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.

63. Toxins

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh

Update schedule: Hopefully biweekly

Chapter Warnings: Night Terror, SLIGHT/MILD Anxiety Attack, SLIGHT/MILD Self-Harm During Panic Attack, Reference to Porn, Mild Cursing, Mentions of Abuse, Hints of Depression, Mentions of Death, Fighting, COPIOUS Bloodshed, GRAPHIC Descriptions of Seizures

The DNA thing will be brought up again later. There's a very specific reason behind it. But for now it's not explained. Yami will point it out later when Yugi asks, but until then, feel free to speculate. Honestly I'm thinking you guys can figure it out without too much trouble~

Okay, so, the answer to a question a lot of readers have been asking me will come up towards the end of this chapter. You'll see because things get very crazy towards the end. You'll see what I mean~ Enjoy the craziness of this chapter.

Ploy: So, nope, the arson situation hasn't been resolved. You'll see what happens with it. It's mentioned in this chapter. And then it's mentioned later on as well. It's a recurring thing.

Chapter LXIII: Toxins

Work Log Entry LVI: December, 2005

December 11

Atem still exhibits his new pattern of action.

He does not fight us to leave the cage, though I suppose he never truly has.

He has not fallen ill again.

None of his vital signatures or things of that nature have changed in any manner.

He is not going to change anytime soon.

Nothing about the Pure-Blood has changed in the slightest.

December 18

Atem and my look alike met up once more.

My look alike attacked him but Atem did not fight back until there was blood drawn.

Then the two of them beat each other almost to the point that the blood loss should have killed them both.

I cannot figure out what is triggering my look alike to attack him like this.

I was tasked with patching him up again.

December 26

My look alike is finally to be released from the surgery kennels today. He is not pleased at all. And he has snapped at me and tried to bite my hand off more than once. Pegasus is delighted to beat him into submission.

He truly believes that he will be able to break this wolf's spirit.

I think he's delusional.

The pain was enough to wind him. Yugi was stunned by the way his skin screamed and his nerves seemed to dance beneath the slight, soft pressure. He was exhausted, dizzy, blood in his mouth as he felt another excruciating touch upon his flesh. It was enough to make him yelp, his voice strangled and gargled. He felt a fiery trail racing up the back of his throat and his head spun. He could not see straight. The bricks in front of him began to shift from side to side, dancing back and forth. They were brown and dirty, slicked with water and mud and perhaps rust as well. He did not know. It was simply stunning.

The pressure on his back made him yelp again.

Blood made his lungs heavy and sloshed.

Yugi gasped and stretched and flexed his fingers. Or, perhaps, it was more likely that he tried. He tried to flex his fingers. But what moved was a bleeding mass of exposed muscles. It dripped and fell and hit the ground with hideous splattering noises. It made his head spin as his mouth seemed to drown with salty, metallic liquid. Bile made his tongue burn.

"Starvation makes the wolf's healing capabilities much slower. Deeper wounds require far more time to heal. And his organs seem rather unstable at the moment." There was a pause, a loll in the voice, then another flash of pain that made him yelp. Blood coated his tongue now, and his throat felt hot as bile sputtered forth. "There is definitive rot in the muscles. Blood exposed to air is darker than average. The skin along the incisions is dying as we speak."

"His heart rate is picking up." The second voice was slightly more unnerved, but far more familiar than the first. Yet, something about the first one made Yugi feel queasy and knowledgeable, some memory bleeding in the forefront of his mind that he could not truly acknowledge.

"Blood pressure has risen," the first continued slowly, not the least bit concerned by the other's slight fear. "He has developed a fever in his body's attempts to heal itself. The unintentional rise in temperature has caused the muscle to rot faster."

"He's going to overheat and kill himself," the second voice protested. Yugi clawed at the air, back screaming with pain. The fever laced through him violently enough to make him snarl once more. "If he comes back in a state like this—"

Yugi yelped as he felt the ground rushing up to meet him. The carpet scratched his chin and he rubbed at the burn that existed there. He grunted and slowly moved to pick himself up. But there was a steady pain in his back and he hissed at its touch as he drew in a deep breath. When he caught his weight more pointedly on his hands and knees, he forced himself to remain there for a moment.

And then he heard a soft creaking noise.

He turned before he thought it through. The pain was enough to make him cringe but he did not yelp. It had not occurred to him to reconsider doing such a thing. And now, as he looked up, he felt almost flushed with surprise and embarrassment.

Yami peered at him from atop the bed. His head was tilted. His eyes were considerate. But there was a slight puzzlement and even a glimmer of guilt there as well. The taller teen shifted a little closer, peering down at him with a slight grimace to his face. "Sorry, but you were thrashing," he muttered. "And I did not know if you would want to have your mother and grandfather walk in on you in the midst of a night terror."

Yugi blinked up at him, confused at first. And then he frowned, pursing his lips a moment later, and finally moved to brace himself back on his haunches. For a moment he was silent. And then he sighed softly and began to cross his legs. The phantom pains were quickly abandoning him now. "You just pushed me off the bed?" he asked incredulously, eyes wide with shock. "Holy shit. You seriously just pushed me off the bed."

The other boy raised a brow and tilted his head. "I explained why," he commented dryly, knowing well enough that Yugi hardly cared and was simply stunned by it. He offered him a small, sideways grin, and the smaller teen huffed at his expression. "But if you'd like, I'll pretend I didn't and when you thrash in your sleep again, I'll just throw you off the bed like I did before."

Yugi burst out laughing, shaking his head. "That's so considerate of you, thanks."

The taller wolf shrugged and put his chin in his palm as he propped his arm up on the bed. "I try," he drawled. His red eyes were sparkling with humor now as he stared down at Yugi with a brightened gaze. I just don't always succeed. The words slunk from one side of his focus to the other before he could think straight and push such impulse away. It seemed to swallow him away entirely for a moment, though he suppressed it once more and pushed away the nerves that bit at his insides now. "I'm sorry for pushing you off the bed like that."

The smaller teen seemed almost startled to hear the words, though he shook the surprise away almost immediately and offered him what seemed a slight smile. "That's okay, Yami," he said with a small shrug. "It's not like it matters. I'm not hurt or anything."

The words were enough to make Yami bristle for a moment. His eyes had sharpened and he looked incredibly frustrated now. For a split second he peered at Yugi almost as if he did not entirely recognize him. And then, slowly, he blinked and drew in what seemed to be a rather deep breath. "What do you dream about?" he asked softly.

Yugi tilted his head, puzzled, and offered a somewhat bemused smile. "Don't you mean what did I dream about?" he questioned, furrowing his brows when Yami merely stared at him as if the words made no sense to him. And, as they looked at each other, the taller boy slowly shook his head.

"No, I meant what I said."

The smaller teen blinked, startled, and moved to sit up straighter. His blue-violet eyes bore into Yami's as they peered at each other. He drew in a deep breath after a moment, then shook his head slowly and exhaled with something that was almost a painful wince. "Experiments mostly," he said after a long moment, unsure of what more to say. Because he didn't want to say that he dreamed of Yami at times as well, whether it be a more painful experience or something that bordered closer to the side of lewd. He did not want to admit to him that oftentimes he dreamed of something he feared more than he cared to consider. He didn't want to tell him that sometimes Yugi dreamed of those many wolves that had died to save him or that he sometimes wished that he had never opened his mouth and he wanted nothing more than to pretend that he was still some clueless boy with his head in the clouds about a girl who probably wouldn't have remained with him for long…

"Experiments." Yami drew this word out for what felt like hours. His voice seemed to die as he finished it and his head tilted slowly to the side as if in thought. But Yugi knew from that expression on his face that he was not in the dark as to what he meant in the slightest. And the thought made him all but bristle with dissatisfaction towards the idea. He wished more than anything that Yami could know the bliss of ignorance, that for once he was not entirely too knowledgeable what it was that Yugi was talking about.

And, for the first time in what the small teen felt was years, he found himself truly hesitating and staring up at him with wide, almost horrified eyes. "Do you ever…wonder about…what in all they did?" he asked softly, slowly, hoping with everything inside of him that it would not cause Yami to withdraw from him entirely. He did not think he could survive if the red-eyed teen were to do such a thing.

He would feel sick and small should such a thing happen and he did not think he could survive it another time. When the taller wolf seemed to simply stare through him, he nearly flinched away from the entire idea of such conversation. But it occurred to him, abruptly, that Yami was not denying him the chance of inquiry. And he did not seem truly upset with him in any manner. So he drew in a deep breath and searched his face as he continued.

"Like… Do you think that they would have killed me to test and make sure I was immortal?"

Yami was silent for what felt like a lifetime. Then, slowly, he blinked and lowered his eyes back to Yugi's, studying his expression for a long moment. He shifted his weight and pulled himself to his haunches, peering down at him with dark eyes. "No doubt that they did," he answered in a quiet, almost breathless tone. But his head tilted slightly as he looked down at him, as if he were unsure of what more to do or say as they stared at one another. "I am surprised that you would even have to ask such a thing. I would think that it would simply be something to assume and know the truth of."

Yugi blinked and slowly shook his head. "No, I know that. I just… After what you said before, I was just wondering what I might have done when I was in that state," he said with a frown, tilting his head curiously to the side. "I mean, just imagine it for a second. Don't you think that would be pretty devastating to them if I was to attack and kill any of them?"

Yami grunted, his expression something between a sneer and absolute surprise. "Not quite, I would imagine. You don't honestly think that any of them are free from disposal, surely? The truth of it is that any of them were expendable. Just as you learned with Ryou."

The name was said in a flat tone, monotonous as the rest of his words. It surprised the small teen still to hear such a statement come from him and no influx of emotion to show even the smallest hint of care towards the other boy. Yugi stared up at him, surprised and only mildly bewildered; he knew it was a survival tactic.

He understood that. But some part of him wondered at the possibility that, should it have been him, Yami might have done the same. Would he have simply considered it to be a loss and then ceased to care any longer?

Because, despite himself, Yugi felt that he could not see or hear or even find the smallest thread of a hint towards any emotion that Yami might have possessed at that moment. There was not the slightest touch of anything in the tone or the words he used. He didn't sound at all like a distressed, crushed lover as Yugi had expected that day in the woods. And Yugi could not remember now if he had ever heard much sorrow in the direction of his death before then as it was…

He looked back at the other boy, studying him silently. There was an instinct in him that demanded he move closer, to perhaps draw him into his side or to somehow embrace him in some manner. But it did not stop him in the slightest from wanting to back away as well. The two feelings were at war with each other as they considered one another. And he felt tired, dizzy, at the thought of it all to begin with. There was so much damage in Yami to begin with, something that he could not properly put into words nor truly manage to heal no matter how many years they had in each other's company.

He knew that.

He understood that.

And yet, it still winded him.

It still made him wonder and despair and somehow hope against it all as well.

Yugi drew in a deep breath, then tilted his head away and reached up to run his hands through his hair. Yami did not cease staring at him, almost as if he expected a challenge of some kind. It was shocking to him how little the other seemed to care for his mounting distress. But then he remembered the reason he was seated on the ground, the fact that Yami was staring down at him with such studious eyes. He remembered then why it was that Yami had pushed him off the bed as it was. He could tell now, as they stared at each other, that perhaps the tall teen was watching him so closely for the sake of helping him should something go wrong.

But he could not imagine what it was that the taller teen might be able to do from his perch atop the bed. It seemed almost ridiculous to even consider it. But he saw the smallest sense of tension within his muscles, the way he sat up so pointedly and watched him with such keen eyes. And Yugi knew for a fact that the other wolf was watching him for a reason beyond simply being curious as to their conversation. It was not, in the least, a mild sense of interest or curiosity that held him there.

"Do you ever wonder what might have happened if I hadn't escaped?"

Yugi blinked.

And Yami stared.

Something dark flickered across his eyes.

He stiffened.

Then his lips drew back.

His eyes glittered fiercely.

His head tilted slightly.

The muscles in his body grew taut.

His teeth glittered, his gums white as the enamel there.

And then he raised his shoulders so that they might shield his neck.

He was shaking finely now as well.

And the tremors made his entire body seem to nearly vibrate.

"Fuck," Yugi muttered under his breath. The sound of his voice elicited a snarl from the other wolf. Yami's head tilted down towards him once more. And his eyes were glittering more ferociously than ever. His lips drew back to show off his teeth more purposefully. His shoulders shuddered as his fingers folded atop the comforter. The strands seemed to scratch and fray beneath his nails, cutting into the fibers rather forcefully. He snarled softly and bristled once more. Yugi immediately drew in a new breath, licking his lips. "Yami, hey…hey…relax, okay? It's okay. You need to relax. It was just a question, aibou."

The last word, spoken in a more earnest tone, made Yami flinch as if he'd just been struck. In an instant the anger had faded from his face. And he looked more than slightly distressed as they stared at one another. The two of them considered each other for a long handful of minutes. Yugi drew in a deep breath, rattled by the expression that the other wore at the moment, and then they simply looked away from one another. The smaller teen licked his lips and turned away to look at the carpet fibers and Yami reached up to press the heel of his right palm into his temple for a brief moment.

A few heartbeats passed. Yugi waited until the tension seemed to fade from its choking pressure. Then he slowly turned and raised his head, eyes flickering across the other boy's face. Because, as it turned out, Yami had begun watching him again. He had turned just as Yugi had, and the two of them had locked eyes immediately upon Yugi focusing on him again. It was distressing for a moment to see the red eyes boring into his.

But there was something else that bothered him more than anything else. And, as he looked back at Yami, he wondered at it.

The last time that Yami had been in such a state, he'd fallen into a panic attack. He'd shaken and breathed hard and gone almost comatose until he'd synchronized his breathing with Yugi's own. Before that, Yami had gotten extremely rattled and fearful upon Yugi asking him about something he'd said to him amidst their conversation about Fuwa. And it shook him to his core to consider the reality that, at that time, Yami had been so fearful that he'd had white gums and puked in his distress.

Now, however, he had stared at Yugi with almost cold eyes. And he was angry, almost hateful, rather than even slightly distressed. He was by far more aggressive than anything else. The reality of it was stunning to Yugi as he realized, abruptly, that the red-eyed teen did not seem even remotely shaky or bewildered in that manner. He was angry. He was infuriated. But he was not distressed in the slightest, in truth.

And Yugi worried what else it might have been then that the red-eyed teen had gone through in that time of their separation. It was surprising to him to consider that the taller teen might have been forced to such a state as to react in that manner. He had never even thought of how he might respond beforehand. And the fact that he had flinched so violently upon being called his partner gave Yugi the impression that the other boy was well aware of anything and everything that was happening around him. He was clearly aware of the word that had come out of his mouth, that it was directed towards him.

And Yugi wondered now whether it was somehow possible that perhaps Yami had learned to adapt in the fashion of protecting himself in a combination of withdrawing mentally and retaining his awareness. It seemed almost impossible to him for a moment, but it also startled him to realize that perhaps it was the most truthful assumption he might have ever come across. The realization made him swallow hard and he felt almost sick for the briefest of seconds as he stared back at him.

"Look, I'm sorry. We can just stop talking about this." Yugi moved to stand and Yami stared at him almost blankly for a moment. The way they peered at one another made the smaller teen want almost to squirm and hide away from his darkened gaze. He stretched his arms out and stared at him for a long moment, then cleared his throat and looked away towards the ground. Yami did not cease his stare, instead tilting his head and watching him with somewhat curious eyes. "How about we go and get breakfast and then I'll go to school and you can do whatever you want while I'm out of the house?"

Yami blinked and tilted his head. "You say that almost as if I might end up playing with your tapes," he commented with a small smirk. A raise of his brow made Yugi flush in shock before the small teen scowled at him and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about me, Yugi. I will most likely simply spend time playing video games or—"

Yugi faltered, his mouth clicking shut as he went to respond to the other wolf's words. The two of them froze for a moment, listening closely as they tried their hardest to focus on what had disrupted them Yami turned around with wide, darkened eyes. Yugi himself moved towards the window, stunned by the sight in front of him. Almost completely out of his line of sight, along the edge of the yard, a police car had pulled up. The small teen struggled with shaking hands to flip the latches to the window, then pulled the pane up and leaned outward to peer down at it more pointedly.

"Who is…?"

"Anzu's dad," Yugi muttered softly, grimacing and shaking his head slightly. He swallowed hard and then turned to him slowly, eyes widening. "Oh, fuck."

Yami blinked and searched his face, the alarm clear in his eyes but his expression remaining more or less calm. "What?" he asked simply, moving to sit up and look as well. But he did not leave the bed and so he peered out the window with a somewhat disgruntled expression as the position did not allow him much of a clear line of sight beyond the snow in the yard. He furrowed his brows when Yugi failed to answer him for a moment and then turned to the smaller teen with a tilt of his head. "What is it that you are so worried about right now?"

The small teen looked as if he might puke as he stared at him. His face had grown ashen, his eyes dilated fearfully. He stared at him as if he might lose him should he so much as look away. And the way his breath quickened made Yami wonder at the sight.

"I—I… Oh gods."

"What is it? What are you so afraid of?"

He could hear the cop knocking at the door. He felt dizzy, his legs nearly giving out from beneath him. Instinct told him to stand and fight, something that stunned him as he tried to catch his breath for even the smallest of moments. The realization of it was that he could not think straight long enough to consider that perhaps things were incredibly estranged to the taller teen now. Yugi drew in a deep breath, then slowly shook his head and reached up to run his hands through his hair.

"Look, Yami, he's been investigating me for the arson events—the woods and the restaurant. He has this idea that because I wasn't with Anzu that night at the station when they reported it I had something to do with it." He hesitated for a moment, then opened and closed his mouth. His heart was in his throat for a moment as his eyes searched Yami's frantically. The red-eyed boy looked confused, somewhere between desperation and bewilderment and Yugi knew that he was trying to find out what he was searching for from him. But Yugi himself didn't quite know and if he didn't know then Yami surely didn't and it could not be offered to him.

So the taller boy stayed silent and Yugi continued to study his face, for a moment hoping against everything to somehow memorize even the finest details of it all. Then he drew in a deep and purposeful breath. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "He's got it in his head that I had to do with it and I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it. I don't think Anzu knows what's going on yet—"

Yami tilted his head and turned his head towards the door. "No?" he asked softly. "Then that is not her voice I hear calling for you as we speak?"

Yugi blinked, startled, head tilting towards the ground. He strained his hearing for only a moment, dread filling his gut as he realized that Yami was right. "Fuck," he hissed, but abruptly his eyes shot to the red-eyed teen again. "Listen, Yami. I told him that both nights I was with someone who needed my help. I told him that I met them over a classroom chatroom after they went for a tour at my school. I said that they asked for help and gave an address and I went and met them at a motel. I said that I thought they were running from an abusive partner and had fled Japan altogether."

Yami blinked, his red eyes growing huge with his rising shock. He leaned forward, then moved to stand, startled by the way Yugi stared at him so plaintively. The taller teen considered him for a long handful of minutes, then looked towards the hallway with wide eyes. He could hear Yugi's mother answering the door. She sounded disgruntled and annoyed at the moment, clearly having just woken and gotten dressed. And Yugi was shaking now, fingers digging into his scalp and breaths coming out uneven.

The taller teen hesitated for a moment. It took only a heartbeat for him to shake the trepidation away, however, and he moved forward. In an instant he had caught Yugi's wrists, pulling them away and putting them at his sides. The moment he did so, the smaller teen blinked wide, startled eyes at him. His eyes flickered about the taller boy's for a moment, bewildered and confused and fearful. And Yami wondered at the sight before slowly shaking his head.

"Focus for a moment, Yugi," he hissed, voice soft and oddly powerful as it encompassed his senses. His eyes were brighter than before, more vibrant than ever, and his head tilted the smallest fraction. The action keened in on a sense that Yugi had not known he possessed, making his entire body seize in place as he considered him intently. "You have only to say that you are not sure what happened to your friend. It comes down to something as simple as that."

Yugi bit his lip. "I told my mom and grandpa that you were the one I went to see. My mom thinks that you should be the one to tell them that you were there and that I went to help you. She said that you're my alibi and I—I'm so sorry, Yami! I didn't mean to do this. I thought… I don't know what I thought. I guess I figured that he wouldn't pursue it past that and then… Look, you can hide if you—"

"Hide?" the red-eyed teen murmured in a quiet, distasteful tone. "Fine. If you wish for me to be your alibi—"

"No," he snapped, voice coming out slightly loud before he stopped himself and drew in a deep breath. He listened for a moment; thankfully his mom was still at the door with them downstairs. Anzu was asking if he was okay, if she could talk to him really fast. Her dad was saying something about how the arson investigation was still focused on several suspects and one of them was still admittedly Yugi. And the small teen was abruptly aware of the fact that the brunette was well acquainted with the charges that he might be facing. He turned back to Yami and lowered his voice drastically, licking his lips as he tried to buy himself time to find the words to speak. "I told them that we were at a motel together at one point, that you had a room there that I had spent time in. I told them that it was the motel that just recently closed down near the nature preserve. If they tried to take your blood or fingertips—"

Yami shook his head slowly, watching him with darkened eyes. "They will not find anything." He blinked. "They cannot find anything."

"I know, because you weren't there."

"No, Yugi," the other snarled, lowering his voice drastically and allowing the words to rumble within his chest. "It is because my DNA is not traceable."

He blinked. Then he tilted his head, confused and startled by the declaration. His brows slowly drew together. Then he stepped back, shaking his head and staring at him for a long moment. "What?" he asked slowly, voice nearly croaking. And, for the smallest, briefest of seconds he felt as if he might vomit. He wondered, mind spiraling for a sense of reality that he might understand, if perhaps somehow Yami was nothing more than a figment of his imagination.

It was possible.

He had laced together memories in the wake of forcing himself to suppress his experiences underground. It was entirely possible that he might somehow have snapped and brought Yami on as some kind of mental figment that was meant to guide him and help him in some manner. That would explain his ability to find his way back to him, wouldn't it? It would explain how it was that he always seemed to be there in the nick of time—

"I have the DNA of a wolf," Yami said slowly, cautiously. His eyes glinted with something Yugi could not interpret, stomach churning and heart racing in his chest. "There is not a single part of my DNA which is human. If you were to bleed me now and look at it beneath a microscope, you would find that of a wolf species that doesn't exist. They could not link me to anything because I do not have human blood."

Yugi stared at him for what felt like hours. Then he slowly shook his head and his mouth seemed to dry out as he tried his hardest to think straight. "What the fuck does…?" He drew in a tight breath, then shook his head harder. "What does that…? Yami, that doesn't…"

"It makes perfect sense." Yami had moved, his hands landing on his shoulders and resting there. But his nails had curled inwards and they pressed upon a twin bundle of nerves which caused Yugi to focus on him once more. His lips peeled back to show bright white teeth in a small snarl that quickly faded as he realized Yugi was entirely focused on him again. "You—"

"Yugi? Are you awake yet?"

Yugi jerked as if he'd been hit, the words Yami had spoken burning in his ears. He wished he could have lashed out and hit him, knocked him aside for even speaking them. But the thought of harming him made him want to vomit and he stared back at the other male for a long moment. Then he reached out for him, unconsciously seeking some kind of physical contact that he had more control of. Despite himself, he found his arms wrapping around his thin frame, then jerking him into his embrace. The taller boy grunted in surprise, the displacement of breath making his eyes nearly pop out of his head. But he did not hug back and the smaller teen found himself gripping tightly at his shirt, pulling at the fibers anxiously.

"Yugi?"

He exhaled long and slow. Then he pressed a nail into Yami's shoulder as if to test that the other were truly there. Yami let out a sharp breath, a low rumbling beginning to make his body quake softly against his. And then Yugi released him, searching his face for a moment. "Listen to me for a second, okay? I don't want you to get involved in this. There's a reason for that," he explained, shaking as he heard his mom grab and turn the doorknob and then knock a third time, repeating his name once more. "And I don't have time to explain it to you right now. But I'm going to tell you later, when this is somewhat cleared up, okay?"

The red-eyed teen peered at him for what felt like hours, as if he had no understanding of who he was in any sense. He stared at him, eyes somewhat cold and expression slightly darkened. They stared at each other for a long handful of minutes. Then Yugi turned away and gestured vaguely towards the window and then the closet in a silent bid that Yami go to one of them. The taller teen stared at him, red eyes sharp and shadowed for a moment before he moved towards the closet. Then he hesitated, glancing towards the bed, near the door, and then at the window.

Yugi drew in a deep breath, watching him as he finally moved to take to hiding within the closet. The blue-violet-eyed boy felt incredibly small and almost ridiculous now, a thought occurring to him that had not crossed his mind before that moment. There might have been someone else in that car with Anzu's father, someone who had driven there with them. He would not have been surprised in the slightest…

"Yeah, Mom, what's going on?" he called, glancing back to see that Yami had locked the metal unit behind him. He could hear the faintest grinding as the metal slid into place and the lock held itself in place once more. He drew in a deep breath and turned back to unlock the door and open it. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at the three of them with feigned curiosity. But his heart was racing in his chest and he could not help but strain his ears for any sense that Yami might need him. "Hello, Mister Mazaki, Anzu."

He would have given them a bow but the small teen could not find it in himself to care so much. He could not help but stare at the two visitors, some part of him cold with familiarity and the other flighty with fear. His best friend offered him a strained smile, blue eyes sad as she looked around the room for a moment. Then she drew in a deep breath and asked, "Can we talk for a minute?"

Yugi blinked and glanced at her dad and then at his mother, curious as they both awkwardly looked away. He wondered for a moment if something had happened downstairs that he might have missed, then turned to his friend with a small grin. "Sure, Anzu," he agreed, but he hesitated when he glanced at them again and neither seemed to change their positions. The brunette walked past him with her head high, striding into the room as if it was hers rather than his and the thought unnerved him for a brief moment. Then she glanced over her shoulder at their parents, murmuring, "Go ahead and shut the door, Yugi. They already know what I'm about to talk to you about."

He blinked and looked at his mom, desperate now for some sense of reassurance. It seemed strange to him to even consider that she might allow this to happen. She had always been so keen that he not ever be alone with a girl, even within their own home and with their parents there. It was odd to him as he slowly closed the door behind him and turned around to face her again. His blue-violet eyes took a quick inventory of the room, unnerved as she hesitantly made a move towards the corner Yami had once sat in for so many days straight. It was enough to make him nervous for a brief second before he drew in a deep breath and shook it off.

"What's going on?" he hissed, demanding her attention from where she'd been surveying the room formerly. And then she turned to him with a slight frown marring her expression. But she did not seem upset with him or his question, looking at him almost as if he had never spoken to begin with and she had simply turned around to see who was behind her.

"Jonouchi is planning to tell my dad that he started the fire," she muttered, her voice incredibly quiet now, though the small teen faltered briefly in listening and then gaped at her in horror.

"What?" he snapped, eyes wide. "He can't do that!"

"Shh, not so loud," she hissed at him in response, putting a finger to her lips and casting a sharp look towards the door. He blinked and looked over his shoulder, flustered at the idea that he had forgotten in his shock. Then he turned quickly back to her, heart in his throat. He had the abrupt urge to look towards the closet, to perhaps coax Yami out to speak with him as well. But then he faltered and turned back to her as quickly as he could, fearful that she might have noticed his hesitation. "My dad obviously doesn't have any idea about it. I told him that we were going to talk about the kid they found dead in the quad today."

"What?" Yugi cut in, furrowing his brows. "They found a body in the quad?"

"Left in almost the exact same place as Miho's was," she answered uncertainly, glancing towards the door and then back to him and lowering her voice once more. She drew in a deep breath, licked her lips, and continued in a firmer tone. "Yugi, listen, though, that's not the point. The point is that Jonouchi has this idea in his head that he's going to take the blame for the arson to get my dad off your back."

"He realizes that he could be arrested for that, right? Especially if they find out he was lying later on down the road. Or just for confessing in the first place," he huffed. "Fuck knows his dad won't help him get out of that if he ends up being arrested and all that. He'd probably be happy to have him taken off his hands."

Anzu shook her head, brown hair glinting slightly in the sunlight from the window. "That doesn't really matter. His dad doesn't really have a say on anything as it is. The apartment is technically in his mom's name. The lease was signed by her," she commented, making Yugi stiffen in surprise, blue-violet eyes widening drastically. "So he has no say whatsoever if something happens as far as that goes. He can't claim he's the legal adult over Jonouchi because he's living under his mom's roof, not his. And no one knows where she is. After Shizuka was found…"

He grimaced, the image of her freshly decapitated body forming in his mind again. He remembered all of the blood, the way he'd stepped into the room and spotted it like a fountain, how it had seemed to stretch further than the confines of the room around them and into the building itself. He shook it off and looked at her more pointedly.

"The bigger point is that he has the idea that he needs to cover for you. And I don't know where he came up with that idea but he doesn't need to turn himself in for arson when it could mean he'd be behind bars for the better part of his life, Yugi."

The smaller teen shook his head, feeling oddly flustered now. "I understand that, Anzu," he answered in a more annoyed tone. "And I get it. I'm not saying that it isn't true. I'm just… I don't get where he got the idea that he needs to do that. I don't understand why he thinks that I need him to do that of all things. I can handle your dad and this whole thing on my own."

It was said for the benefit of the wolf hiding in the closet more than it was for the brunette. But his best friend looked incredibly relieved and Yugi was almost winded at the sight. He wondered how much it was that she had feared the opposite and his stomach clenched at the thought. How long had she been puzzling over the best way to tell him about it all? How long had she known about the fact that her dad had turned his sights on him or that Jonouchi was planning to tell the police otherwise? How was it that she had managed to keep it a secret like that as it was?

He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled through his lips and reached up to run his fingers through his hair, a sense of clarity coming over him. "He wouldn't go to the police station," he realized quietly, looking over at her with widened eyes. "Jonouchi wouldn't go to the police station to tell them that he's the one who set the building on fire, or that he set the woods on fire either. He'd write a letter or send it in a text or something like that. Jonouchi isn't that stupid."

"Yeah, but Yugi, that's not logical. You realize that if he gets caught—"

Yugi shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair again. "I think that's the point, Anzu," he hissed at her. Now his eyes did flicker towards the closet, because he swore he heard Yami moving in there, perhaps simply shifting his weight or settling into a comfortable position on the floor. He quickly looked away again, facing her completely and hoping to the gods that she had noticed his momentary distraction. "He wouldn't get caught. Because he has an escape now."

She blinked at him, confused as she tilted her head and considered him for a moment. She searched his face for a hint of what he could possibly mean, bewildered and unsure of herself. Then she glanced at the door beyond his shoulder and back to him slowly. There was no sense of recognition in her eyes until he tilted his head slowly and moved his lips enough to mouth, "Wolf".

Saying the word felt dirty to him for some reason. Maybe it was simply because of how removed she truly was from the situation. She did not have to run around on four legs in a dog's pelt once every month. She didn't have to worry about balancing out her wolf instincts with her human ones. She didn't have to worry about such a thing in the slightest.

Her blue eyes widened and she grimaced as she looked at him. "You honestly think he would run into the woods after he did that?" she asked quietly. "They'd be searching for him for a while if that was the case…"

Yugi nodded slightly. "I think it's the perfect excuse for him to do it." He paused and shook his head, looking away. "He doesn't like being a person, Anzu. I've seen him sometimes. He hates going to school and he hates having to deal with people. He hates keeping it a secret. He hates not being able to flaunt it. He… He's a lot happier as a wolf than he ever was a person."

"You really think that?"

"If you'd seen him as a wolf, you'd feel that same way, Anzu. You'd see it and you'd wonder why it is that he was ever miserable enough to join a gang in middle school or why he has such trouble giving a crap about school. You'd be amazed by how different he is when he's a wolf. He's… He spends more time with the pack than he ever does at school or anything like that anymore. He loves it there at the camp. He loves being able to run around so freely."

He loves the control. And he loves the fact that, just for once, no one looks down on him for being the only child left in a self-destructing family relationship where the abuse is obvious and the pain is always on his face. Yugi drew in a deep breath, shaking his head and looking briefly at the closet again. He wondered if Yami felt similar, if that was why he ran so often as a wolf rather than a person. He wondered if that was why the other male was so ready to wear his pelt instead of his human skin.

"I think, honestly, it's one of the best things for him." He hesitated when he saw the way her eyes sharpened and narrowed at him. For a moment he could not read the frost in her eyes, then he sighed and shook his head. "I don't mean for even a second that he should pretend that he committed arson to protect me. But I do think that if he ran away, it would do him a lot better than any living situation he has with that bastard dad of his."

Yami was moving again, he realized. And his head snapped immediately towards the source of it now, listening. The action was so instinctual that he forgot her presence there and took a step towards it. But the other wolf had long since stilled and Yugi furrowed his brows as he considered the silence there now. He frowned and tilted his head, listening for a moment longer. But Yami did not move and he seemed almost not to be there any longer but for the softest sound of a heartbeat behind the metal. He realized slowly, feeling almost cold, that the other wolf was almost completely silent to him beyond this small trace of sound.

"Yugi?" Anzu whispered, voice growing somewhat alarmed and distressed. The smaller teen blinked, head snapping towards her again. She was staring at him in such acute horror and bewilderment that he glanced over his shoulder at the door, truly expecting to see that their parents had opened it and were staring at them pointedly. He expected them to be listening in and waiting for a moment to leap into the conversation to tell him he'd been caught. But there was nothing there and, as he turned back, his heart leaped into his throat.

Oh fuck.

"I, uh…" He hesitated for a moment, then reached up to rub at his scalp with his nails uncomfortably. He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled sharply. "Yami is hiding in the closet."

She blinked. Then she blinked again. Her eyes grew thrice their regular size. Then her head snapped towards the metal unit. Yugi scratched angrily at his scalp, the force enough to draw tears into his eyes. And the sensation was almost enough to exhaust him. He frowned and drew in a deep breath, shaking his head slightly and swallowing hard. "Yami is…?" she repeated, unsure of what more to do or say. "W-why is he…? W-when did he…?"

Yugi nearly groaned. He'd only mentioned Yami to them in passing, saying that he was at the camp and would be staying there… "He's…staying here with me again for a while." He hesitated, then glanced over his shoulder. He listened for noise but could not catch anything beyond his door and so drew in a deep breath as he turned back. "And I didn't want your dad to see him so he's…hiding in the closet."

She blinked at him in surprise again, then looked at the metal for a long moment. She wished for a brief second that she could see anything in there. But there was not even the slightest of movements or the smallest sign that he was truly in there. She wondered briefly—hopefully, if she were honest with herself—if Yugi were just joking and the other was not truly there.

"That's… Oh…"

Yugi looked at the carpet and rubbed at the back of his head again, letting out a deep sigh. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting to tell you about him being here to begin with." He turned to the closet door but he apparently could not see where the other male was either. "And I figured he'd be happier hiding in there anyways. It's more secluded and all that."

Anzu blinked but did not look over. And, as she stared at the shadows in the closet, she nearly screamed. In an instant something had shifted. And suddenly she was looking at two brightly glowing crimson orbs. She sprang like a cat, reaching up and biting at the back of her wrist anxiously. The movement made Yugi bristle, his head snapping in that direction. But he relaxed again when he saw the two eyes peering back at them. His entire body lost whatever tension it had possessed and he nearly slumped over in relief.

"Don't do that," he muttered, voice a gentle reprimand but the other wolf merely snorted as he turned away again entirely. Yugi was shaken by the absence of the glowing red eyes but then he heard him moving about to settle and wondered if his night terror had woken him… He turned back to the brunette, surprised by the way her other hand was pressed into her chest and she still looked so terribly horrified. "Relax, Anzu. He won't bite."

She snorted, turning on him with a furious expression. "You should have warned me," she spat, though she stopped short of her anger when she remembered the reason the door was shut behind the smaller teen as it was. She drew in a long, deep breath and shook her head sharply, flustered and annoyed. "Jesus, Yugi, I wasn't expecting that."

"I wasn't either," he admitted awkwardly. "I thought he would have stayed hidden while you were here instead of coming to the door like that. Uh…"

He wondered when he had started talking about Yami as if he were a dog and not a human. But then he remembered he wasn't human but for the time that he wasn't a wolf and the thought made him feel flustered. Yugi ran a hand through his hair, feeling stupid for his thoughts and sighing under his breath as he turned his head briefly towards the closet. He was more than a wolf or a human, however, seeing as he was able to change between forms with such ease. And so he shrugged it off and ignored the way he felt sick to his stomach at the thought that he could not define him as either and yet both at once.

Yugi had not considered it in a long time, he realized. He had not referred to Yami as more than a wolf or a teenage boy in so long that it was almost shocking to think about it now. So he drew in a deep breath, ran his hands through his hair, and frowned pointedly.

"Anyways, my point is, I wouldn't be surprised if Jonouchi planned to tell them that he did it and then ran off into the woods to live with the pack." He glanced at the closet. If Yami were to have DNA samples taken, most likely they'd considered that it was somehow contaminated or that the DNA had been swapped at some point. It would be the second time that it happened that someone might become suspicious. Though he doubted anyone might come up with the conclusion of his being a werewolf.

It seemed ridiculous that anyone would ever think that…

"It would make sense." She paused. "Especially if he's half as happy as you said he is when he's there with them."

Yugi shook his head. "I can't even describe how happy he is when he's there in the camp, Anzu. It's insane. You wouldn't even think he's the same guy," he muttered. But his eyes flickered to the closet briefly. "Yami has seen it too. And Jonouchi seems to really like being around him too so…"

The brunette blinked in surprise. That was different. The last time they had discussed Yami when Yugi wasn't around, the blond had said he'd punch his lights out for hurting Yugi like he had. But then, he was always full of hot air when it came to things like that. And Anzu would never have been surprised if he had changed his mind at a second's notice due to being too shocked or possibly even intimidated by the other's appearance in front of him again. Jonouchi may have been reckless at times, but she had the feeling that being bitten had given him a better idea of what fights he could and couldn't pick if he wanted to survive to see another day.

In front of her, Yugi blinked and tilted his head. She couldn't tell if he was listening for something, but if he was she guessed it had to do with Yami moving around in the closet. But then his eyes shot back to hers as he mumbled, "Did they find out who it was that was killed at school?"

She blinked, confused, and then shook her head. "No. The body is so badly damaged they don't even know if it's male or female." She paused, looking at the door of the closet again. She had the sudden impulse to pull the handle and open it, to see if Yami really was there, just because the shock of the thought made her almost shaky with incredulity. "But they do know that the heart and the brain are missing. They found that out immediately. Everything else actually seems to be left there…"

Yugi looked as if he might puke at any moment. "Great," he muttered. "Then that's another dead body that they'll probably take a couple of days to identify. And then maybe your dad will hear about how everyone else thought I was killing my classmates and he'll try to arrest me on charge of word to mouth."

The brunette shook her head. "He already knows about that."

"Oh great. That's even better."

"He doesn't plan to do anything to you, Yugi. He just wants to know who committed the arson so that we can put it to rest. As far as jail time and all that… Well that's really inevitable, but…" She trailed off and shook her head. "Look, all of us know that you didn't do it. And it was Fuwa who set that restaurant on fire. But you can't exactly go around saying, 'Oh, hey, yeah, a famous Honshu celebrity came to meet me because I'm a werewolf, then tried to kill me so me and my friends killed him instead'."

He blinked at her. Abruptly his head snapped towards the closet again. Yami had killed him. Yami had ripped his throat out. And Yugi was afraid to ask if he had done more with the body than that. Considering his starvation, he would not have thought twice about it should he have been forced to eat Fuwa's broken body as well. But then, surely he had known the boars to be more nutritious. And that would have made him eat them before he ever would have turned his sights on the other male, right? That was a truth for hungry canines, wasn't it?

His heart was shaking in his chest.

Gods, he hoped that was true.

Yugi turned back to her after a moment. "No, and I can't exactly explain what he was doing in Domino City either, or why he decided to hang out with us. Plenty of people could place us with him should anyone ever decide to really investigate what happened to him." But he had no idea if anyone had found that charred up body—for, if Yami had not eaten it, the explosion should have done well to mutilate it beyond recognition—and he did remember the searches that had happened for all of a few days. But the cold weather and the snow had put those to an end before they had ever truly begun in the first place.

Yugi had never been so thankful for erratic and harsh weather patterns before in his entire life.

"Not to mention his wife," Anzu muttered. "I'm amazed no one has found the body…"

He cringed, thinking briefly of the way Yami had decapitated her, of the way she'd shocked him even as he'd done so. He was dizzy with the thought, feeling almost sick with the thought. And then he turned his head and looked over his shoulder towards the door and back. How many people were dead that they hadn't found? There was Ryota, Haga and Ryuzaki, Fuwa and Aileen… No one had reported finding the nurse's frozen body in the lake yet…

He drew in a deep breath. "Yeah, that's a stroke of luck I don't think we'll have again anytime soon," he commented reluctantly. What had happened to their bodies? He imagined the first three had to be frozen in the snow. But had Fuwa been eaten by another starving predator of any kind? And Aileen and that tigress's body…

He shuddered.

"What did you tell my dad about the arson incident anyways, Yugi?"

He blinked and looked at her again, almost startled to hear the question. Then his eyes flickered towards the closet door and back slowly. His eyes darkened briefly as he muttered, "I said that I was helping someone out at a motel both days, that they'd gotten hurt and I went to help them. I said that I thought that they were most likely getting hurt by some abusive ex-lover that had followed them to Japan." He narrowed his eyes. "I didn't tell him any names because I said that he didn't want to give me a name to begin with and it was probably just an alias of some kind."

She nodded and sighed, hesitantly glancing at the closet now as well. "You know, my dad wanted me to wear a wire when I talked to you about the body," she said quietly, flinching when he looked at her with wide, horrified eyes. "I refused, obviously, but I just wanted you to be aware that he's pretty serious about looking into you as being he arsonist."

Yugi blinked and tilted his head with a slight frown. What was it that he was supposed to say to her? What he wanted to say was that he hated her father for even considering it. What the fuck was wrong with him to believe that something had changed so drastically in his eyes? Yugi had been a good kid growing up, so why was it that he had the assumption that he should be the one to do such a thing? It was ridiculous to think such a thing about the kid who his daughter had all but fallen in love with.

He furrowed his brows and glanced towards the closet again. Yami was not moving around anymore and he swore he must have been sleeping by then. It was almost bewildering to him that something could have changed so drastically that he might turn his eyes on him in a more malicious manner. It was frustrating to consider, but he also realized that he himself had not done too well to make himself look better.

Mazaki had not been wrong in the various things he'd said to his mom the last time they'd been together. He had changed a lot of his behavior. He was skipping school at times. He was no longer hanging out with his friends as often. He had overdosed on medication when he was younger. He had gone to the hospital multiple times asking his mom to raise the dosage or allowing her to simply do so for him.

He supposed it was plenty of reason to simply point the finger at him. And, when he glanced at the closet again, he knew for a fact that he himself would have jumped at the chance of pulling him into the station should he have found that he was hiding someone in his own closet. He wondered if his mother would let it slip that his friend had come back, that Yami was sharing his room and sleeping with him at times. He wondered, feeling sick, what might happen if she should tell him. If Mazaki heard that there was someone there who he had claimed to be his alibi…

"You don't think he's trying to pin more on me than that?" he asked slowly, turning back to her with hardened eyes. He felt sick but he could feel it. And she flinched when their eyes locked for that brief second. "I have the feeling that he wants to pin a lot more on me than just that."

She swallowed hard and shook her head, crossing her arms and looking at the ground. "Yeah," she said quietly, eyes melancholic as she looked back at him from beneath her lashes. "I do. I think he wants to get a lot of pressure off his back and he's looking at you because of the way some of our classmates have been saying that you were involved with killing some of those people like that."

Yugi shook his head and reached up to scratch at his scalp unhappily. "I don't think for even a moment that your dad isn't looking at it as a way to get them off his back. I understand that well enough. I just… It's weird that he thinks it would be me to do it."

Her face seemed to collapse and his head turned towards her more pointedly now. She was still staring at the ground with a grimace, shaking her head unhappily. "I…" She drew in a deep breath, then exhaled loudly and shook her head even more pointedly. "He's homophobic, Yugi."

The statement made no sense to him at first. He had never considered himself homosexual at any rate, though the words made him blink and slowly tilt his chin up with widened eyes. His eyes shot to the closet again and his voice grew furious as he lowered it and curled his lip back slowly. "You told him about that?" he asked quietly, looking back at her with darkened eyes. He couldn't bring himself to put the situation into words in any manner and it made him feel sick and dizzy for a moment. "And then the fact that I said that I think it was my friend's 'partner' to attack him…"

Anzu nodded. "I think he's disgusted and it's enough to make him willing to pin it on you, Yugi." She hesitated. "Although, I think that you're not doing yourself any favors right now. He's pretty adamant and you've been acting out as far as school and things like that go. He's not impressed with it and he's pretty sure that makes it likely that you could be a suspect for the things going on. It seems more like something that would happen with someone who was acting out and starting to do things like killing and stuff."

"That's profiling with stereotypes," Yugi answered with a roll of his eyes. "And I don't think you could actually say that with certainty for every serial killer or rapist or anything like that. And besides that, he knows me. He knows better than to think that. He just wants someone to put the guilt on so that he can look good in media again."

Anzu scowled at him. "I get that my dad isn't perfect, okay? But that doesn't mean that you have to be so hostile about it," she snapped. "It's not like there's any proof about you being there in the first place and I don't think that there's anything to put you at the scene as it is. The restaurant is so charred there's literally no evidence there to be found. It's just because you weren't there with us at the station when we reported it that he even considers you as a suspect to begin with. So…"

He shook his head at her, eyes flashing. "I understand that, Anzu. My problem is the fact that he apparently has his sights set on me because of the fact that you and I aren't dating," he hissed. "So he's actually trying to pin this on me because of the fact that you and I aren't going to give him grandkids. Do you not get how fucked up that is?"

"I agree that it's fucked up, Yugi. I know it is. And I don't agree with him at all. But you are acting strange, okay? He's not wrong about that. You don't get it. You're cutting classes, the bodies are all classmates, two days that you're not with us and someone catches trees and then a restaurant on fire later. It's suspicious."

"I know that. Don't talk to me like I'm stupid. I understand that—"

"Then why are you acting like such an ass?"

"I don't know if you realize what would happen if he did somehow find a way to pin this whole thing on me. I go to jail, I get locked up in a prison, and every full moon I change into a wolf, Anzu. How many of them do you think are going to survive if that happens?"

The brunette froze in place in front of him, the hissed question enough to make her startle. Then her eyes shot to the closet and back to him, her mouth dry as she whispered, "You don't think that Yami would be your alibi if you asked him?"

Yugi shook his head, voice firm as he answered, "No, I'm not going to ask him. He doesn't need to be involved in this."

"But that's who you were saying was the one at the motel, right? You were saying that Yami was the one who needed help, right? And I don't think that you should have to go through this alone if he's willing to be your alibi as it is, Yugi. I don't think that he would mind doing that or—"

The smaller teen snarled low under his breath. "He's not going to do it. I'm not going to ask him to."

"Why not? Why wouldn't you—?"

"How is he supposed to explain the lack of paperwork that says that he exists? Anzu, he's a fucking werewolf whose basically been living out in the mountains for years. I don't think he's ever actually been around people for more than a few minutes at the most. You aren't thinking about this in a logical way. He has no birth certificate, he has no history to be tracked by, no one has ever actually seen him before because of the fact that he's never been around them before."

But, in reality, Yugi was suddenly struck with fear. He realized, feeling sick, that it was more than the idea that Yami would be noticed as nonexistent. It was the fact that he had no idea whether or not one of the police might be involved in the labs underground. And, even if they were not, if Yami were put on camera or in the newspaper as being an unknown identity of any kind, they would have a picture of him. And that would make it easier for the people underground in that lab to discover him, to plan to find and attack him and kidnap him all over again. That would make it easier for them to simply find a former victim to be returned to their clutches. They would not think twice, he was sure, in the fact that they would be able to secure him in any manner. And, as Yami had said formerly, none of them would have ever forgotten him because they had all known him…

Yugi did not like the implications in any manner and he would not dwell on them now, but it was enough to make him want to puke regardless. He tipped his chin up, speaking in a lower tone. "I'm not risking it. Yami might agree with you but I'm not going to risk it. Yami isn't technically a person as far as anyone knows. And he's not healthy enough to deal with anything that might happen later."

Anzu stared at him for a long time, then drew in a deep breath and sighed softly. Her eyes were on the closet door again. She wondered briefly if that was why he did not come out now. Yugi had told her that he was in there; so why would he have not bothered to come out again? But she also remembered that their parents were behind that door, that his mom and her father were most likely trying to find a way to listen in. And, should they have been brave enough to open the door and come inside, they would spot the red-eyed teen.

And then what were they meant to do?

"So what are you going to do then?"

Yugi shook his head slowly. "I don't know. But I know that I'm not going to ask Yami to be my alibi. And I need to convince Jonouchi not to do something as stupid as admitting to that and running off as a wolf to live in the woods. I don't think he's fully aware of all the implications that doing that would mean for him."

The brunette was still staring at the closet door. She was trying to find even the smallest hint of movement behind the metal and not a single noise was to be found. She swallowed hard and looked down again, sighing softly and shaking her head. "Do you honestly think that he would just do that without thinking it through?" she asked quietly, but they both knew the answer to that question. Jonouchi was as loyal as they came, and he sometimes did things impulsively without considering the backlash that would come to him. "I mean…"

The small teen shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. "He'd do it. We both know that. And I don't want him to do that. If your dad really thinks it's me to begin with, I don't know if he'd believe it when Jonouchi told them that. Besides, he was at the police station that night with you guys when you were talking about the restaurant."

"It wouldn't take much for him to change his story and make it seem like he lied the first time." She hesitated. "Especially because I'm pretty sure Honda would back him up if that was what was necessary for him. I wouldn't be surprised if he did that."

Yugi blinked and stared at her, stunned by the very idea before tilting his head and nodding slowly with a small grimace. His eyes flickered to the closet and back and he reached up to run his fingers through his hair. His gaze had grown increasingly sharp and he was not amused in the slightest by the way that the idea struck him. It was perhaps the most honest thing that she'd said the entire time, because he knew without a doubt that Honda would back Jonouchi up if that was what he truly wanted.

He drew in a deep breath and glanced at the carpet with a grimace. "No, I could see him doing that. It wouldn't surprise me at all." He sighed and shook his head, closing his eyes. "It's not even really a question at this rate. He'd do it and then they'd both be in trouble…"

"Yeah…" And Honda didn't have a reason to want to simply live in the woods like Jonouchi might have. His parents adored their only child and they would do anything and everything for him. If he were to say that, they would then try their hardest to get him off the hook. There was no way that they would allow him to go to jail or anything of that manner. Although, most likely, for the time being he would be sent to juvenile detention and then released early. Being an accomplice was hardly as terrible as being the one to actually commit the crime…

And yet, Yugi had to wonder what it was that Obelisk might have been hinting at before. He'd told him to trust in his ability to help him. He had told him that he would be able to change things, to save Yugi from such a verdict of being guilty. He had not had much faith in what the deity had said, but now he had to be curious. It was bewildering to him to think otherwise should that be the case. He had no idea what it was that was meant to help him that the other wolf could possibly do. It seemed odd to even place the slightest sliver of belief in him. It was bewildering to even consider that to begin with.

And he wondered if his original idea that perhaps Obelisk would simply kill Anzu's father had not been too far off. But he'd told him to believe in his ability as a god and it was not something that he could entirely stop himself. It was odd and sickening, almost disturbing in the way that his heart felt as if it might burst within his chest. He licked his lips and shook his head, closing his eyes tightly and wondering at the thought of what the deity could possibly do.

At least Morrigan could change forms and—

His eyes snapped open, his mouth dry with horror. The body at the school no longer had a heart or a brain. And he remembered that Yami had told him that the hellhound was capable of changing shapes as long as they were able to devour the heart and brain of the victim in question. That was how it was that Morrigan was capable of changing shapes, was it not? He drew in a deep breath, nearly sickened by the thought, and he wanted to vomit as he considered it.

Had she been the one to do this? Had she killed them in order to take that form on? And then what? Would there be evidence planted elsewhere? Would she turn their eyes on someone else entirely? He had no idea what he was meant to expect should that be the case of what had come to happen.

---

Yugi drew in a deep breath, unsure of what more to do or say at the moment. Anzu and her father had finally left him and Yami was seated with him on the bed again, watching the TV as it droned on about the killing and the body they'd recovered. But they still could not find a way to properly identify them, as the damage was so extensive that it was almost overwhelming. The police had made the official statement that the body had been burned violently and so trace DNA was all but lost to them now. He drew in a deep breath, wondering at the thought, and then turned to the other boy beside him.

"Obelisk told me that I should trust him to get rid of the problem when it came down to what was going on with Mazaki," he said quietly, without preamble. Yami blinked and slowly turned his head to regard him curiously now. "And you said that the hellhounds can change form as long as they eat the heart and brain of a certain animal or person."

The taller teen shook his head slowly. "No, that is not what I told you," he answered calmly. "What I told you before was that the Harbingers can do such a thing when they are healthy and stable enough and have eaten the heart and brain of the subject in question. Not all hellhounds can do such a thing. It would cause far too much mayhem if they were all capable of it."

Yugi grimaced. "You don't really seem to have much of a positive opinion about the hellhounds as it is, you know?"

Yami blinked and narrowed his eyes, then reached up to run his fingers through his hair unhappily.

Yugi drew in a deep breath, then exhaled uncomfortably as they looked at one another. "Okay, so I got that detail wrong. But you did say that they could change forms if they had eaten the brain and heart of whatever they wanted to change into, right?" he reminded him, shaking his head slightly and swallowing hard. "Yami, I need to know what you think the odds are that Obelisk and Morrigan are working to actually get rid of this issue."

He blinked, brows rising drastically, and then tilted his head slowly and frowned at him visibly. "You don't honestly think that Morrigan has eaten this child in order to take on their form and help to deter the attention from you?" he said slowly, voice cloaked in confusion for a long moment before he lowered his eyes and considered the comforter. He blinked again, red eyes growing distant for a brief second before he looked back at Yugi with a curious expression on his face. "You think that it's possible they might have done that?"

Yugi bristled, first with indignation and then with slight trickles of growing fear. "I think, considering the fact that they've both helped me in the time that you were gone…" He fell silent for a moment, feeling almost choked by the very concept, and then swallowed hard and looked away with a deep breath. "I think that it's entirely possible that they might have done that. And that's why I'm scared, Yami. Because, what if that is what they decided to do?"

The taller teen was quiet for a long handful of moments, thinking hard about the concept of which Yugi was truly speaking about. If that was truly possible then the gods themselves were all working to help Atem despite differing subspecies…

"I do not know." Yami stared at the screen as a series of words began to ribbon across the bottom there, scrolling slowly but surely. He frowned and tilted his head, but the words seemed almost impossible to understand, his heart in his throat for a moment. If that were possible… He growled low in his throat and shook his head firmly. "I cannot say that it is impossible to consider. They are siblings, after all. I am sure that they might have all been able to do such a thing in order to save you or whatever course within the future they might be considering now."

Yugi swallowed hard. "Do you think that the Harbinger I'll have to fight…?"

The other teen was silent for a long minute and a half, then turned his head and considered him pointedly. "I think that, as you are immortal and capable of coming back to life and have the ability to heal so rapidly as well and can bite and infect someone else, they will have all three strengths that the gods themselves possess as well," he stated softly. His eyes had grown darker than ever now, pointedly so, and he seemed almost to want nothing more than to lean forward and bite the smaller teen. It was bewildering to see such an expression of such open anger upon the other boy's face like this. "I believe that, since you can do what Ra or Slifer or Obelisk are capable of, the Harbinger in question will be able to do the same as Morrigan or Skoll or Hati."

"And that would be what?" he said slowly, swallowing hard. "Shape-shifting and healing from drinking blood and spreading the disease when they bite someone, right?"

Yami nodded slightly, shortly. "Noah could only perform one. I could sense the power in him and it was not so immense as what you would feel upon coming across Morrigan, even in those dreams. She could have cloaked him in her aura and broken him in half." He was silent for a moment. "Most of the Harbingers of today are only capable of one instead of all three. It is because you have been born and live now that any of them are capable of such a thing."

"So you think that they'll be able to do all three things then…?"

His red eyes flashed. "Seeing as Valon is Morrigan's son, I don't doubt that he is capable of all three abilities should he so desire. I don't think that he would be incapable of doing any of them, truthfully."

Yugi shivered. "His dad is Hati."

Yami blinked and slowly turned his head, staring at him with burning eyes. "Excuse me? Both of his parents are gods?" he demanded in a sharp, curt tone. He was infuriated as they looked at one another, his face twisting up into a hideous scowl. "The two of them created him? Two gods created a Harbinger that could potentially wreak havoc if he should ever feel truly triggered and he's borne of both of them?"

The smaller teen flinched, startled by his ferocity. "I—y-yeah? I'm pretty sure that's what Morrigan said before. I thought…" He hesitated, unsure of himself now. She had said that before, hadn't she? That Valon and Kris were the results of their copulation? "Why are you so worried about it? You know that I can handle it…"

His red eyes flickered across his and then he tilted his head and snorted loudly. "I do not think that anyone would truly know how to handle a wolf born because of the union of two gods, Yugi. I don't even think that Slifer or Obelisk would understand what to do with this situation if they were in your place."

Yugi shook his head, flustered as he looked him over. Then he drew in a deep breath, clearing his throat and feeling sick for a long moment. "You think that I'm not going to be able to handle it by myself?" he asked quietly, growing more and more uncertain of himself as they stared at each other. Yami blinked and narrowed his gaze, seemingly almost stunned by the weight of such a question.

"I think that it will be a lot harder than you're willing to acknowledge right now."

The small teen stared at him pointedly, for what felt like hours in truth, and then narrowed his eyes into slits as they looked at one another. They considered each other, then he tilted his head and looked at the screen where the messages remained scrolling across the bottom with rather urgent alerts. The curfew was going to be tightened, brought on an hour earlier than it had been before.

"Did you know that there are two Pure-Bloods?" he replied abruptly, cutting him off before he could bother to open his mouth again. Then he blinked and shook his head, frowning as he saw Yami blink in puzzlement at the statement. "And there are two Harbingers?"

The taller teen blinked again and tilted his head slowly, bewildered by the question. Then he furrowed his brows, tilted his head further, and then narrowed his eyes and moved to sit up straighter. "There are two of them?" he asked softly, then tilted his chin up slightly as he looked at the other male slowly. "Any idea who the second Atem is then?"

Yugi gave him a grin which seemed to underline his mild dissatisfaction. He leaned a little closer, his breath all but tickling his lips when murmured, "I have an idea, but I don't know entirely. And I don't think it would be smart for me to say that I think it's them if it turns out that I'm wrong, understand?"

Yami was silent, red eyes boring into his, and then he smirked slightly and showed him his bright white canines, the sharp teeth brilliant where they pressed softly against his lips. "I wouldn't know that kind of feeling. I just know that you are Code Name Atem," he stated simply. "And I do not have any ideas as to who the other two might be in this game of chess the gods are playing."

The small teen bit his lip and forced himself to pull away, not in the least surprised to see the smallest hint of relief within the other's dark eyes. "I think Morrigan said that his sister was born from her and Hati too. But she's a lot younger than him so I don't know for sure if she would really be the second Harbinger…"

Yami shook his head. "It is rather unlikely," he stated with a shrug. And then his eyes flickered away to the television screen again. "And, should she not be the Harbinger you're meant to fight, who do you suppose it will be?"

Yugi was quiet for a long time, then lowered his eyes and drew in a deep breath. "I think they're probably a lot more reckless than Valon or his sister Kris." He glanced at Yami sideways now. "But I don't know who it might be besides them. And I don't think the gods would just let another one be born just for the sake of the war happening, right?"

The taller teen blinked, staring at the screen pointedly. "I do not believe so, no. But you would be surprised what the gods have done to allow themselves to rectify the many issues they once caused." He was quiet now, staring as his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched tightly. When he spoke again, it was through his teeth. "But then, I do not know that I trust them to begin with. Ra has all but abandoned you. Slifer and Obelisk are waiting for me to become properly acquainted with the pack again. I do not think that they will remain within the camp for long after I do such a thing. I think once they begin to believe in and follow me as their beta, both of them will neglect to help much more."

The smaller boy bristled, unnerved by the idea. But it made sense and he did not know why it was that he had never considered that. He had thought of the many times that the deities might end up coming together to kill him and yet he had not thought that maybe they would step back and let him self-destruct without further influence on their behalf? He drew in a deep breath, then looked down at the floor again.

"You think they'll just leave like that?"

Yami blinked. "Yes. Why would they remain?"

"I don't know…I guess I was just hopeful that maybe they wouldn't just…throw me in the lions' den like that or something…" He exhaled loudly and reached up to run his hands through his hair. He had the smallest urge to reach down and run his fingers over his choker but he realized as well that he would not stop there. He would pull on it and tug until he all but crushed his own windpipe. He was well aware of that problem. And so he turned back to Yami, a new thought forming in his head as he blinked and tilted his head. "You used to have a collar."

Yami turned back to him with a bemused expression.

"It had a metal plate or something on it. You only had it the first couple of times I saw you, but I remember it was there. What was…?"

The taller boy blinked, startled, and thought for a moment or two on what he might mean. Then he grimaced and looked away, turning immediately back to the television screen in front of him with a snarl bubbling its way up his throat. "It was my cage mate's," he said reluctantly. "I took it when he died."

Yugi blinked wide, horrified eyes, then looked away again with a heat burning under his cheeks. His neck felt entirely too hot and his mouth was dry as he tried his hardest not to think too hard about such an implication. And it made him feel dizzy as he swallowed hard and reconsidered the words that had left his mouth. He drew in a deep breath, then exhaled again with a small shake of his head.

"Okay." He wondered again what it might have been that existed between them. Was it strictly platonic? Yami had said he'd had a mate at some point and yet… "I'm sorry."

"For what? Asking a question?" he scoffed. "It's not as if it's a bad thing to do so."

Yugi stared pointedly at the screen in front of him. "No, but I made you think about it and I didn't want to hurt you like that. So I apologize, Yami. I never should have…" He shrugged after a moment, when he could no longer find any words. Then he let out a soft sigh and tilted his head with a grimace. "I shouldn't have asked you about it."

"You were curious. I cannot fault you for that."

But Yugi wished he would have told him to simply shut up and left it like that. It hurt to even consider the way that things might have grown so upsetting to begin with. He had not considered the fact that perhaps Yami might be too aggrieved to even think to tell him such a thing as it was. He had never even thought about how it might affect the other boy to think back on such a thing, how it might rile his temper or pick raw a wound that clearly had failed to heal.

So he waited for another thirty minutes, the sound of the TV the most diligent to be heard for the moment. And then he drew in a deep breath, narrowed his eyes, and waited until the moment that the movie went to a commercial break. Yami had not spoken in that time, either, seemingly all but lifeless in his spot beside him. It had made him fearful to so much as glance in his direction for a long while.

"I think…" He got to his feet after a long moment, feeling almost sick to his stomach for a brief second. "I think that I need to burn off some energy."

Yami blinked and turned his head, tipping it up towards him in surprise before he frowned and narrowed his eyes. He grimaced after a moment when Yugi didn't look at him, getting to his feet and dusting himself off as if he expected something to be on him. In the corner of his eye, Yugi saw him draw in a deep breath, licking his lips, and frown uncertainly for a moment. "A run?" he asked softly.

Yugi hesitated, for a moment all but bewildered, and then slowly looked at him. The hesitance in his expression seemed to all but destroy him as Yami stared up at him unblinkingly. He offered him a strained smile, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I think it would be a good idea for me to take a run." He opened and closed his mouth after a moment, clearing his throat again. "Did you, uh…want to come with me…?"

The taller teen blinked, unsure of whether to take this invitation for anything truthful or to simply decline. But he was restless as the other boy was, feeling almost sick as he looked at him. And there was a part of him that spoke urgently of the need to stay at his side. There was a small part of him that was desperate to make him pay attention, to have him understand that it was imperative that Yugi not go on his own. The thought was bewildering to him, something that nearly burned him as they looked at one another. It was shocking to him just how easily he accepted this thought. He had never quite been one to think that the smaller teen might require his presence in any way.

Yugi was doing well enough to have survived on his own like this. So why was it that he had such a feeling now? It made no sense to him. But the urging refused to quiet and so he nodded and got to his feet. "I would like to, yes," he answered quietly, some part of him unsure of what more there was that could be said or done. Then he watched as Yugi studied him, smiled slightly, and made his way to the window.

---

How about we play a game?

The black wolf paused in his trek at his side, curious and puzzled as he raised his lowered head to regard him curiously. A game? he repeated softly, tilting his head. What kind of game?

A hunting game, Yugi announced, turning to him with what should have been a bright grin of amusement but with eyes that he knew had to have seemed disheartened. He flicked his tongue over his nose and turned away again. Yami seemed more or less upset about something or other. And he could not help but wonder if it had to do with his own question from earlier. It would not have surprised him in the slightest to realize such a thing. And it broke his heart to think that it would remain with the other wolf even as they moved about in the forest like this. Yami should have been happier now that he was there amongst the trees… We'll see who can catch the most prey in the hour. How about that?

Yami flicked his ears back and forth for a moment, as if he were buying himself time to answer. Then he looked about them almost awkwardly. A long minute passed before he drew his lips back slightly to show his teeth and finally he turned away again. That might be nice. A hunt sounds like a good idea, he said quietly, almost as if he were relenting to Yugi's will rather than truly excited by the thought. Where is the rendezvous point?

Yugi blinked and paused, startled by the question. Then he blinked, flicking his ears, and offered him what would have been a small smile had he been human. He wagged his tail instead and studied his face for a moment. It'll be the cavern I kept you in when you were still feral, okay? Unless you want to meet somewhere else?

The larger wolf did not so much as blink, instead nodding and turning with his ears pricked forward. Very well. I will take prey to the west and you take them within this area. Agreed? he asked, though he did not wait for a response. He turned away from him entirely, taking off in a brisk trot that put Yugi's own fast walk to shame. The black wolf was gone in a handful of minutes, far from his sight before he could even think straight. He did not once glance back at him, and Yugi wondered if perhaps he was still upset with him in some manner. It was the only thing he could think of that would cause such a curt and despondent attitude in the other male.

Yugi was lazy in his stride when he began to move about the trees again. The shadows were soft where they fell across the snow in front of him and the small teen was happy to see the way the gray and light blue came in strips along his muzzle. He flicked his ears a few times and padded forward several paces with his tail all but wagging. He blinked and lowered his nose to the snow, sniffing for a moment. He had not considered how far they had gone into the forest, how close they still were to the city itself, but he could hear a car rather loudly and it made him falter. He shook himself out and wandered forward again, eyes glinting as he looked about the trees for a moment.

He tilted his head and considered the area around him, glancing back only towards the trees that parted over his shoulder a mile or so further and showed the smallest strip of asphalt resting there before the houses in question. He shivered and turned away, unnerved, and moved further into the trees as if they might shelter him beneath their bare haven. He flicked his ears and shook his head slowly, his eyes moving about the trees for a moment before he flattened them against his skull.

Something eerie had begun to crawl beneath his fur, along the top of his flesh. He felt as if he were being stroked by a ghostly hand, as if the wind might be pressing upon him entirely. His heart had begun to beat a little heavily in his chest but his ears were pricked forward and his mouth was watering with momentary hunger. He wondered about the idea of what it was that he might possibly be able to hunt within the trees now. It made his mouth water further and his ears flicked back and forth for a brief moment.

Then he paced forward again, eyes darkening. His fur shuddered along his back for a moment. Something was strange and terrible, as if it meant to tear through him. He thought of sharp teeth and great claws. And he considered the way the forest seemed entirely too cold and still around him. He felt that the world seemed too frozen, as if it were being swallowed away by the ice. The thought made him shiver and he hesitated as that intense feeling of discomfort and eeriness came to him once more. His fur rose into a bristle now. And his ears pricked and flicked about himself for a moment.

Then he caught a sound much like paws in the snow. It made him pause, startled. His ears pricked forward again and he blinked as he looked over his shoulder curiously. It was strange to him just how much louder it seemed than anything else ever had. And so he faltered in his steps. His ears flicked immediately to the left. And his head snapped in the same direction, his heart hammering in his chest now. It took him only a moment to realize that it was not Yami. And then his head rose and a snarl formed on his lips.

He knew that he did not recognize much of the pack's footsteps any longer. He had only ever truly taken the time to know Mai and Otogi's and perhaps he'd even become accustomed to Marik's as well. But now he hesitated, listening. And his stomach knotted as he tried to think of a way to sidestep whatever potential confrontation he might run across. It made no sense to him for a moment that there might be dogs or other wolves there beyond the pack.

But, as he looked up, he spotted a form coming through the trees.

It was an off-white, silver color, much like the shadows that were spread across the forest floor. His heart leaped into his throat and his fur rose into a bristle. That eerie air became suppressing, surging forward and biting into his flesh beneath his long coat. But the shape was large and sleek in build, with ears that were oddly floppy rather than erect. The thought made him bristle further and he considered the animal charging him for a long moment.

It took only a second to recognize the long legs as lupine in design. They propelled themselves in a rapid bid to gain ground. And Yugi flicked his tongue over his nose in warning. His tail rose and his fur began to bristle. He bore his teeth but could not find the air necessary in his lungs to snarl as fiercely as he might have formerly. Instead he drew his lips back as far as they might go, bore his teeth more pointedly, and raced forward to face the threat head on.

When the darker canine came towards him, it was a mottled silver shade. The canine ran forward and Yugi bristled as he himself mimicked the action. He was across the snow in an instant. And, as they both collided, the impact sent them rocketing. They were on their back legs, halfway in the air, teeth gaping. Their bodies were twisted to face each other, the newcomer far on his back legs and Yugi with his limbs stretched to absorb impact with the snow. The other dog landed heavily and Yugi spun more pointedly in an instant.

When he turned to face it, the other backed up, snarling and with a wagging tail. The fur along its spine had risen. Floppy ears turned forward and pointed at him. Yugi blinked and wagged his long, fluffy tail. He lunged forward and they both slammed into each other now.

The impact winded him. But he snapped his teeth shut furiously. His mouth caught upon fur and muscle. Blood slipped into his mouth. He allowed it to coat his tongue, a burning and feverish sensation. He snarled and tossed his head. And the dog in front of him was thrown off balance. The adrenaline rush that came through him was immediate. He could sense the strength so brilliantly that it made his legs quake. As he tossed his head again, the dog was forced to scrabble.

Its back legs clawed within the air, feet off the ground. It twisted its body to try to catch itself. And then it landed heavily on its right hip. Yugi didn't doubt that the snow cushioned the blow, however. And so he shook his head more vigorously. The canine struggled to gather its feet beneath itself. And then it tried to twist its hips. But Yugi shook it again.

The effort proved useless beneath the onslaught of movement. It screamed, tossed through the air with another hideous jerk of Yugi's powerful neck. The weight of the hybrid in his jaws was enough to make him all but stagger. But he kept his grip, furious and snarling. And another toss finally allowed the wolfdog to break free of his grip. But it simply rolled in the snow, the ice colored red from the impact. It struggled for its feet. Then it panted and stared at him in shock. Bright, brilliant red eyes, much like wine rather than multiple shades, blinked back at him.

Yugi was on it again in an instant. Some kind of hideous reality had sprung forth in his thoughts. This hellhound was not alone. And the sooner he could kill it, the faster he could try to find Yami and run. Lesser numbers meant that the two of them held a better chance of escape or fighting to the death. It was not as simple as killing them and fleeing, however. He knew this, somewhere deep within his gut. And it horrified him to know this truth.

There was something strange in the way the hybrid had gone about attacking him. And Yugi felt sick, dizzy, as he stepped away and bore his teeth again. He could hear more of them, lurking in the trees and running forward. But they did not come to save the dog in front of him. And so he hesitated for a brief moment before turning on them again. He leaped forward and the hybrid snarled. It strained to keep its balance as Yugi tossed his head again, throat in his jaws. The fur and blood flew through the air once more, coating the ice in deep rivulets.

The white wolf tossed his head again. And the bone snapped. He heard it so powerfully that it startled him. He released it, jerking back a step and staring. But the animal in front of him was still, breathless. Wine red eyes peered up at him lifelessly. And Yugi nearly panicked at the thought of such a death. He had not meant to do such a thing. He had thought to simply fight it off. He had meant to try his hardest to catch his footing again. He'd wanted to run. He felt sick to his stomach for a moment. And then he drew in a deep breath.

He had wanted to speak to it, to try to find out what it was that was going on. It made sense to do so, did it not? He drew in a deep breath once more, bristling furiously. His tail lowered slightly. He squared his shoulders. But there was a rapid and burning pain within his muscles. His blood felt as if it were on fire. And his bones seemed almost to melt beneath the touch of his veins.

The second dog came at him from an angle. As it raced forward, Yugi spotted it in his very peripheral. And he spun to face it just quickly enough. His teeth were exposed. His mouth was wide open. And it clamped shut again immediately. The wolfdog snarled, biting at the air. But Yugi simply rose to his back legs. The other followed immediately, almost slack within his grip from the pure force of his bite. The difference in weight was amazing to him.

The dog had to be more emaciated than even Yami had before it.

And, as Yugi braced himself more pointedly, haunches readied and claws digging within the snow, he tossed his head. The force was enough to make the other canine quiver. And he kept his shoulders squared, his body ready. But it was as Yugi threw his own body to the side in a simple movement that the other took a much more violent topple. The blood was rushing in his ears as Yugi tossed his head again.

The wolfdog was thrown off his feet. And Yugi kept his muzzle pointed firmly towards the snow. Black and gray legs flew through the air, kicking and flailing drastically. Snow was thrown forward into the air. Claws missed Yugi's shoulder by an inch. Yet the dog's body had folded into an upside down formation much like a cat's as it flipped in the air for balance.

The hindquarters kicked and stirred at the snow crystals. And Yugi fell back onto all fours. His head tossed the opposing direction. The hybrid's body curved inward. Its back legs tucked towards its belly. Its claws were outstretched and aimed for his face but missed. And its head was almost flipped to show the underside of its throat. This time the hybrid flexed its back legs in a panic.

Its hindquarters slammed into the snow once more. The forelimbs clawed feebly at air. Its head was still pointed downward. And the heavy impact made the air white with a surge of ice crystals. The wolfdog scrabbled, catching at the snow and flexing its paws. The toss threw Yugi off his feet for the most part. His eyes were wide, hateful. His front legs fell beneath his weight, spread outwards on either side of the hybrid's form. His hindquarters were raised in the air, braced in a mirroring position. He was amazed he was still upright.

But he caught himself and rose to his feet once more. His legs held him impossibly, startling himself. He tossed his head to shake the dog. And it tried desperately to follow him to its paws. He held it tight, breaths puffing his cheeks outward. It was hard to breathe. And his head was spinning. He could hardly see the dog in front of him. The canine was snarling and spitting. But it seemed to have realized its mistake. And it looked extremely exhausted as it stared back at him almost frantically.

Who are you and what do you want? he demanded, shaking the dog violently again. He huffed for breath and braced his shoulders. But he knew there were others. It was an ambush attack. And he needed to better prepare himself for it. He could sense them coming. For now they hovered, however. And they clearly did not care to save this hybrid either. He pricked his ears forward and listened intently to their footsteps. They were a few yards back, drifting in and out of the trees. They were watching them, were judging the ability to get to him. But they were not coming as of that moment. And so he snarled softly under his breath.

Well?

But he remembered then, what Valon had said. He remembered the way that the Harbinger had said that perhaps it was possible he might understand the other wolf and they him as well, but that the others might be unable to. And he wondered now if it was possible that some of his packmates were nearby, unable to know what was going on but hearing the pleas of a canine that was not strictly wolf. He bristled and clamped his jaws tighter upon his throat.

Tell me!

The hybrid screamed and flailed. Snow flew into the air. Aquamarine eyes stared back at him almost blindly. He snarled and he hoped the hatred showed on his face. If this dog did not open its mouth, he'd simply kill it. He was not going to give them a chance to find the others. And he would have to get rid of them altogether. He could not let run across Yami. Because he was closer, Yugi realized. He could feel Yami's nearness as the seconds passed. The smothering aura that the hybrids possessed was being cut through with pure strength, a power too wild to be completely contained and hidden away.

And so he resolved to himself to end this as quickly as he possibly could.

There was no possibility at all that he might be able to do so if he did not strike them down, however. He knew this. He recognized this problem, just as he had when he realized that Yami was correct in his need to kill Haga and Ryuzaki so mercilessly. He felt sick. The blood in his body burned more violently than ever. He drew in a deep breath. But it was hard to breathe. His lungs were straining. He drew his lips back further and tossed his head. He wondered if perhaps he could snap his neck as he had the other hellhound's.

But he could not find the opportunity for such a thing.

But, as he thought to do this and wondered at the odds, another hellhound came running forward. Yugi blinked and turned his head. But he did not release. The hybrid snarled and tried to keep its footing. It strained desperately beneath the immensity of his bite. This wolfdog came straight for him. But then it weaved away at the last second. The nip to his flank was enough to tear hair. But it did not harm him. And he snarled as he blinked and turned on the animal in question. But the action of turning his head to follow its movements left him vulnerable. And he did not think that perhaps they were using an ambush tactic he knew incredibly well from video footage of wolves and dogs in the wild.

The white wolf yelped as teeth snapped into his shoulder. The bone scraped and ground together. And Yugi's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he turned on it. But a nip to his side made him startle. He released the wolfdog he'd been holding in such a vice grip. The dog fell to the snow, bleeding heavily. But it did not move from its heaped position. And, to Yugi's horror, another hellhound came forward. The one that had bitten into his shoulder held him in place. And the one on his other side growled and wagged its curly tail. But he could not take his eyes off the sight in front of him.

A female of dark glossy black fur with a streak of deep gray like steel across her chest had come forward. Her ears were perfectly soft in their triangular shape, much like those of a wolf's. And a pair of mismatched eyes peered down at the fallen canine. Golden and green eyes glinted for a moment. The female lowered her muzzle to the other dog. The canine bristled and spun on her. But, as he looked at her, she snarled and drew back her lips to expose large gaping teeth.

Yugi thought she would brandish them against him. He was ready for that moment. And he stiffened in preparation. Yugi lowered his head, snarling. He ignored the pain in his shoulder and the way that several of the other hybrids had begun to pace about him. And then, to his amazement, horror swelling up in his belly, the female opened and snapped her jaws.

Blood flew through the air, flecking his nose and cheek. His eyes grew wide, the snarl falling from his features. The wolfdog was screaming beneath her vicious bite. And she simply pulled back, paced a step, then turned on it more violently. Blood and fur were flying into the air now. The female wagged a long tail, one much straighter than those of the other wolfdogs in front of him. And then she grabbed the animal by the throat, snapped her jaws forcefully, and severed the head from the body in an impossibly powerful bite.

Yugi could do nothing more than gape. He remembered her—the she-wolf that had sat in the cage when Obelisk had knocked him about. He remembered the way her eyes had peered at him so coolly, how little his defeat had seemed to affect her in the slightest. And, just as then, she did nothing more than raise her head. Her eyes found his and she wagged her tail slowly as she looked at the other hybrids seconds later. It took only a moment for her to turn on her heel and trot away, tail up and a snarl forming on her jaws. She turned back to them, let out a loud bark that sounded almost like thunder, and turned away again.

Some part of him was hopeful that this meant a command for retreat.

But then he saw the way her eyes sparkled and his heart nearly shattered in his chest. His mouth opened. His breath came in a shuddering rasp. His eyes bore into hers. But hers were almost like a void. There was only amusement and cold-blooded laughter. And he found himself almost quaking.

The moment she turned away again, the hybrids sprang upon him again.

Yugi turned on the wolf at his side, the one holding his shoulder. The bone was shattered. He could feel it. Or perhaps it was simply pulled out of place. It felt disconnected from the rest of him. But somehow he had not fallen over. And so he assumed it had to be the latter. But then, he did not know what it was that he was meant to do should it be the prior.

Hell, he did not know what he was meant to do now should it be the latter either.

He nearly choked on the thought. The headless body in front of him was a hideous mixture of red and pink. The neck bone showed brilliantly beneath all of the blood and muscle. Veins were split and bleeding somehow still. A few inches away the head peered back at him, aquamarine eyes set against dark fur. But his head was spinning. And for a split second those eyes turned red. And the hatred made his body quiver.

He spun on the dog in front of him. But he did not account for the one behind him.

Teeth snapped shut into his flesh, inches from his spine. He recoiled at the sensation. Hot blood had begun to soak his entire body; he could feel that much. And nips to his flank felt numb. Fur was being stripped and skin split. Yugi could feel blood there as well. And he flicked his ears as another lunged for him. But he focused again. His ears were ringing with his heartbeat. He was frantic with the need to defend himself. He was sent in a panic at the very thought. He did not have a defensive measure. And the attack was too structured to fully fight against…

But to fight against it still would only last a small amount of time…

And so he let the adrenaline sweep through him.

His senses became heightened. He could hear each breath. He could feel every small touch to his fur. He could smell the blood and rot in their veins. He could taste copper and ivy and nightshade. And he could see every fine grain of which the snowflakes possessed.

The hellhound slammed into his side as Yugi went for its throat. He tried to retain his balance, twisting his body in an effort to keep himself upright. But the impact of teeth had fallen forcefully into his spine. His back legs quaked beneath the pain. His fangs clamped shut within the fur of the wolfdog's throat. Blood spilled upon his throat. He scrambled, but his own attack was enough to knock him off balance and he fell. The hybrid fell with him, dragged into the snow in an instant.

Another caught his throat in turn. Yugi was winded. His teeth remained clamped shut. But his eyes grew wide, horrified, as the hybrid tossed its head. He was shaken with the action. It threw him further off balance. He could not find his paws beneath his weight. His heart was hammering in his chest. His lungs felt tight and constricted. He panicked and tried again.

He got his footing by some miracle and tried his hardest to rise to his full height. But the hellhound caught him on the flank. He was pulled off balance immediately. He fell on his side as it released. The next dog came to bite his forelimb. And then they tugged fiercely, relentless in their efforts. Yugi snarled, dizzy and sickened.

This was not what Atem was meant to do.

This was not how he was meant to die…

Both hellhounds shook their heads. And a third came to grab at his scruff. It dragged at his fur and pulled him back in the snow. The two of them snarled, tails wagging and eyes bright as they bore into his. Yugi could do no more than stare at them, stunned. He had never considered that maybe he wouldn't even make it to the face of the war. He had never thought that perhaps the hellhounds would kill him ahead of time. He had never even imagined it possible.

Yugi felt these thoughts like teeth in his belly. And he scrabbled once more, horror making him all but panic. He snarled and snapped his teeth. Then he twisted and writhed and kicked. One of his claws cut through the fur and skin of a hybrid's throat. And his teeth connected with another's muzzle, clamping down. When they jerked backwards, they tugged him out of the grip of the one holding his scruff. He used the momentum of their retreat to rise and brace his back limbs and find his balance again.

He landed heavily, his limbs quaking. But he held himself there. And, as the next came for his throat, he spun on it. His teeth caught its skull with a harsh popping and grinding noise. And the second hybrid to join them backed up with a startled expression. Bright red eyes peered back at him, almost stunned by his actions. But the white wolf ignored them. And he tossed his jaws. The wolf stumbled and fell away, thrown off its feet. It rolled into another and they both fell in a heap of gray and black fur. Yugi panted, panicked, as he realized that there were more than only four of them now. They had doubled—no, they had tripled in numbers. There were twelve of them standing before him, snarling and wagging their long tails.

But, as three of them surged forward, teeth and jaws and bright red bleeding gums, one of them screamed. Yugi jerked, head snapping around. And he gaped, horrified. The dogs halted in their tracks as well. The hybrid nearest him had hit the ground. It was screaming and choking. Blood spilled from its gaping jaws. The neck crunched and broke beneath pressure. And then it collapsed, plucked from whatever had grabbed it in the first place. The dog hit the ground, golden eyes pale and stunned and growing lifeless as the seconds passed.

Yugi turned his head slightly. And his legs quaked as fire raced through him. But he could do no more than stare. His heart was racing and his thoughts were that of fleeing rather than greeting. But the wolf in front of him merely shifted his weight, raised his head, and bore bright gleaming teeth colored red. But the gums were stark white, Yugi realized, and he felt horror pooling in his heart. He knew that feral quality in Yami's eyes was not borne of power, but rather of mounting fear.

Three dogs lunged forward. And Yami dealt with them in a swift manner. The three of them fell lifelessly to the ground in a handful of seconds. But Yugi could see that the effort caused immense strain in the other wolf. He was clearly exhausted and he could not continue these efforts for long. Yugi lunged at the hybrid closest to him in order to stall the ranks. But it was fruitless. The hybrids raced forward and collided with his alpha. The one he'd caught by the shoulder turned on him with brilliant teeth.

Those fangs snapped shut furiously. Teeth clipped his skull. He yelped at the impact. And the skin tore upon his face as the teeth ripped through soft fur. He was thrown backwards, body jerked to the ground. Blood sprayed the air. Yugi was not able to focus long enough to attack, however. And the hellhound released him abruptly. It turned to face Yami with the others.

And Yugi found himself panicking. His heart was in his throat. His body felt as if it were full of rot. His skin was heated. His muscles were burning away, he felt. And his limbs were broken beneath him. He tried to breathe but his lungs felt strangled. He had begun to shake before he could stop himself, horrified.

He was useless, he realized.

Because, as he tried for his feet, that fire raced through him and the heat burned away what little strength he had assumed himself to have formerly. And so Yugi remained there, unable to do more than stare. He hoped that Yami could find a way to overpower them, but his weakened state did not seem to give him an advantage of any kind. Yugi found himself all but sobbing with his growing horror and pain, heart breaking within his chest as he took in the fight in front of him.

When Yami moved back a step, his teeth were bared and his ears were pricked forward. The dogs blinked at each other. Then they raced forward in a group of three or four. Yugi turned to run, the snow flying beneath his paws when one leaped at him. His teeth were bared, mouth open and eyes burning furiously. He spun on the dog chasing him. The hybrid was on its back legs. Yami dodged a snap of its teeth with a simple twist of his body. The action effectively removed his broad shoulders from its attack range.

Another dog came from the side, a few feet of distance between them though he quickly closed the gap. Yami waited for the other canine to lunge at him. Then he dodged aside and ran a circle around it. The three of them lunged forward, giving chase immediately. Yugi could see a third one. The spots developing in his eyes, bright red and gushing outwards, were clear just long enough…

He blinked. His vision was fuzzy. But the spots were dissipating.

Yami slowed himself, spinning on them again. His ears were forward, his shoulders squared. His teeth were showing, his lips pulled completely back. His fur was in a rigid bristle. His hindquarters tucked slightly as he braced his weight upon his back legs. The dogs raced towards him. He snapped his teeth at the first one. The attack grazed their cheek. Then he spun on the second. The third jerked to a stop. It skidded in the snow, tail wagging and muzzle pointed downward. Its eyes were burning into his, vibrant green like emeralds.

Yami sprang back as the hybrids closed in on him. The fourth one came running faster. A fifth and sixth had turned as well now, curious. And Yami backed up a step, crouching lower to the ground. It was not a good defensive measure by any means. And it almost made Yugi think of surrender rather than offense. But then he saw the power in the position. Yami was braced entirely on his four legs. His muscles were readied to lunge.

When he backed up again, he straightened and his tail came up, a dark flag. His eyes flashed, full of hate and disgust. The four hellhounds directly in front of him snarled and began to back away. Tails wagged. Eyes glittered. They moved in a singular unit to back up several small steps.

The one furthest to his left backed up farthest, tail wagging slowly. Yami lowered his head slightly, teeth showing brilliantly. He stepped forward, stiff-legged and aggressive. The other three hybrids moved as if to dance around him. One stepped away a few feet, eyes glittering more than ever. In an instant the one to his furthest left came forward. And the one to the farthest right did the same. The middle dog hesitated for a moment, then lunged forward.

Teeth snapped into his flanks. Yami spun on them in turn, biting at them. But they retreated before he could make contact. And then the one directly in front of him crouched for a moment. He spun on the wolf to his right as it came forward. But it was a bite to the left that hit him. The black wolf spun on it once more. Teeth dug firmly into his back.

It was right to the side of his spine. It was a miracle that the bastard dog had missed. But the one to his right came for his other flank. The one in the middle came for his throat. And four more hellhounds were racing forward now. He could see them against the snow, all of them snarling and cackling with laughter.

The hybrid attempted to toss him off his paws. He snarled and backed up a step. Teeth caught in his throat. His ears flicked forward. He spun on the animal. But there were two more closing in on his right flank now. He managed to tear out of the other werewolf's grip. He spun on it, teeth clicking shut upon bone. The hellhound screamed in pain. The others bayed with laughter.

Yami backed up again. Then he turned on the next wolf to rush him. Fresh pain surged through his skin, ripping muscle. His back ached for a moment. But he did not pause. And the second wolf came for his throat again, furthest to his right. He breathed in deeply through his nose, bore his teeth furiously. And then he tossed his head downward. The hybrid in Yami's jaws screamed again. The other to come for his throat caught his scruff. In an instant he was nearly unbalanced.

The others were coming in a wave, he realized. Yugi struggled to try to draw himself to his paws. He was bleeding, aching. His head was spinning. Blood seemed to soak his tongue. There were six of them facing Yami now. Three had caught a grip on him. Three were standing aside, a few inches back, with wagging tails and lolling tongues.

The force of the bite to his throat was crushing. His red eyes grew wide. And his jaws snapped opened. The hybrid pressed hard upon his neck. Yami jerked, knocked back a few inches by the hit to his shoulder. The dog bore down on him harder. The hellhound whose skull he'd almost crushed had retreated. Blood was flying with the rapid shake of its head.

Yami was cornered in an instant, forced back again. The dogs snarled and laughed, sneering wordlessly. A new bite came to his side. He spun on them. He pulled free of the other's grip. Fur and blood came through the air. Yugi could see it dripping from his side. He knew his neck was sticky, slicked and laden with blood. Teeth bit inches from his former wound. He snarled and backed up again.

But he turned, twisting fiercely. In an instant his bright white teeth showed. He lunged for the face of the next canine. His teeth clicked into soft flesh, blood flooding his jaws. In their enthusiasm, the dogs had clustered about. One had jumped so happily forward that it had landed hard on the other's back. They rolled, snapping and snarling at each other. Yami took the distraction to draw in a long breath and seemingly gauge the pain in his body.

The black wolf backed up a few steps, bristling furiously. He drew in a greedy breath. But the pain was surging through his blood. It felt as if his veins were on fire. He thought the blood was lava beneath his skin. His muscles felt as if they were swelling and breaking beneath the pressure. His fur felt as if it were falling away in clumps.

He snarled and snapped his jaws. The dogs backed up, all but scurrying to move out of range of his teeth. One backed up and turned tail for a moment. Another simply snuck closer, slowly and with flattened ears.

Yami snarled and positioned his muzzle closer. He snarled, jaws foaming with saliva. His teeth glinted. The hybrid backed up a step, but did not slink away. And the one to his furthest right had come closer again. It was watching with dark, glittering golden eyes. When it crept closer, he could not stop himself. Yami turned his head immediately.

And the instant his eyes were away, the one on his left lunged forward.

He screamed as teeth bit into his throat. The soft flesh gave way with little resistance. The attack threw him off balance for a split second. Yami did not fall, but he stumbled. His paws worked to regain his footing. His legs were quivering beneath the pressure and additional weight. And then he twisted his head as if tilting it. And his jaws snapped open wider than before. He shut them viciously on a thin forelimb. But it did nothing.

The hybrid moved forward. Yami rose onto his back legs to try to catch himself. He braced his back legs and pressed his right forelimb to the ground desperately. His left rose to retain some sense of balance. But as he tried to bite again, this time aiming higher, the others had come again. Yami landed hard, skidding in the snow. The flakes surged up in a rush. He yelped and the dog released only when he bit at its face. But his right flank was open again.

And teeth dug quickly into his flesh there.

And then it caught in his throat again.

And he was sent into a flail as he was nearly thrown off balance once more. The black wolf spun to face him. His teeth were raised, eyes sharp and wild. His mouth was vicious and gaping. And his teeth were covered in drool.

Yami had to scrabble to regain his balance. He braced his hind limbs. And he jerked backwards frantically. The other dog came for his back right leg once more. They latched themselves into the sensitive skin there, pulling taut. And Yami struggled to shake the dog from his throat. But another had come to the same side. And they were rushing forward with bright gleaming white teeth. The black wolf twisted and nearly lost his balance once more.

And then teeth pulled at his flesh and tugged his braced legs. He faltered but did not fall. And his forelimbs braced themselves frantically to regain his footing properly. Teeth dug more pointedly into his shoulder. And Yami could see yet another hellhound, sneaking up from the side further off. It was coming to grab at another spot on his left side. He nearly screamed with panic.

There were five of them attached to him. The werewolf on his right side faltered when he twisted and tossed his body in retaliation. Yami snarled and bit at the wolf closest him. And the one attached to his shoulder tugged violently. The one on his neck rushed forward to knock him a bit off balance. But the two opposing forces seemed only to give him momentum to stay afoot. And the fifth simply clamped his teeth into the former wound that had covered his back, mere inches from his spine.

Now Yami tried frantically for his back feet. He rose. The hellhound on his throat was forced to bend back. And the other attached to his shoulder was tossed off balance. The momentum forced it to release him. The one on his back right leg clamped down harder. And the others began to run forward more happily. Yami could see them, laughing and trotting and wagging dark tails.

He writhed just hard enough to shake another. The one on his throat released. But the others kept their grips. Yami panted and one behind the wolf he'd shaken lunged forward. It was on him in an instant as he spun around. The canine gripping his back was digging in harder. He snarled and snapped teeth shut close to its eye. But he missed as another caught his scruff.

The blood was roaring in his veins. He was panting and trembling. The hybrids surged upon him once more. And he twisted and writhed again, hard enough to shake another. But the momentum sent him stumbling. And the wolf on his back right leg tugged, nearly making him fall. The teeth were still attached to his back, however. And he remained upright from this alone. He spun and rose to his back feet, then leaped forward. The dogs met him in a rush. He had shaken only the one off his right hind leg. But the one to his left, biting through his flesh, remained there. And Yami was forced to shove another wolfdog backwards harshly. It stumbled and landed hard, limping a step aside him.

But it was not shoved far enough. It lunged forward. And its teeth caught his right shoulder. Yami could not shake the other on his left flank now. And more teeth had caught his hind legs. He screamed, snarling a second later. And, as he snapped at one in front of him, the hellhound holding his flank tugged. He was pulled away just enough to spare the bloodshed that might have come from his attack. And he skidded beneath the pressure, snow spraying in the air. He snarled and trembled. His body felt weak and tremulous. He was not sure what more he could do.

But there were nine of them now, and three a few feet back watching with glowing eyes. He snarled, preparing to spin on the wolf holding his side. But those teeth in his hind leg burned and he nearly screamed again. Another set came there, hitting his flank now. He screamed and spun to the right, jaws opened wide. The hybrid attached to his left flank tugged. But he did not go down.

Yami was amazed by this realization.

When Yami writhed again, twisting painfully and fitfully, the hybrid on his flank fell. Another had lunged forward. And it landed in a heap atop it as well. The hellhound let go and spun on it. And they bit at each other furiously, screaming and snarling and sneering at one another. Yami panted and snapped his teeth. He drew blood but could not understand where from.

The teeth jerked on his back again. Yami was pulled nearly off his feet. His back legs almost rose from the ground. And then he spun back on another that came for his neck. It was too slick and he could feel the sticky, hot blood there. It was too immense and terrible. He could not bring himself to stop from reacting. As he spun for it, raising his left forepaw, another hybrid came forward. And it slammed into his ribs. Teeth caught his shoulder a second later. But the blow winded him. And Yami felt himself almost wobble.

And then the other on the opposite side lurched forward.

And Yami sent a frantic look towards Yugi.

Because the white wolf had stumbled to his feet.

And his eyes were wide, horrified.

And they were staring at each other for that split second.

Yami screamed as he fell back.

The hellhounds were on him in a second.

Blood and fur were ripped and shed about the air. It sprayed upward and away into the snow. And Yami screamed louder. The dogs barked and danced about, circling him. And Yugi could do nothing more than shake, horrified and unable to move in any manner.

They had…

They'd managed it…

They'd knocked him off his feet and…

Yami! he screamed before he could stop himself. But he could do nothing more than gape. His body was on fire. He could not move his limbs. They trembled beneath his weight. They felt swollen as he tried to move. There was nothing in him that seemed to respond to his bidding. And the screaming was so terribly loud. It was hideous and furious and terrible. Yugi felt his heart shattering in his chest.

No, no, no! This couldn't be happening. The gods wouldn't have done this to him!

They wouldn't play such a cruel joke on him as to bring Yami back and then to steal him away just as quickly. Surely they were not so vicious and hateful of him—

Yugi could just see Yami's teeth attached to a dog's throat. But he was on his back. And the hybrids behind him had grabbed at his back limbs. And they were tossing their heads, pulling him violently back and forth in the snow. Yami was swallowed away from his sight again in almost an instant. The dogs moved in circles again. They bayed as if it were some exciting sport rather than murder. Yugi thought briefly of the sacrifices that had been performed in his name. He shook and trembled and bore his teeth in a frantic snarl at the realization.

They were using Yami for fun.

They were going to kill him for their own excitement.

Not a single one of them cared beyond this.

They just wanted to watch something bleed to death in front of them.

Yugi was frantic as he tried to force his legs to move. It took him what felt a lifetime. The screaming was becoming a gurgle. The dogs were baying and snapping at each other. Their tails wagged and their bodies brushed against each other. And Yugi managed to step forward. It was a stumbling movement. It nearly sent him into the snow. But he caught himself. Then he dragged his back limbs forward a step within the snow. It was horrifying to him. They were seemingly numb and incapable of movement.

He moved, in a desperate bid, to leap forward.

But he could not find his balance.

And he hit the snow with a sob. He landed with his limbs stretched in front of him. His chin sank into the snow beneath his weight. And he was blind for only a split second towards what was happening. But the gurgling was dying away now as well. And the dogs were howling and wagging their tails. They were dancing about the fallen wolf and laughing.

Yugi struggled for his paws. But his shoulders felt broken. And his legs refused to hold him.

He nearly sobbed, a pitiful whine leaving him.

And then, as one, the hybrids turned on him.

Ears pricked.

Noses wriggled.

Eyes burned and focused on him.

He drew his lips back to mirror them.

And then he saw them begin to leave Yami—who he saw now was so incredibly still, there was no way he had survived between the blood loss and trauma and the ferocity of the attack—as they turned to him. They began to trot forward. But they did not make it to him.

There was a sharp, startling flash of red. It came in a single streaking movement. And then the white wolf saw muscle and grizzle and broken bone. Blood splattered through the air and sank into the snow.

The dogs halted, stunned and horrified.

Yugi struggled to raise his head. His eyes were burning, panic making his vision spin. But then he gaped and he was amazed by how able he was now to see it all.

The she-wolf was standing a few feet away. Blood had made her muzzle a brilliant red. But her golden eyes were focused and blazing. And every fur on her body was raised in jagged peaks. The red wolf stepped forward, a ginger coat of wiry muscle and hateful power. And the dogs faltered as she sprang forward again, tail up and shoulders braced. They seemed to share a single second of hesitation. One of them leaped at her. And it was in an instant that its head rolled from its body as the other's had.

Slifer, he whispered pathetically. He was shaking. His wounds were oozing. He could feel it as they shed red tears and his fur became slick and caked with blood. He struggled for his feet again, stumbling. He could see the hybrids swapping looks and retreating now. They ran with their tails between their legs. And Yugi could do no more than stumble forward again and nearly collapse within the snow.

But his eyes flickered away and towards the darker wolf lying in the snow. He was twisted halfway, almost like a pretzel. His neck was clearly injured. Blood dripped from each wound. His body was sprawled beneath him. His eyes were glazed, weeping with freshly fallen snowflakes. He looked as if he had been caught in the formation of twisting around to snap his teeth at an opponent. But his chin lay on his shoulder where the wound was hideous and open and gaping at him.

Yugi shuddered and struggled forward again, limping. He panted heavily, ignoring the rapid sting and burn under his skin. He stumbled and fell and then forced himself up again. And then he dragged himself, legs nearly failing himself, forward to Yami's side. But those red eyes peered up at him, glazed over. And then a violent twitch ran through him. His head rocked from side to side for a moment. His sides rose and fell in a heavy shudder.

His legs kicked and flailed. His back arched. His shoulders seemed to snap. His head turned and his chin fell in the snow. His eyes were wild, glazed and panicked. His body was wracked fitfully with pain. His back legs kicked upwards. His claws cut through the air violently. His head jerked and tossed, his lips twitching and burning. His legs kicked frantically. His back arched again. And then he seemed to twist and roll backwards. A noise, strangled and pitiful, escaped him. His legs kicked again. His head arched and folded back as if he might howl. And then he thrashed.

The she-wolf did not speak to them, failing to acknowledge them in the slightest. Then she moved forward, approaching Yami as Yugi himself fell to the snow. He was breathing harder than ever, ears ringing as realization struck him. Yami was shaking and writhing, kicking snow and folding in on himself. He looked much like a dark-furred kangaroo as he thrashed upon the ground and tightly folded his hindquarters upward as if to assume a fetal position as a wolf.

He was seizing.

Bile and blood had begun to spill from open jaws. Foam colored red and bright yellow came across white teeth and black lips. The wolf thrashed again. The snow was smeared brilliantly with the colors. And then he kicked and flailed his legs. He twisted his hindquarters and nearly flipped himself to the other side. And his eyes grew hideous with that glazed expression they currently wore.

Yugi could not think straight as he drew in a panicked, trembling breath. He was panting, lungs burning with the pressure of inhaling and holding his breath altogether. He was panicked as he tilted his head and gasped for air. He was shaking as he watched the other wolf. And he wanted to scream and sob and throw himself at the mercy of the goddess in front of him. He wished that perhaps she might bite through his throat and end the misery that came of seeing his alpha in such a state.

You would do well to remove him from this location, the she-wolf said slowly, turning to him with darkened golden eyes. She seemed to stare through him as their eyes locked and Yugi nearly trembled at the expression he saw there. It was unreadable but he saw the faintest flashes of power and strength and perhaps even a touch of something akin brutality and bewilderment. It was survival and instinct and absolute cunning, all of which paled before his own seemingly infinite helplessness. He shall need you to heal his wounds and help to guide him to a healthier state. He cannot find it on his own, I assure you. And his lack of health is pivotal now, Yugi. He cannot push out the toxins in his bloodstream on his own as he is.

Yugi blinked, eyes widening. His head snapped back to Yami and he struggled for his feet. His legs quaked beneath his weight and the black wolf thrashed once more, folding so forcefully backwards that it seemed his spine might break. The breath that came from him was a heavy gargling. And the bloodied bile foam that coated his lips had grown even more rampant as it spread from his mouth. His tongue was lolling now, pressing harshly against the snow. The bright pink of the muscle was rolled onto its side, flattened, and his teeth seemed to clip and tear through it as he struggled to breathe.

Toxins?

They had been Harbingers? Was that the pain within his own blood and what caused his body to burn so viciously? Was that what had stunted his ability to heal as he should have been able to? He knew that the dislocated shoulder would have rectified itself only upon being forced through the Change once more. But he was well aware that the wounds should have sewn themselves back together and healed completely.

If he is to die from his wounds a second time, I cannot promise you that he will heal properly, Slifer said slowly, tilting her head as her eyes burned into his pointedly. You know as well as I that it is not assured that he will come back able-bodied and ready to move again. You would be a fool to think for even a moment that the Change or immortality will come to his aid.

Yugi stared at her with a horrified expression, though his eyes quickly returned to Yami again. The thrashing had grown faster, more violent. There were mere seconds between fits now. He was kicking his legs and choking on vomit and the white wolf did not know what it was that he might be able to do. But this form was useless in terms of aid now. He realized, all but pathetically, that he could not find safety in helping him in this form now. He would have to change back and carry him to the house…

Our three siblings were struck down by Disease Wolves during the war, Slifer commented quietly, making him focus for a brief second on her once more. Her ears flicked and her lips drew back after a heartbeat of silence. They went through fits of violent seizures and they came back in a feral state that made them too volatile to know which side they were meant to be on. They turned on each other immediately and then on us as well…

You fought other Pure-Bloods? Yugi whispered. But his eyes fell on Yami again and he tried to focus on the pain that came with the Change. But the thrashing was so violent that it threatened to make bile rise from his belly and he almost screamed with dismay. How was he supposed to help him when he could do no more than simply stare at him as if he might drop dead at any moment?

Yes. The disease the hellhounds carry is not like our own. It is a fast-acting venom and it leeches the body of its stronger and healthier cells and replaces them with diseased organisms that attack and change the host at a base level. Her eyes glinted furiously. And so it will kill the logical thought process within the brain of a wolf and turn it in on itself. In this way it will cause them to cease to understand what might be happening around them and only allow them to sense things in a magnitude that drives them further into madness.

Yugi blinked and looked at her now. She was a familiar face, one which denoted death before it could ever bring about happiness or pleasure in any sense. But he still knew of Yami's suffering feet away, even if he could simply focus on her for the moment that he might need in order to bring his mind to a focus. He struggled with the task, as his thought was to immediately turn back to Yami. He needed to keep his eyes on him, but it would not help him in the slightest and that realization made the white wolf want to scream again.

But he had to Change. He needed to become human again. It was the only way he'd be capable of bringing Yami back to the house. And when they got to the house, he'd have to beg his mother for help. He'd have to find a way to stitch the wounds together and have her help him to do so. The realization was nothing he wanted to consider. But he knew that he could not do it on his own. He was neither too arrogant nor optimistic enough to think otherwise.

He knew his own skill level. He knew how much he could do on his own in regards to the other wolf and how much he simply had no ability to perform as well.

I do not think that they meant to kill him entirely, she said slowly, golden eyes boring into his now. He wondered if she knew that he was staring at her for the sake of finding strength and guidance just long enough to change back. But some part of him doubted it and yet the other wondered at the idea of her deity status, if she understood and so now offered him something of a similar solution in some manner.

You don't think so? His back was arching now. He could feel the way his muscles were clenching and pulling taut beneath his skin. He felt his shoulders strain beneath the pressure. His legs buckled and he hit the ground on his belly. Bile rose and surged from his mouth in a spray. He sputtered and choked and snarled furiously for a moment. Then he shook as tremors wracked his frame and his heart raced at what seemed a million times greater its original rate.

No. She said it with certainty now, tilting her head as she considered the younger wolf with a wisdom in her gaze that made Yugi nervous to behold. She flicked her ears but did not turn away from him to look at Yami as a hideous gurgling came up and reached a whining crescendo. It fell away after a moment, then rose brilliantly. Yugi used Slifer as his anchor to avoid looking, heart in his throat but blood and bile mixing as his back arched once more and he struggled to find his grip on a newer thought. I think that they were sent to force him into submission. I think that it would have done more to poison him in small doses and then drag him down to the labs.

Excuse me? Yugi snarled. The labs?

You did not think that this was mere coincidence, did you? You two just so happen to be in the woods alone. A she-wolf from the labs that you ran into happens to be here to lead them. Yami is attacked more vigorously than you were. And you are both spared of your jugulars torn out or bones being broken along the spine. She narrowed her eyes, laughter making her voice sound like a pair of windchimes within the touch of a breeze. She shook her head and curled her lips back. You know better, you stupid child. You know damn well that this is not a game of any kind nor an accident or mistake or coincidence. You are a fool to think otherwise. They were sent to find you. And they came to kill you long enough for you to be dragged to the labs.

Yugi could not think straight for a moment. Was that the truth of it? Had that been what he had sensed that entire time it had taken them to hunt him as they were meant to? Was that the reality of the ambush? They had acted so strangely in the time it had taken them to all but force him off his feet. They'd bitten him near vital veins as well, he realized. They'd failed to break his spine for the sake of keeping him able. Perhaps they had planned to force him to run towards the tunnels or maybe he was to be chased to the area where they might be captured and drugged and subsequently stolen to the underground.

He was shaking as he thought of this, puke spraying from his jaws.