Well, hello again anyone who's still reading, if not, well, I'm not all that surprised. I've no excuses for not updating, at least no good ones. The reason I'm updating is because I was re-reading stories and plot bunnies started nibbling at my brain. So here's a long awaited chapter!
Chapter 28
"You think he's alright?"
"He should have been up by now."
"Shut up would ya? You guys sound like mother hens."
"Rose be quiet. You're worried too and you know it."
Yugi groaned and tried opening his eyes.
"Hey I think he's waking up!"
"Oi! Ochibi are you awake?"
Yugi opened his eyes slowly, making out blurry figures standing around him. He hurt like crazy.
"Rose?" he asked weakly.
"Ochibi lives!" cheered the red haired bat girl. Lily was sitting nearby her as another girl, one with fins sticking out of her head, stood up and walked quickly over to the bars of the cage. He couldn't see her from there, he didn't feel like moving his head at the moment.
"What….happened?" he asked trying to sit up, only to have not only Rose, but Lily push him back down onto the wooden slab called a bed.
"Don't move around too much." Lily warned, her cat ear twitched. "You still have to get your balance back."
"My balance?" Then he noticed. His back felt heavier then it usually did, like something was hanging off of it. He slowly moved his hand back some, he felt something soft. Like a feather. He sat up, ignoring warnings from Lily, Rose, and the other people of the cell and felt his back more.
"What the……..I've got….." he couldn't finish his sentence, he was too stunned.
"You've got wings." A familiar voice said from behind him. He turned slowly.
"Yami!" The crimson eyed ghost chuckled.
"Hello to you too, are you alight over there?" Yami asked. Yugi thought about that for a second.
"Other then the fact that I have wings, am in a cell, prisoner of your crazy brother, and in minute bits of pain, I'm perfectly fine." Yugi replied sarcastically. "You guys all ok over there?"
"We're perfectly fine, thanks for asking." He heard Bakura call from one of the beds in the cell. The white haired ghost did not seem to be in that great of a mood. He heard an affirmative "Ow" come from across the hall.
"We're all fine, ignore Bakura." Anna called over. Yugi laughed quietly.
"Enjoying the reunion?" All eyes turned to the hall where the question had come from. "Because there's a high chance it will be one of you last."
"Atemu." Yami spat venomously. Atemu chuckled darkly and walked over to the cell, just out of the crimson eyes reach.
"Now, now brother no need to be so jealous, it will all be over soon." Atemu said, almost sickly sweet.
"I've got no reason to be jealous of you, I have all I want." Yami said glaring. "I think its you who are jealous of me."
You could almost feel the temperature drop at least 20 degrees around them.
"Me? Jealous of you?" he asked, a slightly more cynical tone now in his voice. "Why would I be jealous of you? I've got power, servants, and practically this entire world." He said before glancing towards Yugi. "And I've got him." Yugi's eyes visibly darkened, and a shadow shot across the room, missing the cynical younger brother by mere millimeters. Atemu, to everyone's surprise, laughed.
"Now my Jewel, why do you try striking me? I have not done intentional harm to you or your friends. Have I not been a good host?" Yugi, not finding this the least bit funny or true, was going to make a reply when an intense pain went through one of his newly created wings. He gasped and clutched it, looking up enough to see it.
The once beautiful white and purple wing had slowly turned a sickly black color near the rounded part, before it started dissolving; a soft sizzling noise came from the wing. Yugi gasped and fell to the ground. The pain was intense. He couldn't describe it…..it just hurt. The sizzling noise stopped, now a warm, clear liquid was coming from where a part of the wing had been.
"Sorry, did I forget to warn you about that little side effect?" Yugi looked up, Atemu was now standing at the bars of his cell, behind him he could see the worried looks of his friends.
"Side effect?" Yugi asked, managing to stand up.
"You catch on rather quickly don't you? Yes, a side effect." Atemu said, pausing to point at Yugi's wings. "Those are connected to the same part of your mind that your shadow powers are connected to, but with angelic wings and the power of darkness, unsurprisingly try to cancel each other out." Atemu explained, his smirk never leaving his face.
"What do you mean by that?" Atemu turned, Marik asked coming to the bars of the cell as well, eyeing the man suspiciously.
"What I mean by that, is that if Yugi uses his Shadow Powers, bit by bit his wings will dissolve, inevitably killing him-"
"Why would losing the wings kill me?" Yugi asked. Atemu's eye twitched.
"I will get to that." He said sharply. "Not using the Shadow Powers will weaken them, and eventually they will disappear altogether." He turned back to Yugi.
"To answer your question, let me give you an example. A bird, if its wing is severely damaged, will not die. Why? Because its wings are just cartilage and bone." He explained.
"However, angel wings are not just made up of bone and cartilage; they are connected to the spine and a large number of internal organs. If you lose the wings, all of that will be un-reparably damaged, and as I said, resulting in your death."
A heavy silence blanketed the room.
"I'd…..die?" Yugi asked slowly.
"You bastard!" Less then a second after that, a heavy smell of something (perfume?) was hanging in the air, bits and pieces of once beautiful glass now in shards on the floor, more bits and pieces in Atemu's hair, and Anna at the bars of her cell, with more bottles of perfume ready. He glared.
"Tch. I try and be nice and give you the luxury of perfumes and the like and this is what I get?" he asked running his hand through his hair to get some of the glass shards out.
"I will think better of it next time." He then walked from the room, Bakura pried the perfume bottles from Anna's hands, which actually took some work much to the white haired ghost's surprise. Yugi's wing still hurt, but the pain was dull rather then the indescribable pain he'd felt in it earlier.
"Are you alright Little one?" Yami asked, his hard crimson eyes now a softer color, clouded with worry.
Yugi offered a weak smiled
"I'll be fine, it doesn't hurt much anymore." He said sitting down on the wooden bed. He looked over. "Anybody got any ideas on how we're supposed to get out?" His friend's faces darkened as they shook heir heads.
"I think……I may be…..able to….help.." All eyes turned, to a cell rather unnoticed by all of them, including the girls who had been there far longer.
There was a man in the cell, with silver hair, now matted from lack of wash or a brush. A once red suit was now all but rags, parts of it being used as bandages for bleeding wounds. The mans face was covered by shadows, only one person recognized the man.
"Pegasus?" Bakura asked, he looked completely stunned, as did Yugi, Yami, and Marik.
"You're….you're right. Pegasus what happened to you?" Marik asked. They hadn't seen him since….he couldn't even remember really. It had been a long time, but last time they'd even heard about him he was perfectly fine, if just a manipulating bastard. This…this just didn't sit well with him, or any of them for that matter.
A slightly strangled laugh came from the silver haired man.
"You won't…..be able to….do anything…" he said.
"What kind of help is that!?" Bakura asked, now glaring daggers at the man.
"Bakura hush." Anna said, making the Shhing motion with her fingers. Bakura went silent, Pegasus continued.
"You must….wait for the King….to show….all of his…cards."
"King? Showing cards? This is not a game Pegasus! Our lives are at stake!" Yami said, but the silver haired man had gone deathly quiet, and before their eyes the image of Pegasus faded, the form slowly turning to sand.
It was silent again.
"What….what just happened?" Rose asked, having heard the entire conversation.
"No idea.." Yugi replied. "But we still have to find a way out. That, whatever it was, didn't help at all."
And so, they began to plan their escape.
End Chapter
Well, that wasn't too bad for my first return chapter….was it? I really do hope not. Anyone who s still reading, reviews would be appreciated.
Sorry for shortness, things always look much longer on Microsoft-Word.
OMAKE (Not at all related to the story, just a little return present for you all)
Cherry Blossoms and Wishes
Spring. Season of love, joy, and all that. Not for Yugi Mouto though. He had never been much of a fan of all that, never being one of those happy couples that he would always see in the parks around now.
And those annoying commercials, saying "Spring is in the air, Love is in the air! By that special someone something they wont ever forget at our Spring Sale!" and other stuff like that. It was really annoying after awhile.
"Yugi!" The amethyst eyed boy turned, seeing his best friend (and secret crush) Yami running up behind him.
"Took you long enough!" the teen laughed, panting slightly from running "I've been calling your name for the last nine blocks!" Yugi blushed and laughed nervously.
"Sorry I was just….thinking…" replied the boy vaguely, earning a weird look from the taller teen.
"What kinda stuff?" Yami asked.
"You know…stuff."
"That's not being all that specific." Yami pointed out. Yugi laughed.
"That's the whole point!" Yami frowned, Yugi felt a small pang of guilt. But the crimson eyed boy's frown lifted as he looked at hi friend excitedly.
"That's right! C'mon I wanna take you somewhere!" Before Yugi could respond, his hand had been grabbed and he was being pulled towards a park, which was covered in pink. There were small shops everywhere, some were selling food, some with games, others selling random stuff for the occasion.
"Yami what is all this?" Yugi asked. Yami grinned.
"Silly. It's a Cherry Blossom Festival." Yami told him. Yugi blinked. He'd never been to one of them before, actually he usually steered clear. But Yami, Yami was too insistent to be letting him leave.
So he stayed, walking along with Yami, eating food, playing games, and Yami even bought him a little cute Amaterasu (1) mask. The sun finally began setting, Yami brought him to a particularly large cherry blossom tree.
"You know what this tree is Yugi?" he asked. Yugi shook his head, the other just smiled.
"It's said that if you make a wish on this tree, it might come true." Yami told him.
"What's your wish Yami?" Yugi asked curiously. Yami smiled, again taking Yugi's hand, interlacing their fingers.
"To spend forever with you."
That night, Yugi realized that he hadn't in fact been alone all this time, he had Yami, and that was more then he could have ever wished for.
(1) Amaterasu is an actual Japanese Sun Goddess, and the main character in one of my favorite video games.