Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh, nor do I claim rights to any of the affiliated characters. Any brands recognizable in this chapter are the full legal property of their respective owners.
Warnings/Notes: Tons of mind games, pathological fluff, and sappiness. A lot is happening from the end of last chapter into this one, please read the concluding author's notes at the bottom of the screen once you've finished with the actual content. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to ask in a review or a private message; I will get back to you ASAP.
Just me: Thank you again for your review, what you've touched on will be explained in this chapter and the chapters following. I hope you enjoy the turnout.
Yoko Sakura: As I mentioned above, please read the concluding notes once you've finished this chapter, the ending of "Playing To Win" will make more sense afterwards. Thank you so much for the review and commentary.
x-Sheeqsee112-x: Hello my dear, welcome to "The Stockholm Game." I appreciate your thorough feedback and support. Equal character development is hard to divide among so many people, but is definitely essential to the progression of the story. All of your curiosity will be appeased soon, thank you so much for the review.
Chapter Eleven: Last Resort
A full day after the start of their hunger strike, Tristan and Ryou carried on with curiosity and determination. Their encounter with Pegasus left them reeling, more questions arising than had been answered, and they began to wonder if the man would forever be an enigma. He brought them to the table personally throughout the day, shame stealing into their gut as he baby talked them about their "illness." It was apparent from the beginning. He knew.
Initially as time wore on he was passive aggressive, exactly as they had expected. At breakfast they were met with full plates of cut, browned meats and eggs. Their tantalizing scents wafting about the room long after most of the others had finished. The man at the head of the table cast them stern looks and arguments, both of which they ignored. When he ordered they be kept at the table until they ate, they sat until midnight while the others were drawn away to play monopoly, charades, or some other preposterous game that would not pacify the woes of imprisonment. Disheartened by the strict silence they were forced to adhere to, they felt a pang of guilt at Tea's plight. Yet, for all of their struggles, another would join them from dinner time 'til midnight. It wasn't just Pegasus who had caught on, Kaiba had noticed too.
When resistance stretched in length and number, Pegasus made a show of tormenting them. Eventually they were not even allowed reprieve from the food on their plates to use the bathroom. They woke in the morning, knew enough movement to get dressed and shuffle to the dining room, and were left to nothingness for hours. Though maddening in its own right, they had expected more...severity.
On the sixth day they were also six people strong. Tea had watched their hands begin to tremble, and their muscles weaken, and knew she could not keep abandoning them like this. To the heightening uneasiness of all those involved, their abductor seemed oddly resigned to their efforts. He no longer yelled, made threats, or abused furniture, he merely enforced routine. They got up. They sat. They starved.
Everyone knew his strategy by now. Pegasus Crawford never stopped playing games. In the idle hours of persistence since Tea's company began, worry swelled in their stomachs. The ability to tell reality from illusion became hopelessly impaired. Tristan and Ryou, who had been without food the longest, and who were showing obvious signs of bodily distress, were not force fed. He provided them as much water as they wanted; even though he had to know it stimulated the feeling of being full. A thought broke out in a whisper among the two pioneers and Kaiba, what if Pegasus had planned this all along? If they had misjudged his supposed affection for them, it was likely they'd fallen into a trap of being their own undoing, allowing the perpetrator to wash his hands of the crime. It left questions of his motive, but clarity in that regard was beginning to seem more like a pipe dream than a possibility.
Every person at or away from the table was praying for a lingering sign of interest, whether it be a plea, a threat, even a physical blow. Something to indicate he wasn't going to leave them to rot. Each needed this for different reasons. Yugi so there was hope of saving his grandfather, Tea so there was hope of reconciling with Pegasus, and Kaiba so he could declare himself the winner in a losing game, so there was hope of any victory for their side. If seeing them like this was torture for Pegasus, and he avoided being near them for fear of showing it, all his time away from Mokuba had been worth it. If the man did not show signs of caring soon, however, he would know death had been Crawford's plan all along, and he would have to eat for Mokuba's sake. He dreaded the thought, but if Pegasus intended to make this a suicide game, they were at his mercy in life or death.
Yugi and his friends questioned everything they knew, because surely they were good people who did not deserve this treatment. Kaiba questioned too. All his life, he had made knowing the enemy a priority, embraced common sense, business sense, book smarts, and yet, all of that knowledge would be the end of them. As the sixth day approached its close there was no sign of Pegasus, and he felt a strange flood of guilt. He had been the one to jump to conclusions about Pegasus wanting to keep them alive. He had been the one to suggest they'd be dead by now, if that was the true intention. In the final moments before midnight he feared, with everything inside of him, that he had been wrong. While those around him had lost any fragment of faith they'd been raised with, he bowed his head in grudged silence, and offered a prayer.
The room was quiet. Mokuba rubbed his hands together to fight off the chill of night. Normally he would lay his head on his brother's chest, but Seto's breathing was gradually becoming labored without the added weight. He snuggled close enough to drape an arm around his tall, thinning frame, and relented.
"I'm going to stop eating tomorrow." He said, because there was no way to make the announcement poetic.
The brunet blinked his eyes open, stiffening, "No." He replied sternly, in the tone that told his employees it was an order.
"You can't do this on your own, I won't let you." The younger protested, raising his voice slightly.
"Hush." The elder prompted, pressing a hand to the side of the child's head and coaxing it onto the pillow again, "It won't be long before Pegasus caves."
Mokuba wanted to scream that even if he caved tomorrow, it would be too late. His brother's reaction time had slowed considerably. All of his movements had slowed considerably. Mokuba could shower and redress before Seto had fully stripped himself. All the while, the elder insisted it was nothing. He would be just fine, he said. He had gone longer than this without eating, for business, and hardly even noticed.
"You're wasting away." He pleaded as Seto turned to face him.
"I'm just fine." He assured, smoothing locks of raven hair and smiling the best he could manage, the gesture couldn't help but be genuine; at least Mokuba was safe in his arms. Every day he worried Pegasus would make bait of the boy, the only reason he could surmise the man hadn't is because he'd become bored with that tactic. He scoffed despite himself.
"You're lying. Let me take a turn Seto, you're so pale and you –"
"It doesn't work that way." The elder cut in, "We can't eat in shifts and expect to accomplish anything. Pegasus will act when he realizes I'm not giving up, but I have to put the time in first. I won't let you martyr yourself, for someone as young as you there are too many risks." He informed the younger, "I'm pale because I haven't been touched by the sun in months. Even your complexion has lightened; I'm surprised I don't glow in the dark."
There it was. The laugh he missed so dearly from home. Mokuba had a little squeak in his voice when he laughed, "Promise me you'll stop if it gets too bad?"
Seto nodded and pulled him close, "I promise."
Somewhere inside, for the first time in their lives, Mokuba knew he had lied.
The next morning he woke them before the sun. Hardened by practice, they forced themselves out of bed, into clothes, and off to greet the day. It was hardly a day for them, just a room and a plate, but it had at least become a way to keep track of time. As they settled into their usual seats, they were surprised to see Pegasus waiting patiently at the table.
A flicker of hope rose among them. He hadn't bothered to endure regular meals in their company for a few days; maybe he was going to end this.
He cleared his throat, an intrusive emphasis of the silence that had been holding the room. "I know they're not in season," he began a bit tiredly, "but I had strawberries brought in for you." His eyes found Yugi's and captured them, "I know you used to pick them every summer. They're your favorite."
The child blinked at him, anxiety clawing its way up from his stomach and into his throat, "I…used to go with my Grandpa, his friend had a farm." His throat constricted painfully and he swallowed back the tears, eyes never leaving the captor's. This was what they'd been waiting for. He was going to surrender; he was…smiling, fondly.
"It's still so moving that you remember him from when you were a baby. That little orchard in France you used to stomp around." He chuckled softly, "You always were the clumsy one."
The world broke. His heart beat loud in his ears, drowning out the building ache in his muscles. Even as he desperately tried to stop them, tears spilled out in hot, mocking trails across his face, "Please…" He begged, and he knew Kaiba's eyes were aiming daggers at his back, but he couldn't stop, he couldn't. "I love my family. I know you love…loved your wife, but believe me she wouldn't-"
"No, no, no." The elder's voice lowered until it was almost unrecognizable, "Don't you dare finish that sentence." His face was strangely listless, "I've been very patient with you, Yugi-boy, but I can't abide lying in this house."
"I only wanted to…I…"
"What is it dear?"
He could deal with another week of deprivation, but he wasn't sure he could say the same about Tristan or Bakura, the latter was underweight to begin with, and stumbled numerous times on their trip down the hall. "I love you."
Kaiba's body eased into the chair, his shoulders hunching forward slightly as he came down off the surge of adrenaline and anger. He couldn't fault Yugi for this, even if it made him sick. The CEO was a proud, arrogant child who had spent the night hating himself too; he knew the weight of self-loathing every time he looked into Mokuba's worried face. Deep down he was struggling to come to terms with the fact that Pegasus was making he and Wheeler the same. Mokuba was hurting, and that sister he babbled on about was hurting too, and they couldn't do anything to quell that pain, anymore. He and Mokuba were hiding from one another in the same room, masking feelings with small talk. It was slow, but he could feel his train of thought wandering, and he often paused to reflect on how long he'd allowed himself to stray from planning. Even this early, the slip into disorientation taunted him. For Mokuba's sake, he couldn't allow that.
He swallowed thickly, if Yugi hadn't been the one to break, he might've actually…
"I love you too." Pegasus replied, warmth fluttering into his voice, "You know this has all been out of love, don't you?"
Yugi moved a hand to his face, trying to feel the fingers dragging downward from his temple. He began to shake violently, and Pegasus lurched forward in his seat, face no longer vacant enough to hide his concern. He said, "I know," but all he could think about was Solomon's soul card in the man's hand as he purred, you know you deserve this, don't you?
"Yugi-boy, Yugi!" The elder rose from his seat and grasped the boys shoulders, shaking him firmly back to reality, "Look at me."
"I'm sorry."
Olive skin pressed into porcelain and he tilted the boy's head to match his eye level. "Enough of this trying to be strong," he twirled a lock of Yugi's hair around the finger of his free hand, "let Daddy take care of that."
"Okay."
"Eat for Daddy, sweetheart."
"I can't."
Pegasus clicked his tongue disapprovingly, "Now, now, you said that before didn't you?" Yugi scrunched his face to avoid sobbing, "Do you remember what I told you then?"
"I love you." He repeated, spraying the man with spit as the sob forced itself through his closed lips, "But I still want to go home. I still want my home." Yugi shuddered on impulse, he knew what was coming and he regretted the words already. The entire conversation was a mistake. A ploy.
Pegasus wiped his face with the side of his fist and rose from the table, releasing his hold on the boy. His eye darkened and his features hardened, and Yugi remembered Tea's unconscious body. I take it back. He was screaming. I take it all back.
"I'm your father." He droned sternly, "And as your father, the games end today."
The small form flinched away, expecting to be struck. Instead, the red suited man ordered them back to their rooms, "Wait –"
"It's too late for that." He interrupted sharply, then, turning to Yukio, he continued. "Take Mokuba too, when I want them, you'll know."
The space was alive with rustling fabric and the struggle of strong, able bodies against fragile, scrambling ones. Yugi was glued to his chair. He knew he should move. It was in his best interest to obey, but his head couldn't control his legs anymore. The breath drew out of him in one choking hack, and he slumped forward, almost directly into Pegasus's arms.
The CEO caught him gracelessly, lifting him up and passing him off to Makoto, "You'll always be my baby." He soothed as the others struggled back the hall. They were filing out, save for Tea, who was frozen in place too, listening to Pegasus's voice break as he spoke the words.
As his last son was carried away, he turned to the daughter and jerked her chair back, "Daddy please…"
"Stand up."
Her stomach knotted as she did so, and in an instant he pulled her close to his side. Both of his strong hands rested on her arms, and she looked down to avoid his eyes. All these weeks he had taken care of her, allowed her to take company with him even though he had obviously intended her to be isolated. He was merciful. To him, he had said, she was the perfect daughter.
"Look at me Tea." Her eyes stung with tears, and she thought to protest, but her lips did nothing more than tremble against one another as she lifted her gaze to him. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, eye widening slightly in anger before softening in reflection, "Why?" In her own mind, she was screaming that she had a home, and friends who needed their real loved ones, their real school, family, and neighborhood. She closed her eyes for a moment, sympathy for the man in front of her pushed down by the memories she and her friends had made for so many years. She could not be loyal to both sides, but if she could delay choosing just a few more days, a few more moments even, then maybe he would…
"I asked you a question." In those few words, he had done anything but return her compassion.
As he stood in front of her making demands, he subconsciously became two men in her mind, the one who had hurt her friends, and the one who had kept her sane. If she told the evil one she already had a place she belonged to, the kind one, and his mercy, would be gone, possibly forever.
"It's a long story." She murmured.
"Explain." He prompted, unmoving.
"I lost my brother two years ago come December." She began, trying to slow her breaths, "After all this time I still miss him every day, but when it first happened I fell apart. When I couldn't keep up with school or work normally, I lost a lot of friends. It was hard for them to understand. Yugi and the rest of the guys were the only ones who stood by me, through everything." Droplets rolled along her jawline one after another, dripping off her chin and staining her sweater, "They were there for me, and I swore I'd always be there for them if they needed me. No matter what, I can't go back on that."
She expected him to pull away in betrayal, as if burned to the touch, but he swept her into a fast, crushing embrace and lifted her from the ground with both arms, "Shh." He crooned to slow her sobbing, and as it came with more fury than ever, he pressed her head into his shoulder and rocked his body back and forth to soothe her, "Don't be so anxious." He laughed – actually laughed at the fear radiating from her body and seeping into his skin, "You've been hurt a lot, haven't you?"
"Yes…"
She clutched the fabric of his suit, trying to talk some sense into herself. All she could think about was how tenderly he held her, how she could barely remember the last time anyone had held her similarly, and she needed him. She didn't care about right or wrong. She needed someone, and he was the only one, for months he had been the only one.
"But your friends haven't hurt you, and you love them for that." She nodded, sniffling unabashedly against his neck, trying to focus on the hand that rubbed slow circles around the small of her back. "I understand you being pressured into this, after all, so many of them are struggling while you've found solace. Or could it be that there's no room left to love me, with their strong claim on your heart?"
"No!" She cried, clutching him tighter, "You know I l-love you, I didn't mean it." She shook her head against the strong frame of his body, "I just wanted…"
"Shh." He coaxed again, "Darling, didn't you come here angry and afraid?" She swallowed thickly, but he did not need an answer to acknowledge the truth, "And wasn't I always there when you needed me? I told you I would make it better, and when you let me help you, it was, wasn't it?"
"Yes." She admitted shakily.
"Don't be so silly as to shut me out. You were happy and adjusted; your friends could have that happiness too, if they accept me the way you used to."
"Nothing has changed Daddy." She was practically begging him to understand, "They were my friends first, and they'll always be my friends. I can't abandon them"
"Tea dear, I would never ask that of you. If you ever thought to abandon your brothers, I'd have to punish you most severely. There are going to be things I do that they don't like, but if you go along with them then you're just as guilty."
"If you saw me at my worst, like they've seen me, you wouldn't want to know me, anymore."
He swatted her leg in outrage, "Don't you ever say that again. I have loved you from your first breath. My heart beats for you always, and when you hurt it breaks for you. I can't protect you from everything, but I will be there with open arms through anything."
"I don't think it'll ever stop hurting."
"Let me tell you something, angel. Life is a terribly cruel thing, and nothing you learn on this earth will change that. We can't prevent pain. Sometimes, we can only cope."
"I can't ignore the emptiness I feel when I'm not with my friends; I need them." She sniffed back more tears, gathering her courage, "Please don't make me choose."
He walked to the place setting at the head of the table and sat down, situating her in his lap and pulling her away from his body. Her eyes threw him into the chaos of a hospital room, holding hands by candle light because the ailing woman's migraines would withstand nothing else. He moved tresses of chestnut brown away from the sticky sweat of her forehead, comforting her.
"I need you to listen very carefully, can you do that?" She nodded against the hand now resting on her cheek, taking in the moisture behind Pegasus's good eye, wincing as he own tears became real again. "If you listen to me, life will be a thousand times better than you've ever imagined. Your brothers will never leave you again, not for summer holidays, college, not even for a moment. We'll mourn the loss together, and I will read you stories, and sing you songs, and build you sandcastles on the beach until you've forgotten the edge of that pain for a while, and you can fall asleep at night. In the mornings, Mama can chase it away with piano music until laughter fills your head and your brothers tell you they're as happy as they've ever been, and you don't forget the hurt but you remember how to find joy in it. You can defy this and the pain will creep up on you again until it consumes you, or you can come back into my arms and stay." He nuzzled her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "All or nothing."
"Will it ever be normal again?" She did not just mean life without her biological brother, who Pegasus had adopted into the family as some dearly departed figment of his own.
"Probably not baby." He replied sadly, "But I'll promise you one thing – and I never break a promise. You will smile again." He stabbed a fork down into poached egg and brought it to her lips.
She did not accept it, but didn't turn away either. A tiny piece of her knew the game he was playing, and wanted to fight back. But the struggle had already been so long, and so lonely, and she needed to believe that something could make her truly happy again.
"Come on now, bright eyes." Her heart leapt into her throat, no one called her that except…
Memories of her brother came back in a haze, the first day of school, family vacations, birthdays. Even if Pegasus changed the scenery a little, wouldn't Leo still be Leo? Somewhere inside of her, she hoped so.
Her lips closed around the food, before she could register what had happened, her body finished the morsel and left her stomach churning for more. "That's my girl." His patience had to mean he truly loved her. "I'm so proud of you."
Another bite from her father's fork, chew, swallow. She relented to falsehood and fortune over probity and poverty.
She loved her friends, and she loved Pegasus Crawford too, it didn't matter where or how they were together, as long as she didn't have to miss the people she loved anymore. Soon the plate was empty and her room was in view, and the weight in her stomach tried to swallow her whole. Pegasus left her and took Yugi into his arms, and she knew that something in him had stirred.
From the doorway, she watched the two disappear and wondered if she knew what real love was, anymore. The guard pushed her back far enough to close the door, but she saw their figures in the hall long after they had gone. Her fears had to be wrong, the nagging pull of anxiety couldn't mean the man would hurt Yugi; surely he would feed him, as he had fed her.
She collapsed onto the bed and surrendered, knowing she had taken sides even if Pegasus didn't see it that way. In the moment, she had trusted his judgment over her friends', and all she could do was pray it had been the right choice.
I'm out on the edge and I'm screaming my name, like a fool, at the top of my lungs.
It was nearing nightfall in Egypt and the heat had begun to lift. In the veil of fading sunlight, two men approached a landing helicopter, arms shielding their eyes and nose from the gusts of sand as it touched down. Inside, a single graying employee disengaged his seatbelt, grabbed a briefcase from the unoccupied passenger's seat, and leapt gracelessly into the dirt.
"How the hell you gonna get back up?" The younger researcher questioned, nudging his partner as if to reiterate.
The pilot extended the plunder to his acquaintance silently. At his beckoning, it was Dr. Langley that stepped forward to take it, "You must be Sato." He observed, trying to wipe the shock from his face as he struggled with the weight of the object.
"Bullet proof, boss's orders." The other replied, nodding toward the package with a level of sympathy, "I trust you've found the family?"
"Tell me this." Langley cut in, holding up a hand to quiet his eager young partner, "Are you Ushio Sato?"
The brunet inclined his head forward, "Who else?" He asked edgily.
"Do you know who you're working for?" The twenty year man admonished. For a moment, the other's expression soured.
"Look." He spoke after a moment's pause, "He's getting impatient. If you've found someone willing, you'd be better off going straight there."
"At this time of night?" The question, from the younger archaeologist Hito, was aimed at his companion. "Don't think the locals will go for that."
The elder waved dismissively at him, catching the stares of villagers who had come to marvel at the spectacle of a luxury helicopter in a third world market, "We'll take it from here." His eyes locked on the man who would soon be off to face his employer, and the elaborate crime racket they had all been swept up in. In the next instant, he turned his back and started off in the opposite direction.
Hito sputtered for a moment before turning around and scrambling after him, "Where are we going?" He hissed, not bothering to glance back at the pilot.
Langley lowered his voice, absorbing the gazes of onlookers, both curious and hardened, "I told you I met with a family yesterday morning." He reminded the younger, "He arranged a late meeting for the offering."
"Seems odd for the people around here," the younger mused aloud, accustomed to most men and women locking their doors at dusk, "Think he's hiding it from the wife?"
Addison felt his stomach clench, and swallowed the bile that rose in his throat, "Shut up." He mumbled, pressing onward, "When we get there, let me do the talking." The younger shot him a puzzled look before reluctantly agreeing.
The home they were looking for was set back in a corner of the city's outskirts, modest mud brick nestled between a small fruits and vegetables stand, probably owned by the family, and a stone house of someone in business hierarchy. Ignoring a leering guard from the neighboring home, Langley approached the door and knocked twice.
The man that answered was a head shorter than him, around 5'9, with thick, dark hair he had combed back to mask sweat and dust, "Come in." He offered, stepping aside. Both foreigners removed their shoes, set them on the stone stoop, and gladly took leave of the heat.
The home was not much cooler, but in the living room a small make-shift fan provided much needed air flow. All three men assembled around a small coffee table, sitting cross legged on the floor. The Egyptian shifted uncomfortably as Addison hefted the briefcase into the center.
"My apologies," he said before folding his hands, "shall we join you in prayer first?" The head of house blinked at him before smiling widely and nodding in acceptance. For a moment, the three men and two boys, who were standing in the doorway to the tiny adjoined kitchen, bowed their heads to begin.
When they had finished, Addison opened the briefcase to reveal the sacred item and coins, "Would you like to count it?"
For a moment the recipient looked offended, "No, no." He hurriedly declined, "It is of little concern to me." Addison did his best to smile, knowing that the real honor was in the offering to a higher deity. "Come to me Naeem." He ordered, and at once the eldest son entered the room, bowing slightly to the two men. The father looped an arm around him proudly, "This is my eldest son, I offer my blessing unto you. Please use him for this deed."
The younger man sent Langley a sideways glance, doing his best to keep an unreadable expression, causing the elder to elbow him behind the table. "I'm sorry sir, but the boy has to…"
Both son and father understood that death must be unassisted, and the man turned to address his younger son, "Omari, bring me the bowl from the kitchen." He instructed, the curious young boy did so, shying away behind his father as he approached the room with strange men.
"What is this father?" He whispered, moving to stick his finger into the dark liquid.
The father slapped his hand away sternly, "Never mind it." He said, pointing a finger back the hallway, "Go into your room and wait for me there." The child regarded him for a moment, hurt flashing in his eyes, but he knew better than to disobey, and hurried off back the hall.
The rest of the exchange went smoothly, and for that Addison was grateful. While the eldest child, who could not be a day older than sixteen, lifted the bowl to his lips to gulp down the syrup, he hoped that the younger was oblivious to their wrongdoing. Even now, he didn't think he could live with himself for being an accomplice to the end of such a young life.
Part of him blamed the willingness of the family to see him sacrificed, but he knew better than to project western culture where it did not belong, and narrowed his eyes to the table as the boy fell into sleep.
From then on, the night passed in agonizing slowness. Long after the body had stopped twitching, the man held his soon and spoke softly to him, telling him that he had done a brave thing. And when the heart and breathing had stopped, he released him. For hours they awaited a spiritual awakening, all three wondering if their audience was hindering the transfer.
At last, the father spoke, "You know of the legend?"
Addison nodded, "Very well." He replied, "I think it's best if we take him with us." He continued, taking the money from the briefcase and stacking it on the table. From within, the millennium ring glowed briefly, but the boy's body remained motionless and the item itself was dormant.
The man eyed them curiously before pulling a roll of cloth from under the table and unfolding it, "You must take him in this." He told them, shifting his son's body onto the cloth and wrapping each side of white fabric around him, covering his peaceful face.
At least he didn't suffer. Hito thought as Addison took the briefcase and he scooped up the child, wincing at the chill of his body, "Thank you." He offered as the father turned to face his younger son. The boy had crept out of bed in fear, unused to strangers filling his home in the dark.
"Papa."
"Go into your bed my child." The man ordered, "If you behave, I'll send your mother into your room when she returns. She can lay with you until the sun rises." The little one obeyed, and the commander of the home turned to bid his guests farewell, "Will you return?" He asked.
"No." Addison replied.
He nodded in understanding and extended his hand to them a final time, "Many blessings to you."
Returning the pleasantry, they two men headed off to a waiting jeep. An ancient dig site they had been exploring would be the home of the child's body until the spirit made off with it. The ring would go back to Pegasus, never to grace Egypt again. In truth, they expected the ordeal to be over by now, and could only pray they had not made a mistake. The night was still young when they navigated the empty streets to the smaller, neighboring village an hour away, and with nothing to do but wait, they steadied their feet, greeted the others with a nod, and hunkered down to hope for safety in darkness.
Even looking back over Pegasus's shoulder, he could tell where the man was taking him. The path became familiar and the corridor led to a vase of dried flowers, and he began to ask anyone listening for help. He did not want to sit in that chair as it plunged him into the sea, he was supposed to be on his way out of here, sitting in the game shop with grandpa, drinking soda and joking that in a few years it would be beer.
He closed his eyes, and as he tried to ignore the way Pegasus began rubbing his back in comfort, he felt the swift descent into blackness. His eyes snapped open and his breath caught tight in his chest, "What are you doing?" He accused, choking on inhale as he took in the purple haze of his surroundings, "This can't be the…"
"Oh but it is, Yugi-boy." Pegasus replied, setting the child on his feet. He turned in every direction, heart palpitating in his chest as he scanned the wall-less expanse for an exit, "The shadow realm."
"No." He moaned, spinning wildly, "Don't do this." He begged, tears in his voice, "You can't do this, I can't do this again." He charged the dark aura that had become a barricade to the outside world, but as he neared the edge of misery's tomb, it expanded, running far and fast from his outstretched fingers. "Please god." He fell to his knees, helpless and weak, "I didn't mean it."
"Shh." Pegasus was crooning behind him, but he couldn't think of that, he needed to focus on anything but the man's face or voice.
"Spirit…" he called weakly, hoarse from shock and pain as his mind succumbed to the pressures of the evil dimension. "Where are you?" His heart filled with hope for a moment as the face of the elder flitted into his mind. He remembered the strength seeping into his bones during their duel with Pegasus, an older, experienced mind relieving his own intermittently, "Please come back to me. If you can hear me, if you're out there…come back to me."
He strained hard, squeezing every muscle in his body to stop the temporary rush of adrenaline and endurance from leaking out, and he heard it, loud and clear, Yugi!
He lifted his head from crying, pushing himself up onto his knees and then his feet, "Spirit!" He exclaimed, searching for the entity's face. The being spoke again, filling his weary soul with the glorious flame of hope, stay strong and listen closely, Yugi, Pegasus has locked me away somewhere; parts of my soul are missing from me. Yugi envisioned a black floating mass, white holes of nothingness scattered across it like land mines, "Where?" He pleaded frantically, "Tell me where."
Pegasus wrapped both arms around him, and at their intrusion, the presence of the spirit spilled from his being out into the stretching, tangible infinity, "Get off me!" He screamed, twisting violently in his hold, thinking that if he could just get away he would be safe.
"Shh." Pegasus insisted, cradling his flailing body like a fussing infant, "I'm so sorry baby, I know it hurts." There was pain in the man's voice Yugi had never heard before, and for a moment, all his anger was gone.
"Help me." He begged.
Pegasus's shoulders shook as the cry escaped his lips, "Oh honey." He choked, "I wish I could." Strong arms pulled him closer and rocked him against the red clad chest. The first tear from his good eye fell onto Yugi's cheek, a cold reminder that this was reality.
He wasn't sure why, he was the one slowly suffocating, but he felt such profound compassion for Pegasus that he let the words come, "Are you hurting somewhere?"
The man sniffed, kissing him tenderly. "You're my baby boy, when you hurt; my whole heart hurts for you."
With the last of his strength, Yugi reached a hand up to touch the tears crawling down the man's sun kissed skin, remembering the exact words coming from his grandfather when he had been eight and broken his arm in a fall. "Have I really been that bad?"
"Yugi.."
"Can you never forgive me?" He pressed.
Pegasus's eye glowed strong and bright against the dim, sinister room, and he continued to rock the boy. All at once Yugi could feel himself engulfed in a white, soothing light, and Pegasus was humming, "I forgive everything, baby boy. You'll be just fine in the morning." The outline of a woman teased him in the distance, and her soft voice mingled with the familiar until he thought he had heard it before.
She stroked his hair and soothed the aches of his body as she ran her hands over his shoulders, his chest, and his arms. Go to sleep sweetheart. She instructed gently, and for a moment he thought he felt the presence of the spirit again.
Protect him. He said.
And the woman answered, of course I will, this child will be safe until you're reunited. I'm so glad you decided to keep fighting.
"Am I dying?" He asked.
Pegasus, still swallowing tears, shook his head, "Just think of it as an operation, once the medicine wears off, you'll be awake, good as new. Let it happen baby, I'll be right here beside you 'til morning."
He strained to hear his Yami or the mysterious woman, but the only sound was Pegasus's crying, and his heart filled with guilt as the white haze grew brighter, warmer. "I love you." He said, because he couldn't stand to hear the man cry. In spite of everything that had happened, he didn't have the heart to hurt him.
The millennium eye lit up a final time, and the light took him in, deeper and deeper, until the entire world was gone.
Pegasus waited until the child's body was limp in his hold, breaths no longer quick or convulsive with exertion. Lingering in a sleepy state of unconsciousness, Yugi was motionless and at peace. He probed the child's mind as he brought them back to the castle, and found no more fear or pain. All that was left was blackness.
He walked many halls to the hospital wing, which his feet knew instinctively. All the time he had spent there with Cecelia had ingrained the path in his mind. In the large, white room, a team of doctor sat on stools beside each of seven beds, four on the right, three on the left.
"Give us a minute." He ordered, and the men and women dispersed.
He pulled back the covers and nestled the child there, tucking them tightly around him. Goosebumps prickled on the small hand he held above the blanket. Soon, he knew, the child would dream again. Shortly after the dreams, he would stir, and tremble, and wake. He could only hope the shadow realm had successfully wiped the boy's memories, so that they could finally start over new.
His lips pressed their warmth to the little forehead, and he looked around at the piles of equipment surrounding each bed. Feeding tubes, IV fluids, heart and breathing monitors, everything down to sterile patches lay in wait for the doctors.
He never intended to have to hurt his children so severely. He never wanted to rob them of their original childhood to create a new one, if they hadn't been so stubborn…. He felt tears behind his eyes again and did his best to steel himself. What had to happen had happened, when the children next awoke he could mold their every forgotten memory. At last, they would truly be his.
In the event they were strong enough to retain their identity, he planned to have the millennium ring in his possession. If the strain of the shadow realm would not purge their original families from their minds, the item's ability, he distantly remembered, pressing a hand to his forehead as a confrontation with Bakura crossed his mind, would.
He rose, looking to Yugi one more time as he called the doctors to begin their work of making him well again, "Forgive me."
Sometimes when I close my eyes I pretend I'm alright.
But it's never enough.
Author's Note: I was originally going to leave the ending of chapter ten up to individual perception, but I realize now that clarity is necessary. Pegasus has always been at war with himself, battling impulses of doing whatever it takes to get what he wants, and knowing that there are some lines one should never cross. He rarely resorts to physical violence in this story, and has only done so when provoked by anger so far. Even in these instances we often see him pull his punches, and the end of chapter ten was no different. My point being, Pegasus did *not* hit the boys with the belt at the end of the scene. He was establishing authority the way an authority figure does, by asserting himself. Actually hitting them would have done nothing but reiterate that he can inflict pain. Pain for the sake of punishment is irrelevant to his cause. Reinforcing Mokuba's assessment that the group doesn't have the means to fight against him is a different story. He does not need to physically break them, it is much more effective to mentally and emotionally condition them to the fact that he can. Though in an obviously disturbed way, he was doing something every parent does as an authority figure, enforcing rules, re-establishing control. For the same reason he did not essentially kill Solomon, he did not beat Tristan and Ryou. There is a ton of foreshadowing in chapter 10 for the mindset and events of this chapter, if you are confused and want or need to discuss them, I am more than willing to do so via private message. Thank you for reading, I'm sorry to have rambled.
The words in italics between page breaks are lyrics to "Echo" by Jason Walker. (I claim no rights to the song.)
