Author's Note-There is not a whole lot to say about this chapter, except that it's graphic. Please note that I don't advocate doing what Yami does to Seth as an outlet. I am, in reality, a fairly meek person. But, there were a few emails from people who wanted a corrupted Yami...and this weirdness is what came out.Please not that this is extremely violent.

The Puzzle, as usual, did not deem it necessary to answer Yami's desperate questions, a trait that Yami found profoundly infuriating. Yami could feel the Puzzle's shifting over his exposed thoughts, and he shuddered to feel the oily slithering over his deep wounds. He gritted his teeth,
willing himself not to cry out. He would not shame himself like that again..if he could help it, he thought with a wince. He shook his head in all-too knowing self mockery. For all his pretentions about being strong, and his noble intentions that seemed so right at the time, the only honor he had left to show for it was a constant war with his own self-torture and the ever hungry Puzzle's waiting to drink more of his pain.
He wondered, briefly as he stared down the endless spiraling corridors that wove their way into the darkness, if he would ever be free.
The promise of Isis still lay, treasured and protected in his heart. But, that radiating hope shown so cold and frail in contrast to these glittering bricks of his prison.

And, in the forboding shadows that coiled ever deeper around his heart, the unknown king waged his nightly war against madness and despair. It was a futile fight, slow, relentless, and even tedious in its monotony. There was absolutely no distraction, no change, nothing, but the endless familiar futility. Yami found occasional refuge in reliving one of his fragmented memories. There were a few that remained unmarred by the Puzzle's meddling. And, in the end, Yami no longer cared if they were mutilated, or not, if it meant a few moments where he had an escape from his haunted existance. Little did he know that his own Puzzle was a haven compared to the prison that other souls may only dream of.
And, in the deepening, cruel amusement, the Puzzle wove its most depraved manifestation.

-

It was the shrill cry of his own screams and choking on his own blood that filled his ears, as the sob exploding from his throat echoed through the darkness.
He was not sure how long he had been in this hellish place, or even what he had done to be tortured so. The vague memory of blood that was not his own, the cringing sense of his own honor being hideously betrayed, and overwhelming guilt and despair flooded through him in one, unrelenting torrent. Seth had lay in his own blood for as long as he could remembered. His scars were prominently displayed as testimony to his own evil.
He recoiled at remembering his last moments of life...the alien blade in his hand, staring in anguished horror at the sight of Yami's throat spewing scarlet, the rooted paralysis that he and the dying king both shared, as Yami heaved his last breath, and Isis ended his suffering by his own blade. He remembered the agony that glittered up from Yami's eyes...the tortured questioning of why, the futile groping of his hands at his sleeve. The sickening warmth of all that blood on his robe. He heard himself cackling madly, felt his mouth twist in satisfaction at the suffering of Yami, and even his lips curl in snide satisfaction at Isis's demand for an answer. An answer that he had no more power to give than he did to reverse time and prevent this whole travesty. Seth could not reconcile his years of peaceful service and devotion to the cause of Yami with his own depravity. Indeed, he had willingly risked his life to defend the young king, without hesitation. So...how could he do such a thing? He had no answer for the monster he had become. He had no answers, at all. And, in his heart of hearts, he knew that even if he had a perfectly logical explanation as to why he slashed Yami's throat open, it would never be enough to take away the guilt and the consequences.

He opened his eyes blind. All around him was the consuming darkness, and the roving shadows that bore their teeth back in sated hunger-for now.
He knew without question they would be back to devour him again. The sounds around him were nothing but his own wailing cries, and the roar of all that he feared. The only sights around him was the shimmer of his own useless tears.
So, when the wafting light softly drifted down, it was as if the gates of Heaven opened themselves. He watched in amazement as the pearled orb gently danced over his heaving chest, and then cast its radiance on his own scars. He was even more amazed to feel the pain slacken, then vanish, as the shadows drew back in surrender, releasing him.

Seth could only stare in shock as the light beckoned him forward,as he stumbled forth, and then burst into a full run. ---

Yami's head shot up when he heard the strange sound of rapidly falling footsteps, and he cocked his head towards the sound, curiously. Aside from the eerie silence of the Puzzle, and the thump of his own heart, it was extremely unnerving to hear anything else. He shot a scathing glance up at the Puzzle's ceiling, with a distainful hiss of warning, as he summoned the familiar fire to his fingers. The glow was reassuring to him, and he rose to his feet,warily.

It was the familiar tilt of the dark head, and the narrowing of cold saphire eyes that made Yami's heart clench in disbelief. It was seeing Seth emerge from the shadows, with his tunic stained with Yami's blood that made his body want to crumble from the onslaught of memories, and suffering.
It was the raging, rising current of cold, alien hatred that forced Yami's knees to stiffen, his back to unfold himself, and brought forth the eerie calulating rage and ice that made Seth pale visibly in fear.

There was no cringing, no pleading, and certainly no possibility of wounding the slight king who stood before him, and stared up at him in silent menace.
The patient waiting of the panther before the wounded prey. The nonchalant dagger casually flaunting its blade before the kill.
Seth staggered backwards, as if Yami had dealt him a blow under the sheer weight of the glittering malice in those violet eyes.
"I will not ask what brings you forth. Indeed, I am grateful for your reappearance, Seth." His voice was a velvet growl, as he drew his lips back in vicious promise.

"Indeed, old friend." Yami almost purred as he tilted his head to the side with a raised eyebrow, and regal scorn, before he lowered his mouth to Seth's trembling ear.

"Do you know how bueatiful retribution can be?" The soft threat lingered in the air between them, as Seth gulped and attempted a desperate plea.
It was choked down by the strangling grip on his throat, as he found himself lifted off of his feet, and peering downward into Yami's content and resolute expression. Indeed, Yami looked almost cheerful as he tightened the fingers until blood ran down from the quivering throat. His grin only grew when he heard Seth's hitching breath, and saw the pained tears springing up. Seth watched in horrified disgust as Yami watched the glittering trail slide over his fist, only to grin in satisfaction.

"Why these tears now, Seth? You paid mine no heed." Yami wiped the tear off on Seth's soiled tunic, with a sneer. "Indeed, Seth. I am being far too merciful,
am I not? You didn't stop your attack after my throat was cut, did you? No, that was not enough for you. You stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed, while I lay in my own blood, in so much pain..." Yami's eyes narrowed coldly at the memory, but no tears came. There was no more tears to be shed, now.
"And the worst thing of all was that you betrayed me.Isis may have ended my life, but you were the one who relished my suffering. You were the one who cherished every one of my dying breaths like a treasured jewel. Tell me something, Seth. Do the memories of my agony give you comfort in your miserable afterlife? Or do they grow teeth and tear at your heart?"

From the cold delivery of that rant, and the tightening in Yami's jaw, Seth knew, beyond any merciful uncertainty that there was no pain deeper than that of betrayal, and no balm for hatred as vast and engulfing as the poison that now pounded through Yami's thoughts, gave him the strength to strangle, and wound, and hurt. Gave him the justification to kill.

Idly, he wondered exactly how Yami planned to carry it out. Indeed, from the coiled lip and the considering glance, Yami seemed to be quite enthralled with the idea of Seth's torture being drawn out to its full, brutal conclusion. It was evidenced in the unmerciful grip on his throat, the teasing torment of his gut twisting in terror.

Yami slammed the slack body against the wall, then drew ironically gently fingers to Seth's chin, angling his face to peer into his eyes.
"Do you see the monster before you, Seth? Do you see what your hands have wrought? Look well upon this creature I have become at your hands.
Look at your creation, Seth, and see what suffering can do. Does it please you to know that that you have corrupted me to the point that I cherish the thought of killing you? Are you satisfied in knowing that I am happy at the thought of you being eternally damned?"

Seth could only open his eyes in a silent plea, the beseeching tears and helpless groping for forgiveness and its refusal curdling in his heart like rot and dismantling any possibility for hope. He was not worthy to seek it. And Yami was certainly not going to grant it. It was the most brutal punishment, but the most fitting, to see warm regard and friendship stripped away in agony,to be replaced by the harsh, unbending condemption at the hands of the king he once swore to protect with his own life. And the agonizing guilt in knowing that Seth was the one who had done this...

He shivered in realization. The retaliation from Isis was little more than a kiss in passing compared to the unleashed rage of the Pharoah. The Puzzle itself recoiled when it heard the piercing dying cry, a wailing laced with unspeakable torture, the last pleading cry for absolution before it was completely consumed by the darkness forever. The Puzzle shuddered in horror when it felt Seth's blood, hot, and wet and violating splatter on its walls, and trembled in fear when it felt the reverberation of Seth's soul being devoured at Yami's cold command, and it quelled when it heard Yami's eerie laughter wafting up in mirthless satisfaction. Yami casually wiped gore from his fingers, with the tattered remnants of Seth's tunic, and he spat on the hideous aftermath of the dismembered remains. He kicked the severed head with one distaining toe, and watched it roll, his grin widening to see Seth's face frozen in its dying scream.

Yami gave the bloodied scene one last scornful glance before he rose in a graceful swagger. He turned his glittering eyes to the walls around him, and whispered, "I know not if this was a manifestation of your design, nor do I care. But, understand this. I did nothing to this wretch that I will not hesitate to do to you when I get the chance." The Puzzle shivered at the icy warning, and did not attempt to stop Yami as he strode away.
Mutely, the Puzzle surveyed the trail of blood that followed in fear.