A Yugi/Yami story
Through a Dragon's Eye
Chapter 20- Fourth Floor – Freefall
"What do you mean I brought this fate upon myself?" said Yami in a stunned voice.
His father smiled a dark smile. "Don't you see? It has to end this way. You ran away from home because you wanted to get away from me. When you left, you should've stayed gone instead of coming back up north. But then you met your little friend here and you came to find the flying ship, Swiftflight. As soon as I realized that he was the boy that I needed, all I had to do was wait until you both came crawling back to me."
He gave Yami another disturbing smile before going on, "Imagine my surprise to find out that my son had gone out of his way to bring me the one person that can get us up to the top of this tower. I have to tell you… I could barely contain my excitement."
Yami clenched his hand so hard that his fingernails where beginning to draw blood. "Listen here," he said so menacingly that his father raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't run away to help you. I left so that I could get away from you. I met Yugi here and he's the only true family I have! He's my closest friend… he's my aibou… my partner." As he said that last part he held Yugi tighter to him.
His father gave a dark chuckle. "Partners… how sweet. Too bad that it's too little too late."
"SHUT UP!" yelled Yami so loud that he woke up Yugi. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!"
"Yami?" whispered Yugi quietly.
Yami had gone pale before looking down at his friend. "Yugi? Are you alright? How are you doing?"
Yugi was able to give him a smile and said, "I've never felt better."
Yami shook his head, "You are such a bad liar you know?"
"No I'm-m-not…" he slurred weakly.
"Ah…" said that voice that Yami despised from behind him, "It almost breaks my heart… if I had one…"
Yami spun his head around to glare at his father and repeated as loudly as he could, "SHUT UP!"
His father gave a dark laugh before looking over his shoulder to see if any of the men were left. Only about 20 were still with them, and they all looked scared and tired.
"Well?" snapped his father. "Get going!"
For a moment, none of the men had moved a muscle. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" he shouted annoyed.
"N-n-n-no-ooo-oo No!" stuttered one of the men.
His father looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What?" he asked politely but coldly.
"NO!" repeated the man but with more force this time. "This is getting to dangerous! We've already lost more than half our crew and who knows what could be waiting for us! I'm with the kid! Let's leave while we'll still alive!"
The other men all looked at each other and began to nod in agreement. Yami's heart began to lift. The crew was all taking a stand against his father! Maybe they could all get out of this alive after all!
His father on the other hand didn't seem worried that his crew was starting to turn on him. He reached to his belt… and quicker than the eye could see… he drew a long sword and whammed the man who had spoken against the opposite wall with the sword at his throat.
Yami could see the terror in the man's face as he was pressed against the wall. "Really?" said his father in a cold voice that vibrated with menace. "You think that you can just back out when things get too tough? That you can leave whenever you want? Well I think that I can help you out with that. Just one strike and you can leave this world… for good."
The man gulped.
"It's your choice," said his father. "Stay… or go?"
The man took a deep, shuttering breath and gasped out, "S-stta-stay."
His father smiled in triumph gave him a terrible smile before dropping him on the floor. As the man lay on the ground whimpering, he turned to look at the rest of the crew. "Anyone else want to leave?" he asked calmly.
No one said a word.
"I thought not," he said as he put the sword away. He then pointed to a few men and ordered them to grab Yami and Yugi and to head up.
As the men came closer to them, Yugi looked up and said softly, "Yami?"
Yami looked down at him, "What is it aibou?"
Yugi gave him another weak smile, "No offense… but I really don't like your dad."
Yami couldn't help but smile at that. "Neither do I."
*Later*
You think that you would get tired of climbing an endless number of stairs and fight ancient magic, inside of a cursed tower. Well, you'd be right. It's not hard at all to get sick of it.
Not that Yami was paying any attention to it at all anymore. The only thing he was thinking of right now was the right word to call his father. Evil, power-hungry, psycho manic didn't seem to cut it. As he thought, the men were all trooping behind him with terrified looks on their faces. Great, it only took near drowning, an endless maze, and burning light for them to realize that they were in danger and should leave this place as soon as possible.
Why was his father the only one who couldn't see that?
They all continued their march up the seemingly uncountable stairs and were all terrified of what could be waiting for them on the next floor. Just how long have they been in this tower? It feels as if years had passed since they first arrived. And Yami felt as tired and weak as an old man; he didn't know how much more he could take.
He then looked up at the man who was carrying Yugi as if he were a sack of potatoes. Yugi was getting worse with every floor they pass. And if it was hard on Yami, it had to be even harder for Yugi. Yami gritted his teeth and forced his body to keep climbing, although every inch of him screamed in protest. If Yugi could keep fighting than he would to.
He had walked a few more feet when the familiar writing began to appear above them.
What is greater than good?
And worse than evil?
The poor have it,
The rich don't need it,
And if you eat it, you'll die?
As soon as the men saw it, they began to panic and tried to turn to run back down the stair. Yami on the other hand, began to run up the stairs to the man who had Yugi. Yugi had fainted again, and there was no way that Yami was going to let him get trampled by these guys. He fought his way up to Yugi, who had been dropped, and bent down beside him to raise Yugi's head.
Yugi's face looked worse than ever before. He was as white as a ghost, and looked as weak as a newborn. "YUGI! WAKE UP!" he cried over the sounds of the screaming men who all sounded as if they were far away.
It was at that moment, that the stairs beneath their feet broke away and they all went tumbling down into the darkness. Yami let out a strangled yell before pulling Yugi against his chest and held him as he waited for them all to hit bottom.
But the bottom never came. They were stuck in a freefall. Down… down… down…
*Sometime later*
Yami never thought that he would actually get bored of falling. Even in this tower, you think that you would have to hit bottom sooner or later right? He held Yugi against him, for he was the only thing that was keeping him from losing his mind. All he could do now was pray that somehow they would get out of this mess alive.
Yami looked down at Yugi who was still unconscious. "Please Yugi wake up now," he said seriously. "You're the only one who can figure out the riddle. You must help me."
Nothing. Yugi didn't so much as twitch.
"Yugi, wake up fast, please!"
Still nothing. Yami was starting to get scared.
"Yugi please!"
He might have just been talking to brick wall for all the good it was doing him.
"Come on, please Yugi wake up now!" Yami could feel tears forming in his eyes as Yugi continued to remain silent. "Open your eyes! Before it's too late! Or else we'll be stuck falling forever!"
Tears were being carried away by the rushing air. "Oh, come on, Yugi! Come on, you've got to wake up!" He let out a strangled sob, "We've got the rest of our lives to live, once we get out of this mess. And I promise that we will! But I'm going to need your help! Please wake up!"
"Yami?" whispered Yugi weakened voice.
Yami's tears stopped flowing for a moment as Yugi finally opened his eyes.
"Yugi," whispered Yami as he pulled Yugi tight against him. "Thank goodness."
Yugi just seemed to realize that they were falling. "What's going on?" he asked in a strangely calm tone. Either he wasn't bothered by that fact that they were falling, or he was just too weak to put up a big fuss.
"It's the next challenge," said Yami quickly. "We've got to solve it or else we'll be stuck falling forever."
"Was there another riddle?" asked Yugi. "Do you remember it?"
Yami had to think hard for a few minutes to make sure that he got the words right: "What is greater than good? And worse than evil? The poor have it, The rich don't need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?" Yami shook his head. "At first I thought that it was my father, because I think that he's worse than evil but the rest of the riddle doesn't fit," said Yami in a feeble attempt to make a joke. Yugi managed a small smile but his brow wrinkled as he thought hard about the riddle.
"What is greater than good?" said Yugi out loud.
"Nothing's greater than good," replied Yami as he forced his brain to keep thinking.
"OK," said Yugi, "Can you think of anything that's worse than evil?"
"Other than my father, nothing," said Yami.
"The poor have it? Any ideas?" said Yugi.
"No, nothing," answered Yami sounding more useless every second.
"Come on Yami! We have to think! What don't the rich need?"
"I've got nothing," said Yami, his voice full of shame.
"Poison?" said Yugi a little absentmindly. "I mean if you eat it you'll die… but I…" Yugi began to gasp, "I... don't think that's the answer…"
Yami could see that Yugi was fighting to stay awake. "Yugi?" he asked his voice full of concern.
Yugi was whacking his brains to work. "Nothing is greater than good, nothing's worse than evil. The poor have nothing, and the rich need nothing. And…"
Yugi's eyes widened. "Of course! I'm such an idiot."
"What are you talking about?" said Yami.
"It was right in front of our faces and we didn't even think about it!" said Yugi smiling at Yami. "You already had the answer."
Yami stared at him, now clearly worried for Yugi's sanity. "What are you talking about?" he repeated. "I wasn't any help at all! I couldn't think of anything!"
"Not anything," said Yugi grinning in triumph. "But nothing!"
"Yugi," said Yami trying to help him come back to his senses. "I think that you've been through too much already and…"
"No!" yelled Yugi with more force. "That's the answer! Nothing is greater than good. Nothing worse than evil. The poor have nothing. The rich need nothing. And if you eat nothing, you'll die! The answer is NOTHING!"
As soon as Yugi cried out the last word… the wind stopped rushing pass them… they stopped falling… they were lying safe and sound on the stone floor. The Fourth floor.
How they had gone from falling, to lying safely on the floor, Yami had no idea.
He was lying with Yugi in his arms and was listening to the sound of his beating hard slow down to its normal pace.
Yami suddenly felt as if he had aged another few hundred years, and before he could stop himself, he felt his eyelids close as he fell into an uneasy sleep.
(I can be sooooo Mean, right? What do you think? how many more floors do you think there should be? and i've been having a lot of trouble updating my stories lately, and i sometimes have to update it several times to get it right so please just bear with me.)