Chapter 2
Crimson Dreams

"What do you mean you don't know?.! You painted it, Yug!" Joey exclaimed, by now a little unnerved by both the portrait and Yugi's words.

Yugi was flabbergasted. He bent down to pick up his brush, nibbling on the end of it while he thought. "I honestly haven't a clue Joey. I just… painted. I didn't even think about it."

Joey tilted his blond head, thinking. "So you didn't even know what you painted until you looked at it?" At Yugi's nod he whistled softly. "Freaky…"

Yugi was staring in question at his canvas. "But I want to know what prompted this. And who is that?"

Joey shrugged. "No idea. But those are some weird eyes. And underwater too!"

Yugi was silent, looking out at the sea. 'This isn't the first time I've seen these eyes. I just know it…'

Atem sighed, rolling over under the thin sheet on his bed. He could still feel the grit of the ink around his eyes, octopus ink that the mermaids used to line their eyes. It had been put on him to make his striking eyes stand out at the celebration.

Atem rubbed at his face in irritation. He hated wearing ink. It was itchy and smelly and made his eyes hurt. He didn't really know how girls could handle wearing it.

He grumbled slightly, sitting up. He really could not sleep, something was keeping him awake. He kicked his tail, floating over to his balcony, pushing open the doors and swimming out. A soft whistle woke the glowworms, their yellowish light shining forth.

'I wish something exciting would happen. Nothing ever does…' The young merman flicked his silver fins in annoyance. 'Life is getting too boring… Maybe I should shake things up a bit tonight…'

An almost evil grin came onto Atem's face and, looking around; he confirmed there was no one nearby. The smirk remained as Atem kicked his powerful tail, propelling himself off the balcony and out into the dark waters. He whistled softly as he did; the glow went out.

'Finally some adventure!' Atem thought, swimming as fast as he could from the palace. His black tail worked to his advantage, he blended right into the blackness of the ocean.

With one last flash of silver fins, Atem vanished into the sea.

Yugi opened his eyes to darkness. He blinked in confusion, and then gasped. He was underwater! He vaguely noticed that he could still breathe, but dismissed the subject as something caught his eye.

Something flashed in the distance, and, curious, Yugi moved after it, moving effortlessly through the water. The flashes repeated, but they didn't seem like lights, but something else. The boy swam faster, trying to catch up.

He was close, he could feel it. He could see a vague form in the dark, the flashes coming from the fins of whatever he was chasing. The only thing was that it didn't look like a fish.

The thing slowed down, and Yugi came to a stop behind it. It floated warily in front of him, looking back and forth as though in alarm.

Yugi faintly heard the sound of something big moving through the water. Alarmed, he turned around, and was face to face with the glowing white of shark teeth.

The ocean was screaming at him, his own senses crying for him to flee. Atem was shaking by now, fear prickling at the ends of his fingers.

'What was I thinking?.!' The young merman thought frantically, swimming closer to the rock cave behind him.

Magic whirled, the power of it instantly tossing Atem into a panic. He kicked his tail, shooting into the caves to just barely avoid scraping teeth. With a cry the young Prince shot back into the cave just in time, the shark's jaws snapping shut inches from his silver fin.

His heart was racing, breathing so fast he was almost hyperventilating. His entire form was pumping with adrenaline, and Atem tried to slink farther back into the cave, but to no avail.

Blood clouded the water as the shark's teeth grated over Atem's left arm, the water pierced by a sharp scream from Atem.

Throwing his pride to the wind, Atem started screaming for help, his cries growing increasingly high pitched as panic consumed him. Wild-eyed, he searched for a way out, his tail beating the water.

The shark lunged for him again, and in an attempt to stop it, Atem beat his black tail across its eyes. The creature snarled in annoyance, and more blood filtered into the water as it scraped its teeth over the silvery-black tail.

By now Atem was crying, terrified beyond all belief. He had never been so scared, and he actually thought he was going to die. Another terrified scream escaped his lips, his eyes growing even wilder as he tried to get away.

The shark lunged once more, but cut itself off with a startled roar of pain. Atem barely saw the sleek form of a dolphin shoot through the water, blood now leaking from the shark's gills.

The dolphin drifted up beside him, nudging him frantically. Grab my fin, Prince!

For a moment Atem struggled to grab on, and then his hands finally found purchase on the dolphin's dorsal fin. Feeling his grip, the dolphin kicked its powerful tail, shooting away from the threat.

And in his dreams, a boy named Yugi Moto saw it all.

Seth swore once more, turning in his path and swimming in the opposite direction. Only ten minutes ago the dolphin Elaina had come to him, a bleeding and barely conscious Atem clinging weakly to her dorsal fin. He had instantly sent for the healer, telling Elaina to take the Prince to his bedchamber.

At that moment he looked to see the healer coming into sight, followed by his mate. The healer was a rather special merman, his tail and fins glowing a pale lavender. His cloud of fine white hair framed an innocent looking face with large doe-brown eyes. He was one of the few out of the merfolk that could harness the ocean's magics to heal.

Seth nodded to him, his eyes lingering on the white shell on a cord around his neck, a rare trinket that was passed down among the healers. "Thank you for coming so quickly Ryou."

The merman nodded. "Of course Seth. The Prince is in his chambers, I assume?" Ryou's voice was soft and gentle, meant to sooth the mind even as he spoke.

Seth nodded, and then followed the pale-skinned merman into the bedchambers of the Prince. He felt the presence of the healer's mate just behind him, which was seriously unnerving for him.

As Ryou moved to examine the panting merman on the bed Seth silently watched the other one in the room.

This merman was just as special as his mate. Bakura was his name, and he was a Seer. He had white hair just like Ryou, but his was much shorter, framing his face rather than floating around his shoulders. His eyes were a lavender that nearly matched his mate's tail, but they were as blank as the calm sea. Bakura was blind.

But out of all these strange features, his tail was the strangest. Bakura's tail was stark white, pale as his hair, and littered with scars that shone around his scales. His torso and arms were also scarred, most for reasons that Seth didn't know.

Bakura was the total opposite of Ryou, who was soft and gentle, quiet and very kind. Bakura had a loud rough voice, got angry quickly, and held grudges longer than most. But he could truly See, and he was never wrong.

Seth looked back to the bed, where Ryou was attempting to calm the ailing Prince. Seth knew he was probably in great pain; grazes from shark teeth were exceptionally grave since their teeth were serrated and rough. And a merman's tail was his most sensitive spot, to be wounded there was nearly unbearable.

Ryou's magics swirled between his hands as he called the ocean to his aid, his voice becoming nearly hypnotic. "Calm, my Prince, you are safe now. Nothing more will harm you, you are safe."

Atem's eyes clouded as Ryou sent him into sleep. He felt no more pain, no more fear. He relaxed, and began to give in to sleep. But as he did he heard something out of place. A voice, calling out. Atem frowned, straining to hear it.

'Yami…. Yami…'

Awareness fled.

Yugi bolted awake, his heart pounding and breathing racing. He put a hand over his eyes, flopping back onto his bed. The name he had been calling still echoed in his mind.

'Yami…'

Strange, he thought, that he would choose that name for this mysterious creature he dreamed of. It had been shrouded in darkness the whole time, and he got the sense that some color on it was black. So he had chosen to call it Yami.

He put a hand on his left arm, where the limb was still stinging as though he had been injured himself. His right leg was also aching, and Yugi shivered slightly.

Whatever that creature had been, it had had those crimson eyes, the same eyes that he had painted this afternoon.