Yami needed at least two hours and three flasks of absinthe in order to stop shaking. The memory of the dream was still so fresh to his mind that he could still feel his back burning as if it was re-opened again with the hot knife and cauterized with the melted metal that gave him the scar on his scapula once and for all. It was by far the most vivid and most terrifying dream, no, nightmare he ever had, and that, for Yami the Executioner who had more than enough of bad dreams for more than 40 years, meant a lot. People at Mai's house (cause this is where everyone was sleeping) were now wide-awake by Yami's screams and were now trying to deal with him.
"Come on…come on Yami…" Tea said almost tenderly giving him another glass of water, which Yami downed once more greedily, spilling some of it with his shaking hand.
Tea had never expected see Yami like this. She had seen him in all kind of emotional state. In the beginning she had seen him cold and sarcastic, not caring what the others would think of him (since he was expected to be hated anyway), she had seen him tender and protective with people who needed it such as Kisara, she had seen him angry and furious in his drunkenness and passionate and romantic during their lovemaking. She had even seen him in his half-beast state when his eyes would burn red and slit-pupiled but she had never seen him like this…shaking in fear and absolute shock, he the strong Executioner of Vatican who had slain countless monsters five times his size and had gained the reputation of the most dangerous man in Europe, almost equal to the monsters he was hunting (if not worse). The sight, for anyone that didn't know him, would seem pitiful to say the very least.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she had to take the small metal cup from his hand cause he indeed seemed unable to hold any kind of object in his shaking hand now, plus he was so soaked in sweat still, that his hands would be slippery for sure… She was ready to take the cup away when a husky whisper stopped her.
"I remember! I remember everything…!"
"Yami…?"
But Yami shook his head.
"My name is Atem"
"Wha-…"
"My name is Atem Nefer-Atum-neferu-Ra the First, son of King Aknamkanon Merenptah the First, King of Two Lands and Lord of Kemet!"
Yami was whispering the titles one by one as if he was in a delirious state, in hypnosis. Tea along with Joey and Mai were now looking at him speechless. Yami sighed and ran his hand through his sweaty tri-colored hair trying to lift the nightmare off his mind and set his thoughts in order, set those long lost memories in order. His head felt like spinning and it seemed ready to burst. It was as if all these years he had come used to have a dark mind, a head empty of memories, but now the memories were rushing in his scull, spinning around constantly, memories from a distant past that held more than 3000 years of history. Yami had swing from one extreme state of mind to the other; from absolutely empty to absolutely full.
He grabbed his head with both hands, praying to all gods he knew (that returned to his mind) for the throbbing headache to stop hammering in his head like that, and for someone that had a hangover every single day this was definitely something not passing unnoticed. Tea sat next to him on the bed and hugged his shoulders concerned.
"Yami, are you alright? Shall Joey bring you a painkiller or something?"
Yami shook his head negatively.
"No…" he mumbled hoarsely, "I just need a moment…"
He didn't want any drought to cloud his mind right now. All he wanted was to remember properly, to make those distant memories stop spinning in his head and put them in right order. It was as if the perturbed ocean of them had started to settle down bit by bit. He sighed again and leaned his head back, blinking repeatedly. He honestly had no idea what to do at times like this, he could hardly recall the last time he had memories, so he grabbed onto the only memory he clearly had in his head, the very first memory of his when his current lifestyle started…
Rome. The city of ancient memories and the very core of Holy Catholic Church was now dressed in gray, as the sky was full with gray and black clouds, as if promising a heavy rain coming anytime soon. Carriages were rushing through the busy streets while the pavements were also packed with people. No one would even notice yet another person who was half-staggering, half-supporting himself against the walls. His clothes were so old that they were almost ruined. He was pale like chalk and was panting heavily. His legs seemed as if made of jelly, unable to hold him upright for too long and still he was weak like a child despite the fact he was tall and muscular with bright ruby eyes and unique tri-colored, spiky hair.
A man with his body structure, acting like this would appear to others that he was either drunk or drugged so no one would pay much attention, however the truth was way different. The man's head was spinning and a dark mist was coming in and out his eyesight from hunger. His stomach too was growling violently and seemed like stuck against the bones of his back, at least this was what the man himself felt. He didn't know where he was going nor what he was supposed to do, all he knew was that he had escaped from a prison he was held into. He didn't know how long he was in that prison or what he had done to deserve his enslavement but all he knew was that he was in there ever since he could remember himself. He didn't know how and he didn't know why. Damn! He couldn't even remember who he was himself!
All he knew was that he suddenly awoke in a dark cell and he couldn't remember anything. He couldn't remember why he was brought there or how he got there. Hours passed and still he couldn't figure out anything. Then someone opened the door and brought with him a disc with food. When he asked that man what was going on the man hadn't answered. Why? Hadn't he understood the language he had spoken or he had done something THAT horrible so he didn't deserve even answers to his questions.
This continued for a couple of weeks and after that he stopped asking. He stopped trying to understand and he had stopped struggling. Day would come and go and he couldn't tell even what time it was with all that darkness. The only thing that helped him understand what time it was, was the man who was coming to bring him food (every time it was a new one). No one would speak to him so he had eventually got used to the idea of silence and darkness. Occasionally someone would bring him some water to wash himself or some new set of clothes. The only thing he had come to know about himself was that he could hear very well, see in the darkness and that he was stronger and faster when he wanted to. He had no idea how long he spent in there however he knew that this took him too long…
One day he came to understand his power, and he decided to fight back and leave. The last thing he knew was that he had knocked down the person that brought him food and the guard outside the door and ran in the night. In a village he had stolen a horse and he continued his journey. Along the way he would steal new horses or food to keep himself in life… He didn't know where he was going but something inside him was telling him to run away…run as fast and as far as he could…
So here he was now, in Rome, after days and days of journey, the last horse he had stolen died on the way so he had to walk inside the city. He was walking for days with almost no food or water and now he was at his limit. He didn't know where he was going once more, completely lost in his endless city. He was wearing ruined clothes and they were barely protecting his body from winter cold, his hair was so long that reached almost behind his hips. He had a haircut…but it could be years ago. He knew he was dirty and that he smelt worse than any pig he had seen in his way here but the only thing that was mainly ringing to his mind was to find some food to eat or else he would die of starvation, or so he thought…
Vatican; the heart of Holy Mother Church. He didn't know why he went there nor what instinct led him to the stairs of this wall-enclosed city of Cardinals but all he knew was that he couldn't move an inch any longer. He had passed the limits of every human (and non-human) creature. However he still desperately wanted to live. He staggered a few meters only to collapse at the stairs of St Peter's church. He crawled a few stair steps only to collapse out of breath onto the cold marble. He was panting heavily and his saliva was turning into foam at the end of his mouth by the hard effort to even crawl the last steps. His cheek was against the cold, dirty stone but he no longer had the strength to lift his head from there. His entire body, every inch of it felt as if it weighted a ton. So this is it? He would die here, alone and forgotten after the endless kilometers he had run to save his life and find his freedom? The last thing he saw were a few shadows gathering above his head. Then everything turned black…
The first thing from the outside world that came to him as he slowly started to regain consciousness was sound. He was listening to whispers that were becoming a mass of sounds and it was impossible to tell who was saying what. After that came the sight…slowly and eventually dark figures appeared who took color in his eyes and saw people dressed in red talking above his head. Red? Cardinals? He tried his voice.
"Koko wa…doko…?" („Where am I...?")
He had spoken to the last language that came to his mind. The cardinals looked at each other and they seemed that they didn't understand what he had said. One of them spoke to an unknown language (unknown to him anyway), to another. Then a hairless, fat person leaned over him with a smile.
"Hello" he said in English with a heavy, singing accent, "Can you speak English?"
He realized to his surprise that he could, without knowing the reason.
"Where…am I…?" he whispered
"Where? But to Vatican of course, the House of our Holy Mother Church" and crossed him saying the last one, "You were found at our door"
So many questions were rushing through his head but the Cardinal said
"Come on. I have something to show you"
He stood up and followed. They soon were walking among working benches, priests of all over the world were working into something that seemed a secret lab for creating weapons.
"As you can see Vatican has to deal with many threats apart from heretics and warlocks" the cardinal explained, "The world is full of threats, supernatural ones"
The spiky-haired man was constantly looking around.
"We use those weapons to slay those threats. It is necessary for the calmness of this world"
At this point he stopped and turned around to look at the confused man
"Apparently you can't remember who you are"
The man seemed surprised at cardinal's words and almost asked him how he knew that. Was it written all over his face? The cardinal smiled meekly once more.
"Do you want to get a purpose? A meaning in this life? A job and perhaps get a potential of re-gaining your memory one day?"
This got the man interested.
"What job…?" he asked
"Become God's Left Hand. Take the weapons we create and hunt down the monsters and the demons of this world"
He didn't know anything of "God" at the moment but the potential of having a place to sleep to and food to eat was the only choice he had. He nodded his head.
"Good!" the cardinal said, "From now on you'll be having modern Italian and English lessons and soon you'll get your first job…"
Yami returned back from his little flashback. If only he knew the consequences of his choices back then! However now he seemed calmer and the headache had started to fade bit by bit. He found the chance to explain to his friends the dream he had seen and tell them about his life with a few and laconic phrases.
"This is where the name "Yami" came from" he explained them in the end, "Because the first language I spoke in was Japanese…"
The others seemed pretty much speechless. Well even if they weren't they didn't know what to say anyway. Yami also knew there was nothing left to say. He also knew that he was running out of time… They walked outside in the snowy evening looking towards the direction Seto Kaiba's castle was extending to its all-royal height tearing the clouds from the top of the highest hill.
"So the experiment indeed took place to Seto Kaiba's castle…" Tea whispered
"That was the reason Seto Kaiba knew so much about Yami all along" Mai also added holding her pained side.
"And the ritual is close to lose its power…" Joey added sadly.
"Yeah" Yami growled, "Whenever that is!" and he rushed angrily grabbing a huge piece of fallen tree that was there and threw it angrily. The wood practically was sent flying dozens of feet away and everyone gasped in surprise.
Yami's powers were this close from being completely released!
"Look, there's still time!" Joey rushed to his side holding his large shoulder, "You won't transform until the moon rises!"
"The sun sets in two hours!" now it was Mai's turn to barge in, in a tone of desperation in her dynamic voice, "We have been looking for a way to kill him for more than 400 years!"
Joey looked at her as if saying 'I don't believe in my ears'.
"Like I said, I wasn't around for those 400 years, now, was I?"
"The ritual indeed took place in Seto Kaiba's castle around 90 years ago" Joey was explaining them as they were walking fast through the room with Mai's weapon collection and inside her library, "That night they had the ideal conditions for it"
He pulled out an astronomical map showing it to them.
"The moon was full and it was clear with no clouds. Vatican's astronomical files mention the existence of a comet that passes once every 150 years more or less from Earth before making its circle. That day the comet aligned with the moon exactly at this place so the castle of Seto Kaiba was the only ideal place for the ritual to take place"
He showed them another map like this, pointing with his finger the round line that proved the comet's circle.
"That particular night, the comet would align with the full moon exactly at midnight and apparently it had something to do with Yami's transformation"
The others looked over the old calculations.
"And that was the night Yami was brought here so long ago to have his powers sealed!" Tea said
"Exactly" Joey confirmed, "That day the members of the Silver Order performed this ritual knowing that it had a limit at least till the comet would align with moon again"
"But why bother seal Yami's powers when they could have easily slit his throat while he was drugged in Japan?"
"And how come the Vatican has files of the Silver Order?" Yami also pointed out
"The Silver Order started off as an independent organization that used to catch monsters and terminate them however their files change." Joey said, "There is only one old file of theirs written in ancient papyrus written around 3000 years ago. After their meeting with Yami, they slowly and steadily changed their purpose into chasing and terminating him. Somewhere in their history however, they practically swore faith to Vatican and Catholic Church and started practically do the hunting for her. I suspect the reason they focused their attention at catching Yami alive and seal his powers was because the Vatican was moving the strings behind that"
Yami was shocked. Vatican knew his existence all along?! It was so hard to cope with it that he could hardly believe it. But now everything made sense. This was the reason that cardinal knew so much about him right away! He was informed!
"But…what for…?" Tea asked finding it difficult to swallow. Yami had to suffer and for what reason…
"Isn't it obvious?" Mai barged in, "They wanted soldiers"
"That's what I suspected too!" Joey snapped his fingers enthusiastically, "I suspect that the Vatican thought of Yami's unique nature being more of help than of threat, well, at least they thought they could put his powers for better use, so they moved the strings behind Silver Order and ordered them to change their purpose once more. Capture Yami and not kill him and seal his demonic nature for as long as possible"
"Therefore after that they could freely use Yami's powers for their own purposes!" Tea said
"Yes. I believe the reason Yami was held prisoner for some time was to test whether he would transform anytime soon" Joey said
"And then Yami spoilt it for them when he ran away" Mai said
"You can say so…" Joey smirked, "However the Silver Order was long gone by then. After finishing their purpose they no longer had reason of existence and the Order stopped existing. Perhaps those guarding Yami belonged to Vatican and not to the Silver Order"
"But as usually, Vatican was proved lucky…" Mai smirked
Joey chuckled.
"Perhaps, or perhaps it wasn't at all luck that Yami ran away and found himself to Vatican. Perhaps the Vatican was sending 'enemies' after Yami so Yami would change his route and end up at Rome. The issue is that Yami became the Left Hand of God and a killer for the Vatican, but that's not all in this story!"
Joey went back to the book that took them so long to translate and opened it to a specific page.
"The runes of this book were practically an invented language, made by the Silver Order as a secret code. In this particular page it talks about a cure for Yami's demonic nature"
Yami gasped and his heart flattered in hope. Was there a way for him to become normal human? Was there a way to stop being the monster he hated?
"A cure?!" it was Tea the one to voiced the question he wanted so desperately to scream
"Yes" Joey confirmed, "A cure that will allow Yami control his demonic powers"
Yami's guts clenched in a slight disappointment. So there was no way for him to be human…just to control the monster inside him. Well…that was something, he supposed.
"To put it simply" Joey explained, "He will be able to control whether he transforms or not during the night of full moon and also not being affected by its phases such as the Bloody Moon or the alignment of the comet… And here's where the difficult part is…"
He flipped a page over.
"The runes say that Seto Kaiba kept his word not to harm any person while performing the ritual in his castle but he kept the one and the only phial of cure that existed in the world and even today he keeps it hidden somewhere in his castle"
"That perplexes things a little…" Mai said in bitter sarcasm
"Yes and it gets worse"
Yami winced. How could it get any worse?
"According to Vatican's astronomical files and calculations tonight the moon is gonna have eclipse, in other words it's gonna be a 'Bloody Moon', da moon that makes Yami go all crazy…and the alignment of the comet happens exactly at midnight, in the middle of the eclipse so…to be blunt…"
"I will go wilder than a pack or rabid wolves and bulls that have red blood all around them!" Yami said bitterly
"Well…yeah…"
Silence followed. Yami was feeling his patience slipping out of his grasp like water. He would transform in a beast anytime now and what was more, he would go wild as well. And this made no sense for him. Why? Why, dammit!
"I don't understand…" Tea said, "Why, since Vatican knew about this, didn't say anything to Yami and left him to the darkness?"
"And why send him now?" Mai added, "Why send him now that they knew what Yami is to become? Why now that they knew the seal would be broken? Why send him now face Seto Kaiba and not some other moment?"
"Maybe…"
Everyone turned towards Joey who had a look on his face as if the obvious truth had hit him out of nowhere.
"Maybe…because the only thing that can kill him is this demon!"
He had a wild triumph in his face as if he had found some lost city. He then whispered as if in a dream:
"The sketch in the book! That's what it meant!" and he rushed back where he had left the book
Tea approached (along with the others)
"What are you saying!" she asked
"I remembered the sketch in the book we couldn't figure out the meaning from!" Joey said and flipped a few pages over
Yami recognized the sketch they had seen together the first time Joey got his hands to the book. Now he knew what it was…it was his demon form.
"I was always wondering what this sketch was all about but now everything makes sense! This demon is the only thing that can kill Seto Kaiba!"
Tea looked confused again.
"I don't understand" she said, "Why would Seto Kaiba have the cure that would help Yami control his powers and make him even stronger?"
"Think about it" Joey said, "The cure indeed makes Yami able to control the transformation but the moment it is injected in him, Yami returns to his human form for that night, so, if Yami found the strength to turn against him, he'd have da cure to remove da curse and make 'im human so he could kill 'im without problem!"
"I see!" Mai snapped her fingers, "That makes sense!"
"No it doesn't"
Everyone turned to look at Yami, whose baritone voice was heard out in the blue.
"What do you mean, Yami?" asked Tea
"If he wanted me dead he had plenty of chances to do it" Yami explained, "He overpowered me countless times. If he wanted to kill me that easily why wouldn't he just finish me off while lieing unconscious on the floor with the huge wound in the stomach he caused me? And if not then, why not finish me off in Kaiba Estate? No, I don't think it is that easy"
"But…if he doesn't want to kill you then what is it?"
Indeed, what? Yami was thinking at it over and over and could find no logic to it. Seto Kaiba had plenty of chances to kill him but he was patiently waiting for him to become stronger, even re-gain his memory and now he was offering him a board to grab from; the cure that was somewhere in his castle. Why? What was he trying to achieve? And then it hit him. The answer that was supposed to be there all along.
"It's all a game to him!" he said
"A game?" she questioned
"Yes. It is all a game of life and death to him. He wants to provoke me into battle but in order to have the match of his life and whoever of the two of us remains standing in the end, will be the winner of this game of his!"
Everyone looked at each other. They nodded.
"Joey I want all my equipment ready!" Yami was saying as all four of them were marching through the hallway inside Mai's weapon collection room
"I want all the spikes, bullets and holy water we have! As soon as possible!"
"Roger that!" Joey said
"Also something else. I have a favor to ask from you, Mai, as well" he said turning around to face them, "From both of you"
Joey and Mai looked at each other and then at him.
"Sure…what is it?" Joey asked.
"I want you to gather as much gold as you can from the village! Every piece of jewelry or old coin or every other golden thing you can gather and Joey…"
He looked at him smiling softly.
"…I want you to make a spike with it…"
They were all concentrated to the conversation. Yami was apparently preparing himself for the battle, the final battle that would judge the luck of all people of this village, probably and for sure would judge the luck of Yami the Executioner, ex-Pharaoh Atem of Egypt… Tea was too concentrated into Yami's determined moves that she didn't notice a shadow close to her. By instinct she turned her head and…screamed. Or at least she barely had the time to vocal a single start of a scream cause Seto Kaiba had grabbed her in his iron grasp. Everyone turned around at the sound and gasped in terror.
"Tea!" Yami screamed
Seto Kaiba was already floating backwards, holding Tea in his arms. Yami rushed forward and grabbed Tea's hand for dear life but the only thing he managed to do was to be dragged along and that was only till they reached the window, where Yami's stomach hit the window frame, he groaned in pain and so his hand slipped from its hold and the next thing he knew was that he was staring helpless at Tea screaming while being carried away by Seto Kaiba in the sky towards his castle. The only thing that was left behind was Tea's small silver crucifix, lieing onto the window frame with its delicate silver chain broken…
He remained there in a shock only a second and then his eyes narrowed and got back to work. He wore his belt full of bullets and tied it around his neck tightly. He grabbed daggers and span them skillfully before tugging them within their sheaths. He got pistols around his belt as well and the knife to his boot. He grabbed a sword and placed it also to his belt. On a table he had left Tea's small crucifix. He took it, hissed it and then placed it around his neck. He grabbed his coat and wore it over his broad shoulders and walked outside the door. Joey was there with his sack onto his shoulders. He pointed at him a golden stake that would get out of the handle. Yami smiled gratefully and then grabbed it and placed it to his belt…
People of the village had gathered to either side of the uphill road with fear and worry to their face as Yami was coming through with a determined look on his face, followed by Joey. They were crossing them or crossing themselves, as if wishing those two 'good luck' for the very first time since they lay foot to their village. Mai was wounded and even if she wanted to follow them, she had to stay behind and watch them climb the path on foot, not even using horses…
Soon the path became more uphill and the air was whipping their faces with its bitter coldness making their clothes fly behind them but they didn't stop. They were stepping determinedly and Yami was walking first, always as if covering Joey too with his body, taking all the air upon him, but he didn't even falter. He didn't hesitate for a second. For the first time in his life he had something to protect…for the first time in his life he had something to remember…to remind him who he was…
For the first time in his life he felt so alive…so sure he had something that was worthy to die for if he had to…and he was walking…for the first time walking the uphill path that led to Seto Kaiba's castle that was so close yet so far till now…
And finally the dark walls of the huge castle zoomed closer to them and was gaining size as they were coming closer, as if wanting to warn them, to scare them away, but they walked and walked till they finally reached the base of the huge, stone tower, at the lifted gate that was tall like a cathedral.
Finally the time for the final battle…had come!
Oh God! Chapter 40! (I am so sorry I was so late!)
I wanted to give this as a (late) birthday gift for TumbleZee (on Deviantart) -Happy (late) birthday dear-
[Actually...I remember as if it was yesterday that a year ago I had given her as a present chapter 35 of this story Dracula 35: Out of Control ! Strange coincidence I know...but still I hope that you liked it my dear friend ]
Anyway finally we see the whole truth for what was happening inside the castle but also the danger everyone is in. Yami is about to transform and what's worse is that his transformation will be 1000 times more violent than if it was just full moon or just Bloody Moon because of the alignment of the comet.
Also Seto Kaiba made his move and abducted Tea to lure even more Yami at his lair.
The abduction scene was inspired by Dreamwork's movie Sinbad The Legend of 7 Seas, when the frozen bird grabbed Marina and Sinbad tried to hold her but eventually hit himself onto the ship and his hand slipped from hers while her was carried away.
The names Yami is mentioning are my invention (especially the first one) since the Pharaohs had at least five enthronement names behind. Yami's one can either be translated "Beautiful is Atum and the beauties of Ra" or "Beautiful and complete are the beauties of Ra"
While Aknamkanon's name means "The beloved of Ptah"
"Kemet" means "Black Land" and it is the ancient Egyptian name for Egypt.
While seeing Yami being prepared after Tea's abduction I was imagining this song playing [Shakugan no Shana III Final Ost: Preparation d' une revanche]
(By moment 0:50 imagine those two walking the uphil path with everyone staring at them!)
What will he do? What will the ending be? Wait and see!
Only a few chapters are left to go!