AN: I'm sorry if this is moving too slowly for everyone but I am planning for this to be a decent length fic, it will heat up soon enough in the romance department, but it does also have other aspects from romance so give me some leeway here. The puzzleshipping, although it most certainly does begin in this chapter, won't really kick off for about two chapters (they need that time to realise the reason they can't get each other out of their heads is because of blossoming love –slylaugh-). So please be patient, now that they've met it shouldn't take too long. Although the lust is going to come before the love if you know what I mean.

Firefly In Ice

Chapter Five

"Please be here, please be here, please be here. Atemu?… Ouch! Ah shit, who the fuck put that there! Atemu!"

"You're so accident prone it's untrue."

"Atemu. Thank the Realms, I thought I might have missed you."

"You have kept me waiting quite some time."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I got caught up in something and completely forgot the time. Sorry."

"You forgot about me?"

"No! Never! How could – Please don't –"

"Yuugi shush, calm yourself. I'm just teasing."

"Oh… well then in that case…"

"Hey. Where are you going? Yuugi wait, hey! I'm sorry I didn't mean to – huh? Wha – mumfh – hmmm."

"Heh. Don't you just love revenge?"

"You little – ack ahh – I'm royalty you can't – yeah just there, just – molest me like this – ahh!"

"I'm just teasing Atemu, calm yourself. Lower?"

"Yes, yes. No wait – hmmm – I'm going to – to the left – have you punished – ack – for this – ahh."

"Then punish me please. Then maybe I'll give you a treat, if you're a good boy hmm?"

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The prince was an oddity. Or at least, he wasn't what Yuugi had expected. The word 'prince' had Yuugi's mind conjuring up images of a tall, kind, handsome stranger on a white stallion with a long cloak and a sword at his hip.

The elfin prince wasn't any of that. Well actually, no, Yuugi corrected himself, he was handsome, oh yes very handsome, but none of the rest. A confident arrogance poured off him in waves, he believed he could do anything probably, so there was very little kindness in those deep red eyes, his poise was as if he expected the world to worship him and he seemed vaguely disgusted with Yuugi's presence. He wasn't tall either, only average, perhaps a little below that as well, still he was taller then Yuugi but that wasn't hard. There was no stallion and the only thing at his hip was a leather bag and a mean little glowing dagger. Yuugi was severely disappointed with the lack of cloak, instead the prince and his entourage seemed to prefer garments of stinking animal fur.

What an obscure race the elves were.

And humans? What the fuck were humans?! Just when he thought he had the current dominant species worked out they throw in another one! Well apparently he looked 'human' now and thus that was what they thought he was, he'd have to go along with that. Perhaps it was a good thing they didn't think he was an elf; he didn't think he'd ever be able to fit in with these people. Elfin magic was certainly interesting though. They could summon ice out of air! Well Yuugi had seen the prince do it so he supposed they could all do it. So they could manipulate an element too… opposite to his own, that much he remembered. Ice, water and fire did not get along well together. Perhaps then, if they could summon ice, he could summon fire out of air? It was an interesting idea.

But now was not the time to try it.

The prince was powerful and he was surrounded by soldier elves, if they found out what he was they could easily lock him back up while in this state. Yuugi glanced for a moment at his bare feet as he walked out of the cell, he was certainly different looking now, the shackles were still around his wrists and ankles like bracelets, the one that had been around his tail had fallen off obviously, the few chain links still connected to the cuffs clinked as he moved but other then that he was free. For a moment though he was worried, he was a lot weaker in this state, a lot more awkward and less flexible, he longed for the familiar weight of his wings on his shoulders and the powerful click of his claws on the floor as he walked. He worried if he would ever be able to take on the demon shape again. Yuugi didn't have a clue how this had happened, he had even less of a clue on how to reverse it.

He shivered. This place was freezing; he hadn't felt it as much before but now…

"He is no human. He is a beast, my Prince, a demon!"

Yuugi bit his lip in aggravation, if Era wasn't careful she'd blow his cover. He'd admit it was humorous the way she skirted him in fear but saying he'd kill them all was a bit much, he'd had more than his fill for the moment and he wasn't injured as much as before so he didn't need to kill any more people. He didn't want to. He barely stopped himself from growling and saying 'I thought we'd had this conversation before, I'm not a beast!'

The only part of the prince's retort he caught was, "Demons are extinct."

It felt as if his heart stopped for a moment. Demons were extinct? His entire race was dead? But that couldn't be, he was stood right here as living proof! But… then again… he didn't know how long he had been trapped in that hell, he had no memory of what had happened before and no knowledge of what had happened during his imprisonment. For all he knew the prince was right. He could very likely be the last of his kind. Now truly homeless and completely alone. The words being spoken above him were like an annoying buzz in his ear, his surroundings suddenly seemed far less real. If what the prince said was true then what was there left to fight for? What was there left for him here? Had he escaped hell only to be greeted by an even colder reality? Grief threatened to overwhelm him but he pushed it brutally away, there would be time to mourn later, he was still fighting for his life.

He was brought back to reality when the prince turned to him; he felt a strange stirring at the sight of those eyes, as if they should be familiar to him. "Well child? Are you a demon?"

Well he wasn't a child to begin with. He was probably older then all the elves in this room put together. But he wasn't going to say that if they were going to get him out into the open air again, he pitched his voice again into a sweet, almost feminine, whisper "No, Sir, I have never seen a demon before in my life. I don't really know what they are. Perhaps if they are extinct," he ignored the stab of pain, "as you say then maybe she hit her head in the fight and mistook a goblin for one."

Despite all of his arrogance and rouge-like charm the prince was ridiculously easy to manipulate if you knew which angle to work from, he just had to bat his large eyes and the elf was putty in his claws, he could tell by the slight red that graced the prince's cheeks. Yuugi bit his lip again in what was becoming nervous habit; there it was again, that feeling of familiarity! He had known before he even did it that batting his eyelashes would get that reaction from the prince. But they'd never met before, he knew that too.

Another question he had no answer to. This was becoming tiresome.

He gasped slightly when he felt a strong hand take hold of his arm and tug him sharply forwards. Yuugi blinked up at the prince as he was dragged to the front of the room, wondering why this commandingly aloof elf was sinking so low as to touch him. Not that he thought of himself as so low, he had just assumed that was what the prince thought of him.

The prince gave him an irritated sidelong glance, "Pay attention!"

Then Yuugi noticed the heavy tension in the room, so thick it could be tangible, and the way they were all staring at the prince as if waiting for orders. He was glad they weren't staring at him; he had found he hated being the centre of attention. Though he noticed Era giving him the occasional angered glance, as if to say that she wouldn't rest until she'd proven that he was some kind of monster.

"Malik, you will have to go first. The rest of you follow in rows of two, do not break rank unless you have to, do not let anything slow you down, and do not put everyone else in danger because you where the one to make a mistake and reveal us." The prince spoke fast, his words clipped sharply.

"Yes, Sir." Spoke an elf with wild sandy hair Yuugi assumed to be Malik, an assumption that was proved correct as the blond stepped closer to the door, eased it open and slipped out without a second glance.

Swiftly the remaining elves, which had already organised themselves, followed him in a line. The prince turned to Yuugi and whispered harshly, "Stay in sight! We will not return to collect any unfortunate stragglers."

Yuugi nodded, feeling an excited anticipation bubbling up from what he knew should have been fear. For some reason he wasn't scared. He knew that, somehow, an age ago, he had faced worse. Much worse. And this handsome prince with his little toy army, the apparent fearsome presence of the goblins breathing like shadows down the backs of their necks, and whatever reason it was they where at war, meant nothing to him. Like a passing phase. He wasn't apart of this, and because of that they couldn't truly touch him. Maybe he was being arrogant, overconfident, but that was just what he felt like, a passer by of this silly little scuffle between races. This was more interesting then frightening.

The prince forcefully steered him out of the prison room, making Yuugi realise he had zoned out again. The cold was affecting his body, making it shiver and his attention span wander. He rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm up and watched the other close and lock the prison door behind them silently and swiftly, using a large key left hanging on a rusted hook by the door. Before rushing after the line of elves disappearing up a narrow flight of stairs well hidden in the shadowy corner. Yuugi hastened to follow, just because he didn't feel like he was in any particular danger didn't mean he fancied getting lost underground while in this weakened body.

He glanced back just as he was about to take the first cold stone step, in the flickering light of flaming torches he could see the shadows of goblin's about to turn the corner into their corridor. Yuugi felt a thrill of excitement as he dashed up the stairs just as the first goblin came into view. Another second or two and they all would have been captured.

This whole thing was turning out to be kind of fun.

He managed to catch up with the prince at the top of the long set of winding stairs, the elves where even faster then he thought. Finding himself entering an equally narrow walkway that was partially open on his right side. The rock there came up to his elbow, thin pillars of stone held up the top, like tiny replicas of cathedral windows. The floor undulated slightly and gave off the stale air feeling that it was rarely used.

Yuugi glanced out of the arches to find them at the very top of the coliseum, the stands stretched out below them for what felt like miles, the oval of sand that was the battle arena suddenly looked much smaller and less significant then it was.

Yuugi shivered slightly, looking away. He didn't want to think about that place.

He followed the long line of elves for what felt like hours, occasionally looking behind him to see if there was anyone behind. He wondered what was taking so long for the goblins to realise they were gone. They had passed over and through a thick wall of rock, their pathway seeming to be one of the two ways through besides the large main doors on the ground floor, below them now was a strange assortment of buildings and shacks. This space was even larger and more open then the coliseum had been and Yuugi realised that the dirty buildings made of wood, stone and a strange hardened black substance was the goblin city. It was a sprawling mass of confusing streets and oddly shaped houses and official buildings thick with the swarming masses of goblins living their everyday lives.

It was strange to see this side of the battle. The goblins that weren't directly involved and still the ones that were just living their obscurely structured lives in amongst their community that had nothing to do with war. Yuugi tilted his head, noticing that the dots that were the goblins in the far below city were moving in a relatively calm and random manor, which could only mean that their vanishing act had still been undetected.

But how? The goblins had just been about to enter their prison room, he had been sure of it. Yuugi turned his gaze to the back of the prince's head, had the elf done something to ensure their escape without him noticing? It seemed impossible but…

No sooner had this thought crossed his mind then an ear-splitting noise sounded from the top of a rather shaky looking tower in the far distance of the goblin city. It sounded much like when a gong is hit, only it went on for much longer then it should. Yuugi could only stand there with his teeth clenched and his hands over his ears as he tried to block out the terrible sound. And only when someone grabbed his arm and threw him forward did he realise this meant their escape attempt had been discovered.

Yuugi stumbled and broke into a run when the prince let go of him, following the other elves with the prince behind him as they dashed the rest of the length of the pathway and began to descend into a sharply spiralling stone staircase just as narrow as the one they walked up. Yuugi paused for a moment wondering how he was going to be able to run down there without slipping and tripping everyone up but knowing there was no other way short of being locked back up he took the first step just as the gong faded and the sound of loud goblin voices and the clattering of metal as the soldiers prepared themselves for battle floated harshly upwards from the city.

Yuugi reached the bottom of the staircase with grazed skin and bruises all over him, his bare feet beginning to bleed painfully. It had been pitch black in there but the elfin prince behind him had kept him moving, Yuugi wondered why the prince seemed to be so hell bent on protecting him when only minutes ago he was warning him to keep up or get lost.

Perhaps he was more then Yuugi had first given him credit for. He seemed cold, and his words were like ice shards, but his actions seemed to disprove that. A part of him seemed to know the elf was warmer then that.

The elves gathered in a small group at the bottom of the stairs, seeming lost. Yuugi glanced around and noticed a set of humungous wood doors set into the stone, opened a crack and showing the city behind it. The huge space beyond was in such direct contrast to the low, narrow passageways he had been in that Yuugi wondered if the great caverns had truly been natural and the goblins had only tunnelled into the mountain to reach them but nothing more.

"What are you all doing!" The prince was angry again, "Keep moving! Where is Malik!"

At once the blond general was stood by the prince's side and spoke before his commander could say anything more, "Your Highness you must go first. You will be in too much danger at the back now they are actively searching for us," there was a pause during which the prince seemed highly likely to say something scathing but Malik said first: "And you are the only one that can lead us out of here with any speed, we cannot evoke the tracking spell as assuredly as yourself."

Yuugi blinked as he witnessed their exchange, now if he wasn't very much mistaken (and he didn't think he was), he would say that Malik had just performed an act of appeasement. The prince was clearly going to reject the commander's idea of leading the group but had stopped when Malik began talking about his skill. Yuugi watched the look of smug victory as it momentarily flickered over the prince's face. Surely not…

He raised and eyebrow as the prince gave an assenting nod, his shoulders stiff as he walked towards the front of the group.

"You have got to be kidding me." Yuugi whispered under his breath, muttering to himself, "Talk about ego."

A sharp exhale of breath made him look back up at Malik, and he could have sworn that the elf had just stifled a laugh. But he was given no more time to contemplate this because the prince had noticed Yuugi hadn't moved, leaned back through the crowd, and yanked him by the arm again up to the front.

"I thought I told you to stay close." He hissed, red eyes narrowed in annoyance.

Yuugi couldn't help the cheeky retort that escaped him, "You said stay in sight, I wasn't aware that was elfish for 'stick to me like glue'."

Yuugi saw the sudden pale red that flushed into the prince's cheeks and almost had the chance to enjoy the embarrassment caused by his accidental slip out of character but the moment was stopped short when the great doors to their right began to creak open, scraping heavily against the damp floor.

The prince was suddenly running, pulling Yuugi along with him by the collar of his tunic at a pace he thought he would never be able to hold in this human body. Good god these elves were fast. Yuugi glanced back as they ran glimpsing the last of their group, Malik and a young woman, fending off the goblins that had swarmed out of the partially open doors with screeches that alerted the others to their find.

Yuugi found himself hoping they would get out alive. Perhaps they were all in a lot more danger then he had first thought. After all, it was this tiny party of battle worn elves against an entire rested goblin army in their own territory. Yuugi didn't want to even think about calculating the odds of victory.

Through tunnel after narrow tunnel Yuugi and the rest of the party followed the prince, they didn't stop for breath, didn't even pause when they came to forks in the path. Perhaps Malik had been right about asking the prince to lead, he certainly seemed to know where they were going. And constantly the screeches of the goblins shadowed them, coming from behind them, around them. For the first time Yuugi felt a little frightened, he really didn't want to go back to captivity and the quality of which the goblin's voices seemed to echo and surround them reminded him so forcefully of the Shadows as they tried to drag him back to Hell that the resulting adrenaline made it easy to keep up with the elves pace, whereas before the prince had to keep pulling and dragging him forward to keep him moving.

They turned a final twist in their steadily inclining path and the sight that met Yuugi made him almost cry in relief. The exit was just ahead of them. A small open doorway to freedom. He could see the pale light of the moon lighting the ground outside with a silvery opalescent sheen, a glimpse of the night sky thick with stars, he could smell the frigidly fresh air and feel it on his skin.

Distantly Yuugi wondered if it was possible for this human body to survive in such cold for very long. He didn't want to escape only to find himself in an even worse position. Yet he still didn't have a clue as to how he became what he currently was. What if he couldn't reverse it?

Determinedly pushing those thoughts away Yuugi pushed his body the final stretch and burst out into freedom just behind the prince.

Only to run headlong into a hoard of goblins.

"Shit!" The prince almost back peddled straight into the group behind him as the elves almost pilled into each other due to the sudden halt of the ones in front. Had this been a slightly less life threatening situation Yuugi would have laughed, the sight was quite comical, but right now he was content to hide behind the prince and pretend he wasn't here. He wasn't sure what the goblins would do if they saw him. After all he had just slaughtered a coliseum full of mostly their people, not to mention what he had done to their army before that, granted he wasn't entirely in control on either counts but they weren't to know that. The probability was that they wouldn't notice him, or if they did then they wouldn't recognise him. He doubted any of the goblins that managed to get a close look at him (other then the king) were skill alive to tell the tale.

"They were waiting for us!" a young woman to Yuugi's left shouted above the goblin's noise, she sounded anything but calm.

"There aren't that many," Yuugi looked up at the new voice, a male wearing the same outfit as Malik, the prince and another woman that had come with them appeared at their side, "They knew we were making our way to one of the exits but they don't look entirely prepared to see us here."

Yuugi looked again at the goblin hoard, they did, in fact, look rather unprepared, about thirty of them clustered around the path. The goblins must have expected them to use a different path, either that or they were taking longer to mobilise then Yuugi expected.

"If we move fast enough we should be able to fight our way through before reinforcements come." The prince spoke, he turned to Malik who was holding a blood-encrusted sword out to him, and raised an eyebrow.

Malik gave a feral grin, "Stole them from the ones coming out of the city, there should be enough for most of us."

The prince nodded, noticing that the goblins had fanned out during their pause, probably believing they had the elves trapped they had surrounded the entrance in a semi-circle to try and keep them in until reinforcements came, thirty goblins against twenty exhausted elves may sound like a comfortable advantage but if the goblins had learnt one thing during the war it was that you never judged them by their appearances. Elves were viciously skilled fighters.

The prince turned to Yuugi, who was still hiding behind him and not having to entirely fake the terrified meek little boy expression, and said in a surprisingly warm voice, "Stay behind us, make sure the goblins don't see you, they will glimpse their chance through you and not hesitate to use it."

Yuugi wasn't entirely sure what that meant but nodded anyway, far too happy with such a good excuse to hide. And no sooner had the prince looked away and given a silent signal to the others to charge forward then Yuugi found himself in the middle of what currently felt like a cataclysmic battle.

The fight he was unprepared for, but he could handle, as the elves rushed passed him to aid the prince and Malik, it was the sudden pain shooting up from his chest that immobilised him.

Yuugi gasped, clutching the linen above his pounding heart, what the hell was this? It felt like… it felt like anger. Hate. Revenge. Wrath.

But it wasn't coming from him.

He gasped again at the sharp shooting pain that burned from his chest all the way up to his ears and a pounding began behind his eyes. His hands flew up to his ears as his hearing and sight blurred, finding them long and pointed again. An agonising pulling and shifting had started in his hands and he pulled them back to look, yelping at what he saw, his nails were sharpening and thickening, looking as if he hadn't cut them in months, a mid-way point between human hands and demonic claws.

He was changing again.

But… how?

The sharp smell of fresh blood hit his nose. His stomach rumbled in a way that made him feel sick with himself. Was the blood changing him? Was it hunger that drove him to change?

And then he remembered the red-hot emotions that were still flowing over him from… the others. The goblins and elves. These feelings, this hate, this desire for revenge, twisting together to form a feeling of wrath deeper and more dangerous then he could ever remember experiencing were being absorbed by him. Unknowingly his body was absorbing these emotions like air.

Yuugi realised then that it wasn't the blood that was affecting him. It was the aggression that was causing his change. The anger and wrath that was pouring off the two sides in waves was affecting him and causing that snake inside his body to respond. And when he… when he first changed he hadn't been feeling any of that, he'd been feeling regret and sadness, wishing for a change in his mind. Was that how it worked?

Another shooting pain burned its way through his legs, he felt a sudden weakness in his knees and collapsed against the stone behind him. He hadn't moved since the prince had vanished and he knew, with a certainty that scared him, that he had to get out of here before something even worse happened then a fight with goblins. If he lost it here…

Then the elfin kingdom would be short one heir to the throne.

He glanced to his left, searching desperately for an escape, and his heart leapt at the sight of a small gap between two mounds of rock, like tiny hills on a huge mountain, beyond them there was a dark twisting path that curled around the mountain's summit (they were so close to the top already).

Taking in a large breath of air and bracing himself, Yuugi ran towards it. Vanishing down the path and thanking whoever would listen that no one was blocking his way and that they were all too preoccupied with fighting.

In the far distance Yuugi managed to catch the prince's voice, "The boy! Where is the boy?!"

He cringed guiltily but there was really nothing he could do, he had to get out of here. Yuugi gasped and collapsed against the rock, the mounting agony ripping through him as he finally surrendered to the transformation. His skin seemed to stretch and split where his wings and tail broke through, bone and muscle growing like abnormalities as they formed the extra three limbs. Shifting as his body structure changed. The pain was otherworldly and Yuugi bit his lip, puncturing the skin with his new fangs, and let loose a muffled scream as something red hot and molten bubbled up inside and spread through his veins like heated poison until with a sudden gasp it was over. The pain faded to only a shadow, leaving him exhausted and panting, curled in on himself on the ground and wondering what on earth he had done to deserve such punishment.

Gritting his teeth Yuugi pulled himself to his feet with the help of the rock and shook himself as the last of the pain faded away and he was left to reacquaint himself with his natural body. Yuugi stretched, feeling more powerful muscles tightening and relaxing pleasantly, and glanced around him, the night was clearer to him now his eyesight had sharpened and the landscape looked suddenly beautiful and alive. The urge to finally experience it properly overcame his desire to see what was happening back up the path.

But just as he took his first step towards freedom a glint caught his eye and he stopped just in time for a short black arrow to shoot within a hair's width of his head and embed itself, wobbling slightly, in the rock beside him. Yuugi span round, a collection of six goblins were stood just a little behind him, armed with bows and aiming their arrows directly at him.

Apparently he hadn't been entirely undetected in vanishing.

"Wonderful," he muttered, turned tail, and ran in the opposite direction. He didn't want to fight them now. They took chase, following him as he followed the curve of the path until the side to their right vanished, a sharp drop to the valley bellow, they were running along a narrow ridge that seemed to be taking them in a wide circle around the mountain peak, at this rate they would find themselves back where they started. In the middle of a battle.

Yuugi realised just how far they had come when the ridge widened out, and suddenly ended at a small plateau. A steady incline to the left, a strange long mound-like formation, was the only thing separating them from the fight on the other side. It was that proximity that immobilised Yuugi, the scent of fresh blood bombarding his senses like a tidal wave made his vision swim and his stomach contract. That snide little voice telling him that all he really wanted to do was let go.

Another arrow fell just far of his foot and in his half-coherent state didn't notice it until he had tripped on it. Yuugi fell to his hands and knees, digging his claws into the floor to try and resist the temptation of the beating hearts, fighting to remember that they were filled with life and not just convenient supplies of food. He snarled, damming those instincts to Hell and back, he had thought he had them under control!

Footsteps alerted him to the reality that he was surrounded, he glanced up and saw with a pang of fear that they where all aiming their arrows at the exact points where it would hurt most. They weren't going to kill him, not yet, they were going to paralyse him first and then do only god knew what else before killing him.

He really didn't want that fate to be his.

'Surely,' he thought, 'if I only kill these six it'll be all right. I can control who I kill cant I? I'll be able to stop before I do any worse. And they are planning on killing me!'

The snake rose, and his vision was obscured by blood.

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"We really need to try that again."

"Hmmm."

"Although the healers may have to ask were these claw marks came from…"

"Hmmm… What? Oh shit I'm sorry. I didn't – I wasn't thinking."

"Clearly. Not complaining, kind of a turn on actually."

"Atemu!"

"Heh heh. You need to get that blushing problem looked at."

"M'gonna have to discipline you again aren't I?"

"Please do. But the question is have I been good enough for that treat you mentioned before…"

"What? Oh yeah. It's the reason I was late actually."

"It better be good then."

"Don't make me more nervous then I already am."

"Oh love, I'm sure if it's from you I'll love it… is it in here?"

"Uh-huh… it's kinda different but that's what I was going for. Apparently it's going to be part of a set. I wont be able to get hold of them though, this was the first and it was hard enough to get thank you very much."

"Yuugi…"

"…Do you like it then?"

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen. But what is it?"

"Magic. Magic talisman, you wear it like a necklace and it protects you, not quite figured out how yet…"

"I'll treasure it forever. Just like I'll treasure you forever."

"Not to ruin the romantic mood but you need to work on those one-liners Ate'."

"Oh, screw you."

"No thanks, still recovering from ten minutes ago, tomorrow maybe?"

"Tomorrow."

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AN: "Sharply spiralling stone staircase" -laugh- now THAT is an alliteration.

Thanks to SuzaShizune and moonlit dew for the last couple of kicks that got my lazy arse into action! This was originaly going to be over 10,000 words long but I cut it in half after realising that was a bit too much for one chapter and it would just drag more then anything else. So the format of the next two chapters has been changed completely due to that. Which hopefully means they will be out sooner then later. Hopefully.

Review Please! (They make me work faster - and god knows I need to work faster then I am.)