Hey, I'm back! :D
dragonwitch250, thank you for your kind words! Here's the next chapter! ;).
This chap will be a lot longer, but it's only on the next one that Seto and Yami actually met. Yami does appear here, but they don't interact that much. There will be a little amount of angst in this one, but don't get used to it because 90% of this fic will be pure fluff. I wish that there was a tag for fluff because that's what this fic is!
Warning: There is some bullying and cursing in this chap :\.
It's been eight days.
Eight. Freaking. Days.
He wasn't able to put even one piece of the damn puzzle together!
And he was feeling really bad because Yugi had come over several times just to search for the damn thing, but Seto wouldn't, couldn't let the little boy take the infuriating game away without him beating it! The only way that it would return to Yugi was completed, with no. Exceptions.
The young, happy boy had been really sad when he was visiting him in the last time. Seto hated to hide his beloved piece of ancient trash, but he just couldn't. He was betting his pride as a gamer in this stupid puzzle! Giving it away would be the same as giving up and he wouldn't. Do. Such. A thing.
Exhausted, the boy threw the damn gold box under his bed, then covered it with some clothes. It wasn't like he would die if he used the same clothes for a day or two.
A strange noise began to sound outside his room. It sounded like something was being bumped against the wall. Frustrated, the boy covered his ears with his pillow. He wanted to rest, dammit!
When the annoying noise didn't stop, the young man stood up, angry and ready to have a good talk with whoever was making so much noise. But by opening the door, the blue-eyed boy felt his heart stop.
"My brother didn't stole anything, I swear!" Screamed the small black haired kid, whose face was pressed against the concrete wall, blood dripping in strands from his tiny nose and curled mouth. His face was swollen and his formely pink eye was become a dark shade of purple, tears staining the corners of his cheeks.
"Leave him alone!" The older brother shouted without even thinking. All five boys turned to him. These idiots were some of the older guys from the orphanage. Seto and Mokie shared a room with them, but they tried to avoid meeting those stupid dogs just because they're assholes who usually beat the smaller kids for some reason. All of them were tall with huge muscles, and a small, thin child as Seto couldn't do much more than scratching one of them, and with the five together ...
Swallowing hard, the young kid prepared for a fight. Seeing his little brother in such a deplorable state infuriated him.
The five older boys laughed, and the bigger one continued to beat Mokie's face on the wall a few times, until the little boy went limp in front of his brother, one of the cuts on his forehead causing blood to quickly drip down from his face.
"STOP IT !" Shouted Seto, blindly rushing to rescue his little brother.
One of the monkeys caught him with ease. Laughing, he said, "Hey, isn't this the little shit that is stealing our personal goods lately?" The others looked at Seto, who was wriggling in the painful grip of the older boy.
"Yeah, that one." Pulling the smaller one by his hair, the leader of monkeys threatened: "You thought we didn't know that you take your brother's toys back every time we tore they out of his hands? We let you get away with it just because we only take these kind of things for fun, but you dared ... you dared to steal something that is worth more than your life or your stupid little brother's. "
He waved to someone behind Seto approach. The brown-haired boy opened his eyes to see his-no, Yugi's Puzzle on the filthy hands of one of the monkeys. The boy gritted his teeth.
Dropping Mokuba, who fell limply to the ground, the leader clucked his fingers.
"I think we'll have to teach you a lesson..."
The first punch plucked some of the little boy's baby teeth off. Seto scowled when he felt blood filling his mouth. They threw him violently against the wall and beat him until he was seeing stars. It was late, so there were no inspectors to stop what was happening. Or they simply didn't care. Seto lost confidence in them a long time ago.
When the young blue eyed kid stopped fighting back, they dragged him to the bathroom. Seto had conscience enough to hold the edges of the toilet bowl to try to stop them, but he was too weak and the monkeys were much stronger than him.
It was the most humiliating experience of his life.
Drenched and coughing miserably, the boy was brutally thrown into the supply closet, followed by the golden box.
"If you want both to solve this damn thing, you better do it until tomorrow morning. If not, your beloved little brother will lose a lot more than just toys."
And the door slammed. Hard.
He could hear the monkeys trapping him inside of the tiny room with something.
Trembling and humiliated, Seto looked at the box with disgust. This thing had caused more problems on some days than Mokie in five years, and the black eyed boy was a trouble magnet.
All he wanted to do was ruin the damn thing with his own hands, but Mokuba's security was on the line, so he forced himself to move to the golden object and gripped it, spilling its contents on the gray floor.
The huge diversity of formats still made no sense. The pieces didn't fit no matter how many times he tried. What this thing had against him? He was frustrated, tired and terrified. His hands were sweating so much that the gold pieces slipped out of his hands several times.
Suddenly, he began to feel ill. He had promised ... he had promised Mokie that he would protect him. That nothing bad would happen to him. That he would be strong for both of them.
All this would be lost because of a stupid game?
Seto cowered against the wall, still trying to fit two incompatible parts. His body ached with every move and he couldn't help but twist his nose with the nauseating smell of the mixture of dirty water and blood that pervaded his body. He was afraid. Terrified.
What if even if he could finish the damn puzzle, the monkeys decided hurt his brother anyway? What could he do to stop them? He was small, fragile and weak. What a useless guardian he was!
He wanted to be the best brother in the world. He wanted Mokie to have the happiest childhood on Earth. He wanted him to feel safe and happy. He wanted ... He just wanted ...
"Mommy ... daddy ..." He began to whimper. In his hands, rested half of the Millennium Puzzle. The pieces slid into place easily, as if they were just part of the simplest game in the world.
Burying his face in the golden artifact, tears began to flow from the boy's face. "Help me..." he murmured. "Help me..."
His hands continued to move.
"Help me ... I don't want ... I don't want to live like this ... I want ... I want to go home ..."
Click.
"Help me..."
Click.
"I want my mom ... I-I want my dad ..."
Click.
"I ... I just want someone to take us away from this hell ..."
Click.
Seto looked at the triangular object in his hands. Only the middle piece was missing. If he was in another situation, any other, he would have been overly happy. But now all he could manage was a slight smile on his face painted with tears.
Maybe ... just maybe ...
Carefully, he picked up the centerpiece. Feeling the pure gold with his fingers, he gently slid the last piece in place.
It fit in with a soft sound.
There was silence for a few minutes while Seto savored his little victory. But his small breakdown had left him without energy to celebrate this bittersweet win properly. Tomorrow he would steal some snacks and go to a secret picnic with Mokie, but now he just wanted...he just wanted to rest.
The blue-eyed boy could feel the weight of sleep dulling his members. Looking out the window, he saw that in a few hours the sun would rise.
"Damn it." He murmured sleepily. "I'll end up sleeping in class ..."
The soft, warm throb in his hands only intensified his sleep need.
Wait.
Seto almost jumped out of his skin seeing the pyramid in his hands glowing and pulsating with life. The pulsate reminded him so much of a human heart that he dropped the curio desperately, only to kick it away.
The Puzzle hit the wall, shaking and pulsing, an almost blinding light filling the dark room in seconds. Seto capped his eyes until the light decreased and looked at the place where the object used to be.
The triangular shadow behind the Puzzle writhed. It writhed and grew, a lot, taking a humanoid shape- with a spiky head. Two gigantic arms opened so the tips of its fingers could touch each side of the opposite wall- the wall where Seto had shrunk against.
The shadow occupied most of the small room, and the child regretted kicking the puzzle towards the door, because now he couldn't even try to escape this... Thing.
An eye terribly similar to the artifact's one opened where the creature's forehead should be, shining with a strong tone of golden. Followed by two huge almond-shaped yellow eyes, which even having no pupils were certainly focused on Seto like the eyes of a hunter are focused on its prey.
The thing stood still for a few seconds, staring at him. The blue-eyed boy's heart was beating desperately against his ribs, he was sweating cold and his eyes were wide to the max with fear. He was sure that every hair on his body was standing, and that he shouldn't have drunk so much juice at lunchtime, judging by the feel of a warm liquid flowing down his legs...
Great.
Wonderful.
As if his day wasn't already screwed up enough.
Suddenly, the thing started to peel itself off the wall.
The thing started to peel itself off the wall!
Seto was too terrified to scream or move. He just watched as the black creature gave up into being a shadow to become something more physical. Something... almost physical.
The bizarre body was made mostly of gas and dark goo. The creature moved awkwardly, trying to approach him. Seto didn't move until the thing was less than two feet away, because only the grotesque way it moved alone was enough to freeze the little kid to the bone.
Finally, adrenaline filled his limbs, and he got up to try to escape, but it was too late. In less than a second, the thing grabbed his head, and Seto could feel something being sucked out of him. The thing's golden eyes lost their luster, and the place seemed ten degrees cooler. "No, no, no no no no no no!" Screamed the boy when he was grabbed by the slimy being. The creature began to envelop him with its black body, pulling the blue eyed slowly, tortuously in. "Please stop! STOP! Oh no, no, no my brother! I-"
And everything went black.
I honestly didn't want to write the bullying part, but it was an absolute need to trigger the Puzzle's spell. I'm sorry if anyone was offended!
I see Seto as a kid who grew up too fast. I'm hoping to slowly avoid this with Yami's presence.
These bullies are in some serious trouble right now.