Author's Note: I don't usually do author's notes, because I prefer to let the story stand on its own. However, I wanted to address some concerns cropping up in reviews. This story was not and is not abandoned. I have had a very rough year in real life. My health is poor and that, combined with the stress of some things that have been happening in RL, made writing impossible.
Please understand: there will often be gaps in updating, but that does not mean I have lost interest in this fic. I have two chronic illnesses and a plethora of "hanger-on" syndromes to go with them. There are many times when I am in too much pain to simply type, much less be creative. Threatening to "kill me" (even in jest) if I don't update is... non-productive, at best. That said, I appreciate all your comments and reviews, and am happy so many of you are still reading, still interested in the story. I plan to have new chapters soon.
All previous chapters have been revised to correct errors. I have also added some descriptions and tweaked the prose. You may want to skim back over the beginning of the story to see the new additions. (Or not.) Thank you for reading.
Chapter Fourteen
Kame Game Shop
Domino City
Arcadia Planitia
Kaiba Corporation Colony, Mars
Yugi was still sprawled bonelessly on the sofa when his grandfather wandered into the living room. Solomon eyed him for a moment, taking in the goofy, satisfied grin on Yugi's face, then shook his head indulgently. "I take it you had a good time with your friend?"
"Yep!" Still smiling, Yugi raised sparkling blue eyes to meet Solomon's gaze. "It was great."
"I'm glad." Solomon shifted Yugi's legs over so he could join him on the sofa. "I have some good news."
"Really?" With some difficulty, Yugi forced his mind from its giddy contemplations of the kiss he had shared with Yami, and tried to focus on the conversation. "What is it?"
"I received a phone call from my old friend Arthur Hawkins," Solomon said. "He's been working with an expedition in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, and they've made an amazing discovery -- an unplundered tomb! From what he's told me, it could be the greatest find in the Valley since Tutankamun's tomb was uncovered in 1922."
"Wow, that's incredible!" Yugi agreed, sitting up straighter and clasping his hands in his lap. "A new tomb? Does it belong to a pharaoh?"
"Arthur didn't want to go into details over the phone, but he's very excited about it." Solomon's eyes twinkled. "He hinted that certain things about this find are right up my alley, and asked me to come to Egypt for a consultation. I believe it may have something to do with Arthur's theories about the true origin of Duel Monsters."
Yugi's eyes widened. No wonder Dr. Hawkins wanted Solomon's help; the two of them had been together on the expedition that had first uncovered tomb carvings of the creatures that would come to be called 'Duel Monsters.' "That's really great, Grandpa. When are you leaving?"
"We're leaving first thing in the morning. So you'd better go pack."
"W-we?" Yugi stammered. Conflicting emotions roiled his stomach. On the one hand, he would be a fool to turn down a trip to Egypt, and he truly did want to help his grandfather. On the other hand, how was he supposed to get closer to Yami if they weren't even on the same planet? "You want me to go with you?"
"That's right, m'boy," Solomon said cheerfully, slapping a hand on Yugi's knee and giving it a pat before rising to his feet. "Your mother insisted that if I, and I quote, 'intend to go gallivanting around in crumbling old tombs,' I have to take you along to keep me out of trouble." He winked at Yugi.
Yugi grinned back. Sometimes his mom could be over-protective of them both, but Yugi found it hard to take offense at such obvious affection, and he knew his grandpa felt the same way. "Well, sure. That's what favorite grandsons are for."
"You're my only grandson, Yugi," Solomon reminded him, eyes twinkling again.
"Yep, that's why I'm your favorite."
Solomon laughed. "All right, favorite grandson. Go pack -- and set your alarm for four. Our shuttle departs at seven."
"I will. G'night, Grandpa."
"Goodnight, Yugi," Solomon called after him as Yugi headed down the hall. "Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite."
"That's gross, Grandpa!" Yugi yelled back up the hall, completing their usual bedtime ritual. They had been doing the same thing for as long as Yugi could remember.
While Yugi wasn't happy about leaving his budding (he hoped) relationship with Yami behind for awhile, he thought it would be all right. There was a connection there -- he was almost certain he wasn't the only one who felt it between them -- and that would surely draw them back together.
In the meantime, he looked forward to seeing Egypt with his grandpa. Solomon had often entertained Yugi with grandiose tales of his adventures in the land of the pharaohs. It would be exciting to share one of those adventures, firsthand.
Yugi smiled softly to himself as he pulled a suitcase from under the bed. Yes, everything would be just fine.
He was sure of it.
---------------------
Kaiba Corp Enhanced-Mecha Production Facility
Amazonis Planitia
Kaiba Corporation Colony, Mars
Things went from 'fine' to 'utter chaos' in the space of a single heartbeat.
Yami had been concentrating on triggering the ferret's report when the room suddenly went icy cold and shadows exploded from every corner to wrap themselves around him like a black shroud. He froze in shock, feeling the silken glide of the darkness along his skin, heart trip-hammering in his chest. Panic crashed through him, adrenaline lighting up his nerves. The shadows whispered in his ears, warning him of danger, urging him to run.
Yami bolted.
He paused in the doorway, just long enough to glance back and see the black and purple vortex slowly expanding to fill the space he had vacated. Languid, shadowy tendrils trailed after him. His breath caught in his throat as they reached for him, and he made a strangled sound that couldn't decide whether to be a laugh or a scream.
Without warning, a large hand closed around Yami's upper arm. His heart gave another lurch, and he jerked around to find Rafael standing beside him. Rafael's mouth gaped as he stared through the open doorway into Yami's borrowed office.
"You... can see it?" Yami choked.
Rafael tore his gaze from the roiling shadows. He spared Yami a disbelieving glance before dragging him from the doorway. The bodyguard's stoic mask was firmly back in place, but his fingers dug into Yami's bicep hard enough to hurt.
"It looks like a 'gate breach," Rafael said, his voice a low rasp. "But that's imposs--"
As they watched, the vortex consumed the contents of the office. The desk and its computer station disappeared in a bright shower of sparks. Lazy tendrils of darkness coiled across the threshold, questing blindly. They lashed at the air, as if tasting it for Yami's scent. A second later, they seemed to have caught it. A cluster of tendrils darted toward him, their speed shocking after their earlier lassitude.
"Sir!" Rafael yanked Yami clear and kept going, manhandling him past the secretary's desk. The tendrils followed, knocking the desk aside as if it were made of papier mâché. "We have to get out of here."
They both heard the pounding of heavy footsteps racing up the corridor toward them. Rafael's eyes narrowed. "Security?"
"Doesn't matter." With the current situation at Kaiba Corp, they couldn't afford to trust anyone, not even security. Yami wrenched free of the hands gripping him and spun away, already sprinting for the opposite end of the corridor. "Run."
Rafael obeyed -- and not a second too soon, as shouts rang out behind them.
They pelted around the bend in the corridor, almost colliding with one another as Yami bounced a shoulder off the wall trying to avoid a wild gunshot that ricocheted off a metal sculpture and parted his hair. Yami heaved the sculpture from its pedestal, sending it crashing into the path of the two men chasing them. One went down with a yelp. The other leaped over his fallen comrade, pinned beneath the heavy statue, and fired off another volley.
"Fuck!" Rafael grabbed Yami, again. He practically flung Yami ahead of himself as he placed his own body between Yami and the gunfire. Rafael had his own gun out and snapped off a quick shot behind them to discourage closer pursuit.
Fleeing through the KCM tower with no real plan other than "get away," Yami spared a fleeting thought for the good old days, when he had reinforced mech armor between him and whatever the bad guys were shooting at him. If there had been any doubts in his mind that he was better suited to being a pilot rather than a spy, this laid them to rest. Not only had someone spotted his supposedly clandestine forays into the computer system, but he had not even gotten to see the results of his hacking attempt. Seto would laugh himself sick if he ever found out about this.
Rafael's hand closed over his elbow and yanked him into a side corridor, just as a soft chime announced the arrival on their floor of the elevator. Reinforcements? Yami hastily checked the door beside him, grinning when he found it unlocked. He threw the door open, reached back for a handful of Rafael's suit jacket, and dragged the other man through the door after him.
They found themselves on the landing in an emergency stairwell. The concrete and steel space was filled with echoes and cold shadows, lit by the sharp white glow of wire-covered panels set into the walls. It was also blessedly empty of anyone wanting to kill them. Yami felt a hand close over his bicep, then Rafael was leaning close enough to whisper hoarsely in his ear.
"If they've followed standard procedure, the helicopter should still be on the roof." Rafael glanced thoughtfully up the ascending stairs, as if he were calculating the time it would take them to climb. "I'm a fully-qualified pilot."
"So am I." Yami followed his gaze. They were fairly high up in the tower, but the roof access was still several flights above them. "You're sure it'll be there?"
"Reasonably."
"Wonderful."
A shout from outside their hiding place cut short the debate. They had managed to clear almost an entire flight before running footsteps echoed up to them from the stairs below. Rafael gave Yami a hard shove in the small of his back, urging him to climb faster.
A voice shouted up at them. "Kaiba-sama! Stop running, please. No one here wants to harm you."
Rafael pivoted silently, took aim over the hand-rail, and fired twice. The shots exploded in their ears, painfully loud in the confined space. When the ringing echoes died, a harsh male voice cursing a blue-streak took their place.
"Ah, perhaps I misspoke," the first voice resumed. Yami recognized it, now: Tanaka-san, Nesbitt's deceptively unassuming assistant. "It seems that some of us do, indeed, wish to harm you. Now, at least. However, that would not please our employer, who wishes to... 'acquire you,' shall we say?... in one piece."
If that was supposed to make Yami feel more like cooperating, Tanaka was wasting his breath. Yami decided to waste a little of his own. Not pausing in his flight up the stairs, he shouted over his shoulder, "Fuck off!"
"Be reasonable, Kaiba-sama," Tanaka called. The stairs vibrated beneath Yami's feet as the men below resumed their climb, though far more cautiously than before. "I do not wish to see you hurt unnecessarily. If you would only come quietly--"
"I've never done anything 'quietly' in my life," Yami growled. And he had no intention of starting, now. He glanced back at Rafael. "I don't suppose you have another gun?"
Wordlessly, the bodyguard pulled a second weapon from inside his jacket and handed it over. Yami smiled grimly as he accepted the gun. It was a Sphinx5000T pistol, the tactical model with the shorter barrel favored by police and security services. Reliable, accurate, and nearly indestructible. Yami nodded his approval and quickened his pace.
Tanaka's voice chased him up the stairs. "Cooperate, and I promise to restrain my... overly-zealous colleague."
"Fuck you, Tanaka," snarled the American-accented voice from before. Yami found himself thoroughly agreeing with the sentiment.
"Please, Howard-san," Tanaka said quellingly. Raising his voice, he added, "Kaiba-sama, think of your family. Your esteemed father..."
"Are you threatening my father?" Yami demanded, stopping so quickly that Rafael plowed into his back. As if in response to Yami's agitation, the shadows swirled wildly along the edges of the stairwell. Though the light panels glowed as brightly as ever, the stairwell seemed to grow darker.
"Merely expressing a concern," Tanaka said. "No doubt your father would be devastated if something were to happen to you. And while my employer is a patient man, even he has his limits. Especially when it comes to achieving his goal."
"And what goal would that be?" Peering around his bodyguard's bulkier torso, Yami risked a look back at their pursuers. His fingers curled tightly around the Sphinx's hand grip.
"Merely to claim what is rightfully his," Tanaka said placidly. A tiny smile played about his thin lips for a moment, then was gone. "All who help him will be duly rewarded. Including you, Kaiba-sama."
Yeah, right. "You're nuts, Tanaka!"
Tanaka didn't look insane. In fact, he looked perfectly reasonable, like a businessman after a successful day at the office. He was still nattily attired in his business suit and tie. Light glinted off his green gemstone tie-tack and picked out blue highlights on his dark, slicked back hair, not a strand of which was out of place. His manicured hands were held out in front of him in a conciliatory gesture.
Unlike his partner, Mr. Howard was sloppily dressed in ripped jeans and a t-shirt with the faded image of some Duel Monster emblazoned across the front. Shaggy blond hair poked messily from beneath the red, white, and blue bandana tied around his head. He held a compact, oddly-shaped gun that looked like a laser emitter stuffed into a conch shell. It resembled nothing so much as a cheap B-movie prop.
Howard pointed his movie prop at Yami. With a shark-like grin that bared a mouthful of white teeth, he pulled the trigger. A burst of acid-green energy sizzled through the air directly toward Yami's heart.
That was no prop! Yami threw himself as flat as the stairs would permit. A half-second later, Rafael covered Yami with his own body.
The green energy impacted the wall, leaving behind a sizzling patch of peeling paint. The air filled with the acrid stench of smoke and burnt chemicals. Yami coughed as the smoke swirled around him. His throat burned and his eyes watered, impairing his vision. He could only hope the smoke was doing the same to the bad guys. Around them, the stairwell seemed to grow darker, again. The two men below shouted in alarm as the light panels on the wall suddenly arced with streamers of black and purple energy, and crackling sparks showered down on them.
Beneath Yami's hands, deeper shadows gathered. Cold and slippery as oiled silk, they caressed his palms, twined through his fingers, coiled around his wrists. He shuddered and jerked his hands away, but the shadows followed the movement, reaching for his hands, lapping at his knees where they rested against the stairs.
Forgetting Tanaka, forgetting everything but the desperate need to get away from the shadows, Yami bucked upright, throwing off his startled bodyguard. He managed to get his feet under him, but Rafael's firm hands on his shoulders forced him back down, just as Howard's gun spat another green energy bolt at them. It screamed through the air where Yami's head had been only seconds before, and blasted one of the remaining light panels. The light exploded in a brilliant cascade of sparks and glass.
Rafael's hand on his back pressed Yami almost painfully into the metal treads of the stairs as the glass shrapnel rained down around them. The shadows flowed around Yami, chilling him to the bone as they covered him. The crazy notion that they, too, were trying to protect him darted through his head -- and was as swiftly rejected.
Rafael twisted around, rising up on his knees to snap off a couple of shots from his Glock. Anxious to get away from the darkness that was still reaching for him, Yami scrambled up after him. The shadows followed. Yami stumbled back, boot heels crunching on the shattered glass, until his back struck the wall with enough force to knock the breath from his lungs. His gaze was locked on the pool of shadows gathering at his feet. In his hand, the Sphinx dangled, forgotten.
"Mr. Kaiba!" Rafael grabbed Yami, shook him, and practically threw him toward the distant landing. "Go!"
Snapped back to the present danger, Yami ran. Icy realization shivered along his nerves: he really was losing his grip on reality. But he couldn't afford to break down, now. His hallucinations were going to get him killed unless he could get a grip on himself. He would have to worry about his sanity -- or lack of it -- later.
With Rafael right behind him, he raced toward the roof of the tower. Tanaka and Howard pounded up the stairs after them. Tanaka seemed to have given up the idea of persuading Yami to surrender. Except for his labored breathing as he pounded up the stairs, he was silent.
Howard cursed them all the way to the top.
---------------------
Panting, Yami stumbled across the final landing and lunged through the heavy steel door at the top. Crouching low, he swept his gaze over the area.
The stairwell, and the elevator beside it, were located in a small structure situated in one corner of the roof. Regularly spaced security lights were positioned along the sides of the rooftop, along with pairs of large floodlights set at each of the four corners. Only the smaller lights were lit, casting the rooftop in an otherworldly, blue-white glow. The landing lights around the helipad were off.
Clustered along the far edge of the roof, boxy protrusions that looked as if they housed air exchangers for the environmental systems or boosters for the communications network created a tangled mosaic of black silhouettes. They could provide minimal cover, for a time. Even as the thought occurred to him, however, he spotted a flicker of movement between two of the larger housings. Someone else had already beaten him to the idea.
The deeper shadows at the foot of the nearest floodlight mounting offered the only other cover for yards in either direction. With at least one enemy already on the roof and more on the way, they couldn't stay in the open. When the panel over the elevator doors lit up, indicating someone was on the way up, Yami made up his mind in a hurry. Despite his newfound distrust of shadows, he knew they had no choice. He ran for the floodlight, Rafael a few steps behind him.
Tucked up against the cold metal base of the floodlight, Yami risked another peek at their surroundings. Their situation didn't look any more promising from his new angle.
The tower was over a hundred stories tall. They weren't going to get back to ground level without help -- not alive, at any rate. Yami stared at the empty space on the dark helipad where the KC helicopter should have been, and cursed his luck. Even in the uncertain light, there could be no mistake -- the copter was gone.
Beside him, Rafael swore harshly under his breath.
Yami opened his mouth to respond, then noticed something half-hidden by a tarp on the opposite side of the roof. The eerie light reflected off a stretch of gleaming white finish exposed by the flapping tarp. A small, two-man mech. A racer? Someone's high-tech toy, a more expensive version of the stereotypical little red sports car. Maybe one of KC Mars' executive officers was going through a mid-life crisis.
"Do we have a Plan B?" Rafael ground out.
Yami started to grin. After all, one man's crisis is another man's escape route. "Maybe we do..."
Rafael followed his gaze toward the racing mech. "You're kidding."
"I'm a fully-qualified pilot." Yami's face was perfectly deadpan.
Rafael grunted. "So am I."
A flicker of movement in the stairwell door caught his eye. Tanaka and Howard had made it onto the roof. "We've got more company."
"I see them." Yami tracked the two men as they stepped clear of the doorway. His fingers tightened around his gun. "This party's getting a little crowded. I think we should leave."
"I'll make our apologies to our host." Rafael leaned out just far enough to sight around the lighting mount, and fired. He immediately ducked and set to reloading.
Tanaka screamed as he fell, a bright red stain blossoming on the shoulder of his jacket. Howard threw himself to the ground, using Tanaka as a shield.
"Go!"
Bent nearly double, Yami ran along the edge of the roof, keeping low as Rafael provided cover fire. He had almost made it to the nearest of the booster housings between him and the racer when something burned like fire across his hip. He stumbled, fell heavily -- on the same hip. Agony exploded through him, curling him instinctively around the pain.
"Mr. Kaiba!"
"...Kaiba-sama?"
After an eternity of red-laced misery, Yami became aware of the competing voices calling his name. Panting, he forced himself to uncurl far enough to access the damage. His jeans over his left hip were soaked with blood. His hip was on fire, abused nerves screaming at him. He had been shot.
Well, fuck.
"Mr. Kaiba, are you all right?" That was Rafael, his voice harsh with worry.
"Just dandy. Don't worry. You're not out of a job, yet." Yami grimaced and pressed his hand over the wound to staunch the flow of blood. He couldn't tell how serious the wound was, but it hurt like hell. His vision was starting to gray around the edges.
"Forgive me, Kaiba-sama," Tanaka called. Oddly-enough, he sounded genuinely distressed. "It was not my intention to hurt you."
Yami blinked color back into the world, and snarled, "So you shot me?"
"You left me no choice--"
"Take one more step toward him and I will kill you, Tanaka." Rafael leveled his gun at Tanaka. His grim expression left no doubt that he meant every word.
It was a stand-off. Yami lay where he had fallen, bleeding onto the concrete. Tanaka was back on his feet. His jacket was stained with blood, but the gun he held on Yami didn't waver. Rafael had abandoned cover to come after Yami, but had only gotten a few feet from the floodlight before Tanaka had stopped him. His gun was aimed at Tanaka's heart. At some point in the confusion, Howard had disappeared. He could be anywhere.
"Please, Kaiba-sama," Tanaka said, ignoring Rafael for the moment. "I only want what's best for you."
In Yami's experience, nothing good had ever followed that statement. "Somehow, Tanaka, I don't think this is what's best for me."
"No, of course not. If you will only agree to meet with my employer, we can dispense with this nonsense, and--"
"Just who is this mysterious 'employer' of yours, anyway?" Yami ground out, losing his patience along with his blood.
"Someone who can help you reach your full potential--"
Even though the man was holding a gun on him, Yami found himself tuning Tanaka out. Instead, his attention was drawn to the stealthy movement of dark tendrils slithering across the concrete toward him. No one else seemed to have noticed, but Yami couldn't tear his gaze away from it.
The shadows were moving.
Silent as a scream in space, they gathered around him. Encircled him. He could feel their chill on his skin, taste it like ozone in the air. The shadows lapped at his blood where it pooled beneath him. Seeming to draw strength from it, the shadows darkened and grew colder still.
Yami shivered.
"Come with me." Tanaka's voice was soft, cajoling. "I swear on my honor, no one will harm you. My employer is very anxious to see you, again."
Yami barely heard him. The shadows were brushing up against him, now. Their icy touch easily penetrated the denim of his jeans. Forcing himself to move despite the pain, he pushed himself hastily to his feet. He swayed where he stood, most of his weight balanced on his right leg, his jaw clenched against the pain. The shadows slithered across his boots and wrapped themselves around his ankles, questing higher along his left leg.
Following the blood, Yami thought, and felt his stomach lurch. He moaned a denial. "No..."
"Kaiba-sama?" Tanaka had finally realized he didn't have Yami's full attention. "Kaiba-sama, listen to me. My first loyalty is to your family. You are in pain. Let me help you."
"Don't listen to him, sir!" Rafael shouted, but Tanaka overrode him.
"Have you never felt as if there were ...something awaiting you?" Tanaka asked. Despite the gun Rafael had aimed at him, Tanaka was inching closer to where Yami stood, swaying unsteadily as the shadows gorged themselves on his life's blood. "Can't you feel it, Kaiba-sama? A greater destiny is calling you!"
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Yami wanted to sound angry. He only managed to sound weary.
Tanaka persisted, his voice almost hypnotic. "Don't you feel that something is missing from your life? Something to fill the emptiness inside that is slowly tearing you apart?"
Yami froze as the words penetrated the fog of horror muffling his thoughts. So what if he did? Didn't everyone have those kind of thoughts, once in awhile? Maybe it was just another symptom of his impending insanity.
"Kaiba-sama." Tanaka closed in for the kill. "Wouldn't you like to find the other half of your soul?"