"Dip this again, would you?" A soft, delicate voice asked gently.
The feeble sound of parting water dripped into his ears, like thick paint smearing down a mural. Almost instantly a contrasting coolness spread itself throughout his forehead, releasing refreshing droplets to run down his brow, across his cheeks and pour unto the crook of his neck.
Not before had he realized the burning sensation that prickled his skin, one that suffocated his breathing, his senses, for his eyes had no will to open, his mouth no will to speak.
His memories seemed distant now, irrelevant, his emotions the same.
"He doesn't seem to be recovering. What d'ya think we should do?" Asked the same voice.
A reverberating sigh seemed to be his only response as the surface around him shifted.
"Let him rest Yugi, only time will tell."
As the door shut quietly, Silver let out a shaky breath, not surprised when it didn't disturb the peace of the room surrounding her.
Fragile leavings of a child littered the many shelves adorning the dark walls, forgotten belongings stacked carefully amongst a wooden desk that stood opposite the large bed that Seto Kaiba currently occupied.
His shoes had been removed and placed neatly beside the bed, his coat hung limply from a small perch placed on the backside of the door.
After Yugi and a few of his friends carried him in, Silver had observed as the couple of look-alike boys emptied his few belongings onto a large nightstand, careful enough to not misplace a single thing.
She watched as the delicate fingers of a pretty brunette cleaned the dry blood that lined his features, exposing glowing pink scratches scattered across his solemn face. The friends whispered amongst themselves words of worry, words of speculation as the afternoon wore on without signs of consciousness.
They'd heard the news about Mokuba and intended on visiting Seto in the hospital, knowing that despite his off standing demeanor, he'd need them more than ever. Little did they expect the sight that greeted them.
Two uniformed men, thick and heavy, each with a meaty arm around Seto's thinly contrasting ones. His face was boiling red, swollen veins lining his neck, tears gently streaming from his eyes.
They watched incredulously as he was thrown against the rain soaked pavement, the sound that came from the collision uniquely grotesque, enough to harshly shut his eyes.
They rushed towards him and cradled him in their trembling arms before rashly deciding what to do.
The rest had been a blur to Silver, whose heart refused to calm its rustling insides as it inanely conjured the darkest of conclusions.
Silently she prayed, begged to an anonymous being that Kaiba would result alright, even if he never saw her again, even if she never felt him, all Silver needed was to know he was alive.
Her worst fears had vanished with the gang's first inspection of his body, though they lingered when he refused to awake despite their kindest efforts.
Solemnly they seemed to abandon hope, surrendering him to the awaiting claws of destiny.
And now she stood there, frightened and alone, wanting more than ever to lie by his side, to caress his skin and murmur the softest of syllables into his hair.
Shutting her eyes and taking in the same breath she let out, Silver began tracing a direct path towards the bed, her hollow footsteps unregistered to the carpet bellow.
His shattered breathing was the only sound that hung in the room, the muffled conversation that took place behind the door seeming almost ghostly to her ears, as ironic as it may be.
She stopped as she arrived at the foot of the bed, letting her eyes feverishly travel his face before she carefully released her body to the soft mattress, letting the proximity of Seto's body seep into her skin, anchoring her to the moment.
His chest slowly rose and fell as his breathing gave testament to his state, a sickly ivory hue crawling through his moist skin. It pained her to see him like this, to see a former glory fading away and giving in to a paling weakness.
A familiar sigh wove its way through her insides, one Silver was growing tired of tasting on her bitter tongue, yet it seemed to be her only companion in her hazy solitude.
As she shifted her body ever closer to Seto's, thoughts of remorse, of longing and grief began flooding her perspective.
All the harsh words, the vile tension, the spiking venom between the pair now seemed foolish, childish even. The longer she stared at his unmoving face the heavier her heart felt, heavy for being such a burden, for stepping into a situation she didn't know existed, for putting him and his family in danger, and most importantly, for bringing up his parents, the investigation, the murder.
She shuddered at the memory of the shock in his eyes, the flash of surprise that was quickly overtaken by pain, by an almost infantile fear, instantly waking her futile regret.
Who was she to break the news to him? Who was she to enter his life and disrupt it until she left it at its seams?
From the incidents with her father to the incidents with Skyelaar, from the state Mokuba was in to the state he was in and to top it all off, she had been the one to mention the murder, the crimes, the deaths.
It seemed that every dark speck of his life had turned into penetrating stains as soon as she showed up and now she wasn't very sure how she was going to wash them out, hell, she wasn't even sure she could.
As her thoughts went from unwoven strings to a never ending quilt of guilt she slowly realized why he despised her like he did, why he was reluctant to let her in when all she had ever done was bring trouble to his life.
A sad smirk tempted to cross her features when she remembered her vow to scrape against the ice he held firm around him, when she was set on finding him, finding his warmth, his heart beneath the layers of tar ridden indifference. That now seemed silly to her, after all, why would she of all people be the one to break through? He wanted nothing to do with her no matter how determined she was, no matter how much she cared.
Her rosy lips trembled as a promise ran through her heart, stating that if he awoke, if she were to live again and from Seto's lips came the command that he never wanted to see her again, she would vehemently understand.
Fresh tears began flowing from her pale eyes, tears of hurt, of pain. The kind of tears one sheds not from affection, not from love, not from passion, but from longing. That profound feeling a heart experiences when it's submerged into a sea, so close to touching the fragile bottom, yet so far from its tender entrails.
She cried and cried and cried, louder than she knew her throat could, harder than she knew her body could shake.
As her thin fingers clutched fervently, hopelessly at the bed sheets, other fingers wrapped themselves around the glimmering doorknob.
So wound up in her own dwelling, Silver failed to take notice of the man now entering the room, though the same cannot be said from his behalf. For as soon as the wooden door creaked open, her desperate wails reached his ear, her torn appearance pierced his amethyst eyes.
He watched as she gave in, letting her body slide from the bed until she was on the floor, on her knees, face in trembling hands.
He recognized her instantly as the new girl from school, indeed her identity was not what puzzled him.
What puzzled him was why she was knelled before Kaiba, crying her heart out. What puzzled him was what she was doing there, how she got in without anyone seeing her.
Despite his frantic questions, he made only one that truly mattered.
"Are you alright?" His deep, concerned voice resonated through the room, unsure of the propriety of approaching her.
Silver whirled around, her long locks floating in the sudden wind.
Her face had been tainted red, almost as if she had cried blood instead of tears, her pale, delicate skin had swollen with hurt. Her lips had stopped trembling with wails, insecurity taking its place.
Her eyes darted from herself to him in a mad frenzy as she tried to tie together the words forming in her mind, her hoarse throat barely murmuring the fragments of questions that fled towards her lips.
"Yo-you can see me?" She finally whispered.
Her question seemed to confuse the man before her, whose name she could not remember but face felt warmly familiar.
His brow furrowed as his eyes searched hers for an answer to her own question, his legs cautiously approaching her.
"Why wouldn't I be able to see you? You're standing right before me." He responded quietly, his inordinately calm voice sending spontaneous chills down Silver's spine.
As he neared her fallen self, she realized she hadn't an answer to his question, at least, not one that made sense, that contained sufficient logic to be truly believable, making her question, in a far corner of her mind, her sanity.
"I- I think that I'm…" She began, unsure of the path she should take, unsure of the amount of trust she could deposit in the man that now stood directly above her.
"You think you're what?" He asked, urging her with his tender eyes to continue.
"Yami, who are you talking to?" A voice sprang from the doorway accompanied by a series of curious eyes and curious faces all directed towards the spiky haired man.
"The new girl from school," he replied eagerly, "Your name is Silver, correct?" He asked as a kind hand reached out towards her.
Silver watched as the small group of friends exchanged confused glances, though it was the shorter boy who mirrored the man standing before her that spoke.
"Yami, there's no one there." He said, his voice gentle and soft though his face expressed concern.
"Of course there is Yugi!" Yami said loudly, an incredulous tone in his voice. "Why she's sitting right here, at the foot of the bed." He stated confidently, returning his gaze towards Silver.
The teens at the doorway murmured amongst themselves yet again, unsure of how to proceed, unsure of how to approach their friend's odd behavior.
Yami slowly knelt until he was face to face with Silver, concern taking over his wide eyes as he further examined her distraught condition.
He gently placed his hands on Silver's arms in a comforting sort of embrace, feeling her tender skin shiver beneath his fingertips.
"What's happened to you?" He whispered solemnly at the same time that a familiar glow began overtaking Silver's body.
Sudden gasps erupted from the group of friends as they watched in matched astonishment the light that filled the room, that blinded them for a mere seconds and greeted their eyes with the sight of the young girl, frightened and confused.
As he fear grew larger and larger her trembling gaze met Yami's understanding one, slowly nodding his head in familiarity as she broke down into tears once again and collapsed into his awaiting arms.
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