Title: Yami and the Monster's Sacrifice
Genre: romance, hurt/comfort, horror
Rating: T for language, violence, and some sexual implications
Pairing(s): YamiXYugi (puzzleshipping); mild BakuraXRyou (tendershipping)
Summary: Based on the 2010 EAGames Video game "Dante's Inferno". During the Third Crusade, the story follows Yami Sennen, a devout Christian crusader general who, despite his faith, has committed numerous atrocities under his command. Attempting to seek atonement, Yami stitches a bloody holy cross-shaped tapestry onto his torso, which depicts every sin he has committed. First opening in the city of Acre, Yami has been ordered by King Richard I to seize a holy relic before the forces of Saladin. During a raid by the city's peasants, Yami is stabbed in the back by an assassin, whereupon Death appears before him to be taken to the afterlife. Despite being led to believe by a Bishop his sins were absolved, Yami is ruled by Death to be condemned to "everlasting damnation for his sins," a fate his loved ones will also share. Yami, however, pulls the knife from his back and refuses to accept his fate, engaging Death itself in combat, where he destroys Death and takes his great scythe in the process. He returns to Florence, seeking a life of peace but finds his lover Yugi Mouto and father Akmen brutally murdered. Yugi's soul appears before Yami, telling him that he knew he would come after him before a shadowy manifestation of Lucifer drags him into darkness, before the undead begin to rise and attack Yami. After making it to a chapel, Yami seeks assistance by blessing the holy cross that Yugi gave to him upon making their vows to be true to each other, to protect him against the evils that await. Upon doing so, a crack in the earth opens up, allowing Yami to descend to the Gates of Hell. Upon reaching the gates, he encounters Kaiba, who knows of Yami's past sins, yet agrees to guide him through the Nine Circles of Hell. Together, they must journey into Hell, defeating Lucifer's traps, absolving the souls of their friends and loved ones and a few of the monsters forced to attack them, and finally, rescuing Yugi from Lucifer's grasp before it's too late.
Me: Okay, guys! This is a scene from a story which we have titled, "Yami and the Monster's Sacrifice". However, this story is loosely based on the Animated Dante's Inferno movie and very much based on the Dante's Inferno video game.
Lucy: We thought this would be a good idea, and added one of the boss fights to this puzzleshipping fic!
Me: In case no one knows, in this scene and this story, Yami is supposed to be Dante, Yugi is Beatrice, Ryou is Cleopatra (this is his level. He's the boss), and Bakura is supposed to be Marc Antony. We just hope it plays out well!
Lucy: Please no flaming us, we know it is not our best, but we tried! Please enjoy!
Chapter One: Yami and the Monster's Sacrifice
Right now, Yami was currently in the second circle, Lust.
The sky was all purple, and it was a creepy circle. Women who were scantily dressed, mostly nude and incredibly pale, wandered around the circle, teasing those who were damned here.
The women were called succubi, as Yami had learned from Kaiba, his guide.
These women were demons in Hell that allowed the damned to roam around a bit, but attacked them after having sex with them. It was a thing that they prided themselves with. Whenever the succubi saw Yami, they shrieked like banshees and attacked the Yami. Yami would dodge all of their attacks and he cut them down with his scythe.
After he had defeated all the succubi coming towards him, Yami climbed the rest of the pillar of Lust and arrived on a huge purple platform as close to the sky as it could get.
Upon arrival, he saw his beloved fiance, Yugi, sitting on a bed that appeared on the round platform. Yugi had his spiked black-red-purple hair adorned with strange red and black jewels, and his skin seemed considerably paler. He was dressed in all black and red leather, and he looked sadly at Yami as he walked towards him.
Yami gave Yugi a sad, loving look. "Yugi," Yami whispered the name of his beloved. Yugi looked up and cast his gaze away from Yami, almost as if he were ashamed. Yami reached towards him. "Don't do this."
"Because of you, I need to!" Yugi shouted.
He looked away from Yami for a moment, and Yami saw just how sad he truly was. Yugi looked like he was on the verge of tears. Yami wanted to go and hold him close, but he knew that Yugi, in this state, wouldn't accept that.
Yugi closed his eyes. "You broke your promise, and because of you, I'm damned here!" he yelled at his fiance. "You betrayed our love, Yami, and slept with someone else!"
Yami took a slow step back. "I would never do anything to cause this to happen to you, Yugi," he whispered lovingly. "You had no idea what that war did to me."
Lucifer, his horrible shadow form, suddenly appeared on the bed beside Yugi and smiled at Yami. "Of course he does, Yami," he whispered, lacing his arms around the star-haired young man. "I showed him."
Yami watched in horror as Lucifer wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulders.
Yami growled and took a step towards Lucifer, ready to cleave his head off. If it hadn't been for the fact that Lucifer was a shade in this form, Yami would have killed him right then and there.
Lucifer smirked. "You don't remember?" he asked. "Let me refresh your memory."
The Devil snapped, and Yami's mind was filled with a memory. He saw himself sitting half dressed on the edge of a bed next to a young woman who was totally naked, her body covered with sheets. Yami had his head buried in his hands. The woman rolled over and asked if they had a deal, and Yami said he wasn't a monster and left. He waved his hand at the guards and told them to release the woman and her husband, who had been locked in the prison.
When Yami came from his memory, he saw Yugi frowning.
"You lied to me," Yugi whispered.
Yami shook his head and took a step forward, but his dead fiance leaned away from him and looked away. It hurt Yami to see the boy he really did love act like this.
"You don't know what I was like that whole time. The war changed me, Yugi!" Yami said. "Yugi, you know who I really am inside! We've known each other since we were children!"
The Devil turned and smirked at Yami. "Does he know the real you, Yami?" he taunted the Crusader. "Or did the war show him what you truly are inside, Yami? The war brought out what you really are. A murderer, a hoarder, a thief, a liar, an adulterer, and most of all, a traitor. You belong in Hell with us, Yami."
Yugi looked away and let Lucifer wrap his arm around him, and he started to lean back onto the bed. Yami's eyes widened in horror as he realize what was going on.
"Yugi, don't!" Yami called.
Yugi looked over at Yami and shook his head slowly. "I-I-I have no choice, Yami," he whispered. He laid back down on the bed and the Devil slowly moved on top of him.
As he did, the bed vanished, as did Yugi.
Yami was all alone, in stunned horror after what had just happened. His beloved had just left. His beloved was being seduced by Lucifer, and there was nothing that he could do about it.
Before Yami had a chance to think, the boss of the Lust Circle known as Ryou Vi XI Bakurae(1) arrived.
He towered over the platform. He was clinging to the large tower with his bare feet, and just his torso towered above Yami. He was hanging to the tower by his feet and was holding his hands up, revealing his giant self before Yami.
The boss, as Ryou was of this Circle of Hell, had long silver hair that was entangled with Egyptian jewels and what looked like an Egyptian headdress. The silverette pale skin had a pale purple tint to it, and his eyes were a greenish-brown color. His eyes were surrounded by thick black and red make-up. A bit of dark black blood moved around his lips.
The silver-haired young man was wearing almost nothing, save a bunch of black, gold, red, and silver Egyptian jewelry, the Egyptian headdress, and what looked like a very revealing black and purple Egyptian skirt that was long in the back and incredibly short in the front, only covering his private areas, but just barely.
And, now that Yami was closer to him than before, he realized that the boss of this Circle was huge!
The boss was obviously Egyptian, but with pale, purple-tinted flesh, green-brown eyes, and he was huge. He was so tall and big that he was a giant compared to Yami. In fact, Yami was only about the size of one of the silver-haired boss of the Lust Circle's fingers. The boss had an evil smirk on his face.
"So," Ryou Vi XI Bakurae said. "Your boy left you for the Devil."
Yami glared at the former Egyptian king, now the boss of this Circle of Hell. "My sins are my own!" he yelled. "Yugi doesn't deserve this! I need to make sure that I get him to Heaven!"
Ryou snorted scornfully and glared down at Yami. "Give up on that little bitch, Yami!" he spat. "Once this nasty little business is complete-" he said, waving his purple-tinted hand and his jagged nails over the platform. "-and the Devil finds his way back home, Yugi's part in this play will seem so... small." To prove his point, Ryou made his fingers look like he was about to pinch something.
"I don't understand!" Yami yelled.
Ryou reared back with an even wider wicked smile. "Of course you don't!" he yelled down to the Crusader. "You just surrendered the keys to Heaven, and for what?"
He pointed down at where the bed had been where Yugi and Lucifer had been laying. Yami noticed the amused look that flashed for a moment across his purple-tinted face.
"A piece of ass from that slave boy(2)?" he asked.
Yami glared daggers at Ryou. No one insulted Yugi like that and got away with it! He raised his scythe towards the former Egyptian king who had become an incubus upon his death.
"Damn you!" he bellowed.
"Too late for that!" Ryou shrieked with wicked laughter. "And now, to give Lucifer some time to seduce that bitch you call your fiance, let's just see if you can handle this."
After a moment of silence, Ryou leaned forward and opened his mouth and exhaled. What appeared to be icy smoke came from his breath. As he exhaled, something the same size as Yami, about the size of a normal human being, jumped from his mouth and landed on the huge platform before Yami.
It was a young man with incredibly pale gray skin, like all the other damned. He was wielding a huge sword, a shield, and some amazing black and red armor. His purple-brown eyes were narrowed, and he was smirking wickedly at Yami.
"Master," he whispered lovingly to Ryou. "Let me take him for you."
Ryou Vi XI Bakurae looked down at the damned silverette man in armor with a kind and loving smile. "As you wish, my love," he whispered. "Tear him down for me, Bakura."
Bakura, a famous warrior that Yami recognized, looked over at the Crusader and snickered.
Yami stepped back and raised his scythe into the air as Bakura came to attack him. He had learned a few moves from the demons he had fought from the first Circle and from the Lust Circle that he was still in. Bakura was a vicious opponent. Yami used his scythe to jab at Bakura to try and break the blocks that the warrior did.
Yami noticed by this point that the giant Egyptian king was hanging to the platform by his hands, watching the battle with a loving smile, a look of amusement in his eyes.
The Crusader gave a battle cry and used the magic he had achieved from Yugi's cross, called the Holy Cross, to keep Bakura at arm's length as well, and the battle was suddenly very simple by Yami "abusing" this attack.
I need to watch Bakura's attacks carefully, Yami thought. Blocking isn't enough to avoid him.
One favored combo that Yami noticed Bakura used consisted of several swipes that Yami could block followed by a flaming jab Yami could only roll away from.
Rolling around the arena and then starting a combo every once in a while seemed to be a good strategy.
Yami jumped high into the air and stabbed down with the scythe, which Bakura avoided. Yami landed and skidded a few feet back, and he watched Ryou for a moment.
If I implement my Redemption ability, I can deal a large amount of damage without Bakura countering, Yami thought. I can also use my magic attacks to break his combos.
Yami went to attack, but was stopped when he noticed that Ryou held up his hand.
The palm of his hand started glowing bright green, and Bakura started glowing as well. Yami watched as all the injuries that Bakura had acquired from Yami attacking him started to heal. Yami looked on in horror as Ryou healed the man he loved.
"Feel your strength returning, my love," Ryou said.
Yami whirled around, trying to block the now-healing Bakura as he attacked while still healing. He looked around, wondering what he was going to do. There was no way he could defeat Bakura if he was being healed.
He looked to Ryou.
Since one hand was holding him up to the tower while the other was healing, all he had to do was attack Ryou's hand. Yami rushed at Ryou and sliced at the hand holding him up.
With a pained shriek, Ryou released the platform.
Bakura gasped in horror as his beloved fell from the platform. "Ryou!" he shrieked. He ran to the edge and glanced over the edge to make sure that his beloved was all right. Ryou had fallen a long way down, but being a giant, he was fine. Bakura sighed and turned and glared at the man from the Crusades. "You'll pay for that."
The damned warrior gave a battle cry and rushed at Yami, sword at the ready.
Yami blocked the attack with his hand, but before he could manage to, a huge hand grabbed at the platform. The purple-tinted hand brought up a body that Yami later realized was Ryou.
Ryou growled/hissed at Yami like a cobra. He raised his fist, which started glowing a bright shade of green, as it had when he was healing Bakura earlier in the fight, and slammed it down on the platform. Yami just barely dodged the attack by rolling out of the way. Ryou's hand managed to scrape his armor, however, and chip a part of it.
Yami gasped as Ryou looked over to Bakura and raised his hand up again.
His palm glew bright green again, as did Bakura. He sported no injuries this time, but Yami noticed that the green magic overflowed his body and made him stronger.
"I'll protect you, Bakura," Ryou whispered.
Yami glared at Ryou and rushed at the hand that was holding him up in the platform again. He slashed at it and managed to make Ryou fall from the tower again with an angry yell.
He'll be back, Yami told himself. Ryou'll summon something if I'm not quick.
Not knowing just quite how he knew this, Yami lunged at Bakura and tried to defeat him before Ryou came back and attacked him. He just knew that he would lose if Ryou teamed up against him with his magical healing powers.
Bakura raised his sword and stabbed it into the ground.
Apparently, this action summoned a magical ability, and it brought blades up from the ground. Yami needed to roll to avoid those attacks. Bakura also began to counter attack with his shield.
Yami took in his actions and nodded to himself. If he plants his shield on the ground, Yami thought to himself, watching what Bakura did. He also noticed that Ryou hadn't come back up yet. I need to cease my attacks and wait.
Once Bakura was open, Yami gave a loud yell and thrust his scythe forward.
Obviously Bakura wasn't ready for that sort of attack, or at that time, since the huge scythe pierced right through the chest of his armor and through his chest.
"Ah!" Bakura gagged.
Blood dripped from his lips, and his wide brown eyes locked with Yami's. He trembled for a moment and said nothing. He looked as if he was about to speak, but he didn't.
Ryou's hand grabbed the platform, and he dragged himself up.
He arrived just in time to see Bakura with the scythe through his chest. The former-Egyptian-king-turned-incubus stared in horror, unable to speak for a while.
Yami tore the scythe from Bakura, and the damned warrior collapsed to his knees.
He gave one weak look at Ryou, but then collapsed backwards against the ground with a pained moan. He groaned a bit, looked at the story sky of purple and closed his eyes.
Yami flipped his scythe and bowed his head slightly.
His parents had taught him to do so whenever he defeated an enemy. Bow to their spirit, to the fight they gave, but only if they were an enemy who was worthy of honor.
Before Yami could speak or even blink, a bolt of purple lightning came near Bakura's fallen body, and Ryou appeared by Bakura's side in a normal human size. He carefully knelt down beside Bakura's dying form and reached down, hesitating to touch his pale cheek. After a moment, Ryou touched Bakura's cheek with the tips of his purple-tinted fingers.
"No," he whispered desperately. "Bakura!"
Bakura gagged and looked up painfully at Ryou. "I-I'm so sorry, my love," he whispered weakly. "I-I thought we would always be together, but I guess, ugh, I couldn't keep that promise."
Bakura fell still and died.
Yami frowned and sighed silently. He had defeated Bakura, an obstacle that was keeping him away from saving his precious Yugi, and he was happy for that. He looked up and saw Ryou still mourning the death of the man that he loved. Yami saw the bitter tears streaking down Ryou's purple-tinted cheeks.
"Bakura!" Ryou whispered.
He threw himself over the body of the man he loved and cried. He had loved Bakura, and no one but. He sniffled and let his heart pour out over the death of a man he had cared for.
Ryou looked and glared at the stormy purple sky. "It wasn't supposed to end like this," Ryou snarled angrily, biting his lower lip. "We had a fucking deal, Lucifer!"
He stopped and glared over at Yami, his gaze practically on fire. Yami gulped and took a weak step back, his body almost frozen. Ryou growled at him in the manor of a snake, and whispered "you" under his breath. He slowly turned his body away from his dead lover and snarled at Yami like an animal.
Ryou crawled seductively towards Yami, though Yami knew that he was filled with malice.
The former Egyptian king was Hell-bent on getting revenge for his lover's death, and he was going to take it out on the man who had caused the whole thing.
Once he was close to Yami, Ryou rose up seductively and curved his body so that he looked both dangerous and seductive. He hissed in a manner that reminded Yami again of a cobra.
A moment after this, Ryou lunged at Yami with a growl.
Yami grabbed the Egyptian king by the throat and threw him to the ground. Ryou hit the ground with a grunt, sat up, and wiped off some blood from the sides of his lips.
That move saved him for all of three seconds before Ryou lunged at Yami again. This time, he managed to pin Yami to the ground, straddling him by the hips, hovering above him. Yami gasped as Ryou pinned the Crusader underneath his body. He couldn't look anywhere but at the incubus's dark green-brown eyes.
Yami noticed something behind the king's eyes.
His eyes seemed to be glowing.
Unbeknown to Yami, what was happening was actually a spell that all incubi had. It was a Seduction spell, known formally as Allure, and incubi and succubi used it to seduce their victims before brutally murdering them.
Yami felt taken over by the spell, and a moment later, he managed to pin Ryou underneath him.
Ryou smirked and grabbed and felt Yami's body, trying to seduce him and get him to lower his guard so that he could be taken in by Ryou's wicked abilities to seduce and then he would be killed. He ran his hands over Yami's body. Yami seemed like the spell of seduction was working over him as well, his eyes glazed over.
He started to feel Ryou's body, and then jolted his entire body forward-
"AH!"
-and ran his giant metal scythe, which he had stolen from Death and had been keeping by his side for the entire time Ryou had come near him, right into the Ryou's stomach.
Ryou gagged up black blood and glanced up at Yami.
Yami jerked the scythe, and Ryou groaned in pain. He shook his head and looked up at Yami, his chest rising heavily. He noticed the anger that hid behind Yami's crimson eyes.
"Y-you-" Ryou choked and coughed up more blood. "-are a man with many sins, Yami Sennen."
Yami narrowed his eyes and gripped the scythe harder, ready to rip it painfully down Ryou's stomach. "I know that already," he spat. "I don't need a fucking damned incubus like you telling me that."
Ryou choked more blood up. "No, you... don't understand," he whispered softly. "I-I died because of my love. I fell in love with a man I was not supposed to. W-we did things that we weren't supposed to. I-I died before him, and... Bakura killed himself to be with me. But what we didn't know was that the lust we had was a sin, and suicide is also a sin."
Yami fell silent and listened.
Ryou looked at the dark purple sky. "I-" he coughed again. "I died and Minos judged me to this circle. Bakura was judged to the Forest of Suicide, and I missed him terribly. No tortures in Hell could compare to the pain I felt over losing my lover to the Forest of the Suicides. I would have done anything to get Bakura back. I... loved him so much. Because of that, Lucifer thought he could use me. He turned me into this thing, this incubus, and I got to see Bakura again. Being an incubus... changed me. Please understand, I would never attack anyone if I hadn't been turned into this thing. If it were your Yugi, you'd have done the same."
Yami frowned and closed his eyes. "Yes," he said. "I would have."
Ryou closed his eyes and nodded softly. "I-" he paused and drew in a weak breath. "A part of me was sent to the Forest of Suicide. My soul was torn in half when Lucifer made me into an incubus. Please, when you get there, please save me. Save everyone. No one here deserves this type of torture. Do that, and saving Yugi won't be, ugh, any trouble."
Yami nodded and drew out the cross that Yugi had given him.
He aimed it at both Ryou and Bakura. "I'll find the rest of your soul," he said. "I promise. But first, I absolve thee and return thee to God's bright white light. Let Him come and embrace the both of you."
Ryou smiled softly and laid down with his eyes closed and let his body glow.
His soul was drawn into the cross, as was Bakura's.
Yami sat and stared at the cross and closed his eyes. He had saved two of the people who had tried to attack him, but they were not all that bad, and Ryou had given him some information on how to rescue Yugi's soul from the Devil.
The Crusader thought of how he had wronged Yugi and he instantly felt bad about it. He always had, since he knew that sleeping with another had made him a sinner. He had betrayed Yugi, and no matter who he tried to deny it, Minos had sniffed it out. Minos had told Yami that he was an adulterer, a murderer, a hoarder, and many other things.
"I smell an adulterer, a hoarder, a murderer, a traitor. This ain't the Circle for you, O Mortal."
Yami shivered and closed his eyes, hugging his body tightly. "Yugi," he whispered softly. "This is all my fault! God, please don't let Yugi suffer from my crimes! If I am to be damned, then damn me! But please don't make Yugi suffer!"
What Ryou Vi XI Bakurae had told him a moment ago rang back to his mind.
"Save everyone. No one here deserves this type of torture. Do that, and saving Yugi won't be any trouble."
Yami nodded and stood up.
"Yugi," he whispered. "Even if I am to be damned in the Inferno for eternity, I will get you out of here!"
He looked to the sky, whispered and apology to God, and then left the Circle of Lust. The platform below him gave way, and he fell into the next level of the Inferno. He called out Yugi's name, and he vowed to rescue him, even if he was damned for an eternity in the Inferno.
Me: Poor Yami! Yugi thinks that Yami betrayed him and is upset now! (1) In this fic, Ryou is one of the bosses. He is the boss of the Lust Circle of Hell along with Bakura. He was an Egyptian king in life, and as a result, his name is long, and pronounced as this: Ree-yo Vee The Eleventh Bah-koo-rah-ey. (2) Ryou is referring to Yugi, if no one guessed. He did call him a "slave boy" because he was a king in life, so anyone who does not have a title with their name is seen as a "slave boy" to him.
Lucy: We hope to maybe get this story up and running some time, since it's a romantic puzzleshipping one!
Me: The next chapter we hope to do will involve Yami and Yugi performing bloopers from one of my stories, just because I have always wanted to try writing a story like that, and this seems like a good chance!
Lucy: Any way, please review and we shall update soon! No flaming please! We realize this was not our best fic ever, but we're trying!