the dark, in the falling snow, the woman hunched in her large off-white jacket could not visually identify him. He was so white in color and she did not possess his night vision. Nor did she know the strength of his eyes.

And he could kill her.

If he charged her…

If he raced at her with his jaws open…

But to do that, he'd have to find something inside of him he'd rather not exist. And that kept him there, rooted in the snow. How had she come to find him? Had he cried out in his dreams? Had it attracted her? But why was she there? And how was she not frozen by now?

He bore his teeth. She had to have known to put heated bottles beneath her insulated jacket. That must have been what kept her warm now. For her hands were trembling and her cheeks were a bright shade of red.

Yugi hated her.

Somehow, somewhere deep inside of him, a billowing rage came forth. It swept through him and tore apart his thoughts and ruined his rationality. And, by the gods, did he welcome it. He could kill her. He could spill her blood. He could tear from her throat and watch her essence soak the snow. And, oh how the ice would steam and the mist of her death would be glorious.

He bristled. His own mind was racing faster. Reality and humanity collided with instinct and animalistic anger. He wanted to kill her. But he'd lose his cover. He'd lose his ability to say he chose the right reasons for any damage he did another. He could kill her, but how would he say it was for selfless reasons such as saving another when it revolved only around himself?

Yugi was floored by this idea. His ideals and his newest concept of survival bore upon one another. He wished to scream, or perhaps to howl. But in the dark, in the cold, the lycanthrope knew himself capable of neither. Everything within him shook. And he peered at her with eyes tuned finely for the weather, his body pushing itself to maintain the heat within his blood to keep himself from freezing.

He stared at her. And she squinted. But she did not see. And the blindness made her a piece of prey easily picked off. It surprised him how much he detested her weakness. She was vulnerable and all but helpless should he attack. And he hated her for this. Because he was inclined towards mercy and she saw him as a monster whose pelt she would strip from his skin.

Yugi placed a paw forward in the snow. The sound seemed like a booming in his ears. But this girl did not hear him in the slightest. He blinked and stared and watched her coldly, all the while wondering at it all.

Was she innocent?

If he killed her, how many would he save?

Yugi stared at her. And his eyes began to burn. The snow fell into them in thick flurries. And it hurt when they melted against his corneas. It felt as if perhaps a terrible parasite were wriggling its way forward, into the pits of his mind, to destroy his rationality even further.

He stepped forward again. And his eyes flickered away, catching upon the shadows beneath the trees. Within the snow, they were gray and black, with the softest smears of cobalt blue to underline them. He felt mesmerized, something within him reveling in this single realization. He'd die in the snow. He'd be beneath the trees. He'd be as a wolf should.

But he was also human. And part of him hated himself for nearly forgetting. He was human and no human should have to die in the woods. No one should die alone and cold in the ice. No one should ever have to face such destruction for reasons that seemed to so desperately elude them.

Yugi bristled and his teeth felt hot, tingling along his gums. He was slathering, he realized slowly. He was so angered that his saliva was dribbling from his jaws. He almost snapped his teeth in anger, but lost the will as he considered the woman again. The trees surrounding her seemed to stretch for miles, never ending, and it hurt to look through the darkness between them and consider that he might not make the trek to the human city beyond them.

And then he saw it.

His head snapped around. His slobbering jaws parted faintly in an effort to pose a threat to a possible enemy. And then his eyes grew wide and his body ached with fear and remembrance and he was nearly knocked from his paws with desperation.

Yami…?

The being in the trees was large, immense, with a coat so dark as to invoke nightmares. And its eyes glittered with frosty layers of red snow. And it seemed to weave its way beneath the trees' shadows in fluid strides. It seemed almost to disappear a moment, then to reappear. All the same it danced beneath the small layers of darkness and paused with glowing red that looked almost distinctly amber. The small wolf trembled.

Was it him? It had to be him, didn't it? No other wolf he knew of had such dark fur. None had such a lean frame from the side, with obvious muscle tone and immense strength to possess the length of it. And no other wolf he'd come to know had such red eyes…

Don't leave me—Please! he begged. And he stumbled forward a step in the snow. He didn't open his mouth. By some mere miracle his voice did not come out. There was no cry of panic or plea to leave him. He stumbled a step.

The shadow danced beneath the trees, darting away and spinning around. The black tail came up, long and curved only slightly with its enthusiasm. Yugi hurried to catch his footing more comfortably. Then he began to race.

Yami sprinted away without a second glance. Yugi cried out for him to slow down and the wolf turned to glance at him. His tail wagged and he stood those feet away. The white canine chased once more. He scrambled and raced and his heart threatened to leap from his chest.

The gunshot echoed. The tree feet behind him exploded from the force of the bullet. Yugi stumbled. Yami looked beyond him towards the source of it. His lips peeled back. His teeth were bared. His eyes were enraged. His fur lifted into a bristle. But he did not snap or snarl. Abruptly the black wolf turned to him. He tossed his muzzle into his shoulder, jostling him with the encouragement to run. But not once did a word leave his lips.

Yugi stared at him, scared and bewildered. Was he okay? Had he lost the ability to speak? Was he too afraid to? Yami did not allow him to consider for long. Nor did the human behind them. The bullet shot through the side of the tree trunk. The splinters of wood sprayed the air and littered the ground in sharp spikes.

Instinct threw him to his feet now. Yugi was running before he could consider. And, somehow, despite his previous declaration that Yugi was faster, Yami ran ahead of him. The black wolf was mere feet ahead. He cleared distance, spinning around to consider him, and then tore away again. But he never left Yugi's sight. And when he got too far, he turned to look over his shoulder and seal him with a glare which made him run.

And, as the trees thinned somewhat, only then did Yami turn to him fully. The wind whipped at his fur. The snow threw itself into Yugi's eyes but did not obscure his realization.

The wolf in front of him was not his alpha.

The eyes were estranged, somewhat wicked. And the red of them seemed shattered, the uniform shade of them coming in dark chips and clouds of ice. The ancientness which came from them was bewildering and so powerful and immense that it shook him brilliantly. Yugi felt sickened, swallowed away by it, and his head swam.

He knew those eyes.

And he knew their meaning.

His heart shook. Those eyes should have been golden. And they should have been in the body of a canine with large black tufts of fur around the ears and a frame of leaner legs and slight feathering along the forelimbs.

Morrigan, he whispered, staring up at her with pronounced shock which he could not shake. And the despair which came through him was horrifying. He almost cried. Parts of him screamed. But the hellhound watched him with such frigid perception that he hated her all the more.

Why save him when he could not do the same for others?

And why do so in the form of the one wolf they all knew could destroy him?

Is he dead? He choked on the words, spitting them forth and gasping raggedly for air.

Morrigan blinked at him. And her voice was all of the cunning of a snake and the beguilement of an enchantress. You shall find your answers only if you live to see the next day. She looked beyond him, over his shoulder, and then shook her fur slightly to shed the snow.

But I need him. I need Yami here! I need him with me. He was pathetic in his pleas. Yugi knew that more than he thought he recognized anything else. His heart was shaking and he felt sick. Please, Morrigan, I need him. I need—

And you shall have him again, she snarled. Her expression was of ugliness Yugi had not expected. Her eyes were glowing, furious, and her lips pulled back to show glittering white teeth. She stared at him. But you cannot meet him in death if that is what you wish. Not for now.

For now?

Did that mean he was already dead? Or did that mean they would both wind up dead soon? Yugi felt dizzy, infuriated and stupid all the same. His head swam. He shuddered pathetically.

What does that mean?

But the goddess merely snorted. And abruptly she snapped her teeth and caught his throat. And Yugi cried out in a panic. She threw him forward and away from her. And he rolled from the force. Blood filled his mouth and his paws slid beneath him. The ground lurched and seemed to pull forth from beneath him. The air tangled in his fur. Brambles snapped and caught in his coat. And he tumbled down the smooth slope of stone.

The darkness came in a rush. He blinked against it. The shadows shifted before him. Some thickened, some lightened. In his mind, they were frantic bursts of movement. And then they began to move away. He blinked again, stupid and mystified. Then he tried for his feet.

The air beyond him exploded. The noise made him flinch away. The tunnel seemed to pulse with the pain of it. He gasped and stumbled back several steps. And then the ground seemed to fall forward in front of him. It was a rushing current of noise. First came a cascade of dirt. Then came the telltale clutter of stone and pebble. The noise was deafening in its smothered state, the air swallowing it whole.

Yugi choked on the cloud of debris which enveloped him. Then he sneezed. His entire body jerked. He gasped and panted. His tongue tasted of dirt and heaviness. The small wolf felt sick and breathless. He shivered and his body ached.

When he looked up again, the dirt made his eyes water. But the snow which had come through as well made his vision somewhat clearer. He could see it against the shadows. And when he looked up, he knew the tunnel's entrance had shattered away into nothingness. The brambles had broken and come down with him. And the bullet must have caused it to cave in.

He craned his head for a sight of the sky beyond the darkness or the littering of stones and dirt. Nothing greeted him. He looked around for a moment, stomach tight in knots. He'd been knocked far further back than he'd initially assumed. At first he had considered that he'd merely gone the length of the tunnel's entrance to the end of its dip and scuttled slightly on the ground.

Realization struck him that he'd gone several feet beyond that mere distance. He'd rolled and slid a few yards extra. And the snow that had melted beneath his warm skin had done well to shield him from the pain of such a descent.

Yugi bristled fearfully for a moment. Morrigan had saved him. And she'd thrown him into the tunnel forcefully. She had known the hunter would be close enough, would have better aim. And she'd saved him.

But…had she saved herself?

Had she gotten away before the girl could make her the newest of the trophies to line her walls?

She was a goddess, yes, but he had no idea what she could do. The Harbingers had been mortal, from what he'd understood of Yami's story. The Pure-Bloods had been the ones capable of coming back to life when they'd been struck down.

Valon had said she was immortal, but he didn't know.

How long would it take her to recover from a mortal wound?

How long would it take before she could run if she was struck down?

Would it be instantaneous or would it be slower?

Yugi looked towards the entrance and strained his vision. But there was not a speck of the sky to be seen. And digging his way out just to check would most likely get him killed. So he backed up a few steps, looked over his shoulder, and paced briefly before trotting down the line of this tunnel.

He'd ask Slifer. She would know if her sister was hurt, right?