Firefly In Ice

Chapter Nine

"Yuugi? Are you almost done?"

"Getting there, Ryou, why?"

"Just wondered if you needed any help."

"You're that eager to be rid of me?"

"Don't be silly, and stop grinning at me like that!"

"Not my fault you're so loud, Ryou."

"Last night was a… just a…"

"Rerun of the night before? I'll be happy to get some peace from you and Bakura's nightly… adventures."

"Okay! Moving to another subject. Have you told Atemu about going home?"

"… hmm."

"'Hmm' what Yuugi? You haven't?"

Yuugi wished he knew how he always found himself in these situations. He wished he understood why he always found himself in these situations. The only reason he could find for all of it was because he was a demon. And that just didn't seem fair. Not one bit. So perhaps he might have once been a raving, senseless murderer but Yuugi strongly believed that being trapped in Hell for an undisclosed amount of time justified any of the difficulties he may have previously… encountered, yes that was the word, encountered. And perhaps he may have lied more than once in his past few days of consciousness, and probably a few more times even before that, but this was also justifiable in ways he felt didn't even need to be discussed they were so obvious. And so what if he was perfectly ready to burn each and every one of these centaurs to crisps if they tried to do what he thought they wanted to do, all this and more were no reasons to point sharp sticks in his direction.

Because he was a good demon. Yes he was.

Yuugi was sure those purple berries he had eaten, or perhaps that bird-thing, were currently doing something kooky with his mind. He was even less sure whether that was a good thing or not.

A tall centaur with a chestnut body and short hair glared down at him, a stern mouth drawn tight and dark eyes narrowed with something that wasn't quite hostile but told Yuugi he wasn't someone who backed down easily.

Yuugi shifted his knees and held his wings slightly out from his body, ready to pounce if need be.

"Why have you done this?" the centaur spoke.

Yuugi raised an eyebrow, "Err… What?"

He gestured towards the half eaten bird just visible to Yuugi between the bars of legs. Yuugi blinked at it for a moment then replied with an ever intelligent, "Huh?"

"Our prize herd! That was a breeding female!"

Yuugi felt a little switch click into place, his gaze shot back up to the chestnut centaur, "Oh, they're yours?"

"Yes! Why did you kill our cattle?" he flourished an arm in apparent exasperation.

Yuugi found he really didn't have much of an excuse for this one other than the truth, "Errm, I was… hungry?"

"Hungry? Well so are–"

But yet another, larger switch of an ominous red colour had clicked in Yuugi's mind, causing him to interrupt, "Wait! So the bird is the reason you're threatening me?"

A frown, "Well obviously."

"So… so you don't want to kill me, maim me, or use me as some kind of weapon just because I'm a demon?" This was new.

There was an eruption of murmuring from the centaurs around him; they appeared confused, but not particularly frightened. Oh yeah, this was very new.

The chestnut centaur waited until the mutterings had faded until he spoke again, a little more interested then before, "So it's true? This isn't just the guise of some trickster?"

Yuugi laughed, though it sounded a little bitter to his ears, "If this were a guise I would have shed it a long time ago. My existence has been nothing but running and fighting since… well for as long as I can remember, simply because I am what I am."

"Which Clan do you hail from?" This time a different centaur had spoken, one with a jet black pelt and wild strands of black hair held by a red headband, a single earring hung from his left ear, sharp green eyes directed towards him.

This only gained him a blank look, "Clan?"

Yuugi was given the distinct impression he was missing out on something big when his question earned him some very strange looks, clearly knowing which demon clan he came from was too important just to skim over with a simple 'huh?' But this was getting both worrying and giving him a hope he wasn't sure should belong. It sounded as if these centaurs knew about him and his race, which he wasn't sure was a good thing, but at the same time if they knew about him then they could tell him things that otherwise he'd probably never find out on his own!

The black centaur looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Element? Would that make sense to you? What element do you have an affinity with?"

It clicked, "Oh! Fire, I can use fire. You know about me? Can you tell me what you know about the demons?"

But the chestnut scowled at him, "What kind of demon does not know which Clan he hails from? If you do not have proof that you are from the Fire Clan we will tell you nothing."

Yuugi set his teeth, "Fine."

Digging the claws of his hands into the top layer of the soft earth underneath, Yuugi decided he'd had enough of being spoken to like an idiot. Concentrating again on the fire in his stomach he called it forth, using energy that he shouldn't be spending while working on so little sleep. The golden flames flickered teasingly up from his claws and wrists, he gave a lopsided grin, a fang hooking over his lip, and fire burst from the ground under his hands, streaking along the grass in five separate lines and snaking under the centaur's legs. A considerable panic ensured, the centaurs braying and yelping, many rearing and galloping a considerable distance before getting hold of themselves.

Yuugi was rather enjoying himself until he heard a female voice shout, "Enough!" and he begrudgingly realised that if these centaurs were anything like elves then they would now be too pissed at him for damaging their pride to tell him anything. He recalled the fire, leaving behind only thin streaks of scorched earth in its wake.

"You have proven yourself to be a true demon." The woman was a centaur with much the same colouring as the chestnut, only with bright blue eyes that spoke of clarity and patience.

"And?" Yuugi asked, wondering what exactly her point was.

"We will take you to the Patriarch now." She nodded her head sagely and turned her back on him, heading the way they must have come. He noticed the other centaurs had regrouped themselves and, with many disgruntled glares in his direction, were following her, the chestnut and black centaur just behind her.

Deciding there was little he stood to loose, Yuugi trotted after them.

The journey was quiet. Yuugi spoke a little to them to decide if he could trust what they said, he had long begun to walk alongside the three that had spoken to him; they continued to do so occasionally, speaking in calm tones. What he had heard seemed generally trustworthy, though, and they didn't seem like a rogue bunch, nor like a people that would use him. Their airs where… surprisingly gentle compared to the anger he was shown before. He was beginning to believe that it really was the loss of the bird that had them riled up.

The female was the nicest, he decided, she spoke with a maternal affection in her voice and seemed the most likely to want to open up to him. Her name was Anzu, and though he wasn't sure what it was supposed to mean, he gathered the name meant something to her tribe. The sullen chestnut that had walked suspiciously close to her side all the way was apparently named Honda, Yuugi quickly evaluated his character as a fighter, not a talker. And the dark one with the green eyes had introduced himself as Otogi, his earring was that of a die, and appeared the most interested in him from what Yuugi guessed was a historical point of view, if the awkward questions about a past he couldn't remember meant anything at all.

Eventually they crested a hill, thick with lush grass that liked to tangle his claws and catch at his tail as he walked, to come into view of the current residence of the tribe. They were apparently a nomadic bunch, and moved with the seasons. Their village was a quaint and pleasant picture, tall cone tents dotted numerously around the site, a makeshift paddock holding more of those long-legged running birds, racks of material drying in the wind, a large circle of small rocks surrounded the wood that would be burned tonight. At the head of the village there was a larger, more elaborate, looking tent. This was where they lead him.

The stares and blatant whispering behind hands directed towards the supposedly extinct demon walking in their midst made Yuugi feel extremely uncomfortable as he passed through the village. He tried to make himself as small as possible and quickened his pace so he kept up with his guides. There was quite the following of villagers by the time they reached the entrance to the most elaborate tent on the far side, the Patriarch's apparently.

Honda stopped him abruptly from entering by placing a calloused hand on his shoulder and tugging him back.

"You will wait until we have spoken to him first." Was the stern command.

Yuugi decided that to argue the point would be futile, as much as he hated being spoken to like that there was little he could do, especially if he wanted to stay in their favour for long enough for them to tell him everything they knew. After that he could do whatever he wanted, was his only satisfactory consolation.

So as Anzu, Honda and Otogi followed each other into the tent's entrance, covered by a drape of thick fabric that looked to Yuugi as if it were once animal hide, he was left stood lonely out in the open with a couple of hundred centaurs watching him as if he were a scientific experiment about to do something extremely volatile.

… How pleasant.

Minutes passed, for something to do Yuugi strained his ears to see if he could hear them speak, he should be able to with his enhanced hearing, but they must have been aware of this, for they were talking in hushed tones and he could discern only small fragments of the conversation. Disjointed phrases and half sentences that he could make no sense of.

But he heard something interesting, the repeated word 'elf' and references to the north. Yuugi shuffled his feet uneasily, how could they have known where he had come from? He hadn't let it slip had he? No, he would have remembered, but then, surely, this had to be coincidence. Maybe the elves had recently done something to anger the centaurs and the issue was still important enough to be addressed before the news of finding him. A pair of red eyes appeared in his mind's eye, and the frighteningly knowing look he was sure he had seen on the face of the prince as he'd watched Yuugi fly away, made him bite his lip, his wings twitched in restlessness. What if the prince had put two and two together and realised what he was? It would have been a wild guess, surely, but a plausible one. What if the elves had some way of communicating with the centaurs, which was faster than how he travelled? If they had been told about his actions in the north then they would mostly likely either reject him or try to capture him for reasons unknown. After all, who would want to act cordial around someone responsible for a massacre?

Perhaps he should fly away now, they'd probably never catch him. But then he'd never find out what he might have lost by doing so. Torn two ways by tormented thoughts Yuugi didn't even hear the approaching hooves until a second hand touched his shoulder. Yuugi started, whipping around to face his attacker, before remembering where he was and why.

Anzu looked at him, concerned, before saying, "He will see you now." And turning her back on him to head into the camp, Honda and Otogi were trying to disperse the crowd.

With a deep breath Yuugi pulled aside the cloth door and stepped inside the tent.

The inside was welcoming enough, a large circular rug, decorated with deep red and yellow threads, took up most of the floor. Strange implements and ceremonial devises fringed the circumference and a small hole in the very top of the cone tent apparently allowed the smoke from fires and pipes to escape without having to open the door, if the thin atmosphere of misty smoke and the thick fragrance of some kind of burnt plant meant anything.

Sat just off centre, behind a low twisted wood table covered in strange cloths and crushed plants, was an old centaur. A head of thick dark grey hair and a greying coat, lightly tanned skin wrinkled with age and exposure, and a pair of sharp violet eyes full of the wisdom only age can accomplish.

He smiled at Yuugi and spread his arms to beckon him from standing awkwardly by the entrance, "Come child, sit and be comfortable. We have a long talk ahead of us."

Yuugi sat tentatively opposite him with the table between them; the old centaur was contemplating him over the ash glow of the pipe he was smoking, giving Yuugi the uncomfortable feeling that he knew everything already.

He supposed it might help if he tried to extend the first pleasantry, "My name is Yuugi. Err… I'm sorry for killing that bird… if you're still very angry."

There was a pause in which Yuugi became tense, thinking he had already said something wrong, but then the old centaur chuckled, "It is quite alright, Yuugi, I am sure you did not know it was ours, she was a stray after all. And long journeys can't be easy on anyone."

Yuugi watched him carefully, "How…?"

"Did I know? Well it's a certain skill we have, and to put it plainly I've never seen anyone quite as worn looking as yourself, no one who has a home or travels at a gentle pace can look quite so haggard."

Yuugi looked down at the rug, he hadn't come here to be insulted.

"You may call me Solomon. And you my friend have a lot of explaining to do. Perhaps beginning with how a long dead race can suddenly reappear in our hunting grounds? Demons have not been seen for many millennia, no one believed we would see them again."

Yuugi shook his head, "I know very little. I woke up only days ago with no memory of anything to find I was, and am, completely alone. I was confused, lost, I did not know what I was doing, and I killed many goblins in this haze, some elves too. I was imprisoned by them, and rescued by the elves who cared only for each other and did not know what I was, I ran from them. And all I can remember with any certainty is my name and that I am a fire demon."

The centaur took a long drag of his pipe, puffing the smoke out in artful rings towards the hole in the tent's top, "A dire situation for one to find himself in. To have escaped what befell the others now seems less of a gift."

"Then do you know what happened to my people? Can you tell me how and why they are all dead?" Yuugi asked quickly, leaning forward in excitement.

But Solomon shook his grey head with a sad expression, "Your race are shrouded in mystery. My dear boy," he added when he saw the defeated expression cross Yuugi's face, "I will tell you what we know. And try to elaborate with what we believe but the rest I am afraid is your own secret."

"My own?" Yuugi asked, confused.

Solomon laughed, "Demons are legendary at keeping themselves to themselves. What you discover on this journey you are no doubt about to take will be only a rumour to us, whether you mean to or not you will keep yourself hidden, in both body and mind."

Yuugi dropped his gaze; he was already doing that wasn't he? With the elves. They all thought he was human. "But I told you what happened to me." He argued.

"Only out of desire to learn more from us. A trade of information I believe." Noticing Yuugi's frown he said, "Do not take offence, it is your nature to be withdrawn from other races. We remember all those eons ago that though demons were rarely seen, secretive and silent, when we did meet they were surprisingly well mannered and friendly. Much unlike the elves who boast and display every aspect of themselves for the entire world to grovel to. Unlike elves, demons were respected not because they had power but because they didn't use such power needlessly to show off. The world remembers how powerful demons were, but loss of control was so rarely seen that their magic became more legend then reality. Of course demons themselves were so rarely seen anyway that it didn't take much for people's imaginations to try and fill in the gaps. And after all, well mannered or not, the demons were still a dangerous race to get involved with."

Yuugi hung his head as he thought about what Solomon had said and remembering how many times he had lost control, had he disgraced them by his actions?

A hand was placed on his shoulder, Yuugi looked up to see the centaur was smiling at him, "Whatever you have done," he said, "I am sure they would forgive you. Your circumstances have gone beyond the normal."

Yuugi gave a half hearted smile, taking comfort in the words of someone who seemed to know him better then he knew himself. How did the centaurs gather all this history?

"But enough of that," Solomon continued, refilling his pipe, "you came to hear what we know of the demon's last days, not my own theories on demon behaviour." He chuckled to himself before adopting a solemn expression, "From what you have told me it is clear that you were imprisoned long before they began to vanish. It began with the fire demons that once belonged to the great desert far to the south of here. We don't know exactly when or how but it was clear to those very few people that witnessed their movement's year in and year out that the demons weren't where they should be. A band of humans, who had once been lucky enough to have connections with the Fire Clan, travelled far into the desert to see what had become of them. They only found that their city had fallen to ruin and the entrance into their sacred grounds had been sealed by a stone door with seven oddly shaped indentations. There were no fire demons left in the entire desert.

"This unexplainable disappearance was soon repeated far to the north. The ice demons were next to vanish. The elves, who had long been in a feud with the Ice Clan, reported that seemingly overnight the entire clan ceased to exist.

"After that the rest seemed to fall like dominos. The earth demons vanished from the woods, the air demons from their mountain top temples, water demons were never seen again, not even by the merpeople who are to date the only race to get so close to becoming friends of a demon clan. The other, nomadic clans of lightning, weather, and metal, and others we never recorded, followed in the same fashion until the world seemed empty of a presence that had been there before the elves, humans, centaurs, goblins, and even merpeople had even begun to exist."

Yuugi sat in silence for a long time after Solomon had finished, listening to the old centaur puffing at his pipe and thinking hard about what he had heard. His mind focused on the mention of the Fire Clan's sacred grounds.

"The door you mentioned," Yuugi began, "The one with seven indentations that blocked off part of the Fire Clan's city. Why would they seal off the sacred grounds?"

"I would not know," Solomon spoke slowly, "but I believe, that for someone who is searching for their past, what is behind that door would be an excellent place to start. However, you would need the keys."

"What keys?"

"The ones that will open the door. There are seven of them, each one fits a separate slot in the stone."

Yuugi frowned to himself, there was something about the mentioning of 'seven' that reminded him of something. "And where will I find them?"

Solomon smiled, "Ah, now that is the ironic part. You have journeyed from the far north to find your home and yet you must turn back around and return there if you want a hope of learning anything about it. It is common knowledge among the centaurs that the elves, many centuries ago, came into possession of six of the seven keys. The elves do not know what they are, the records of the keys true reason of existence remains only with us. Where the seventh is, we do not know. You will have to find that yourself."

Yuugi glared at the fire, "I have to go back to those elves?"

"Yes."

He sighed heavily, wings drooping tiredly, "At least it isn't with the goblins."

Solomon laughed, "That's the spirit."

Their conversation had gone on for many hours; Yuugi enjoyed the chance to have a real talk with someone, having felt starved of any connections to reality. Yuugi had not managed to unearth anything more of any particular interest from Solomon, and he was given the strong impression that he had been told the most important parts anyway, so he did not press the subject and instead asked where the elves kept the keys to the door and what such keys looked like. Solomon was not able to give a very satisfactory answer, the centaurs only knew of the certain existence of the keys; the elves had cloistered them for so long, but he said it was almost positive they would be in the palace treasures. They did not know what each individual key was like in appearance, other then that they were certain they were made of solid gold, and were uncertain as to weather the keys themselves possessed any unusual powers that would define or identify them. There were certainly myths and fireside stories about such powers, but all of which sounded implausible.

It was late into the afternoon by the time Solomon told Yuugi that he should rest. They gave him a spare, empty tent for the night and Yuugi was overjoyed to find a large platter of meats, fish, fruits and cooked vegetables waiting for him there. He quite literally polished the plate of food before anyone had a chance to tell him otherwise. The gifts didn't stop there either; next to the platter was a small wicker basket of soaps and scented herbs, bathing stuffs. There was a waterfall and river that Anzu lead him too after his dinner, and even though immersing himself in water was inherently uncomfortable for him, Yuugi took great pleasure in spending a good deal of time in the waterfall's plunge pool, using the scented soaps scraping off the dirt that had accumulated during the fights and running through caves, chasing the silver fish that darted away from him with dazzlingly pretty silver flashes until with the sky dark under the pall of dusk he returned, feeling warm and clean, with a full belly and with a purpose in mind, to the tent to fell almost immediately onto the pillows and rugs in a dead sleep.

Yuugi wasn't sure what woke him the next morning, but he knew he had slept for hours, like a log or some very contented demon-shaped rock. He was rested, warm, and oh so very comfortable; the urge to just snuggle deeper into the soft pillows and fall back to sleep was almost overwhelming.

But a little something was tugging at the back of his mind, and it wasn't letting him go.

Rolling over to face the door to the tent Yuugi pried open both of his eyes and peered groggily at the shoulder bag resting innocently on the floor, he hadn't noticed it last night, or at least he hadn't noticed the centaurs bringing it in while he floated off into dreams. Watching it for a while he eventually realised he was going to have to move to see what was inside, and so with great reluctance he uncurled himself from the mass of blankets, pillows and rugs, and crawled over to the item. Inside was a substantial collection of dried meats and fruits. Yuugi smiled sleepily to himself, at least now he wouldn't have to starve on his way back north.

Yet that wasn't what the little voice at the back of his mind had gotten him up for.

Holding the leather bag straps loosely in his hand Yuugi stumbled, his mind still half asleep and his body stubbornly telling him that bed was where he needed to be, over to the loose drapes of fabric that made the door. He parted the fabric and gazed up at the pale sky, it wasn't quite dawn, the sun was just an inch below the dark horizon, and half the sky was bleached a pale, pale blue in the east, streaks of wispy white clouds, whose under edges were stained golden yellow, cast long shadows in the sky.

There was noise coming from his right. Voices.

He glanced over, already recognising Solomon's voice but not the second who spoke with an out of place aloofness. The aged centaur was stood just outside his large tent, flanked by Anzu and Honda, and speaking quietly to an equally aged man, behind him was a large group of young men dressed suspiciously as soldiers.

No… wait a minute… Yuugi scrunched his eyes as if he would see the men better that way; he knew that armour from somewhere, it was so familiar it was hitting him over the head with a flaming mallet and yet for the life of him he was still too sleepy to think clearly and he couldn't recall exactly where he had seen it.

He took a step out into the cool morning air, hoping it would help him wake up more, but the old man saw his movement from the corner of his eye and span his gaze round to see him.

He stumbled backwards with a yelp. Yuugi blinked at him before he remembered with a feeling of dread that his appearance was not quite normal, his wings unconsciously sunk tightly behind him, and he was suddenly very conscious of his claws and tail.

The man's lips formed words in disbelief, "A demon?"

And then Yuugi's mind cleared enough to see the man and his soldiers properly, and he froze in horror.

The elfin army had found him.

The elf had recovered before him, eyes narrowing in panic and hate, a spear of ice was suddenly hurtling towards Yuugi, and it was only luck that the aim was a little off for the reason he was still standing. Hissing in pain he grasped his arm where the point had opened a long, narrow gash as it whooshed past to embed itself into the ground behind him.

The tiny squadron was mobilising quickly, Yuugi glanced over to Solomon, at a complete loss as to what he could do without fighting and curious as to why the centaur was not defending him.

Solomon had been trying to get his attention, his eyes frantic and worried, mouthing desperately the word, "Run!"

Yuugi took that as his queue to get lost. It was an unpleasant farewell, Yuugi had planned on thanking the centaurs for the only kindness he had been shown, but circumstances where, as per usual, against him.

So with only a curt nod in the direction of Solomon, Anzu and Honda, Yuugi crouched, spread his wings, and shot high into the air with a single almighty flap. He grinned to himself in exhilaration, it was amazing what wonders a full stomach and a good nights sleep could do.

Below him, he heard the old elf shouting orders to shoot at him, but he was too high already. It was a new day, and he needed to get as far away as possible, he may as well begin the journey north now rather than later, he had his supplies, he had his plan, all he needed now was a certain little elfin prince to pull it off.

Angling his wings purposefully he soared through the brightening sky, taking a deep breath and grinning. Despite the problem with people continuously trying to kill him, life was good.

And the prince was about to make it even better. He just didn't know it yet.

"I don't understand. Why haven't you told him? Atemu loves you, he'll think that you–"

"Abandoned him? Yeah, sounds about right."

"…What?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. You know when Mariku's getting here?"

"Wha- err tomorrow morning I think. And you can't just change the subject this time Yuugi. What's going on?"

"Nothing. Pass me that armlet please."

"Has Atemu done something?"

"Nope."

"Then I don't understand. Aren't you seeing him tonight?"

"Probably not."

"Huh?"

"Look, Ryou, it's none of your business alright? Just stay out of it!"

AN: Thus far this has only been half betad, the rest should be done tomorrow but I wanted this up tonight so I could say I finished it for Atemu Yugi Lover34 because apparently it's her 17th today! So happy birthday! Sorry I didn't get to the puzzleshipping yet but belive it or not we are very close, I've even started writing it! Plus if we don't get there soon I think my beta might hit me with one of those flaming mallets and demand her yaoi lol (damn woman has been poisoning my mind all night on msn, now all I can think about is a Yu-Gi-Oh cross over with 'Lady and the Tramp'... with Yami as Lady... yes you heard me right. It won't happen though, or at least it'll never reach online status lol).

If you review there will be another update (hopefully) before new year and the romance (in the next chap after that) will reach you before the 14th! So I recomend you review.

Review!