Dripping Wings

Dawn broke over the golden city of El-Ekehrah. Young rays of sunlight burned the few clouds in the sky a fiery orange-red. There was still a chill on the early morning air. Drops of dew still clung to the sand covered buildings.

Yuugi's hand clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword. He and Atemu were currently standing on the top of the tallest and, really, only tower of the palace. The view was spectacular, and Yuugi would have enjoyed it, if he weren't currently looking at the army that was ten-thousand strong as it walked closer and closer to the city's walls. They were less than a mile away.

It was a strange feeling that fluttered in his chest when he saw the first three rows of men simply fall away into the sands. He couldn't see very much, considering the distance, but the sounds of souls being ripped apart carried all of the way to the other side of the city.

Fear was permeating him. He didn't want to die.

The dark magicks that were being employed had the enemy lines in a swarm. Yuugi knew there were too many men and not enough traps to really stop the army, but it was putting a good dent in their front lines.

"The Goddesses will likely be angry at us for using these methods," Yuugi remarked.

Atemu shook his head. "The Goddesses don't care about any of that."

Yuugi looked at him curiously. "Why wouldn't they? I thought they banned dark magick."

Atemu smiled thinly. "No, they didn't. Lies and Wives' tales. Magick exists because of the Goddesses, it wouldn't make sense for them to ban a magick they created. Why would we even be born with the ability to use it?" He shook his head. "No, we made it illegal for us to use dark magick. It's like...a small child with a curfew. No one in the Divine City is allowed to be out alone after dark if they are under the age of ten. It's not a sin, or an act of evil for a child to be out alone at night, but it's dangerous, and it can lead to trouble. Dark magick is powerful, and useful, but it is very easy to abuse those spells. It was easier to simply ban them, then to deal with the consequences of misuse."

Yuugi nodded. "Makes sense, I suppose." He looked back at the Questchal army. "Our blood bond then..."

"Completely and entirely illegal. And also completely ignored by the Goddesses, because, technically, we didn't do anything wrong."

Yuugi sucked in a shuttering breath. The sun was getting higher. "I'm afraid, Atemu."

The King's eyes softened. "Oh, darling..." He wrapped his arms around Yuugi in a desperate hug. "This is not the end. After today..." he paused. Yuugi heard his breath catch. Atemu was born royalty, and while he had never hesitated to show his emotions to his Bonded, it was still difficult for him to truly break down, especially with his entire world resting on his shoulders that day. "After today, you're going to feel like you've been asleep in our bed for a while. Time will travel differently for you. By the time you wake up, I'll be there, and it won't feel like we've been separated at all."

Yuugi tried to picture sleeping in their bed again, without any cares in the world. "You make it sound so easy."

"It will be. I promise."

"How do you know what it's like on the other side?"

Atemu brushed a stray bang behind Yuugi's ear. "I have seen it. The memories of my ancestors are stored away in the Hall of Remembrance. Some of my ancestors have memories of the after life, and left the memories there for their descendants to see."

Proof was a nice thing, Yuugi realized. It was very reassuring, and comforting. But still...

"We're going to make history today," Atemu cut into his thoughts.

Yuugi chuckled. "I never thought making history would be so painful. I don't see the glory here, not the way the books always talk about the past. It's all so...I don't know what it is, but it's not great."

Atemu pulled away from him and kissed him. He did not comment. Instead, he allowed his conscious to brush up against Yuugi's, and all of the fear, doubt, confusion, pain, longing, love, and dread for his future alone was laid out before Yuugi's mind.

Indeed, how did one convey so much in just a few words? Yuugi didn't think it could be done.

"Your Highnesses."

They were interrupted by Marik, who had just walked through the door that led to the enclosed staircase down. Yuugi forced his emotions into the far back corner of his mind and locked them away. Hell, he wouldn't even be able to examine them later, so he didn't even bother to examine some of them as he pushed his thoughts away. It wouldn't matter about things forgotten. They wouldn't come back up again.

"Yes, Marik," Atemu responded.

"The evacuation is done. You're needed on the ground."

The horizon started to glow and unearthly red. The three of them up on the tower turned to look, and Yuugi saw for the first time the full manifestation of a Goddess on earth.

The Sekeshan army was lined up and stationed at their posts, awaiting the attack. Ahna, the Goddess of War, was blessing her soldiers before the battle.

Her mass of colors and energy was transparent and yet so bright up in the morning sky. She had no legs, no real body, but her face, her eyes, her hair, and her arms were visible. The rest was all swirls of energy and what looked like it could have been a dress that acted as if it was under the pull of an ocean current.

Her hair matched her eye color, which was a fuchsia so dark pink it was like bloodied rubies.

A swift wind blew across the city, and as the energy in the wind settled into the soldiers the image of the Goddess faded away.

This was the world he was fighting for. Yuugi was reminded of that as he felt the energy of the goddess seep into his soul. This world that needed the be saved, and he was going to save it. Perhaps I can do this after all.

"We're ready," Atemu said.

Yuugi smiled at Marik as he spread his wings. "I'll meet you guys on the ground."

Marik felt a little envious as Yuugi jumped onto the railing and dove out of the tower like a swimmer into water. Yuugi made flight look as easy as breathing.

Atemu really wanted to join him, but there were matters in the palace he needed to attend to before he could make it to the city walls proper. "Let's go, Marik. I expect to be fighting by breakfast."

"Yes, your Highness."

xxx

Bakura's tactics had worked exceedingly well. Questchal had not expected what was dished out to them. A quarter of them were dead, and at least half had been infected with some sort of malady. In at least another hour or so, they would be dead, too. If they held out long enough, there would only be a few hundred of them left, and would pose no threat at all.

Now if only there wasn't a flock of dragons the size mountains rabidly flying their way.

Not to mention they still hasn't done anything to the necromancers that were hidden within the army lines.

Bakura could wait on that, though. All he needed was a couple of corpses, and he'd be able to kill off the necromancers behind them.

The boom that resounded from the air as dragon met dragon could have crushed stone. Bakura's heart quivered with excitement. While he had no wish to die, he couldn't deny how much he loved a battle. The bigger, the better it was.

The Guardian next to him released an arrow that was charmed to take control of the enemy that it landed in. When the arrow struck one of the men that had ventured closer to the city's towering walls, he fell to his knees. His eyes went blank, then he got up without a word and began to attack the ones next to him.

His comrades killed him quickly with a swift sword to his neck, but he'd taken out a good dozen men before he died.

Absolutely perfect.

The archers from below knocked their bows, and on a call from their commander, released a torrent of arrows.

Bakura looked up as he erected a shield around himself and those close to him. The arrows blotted out the still new sun in the sky.

There were cries from around him as some of his brethren were struck down. Damn the perils of war. "Fire Gifted!" Bakura bellowed.

There were two dozen men and women lined up along the walls, and they nodded their ready. Bakura pointed downward. "Fire!"

Fire, indeed. It was a firestorm that was released. The heat was intense, and began to melt some of sands below.

Some men screamed, some shielded, and some used water gifts.

A mile down the wall, bright flashes of light sizzled and hissed as it was released. Lighting gifted released their element with an angry vengeance.

Then came the ladders, ropes, and more dragons with fighters in their talons. Bakura had to admit, he hadn't anticipated the enemy dragons picking up their own men and dropping them on the other side of the city walls.

He didn't start to worry about them until some of them started to explode around the soldiers that swarmed them, and some of them raised a few dead corpses up to fight for them.

Blood mages...! Inside the city walls!

Bakura also hadn't expected to Atemu to storm into view with fiery eyes and a glowing red sword raised. The armor and bandages that had been wrapped around Senke glowed a red darker than dried blood. As the Sacred pounded the Questchal soldiers into pudding, and as Atemu's sword cut through the blood mages, in the wake of their death a flurry of energy rose and soaked into the now blood covered sword and charmed armor of Senke.

He was employing the dark arts, too, and judging by the aura of those that followed him, so were the soldiers with him.

Perhaps Atemu wasn't the dimwit Bakura had originally pinned him as. So long as he kept using the dark arts well...

The ear-splitting cry of a dragon overhead caught the attention of those directly beneath it. It was a brown and splotchy red in color, like blood had been spilled into a pool of mud. It was carrying more blood mages in it's talons to drop onto those below.

Bakura whistled when he saw the brightly glowing figure of Yuugi as he flew on to meet the dragon. Yuugi punched the dragon in the head. The magick he used snapped in the air. The dragon's neck broke and it flew backwards. The giant beast landed on the wall of the city. Eight feet of stone broke under the weight, and the body of the beast fell down and back onto the Questchal front lines. Damn that boy is strong.

Three more dragons came to take its place.

As the battle raged, it seemed that the two sides were simply at a stale-mate. The walls did not move, and Questchal had no real advantage. Their lines were thinning, but they were far from diminished.

Yuugi was getting tired and, regrettably, quite bored, as he kept fighting off the same things. He had remained the the air the whole time, being the strongest force even among the dragon Sacreds that held the lines above the city walls.

He felt his heart shake when the earth below groaned under the onslaught of El-Ekehrah's walls crumbling to pieces. A gap in the wall fifty feet wide came into existence, and Questchal pounced.

Yuugi wasn't sure what had caused the wall to crumble, but it wasn't doubted that magick was involved. He watched as the Sekeshan forces inside the walls met the flow head-on. At the front of the lines, he could see a flicker of red as Atemu's cloak flapped in the wind behind him. His sword was raised, and he rallied his troops and they slaughtered their opponents. Yuugi felt a bit of pride swell within him. Atemu was a good and strong leader, and he would do fine without him.

Now if only they could stop this stupid war, then there wouldn't be anything for him to worry about.

He decided it was perhaps time for him to join the fight on the ground. He flapped his wings once more, then closed them and went into a graceful dive. He expertly dodged a few arrows as he made his way down. He smiled when he saw Astarte near the part of the collapsed wall, at the front of the fight even though he wasn't with her at the moment. He back-winged and kicked up dust as he came closer, and landed on her back easily. "Sorry I'm late, Astarte." He drew his sword.

His horse snorted as she reared and planted her hooves into the face of a brown clad soldier. :Better late than never. At least you made sure the enemy dragons are trying to stay well away from you.:

He laughed a little, and allowed his blade to get its first taste of blood that day as he beheaded a man coming his way with a double headed axe.

If anyone had told Yuugi Motou before he'd come to Sekesha that he would laugh about dragons fearing him and killing men without blinking, he'd have laughed for the sheer ridiculousness of a claim, then kindly pointed the individual to the nearest insane asylum.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when a terrible something stormed through the opening and exploded. Yuugi felt like he was watching a sick rendition of the movie 'Tremors,' for the earth moved and dust was kicked up in a cloud like a large creature was moving just beneath the surface. At the end of the it, the head of the 'creature' exploded. Bodies flew everywhere. Many of them had become dismembered.

Yuugi closed his eyes from the image and felt his body tremble with anger. He was sure, with the aura that the attack had sent off, that it was an earth gifted from the enemy lines that had casued the explosion.

And that's the way the next half hour of fighting seemed to pan out. Just as Yuugi felt they were starting to get the upper hand against Questchal, there would be another fallout, and all hell would break loose. He couldn't keep up, and neither could his comrades around him. At one point in time, Jono had called to him to join his ranks, and they created yet another front against the enemy lines. Yuugi was finding himself quite preoccupied with this task, and suddenly realized that the more they fought, the further they moved inside of the city. "We're losing ground!" he shouted to Jono.

The Cavalry Captain grunted as, in one flurry, three men dropped at his feet. "I know, I know! But would should we do?"

Yuugi looked around him and saw they were next to a large building with steps, and many goddess statues. He started to form and idea. "Get the archers!" he yelled.

Jono nodded and complied. In a few minutes, they'd hidden themselves among the statues and readied their charmed bows. He dismounted Astarte so that he could crouch and hide better.

At the moment, Questchal's lines were getting very close, but Yuugi was worried, because he knew they were going to run out of arrows sooner or later.

One man in particular got very close to the statues that everyone was using for cover. Just as his sword was about plunge itself into the heart of a Sekeshan archer, Yuugi saw the biggest shock of his life.

Hearing stone move was rather hard to explain, considering the fact that stone wasn't supposed to actually move. The statue that the archer was behind was in fact a statue of Kyanah, the Goddess of Love. The statue glowed a soft pink as the stone woman lifted her staff and knocked the head clean off the man's shoulders. Her face was expressionless as her feet left the place they'd been carved in and she wandered into the enemy lines and started to decimate them.

The other statues followed.

Yes, Yuugi was definitely shocked. So were the men and women he was fighting with. Even the incredibly tall status that towered taller than obelisks marched forward to the fight.

Yuugi realized that if the Divine City was ever attacked, the statues there would defend the city, too.

With a grin of triumph, he ran back into the fray and, noticing that Astarte was next to him, vaulted onto her back and started swinging his sword again. It felt good.

Yuugi felt a tremor deep, deep down in his soul, and somewhere far off, he heard Atemu yell out in pain.

Far off to his left, he saw his Bonded clutch as his shoulder and fall off of Senke's back. He'd been under a rain of arrows, and one had struck home. "No!!" he screeched. He heard Astarte screech in his mind as he stood on her back and used her height to propel him into the air.

A large, black dragon landed over Atemu and breathed out a torrent of fire at those that were trying to attack him, effectively protecting him. Yuugi flew over the dragon and dove down. In an expert bit of flying, he grabbed Atemu from the ground, went completely underneath of the dragon, and flew back into the air.

"Yuugi!" Atemu bellowed. The wind carried away most of his voice.

"It's all right, Atemu. I've got you." Yuugi landed just behind most of the fighting and started to attend to the wound. Luckily, thank the goddess luckily there was no God-Magick on this arrow.

"Yuugi, you shouldn't risk flying like that just to get to me. I would have been fine. There were at least six healers all within reach of me-ah!" He cried out in pain as Yuugi snapped the end off the arrow and started started to push it through.

"Hush, love, and don't give me lip. There's no way I'd leave you be when there's an arrow sticking out of your shoulder."

The King yelled again and clutched at Yuugi's arm as the arrow finally came free. Yuugi then began to proceed with applying his gifts and heal the wound.

Yuugi grinned as he got done and Atemu sat up all the way. "I swear, Atemu, I can't leave you alone for five minutes without something happening, can I?"

Atemu could only give him a half of a grin in response. "I'd punish you for your lip if we weren't currently knee deep in Questchal's blood."

Yuugi's eyes darkened at the reminder, but he stood up just the same and unsheathed his sword. "The battle is far from over."

As Atemu went to stand, the heavens screamed.

The sky was torn in two, and energy poured out in an angry fury. Yuugi stood stock still, though his arms and legs shook as he witnessed the heavens literally bleed out the angry monster that was hell-bent on destroying them all.

Atemu never really gave much thought as to what would have to happen for Yuugi to kill Enochnral, but the actual manifestation wasn't what he was anticipating. The God that came down looked much like a man, except for the fact that he was easily as large as the city his people were currently attacking. His head was bald, and his eyes were so dark a brown they were nearly black. His skin was as brown as his people.

The Questchal army below seemed to gain a strength that no man or woman could possess, and in the presence of their god, they began to demolish the Sekeshan army

Yuugi covered his mouth to contain his panicked cry. Atemu went to grab him and hold him close, but he never got the chance.

Yuugi shook his head to put his thoughts back in order, and was up in the air before Atemu could pull him back down. "Yuugi, no!" he called.

Now that it had come down to it, he couldn't bare to watch it happen.

Against a God the size a mountain, one tiny speck of light lifted into the air and hovered defiantly in front of him. Enochnral yelled out in anger, and the remaining walls of El-Ekehrah crumbled. He moved and arm back and released a fist in Yuugi's direction.

The clash of one mighty fist and one tiny Assai brought both armies to their knees. The ground quaked beneath their feet.

Everyone heard Yuugi scream as he gathered his energy and sent it Enochnral's way.

Yuugi's attack never diminished. Around him three spectral figures began to appear. Walls of silver, gold, and platinum glowed around him and encircled him. Atemu's eyes focused, and saw the Three Sisters faintly in focus within those walls of light. When they extended their arms and forced their energy into Yuugi, his heart sunk.

This was it. It was truly the end.

Yuugi was nothing more than their conduit as they pumped their energy into him and, through him, forced it into Enochnral.

Anzu and Ryou were near Atemu when the fit began. As Yuugi's life was drained into the attack, Atemu clutched at his heart and fell to his knees.

"Your Highness!" Anzu cried and landed at his side.

Atemu screamed and crumbled fully to the ground. Ryou was next to him and tried to use his gifts to keep him calm.

"Ryou, what's happening?" Anzu asked in hysterics.

The Healer broke into a sweat as he tried to contain the King. "The blood bond is breaking!"

"Yuugi!" Atemu screamed again. His eyes were squeezed closed, and still he clutched at his chest as though someone had ripped his heart out.

Almost in response, from above, Yuugi's scream, fueled by the magick of the Goddesses, filled every ear and building of El-Ekehrah.

Red energy danced around Atemu and hissed loudly. His body convulsed beyond his control as the magick seized control of him and poured agony through his veins.

There was a cry from Enochnral as he started to fade. Ryou had thought it would be more earth shattering as the god began to die, but instead, it was a quiet fading that started to erase him from existence.

No, the loudest noise at the moment was Yuugi as he continued to scream. Many people were clutching their heads to cover their ears from the painful noise. It was deafening, heart breaking, and quite literally painful. Many had blood oozing from their damaged ear drums.

It was probably only a heart beat later, but if felt like a lifetime, when the screaming died away. Enochnral gave one last groan of effort before he faded away. The three lights in the sky faded away as well, leaving Yuugi hanging in the sky for a short breath, before his limp body began to fall to the ground.

Ryou did not have the heart to hold Atemu back as the King pushed through his terrible pain and, as he released his wings, he headed skyward. He caught the body of his now dead Bonded halfway to the ground. He landed as quickly as he could and held Yuugi's body close.

The sand covered ground beneath the feet of the remaining Questchal soldiers crumbled inward. It was with a great shock as everyone watched the last of the Questchal army fall into the earth and disappear, the ground having swallowed them all whole.

There was no enemy left.

There was also no more Yuugi. He had died. Atemu wailed in misery as he held the now cold body close to him. His body was still mostly numb from the pain of the blood bond breaking. He could barely feel the body in his arms, but he didn't care about any of that. The gaping whole where his heart had once been hurt more than anything else.

Yuugi could not even tell Ryou that his friend had lied, for dying had been painful. More painful that anything he'd ever felt in his life.

Atemu was lost in his own world as those around him started to move and pick up the pieces. He didn't see as someone magicked over the body of Astarte next to him to rest alongside Yuugi. Atemu didn't know that she'd died protecting them as Yuugi healed the King's wound. He didn't even know that Senke was next to him, terribly wounded.

Helios and Velinah? Not even a flicker in his mind, even though Velinah was missing half of her left wing, and Helios's tale had been sliced down to the bone.

It was a good two hours before he had the voice to tell Marik that he was going back to the Divine City immediately, and he was going to bury Yuugi before he did anything else.

Marik nodded his understanding, and decided that he would tell Atemu later that Jono's body was also lying next to him, and would be transported back to his home city for burial with the rest of his fallen brethren. Later, when Atemu's heart could take it.

If it could take anything more than it already had.

xxx

For those of you that might leave a story after one of the main characters has died, I urge you to stay with me. I promise that you will miss the best part of the story if you quit now. There is much more to come! -SilverLily aka Blood Moon