First of all, I am extremely sorry that I took so long to update. I know that I said it might be long, but I didn't expect to take such an eternity to do so. I want to thank, from the very bottom of my heart, the visitor Rhyfedd for their lovely comments. Even though very short, I absolutely adored every single one of them and they breathed life in this almost defunct story. It was because of them that I was inspired to continue, and I am very glad that I did because I still love this idea to no end. You have all of my love, friend. This insanely big chapter is dedicated to you.
"What do you mean you 'can't feel him'?!" Seto said, glaring at the spirit on top of him. They were having such a good time, kissing and caressing, what was this all of a sudden?
Yami's face turned into a frown.
"It means that Mokie has either fainted, or cut me off." The translucent ghost whispered, horror quickly filling his face. "Mokie NEVER cuts me off." He continued.
Kaiba was starting to freak out.
"What the hell happened to him?! Isono better take care of himself because when I get my hands on him I'll-"
"We should go search for him. RIGHT NOW." Yami stated, arising from his place over Seto's chest.
The CEO fiercely agreed.
They ran out of the room Seto had awoken in a few hours earlier and dashed through the corridors. Kaiba asked everyone around for Mokuba and Isono, ignoring the screams and desperate questions from the people who just saw him in a coma a few hours ago.
Seto ran to his office, falling heavily to his chair. He just had to open his computer to receive a huge message flooding his screen.
"Duelist Kingdom, huh." He muttered. Yami was peeking over his shoulder, and he instantly growled at the castle on the promotional ad that popped up.
"Pegasus." Hissed the spirit, his entire form wavering in the air to express his distress. "I was hoping we'd be able to avoid him for other three years or so."
"In our wildest dreams, Yami. That bastard has been trying to take over KC since we've first met. The only way to get him out of our lives is to have him nice and dead."
"Well, we'll have to take care of that, shall we." The growl was deeper and colder than Seto expected it to be. Looking over to Yami, a smile grew on his face.
The ghost had his fingers embed on the hard, dark-wood table, red eyes glimmering with pure fury. Seto was having a hard time containing his excitement. Yami was apparently going back to his violent roots and this would help a lot in their fight against Pegasus.
He finished collecting the needed data and turned the computer off before grasping his briefcase tightly. Looking over his spirit, they nodded to each other and ran out of the building.
They jumped in the helicopter that was just landing from it's morning flight, Kaiba already barking orders to the two goons inside.
They were going to Duelist Kingdom.
"How is Yugi-boy doing?"
"He's working his way through the competition pretty well. Hasn't been defeated yet, not even once."
"I guess it's to be expected." Sighed the white haired CEO, toying with his wine. "It would be a shame if the person who relieved Seto Kaiba from his title was a mere impostor."
"That boy is using a very different style than the one he used in his fight with Seto Kaiba though, Sr. We're not able to wrap our minds around this. Do you think he'll make it to the finals?"
"Who knows..."
The man's cold eyes focused on the boy in the screen. The kid was laughing at his friends, and opened a big smile once the blonde one wrapped his arm around him.
"Who knows..."
A bulky man ran towards Pegasus' table, panting. He nervously asked for the CEO's attention and said:
"I don't think that our guest enjoyed his new room..."
The brown eyed man laughed happily, taking a sip of wine.
"So, he escaped. We should've given the kid more credit. His older brother has always been a stubborn one, it isn't a stretch to assume that he would be the same way."
A bite out of the creamy, expensive cheese. Yet another sip of wine.
"Send the Player Killers after him. Warn all of the security guards responsible for the boats. It doesn't matter if he escaped the tower- we're on an island, and if he can't get in the boats, he can't get out."
"Y-Yes, Mrs. Pegasus!" The man exclaimed before running off to follow the orders.
Before the CEO could even take a sip on his wine, another man rushed in, making Pegasus sigh.
"Mrs. Pegasus! Kaiba has landed on the island and he's threatening the entire staff with a weird holographic monster!"
These words made Pegasus frown deeply, they his eyes started to shine.
Laughing, he brushed his employee's worries off.
"I'll make contact with him. In which room he is right now?"
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS! I SWEAR!"
"Cut the bullshit, butler. Pegasus is stupid enough to hide a kidnapped kid on his mansion and we know it. Do you want to have your members chopped off that badly?" Kaiba whispered darkly, applying more pressure to his briefcase. The poor man was yelping in terror now, trying to use his hands to push the sharp, metallic case out of his neck but to no avail. A translucent figure was sitting on his back, red eyes shining with rage. Yami had dark, thick tentacles growing out of his back, all wrapped around the butler's members. He also applied pressure, making the man scream.
A loud tingling sound distracted them from their business and made them look towards the huge TV in the room. It lightened up, and soon a familiar face appeared on the screen. Yami retrieved his tentacles and immediately went completely translucent once again. The butler tried to push against Kaiba's briefcase, but was too weak to do so.
"Oh, Kaiba-boy… figures that you'd enter through the front door."
"Tell me where he is, Pegasus. Right now."
"Oh, such rudeness. You aren't even participating on the tournament, why should I bother talking to you?"
"I guess the safety of your employees doesn't concern you at all."
"Please, Kaiba-boy. We both know that the sacrifice is worth it, don't we?"
The blue-eyed teen growled and lifted his foot from the briefcase. The man under it pushed it away from him as fast as he could and ran out, hands wrapped tightly around his bleeding neck.
"Ohohohohoh, I can't believe my eyes. What changed your mind, Kaiba-kun? The you I know would have broken that man's neck without hesitation or remorse the moment you realized he was useless to your objectives."
"I don't have time to waste. What the fuck do you want from me?"
"This is a tournament island, Kaiba. You can't just stroll in and get the prize of my attention while everyone else is working hard out there. Collect ten star chips and come talk to me again."
Pegasus' eyes filled with malicious glee.
"You know, I heard that the current Duel Monsters Champion is participating. I assume you want your title back, eheh. Since you're going to try and win ten start chips, you better go after these guys, because the finalists are already almost all decided. If you don't get ten star chips soon, you're done for, Kaiba boy." Laughed the white haired man before turning off.
Kaiba was silent for some minutes before finally getting up. Yami floated behind him, his translucent form wavering with rage.
"Aibou."
Seto stopped immediately at the sound of Yami's deep voice echoing around him. He turned his head around, slightly annoyed at the precious seconds they were wasting.
"You can't- you can't be serious." The ghost forced out, floating on front of the brunette. Yami opened his arms. "We can discover where Mokuba is and get the hell out of here, Seto! We just have to find Pegasus and I'll make him talk for you!"
"I also have to recover my title, Yami."
"You can do that later! Yugi is not going to disappear and leave you unable to fight him again, Kaiba."
"You, from all people should know that I don't want to fight Yugi."
Huge, shocked red eyes stared back at him. Yami's entire form wavered.
"But I do need him if I want to properly fight you."
The spirit was speechless. Kaiba let out a small smile.
"But you're right. We have to focus on our priorities."
Kaiba put a hand over Yami's shoulder. It was almost like his spirit was actually there.
"Let's find him, Yami."
Yugi finally entered the castle, looking around for any hint of the person who kidnapped his grandpa and forced him to come here.
Pegasus.
He was nowhere to be seen- actually, the staff of the place was running around desperately, screaming and carrying things to a place to another.
"This is the worst reception ever." Commented Anzu, wide eyed.
Yugi could only nod in concordance until a peculiar vision captured his attention. He gasped.
"P-Pegasus!"
All of his friends turned to where he was looking at and gasped in unison. Jounouchi was the first to act and run to the unconscious man.
"Pegasus! Oi! Where did you hide Yugi's Grandpa, you bastard?!"
"J-Jounouchi… I don't think he can answer us." Ryou muttered right behind them, hands pressed tightly on the Ring under his T-shirt. He couldn't help but feel that he was responsible for this somehow.
"W-What are those dark marks on his arms?!" Honda exclaimed, moving as far as he could from the immobile body.
Yugi's eyes got impossibly wide. These were…
"HEY! GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
The crew immediately stepped away from Pegasus, allowing the staff to step closer and grab the CEO.
Pegasus was carried away. Yugi turned his head as far as he could to see if the CEO was hurt and when he saw the man's face, shivers ran through his spine.
The golden eye he was famous for was nowhere to be seen, leaving an empty eye socket behind. The blood soaking the American's face and the several bruises and burns on his arms made an awful feeling settle on Yugi's stomach.
All of this was weirdly familiar.
"OI! WHAT ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT? AND THE PRIZE MONEY?!" Jounouchi screamed at the swarm of doctors and guards.
"Both are canceled! All duelists are being send home in the ship right now. You better go fast or you'll lose the ship and we aren't responsible for it." One of the members of the crew screamed back.
"WHAT!? There's no way we'll get there in time!"
The staff disappeared through the several doors, not answering a word. Jounouchi was and ready to run after them but Honda stopped him.
"We have to get out of here!"
"But- the prize money! What will happen to Shizuka?!"
"We'll have to figure something out, Katsuya! We won't help her in any way if we get stuck here for who knows how long!"
Hearing these words made Jou back off from his behavior, but just slightly. He was still stressed and still crossing his arms tightly against his body.
Honda patted him on the shoulder.
"C'mon dude. Let's get out of here. We're going to find another way and I know it, ok?"
Hesitantly, Jounouchi let his arms fall to his sides. "Okay..." He muttered.
The other three friends were watching the scene with sad eyes. Anzu and Ryou approached to try and cheer Jou up awkwardly. Yugi stood still, dying to comfort his friend but also very worried about his grandpa. Since Pegasus was dead, does that mean that his soul returned? And still, there was Mokuba. He was a good kid and he was trapped somewhere in his dungeon, without anyone to help him out since Kaiba was in a coma. Yugi felt partially responsible for the boy's troubles... he couldn't just leave like that.
"Guys, I'm sure we'll make it out of this island and we'll help Shizuka for sure, but. You all should run and try to catch up with the ship while I look for Mokuba, it'll be easier that way."
The crew looked hesitantly at Yugi, but compiled. Splitting the group in two, three of them went to catch the ship and Yugi, Honda and Jounouchi stayed so they could look for Mokuba in the enormous mansion.
As soon as Anzu stepped out, she and Mai heard a deafening sound coming from the sea.
"Oh no... no!" Anzu brought her hands to her mouth.
Mai glared at the sailing ship, which was already far away from the island.
"Well. I guess we'll be stuck here for a while."
Anzu looked around, almost desperate to find some sort of miraculous way for them to be able to go home. A shining light caught her attention.
"What is that?" She signaled to the blonde woman next to her. Mai squinted at the glowing object and her eyes filled with delight.
"That's our way home. Let's get back inside and find who owns this thing!"
An interesting symbol on the side of the vehicle immediately caught her attention and the purple eyes filled with confusion.
"Isn't that a helicopter from KC?"
The girl gasped in surprise before looking to the machine again, now noticing the shiny "KC" symbol over the side.
"Kaiba..." Muttered Anzu with a deep frown. "If he's our only way out it's quite likely that we'll end up here regardless."
Mai looked at her without understanding.
"Kaiba may be an asshole during duels but he's a respectful business man and really loves orphan children. Give him a little more credit, Anzu. I bet we can convince him to give us a ride with some careful steps, he isn't THAT cold hearted."
Anzu simply tightened her lips in a straight line, using all of her self control to not flood Mai's ears with the Death-T disaster.
"Well... he's our only way out. Let's get back inside and see if we can find him there."
After roaming the entire mansion, Yugi, Jou and Honda managed to find the stairs leading to the underground dungeon.
"MOKUBA!" Yugi called out. His voice echoed through the stone corridors. He heard a weird sound echoing back and stopped on his tracks.
Jou and Honda slid to a stop beside him, almost falling over with the sudden break.
"Yo, Yugi, what the hell was that about? !"
"I heard... I-I think I heard- "
Another growling scream made it's way through the dungeon. The entire building seemed to shake under the sheer intensity of the sound. The three boys clamped their hands shut over their ears and crouched down to the floor.
"What the hell is happening?!" Jounouchi screamed in between the roars. He was so done with all of this.
Yugi forced himself to get up once the loud screaming finally stopped and he ran as fast as he could to the source of it, ignoring Honda's and Jou's shouts asking what he was planning to do.
As he approached the source, he could hear something other than growls and screams- there was banging on the walls, gunshots and the walls seemed to tremble more and more the closer he got.
He came to a stop in front of a huge room. It had two iron jails on it's back, one of which was opened. The other one had it's rusty bars melted down, liquid iron spreading on the floor beneath.
Yugi's eyes widened at the two dark creatures fighting on the stone walls.
Using their long, sharp claw-like fingers to crawl over the walls, the ghosts were launching themselves at each other. One had bright yellow eyes and a huge golden mouth. A thick liquid was dripping out of it, burning holes into everything it touched. The other one had sharp, pure white eyes and several shiny holes all over it's body. Biting and scratching, they were the source of the hellish screams echoing through the dungeon.
"Yami!" Yugi called out, shivering when the other creature launched itself towards his friend, sharp fangs diving in Yami's neck. Yellow poured from the wound as another deafening scream filled the place.
Several loud bangs followed right after, each shot sending disfigured pieces of dark matter into the air. It was almost like white blood was raining from the ceiling.
The injured ghost roared, making the entire dungeon tremble under it's pained sounds. Yugi finally realized that the holes all over the creature's body weren't natural, and rather bleeding wounds from being shot over and over again. Who was doing that?! Where the hell were they?
Enraged eyes turned away from Yami and focused in a certain point on the ground. Yugi followed the gaze and gasped in horror.
A wounded Kaiba was laying on a pool of thick, dark red liquid, blue eyes fazed in pain. A hand was wrapped tightly over his abdomen, barely covering the three deep cuts in his flesh. His other trembling hand was stretched out in the air, holding a gun as if his life depended on it. He was still attempting to fire at the creature, but instead of deafening shots, only soft clicks emanated from the weapon.
The enraged spirit gave Yami a last slash to his face, throwing the smaller ghost across the room. He was smashed against a wall and melted down completely, leaving only the tiny translucent form of Yami behind. When was he able to switch between forms?
Yugi was rooted on a place, unable to get closer and try to help them, he had no idea how to. Yami was immobile, Kaiba was bleeding his guts out, he could see a small black-haired child trapped inside the one jail that wasn't melted down and the shock was so big that he couldn't move.
The disgusting white yet black form approached Kaiba with a sly smile on it's disfigured face. The CEO was fighting for air on the ground, empty eyes looking up, blood dripping down his chin.
"YUGI!"
He snapped out of it once Jou's voice filled his ears. Jounouchi and Honda were looking for him, he knew it from their calls. But he couldn't go back now. He had to do something, or he'd see Kaiba die in front of his eyes. Grabbing the first thing he could reach, which turned out to be a turned metallic briefcase sitting close to the wall, he ran to the creature and launched the object as hard as he could.
It didn't fly as far as he wanted.
The case hit the ghost's lower jaw, opening and releasing several rare cards to the ground. A golden item also fell from it's insides and landed right next to Kaiba. He looked at it, still fighting to breathe.
Yugi's eyes widened and he ran away screaming when the disfigured spirit turned to him, ready to kill. He disappeared into the corridor and the monster followed, enraged beyond reason. They disappeared into the darkness.
Seto carefully took the item beside into his hands, blurred blue eyes gazing at the tiny, translucent form across the room. Dropping the gun he had into a death grip, he held the pyramid with tender hands before taking a painful deep breath and throwing it as far as he could.
It landed right in front of Yami.
After some uncertain minutes, a bright light emanated from the Eye in the Puzzle. The light enveloped the frail, transparent shape.
Red eyes opened once again.
With a teary smile, Seto finally allowed himself to fall into unconsciousness.
"JOUNOUCHI-KUN, HONDA-KUN, RUN! RUN!" Yugi screamed out at the worried boys that ran in his direction.
"What?" Jou called out, confused brown eyes warming when he saw that his small friend was safe and widening once said friend ran right past him.
"Yugi?" Honda asked, turning back to see a huge amorphous monster crawling in their direction. Fast.
He let out a shrieking scream and was soon followed by Jou as they ran deeper into the dungeon behind Yugi in search of the exit.
Warm. It was so warm. Warmer than he had felt in a long while now.
Nuzzling the source of such a pleasing heat, Seto realized it smelled like a weird, spicy smoke. A wave of child-like happiness and nostalgia filled him to the core and he buried his face on the soft, goo-like thing enveloped around him. He felt so safe. Like nothing could ever harm him while he was like this. Such a old... odd feeling.
He was so happy.
A loud purring tickled his body and forced his eyes to open up. Darkness was all around him. So comforting. But not nearly as pleasing as the beautiful golden eyes right above, the silly, toothed smile that he remembered oh so fondly from long ago.
"Yami..." He muttered, moving to touch the three deep cuts in his abdomen and realizing with no surprise that they were nowhere to be seen. With a soft laugh, he pushed the ghost away so he could get up. He was immediately stricken down once again by a dark-haired silhouette.
"Nii-sama!"
"Mokuba..." Seto forced out, breathless. Putting his arms around the small, trembling frame, he sighed loudly in relief.
Their spirit made happy bubbling sounds at the sight. Yami then wrapped himself around the two brothers in a warm embrace, sadly being interrupted by loud screams coming out of the dungeon.
The spirit immediately recognized Yugi's scream in the cacophony of sounds and stood upright. Kaiba, now completely healed, soon followed, putting Mokuba down.
He looked up into Yami's worried yellow eyes and sighed.
"Go." He muttered. His ghost turned to him with a puzzled expression.
Kaiba held the Puzzle that was hanging from his neck, presumably put there by Yami himself and took it out, handing it to his spirit. Turning his back to Yami, the CEO said once again…
"Go. I'll take care of Mokuba and take him to the helicopter outside. The old man's soul has been released as well so we have nothing to do here. If you aren't there in less than half an hour, I'll go back after you. So go. Don't waste any time."
Yami let out a huge golden smile and dashed to the dungeon, following the signals his friend was sending him. He grasped the Puzzle in a tight grip as he crawled through the corridors.
"Yugi!" Jounouchi called out. The smaller teen was flinching as he tried to keep running, too tired to keep up with the former gangster. Swearing under his breath, the blonde slowed up his pace, grabbed Yugi by the torso and shoved him on his back. Yugi instinctively grabbed onto him, too tired to do anything else.
Honda was right beside them, frustrated with how Yugi's extra weight had slowed Jou down a considerable amount. The ghost was still chasing them down and they weren't going to escape in this pace. They were all going to die.
Desperate, he thought of the only chance they could have in this situation and made a sharp curve to the left, hoping that Jounouchi would have enough stamina to follow him back to the Paradox brothers. These guys- or at least the doors Kyu and Mei were their only choice.
Jou let out a loud, sharp gasp behind him and Honda found himself wondering how long they would last. A flash of orange and green passed by his field of vision and he made a sudden stop, entering that corridor. An exhausted Jounouchi soon followed, collapsing against a wall and letting Yugi go.
They heard a loud roar just some corridors away.
"C'mon, Jounouchi!" Screamed Honda, shaking his partner around. Puffing, Yugi opened his eyes and slowly got up, looking around in a confused daze. With a slap, Hiroto managed to catch Jou's attention and the blond got up on trembling legs.
"Honda-kun! We can use these doors to our advantage!" Yugi whispered. "That monster kept clashing against the walls and losing sight of us. He has never been in this labyrinth at all and if we can trick him into coming here, we can use these to knock him out!" The boy continued, excitedly testing out the doors.
"That's what I thought." Honda exhaled, trying to keep Jou up. The roar was now right beside their ears.
"We have to think quick." Jounouchi pointed out, moving towards the doors. Yugi bravely stood in front of him.
"I know I know what to do."
The ghost with white eyes was struggling to run through the corridors with his enormous size. Knocking entire walls down, he was finally able to smell the annoying teenagers he was out to rip into pieces.
A earthshaking roar was emitted from his throat, when he localized a small, tricolor haired boy fallen on the ground. He trotted to the small body, ready to pierce his dagger-like teeth on flesh when the teen suddenly stood up and ran.
"You're not getting away from me!" The amorphous form screamed, now running after the infuriating human. How dare this kid attack him like that? He'll make sure to break every single one of his bones and rip them apart once he gets his hands on him-
Yugi made a sharp turn on a corridor, soon being followed by the melting spirit. As soon as Yugi passed by the second door, Jounouchi kicked it open from the inside. The ghost slammed right onto it, his screams of pain making the entire place shake.
Honda opened the first door right when he heard the scream, squishing the lower part of the monster's body against a wall. It screeched again, dazed and furious. The three teens started to run away from the thing, hoping that it's injuries would slow it down enough for them to escape.
But they miscalculated their plan. Three thick tentacles wrapped around them, pushing them right back. The ghost was seeing red as it shoved Yugi's small body into it's toothed mouth.
Before Yugi could hit the acidic white liquid, something cut the tentacle holding him in half. Screeches filled the corridors as white blood spread everywhere, making the evil spirit look almost gray in nature. Yami was there, open mouth agape as he roared with anger at the ghost under him.
Noticing the golden pyramid on Yami's chest, the other spirit laughed.
"Oh, so you finally got the source of your power back. Maybe now you'll be somewhat of a challenge."
A huge, toothed smirk opened on the white ghost's face.
"Yami no Game."
"Yami is taking way too long." Seto forced out, stressed at this entire situation.
"C'mon big bro, it's been ten minutes. Have faith in him!" Mokuba tried, hoping to cheer his brother up. Seto seemed to relax for a bit, but then tensed up once again and started walking in circles.
"Big bro…" Mokuba tried again. "Yami will definitely warn you through your link if he needs help, ok? Please stop worrying…"
"You're right…" Muttered Kaiba. He was about to go back to the helicopter when a huge wave of pain hit him fast and hard. His eyes widened and he immediately rushed back inside the castle, ignoring Mokuba calling his name right behind him. He reloaded his gun on the way, ready to kill off whatever had troubled his precious ghost.
The panting CEO finally arrived to the place where Yami's overwhelming waves of pain were coming from. Blue eyes got impossibly wide when Kaiba finally found his spirit.
There was a battlefield in the long, stone corridor. Yami had his adored Dark Magician by his side and two facedown cards. His opponent had the Man-Eater Bug on attack mode by his side, no trap cards. Judging by the look on his face, Yami was about to deliver the final blow.
Seto noticed that his spirit was back to his smaller, human-like form, red eyes shining with rage. He looked…. Almost solid. Looking around, Seto could find the blonde and the other friend around, but… no Yugi.
Rage quickly began to grow in Kaiba's chest, but he controlled himself. Yami was in danger. That was his priority right now.
"You are cheating, Bakura!" Yami screamed at the white haired teen on the other side of the duel field. There seemed to be something weird about him. He had large, scared brown eyes and was struggling and shaking his head. Squinting, Seto soon found out what the heck was wrong with the teen's figure…
There seemed to be a disfigured ghost right behind the brown-eyed boy. It let out a horrible, white smile.
"I'm not committing the same mistake from Monster World, Pharaoh. Attack and kill us both or be devoured by the shadows. Your choice."
A maniac laughter filled the corridors, as if the spirit knew that he had this victory in the bag. Yami was flinching, and Kaiba knew that he wouldn't attack just from the look on his face. Dark, ominous shadows were crippling up his lover's ankles and rising up, grasping them in a tight grip. The fiery red eyes soon got blurred with pain. He seemed so defeated, uncannily staring onto space and moving his mouth as if he was speaking with some invisible entity and discussing what would happen to him, what he should do in such a situation.
Yugi.
That made it for Seto, and he grasped the gun on his belt.
Screeches of pure pain filled the dungeon, mixed with frail human screams. Seto suddenly found himself being constrained. Enraged, he realized that the blonde and the other guy had him in a tight lock, so he fought violently to be released and to keep shooting the spirit behind that white haired kid.
Yami was now looking at him with wide red eyes that filled up once again with determination. He soon realized that he was now free from the shadows grasping his feet and ran towards Bakura, fighting with the injured monster for Ryou's unconscious body. He was sure that Kaiba had accidentally shot Ryou's arm at least once, so he had to get a hold of him and fast.
Too wounded to fight back, Bakura lost his host's body as soon as Jounouchi and Honda joined in to pull Ryou away. While the two took the white-haired teen somewhere safe, Yami left Yugi's body and took the Puzzle back from the dizzy teen. Looking at each other, they nodded in sync and Yugi immediately went back to help Ryou out. Yami quickly enveloped his body with darkness, turning yellow in coloration and growing exponentially in size while Bakura was still fighting to take the bullets out of his body.
With a ferocious bite, he was sure that he got the other spirit in a death hold. Bakura's claws where digging on his sides, drawing out precious yellow blood and making Yami whimper in pain as he applied more force on the other's neck.
His eyes shot wide open when he heard Seto's gun shooting again and again. He apparently didn't want Bakura to leave this palace alive.
Soon, the bigger ghost stopped fighting and melted down in a pool of black and white. Yami fell onto it, exhausted beyond reason and mixing yellow blood on the gooey pool. Kaiba was on his side almost immediately, holding onto his side and whispering comforting words on his ear.
"I'm sorry…" Whispered the ghost, in a breathy manner. Seto held him even closer.
"Sorry for what ...?"
"Bakura... I didn't... mention him before. I was… hanging out with Yugi and his new friend once, and he appeared and tried to kill us."
Coldness filled Seto's body entirely.
"You knew him? Before that, even? He looked... uncannily similar to you."
Yami looked down.
"I… don't... know… I don't... remember…"
Caressing his lover's body, Seto buried his face on Yami's hair.
"It's ok."
They stayed like that for some minutes before finally deciding to go back to the helicopter. As they were getting up, though, Yami realized that he was stuck under the pool of goo under his claws.
"S-Seto! Get away from here!" He screeched, trying to pull himself out by attempting to go back to his translucent form. It didn't work. Kaiba let out a gasp and immediately fell onto his knees to help his ghost out but it was in vain. In his despair, he kicked something in the pool of white and black. Turning around to look at it, he saw a circular object with a glowing eye in the middle of it.
Grasping it with both hands, he attempted to throw it far away but it teleported right back, glued to Yami's body. He was about to pull it out when smoke was gushed out of the Eye, filling and growing inside the room. It took form, morphing into a huge beast with red eyes and a strong, muscled body. It grew until the ceiling was threatening to fall over their heads.
A clawed hand gripped Yami's body as if he was a soft, rubber toy.
"So we meet again, Pharaoh… breaking the rules of a shadow game, having your little lover kill off my most loyal servant for you, because you couldn't erase a simple host. You must have been dying to see me."
A horrifying sound echoed around the room. The creature was laughing. His long, pointed claws buried into the soft darkness enveloping Yami's true form, making yellow droplets fall out in a calm, excruciating pace. Seto was so horrified he couldn't move. This creature… it made the entire room bow for it. It felt like he was facing a God.
"It falls for me, the duty to punish you. You seem to enjoy suffering at my hands, I can't wait for the day when your little Ryou Bakura friend will make us the perfect battlefield…"
Yami was trying to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. Gold was gushing out of his wounds now. It fell through the creature's arm, and the thing leisurely licked it out with pleasure. Seto could only watch with terrified blue eyes as he heard Yami's insides being squished and heard his blood forming a pool on the ground.
"I'll defeat you once and for all and win back my freedom… I'll bring chaos into the world and torture you for as long as I can. What you're feeling right now is nothing, Pharaoh. Just wait until I've got my real hands on you… it'll be just like the good old times."
The creature's deafening laughter filled the place once again. It leaned close to Yami's ear, yellow eyes tainted with pure pain.
"I can't wait to feel your bones cracking under my hands once agai-"
The God of Darkness looked down, several tiny holes disfiguring his face. He let out a loud, hearty laugh, pressing more on Yami's body and making the spirit finally screech out in pain.
"STOP!" Kaiba screamed at him, still firing his now bullet-less gun. "STOP!"
Ignoring the CEO, the creature looked down at Yami once again, noticing that there was gold everywhere, falling from the spirit's gaping mouth, the wounds, descending down his arm. With a smirk, he closed his hand a last time, feeling his fingers completely trespass the dark flesh and appear on the other side. A terrified scream came from the teen that was still trying to shot at him, apparently not knowing what else to do.
Allowing the empty, dark vessel to fall down to the yellow pool on the ground, he looked at it one last time before turning into smoke once again.
"I can wait to meet you again, Pharaoh…"
The monster's laughter was still echoing in Seto's ears long after the creature was gone, leaving the CEO alone to sob on the pool of his lover's blood.
Kaiba was desperately trying to push it back inside the dark vessel, but, just like last time, it was completely in vain. He feel onto the still warm, thick pool, devastated and trying to hold as much gold as he could closer to him.
Minutes passed like hours, but soon, Seto opened his reddened blue eyes as he noticed the gold starting to thicken more and more.
He let out a surprised gasp when it came all flooding to him, slowly but surely, taking form on his arms.
He held all of it as if his life depended on it, and soon a trembling, weak Yami was hiding his translucent face on his chest.
Realizations came flooding into Kaiba's mind. The yellow… the yellow blood, the yellow eyes, the mouth… it was all the very incarnation of his lover's soul. The dark body was only a protective layer of darkness, a vessel, something to keep him from getting hurt in his most fragile form. When Yami was translucent, he was vulnerable... He was weak. When Yami possessed Yugi…
Seto gripped him into his arms even tighter, making the spirit weep. He got up in trembling legs, holding Yami in his arms. It felt like carrying air, he was so light.
He looked one last time at the corridor, which was almost collapsing over their heads, and clumsily ran away after grabbing the Puzzle from the ground and placing it back where it belonged- around his neck. Yami was still trembling in his arms all the way to the helicopter.
"Nii-sama!" Exclaimed Mokuba as soon as he arrived. He had those huge, gray puppy eyes on and Seto immediately knew that he wanted to ask something but ignored it for the time being.
"I need a blanket. Bring me a blanket." He muttered, and Mokie apparently was going to object before he saw Yami in his arms. Sickly pale, unfocused red eyes looking at nothingness.
He immediately shut his mouth and went to the helicopter, screaming at someone inside. Seto didn't care. He just stood there, beside them, grasping Yami tightly and caressing his ghostly hair. He could almost feel it. It was like each time he possessed Yugi, the more he could feel more like an… actual human being. Almost corporeal. Almost there.
He laid a kiss on the small, thin forehead. It felt weirdly warm on his lips. As if he kissed a really, really thin layer of skin.
Mokuba returned with a big, thick blanket on his arms and they both carefully wrapped Yami in it. The spirit buried his head on the fur, his quick, terrified breaths calming down. Seto picked him up, Yami cuddling against his warmth. He entered the helicopter before Mokuba could say anything else, ignored the nerd herd inside, and stepped in front of the flywheel. Mokie and all of the gang started asking several questions, especially Yugi and Anzu, but he had just too much for the day and just-
"SHUT THE FUCK UP. I DON'T CARE."
Everyone went silent. Yami was still trembling on his arms as he turned the engines on.
The vibrations seemed to soothe him. The CEO held him closer, laying soft, love-filled kisses all over his face. Yami let out a soft breath, feasting on his scent.
As the helicopter started flying, Seto asked Mokuba to bring him something Yami wasn't able to identify while all wrapped up in fuzziness and in Seto's warmth. Soon, though, something sweet was placed over his lips. Dazed red eyes opened to see what it was.
A cookie.
He brought frail, thin hands to grab the delicious treat and savored it as Seto observed with a teary smile. As soon as Yami was finished, he fell into a peaceful slumber on Seto's chest, feeling protected and healed.
"I'll take care of you, I promise." Seto whispered to him as they fled through the oceans, the sky painted in orange, yellow and blue.
"We'll go home and everything will be ok, I'll never let anyone hurt you like this ever again." He whispered against Yami's head and felt a soft, wind-like kiss on his neck as a response. He held his lover with an arm and the flywheel with another, feeling suddenly at peace. Pegasus was gone, Bakura was gone, that freaky ring-like object was lost in the dungeon, and they were free to do whatever they want. They'll go home and spend the entire day on the bed, dueling and eating snacks until they recover from this awful day. He was going to make sure of it.
Looking at the peaceful, sleeping form wrapped up on his lap, Seto felt the most wonderful sensation of relief since he saw that Yami hadn't died so many months ago. They were safe. Yami was safe. Mokie was back.
He let out a deep sigh and then rushed forwards through the ocean. The helicopter disappeared in the sky of pink and blue, as the crew and the brothers went home.
I really hope you've all enjoyed this, I plan to finish it entirely soon. We still have Battle City and Millennium World to go, so hold onto your horses, because I still love this fic and I won't leave it unfinished. Please comment if you like it though, so I won't take as long as I did to update it this time! And even if you don't, I still love everyone that enjoyed my fic. But I'd really like if you let me know, I don't bite S2.
Again, especial thanks to the visitor Rhyfedd. I really appreciated your support!