A Yugi/Yami story

Through a Dragon's Eye

Chapter 18- Second Floor – Up is Down

"We need to stop!" yelled Yami as he was once again forced to move forward. After the water had disappeared and they were all left safe on the first floor, a pair of stairs had appeared in front of them that lead to the upper level. His father had ordered his men to grab him and Yugi and to start moving up. "Think about what happened on the first floor! It's bound to get worse!"

"Keep quiet you little brat!" yelled one of the men that were holding him down.

"Hello?" yelled Yami as they forced him onwards. "One of you might be next! What's more important to you? Power or your lives?"

The men just ignored him. Why wasn't he surprised?

Yugi was being carried piggy-back by one of the other men up in front, and he appeared to be unconscious. In the last few minutes, his condition had grown worse; but the men just didn't seem to care what happens to the boy as long as they reach the top.

"Yugi's sick!" yelled Yami. "He needs help! Why don't we leave why we still have the chance?"

How come no one else could hear him?

The men might have all been deaf for all the attention that they showed him. You think that almost drowning and freezing to death would have scared them all off. But no… they were all to focus on the prize that was waiting for them upstairs.

Onward they climbed; the men ignored Yami's struggles as he continued to be dragged up step by step. They traveled up… and up… and up…

"Do these stairs ever end?" complained Yami after a while. He was sore, wet, cold, and tired; so can you blame him for being whiny? They must have climbed up at least a 100, more steps before Yami noticed a strange light above them. When he looked up he gasped at what he saw.

Ribbons of light began to shine in midair, just like what happened when they were on the first floor… a riddle appeared in the floor before they were swept out to sea. The light began to cress-cross and overlap each other until, written in a deep fire, color, the words spelled out:

What goes up and down but never moves?

Riddles… how he was beginning to hate riddles.

What goes up and down but never moves? What's that supposed to mean?

"What goes up and down but never moves?" yelled one of the men. "What the hell does that mean?"

The idiot had to open his big mouth. The stairs that they were standing on began to shake; they stretched and began to twist around… the men began to yell and scream before they turned around and tried to run back down the quaking stairs. His father stood on one of the steps and merely began to laugh hysterically which scared Yami more than the shaking room. Dad really was insane.

Yami on the other hand raced up almost as soon as the men had dropped him. He ran up to try to grab Yugi so that they could get out of this mess.

That was when everything disappeared and Yami was left alone in the dark. Yami stopped running and stared around him in the dark. He couldn't see anything (no surprise). He didn't understand what had happened… one minute he was with everyone else… and then the next…

He stumbled at the sudden silence and slid down a few steps before he was able to get his footing again. He started to gasp for breath; his heart was racing in his chest, and more scared than he had ever been in his life. He had no idea what to do…

"YUGI?" he yelled out. "YUGI? WHERE ARE YOU?"

Maybe the tower had ears and could hear him. For at that moment, a bright, glowing light began to shine above him… a door had appeared at the top of the steps and there was such a strong light that it was almost blinding. Like the sun was shining…

His heart filled with hope when he saw the door and ran up the stairs, toward the glowing light. It was still a long spiral staircase and it seemed to take an eternity for him to get closer. Yami was puffing by the time he reached the top and through the door…

… to emerge onto a stone platform. What he saw took all his breath away.

Above, below, or around him -- which, he could not tell -- was a vast stone hall, with so many staircases, balconies, windows, and doorways at different heights and odd angles to each other that he had no idea what was up or down, near or far, inside or out, backward or forward. Planes reversed themselves as you watched them, receding corners suddenly jutted out, rising steps inverted themselves, floors became ceilings, and walls turned into precipices. In this room, it seemed that the law of gravity had been repealed, and perspective had seven dimensions. If there had been water, it would have seemed to flow uphill. He felt sick and giddy, and had to cling to a pillar to remain upright. "Just my luck," he whispered to himself. As long as he went on looking at the hall, it went on altering. Does it still go on altering, he wondered dizzily, when no one is looking at it?

With his back to the wall, he edged along the platform. If he took it step by step, he was sure to get somewhere. At least he hoped so. He edged along, hoping that it was along and not up or past or through, until he came to a point that he was quite certain was where he had started. Yes, there was the top of the staircase behind him. He began to edge the other way, until he heard a voice from somewhere below. He knew whose voice it was.

"YAMI!"

"YUGI! WHERE ARE YOU?" Yami was looking around in a panic when he heard Yugi's voice cry out from somewhere. He had no clue where he was, or where Yugi could be, but he knew one thing. That Yugi was somewhere in this room.

Somehow, he had to find Yugi. He knew that Yugi wasn't going to last much longer in the condition that he was in. Yami began to work his way down a flight of stairs. A movement below him caught his attention. He peered beneath the stairs and saw his father walking parallel to him, apparently upside down, like a reflection in ice. Or maybe he was the one upside down. He ran to get away from him, to get to Yugi. His father mirrored his movements wherever his son went. He ran along a balcony, and suddenly he appeared at the far end of it, upright.

Yami was looking around him, trying to figure out this whole room when finally… he spotted him… Yugi was lying, curled up in a ball, a few levels below him.

Yami turned, ran back, and tripped. He landed with a bruising thud. His father was watching him, laughing.

"There's nothing you can do, Yami," he said in that voice that Yami hated with all his being. "Just sit back and wait until your little friend is able to figure out the riddle."

"Shut up!" Yami yelled before running off in the opposite direction. Yami started to follow a line of stairs that went in the direction of Yugi. As he drew near him, the boy suddenly vanished, leaving Yami stranded. "Yugi?" he cried out in worry. He spotted him again on another plane, this time somewhere above him.

He followed him again, and the same thing happened, and again. Yugi was moving on an axis with which Yami could not intersect. And everywhere he went, he seemed to be at risk of falling from a balcony, or tumbling all the way down a flight of stone stairs.

Yami was clambering up onto the ledge. Between him and Yugi was a vast space of the hall. Yugi was teetering on the ledge now, trying to stand up. Yami could not run to him, even supposing he was able to find a path to him through the deceiving planes. It was possible, he could not be sure, that Yugi was below him, and that he could reach him with a jump; a jump so far down that he would crack every bone in his body.

So he did the only thing that made sense…

Yami closed his eyes and jumped… and he fell… he fell… and fell… and fell…

…but he didn't hit the bottom…

When he opened his eyes, he was not sure where he was. It could have been another part of the tower. He thought he recognized it, but could not place it.

Yet something had changed. Near him was an ogee window, without glass, and through it he could see the upper half of one wing of the tower. It was in ruins, the cladding stones mostly gone, grass growing in the gaps they'd left. The turret roofs had collapsed, and brambles were reaching for the throat of the tower. Within the castle, where he was, he heard in the air the humming that he had come to associate with his father, but it had a hollow ring to it, something forlorn, like music in an abandoned house. In the crack between two flagstones where he laid he saw that weeds had started to push their way through. He stood up and looked around. There was no sign of Yugi.

"You still do not get it do you?" said his father's voice. Yami swirled around, and sure enough, 'dear old dad' was standing there. "We cannot leave this place until your friend guesses the riddle. So sit back and wait. It shouldn't take much longer."

Yami was suddenly given the desire to strangle his father. "What do you want with him," he hissed with menace in his voice. "He's done nothing to deserve this! He's sick and weak from the first trail! Can't you figure out the riddle on your own? If this keeps up then Yugi's gonna die before we reach the top!"

His father turned his head to the side as he began to smile again. "I thought you of all people should be able to see how strong the brat is. Trust me; your friend isn't going to die. However, once we reach the top I can't make any promises."

Yami stepped forward; he had no idea what he was going to do, but he had to think of something. That was when the room began to spin around them. The room that they were standing in had vanished so that Yami, his father, Yugi, and a handful of men were standing in a large circular room that resembled the first floor.

"Ah," said his father in a bored voice, looking around him. "We have completed the second floor."

Yami hardly paid attention to what his father said. He ran over to where Yugi was on the floor and gently began to shake him. "YUGI! Can you hear me?"

"Yami?" croaked out Yugi weakly as he opened his eyes. "What goes up and down but never moves? The answer is… stairs…" Yugi was taking in deep breaths of air before continuing, "It suddenly came to me as I was trying to get up… the answer was right in front of me the whole… the whole… the whole time." Yugi sounded exhausted. Yugi smiled at his friend, which only caused Yami's heart to sink.

"Let's go men," said his father as he turned towards a door that had appeared out of nowhere. "That door leads to the next level!" he clapped his hands together like he was a child promised a huge treat.

"Let Yugi rest for a minute!" Yami yelled out. "Yugi's in really bad shape. Let him sleep for a little while!"

His father only gave him an annoyed look before he barked at a few of the men to carry them. Only this time, the men didn't obey right away… they looked scared.

"Are you all reluctant to obey me?" he asked in a cold voice that rang with venom. It was clear that they feared him more than they feared the tower's power. They all jumped to attention at once, and separated the two boys.

"Yami, Yami, Yami," said his father in a piteous tone staring at his son while shaking his head. "You still have much to learn before we reach the top."

Sorry for taking so long. I'm trying to update as much as I can. Please tell me what you think!

Next chapter: Third Floor – Darkest Black