Ch 6 Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
"He still hasn't woken up."
"Give him time, Yami. This might be the first real sleep he's gotten in a while."
"Yusei, he passed out. How can you call that good sleep?"
"I looked into his memories, and I saw the sleep he had been getting. This should be good for him."
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know. I can try some of my medicine's, but I'm not sure how they will react on a human."
"We'll need more than that. From what you've told me, I don't think that what Yuugi has is normal."
"We can check the files in both the castle and in the temple. Both of them keep records on Lelanian health and history. There's a good chance what Yuugi has is something that we've seen before."
"Maybe we can get Mana to hep. I'll be too busy dealing with the council and the priests."
"They can survive on their own for a few days."
"If I left those bastards alone, they would ruin the city."
"No they won't and you know that. right now, Yuugi needs you."
"I can't. The council-"
"If you hadn't been so distracted by the council, you would have seen Yuugi's illness for what it is."
"I have a city to run, Yusei! And despite my hatred for doing this, I can't let the council rule the kingdom."
"I'm not saying that what you have to do isn't important, I'm just saying that you've been focusing too much on the council and not enough on your lover."
"I didn't think that it was this bad!"
"How couldn't you see?"
"I did see that he was sick, but I knew I couldn't watch him as much as I'd like. tHat's why I asked you to look after him and yet, you didn't tell me he was having hallucinations!"
"You told me to observe, and that's what I did. Yes, I refrained from telling you about the hallucinations; however, Yuugi was making them more and more apparent. Even Kalypto noticed them and she's around him less than you."
"What about before the ball? I told him not to come, but when the council opposed me, so did you. You even encouraged Yuugi to go to the ball.""
"I trusted him to make the right choice. Forcing him to be alone was not what he needed."
"I trusted you to keep him safe!"
"I was, but he's is also your lover. You need to watch him as well."
"I did!"
"No, you didn't. You put your kingdom ahead of your lover when he was in need."
"I didn't!"
"You did."
"No, I did not!"
"Yami-"
"FINE, I DID! I KNOW WHAT I DID!"
"..."
"I know… I just… I can't Yusei…. I didn't want this and I'm trying to balance it out, but it just won't steady. I'm trying to prove myself to the council, I'm trying to heal my city, I'm terrified that Yuugi won't heal, I just…"
"Yami, even your father would take a few days off to sort his life and be with his family. Those days became few and far between the older you were, but they still existed."
"If I did that, the council would think me weak."
"..."
"Ha… what do you think would happen if I just took Yuugi and ran? What if we disobeyed Mira's law and fled back to Earth?"
"... I don't know."
"I've thought about it. I've thought about just leaving this all behind and continuing our lives back on Earth. I wanted to meet Yuugi's mother, I wanted to share his friends, I wanted to be apat of his life."
"..."
"Now he's stuck living mine."
Yuugi's hand twitched as his foggy mind grasped the voices around him. He soft furs tickled his fingeres as they curled and uncurled, reawakening the blood in theirs viens. Awareness eluded Yuugi even as sleep began to slip from his mind. Everything was fuzzy and when he cracked over his eyes, they burned at the harsh light.
Yuugi groaned as he tilted his head into the pillow. There were footsteps and the sound of curtains moving before weight dipped the mattress.
"Yuugi, are you awake? Please wake up."
The baritone voice was bittersweet to Yuugi's nerve. He wanted to drown in it and let its smooth tones wash away the dull pain that throbbed in his limbs, but at the same time, he wanted to run from it, hide from it. He didn't want to be near it.
"Yuugi, please, Love, please wake up."
Yuug titled his head towards the voice and peeked his eyes open into slits. Amoungst the black and blue back drops, there were two glowing red orbs that stuck fear into his soul. He jumped when they moved closer and scurried back until his tired limbs gave out beneath him.
"Yuugi, calm down."
Turning his head to the other voice, he was meet with two familiar blue eyes: the same eyes that the cat always had. A chill raced up his spine and Yuugi began to shake. His body couldn't move and his limbs felt heavy. Not knowing anything else to do, Yuugi tossed the covers over his head and curled into a ball.
Something shifted closer and Yuugi shivered as a cold feeling gripped his heart, "P-please, just st-stay away," he stuttered.
"Yuugi, it's me, Yami."
Yuugi shook his head, "N-no you're not."
"Yuugi, please, just look at me."
"No!" Yuugi shrieked as something pulled at the covers. He fought agausnt his pursuer over the blanket. His one piece of protection was being tugged from his grasp and threatening to leave him bare to whatever his pursuer wanted. There was another weight on the bed and Yuugi frantically fought for the blanket.
After some curses between the two entities, the sheets were released and Yuugi curled around them securly. One of the weights lifted off the bed before steps could be heard pacing nearby. Knowing that there was an angry predator nearby caused Yuugi to whimper and shrink in on himself. His heart pounded and his blood pumped adrenaline in his veins. Despite his energy boost, his muscles locked up and his body froze with fear.
Something touched him through the sheets and before he had a chance to jump away, something began to claw into his mind. It felt like something was ripping and clawing at the cobwebs that coated his mind. It hurt, but with each break of the web, more senses came into clarity. He could hear familiar voices and see the soft blue lights on the other side of the sheets. He could feel the could Lelanian air and smell the crisp scent with a hint of glorean. The shadows were receding and leaving him a clear image the longer the webs were hacked at.
When there was a clear path through the filthy cobwebs, something reached for him and began to pull him through the tunnel. Yuugi began to feel cold despite ebbing under the heavy fur blankets and he could hear the faint mutterings of the pacing predator. The voice was familiar and soothing.
His senses latched onto the sound as his guide led him through the sticky mess of spider webs. Some would try to cling onto him, but the force pulling him let none stay as it fought to bring him forward. Towards where Yuugi didn't know, but it was a lot calmer than what he was sitting in. While his heart and blood began to slow, his lungs heaved with effort. He could hear another person huffing beside him and the hand on his shoulder grew heavy as though it were using him as support.
When he was finally out of the trap of cobwebs, a heavy weight fell from his mind and his thoughts began to piece together. A dark foreboding hung around him, but it dared not come near when the other person was still touching him With a shuttering breath, Yuugi peeked out from under the blankets to see Yami pacing the side of the bed with Yusei hunched over beside him, breathing rapidly.
Yuugi was no better than Yusei as they both struggled to catch their breaths. Both had pale, clammy skin and their eyes shifted from dazed to focused.
Yusei's ear were drooped low and his tail was almost lifeless, "Better?" he huffed.
Yuugi nodded, "A little."
Yusei nodded and let his body fall on to the bed beside him. Amethyst eyes widened as his friend sunk into the sheets, his tail swishing weakly as his only sign of life. He reached his hand out to touch the Neko, but the other didn't respond.
"Let him rest."
Yuugi snapped his head towards Yami who stopped pacing and watched him from the side. Yuugi glanced back at Yusei then to Yami, "But what happened?"
Yami's eyes narrowed in thought, "He sorted through your mind and brought you out of your hallucination."
Yuugi balked, "How did you know?"
Yami nodded his head towards Yusei, "He told me."
"But he promised that he wouldn't tell anyone. He promised that he wouldn't tell you. I thought that I could trust him," Yuugi gripped his hair as a cold shiver raced over his body. His amethyst eyes were wide as saucers as they stared at the blanket in his lap. He began to shake.
Yami kneeled on the mattress, drawing Yuugi's worried gaze, "He had to tell me, you've been acting so strange lately, but I didn't know just how bad it was getting," he looked away and closed his eyes taking a deep breath. When they opened again, they were soft and unfocused as he refused to look at Yuugi, "How could you not want me to know about this?"
Yuugi let his hands slip from his head and fall into his lap and despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop shivering. He cast forlorn eyes away from Yami, "I… I didn't want to burden you. You were already so busy with the rest of the kingdom," he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to block the Lelanian breeze that pierced his skin and chilled his bones. Tears pricked at his eyes, "I just… wanted to help."
"Mira damn it," Yami muttered, "Yuugi," when the teen refused to meet his eye, Yami gently turned Yuugi's face to look at him. Yuugi felt his shiver's lesson, "I'm sorry for the past few days. I know I seemed stressed, but I should have been paying more attention to you. King or not, I love you and I can't stand if anything bad happened to you."
Yuugi pressed against the warm hand on his cheek, a soft smile ghosting his lips, when he remembered something. The memory flickered in his brain. His face twisted as his eyes hardened and he leaned away from Yami, "You say you love me and yet you were with her at the ball."
Confussion furrowed Yami's eyebrows, "Her? Who are you talking about?"
"The Cairanian princess at the ball. She was whispering to you and hanging around you. It was becuase of her that I saw you smile for the first time in days. A real smile, and it was with her!" Yuugi pushed Yami away just as a bitter feeling twisted his heart. The emotion was strong as it clawed into his brain and lit a fire in his blood. Despite the hot rage that grew in his veins, an emptiness built in his core, leaving him hollow and bitter.
Yami sat back as he watched Yuugi. Yuugi could see the gears turning in Yami's head as he tried to make since of what Yuugi said. It wasn't long before understanding flickered in cimson eyes,"Yuugi, listen to me. It isn't what you think."
"How so?" Yuugi snapped.
"She didn't come onto me romantically. She just wanted to talk about Atemu."
Amethyst eyes darkened and narrowed into a glare, "Atemu."
Yami nodded his head and crawled closer, "The people of Caira understand what happened to him and felt sad when one of their own died. While she never knew Atemu personally, she still wanted to talk about him and see how I was doing."
"So you were happy because you were talking about him," Yuugi stated in a chilling voice that made Yami freeze.
Yami blinked then regared Yuugi, "Yuugi, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" white knuckles gripped the fur blanket, "WHAT'S WRONG?!" Yuugi yelled.
Yami flinched at his loud voice before the fur blanket was thrown in his face, "Yuugi, what the Hell?"
"You sure seem to be happy when it doesn't involve me! You don't talk to me, you don't hang around me, you didn't even want me to go to the ball! Knowing that, you ask me, what's wrong?!"
"Yuugi, I'm sorry that you feel that way, but it isn't true," hurt flashed in crimson eyes, but Yuugi chose to ignore it.
"I just want you to be happy, but you only seem to be happy when you aren't around me!"
"Yuugi, wait!"
Said teen scrambled over Yusei and off of the bed, as far away from Yami as he could; however, when he tried to stand his legs wobbled and gave out. Yami reached out for him, but Yuugi evaded his grasp at the last second just as his body hit the cold floor with a heavy thud. He shrieked as the stone seeped the last bit of heat from his skin, leaving him a shivering mess. Yuugi tried to curl in on himself to preserve his warmth, but it was to late.
The empty cavern inside him grew until it encompassed his entire being. He felt empty, the room felt empty, the castle felt empty, even the town felt empty. Dead. Everything was dead. No one breath life as every body laid motionless on the floor, leaving him all on his own, trapped in the lonieness the world held.
His heart beat raced at the thouhgt of being all on his own. The spider web that he was free from began to ensnare him once more and pull him back in its trap. He burst out of his curled shape in order to fight off the webbing, but to no avail. With every swing of his limbs, it seemed more of the web stuck to his skin and trapped him more securely.
He let out a cry of protest when he lost feeling in his fingers. Something held onto his face and held it steady. No amount of thrashing on his part could wrench himself free and he was forced to stare into deep ocean eyes.
The web began to receed, but before he could be completly freed a second time, the blue eyes rolled back and fell out of sight. He screamed when a heavy weight fell onto his legs.
"Yuugi! It's okay, it's okay."
The weight was moved off of his legs as warm arms wrapped around him. He struggled agaisnt the hold until he gripped onto the familiar scarf that Yami always wore. The grey fabric felt soft in his hands and was the only thing that stayed warm whenever he touched it. It made the cavern in his core lessen, so he clutched onto it curled closer to the being around him.
"I'm sorry, Yuugi."
Tears slipped past Yuugi's eyes and his stomach churned. Despite the living body around him, the only warmth that stayed was in the fabric still clutched in his hands. He began to shiver as a breeze from the open window shook his body like an autumn leaf. Dread began to fill his stomach like a rock.
"Yuugi everything is going to be okay."
He could feel them. Their tiny, spindely legs crawled over his legs, up his arms, around his head, ceating a costant scuttling in his ears.
Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle
Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle
Bile rose in his throat when he looked at the black bodies that crawled across his skin. Their eight, blank eyes watched him with malicious intent. Their web covered his body in sticky stands, making it hard for him to move. He wanted to push them off, to get away from them, but he was terrified to release the scarf. It was the only thing that the spiders avoided as if touching it would burn him.
Yuugi tugged at the scarf, trying to bring it closer, trying to use it to protect him, but something stopped him. It wouldn't let go. He pulled harder but to no avail. The number of spiders increased until they were a crawling mass of black over his body.
Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle
Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle
Fear took the forfont of Yuugi's mind as he began to frantically tug at the scarf. The spider legs were beginnging to feel like needles and each step pricked new skin. It hurt. It stung. It never stopped.
Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle
SNIP! SNIP!
Yuugi cried out wehn he felt pincers pierce his skin. Soon came another, then another. More, more, and more bit at his chew, latching in and chewing on his pale flesh. Tears like rivers corsed under the spiders as he yanked at the scarf. Still, the scarf refused to budge and more and more spiders crawled over him, on him, in him!
They were in his ears, pushing up his nose, and when he yelled, they pushed down his thraot. He began to choke and cough as more hurried in, tickling his esophagus and nipping his tongue. They tasted foul as their hairy body filled his mouth and poisoned his stomach.
His body shook and he could feel their tiny bodies moving his insdies, crawling over his brain, and lurking benather his skin. Yuugi wailed as the spiders assultaed his body.
SCUTTLE, SCUTTLE, SCUTTLE
SNIP!
SCUTTLE
SNIP! SNIP!
He swore he could feel his flesh being eaten and the blood trailing down in rivers. Desperate, Yuugi clutched onto the scarf, his only savior, with all his might, and pulled. The scarf came loose and his body fell to the floor. The scarf landed on his body and he could hear the tiny shrieks as the spiders shrived and died on his skin. They ran away, out of his body, out of his mind, and out of the room only to lurk in the shadows in hopes that they could return.
He cried when he felt spider corpses move in his mouth and he rolled onto his stomach. His nose was bleeding and dripped red liquid on to the floor. The sight of his blood spilling on to the stone and splashing over dead spiders was too much. He pushed onto his hands and knees and vomited onto the floor. He swore he could feel the unlucky spiders that died in his stomach scratch his throat as he expelled them from his body.
"We're losing him. What do we do?"
"I can't help him. His body needs rest."
"No, he can't! He needs to stay away! Yuugi, please stay awake! Don't fall asleep!"
"Yuugi?"
YUUGI!