Zypher: And here we are at last, the final chapter to Curse of the Shadowheart. I hope you all have enjoyed this year's Halloween story and will love the final chapter to your heart's content. Now, let finish this story off with a bang!
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Curse of the Shadowheart
Chapter 5
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Yugi's mind was in a wreck. He didn't know what to believe now. Ever since Aqua's leave three days before, everything was pretty much peaceful. He wasn't dragged into the Dark Realm at any time so he actually slept peacefully but even in his sleep he didn't have pleasant dreams. He wanted to see them again as shocking as it was to his rational mind but didn't know of a way to contact them without any connection to the Dark Realm.
"I have to see them. Just this once. I...I need to see if Aqua's alright." Yugi spoke quietly to himself, looking at the tome that would free him. Silently, he opened and skimmed through the pages, looking for anything that would help him get to the Dark Realm without the assistance of the freezing shadows that brought his consciousness to the Dark Realm. "There." he whispered, finding an incantation that would lead him to the Dark Realm. But the saddening part was that he only had so much time to stay there so he had to make his search quick and pray that he could locate Yami or Aqua.
"O shadows that freeze thy soul and mind
Bring my soul into your cold embrace
Send me into the world covered in darkness
And locate the creatures hiding within"
It was silent within the room before shadows starting coming out from every available source within the room. From under the bed, the shadows casted by the glow of the lamp, everything came and engulfed Yugi, frigid as the shadows used by Yami and Aqua but with the many times he was pulled in before, this was nothing different. When he felt his feet land on the ground covered in smoky darkness, he looked around. "They have to be here somewhere but the problem is where? This place has to be huge and endless." he whispered before he started on his trek to locate one of the two demons hiding somewhere in the Dark Realm.
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Aqua lied on his bed in his room; the gash that fooled Yugi gone like it was never there. "Is it possible...that a creature of such purity would dare give his heart to us...?" he wondered softly. He shook his head in defiance, sitting up. "He would never do such a thing. He despises us enough as it is from our previous actions." He gave a sigh and lie back down once more. "But I can't stop thinking about the choices. Could we possibly have a chance with such beauty?" He gave another sigh. "Probably not." From then on, he lied there in silence before he felt a disturbance within the shadows. He sat up, holding out a hand where a bird of shadows appeared.
"What is wrong, Ikuzo?"
The bird cawed and Aqua nodded, his eyes widening at the message. 'But why...?' he thought as he let Ikuzo to lead him to the location of the disturbance. 'Why would Yugi be here...?'
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Yugi gave a groan, collapsing to the ground. "Why does this place have to be so huge? I'll never find them before the spell takes me back." he whispered quietly before looking up, hearing the fluttering of wings coming towards him and soon saw Aqua landing a few paces away from him. "What are you doing here?" he questioned. Yugi stood once more, looking Aqua straight in the eyes. "I...I wanted to see you...to see if you were alright..." he replied.
Aqua gave a chuckle. "Really? You expect me to believe that after what you told me? After denying my proclamation of love that wasn't a farce. Little one, you barely want anything to do with us. When the night of Halloween arrives, we'll free ourselves then be on our merry way out of your life to find some backwash town to live in with weak, unkempt mortals to feed from." He then gave a light sigh.
"Of course, nothing will ever come close to the sweet taste of your blood and nectar but I guess that's the price we'll have to pay to keep away from you." he spoke, walking off. "Wait! Please! Listen to me!" Yugi cried and he stopped once more. He turned to glance back at Yugi. "What is it now?" he demanded. Yugi quickly ran over to him, taking hold of his arms, despite his frigid scales, and didn't let go even with the feeling of the cold burning at his palms. "Please, don't leave me...I don't want you to leave me. At first you were evil, ready to feast on my body, mind and soul and you still were, even in the challenge we had. But after that day when I was willing to take care of you, you showed me a side I would've never expected from you." he gave a shallow breath and looked into Aqua's eyes.
"Please...just stay with me and I'll give you whatever you want..." Aqua looked to him with silence and Yugi waited for his answer. Aqua took a breath before removing Yugi away from him. "Don't make promises you're not planning to keep." With that, Aqua called upon the shadows and Yugi gave a cry as he was sent back to his own world. He landed on his bed where the shadow expelled him before disappearing back into their original locations, never to be disturbed again. Tears started to come to the young boy's eyes and he wiped them away furiously. 'How can I make them understand?' he thought.
/Why do you even want to deal with them? Don't you remember what they were planning to do to you?/ His conscious spoke.
'But they've changed...'
/Changed?! They're demons. Predators that feast on mortal flesh. Nothing will change about them.../
'I...I don't care anymore...even after the trouble I went through before, I...I...I love them...' he thought in realization.
"And I have to make them understand before they leave me for good..." Yugi whispered.
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"Does he really think I would believe such blasphemy?! 'Give you what you want?' Pah!" Aqua hissed as he paced, Yami sitting upon his bed. "Maybe the boy is changing his own tune. At first, he feared us because of what we could do. Then he became brave just to prove he wasn't going to be scared of us forever. And now, he's desperate for our company. Maybe we should give him what he wants and stay, otouto." Yami suggested. Aqua sent a glare at him. "Forget it! I don't want anything to do with this child anymore!" He gave a slight whimper. "I know we're evil...but once in a while, we can be nice." He gave a snarl. "But no one will ever understand that! Not our kind and surely not Yugi!"
He started to pace again. "I'm sure there was one time in our existence where we have been a kind race. Before all the sadism and lust that we were born with in our blood. I'm just sure of it. That's why I feel like we could possibly have a chance to break free from what was in our blood. But it doesn't matter anymore! Yugi will never love us with that gentle heart of his and I'm not going to stick around to find out if that will change!" he hissed. Yami gave a small sigh and got up to leave. "If that is what you wish, otouto." he whispered as he moved to leave.
"Believe me; my thoughts aren't planning to change anytime soon, onii-chan..." Was heard by Yami as he was shutting the door.
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Soon, the day was here. Halloween and Yugi still didn't have a plan to get the two that lived within his shadows to stay. And he needed to hurry cause once night falls, he's expecting them to show and he wants to stop them from leaving him as soon as they appear. He would've consulted Chavi about what to do but he had a fleeting feeling the kinder Shadowheart would tell him to let them do as they wished. He was fidgety at school and his friends worried about him but he said nothing was wrong but Myrrh suspected something to do with the Shadowhearts. So, at lunch, he pulled him away to stand outside.
"Alright, Yugi. Tell me what's going on?"
He looked down and didn't respond. She gave a small sigh before calling upon Chavi who took her place. She looked down to the smaller. "What's wrong, young one?" she questioned. Yugi flinched at the voice of the other Shadowheart and knew he couldn't really run off without an explanation to the way he was feeling right now. So with a breath, he looked up to Chavi. "Chavi, please. I need your help." he whispered and explained the situation to her, Chavi not believing a word of it and voiced that as well.
"I'm sure it's nothing but a trick, Yugi-san. Let them do as they wish."
"But, Chavi! I need to know! What could I possibly offer to them that will make them stay? I know everything they did to me was wrong and deserved to be locked back where they belong but that one simple day, where I saw one of them show some emotion, it made me wonder if they're capable of evil as you said. If they were, they would've killed me long ago or hurt me whenever I went to sleep. I'm sure there's a possible chance they can change their ways and it revolves around me. If I don't do something, they will still be the same with an even darker heart!" Yugi cried, tears coming to his eyes once more. Chavi watched his reaction before taking a breath.
"I do not know what you can do but the only thing you can possibly offer to them is your love. They've yet to have found love for the many centuries they lived. If you can prove that you love them with all of your heart, they might reconsider leaving and stay with you. But chances are you might have only one shot so use it well." Yugi looked up to her and nodded. It wasn't too helpful since she never witnessed anything like he had but he'll take whatever available information he could get. Yugi thanked her and she only nodded before giving control back to Myrrh and they headed back inside to meet up with everyone else for the rest of the lunch period.
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After school, Yugi rushed home, but came to a sight he wasn't expecting. There, in the living room, sat Yami. But the thing that scared Yugi was that he had the tome in hand. "So, this might explain how you got into the Dark Realm, little one." he whispered, looking over to him with that piercing gaze. He stood, dropping the tome onto the couch and walked over to him, causing Yugi to back away. "So, what are you planning to do with it, hmm? Were you planning to burn it as we appear in your vicinity and seal us away forever?" he questioned.
"N-no...I-I wasn't planning to do that..." he whispered meekly. "Ah, then why do you have it? For all I know, that's possibly what you were trying to plan after the actions we caused before this point." His eyes narrowed. "So, tell me now, without a single lie. Why do you have the tome that once housed our souls?" Yugi's lip quivered, knowing if he told the truth, it would give them more incentive to leave him.
"Well?!"
Yugi collapsed to his knees before Yami, bowing his head. "I'm sorry! My first though what to do just that when Chavi told me of a way to get rid of you! I didn't want to be haunted with you two in my shadows and be made into something I didn't want to be! But seeing your sibling with so much pain and emotion made me rethink my plans. Now I don't want either of you to leave! Please, don't leave me all alone!" he cried. Yugi was glad for one thing, that his grandfather wasn't in the shop today or else he would've asked too many questions. Yami watched him calmly before speaking softly.
"So, Aqua changed your reasoning about us? What a feat. And to think that I thought you were going to despise us up until this time where you would've sealed us away for good." Yami spoke. Yugi looked up to him, tears coursing down his face. Yami walked closer to him and knelt down. "So tell me, then, what do you offer us in order for us to stay? My little brother doesn't want to stay and I shall abide to his wishes but whatever you plan to give may just change his mind." Yugi slowly stood up and wiped away the tears that fell before looking up into those dark cerise eyes with determination towards his new goal. "I'll give you my love without a fight. And if that isn't enough, I'll give you whatever you want."
Yami gave a chuckle. "So much bravado you have. But for me, you don't have to go so far in what you give. Who you need to really convince is my otouto. If you can convince him to stay, then we'll both stay." he spoke. Yugi nodded and was about to speak when he held up a hand. "But...he won't show himself until sunset. So you best prepare yourself cause once he comes, you better start saying what you need if he doesn't want to listen to any of your words, thinking they are nothing but lies." Yugi nodded again and soon, Yami was gone through the shadows. Yugi let loose a breath he didn't know he was holding before heading up to his room to prepare for their arrival. And he hoped deep in his mind that he will be able to convince Aqua to stay for it seem his decision will also be Yami's.
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Yugi watched from his window as the final rays of the sunlight disappeared beneath the horizon and then he looked down to his shadows, waiting for Yami and Aqua's appearance. Soon, the room dropped a good few degrees before Yami and Aqua clawed their way through what sealed them for so long. Yami glanced over to Yugi as he made a move to stand. "Aqua..." Yugi whispered and the other whipped his head around to look to him. He snarled slightly as he turned fully to the younger teen. "What do you want now?!" he hissed.
"Please, stay here with me. You don't have to leave..."
Aqua snorted. "I told you before, we're not staying and you can't make us." he hissed as he was ready to leave out the door to the bedroom. Yugi jumped up from the bed and latched onto his arm and he growled, trying to get rid of him. "Let go of me!" he hissed again, finally flinging the boy back onto the bed and was ready to leave again. "Please! I love you both! Even after everything we've been through, I can't help but love you!" he cried. "You changed my outlook on you two, Aqua! Please, don't think of my words as lies to you!"
Aqua was silent, hand upon the knob as he ready to leave out. "Why do you care, Yugi? You never cared for us before. We know you couldn't deny a wounded person, no matter how good or evil they could be, but I know you will never love us. I admit to you my love but you thought of it as lies. No one think we could be nice. Not one. But we could but only to selective people and you were one of them. Our hearts have been frozen for many centuries and we thought you would be the one to break away the ice that surrounded our hearts. But that dream shattered into shards before us with your words. Yugi, I've said it once and I'll say it again, don't make promises you can't keep." he whispered.
Yami looked to Yugi, seeing tears shimmering at the corners of his eyes with the fact he still couldn't get through to Aqua then to his younger sibling. "Otouto, listen to him. I believe his words to be true. The only way you can see that too is to look at him now." he spoke and Aqua growled again before turning and gasped. The tears Yugi was about to shed brought up a feeling never shown by many Shadowhearts.
Those tears...
He felt an odd feeling where his frozen heart rested.
Those tears...
The ice around his long dead heart started to fracture and crack.
I can't bear to see those tears anymore...
Finally, the sound of his own heartbeat rang through his ears as the ice finally fell from his warmed heart and he fell to his knees, still gazing at Yugi. Yugi watched him, the tears still threatening to fall. Yami watched him as well and smirked. 'So, the key was the tears of an innocent to bring back to life what was once dead to him...' he thought. "Yugi..." Aqua whispered before holding out his arms. "Please...I don't want to see you cry anymore...come into my arms..." Yugi smiled before jumping from the bed and ran over to him.
"Aqua!" he cried, wrapping his arms around the chilled neck of the other and Aqua wrapped his arms around Yugi, never letting go. "I'm so sorry, little one. I don't want to see those tears again..." he whispered. Yugi looked to him and gently raised a hand to bring him down into a soft kiss. "You won't anymore...as long as you don't leave me..." Yugi whispered as he parted from him.
Aqua shook his head defiantly. "Never...I can't leave you now...you are the one...the one we have waited for so long." He took Yugi's hand and placed it over his heart. "See." Yugi was amazed to feel a heartbeat under his frozen skin and looked up in surprise to Aqua. "How...?" He only smiled and kissed him again. "Because you broke the ice that encased my heart." Yugi shed tears of pure joy and hugged Aqua again.
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That night, Yugi went to spend a portion of the night with his friends, Ryou curious about his situation with the Shadowhearts that lived with him. Just before he decided to head home, Ryou brought up that question. "Yugi, did you seal away the Shadowhearts that haunted you?" he asked.
"No."
Ryou was even more curious now. "Why not? Isn't that what you wanted so you can be free?" Yugi shook his head and looked up to the full moon. "Ryou, sometimes you can't judge a book by the cover. For me, it was the same. I thought they were going to make me into something horrible to sate their own needs but soon, I saw what was under the shell of deception and sadism. It took a while but I found that out and I couldn't do that to them. So I gave them what they truly desire and that was the love of an innocent to crack the ice from their hearts." Yugi explained softly. Ryou was amazed at this and nodded.
"Good for you, Yugi. At least you had that option." he whispered and Yugi turned to him. "You have the same thing, Ryou. Even as evil as he is, do you still have a part of your heart that could love him?" Ryou looked down before nodding. "Then listen to it and admit that to him. If he feels the same, your life with him will be a lot easier on you." Yugi said and Ryou nodded. "Thank you, Yugi. Hopefully what you tell me will help me." He smiled brightly as he started for home. "I'm sure it will, Ryou. Just don't give up if it doesn't work the first time."
When he returned home, the house was dark and he wondered where Yami and Aqua could be. He felt a swift drop in temperature, signaling their appearance and he giggled softly as he was swept into Aqua's arms, never once complaining of the cold that still stuck with him. "Welcome home, love. Did you have a good time with your friends?" he questioned as he took Yugi upstairs to his room. "Yeah but I'm glad to be back home with you. But I am concerned about one of my friends." Yugi spoke.
"Oh? What's going on?"
Aqua walked into their newly shared room which had a few things being slowly covered in frost and he placed Yugi upon his bed which wasn't covered by frost. "Well, my friend, Ryou, was cursed with a Shadowheart and he kinda claimed him before he could do anything. I gave him the same suggestion that helped me with you two and I'm hoping that it will help." Aqua nodded, letting his mind wandering. "Hmm, this particular Shadowheart sound familiar. You may have never seen him before but he sounds awfully like the soul stealer, Bakura."
"Soul stealer Bakura?" Yugi questioned, now feeling a tad worried about Ryou. Seeing the look, Aqua reassured him it was only a name given to him for his misdeeds. "He wasn't an actual stealer of souls but more of a thief. In the past, he caused many problems in the community and the fact is once he sets his sights on something, he will claim it before anyone else. I guess he took quite the liking to your friend and claimed him before anyone else could, especially while he was around." Yugi nodded at the explanation. "I just hope that what I told Ryou will help him out so he won't feel like a slave to Bakura." Yugi whispered. Aqua sat down next to him and pulled Yugi onto his lap and gently kissed his forehead.
"I'm sure he will. I think it was only you who found out the secret to freeing the Shadowhearts from what they once were if they weren't kind in the first place, little one. If that icy shell still stayed around our hearts, I think nothing would've changed this night." Yugi smiled and buried his head into the cool neck of his supernatural lover. "I'm glad to have done something or else I would've lost you two forever."
Yami appeared through the shadows, smiling at the content his otouto showed in the arms of his loved one. "And we surely didn't want to results to end up as such." he whispered as the witching hour soon came to pass and two shadows skimmed the skies for their first meal ever since their release into their new life.
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And as stories go, Yugi's grandfather soon died of old age, leaving the shop to Yugi but the shop was never opened. Many who come by now wondered if the boy that lived there was even still alive to this day. As years became decades and decade became centuries, the now icy home was still the accommodations to the two Shadowhearts and the lover who now has adapted to the frigid lifestyle but certain things were still kept warm for the boy.
Even though any normal human would've died within a week with living in his home, he survived due to finally being bonded to the Shadowhearts he had come to love. Those that thought of him dead always see a glimpse of his pale facade in the frosted windows and wonder if it was actually him or an apparition of the child that once lived there. Yugi smiled as he rested within the arms of Yami, looking out to the cool October night. Even through the frosted glass, he could see the small children trick or treating through the suburban area. "We should go out for a bit?" Yugi whispered in suggestion. "What? To scare the young children that wander about your home?" Yami asked with a light chuckle.
"No. We don't need the house being even more of a frightening landmark but I've been in here for too long and I need a night on the town." Yugi replied and Yami nodded. "Alright then. We'll do just that." he whispered and Yugi smiled, kissing his cheek softly before he called for Aqua from upstairs and they left out the door. Many of the children that eased by the icy exterior that was once the Game Shop jumped as the door cracked opened and out came the three that took residence there, looking like ghostly figures from the chill they lived in. Everyone that saw this watched in amazement as one unfurled leathery black wings to the full length before scooping up the younger and shot off into the air with the other flying right behind him.
The children that saw this ran home to tell their parents of what they saw. And every year from that day, little children on Halloween night would always be there to watch the flight of the Shadowhearts and their eternal lover, never once fearing the frigid beings that lived within and watched in amazement at they flew, leaving sparkling chips of ice to fall gently to the ground, some of the children gathering them happily for they never melted, not even in the hottest summer days.
Stories circulated about the Game Shop that was now called the Icy Sanctuary and Yugi, seeing that children weren't even afraid of Yami nor Aqua decided to make the place into a mini attraction site for the children to visit and see the two Shadowhearts and tell them the story that soon travel across the world of the tale of how one boy changed things for the worse of Shadowheart demons from the distant past.
As for the others, you say?
Well, Ryou did tell Bakura of his feelings and Bakura's heart also melted with the newfound love he found and both were now traveling throughout the world, examining many cultures and swapping stories with locals of the unknown Shadowheart race that was erased from time. And for Myrrh and Chavi, they both stayed back in the city, smiling at the progress of Yami, Yugi and Aqua. Chavi especially since she thought that no one would be able to change the ways once engraved into the blood of the kings to the race.
In the end, everything turned well for the small group of Shadowhearts that were freed from their confinements and made the best of their new lives with their chosen ones.
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Zypher: And there you have it, the nice happy ending to this little fic. Hoped you all enjoyed it as I sure did with the simple fact of giving Yami and Aqua a new personality to work with. Any who, I tell ya this, the ending for this could've turned out good or bad when I thought about it but I gave you a good ending instead of the bad one. But if you're really curious and want to know what I had for the bad ending, just ask in your reviews and I'll type it up for ya and post it for you to read and see what was going through my mind as I wrote this. -cackles- But anyway, hope you all have a good Halloween and if you go out from some free candy, hope you get a pillowcase full of it. -waves- See ya!