AN: I finally got this baby out. Sadly I was in the hospital and I had to delay this chapter for a while, but I'm all good now, or at least I fell okay now! lol.
Some important events take place in this chapter, especially a moment that we've all been waiting for since the beginning! Also, this chapter marks the end of part one of Traitor. Chapter fourteen will be part two's beginning and we will finally get to see what kind of king Atem was and still is.
Thank you for your support and here is chapter Thirteen!
Night Thirteen:
Beginning of Change: Part Two
"Now listen well Yugi, I will not repeat myself twice. There is no time for it," Atem's baritone voice spoke clearly, but softly out of precaution.
" My appearance alone will cause a startle, with Yami, you, and I sporting similar hairstyles," the vampire chuckled sadly before continuing, "But, that alone will not be enough. You will kindly be the star and insure my control over the entire situation. No being will be able to resist seeing the new feeder held 'captive', and no one would dare think of trying kill me if it risked putting you in danger. All you have to do is stand still and look terrified. If I think you're failing in that acting department, I will have to give you a little 'encouragement' and I doubt either of us would enjoy that."
"Um, this might be a bad time to tell you, but I wasn't the best student in drama class, Atem, " Yugi informed the pharaoh while looking away, his cheeks tinted a soft red. "I also don't think I can fake a racing heart."
The royal sighed, covering his face with both of his hands before sliding them down so his crimson eyes could gaze at the human. "Then don't panic when you feel my presence in your mind. You can at least make it easy for me if I have to compel you to be scared."
The human blushed turned darker as he met the vampire's gaze, but nodded stubbornly.
"Caring on," the Original vampire spoke, dismissing the diverged conversation with a wave of his hand, "We will enter with me caring you, the shadows has made all the rooms pitch black, so you will not see till I dispersed them when I am ready to confront Yami. You do not need to know the rest and should not speak unless I direct you, understand?" Atem lowered himself to Yugi's height by bending at the waist, so he could look directly in the human's violet eyes. "You must understand I am trying to limit your involvement. The less you say and do, the easier it will be to make Yami believe you had no foul intentions when you helped me. Plus, this enter event will be recorded by a camera and broadcast to the entire kingdom. So, it is best to just keep your mouth closed and not do something you may end up regretting."
Atem stood up and adjusted his attire, making sure he looked almost perfect. "I believe I have informed you of all the essentials that you needed to know," he spoke confidently and offered a smile to the human.
Atem watched the human's reaction closely, his smile still in place. Yugi said nothing as he fidgeted with his hands and looked down at the ground. The Original vampire didn't need to call on to his powers to know what the male before him was thinking. Obviously he was trouble by helping him, and Atem was fine with that. Atem was also a little nervous himself. He hadn't spoken to an entire kingdom in many, many years. And then there was Yami, who Atem had no earthly idea how he was going to handle. The Pharaoh looked down at his hands, specifically at the few rings from his past that he wore on his fingers. 'It will work out in the end, will it not?'
"A-Atem?"
The Pharaoh blinked and looked up to see Yugi staring at him concerned, his own nervousness showing through. "Yes, Yugi?"
The human visibly relaxed when the vampire replied, but his concerned look did not vanished. "You know, if you're not sure about this, you can wait and reclaim the throne more formally-"
"I told you before Yugi, there is no other way. I have to show my dominance to the entire race. I have to make it known that playtime is over and their true king is here. I am not uncertain, but I am a little nervous of confronting a person that I hold very dearly in my heart. It is not easy, especially given how much he has changed."
"Who knows, maybe Yami had changed for the better?" Yugi suggested hopefully to the vampire.
Atem chuckled sadly, but smiled kindly to notify his human companion that he accepted the pure thought, even though they both it was not so. His smile, however, faded as he caught a glimpse of the concealing stone around the youth's neck. Reaching his hand out, and took hold of stone, displeased that the human was still cherishing such a tarnished object.
"This… I will make you a new one once you are officially both mine and Yami's feeder, and then dispose of the one you wear."
"Why?" Yugi asked, pushing the pure blood vampire's hand away and taking a step back. "There's nothing wrong with the one I wear now. It still serves its purpose and functions well."
Atem looked at Yugi with a dissatisfied look and crossed his arms over his chest proudly. "That stone has been damned. It harbors evil and I shall not let a human wear a pendant that has witnessed Hell. It may seem to function well to you, but I can assure you the potency of my magic is beginning to wear away. Tell me, has Yami or the Sacred Guardians commented about your lack of scent tonight?"
"No, but-"
"Then that is proof that the spell is waning. They would be sure to comment on how it is dangerous to hide your scent from them and other nonsense. When I had made the stone for Heba, he would use almost everyday to try and escape from Yami and I, but he forgot that his scent was not hidden from me and-" A violent hiss echoed through the room when the Original vampire began to tell Yugi of his past.
Mumbling under his breath at the cursed wild black magic, Atem shook his head and gave Yugi an apologetic smile. "I shall finish my story another time, but I'm afraid we must go make our entrance. The shadows are beginning to grow impatient."
Yugi gave a nod of his head and made sure his appearance was tidy as when he was addressing the Vampire Kingdom. Before the human had time start walking, Atem picked the young man up and tossed him onto his shoulder like a sack of vegetables.
"H-Hey! What do you think you're doing! Put me down now, Atem!" Yugi protested, banging on the vampire's back with his fists. "I didn't agree to this!"
The pure blood vampire rolled his crimson eyes at the human and squeezed lightly at his hold around Yugi's waist. "I told you I was going to carry you, so quit complaining. If I carry you like you want me to, then it will give others the wrong impression. You would not want that, now would you Yugi?"
Yugi clenched the back of Atem's red vest tightly, scowling at the vampire's words. He let his silence be the answer to the vampire as Atem started to walk and exiting the room to go make their grand entrance. The vampire's pace was slow, even for a human. When his vision was suddenly stolen from him, the human had nothing to distract his mind from what he was about to get involved with. If things went south for Atem, no doubt Yugi was going to be dragged into Hell with the vampire. He just hoped the Devil would have mercy on his soul.
"Thou shalt have no fear," The vampire murmured softly and his arm holding Yugi secure to his his shoulder, tightened significantly. "As we face the Devil head on and succeed in escaping our damned fate."
Yugi sucked in a breath and clench even tighter on to Atem's vest. "What makes you think we can defeat the Devil?"
"I never said we would defeat him, merely control him. Maneuvering and wordplay are the key to this battle, " Atem chuckled lightly before he suddenly fell silent.
Seconds ticked by into a minute, and Yugi could no longer feel the soft footsteps of his fake captor. With the lack of movement, Yugi could only hear the panicked and angry cries of the Gathering's guests loud and clear, all shouting for help and for action to be taken. was a noise that would be forever etched in his mind; the fearful cry of mankind. Atem's shadows were truly terrifying, able to steal the senses of man right before them with no prior warning. It made Yugi wonder just how many times Atem had performed such a stunt before he was sealed away.
Atem's voice drifted into his ears. The vampire was softly speaking to himself in his lost native language. To Yugi, it almost sounded like the Pharaoh was saying a prayer. Perhaps, the vampire was. Yugi loosened his hold on Atem's vest. " Are… are you worried?" He spoke, the human's voice was barely even a whisper.
'Slightly, but the gods will watch over us,' Atem's voice answer in Yugi's mind just as the human felt the Original vampire start to walk again. ' I will begin to compel you now. Please, remember you are in safe hands, I will protect you at all cost. Not only because I have debt to pay, but also because you are my feeder and a precious friend.'
Yugi could feel his heart beginning to steadily increase its rhythm, making his body have a reaction similar to real fear. Despite his racing heart and sweaty palms, his mind was not in turmoil like his body thought. In fact, the human was actually surprised that Atem considered him as a friend. Yugi felt tremors course through his entire body and held on to Atem's vest as tight as he could. 'If you don't get me killed, I'll consider you as a close friend too. Deal?'
Atem chuckled softly, 'It's a deal. Now ready yourself, it is time.'
The violent hissing of the dark magic was the signal that informed Atem his time to act was now, before the black matter began tormenting his audience. His nerves were calm and his mind was at ease. He had much more at stake than his throne and lover. His plan must be executed precisely, or Yugi might be caught in a negative reaction that could very well end his life.
Face emotionless, Atem allowed the shadows to guide him to his destination, the center of the grand staircase. The scent of fear was so thick in the air, he could almost taste it on the bed of his tongue. The stage was set and the audience was packed full. All that was left was to draw back the curtains and reveal his unsuspecting audience the unfortunate play that was about to start. The Original vampire used a small amount of compulsion to persuade Yugi to squirm and struggle against his hold. The young human even added in some grunts and cries for Yami to help sell the act. And here the boy had claim to not be able to act, but Yugi was turning into the star of the show.
An eerie chuckle came from deep within Atem's chest like thunder, loud, powerful, and intimidating. The screams and cries of his audience fell almost to an absolute silence. He wasn't the one show the sinister side of his race, but Atem couldn't not deny that it felt so good to be the one to cause some of the most powerful people in the world, to crumble into mere terrified peasants. He'd almost forgotten the perks of being a king. With a the wave of his free hand, the shadows began receding and the cameramen he compelled to record his reintroduction into society, began to broadcast live to all of their viewers.
"Such a disgrace. I left you to take care of my beloved kingdom and you have only created a mess of it," Atem's voice was dark, but held an amused tone. The room had completely gone silent as the shadows allowed light back into the room and receded into Atem's natural shadow. The occupants were speechless at the sight looming before them. At the top of the grand staircase, stood Atem appearing just as regal as he had the last time he addressed his beloved kingdom. Yugi was the only noise in the room as he thrashed about from his position of being held on Atem's shoulder, as Atem took in the glory of accomplishing the first step in his plan. His crimson eyes, however, were quick to land on Yami to gauge his personal reaction.
Yami stood towards in left part of the crowd, his body struck motionless with all of his attention on the one and only, Pharaoh Atem Muran; King of the Vampire race. His stunned reaction gave Atem plenty of time to observe his mate properly.
Yami hadn't aged a single day. He was still just as beautiful as Atem remembered, but he had clearly changed. His body had a little more muscle mass, his limbs just a few centimeters longer, and his face had become sharper and even skinnier. His hair was still the same wild trio-colored spikes that match Atem's, and his skin still a soft light tan. However, it was Yami's eyes that had changed, they were not the warm and the beautiful mixture of reds and purples; they were cold and a blinding blood red. Atem suppressed a frown and instead, raised an eyebrow and gave his lover a cunning smirk.
"I am hurt, Prince Yami. No 'Welcome home' kiss?" Atem tossed out teasingly into the silent room before sighing softly and replacing his smirk with his original emotionless poker face. "I should not be surprised, you did not even send me an invite to my own party. A damn pity, but there is no use in fussing over it, not when there is more pressing matters to address. Such as..."
Atem paused to place the struggling Yugi on his feet. The human fought the vampire the entire time, but it was useless. Atem's grip of Yugi's waist was strong as steel and human could do nothing but scream and squirm as he forcefully had his back pressed to Atem's front. "Y-Yami!"
The Original's grip, although firm, was gentle to keep the human from real harm. Atem's smirked returned as he locked his arm around Yugi's waist and used his free hand to cuff the boy's neck and forcibly tilt his head back to expose the vulnerable flesh. When Atem looked down at Yugi's eyes, they were filled with pure terror and the vampire couldn't be prouder of his brave companion.
'You are doing a fantastic job Yugi, not much longer and we will be finished here.' The vampire praised the boy. Leaning down, Atem nuzzled Yugi's neck encouragingly, but also taunting. " Your fee-"
"YUGI!"
Finally, someone among the crowd broke the silence. A blonde haired male was shoving his way through the crowd quickly, towards the staircase. Atem immediately recognized the young vampire as the male who tried to fight him outside the Mutou's home one night. Atem admired the boy's courage and friendship with Yugi. Clearly he was more of a man than his mate, who, had yet to even act or even move from his current position.
Atem's eyes narrowed and his black magic leapt from his shadow without his command towards the blonde male rushing towards him and Yugi. The King paid little attention to the man after the shadows went to attack him of their own accord. Instead, Atem turned his attention to Yami to speak.
"You would rather have your subjects attack me rather than face me head on to save your precious feeder? Pathetic-"
"Don't hurt him!" Yugi shouted at Atem, causing the vampire to blink and look down at the human, surprised by his out-lash.
All fear in Yugi's eyes had vanished, only a look of stern anger was present as he glared at Atem. "I don't care if you hurt me, but if so much as lay a finger on Jou or Prince Yami, I'll be sure to kill you where you stand!"
"What?" Atem gave Yugi a baffled look. 'Does this human even know what he is saying?'
'Yes, he does! And I mean it, if you hurt Jou, I will kill you. Yami though...I'll act as if I will. Just, call of the your magic from Jou before it devours him!' Atem tightened his light grip around Yugi's neck and glared at the boy. He made a minor mistake about broadcasting his thoughts to Yugi, but neglected the minor slip up as he focused on the blonde Yugi was so adamant about saving.
Shadow magic had already attached itself to Jonouchi's limbs, which the blonde was recklessly fighting against, but the magic had already consumed most of his arms and legs. The blonde's knees buckled the moment Atem's fire red eyes skimmed over the lower vampire. Releasing the human's neck, the Original vampire reached his hand out towards the Blonde to call of the shadows. The vile magic was already disobeying his wishes. He refused to have any of his subjects killed during his reclaiming.
Instead of receding from the vampire called Jonouchi, Atem witnessed his magic disobeying him and proceeded to attempt to consume the male at an alarming rate. The Original's eyes widened and panicking whispers and muffled cries erupted from the Gathering's guests. Atem released Yugi waist and grabbed his left wrist, the Vampire shield the boy behind his back as he scanned the room for signs of at least one of his former friends.
"JONOUCHI!" Shouted out to his friend, trying to pull away from Atem to go save his best friend. The Pharaoh refused to let the boy go and was evening preparing to run away with the Royal Feeder.
'Yugi hurry and help me search for a Sacred Guardian! They hold the key to taming my magic so I can save-'
CRASH!
A glass vase slammed Atem hard in the head near his left temple. The Original vampire released the human in order to balanced himself from his stumble. Yugi darted past him towards the vampire being consumed by his shadows, but that was the least of Atem's worries now. The vampire stood up tall and fixed his outfit. Something wet flowed down from his forehead and into his left eye. With an emotionless face, Atem used the tips of his fingers from his left hand to dab at the wetness, before pulling away so he could clearly see what was obscuring his vision.
Hunters and vampire guards seemed to move into action as Atem observed the dark red liquid that stained his finger tips. Innocent party guests were ushered into the corners of the room and away from Atem. Guards from both sides surrounded the innocent bystanders, Yugi, and the shadows consuming Jonouchi. Atem licked his blood from his fingers before coating his thumb in his saliva and wiping it across the cut on his forehead. The Original looked in the direction the vase was thrown from, his eyes a fiery red as he glared at the culprit who hit him
The Pharaoh was pissed.
"Enough of this foolish play, you devil!" Yami bellowed out, anger clear in his voice as he started to walk confidently towards the Original vampire. "Leave the innocent out of our game, that's a cowardly move for a king. "
Atem's clenched his hands into fists by his sides as he watched Yami move closer to him. His voice was just as deep as the last time he remembered it, but lack the warmth the Pharaoh was used to. His lover had truly changed over the millenniums they had apart from one another.
"Really now? " Atem laughed, but his voice held no amusement. "I am a king in your mind? I thought that man had made you degrade me into savage vampire. Though that would be an insult to your parents, now would it not?"
Yami growled loudly and stopped his approach towards Atem. The Prince of the Vampires was now at the bottom of the stairs looking up at his predecessor. "You damned bastard! Why didn't you rot away in Hell!?" Yami cursed at the Egyptian.
Atem chuckled lowly, his eyes softening slightly, but were still pools of anger. "I did, but then I conquered Hell itself," He smirked and began descending down the stairs of the grand staircase towards his mate. "I burned for centuries, wondering what I did to deserve a cruel fate. But slowly, I realized it was not my fault for my fate. I was trapped in an unexpected game of betrayal were I was left with no moves, no players, and no strategy. The pieces I had were turned against me, one by one. Even you, oh sweet prince."
Atem stopped halfway down the staircase, wanting to keep his leverage of being able to stare down at his mate. "Just when I thought my strength had finally left me and I was going to lose without even being able to counter, I found a weakness. A flaw in the plan of my opponent. He tried turning my favored piece against me, and he succeeded, but he created a weak point while doing so. I used that turning point to crush the obstacles in my way and pulled myself out of Hell as I conquered it. I even gained a new piece in this game and became stronger than I was before you jumped stupid-"
"Now!" A deeply aged voice yelled.
"What?"Atem hissed, turning to his right, just as the Vampire Hunters launched a full scale barrage of bullets at him.
The shadows that were consuming Jonouchi quickly pulled away from the low class vampire, leaving him unscathed, to go protect their master.
The Original vampire had no time to act himself, instead, his instincts had took care of his protection for magic coated the former Pharaoh and formed a impenetrable sphere around the pure blood vampire. Screams echoed throughout the ballroom, as the human guests ducked for cover with their vampires of fellow hunter protecting them from the the ricocheting bullets from the Original vampire's protective dome.
Yugi felt arms wrap around him as he was kneeling down and checking for any visible wounds on Jonouchi. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed it was Mahaad shielding his smaller form from the destructive power of the flying bullets.
"My Lord, keep your head down!" The Guardian commanded the human and used a hand to push Yugi down to the ground.
"Do what he says Yug'! Things are crazy, I'm going to check on Ryou and Malik. Stay with Mahaad!" Jou said in a winded voice, before getting on his hands and knees, keeping lower as he crawled away from Yugi.
Chaos. Pure Chaos was erupting at the Gathering and all because Atem. Yugi turned his head to the side to try and get a peek at the man he had abandoned on the stairs to save his best friend. Immediately Yugi's concern for the other living beings in the room when he spotted the solid black orb on the stairs that the hunter's were firing at. When the last bullet soared the the air and the Hunters began reloading their weapons for round two, Yugi felt a familiar mystic wind skim across his exposed face. Loud hissing filled the room and soon formed into a line of chanting gibberish.
While to the human it sounded nothing more than nonsense, the gasp from Mahaad was proof that the hissing chants was some much more than a slew of incoherent gibberish. Suddenly, the orb surrounding Atem finally burst, black shadow magic flying away from him in every direction with incredible speed and force, shattering all the glass in the room and knocking the unprepared to the ground. The room fell into an eerie silence following the blast, like a battlefield of defeat.
Yugi watched in both shock and fear, along with the rest of the occupants in the room, as Atem emerged from the shadow's protection completely unharmed with an stern and regal appearance.
The King of the Vampire race immediately spoke loud and clear in his lost language, as he made sure to face the terrified crowd and even gazed straight into the video cameras recording him. He paused briefly before resuming in Japanese.
"I am the am the son of Amun-Ra, the successor and offspring of the late Pharaoh and King of the Vampires, Akhenamkhanen of the Muran clan. I am the feared, the respected, the beloved. I am the purest of pure blood vampires, with the blood of the first vampire running strongly through my veins! I am the one who calls upon the darkness and overpowers it! I am the Lost Pharaoh, the rightful ruler of the vampire race, King of the Vampire Kingdom. I am the Original Vampire! I am Pharaoh Atem of the Muran clan. And I have returned from the depths of Hell to reclaim my throne and lead my Kingdom to peace and victory against the dark forces threatening it!"
The crowd was speechless as Atem repeated himself with same amount of energy each time, but in different languages. When he was finished, his eyes landed on Yami, anger clearly visible on his face. Before Atem could address his mate and subjugate Yami to his anger, Mahaad stood up, abandoning his duty to protect Yugi to address Atem, his friend, his king.
"My King!" Mahaad spoke up, breaking the silence of the room and all eyes fell on the priest in traditional white robes of his homeland, though tarnished by the recent events of the evening.
Atem's dark red eyes switched their attention to the Egyptian Priest addressing him. Instead of speaking, Atem raised his head high and stared down at Mahaad as is he was a bug on the ground. The priest thought nothing of it as he stepped his left foot forward, placed his right hand over his heart, before kneeling to the ground on one knee and bowing to the Original Vampire.
"Welcome back, my highness," Mahaad announced with fondness and a warm smile gracing his face as he kept his head bowed before lifting it up to meet Atem's stern gaze. "We have been awaiting your return for quite some time."
"My pr-aA!" Isis cried out in excitement, all but running to Mahad's side and assuming the same bowing position of her friend, but with her head down.
"Our Highness."
"Praise, the Original."
Karim and Shada joined their fellow fellow Sacred Guardians in greeting their king and expressing how they have missed his presence. Yugi stood to his feet and moved away from the Guardians unsure what to do. He looked around and notice several of the older Noble Vampires following the Guardian's example and bowing to Atem. Humans and younger vampires either stood or stayed on the ground in bewilderment or fear. Looking to Yami, Yugi started to walk to the man's side, but he froze in place as he watched Yami storm up the stairs at an inhuman speed towards Atem, screaming in anger.
Yami was so quick with his movements, no human knew the Prince had pulled a hidden dagger off his being, until Atem caught wrist of Yami's hand holding the dagger made of silver with a wooden grip. Atem twisted his mate's wrist and forced him to drop the dagger before kicking it away and down the steps of the staircase. Atem leaned in towards Yami, but the younger pure blood was quick and managed to free himself and put some distance between him and Atem before charging in for a second attack with his bare hands.
"You are not the king, you are not the Atem that lead this race before me! You are just but a shell! You have fallen and become corrupted by blood lust!" Yami spat out as he began an assault of punches and kicks, all aimed at Atem.
The Original dodged the attacks and countered with his own punches and jabs, which Yami also dodged. Their quarrel quickly became a dangerous brawl. "I have not! My lust is sedated, my eyes are mine, and I am of sane mind! It is you who has lost yourself!" Atem countered back as he landed a jab in Yami's stomach. The younger pure blood coughed and stumbled back, but quickly recovered before Atem could get his second attack to land.
"I have not! I am as sane as a being could possibly be after facing my own hell!"
"Exactly! Which means you are not yourself! You have reverted into a being who - " Atem grunted as Yami landed a hook kick hard on his shoulder," - who is sheltered and scared!"
"I am not!" Yami roared as he charged and tackled the Original Vampire, sending them both over the side railing of the grand staircase and crashing into the marble floor below. "I have nothing left to fear, other than my kingdom's safety!"
The two continued to bicker back and forth while their fight began to move closer towards the other participants of the Gathering, becoming an unstoppable force of calamity. Yugi watched in horror as the two's fight began to become more dangerous and life threatening by the second. He knew he need to stop the two before ended up killing an innocent bystander, but how could her without getting himself killed in the process.
"All on-duty hunters, fire on the target and the Prince on my command, then proceed to clear out all civilians."
"Copy that." Yugi's head turned to stare at the hunter standing behind him with a worried eyes. Pegasus wasn't that stupid! He wouldn't risk creating full on war by taking Yami's life along with Atem's! Yugi steeled his nerves and turned his attention to the two fighting vampires. He would definitely deserved to die for what he was about to do next, but it would be for cost of saving many lives by preventing a war.
Taking a deep breath, the human charged at the two vampires without hesitation.
"Would you two stop fighting!" The young human snapped at the two vampires before he used his right shoulder the take the brunt of the impact as he tackled Yami to the ground.
Yugi wasted no time 'detaining' Yami as best as he could. There was only so much an unarmed human could do to a vampire, but Yugi did the best he could. The human placed arm on the back of Yami's neck and used his legs to Yami's thighs down. He used his free hand to hold on of Yami's arms down and placed all of his weight on the Vampire's neck, just as the IVHA had taught him to do when capturing a vampire.
"Damn it Yugi! Get off me, right now!"
"Hell no!" The human responded and pressed down harder on Yami's Neck. "I will not let you up until you act like you have some sense instead of like a child fighting over a toy!" Thank God Atem had worn Yami out some, or he would be having a much more difficult time at trying to keep Yami on the ground.
"Yugi, stay out of this!" Atem snapped at the human, already grabbing his jacket to pull him off of Yami. "This is not your place to be interfering!"
Yugi panicked for a moment as he felt Atem lift up his body. However, with quick thinking, the normal non-violent and kind human did the unthinkable. He released Yami's arm in favor to punch the Original vampire right in the groin as hard as he could manage with no mercy.
Atem immediately released Yugi and cringed as his lower part swelled up with pain. He fell to his knees with his legs pressed together, trying to soothe his pain. Even though his privates were throbbing and potentially receding back into his abdomen from Yugi's actions, it didn't stop Atem from unleashing his anger on to the human.
Grabbing Yugi by the collar of his dress shirt, Atem pulled the boy half off of Yami, to stare him directly in the eyes. " I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You!" The Original vampire growled out through bared fangs.
"Let go of my feeder!" Yami demanded as he rolled over and hooked his arms around Yugi's waist and began trying to pull the human free from Atem's grasp.
"I will not! He will learn his place-"
"I'll make you let go, even if I have to tear of your hands- "
"Would you both quit fighting!" Yugi yelled out in frustration, before using his hands to try and pry Atem's from his shirt, and his legs to push Yami away from him. " Stop and act like the adults you are!" The human struggled between the the two, trying to get free. " I am seriously tired of sitting here listening to the two of you degrade each other and acting like kids. Yami you need to grow up and stop shutting out reality. And Atem, you need to stop being so over dramatic about everything! This is going too far!"
Both the pure blood vampires released the human with two separate looks of shock. One the look of a grand fuck up, the other a look of a new and disturbing discovery.
Yugi panted heavily and stood up, glaring down at the two men on the dented ground. "The next time you get in a brawl think before you throw your fist! There are innocent bystanders and hunters around! You could have injured someone or even been killed. Then what? I would have failed as a feeder before I even finished my first full day as one!"
"You know...him?" Yami questioned, his voice expressing his shock as he stood up slow. "You know him!?" He repeated, pointing a finger at Atem.
Yugi froze and his face became a pale white. And it was at that moment, that Yugi Mutou knew he had fucked up.
"I...I…"The human couldn't find words to say, his mind went blank as he gazed at Yami's hurt and anger face. Fearful whispers and angry chatter filled his ears from the people around him.
"D-Does he have connections with that monster claiming to be the king?"
"That damn human! He tricked the Prince into making him his feeder so he could overthrow him!"
"The royal feeder is a traitor! Just like the murder he looks like, I see."
"Yami, I-"
"I compelled him to take care of me," Atem cut Yugi off and answered Yami firmly, as he placed his hands on the young boy's shoulders.
"Before the two of you met, I managed to compel him when he was passing near the estate as a last ditched effort to save myself from starvation. I had him feed me both human and animal blood, clean me, and then I eventually had him lift the seal placed on me. After that, I compelled him to hide me in his home, and even took up a false identity until I regained my strength be feeding from around the same time as you had, forcibly of course. He has no idea he was under my influence the entire time, until now. Isn't that right, Yugi Mutou?" Atem gripped Yugi's shoulder tight as the human looked up at him completely stunned.
"I…"Yugi's eyes began to water and his voice started to crack. "You used compulsion on me this entire time?"
The human was in disbelief. Atem had truly done such a thing to him. The man had once told him that he only used Yugi to gain his attention so someone would notice him and help. He hadn't actually thought Atem had used him. But...it did explain why he had been so comfortable in spilling out his heart to the male, why he had spent so much time caring for the man, why he pitted him, why he saved him, Why he enjoyed being around the vampire, why he missed Atem, why… he even started to develop some sort of feelings for the man.
"Yugi -"
The human promptly removed himself from Atem's side and moved to Yami's. "No. You've said enough."
Yugi cover his eyes with hand to block the world from his vision. He failed. He failed at protect himself and was used without the slightest clue. If he was compelled so easily by Atem, was it possible others had done the same? 'Hell, how am I even sure Jonouchi is my real friend-'
'I'm partially lying, Yugi. We cannot afford the humans turning on you, so in modern terms, I believe I am ' saving/ covering your ass.' There's no need to worry. Yami is still ...adamant, you actually fought against Ushio willingly, you dated Tea for her personality, and Katasya Jonouchi is the human-turned vampire friend you've had since your childhood.'
Yugi slid his hand down his face, to look at Atem. 'You didn't completely compel me and use me this entire time?'
'No, I didn't compel your mind for these past few weeks. I shall clarify everything to you and Yami in private, once I clean this situation-'
Both Atem and Yugi's mental conversation was cut off by Yami speaking the same foreign language of Atem's native tongue, but repeating the same word. The former Pharaoh's face went from an unemotional poker face, to one of instant regret as he looked away from the vampire standing next to Yugi. Atem said nothing, and it caused Yami to shake with anger.
The Prince spoke again, this time it was in perfect Japanese. "You reached out for help from a human thousands of years after you were taken from me, but couldn't reach out for me through our bond!?"
Atem's face scrunched up in pain and his body went rigid as Yami's voice questioned him with raw emotion in it. Taking a deep breath, Atem turned and face Yami, his eyes were moist from hidden feelings.
"I tried," The king's voice was soft and confident, but if was the voice of a broken man. "I tried so many times, I spoke to you everyday, watched the world through your eyes, tried to comfort you when you were unable to bare my loss. I was there! I called for you! I cried for you! I begged for you!" Atem's regal appearance crumbled as his he switched languages to his native tongue and poured his feelings, thoughts, and emotions out to his mate.
Yugi watched as Yami's anger visibly diminished and instead he grew upset with grief and pulled at his hair with both of his hands and shielding his face from view with his arms. "I don't know! I can't understand what you're saying! I can only make out a few words, but I don't know what you're saying anymore!"
Atem's sighed softly, before grabbing Yami's right arm and pulling his pure blood vampire Prince into a close embrace. Yugi watched Yami relax into Atem's arms and the small rapid movement of his shoulders. Yami didn't return Atem's embrace, only merely accepting the small gesture of comfort as he was held by a person he had once thought to be dead.
The former Pharaoh, being slightly taller than his mate, pressed part of his face into Yami's hair as he took in his mate's scent, warmth, and sorrow. Red eyes glanced at Yugi, who was watching both Atem and Yami with a sad expression the king spoke no words to the human, but did raise his head and nodded for Yugi to fetch Mahaad.
Yugi nodded his head and left Atem and Yami o go retrieve the guardian, who was currently speaking with the one and only, Maximillion Pegasus. "Sir, I assure the situation is under our control. There is no need to resort to-"
Yugi tugged on part of Mahad's robe, to gain the priest's attention. "Excuse me Mahaad, but Your presences is being requested by the King of Vampires." Yugi kindly interrupted the conversation he was having with Director Pegasus.
"Very well, I will go to him once I have finished up here," The priest responded before turning to resume his conversation. "As I saying-"
Yugi tugged on Mahaad's robe again, "He wants you now, I'll finish up here for you."
"My lord this is a political issue, not some childish conversation-"
"Now, Priest Mahaad. I'm well aware of the situation, and I know Director Pegasus personally. I finish calming the situation so that you may attend to the ...King and his Prince," Yugi firmly told the priest with a soft smile. "If you disobey, I'm sure things will only become worse, and I'm not sure if I can tame the two again."
Priest Mahaad sighed through his nose, but said nothing as her turned to face Director Pegasus. "I will have to take my leave now, but Lord Mutou, his highness' Royal Feeder, will resume our conversation in my place. Please, forgive this….predicament."
"I'll pay no mind to it, Priest. I am honored to be able to speak directly to the Royal feeder, now please, do got tend to the King and the Prince before my men and I have to get involved...physically," Pegasus replied his normal joyful tone, but with a sly smile plastered on his face. A look Yugi knew only meant trouble.
"Very well, I shall take my leave," Mahaad nodded his head to the hunter, before turning and heading to Atem and Yami, not once looking back to check on Yugi.
For the first solid minute, neither Pegasus nor Yugi spoke to each other. Yugi's smile had faded and his eyes had softened to a look of guilt as he refused to stare at Director Pegasus. He was fearful what the man was going to say to him.
"My sweet child," Yugi finally looked up at the leader of the International Vampire Hunter Association, his violet eyes meeting the single sorrow filled eye that belonged to Pegasus. "I fear I may have only caused the end of your life to happen earlier, rather than do good to for it."
Yugi looked at the director shock, but quickly concealed it with an innocent laugh. He couldn't reveal his mission. "What do you mean, Director Pegasus? This was just an act of fate in which we must deal with and care for," Playing the dumb card was not Yugi's best trick, but hopefully it would impress the Director enough for him to win this little game.
"Oh, nothing I was just speaking to myself, you can ignore me. However, we cannot ignore this issue. I'm afraid this little stunt you were involved with has become a problematic issue," The director clarified to Yugi, his tone losing it's joy and becoming stern as the fearful leader of the IVHA began to show his true colors to Yugi. " If that man is indeed the true ruler of the Vampire race and their 'Lost King', then I am afraid this will nullify the agreement to continue the hiatus between our conflicting sides. We would either have to resign new documentation with the King's signature agreeing to our hiatus terms, or our will will no longer be a 'peaceful' one and blood will be shed once more."
Yugi kept himself composed and suppressed his growing fear. His training with Otogi prepared him for situations such as this, and Atem had told all he need to know about his reclaiming the throne, that he could formulate a strong answer. He could win, and he would win for the protection of his friends.
"Director, once it has been officially confirmed that Atem Muran is indeed the rightful King of the Vampire Kingdom, we will hold a coronation to formally introduce him as king. Following that, we will contact you to resign the Gathering documents, but until then, the documentation which you signed this evening is still valid as Prince Yami is still acting ruler of the Vampire Kingdom until the throne has been successfully transferred over to Atem Muran, that is, if he is indeed the 'Lost King' as you so claim."
Yugi was firm with his answers, not leaving an inch of space for Pegasus to argue with his reasoning. This was a game and the young human was determined to not let his opponent even see his victory.
"Very well, I will be expecting a formal detailed letter in the near future explaining the current situation. I am not pleased such a thing as a dangerous and potentially rogue intruder was even allowed into the- "
"Allow me to stop you there, Director. I am just as displease, if not more that this entire situation even occurred, however, as Royal Feeder to Prince Yami, I refuse to allow you to belittle the Vampire Kingdom and place the blame on us solely, when your men were just as responsible for this."
"My men are only mortal, they can only do so much. How do you expect them to defeat an Original vampire?" Pegasus countered and gave Yugi a challenging smirk.
Yugi remained silent, and glared at his superior- former superior, with pure annoyance. " I'm sorry if your men do not have the bravery to put their life on the line for others. If they do not know the weakness of a man, any man regardless of race, than they are incompetent as a hunter and as a protector."
"Bravery? Don't you mean stupidity?" Pegasus taunted and leaned down to press his face against Yugi, trying to pressure the younger male into cracking. " Because what I witness was a boy rushing into a war zone with no weapons, no armor, and no plan. Just pure luck and stupidity. An inexperienced and clumsy child. "
Pegasus backed away and stood to his full height, smiling confidently as he observed. Yugi's blood was boiling with his frustration. He opened his mouth only for him to be silence before he could even speak, by Atem.
"I'm sorry to be interrupting, but Yugi Mutou will be leaving upon request of Prince Yami Sennen, " Atem spoke in a stern tone and quickly took Yugi's hand in his own, his dark red eyes glued to Pegasus' body.
"Oh? And I'm just suppose to let the beloved Royal Feeder runaway with a party-crasher, such as yourself? A silly little ant trying to play King? I think not," The head hunter proclaimed as he stood his ground, a head already positioned over his concealed stake.
Yugi took in a deep breath as did Atem, both suppressing their anger. Yugi was doing a better job than the former Pharaoh, and the humans both realized the fact when the flickering forms a the shadows produced by both Atem and Yugi, began to act like black flat fires licking at the ground.
"Hit a nerve did I, oh righteous king?"
Atem said nothing and only glared at the man before turning his back on the hunter and pulled Yugi away from Pegasus as he retreated from the chaotic ballroom that was already beginning to clear from occupants. "We're leaving, Yugi."
Yugi gave one last fleeing glare to Pegasus before turning around fully and willingly walked next to the powerful and agitated vampire.
As they walked away, Yugi spotted his friends. The human's anger vanished the moment he saw them and the Human was tempted to stray away from Atem to join the, however the thought soon died when he spotted their looks.
Ryou and Malik were with their vampires Bakura and Marik. Ryou looked completely terrified, like he was on the verge of an anxiety attack as he stared at Yugi, hiding behind Bakura and holding on for moral support while his vampire remain emotionless. Malik was the opposite of Ryou. His glare directed at Yugi was pure anger. Hell, he was even being held back by both of his vampire's hands. Then there was Jonouchi. He refused to look at Yugi. He had his back to his tri-colored hair friend as he spoke with Seto Kaiba and hand a firm grip on one of Mokuba Kaiba's shoulders. Yugi looked away, disappointed in himself as he left the ruined Gathering with Atem .
"They're pretty upset with me, my friends that is."
"They will forgive you later, but for now we have more... Pressing issues to focus on," Atem answered the human and led Yugi through the grand castle like resort, as if he knew the entire layout of the building.
"What's more important than my friends?" The human asked, his brows furrowed as he tried to understand the monarch.
"Yami. For now he is a sleep after some tough encouragement, but we will have to fully explain and call him down once he awakens. There's also the matter of completing our feeding bond tonight," Atem's voice was flat and void of all emotion. It terrified the human. This was one side he hadn't seen from the vampire, he had seen Atem happy, confused, sad, and even mad. But never had the man been completely void of emotion, except their first night when he was released from the seal. Yugi didn't say anything as he allowed Atem lead him to the boat the would be using to leave the island. As they made their way to their transport, Yugi dreaded every step of the way.
"This is going to be tough," The human mumbled softly to himself and held on to Atem's hand tighter.
"I owe it to Yami to tell him the entire story. He waited thousands of years for me, it's only natural that I give him my side of the story... and yours, " The vampire replied calmly, his voice expressing some of his concern for the situation. " I will tell you both about my discoveries from these past few days alone, and what we will be facing in the near future. I fear that we may have a long journey before us in the coming days. A long and tortuous one."
The boat ride was uneventful and for the most part Atem and the Sacred Guardians reacquainted with one another. Yugi had sat with the unconscious Yami leaning against his body as the man slept unwillingly. Apparently Atem had requested Mahaad to cast a simple slumber spell on Yami to keep the male from acting irrationally again. Although Yugi knew he would be given hell for this later, along with Atem and especially Mahaad, he had been content with watching the vampire's sleeping face and listening to Atem reunite with his friends a learn about the lives they had lived after he was sealed away.
The car ride after that though, was completely silent. The Sacred Guardians had went their separate ways in different cars, other than Karim who had drove them in the same limousine from earlier in the day, to the location Yami had picked out for he and Yugi to stay until when they would return to Domino City. Atem had held the sleeping Yami in his lap the entire ride to their resting location. Yugi didn't speak as he watched with a soft smile as Atem fondly watched of his spell-induced sleeping mate. Although Yugi wasn't certain what Yami's feelings for Atem was, the human certainly knew that Atem was madly in love with the Prince from the way he simply gazed at the sleeping Yami. If Yugi had to guess, Atem was spending their car ride back just admiring his mate and familiarizing himself with Yami's looks and scent.
When they final arrived at their destination, Yugi noticed a quick change in Atem . The man became his regal self again as Yugi exited the car and the vampire followed after him while carrying a snoring Yami. Outside of the car, the trio had arrived at luxurious and secluded beach house. Yugi gave Karim a questionable look, who only laughed and proceeded to lead the human to the front door and simply pushed the front door open to allow Yugi to enter. The human proceeded into the house with caution, but as he took in his surroundings, Yugi quickly became amazed at the home's decor.
The home was completely modernized with all the latest upgrades and high-end finishes. As Yugi began exploring the home, he notice all the walls were painted with a soft sandy beige but then entire home was accented with beach themed decorations, along with a several different shades of blues and greens to compliment the overall beach theme. Yugi felt spoiled. He had seen the inside of the Kaiba mansion once or twice in his life, which was the only place Yugi could compare this miniature palace too. The fact he would be staying in such a beautiful house for the night, made the human feel blessed.
Yugi was exploring the living room amenities, specifically admiring the beautiful beach front view the floor-to-ceiling windows offered, when Atem entered the room and gently laid Yami on the massive navy blue couch. Turning his attention away from the beach, Yugi joined Atem on the smaller navy blue love-seat in the living room.
"So how long will he be out?" Yugi asked the Original vampire casually as he gazed at the sleeping form of the slumbering Yami. Yugi smiled happily as he watched the adorable sleeping form that belonged to Yami Sennen; eyes closed peacefully, lightly snoring, and his mouth hanging wide open. It was quite the amusing sight to the human.
"I'm not sure. Mahaad never gave me a specific time, he just knocked him out," Atem spoke as he slouched back in the couch and threw an arm over his eyes. "Just let him sleep for a while, he probably needs it. I also need to sort out my own thoughts before I...make him relive our personal hell."
"All right," Yugi agreed and toed off his dress shoes and stood up to go place them by the door properly.
When he returned, the human found the Egyptian hunched over with his head in his hands. Yugi stood in the at the entryway for a moment, leaning against the wall as he watched the king attempt to carry his heavy burden without being crushed by it. Yugi pitied him. Although Atem was thousands of years old now, he was just around Yugi's age when his world collapsed on him without warning .
The human sighed softly and made his way back over to the love-seat and reclaimed his spot next to Atem. The poor guy looked like he needed a distraction from his thoughts. "Hey, how come you said Yami needed sleep? I thought Vampires didn't have to sleep."
Atem lifted his head from his hands and gave Yugi a look of confusion. "Why would you think that? It is common knowledge, all living beings need to sleep other than vegetation."
"Common knowledge? But all the books my grandfather had on vampire behaviors, said that Vampires did not need to sleep."
Atem snorted and leaned into the backrest of the couch again. "I've read those books your grandfather has collected, they are on the generic breed, humans that have been turned into a vampire, not a pure blood."
Yugi gave Atem a baffled look before smiling as he folded his legs underneath him to make himself more comfortable on the couch. "Can you tell me the difference then?"
Atem was silent as he gazed up at the white ceilings of the luxurious home before sighing and turning his head lazily to the right to gaze at the smiling Yugi. "If you insist," The vampire answered, smiling back at the human, before looking up at the ceiling again.
" The vampire race is very...finicky when it comes to our different...breeds, you could call them. We have three different categories; human-born, mixed, and pure bloods. Human born vampires are just that. Vampires that were created from a human being turned by a pure blood. Back in my generation, they weren't as abundant as they are now, and were treated as lower beings, even lower than humans. Scum of the earth, as my grandfather once called them. However, they are your stereotypical vampire and at the bottom of our hierarchy. The human blood that flows through their veins from their past life gives the the perks such as not having to sleep, not having to breath for a long period of times, and of course their super strength. But they burn in the sunlight more easily than the rest of our kind, they can't handle large amounts of garlic, a large desire thirst for human blood, and have the hardest time blending into society. Their lives are also significantly shorter than pure bloods and mixes. Once their human bloods runs dry, which is typically with in ten or so years, they dry up and turn into ash. Only if the turned vampire consumes the blood of the pure blood on a weekly basis, then will they live a life of longevity."
Atem paused to turn sideways, and lean his head against the couch's backrest as he gazed at the intrigued Yugi. The look Yugi possessed and when the boy said "Tell me about the other vampires," reminded Atem so much of Heba when he had first educated his former feeder about his kind. Though it wasn't nearly as calm of peaceful.
"Mixed bloods, are the most complicated. They are the product of a human-born vampire and a pure blood either copulating, you a transformed Human-born that consumed an enormous amount of blood for a pure blood only need to sleep once or twice every few months to stay healthy and animal blood can sedate their thirst just as well as human blood can. Mysterious lot they are. The have some powers of the pure blood, but it varies case by case. They can also be very, and I mean, very mood beings. With their blood being mixed, it causes hormonal imbalances during different moon phases, similar to the female menstrual cycle human females experience." Atem chuckled when Yugi had a sudden look of bewilderment on his face. "What's the matter Yugi? Do you know a vampire who's mixed blood without realizing it?"
The human nodded,"Yeah, I think I do. Jonouchi, the um.. The vampire your shadow magic attempted to eat. He's moody every now and then like you described."
"He maybe one then. If he's older than a year and stuck around his 'maker', then he could be a mix. Pure bloods who intentionally turn humans into vampires convert them into mixed bloods. Typically takes six to thirteen months. A long and frustrating process, but it can be done."
Yugi hummed and nodded his head as he closed his eyes in thought. "I 'll have to ask him about it later, once… things have calmed down."
Atem hummed as well before lightly poking Yugi's left thigh. "Do you wish for me to continue?"
The human nodded eagerly at Atem and poked the vampire's own leg back. "I do. I enjoy learning more about your kind. It might help me in the future."
Atem chuckled , "If you say so." He poked Yugi's thigh again and gave the boy a mischievous look before continuing on with his lecture about the different types of vampires.
"Pure bloods are the strongest of vampire kinds. Once there were many of us, but wars and sickness have dwindled out numbers over time and now our blood is the least common among vampires, but the most respected. There is two types of pure bloods, the Originals and then the Noble. The Nobles are descendants of the Originals, they have little to no traces of human DNA in their blood. They are the second strongest and the one that govern the lower class vampires. They have the ability to turn humans into vampires. The can compel other vampires depending on their mental strength, and can heal the bite marks of those they feed from or bite. Each pure blood has their own specialty. Be it magic, speed, strength, ect. It is unique to them and can be very lethal. They must feed every one to two weeks from a human or animal blood daily, but it is not satisfying to also have to sleep at least three times a week to stay healthy."
"I think I understand now, but I'm curious. What's Yami's specialty?" Yugi asked atem as he toyed with the royal pin on his suit jacket.
"Strength. Yami's specialty is having strength that is strong than most pure bloods. He even gives me a challenge. He is proud of it, well, he used be," Atem chuckled and ruffled Yugi's hair lightly. "Try not to bet against him in an arm-wrestle or a fight, always bet on him."
Yugi rolled his eyes, "I don't gamble, but thank's for the advice old man."
Atem grumbled under his voice and huffed before continuing with his lecture.
" The Originals, well, myself, are from the founding bloodline of the vampires. We have no traces of human dna in our blood and we are unable to die by age alone. We share the same traits as the Nobles, but with some that are unique to us alone. We are the most powerful of our race, but also the ones that has the most burdens. We have to consume blood of humans weekly, or consume animal blood daily. Whe have to sleep at least three times a week to maintain a healthy lifestyle, ….and our blood is cursed. Only two originals can live at a time. Often they are mates or a parent and a child. We have required the form of the first vampire, which… is something you will never see. We are fated to Rule over the vampire race and always will. We have the power to completely bend anyone to our will, even if their mind and soul completely rejects us. Our blood is also… addicting to both humans and vampires. If not limited, it create problems and cause both vampires and humans to turn into monsters who have completely lost themselves, these creatures… are imperfect Originals. If not given the blessing by both of the Current living Originals to become a third or a fourth, then then they become slaves to our will and become incompetent as intelligent beings. Also, if you have notice by now, our specialty is the dark magic of shadows. Wicked and vile, we have to limit our use of it or else we could be consumed by our very own tools."
"D-Devour!?" Yugi's voice squeaked loudly in shock as he leaned pressed his nose against Atem's "If it's so bad, why do you even use it?"
The Original sighed as he placed both hands on the sides of Yugi's face and gently pushed the human away to give himself some personal space. "I have a countermeasure my father created and spent his final days perfecting, so it is fine Yugi."
"But-"
Atem narrowed his eyes at the human and pushed his palms inward to squish Yugi's face, causing his lips to pucker out like a fish. The King snicker and released the human with his lips tugged into fond smile. " I truly appreciation your concern, but human like yourself does not have to worry about someone like me. You are merely wasting your energy."
Yugi punched Atem's shoulder lightly for that comment, not finding it amusing. "Not true. It's not a waste of energy to worry about the well being of my friends."
"You consider me as a friend? But earlier we said you would not," Atem inquired, looking at Yugi puzzled.
"I said I would consider you my friend if I survived the Gathering, if I recall. I never claimed that 'wouldn't', because if I had died, than it would be possible for me to be your friend, now would it?" The human answered with a smug grin on his face. "Were you, the Great King of the Vampires, scared of not being able to befriend a mere human such as I?"
Atem rolled his eyes at Yugi. "You are such a strange human."
Yugi huffed playfully and crossed his arms over his chest. "Again with that? How many times must I tell you that I'm not strange?"
Atem hummed and made himself appear deep in thought before giving the human his answer. "You will always have to remind me, even up until your last breath." The former pharaoh flashed a warm smile.
Yugi's cheeks became flushed with a soft red and he looked away flattered. "Y-Yeah, I guess I will, won't I?" He chuckled softly, feeling overwhelmed as he stole a glance at the vampire, who was still smiling so warmly.
Was Atem's smile always this radiant? Or was it because he was finally being able to piece his life together and form some sort of familiar normalcy in his life? Whatever the reason, Yugi hoped the reason would stay so he could see his friend continue to smile beautifully. It made the human feel warm and proud to be by Atem's side. It was… nice.
A groan brought Yugi back to reality and his attention turned to the larger couch where Yami laid. The human stood up when he spotted movement from the pure blood vampire and quickly went to his side to check on him. Although he and the other didn't get along much, Yami was still 'his' vampire. Something that still struck a wrong note inside Yugi's heart.
"Hey, " Yugi spoke softly as he knelt by Yami and placed a gentle hand on Yami's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
Groggily, Yami rolled over onto his side to look Yugi with a drowsy gaze. He didn't say anything at first, but the vampire eventually gave him a nod. "Yeah."
Yami pushed himself into a sitting position and used his hand to rub the sleep from his eyes. Yugi sighed in relief the vampire seemed fine and stood from his knelt position and stretched his arms above his head. "That's a relief!"
"Mm," Yami hummed in acknowledgement, his mind still foggy from his forced sleep. Looking around, the vampire quickly became puzzled by how he ended up in the rental home he was renting out. When Yami began to try and remember how he ended up on the couch of his rental house, the events from the Gather flooded into his mind and vampire's sleep was washed away by his intense mixed emotions.
Red eyes scanned the living room, until Yami spotted his target lounging on the loveseat to his right. The pure blood vampire emitted a low growl. So his mind hadn't been fooling him, Atem had returned.
"You!" Yami barked at the other vampire in the home and sprang to his feet. "Explain yourself, right now before I tear off your limbs!"
"Yami," Yugi stepped in front of the vampire, speaking gently.
"It is all right Yugi, he has every right to be mad at me, and as do I," Atem spoke casually, but his own red eyes were narrowed as he observed his mate carefully. "However, I will put my own anger to rest so we can peacefully settle this feud of ours and move on with our lives."
Yami bared his fangs at Atem, annoyed by how casual his former lover was acting. He disliked this side of Atem. The side were the older male always acted so calm and reasonable when Yami knew damn well that the other was just as furious as he was. He hated how the other male suppressed his emotions and hid his thoughts behind a placid expression and a plain voice. It sickened him.
However, Yami refused to be the lower being and throw a tantrum at the uninterested male. Instead, The vampire seat back down on the couch and glared at Atem with eyes full of hatred. "Is this part of your grand scheme? First you manipulate my feeder, then embarrass me infront of the entire kingdom, make false claims about how you had actually were with me when you were sealed, and now you want to act like an adult? I'm afraid to tell to your time for being mature and owning up to your own misdeeds, has passed."
Yugi bit his bottom lips as Atem refuse to speak. Deciding it was wiser to not sit with either of the two, Yugi took a seat on the floor in between the two, just incase things turned bad. He kept quiet and only observed the two's interactions.
"I agree, if I were to apologize now to you, it would only fall on deaf ears. You are still too daft to even allow me to explain myself," Atem challenged his mate and turned his head away from the other out bitterness.
Yami's eye twitched from his frustration and he took a sharp inhale through his nose as he glared at the Original vampire with no fear. "How am I supposed to forgive you when you tried to kill me only a few weeks ago?! How do you expect me to just accept an empty apology without an explanation for why you forced my heart to start? Do you understand how much it hurt? Not the physical pain, but having the bare witness to the one person you truly loved with all of your soul and entire being, try to kill you over a petty-"
"I was not going to kill you!" Atem interject, raising his voice suddenly. His outburst startled Yugi, even though the human knew it was coming after the way Yami disrespected him.
Atem stood from his seat and began pacing back and forth while trying to keep himself calm. " I needed to removed my blood from your system before you became endangered! That was the only way at time, given that I was nothing but a bag of bones and skin! I will admit I went the wrong way about it and for that, I will apologize to you, but do not play the pity card on me, Yami Sennen!" Atem's pacing stopped as he turned to make full eye contact with his mate. "Unlike others, I know the real you. I know how strong you are and what you are capable of. And I refuse to pity you! I refuse to be one of the people to look down on you as someone who is so pathetic that he ended up losing not only his life, but both of his lovers, his kingdom. Everything that I had work so damn hard for!"
Atem was breathing hard, his hand curling and uncurling into fists by his sides. His face was red from his anger towards his mate, but his expression was that of agony as he glared at the paler vampire. " I played my cards wrong, okay? I fucked up and allowed you to become hurt beyond my imagination. I made a huge mistake. I am not here to ask or beg for you forgiveness, Yami. I am well aware that you hate me, and I am too bitter at myself to allow you to forgive me. I only want to give you the truth of what happened. It is… the least I can do. So, will you allow me to justify my actions and speak the truth to you? "
Atem's body was trembling and rigid as he patiently wait for Yami to respond to him. Yugi felt his heart pound in his chest as he allowed his gaze to switch back and forth between the two lovers. Yami's face was still in an angry scowl, but his read eyes had darkened in color and his glared had softened as he took in the desperate man standing in front of him. Yami closed his eyes and sighed through his nose before opening them again and gazing at the monarch with a soften glare. " You have an hour, and that is it."
Atem only nodded and reverted back to hiding his emotions from both Yami and Yugi. Although Yugi was sure the man was thrilled by the other's reaction, just like he was.
"The night I was sealed, I sensed a second Original, " Atem did not hesitate in telling his story to his mate, nor did he plan on leaving out any detail as final spoke about his nightmarish past.
"Sodpet had lowered and I was at my weakest. It was during the late afternoon that I had sensed if after I passed a peculiar person. I had originally planned to stop and question their power, but the Sacred Guardians had ushered me away to the public service for the day. Later, I requested guards to search for him, but they came up empty handed. Later, while meeting with the noble pure blood house leaders, I was confronted about my feeding habits and was told that I needed to drink from humans directly and that I should consider relinquishing my claim on Heba and drink from only virtuous humans," Atem paused with a sigh and a shake of his head before continuing. "Needless to say, I excused myself from their lunatic and deranged thinking to go rest in my personal chambers. It was while on my way back to my chambers that I felt the presence again. The unmistakable feeling of a nearby Original. Even the shadows had become restless as I was. It felt as if he was watching me, waiting for when I was at my absolute weakest, when I was off guard."
"When you comforted me while I was wrestling my thoughts that evening Yami, I could not bring myself to tell you of my suspensions of the Original I felt lurking in my shadows. I was fearful that I would be putting you in danger and I could bare the idea of someone attacking you because of my foolishness. So, I kept it from you and sent you off to go draw me a bath while I tried to calm my nerves before you noticed how uneasy I was. When you left, the other Original's powers grew more intense. It was nothing like my father's or even my own. It was sinister, so twisted I believed that it was the devil rather than my kin stalking me from the shadows. When I was sure you were busy with the bath, I called out to them. Daring that they come and face me."
Atem stopped speaking and took a seat on the love-seat, taking a few deep breaths and holding his head in his hands. After a few minutes of the King taking steady breaths to calm himself, he spoke up.
"Heba entered a few moments after and I didn't think much of it. He handed my the goblet of his blood as usual and sat it down on a nearby table so I could make conversation with him, but he was not himself. He refused to look at me, answered shortly and politely. He was obedient for once and it worried me. I embraced him, thinking that he had a bad day while he worked with the other servants and needed comfort. I forgot about the other Original, only focused on consoling him and trying to restore Heba back to his normal self. And without warning, Heba stabbed a silver dagger through my chest. It was my own sheer stupidity that I didn't see through the trick."
"The wound is gone, but I can still feel the burning sensation of it in my chest," Atem clenched his dress shirt tightly over the spot where he was stabbed. " I pushed him away and fell to my knees, I knock Heba into the limestone wall and he became dazed. I tried to remove the weapon from my body, but the hilt was made of silver and burned my hand when I tried to pull it free. Then he showed himself, the Original I had felt. He appeared out of the shadows from beneath our bed. He….He had been a man I trusted with my life, but he betrayed me and stole the blood of my late father to transform himself! He taunted me with threats of killing you, torturing you slowly until you spirit was broke and your body was dried from all blood. I fought him, or at least tried, but Heba came too and came between us. That man… he poisoned him, Yami. Heba had once been a good soul, but even without being compelled that man was able to manipulate him. However, he had compelled him into grabbing the dagger in my chest and reciting ancient black magic. No matter how hard I pushed him, or how loud I yelled at him, Heba wouldn't let go or stop chanting. The only option I had to save myself… was to kill him before he could finish the spell. But even if I had, that man you have finished it himself. If he had, well, I wouldn't be here today, " Atem chuckled darkly.
" It was agonizing, my entire body felt like it had been thrown into Hell. I tried everything but killing Heba. I just couldn't bring myself to murder him. When it was over couldn't do anything. I couldn't move my body and had bare the witness as that demon drank from my feeder, abused my body, and then watched as he fake to be an ally. I was so furious that I had forgotten all about our bath until you came rushing to my side. I remember your crying face so vividly in my mind that it haunted me every passing while I was under the curse and still haunts me when I close my eyes. It's the lasting I saw before my sight was stolen from me. I asked for Heba when you reached me, because I was worried that the demon would use him to go after you next. But my throat grew tight, " Atem's hand loved from his chest to his throat and he wrapped his fingers around it gently. " 'Yami, I love you. Run before he comes after my blood.' I wanted to tell you that, but I barely even managed to get your name out. Immediately I tried calling to you through our bond. I could feel your anguish and I tried to soothe it, but my connection to you had been blocked. I could feel you, see the world in your eyes, hear your thoughts… and everyday I tried to let you hear mine, to let you feel that I was still here. I know that you went through a hard time. You and the Sacred Guardians took care of me. You slept with me, feed me, kept me clean. But it all stopped shortly after you relocated here, to Japan. I learned languages with you, experienced new cultures and gained a vast amount of knowledge until..."
Atem went silent and his breathing stopped. The room was silent other than the soft sound of the distant ocean as both Yami and Yugi tried to understand Atem's pain and just how much he had suffered.
"Priest Seth convinced me that is was time to lay you to rest," Yami spoke up in place of Atem, catching the King off guard. But Yami didn't stop there, he kept going with his side.
"I didn't want to, but the other the Guardian assumed it was for the best as the world became more violent and unpredictable. At first it was a golden Sarcophagus with no lid and we bathed you in blood every day, but when that didn't help, I became desperate. Seth found the first scientist, who then introduced me to Solomon Mutou back when he was a researcher for the Vampire Hunters. He only accepted it for the money, but he did end up growing to care about you, Atem. He passed the role to his Son and his wife later on when he retired from being a hunter. They originally weren't apart of the association by they joined to gain more materials to use for research while trying to find away to break your seal, but they ended up dying in combat later one and then… Seth said that it was hopeless and...you could break the seal yourself if you wanted to. " Yami's tone grew colder and he glared at Atem. "Is it true? Could you have broken the seal yourself without the help from others?!"
Atem was silent and his bowed head kept his face hidden from both Yami and Yugi from seeing his reaction. The human slid closer to the former Pharaoh, worried about the other's mental state, but also curious if Yami's words were true. "Is what Yami said true, Atem? Could you have broken the seal yourself?"
The Pharaoh was quiet, but stood from his seat to once again start pacing. "Yes and no. Had the dagger not been silver I could have easily freed myself within a day's time. But that man thought of everything, except Heba having a living family who would go one to reproduce and and pass on his blood from one generation to the next." Atem answered, his voice monotone but the flickering shadows of the room was proof of the man's unspoken rage.
"Continuing from where you left off, " Atem leaned against a nearby wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "I was cut off from your thoughts and could only feel your emotions. I was left in completely silence and darkness. If the human researchers you hired hadn't talked to me and acted like I was there, living and speak back to them, then I might have went insane. They spoke to me about you when I could no longer reach out to you myself. They helped me regain strength, kept me sane with idle chattering, and discovered a way for me to be reunited with you. ."
"Ten years ago, the woman approached me , alone. She told me that she had discovered that her husband's bloodline was linked to Heba's and if her husband attempted to pull out the dagger embedded in my chest, then I would could return to you. She then informed me that she and her husband were being sent away and it could be for a while, and she wanted to ask two favors of me. She wanted me to watch over her child and," Atem pause his dark red eyes shifting colors to their natural warm crimson as he gaze solely at Yami, who met Atem's gaze with no fear. "She wanted me to forgive you. Apparently she witnessed you being overly affectionate with Priest Seth and asked if I could not hold it against you. After that she joked some, fed me blood before leaving. That was the last day of peach I had until Yugi came to me. I was in hell, my throat burned with thirst and my lungs ached from inhaling powdered Wolfsbane. I am sure you are aware how the rest of my days went, given how well my uncle was at his job as my caretaker," Atem concluded, his face was serious as he watched Yami for his reaction.
While Yami kept silent, thinking over Atem's story and trying to be the uncaring and angry man he had been earlier, Yugi was an emotional mess.
He knew his parents and grandparents had helped Yami search for a way to save Atem from his unfortunate fate, but to hear how his parents made a breakthrough only to have to step away from their work...Yugi felt his stomach twist painfully. Had the IVHA, had Pegasus, intentionally dent his parent's to their deaths? Was that why she asked Atem to look after him? She must have predicted her and Yugi's father's deaths before it occurred. The human bit his lower lip and fought against the stinging sensation in his eyes. The human wasn't sure if he should be mad, sad, or happy. Unsuspectingly, he had finished his late parents' work for them.
Yugi stopped concentrating on his parents and refocused on both Atem and Yami. Atem stood patiently against the wall, still waiting for Yami to do something other than stare at him in thought. Even though Yugi barely knew the man outside of school, he could tell that his tough exterior was starting to crumble as Yami stood up from the couch. His entire attitude seemed to have changed and his stoic face faded into an expression of sweet agony. "I have no doubts your words are true, however, how can I believe that the person standing here before me is actually my Atem?" The Prince croaked out. "How can I tell this isn't another one of my illusions, or that you are a pure blood with shifting abilities. "
Yami approached Atem, his eyes pleading with the other silently. "Id you are not my Atem, then I beg of you to stop this foolishness," He stopped just an arm's length in front of the Original and reached out to touch the other vampire's hand, his dull red eyes gazing at his hand touching the other's. "You are warm, not the cold that I last felt from him. You've grown more mature, you don't have his welcoming aura any more. But…" The vampire grabbed Atem's hand and gently squeezed it in his own, and Atem returned the gesture as he watched Yami with a similar expression to the younger male's.
"But," Atem repeated, urging for his mate to continue.
"But, you're still so similar to my Atem. You are still look the same, you sound the same, and you even can speak our old language, even though I have forgotten it myself. You're just as unpredictable, demanding, fearless, and have the same nasty left hook," Yami laughed sadly as he trailed off and released Atem's hand, pulling it free and stepping from the man.
"Despite being so much like him, I know you're not Atem Muran. He wouldn't have tried to injure me severely, and would have-MMMH!"
Atem used his unnatural speed to capture Yami in an embrace and place a gentle kiss on the paler vampire's lips. Yami pressed both hands to Atem's chest and attempted to push away from the other and end their kiss, but Atem countered by holding Yami closer and pressing more firmly into their kiss and staring directly into Yami's wide eyes.
Atem let their kiss linger a bit longer before pulling away with confident smirk. He was about to speak, when the shocked Yami quickly recovered from his stupor and pressed their lips together again in an eager kiss.
Instead of pushing Atem away, Yami returned the embrace and held the other as tightly as he could. It didn't bother the Original vampire in the slightest as he savored the moment of finally being able to have his mate, his lover in his arms again. The two were oblivious as the continued to return kiss after kiss, forgetting about the human observe their reunion with conflicting feelings.
Yugi politely turned his head away from the embracing couple after their third kiss. He was more than overjoyed that the two were starting to settle things and Yami was accepting Atem as the true Original vampire, and not some counterfeit version of himself. But the human felt like a spy as the two shared an emotional moment in their lives. It was like they had forgotten that he was in the room as the re kindled their torn relationship.
"I have missed you," Atem muttered in between their shared kisses.
"How I have long to do this again, to speak to you, " The Original vampire pulled away from Yami with a warm smile and eyes threatening to tear up. "To see you, hear your voice. To touch you," Atem used his right hand to cup Yami's face and rubbed his thumb across Yami's face. " How can I make up the time that we have lost? How can I repair what I have broke?"
Yami didn't responded immediately. Instead, he leaned into Atem's touch and placed a hand over the tan one cradling his face and enjoyed the moment before it vanished. "Just don't go away. Don't leave me again.," He pleaded with the King. "I can't take losing you again."
Yugi peaked to see the two embracing with their foreheads touching. Although he dreaded interrupting the two during the precious moment, Yugi needed to take Yami's health into priority as his first day as the man's official feeder. Bonded or not, if he did a poor job now and others caught wind of it, he could kiss his good reputation goodbye.
Standing from his spot on the ground, Yugi confidently walked towards his vampire and and poked Yami's shoulder to gain his attention. Yugi instantly regretted it when Yami turned to give him a cold glare that pierced fear into his soul.
The human gulped, but kept firm as he faced Yami head on. "You need to feed. If I don't at least do that for you, then I won't meet the standards of being the Royal Feeder. "
Yami sighed and turned his face into Atem's chest. "Later, I'm busy. "
Yugi looked up at Atem to find him smiling proudly at his mate and stroking the back of his head lovingly.
'He needs to feed, the both of you do. We either do it now, you will have to wait till tomorrow when I wake up and given how late it is already, I doubt it would be early.' Yugi mentally thought towards the vampire, knowing the vampire would notice the thought being directed at him.
Atem looked at the human and gave hims a disappointed look before nodding. 'I will not lie, I do need to feed. I exhausted most of my energy today. I shall convince Yami, go wait for us in a bedroom. You may want to lie down after this feeding session.'
Yugi nodded to the vampire and left the couple to search for a bedroom. He hope the two wouldn't take too much time to follow after him. The sooner the fed from him, the sooner he could sleep, and the sooner he could move on from this day.
Yugi was having a hard time keeping his eyes opened as he stared up at the ceiling of the Master bedroom. He's been waiting for an hour, yes, an hour, for the two vampires to join him in the yellow beach themed bedroom. He understood that the two wanted time together after being apart for so long, but Yugi wasn't a human with a lot of patience, despite his good nature. Annoyed that the vampires had yet to show up, the human sat up from the large king sized bed decorated with a yellow and grey quilt with matching pillows.
"That's it I'm done waiting," The human declared out loud to the empty room.
Standing up Yugi unbuttoned his suit jacket and tossed it onto a dark cherry stained chest against one of the yellow walls of the room. The human proceeded to strip himself of his dress pants and vest next, he would just sleep in his boxers for the night like he's done so a million times before when he was too lazy to put pajamas on. The human was just starting to take off his white button up undershirt, when both Atem and Yami walked into the room without a knock, startling the teen.
"AH!" Yugi jumped and and stumbled over his own feet as he walked backwards when he heard the door open. Turning over his shoulder he glared at the two vampires, one annoyed and one highly amused. "A little warning next time? I'm undressing!"
Yami huffed and rolled his eyes. "So? It's not like you have anything I haven't seen before- ow!"
The vampire hissed and rubbed the back of his head and sent a heated glare at his mate. "Why the hell did you hit me?"
"You were being rude," Atem said bluntly before kissing Yami's temple tenderly. "If you forget that Yugi can deny you of food till the morning and that would not be good for any of us, now would it?"
Yami mumbled under his breath and whatever the vampire said made Atem smirked confidently before he waltzed towards Yugi without a single care in the world. Yugi's violet eyes stayed glued to Atem's body, despite seeing a glimpse of Yami move to some part of the room. When Atem came to a stop in front of him, Yugi was forced to tilt his head up to gaze at the man, causing his scowl to look more like a childish pout.
"What?" The human spat out crossing his arms over his chest. "Are you still expecting me to allow you to drink my blood after you kept me waiting for an hour?"
"Yugi, Yugi, Yugi, " Atem said calmly with a smirk still gracing his face. "You are a cute one when feisty, are you not?"
The human felt his face become warm and quickly looked away. Why did this man always flatter him so much? " I am not," Yugi denied flatly and turned his back to Atem. "Go flirt with your prince, not me-eeeeeek!"
Atem picked Yugi up the moment the human had dropped his guard and turned his back on him. Yugi kicked his feet as Atem cared him effortlessly with Yugi's back pressed against his torso, laughing as the human kicked his legs and pushed against the vampire's arms.
"Can you let me go? I can walk!" The human shouted at the vampire not one bit pleased that he was being held against his will.
"Hmmm, okay," Atem hitched the human up higher before tossing the human on Yami's lap, who was perched on the edge of the bed and watching the two with a bored look.
"Was this really necessary?" Yami asked as he caught Yugi and pulled the human into a sitting position on his lap. "He would have joined if you just asked."
Yugi nodded his head in agreement, as he sat up straight on Yami's lap. "I would have!"
"It was more fun this way!" Atem spoke with obvious mirth in his voice. "It will make this just a little bit less boring. Our feeding sessions does not have to be so proper and formal."
"Our?" Yami hissed out, his hold on Yugi's body tightening in reaction to Atem's words.
"Our," Atem repeated his smirk dissipating. "I have feed from Yugi twice, just like you. Though it was in one day, but two bite marks are two bite marks regardless of when and where. Of course, Yugi was voluntarily willing for the first bite, but the second one did catch the little one off guard. I have to admit, it was a little bit fun scaring him."
"You're such an ass," Yugi spat at the older vampire, before he turned his head. The human meet the eyes of an angered Yami, and the human knew he messed up for a second time that night.
"Voluntarily?"Yami said slow and clear, making sure the human heard him perfectly.
Yugi felt his clammy as Yami's violent red eyes gazed at him with an all judging glare. The human gulped, but maned up to Atem's words and did the correct and honesty thing. "He threatened to eat both me and my grandpa in a wild feeding frenzy, even though I offered to take him to the local volunteer feeding center and blood bank," Yugi told Yami and pointed at Atem.
He pinned the blame on the person who got him into this situation.
Yami growled and cut his eyes at Atem, who froze in place with a guilty smile on his face.
Yami stared at Atem for few slow seconds before sighing and shaking head with his eyes closed. "You're still the same idiot pressuring people, I see."
Both Atem and Yugi were shocked but neither males commented or argued with Yami. Both knew that it would be pushing Yami's breaking point if they said anything else about the matter. So the subject was quickly changed.
"Hmm, this is going to be a feat," Atem tsked lightly and bit his thumb as his fiery eyes watch Yami and Yugi, before reaching to grab Yugi.
Yami moved Yugi away from Atem's out reached hand and glared at the other vampire. "No, he's my feeder."
"Stop being so territorial Yami. You are not a newborn," Atem jabbed the pure blood's side with his finger. "You know we have to feed from him at the same time to form the bond correctly, so just let me help Yugi get comfortable-"
"No."
"Yami," Atem's voice was a stern warning.
"No," Yami repeated again, placing his face against Yugi's neck and nuzzling the human's flesh.
Yugi shivered and made a face of disgust as the vampire licked his neck. Violet eyes looked to Atem when he heard the older male growl. With swift movements, Atem forcibly took Yugi away from Yami and sat the human in between them, the human siting on both of the vampire's laps.
"You are so difficult when your hunger," The Original vampire informed his lover and turned to Yugi, pressing his face against the human's neck and nuzzling it with his nose, similar to Yami.
Yami growled but didn't say anything as he nuzzled the right side of Yugi's neck. Although the action had been comforting and relaxing when the nuzzled his neck separately, Yugi couldn't help but feel awkward as the two tried to make him relax. However when Yami began to make his purring like noise, Yugi started snickering and letting his body shake with the soft laughter.
Atem placed a hand over Yugi's mouth and growled softly in warning. 'Quit it and relax,' The vampire mentally commanded the human.
Yugi's laughter died off and he felt his body slowly lose all it's tension. The human would have shot the Vampire a glare for using compulsion on his body, however, Yami's hand took a hold of his chin and kept his head locked in place. With his glare not available, Yugi decided to send a mental message to the Vampire King, 'Friends don't compel friends.'
The human received silence and no reaction from his smart-ass comment, but Atem did like his neck and it caused Yugi squirm and Yami to growl at Atem. "Stop making him move."
"Not my fault," Atem countered before sucking lightly at Yugi's neck.
"Guys just hurry up," Yugi whined and wiggled his toes from his eagerness to get this feeding session over with so he could go to sleep.
The human didn't have to ask the vampires vampires twice. After a minute more of preparation, both the vampires bit into his neck simultaneously.
"Ouch!" The human hissed and closed his eyes from the unexpected pain, his body tensing despite Atem's compulsion. The left side of his neck burned from where Atem had used his fangs to bite into him while his right side was painless from when Yami had bit into his flesh. As the two drank his blood greedily, Yugi's left side of his neck began to feel like it was threatening to burn his entire body alive. The human clamped his mouth shut and whimpered.
Yugi hadn't felt Yami pull his fangs out of his neck or even his tongue glide across his skin to seal his puncture wounds. He only knew the man had stopped when he started scolding Atem.
"Stop you dumbass!" Yami snapped at his mate, flicking Atem's cheek to gain the other's attention. "You're not feeding properly!"
Yugi had never been more thankful for Yami being his vampire than now. When Atem pulled his fangs from his neck and licked his bit marks, the Original pulled the hurting and woozy Yugi close to his side and nuzzled the human gently. "Sorry, I became carried away. I was too hasty and did not puncture your neck without considering your safety."
Yugi hummed in acceptance, the pain was now just a faint sting on the side of his neck, like a minor bee sting. "It's fine."
Yugi struggled to keep his eyes opened as he looked at Yami who looked relieved that Yugi wasn't in any real danger now. Red-violet eyes cautiously examined the human's tired form, and Yugi could help but giggle in his slight delirious state. "Your pretty eyes are back."
Yami blushed and tried to act like he didn't hear the comment, but Atem was having none of that.
"Now you look like my Yami," the Original cooed out happily. "I have messed those eyes, why have you been hiding them all this time?"
"Shut up," Yami barked Atem. "I don't need to explain myself to someone who does the same thing."
Yugi looked up to take a peek at Atem's face, but the vampire pressed his face into his shoulder. "You know my reason is different from yours, so let us not get into this conversation with the human in hearing range."
"Why can't I be apart of this conversation?" Yugi's muffled voice asked. The human didn't have the strength to try and push himself free from being smothered by Atem, plus he enjoyed taking in the smell of the vampire it was a warm spicy scent that made Yugi feel at home.
"Yeah Atem, why can't the the human be a part of our conversation?" Yami tossed at the former Pharaoh in a taunting tone.
The vampire sighed heavily and glared at his mate. "He is too young and he is not adapted to this lifestyle yet. I refuse to force him to carry a two-ton brick on his shoulders when the human is clearly struggling to even handle a pebble being placed in his care."
"I'm doing just fine thank you!" Yugi snapped at the vampire, his annoyance growing. "I can handle anything you share with me. I'm not some fragile doll!"
Atem chuckled and shook his head. "Why do all humans have this idea that they have bodies of steel and minds of diamonds?" He sighed and ran a hand through his human's feeder's hair. "I think it is time for someone to sleep so the vampires can speak without having to be censored."
Yugi groaned as he felt the need to close his eyes become more persistent than before. "Stop doing that, I don't want to sleep."
"Atem quit it, you're going to give the human trust issues," Yami scolded the Original vampire. "I've been making good progress with him too."
The Original vampire laughed once. "It is his body I am influencing not his mind, but it is not really even that, I am just helping him achieve what he needs."
Yugi's eyes finally closed blocking out the vampires from his sight, he tried to grumble out a reply to the vampire, but his mouth refused to work with his mind. Soon Yugi was drifting off into slumber, but not before he heard one last comment from Yami.
"Stop treating him like Heba."
Yugi's mind was scrambling when the darkness of slumber had consumed his mind. Yami had thought Atem was treating him like he had Heba, and it scared Yugi. He didn't want the older vampire to be comparing him to his former feeder. The very idea of it was unsettling. He was his own person, just like Heba...who happened to have more of a mean streak in him.
"Why the hell are you here again? Did you not learn that you were unwelcomed here last time, Yugi Mutou?"
Yugi opened his eyes and found himself back in the mystical oasis from his dream the previous night. The human pushed himself into an upright sitting position as his violet eyes stayed locked onto his tan doppelganger.
"Heba," Yugi spoke softly and cautiously, greeting the other male.
The tan male snorted and stood from his seated position on the oasis' water's surface. "Why are you here? I do not accept troublemakers like you in my world."
'His world?' Yugi narrowed his eyes as he watched the other like a predator. "I don't know how I end up here, it just happens."
"Fantastic," Heba grumbled out, and turned his back to his distant relative before sitting down again.
Yugi sighed softly and stood to his feet slowly. He didn't bother saying a word to the other male for the time being and began to explore his surroundings. Last time he didn't get the chance to admire the beautiful location. The pale teen could feel his look-a-like glaring at him as he moved around the oasis, it continued for sometime before Yugi finally had enough of the silent stare watching his every move.
"Are you just going to watch me? Or do you have something to say? "Yugi asked as quickly spun around to face Heba. " I can handle whatever you say."
"He told you. The Pha'rah spoke about me to you and Yami."
Yugi's annoyance faded and his eyes went wide. "How did you know about that?"
"The stone. I see everything through it and through the eyes of the wearer." Heba answered bluntly and stood. The young male too slow steps as he started to approach Yugi. "Before my body died, my lover sealed my soul away so I could be reborn into the world as a perfect being with him."
Yugi felt his heart skip a beat. He had no words as he gazed at Heba in disbelief. Atem or Yami place Heba in stone to save him. 'Then they don't-'
"I know what your thinking, and no, Atem and Yami aren't responsible for my current form. Those two… I was their feeder, but I did not love them. Atem fell for me and Yami soon after, but I denied their love and hated it. I feel nothing but hatred for those two demons. If not for them, then I could be with my lover, if not for Atem I could immortal." Heba ranted to Yugi before coming to a stop at the edge of the water. He reached a hand out and brushed his fingertips along Yugi's cheek with a sweet smile that matched the one Yugi had been born with.
"He was right, you could be the one. The one to end my misery, to end my torture, to set me free. And if I'm lucky, you'll be the one to finish the job I started long ago."
Yugi swallowed the lump in his throat and stepped back away from Heba. "I… What makes you think I would do that? I released Atem, I saved him from your curse!"
"He was only sealed so Yami wouldn't become the next Original before my lover and I had a plan of action to deal with him if that were to happen. You don't understand why I did what I did because you lack knowledge,"Heba chuckled and reached out again towards Yugi. "If you take my hand I can show you, just like I have done so in the past with your ancestors, the offspring of my offspring." The spirit took another step and the water washed the golden sand away to allow him to get closer to Yugi. "Allow me to show you the horrors you are blind to, the horrors Atem will unleash on the world. His shadows have already began to make their move now that he is fully developed and they have no containment. The will spread disaster. He is evil in its purest form. Just look at those things you call Rogue vampires, do you honestly think that they are fallen vampires? No, they are monsters created from Atem's blood robbing the lives of the innocent. Blood he doesn't know how to control or contain. It's just a matter of time, Yugi. The life you know and have been fight to protect, is going to vanish before you."
Yugi took a step back and shook his head at Heba. "No, I won't do it!" He declared confidently, his eyes fearless as he gazed at Heba with fearless bright violet eyes. "I don't believe what you said. I have trust in my parents' and my grandfather's judgement. Atem is not evil and neither is Yami! Dark and mysterious maybe, but not evil."
"Haha, you're still young and naive, but you will learn," Heba retracted his hand. "If you don't want to listen to me, I will make your life a living nightmare until you agree to see. Until then, I will force you to experience the horrors that I have witnessed through the eyes of your ancestors, including your own parents. By the time I'm finished with you," Heba chuckled, his sweet smile now sinister and murderous, "You will be begging for me to forgive you, that, or you'll become beyond saving, just like the other mutos in the world."
Yugi curled his hands into fist and back away from Heba, fearful of the other but he did not show it. "I won't let that happen. When I wake, I will have Atem destroy the stone so you can't harm me or Yami and him!" Yugi held his head high, "You won't torture them any longer!"
Heba chuckled joyfully and waved a dismissing hand in the air. "I'd like to see you try. Even if he destroyed this stone and created another, I will still remain to haunt you. Afterall, you are my family, Yugi. I am a part of you."
Yugi opened his mouth to deny Heba's claim, but his voice was mute. He felt his hands and feet go numb with a prickling feeling that traveled up his arms and legs till his entire body was numb. Raising his hands to his face, Yugi watched in horror as his hands disintegrated into sand and was blown away by the wind. The teen panicked and tried to hide his corroding limbs before they were completely blown away by the wind . The entire time Yugi was struggling with keeping his body intact and from being dust in the wind, Heba laughed at his misfortune and watched with pure amusement. Yugi felt his torso start to give and drift off in the wind and Yugi allowed his fearful eyes meet Heba's sinister ones, one last time before he completely vanished with the wind.
"It's just a matter of time before you cave."
Author's note :
As I told you above, I was in the hospital and it caused me to be delayed when posting this chapter. But everything is good, I'm recovering and I'll be better than ever soon enough. Anyways, on with this chapter.
This chapter was my baby. When I first created Traitor this was my test run and what the events in the entire story based off. Though, then again it was way different from what it's current version. Haha! But this chapter was difficult, I've been working on it for two years, and I still feel like I should have took it a different route, but I'm happy with it.
This was an emotional chapter, I did tear up and cried a little bit, but I don't think it's too emotional. I will say while Atem and Yami seem okay, they've got a long ways to go and a few twists and turns before they're back to their original relationship strength, and of course, they have Yugi to worry about now.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter and your predictions!
Also, check out my profile for the next update and for future stories or other stories in progress!
I do have one that will be post in the next week or so!
Thank you for all of your support, I love all of my readers!
Also, Happy 2017 and Year of the Rooster!
