Chapter Five: The Truth

"Yuri, are you willing to listen to me now?" Yugi murmured.

Yuri slowly nodded. "I trust you…"

Yugi smiled. "Okay." He put his hands back on Yuri's shoulders. "Susiros doesn't care about you at all. The only reason she took interest in you was because you were Spencer's kid. She wanted you to be miserable, to hate your father, to hate your life in entirety…" He paused. "She wanted you to destroy yourself because you'd see no other way out of it. And when you did…your father would be so devastated that he could easily be gotten rid of, and Susiros' boyfriend would be able to take over your world once more."

"Her boyfriend?" Yuri repeated.

"Yuri…" Yugi looked at the ground. "Susiros' boyfriend is the former king Resheph."

Yuri stared at him in horror. "No…" he whispered.

Yugi nodded.

Tears started falling down Yuri's face. "My gods…" he said. He let Yugi gently pull him into a hug. "She lied to me…she made me think my dad was a nasty jerk…she tried to get me to…oh my gods…"

Yugi gently stroked his back. "I'm sorry, Yuri…" he murmured.

"How could I believe her…that…that witch…"

"Shh…it's okay…" Yugi said. "I was fooled by her too…my friends and I all thought she had to be some kind of sweetheart when we first met her…you're not alone, Yuri…believe me, you're not alone…"

Suddenly, a loud, angry voice resounded throughout the castle. "SUSIROS TOCHNOW, WHERE THE FRICK ARE YOU?!"

Yuri looked up in shock. "That's Dad…" he murmured.

Yugi smiled at him. "See? He's come here to save you. That's how much he cares about you, Yuri."

The sound of footsteps started coming up the stairs of the tower. Yuri looked at the door in horror and said, "That can't be him…he doesn't know where I am…"

Yugi pulled Yuri close and said, "Yuri, hold onto me and don't make a sound, okay?"

Yuri nodded.

Yugi closed his eyes and focused on the power within him. The two of them became completely invisible.

The door to the room slammed open, and Resheph angrily stormed in. He froze when he saw it was 'empty'.

He peered underneath the ragged bed, then out the window to see if Yuri was floating below it outside. He swore under his breath and flew out of the room, his outline glowing furiously with black magic.

"Yuri?" Yugi whispered to the prince, remaining invisible. "I think I know where Resheph would like to meet your father. Do you want to go there?"

"Yes, please," Yuri murmured. "I need to see him. Most definitely."

The sound of a pair of footsteps resounded throughout the room, and the door to the tower seemingly opened and closed all on its own.

"Where is he?!" Spencer snapped at Susiros. He and the other five heroes were standing in the middle of Resheph's throne room, having chosen to go there through Spencer's custom portal once it was decided that would be a much better plan than wasting time which the two bakas could have used to harm Yuri. Now they stood glaring angrily at Susiros, who was lounging on Resheph's ornate throne.

"Where is who?" Susiros asked innocently.

"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME BULL LIKE THAT!!" Spencer snapped at her. "WHERE. IS. MY. SON?!"

"Oh! The little idiot!" Susiros replied, pointing a finger into the air in realization. "Yeah, I'm sorry, but I highly doubt he even wants to look at you right now."

"Only because you turned him against me behind my back, you twit!" Spencer replied.

"Spencer, Spencer, Spencer…is it really wise for you to insult me at this moment?" Susiros smiled. "After all, you never know what could happen to poor little Yuri if I get too mad."

At that moment, Resheph suddenly dashed into the throne room and up to Susiros. He whispered urgently into her ear.

Susiros stared up at him in shock. "What?! You're kidding me!" she whispered back rather loudly.

Resheph shook his head.

"Why, Susie, is there something wrong?" Spencer said to her sweetly.

Susiros looked panicked for a moment, but an idea quickly formed itself in her mind. She grinned and replied, "No, Spencer, sweetie, nothing's wrong at all…well, not for me, anyway." She stood up and stepped down from the throne. "Resheph had just gone up to get the little brat, you see, and…well, I'm sorry, Spence, but your son is gone."

Spencer's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!" he screamed.

Resheph grinned nastily, realizing what Susiros was trying to do. "Oui, monsieur Spencer, but eet wasn't et meh own hends. Your son, oh so unfortunately, ees gone on hees own accord."

The other heroes gasped in shock. Spencer slammed down onto his knees and whispered, "No…no…"

"Yeah, he is. Wanna know why?" Susiros smiled. "I'll tell you. You see, you poor little king, you were so wrapped up in your duties towards your people that you didn't take the time to really know your son. If you did, you'd know that almost each and every single day, the poor prince kept getting beaten up by these three nasty thugs for no apparent reason whatsoever."

"You hired them to do it, didn't you," Spencer snapped at her, tears stinging his eyes.

Susiros stared. "Hmm…okay, so maybe there was an apparent reason, but that's not the point right now. Anyway, little Yuri wanted to tell you about what was happening, but I talked him out of it and helped him hide the scars and such they inflicted on him. After all, I told him, you were so busy with all of your other duties as king of the Dimension of the Gods that there was no way you could get involved with his quite unimportant issues. So, the poor little guy got sadder and sadder, until finally…" She shrugged. "Well, I just casually suggested that there might only be one way out of it, and it looks like he's finally decided to take my advice."

Spencer stared at her, dumbstruck. He and the others were so involved in her story that they didn't notice Resheph sneak around the wall and up behind them. Without warning, he shot out a stream of black magic which wrapped itself around the kids from the other world and pulled them together tightly, zapping their mouths shut before they could cry out and alert Spencer.

"You…you…you…" Spencer cried, his voice shaking with anger and sadness.

"What? It's not my fault that your precious little one is-well, was-so gullible and impressionable," Susiros said. "If he wasn't, maybe he wouldn't have gone thinking that his daddy didn't give two cents about him."

"How could you…" Spencer looked down at the ground, sobbing hysterically. "How could you…"

"Aw, poor leetle Spencer," Resheph said as he quickly walked back to the throne with extremely fake sweetness in his voice. "So sad because hees son ees gone for good…bet look et ze bright side…" Resheph held out his hand and a staff shaped like the Dark Magician's appeared in it. "Ah ken help you get beck to heem…JEST DON'T MOVE!"

Resheph charged at Spencer with his staff straight out in front of him, letting it glow furiously with black magic. He swung it down-

-and it slashed right through something invisible standing in front of Spencer.

"WHAT ZE-"

An orb of light blue magic suddenly appeared which blasted Resheph all the way to the other end of the throne room and right into Susiros, knocking the two of them out cold. From in front of Spencer, Yuri appeared, with a deep gash right through his chest where Resheph had brought down his staff.

Yugi appeared as well, dashing towards Yuri and Spencer. "Yuri, NO!" he screamed in horror.

Spencer looked up to see his little one collapse down to the ground in front of him. He gasped in shock and scrambled forward, picking his son up in his arms. "YURI!" he screamed.

Once Resheph had been knocked out, his magic around the others had vanished into thin air. They now quickly dashed over to where Spencer and Yugi were kneeling with Yuri clutched firmly in Spencer's arms.

Yuri looked up at his father and smiled. "Dad…" he murmured.

"Yuri…" Spencer cried, his tears staining his son's T-shirt. "Hijo mío, I am so sorry…I should have paid more attention to you…I should have realized something was wrong…"

"No, Dad, it's not all your fault," Yuri replied. "I shouldn't have believed that woman…she was a nasty little she-devil…Yugi showed me that…"

Spencer looked at Yugi with wide eyes. "He did?"

Yugi smiled wanly at him and nodded. "I wanted to make sure he knew the truth…I told him about Susiros and what she was doing to him…and I brought him down here while she was talking to you…he heard everything."

Spencer smiled at him. "Thank you…" he whispered.

"Dad…" Yuri murmured.

Spencer quickly looked down at him. "Yes, Yuri?"

"I want you to know…I forgive you…you weren't all that great at paying attention to me…but you weren't doing it on purpose…you did care about me…more than anyone else in my world…and for that…I thank you so much…"

"Yuri, no…" Spencer cried. "Don't talk to me like that…don't talk like you're…"

"I'm sorry, Daddy…that's what Resheph was going to do to you…but now it'll happen to me instead…" He gave his father a small smile. "The people of our world need you, Dad…go forth and help them…save them from suffering my fate…"

Spencer stared down at him sadly. "I will, little guy…I will…" he sobbed.

"And Dad…" Yuri slowly started closing his eyes. "I love you…"

And with that, he snapped his eyes shut and let out one last sigh.

"No…no…" Spencer sobbed hysterically. The other heroes were stunned; even Kaiba looked a bit saddened by this. "No, Yuri, please…don't go…you only just came back…I never even found out what happened to you before…"

"Spencer?"

Spencer looked up at Yugi, who also had tears flowing down his cheeks.

"I know what happened to Yuri…"