Sorry guys! Real life got me.

Chapter C: Payments

Yubel stood before him, statuesque and unblinking. Yami was horrified by how small she was. She looked tiny, ragged and worn down. Her scales were slightly red from dirt and the immense shape of her wings were thin to the bones, leathery from desert heat and the abuse of heavy winds. Her ribs showed beneath them and her neck was pronounced where it met her chest, the chords long and strained. Her jaw was oddly clean, however, and looked as if it had been wielded far more often than her blunt claws. Along each wing joint was a series of large discolored patches, and Yami realized they'd had fur before and now they were bald and scraped to the skin.

The gem in the center of her chest was an odd milky yellow, like dust-coated gold. The red that sparkled back at him in the core was almost black with neglect. Her scales were barely black any longer and the pale salmon-like pink that should have pronounced the underside of her throat was disturbingly milky in shade. The bone joints pronouncing her wings were disgustingly blunt and her tail looked almost limp and lifeless.

She looked nothing like the dragon Atem had met prior. She had none of the color to her scales and the gems scattered about were almost nonexistent they were so coated in dust. She was hideous with weakness and Yami suppressed a shiver, stunned.

"Yubel," he said softly.

She raised her head slightly but did not speak.

Yami scrambled for words. The seconds passed and he fought a snarl, swallowing it away. "I came to see you. I… My name is Yami. I'm the son of Atem, the God Dragon of the East, and Yugi, the Gandora—"

"I know who you are," she snapped. Her voice was like teeth grinding against stone. She shook herself out and snarled softly. "I have seen you. And you wish for me to speak of what happened before."

He blinked and stepped back, studying her face. Did she see him? Or had she…? No. She was utterly and completely blind. There was scarring around her pupils. He saw it, discolored and blue and clumped unnaturally. "You…saw things?" he asked softly, narrowing his gaze. "You saw…me?"

"Are you so shocked, Divine? Did you truly think only deities can see the future?" she sneered. "I would have assumed you smarter. You've lived among humans for a moon. They are granted the gift upon undergoing trials. Why should it be any different for us?"

Yami studied her face. "You lived among the humans?"

Yubel fell silent for a long time. She was almost unmoving but for where Yami could just barely see her sides moving due to the dirt she shed. "You have your claws and your senses," she said slowly. "Bring me food and I'll speak with you. It wouldn't be wise to remain out here anyways."

"Who would see us? It's night."

"Have you forgotten where you are?" Yubel asked coldly. She shook herself out again and snarled softly before turning and deftly leaping atop a ledge to work her way into the cavern to the right. She didn't turn back, but Yami wasn't sure he'd expected her to. Why should she have? She was blind and visibly starved.

Yami watched as she disappeared, then turned away and shook himself out. He'd forgotten how frail another dragon could look. He'd forgotten because he'd blocked it from his mind as often as he could. He'd always forced away any images of Atem half-dead from starvation. He'd hated to think of it, horrified that his father could have gone through so much as a mere hatchling.

At least Yubel was an adult. She'd suffered greatly, much of it likely alone, but it had come later in life. She wasn't a tiny hatchling stretched on his side, flanks caved in and ribs showing beneath scales pale from neglect yet somehow still defiantly vibrant. He could still hear the rattling breath and see the shaky inhales as his sides rose slowly and shuddered with each uneven exhale. He remembered the dull golden eyes as they peered from sockets too noticeably defined, and the rotting wound where it oozed blood and pus along his flank.

He turned and wandered away to find something for her.

Yami brought her the antelope hesitantly. The female blinked and raised her head, eyes seemingly locked on him. Had it not been for the obvious fact she was blind, he would have assumed she was watching him. He shivered as he took a seat, watching her intently.

"Stop staring at me," she snapped. "I may not be able to see, but I can feel it."

He blinked, ashamed but unable to turn away. "I…S-sorry."

Yubel seemed to want to spit at him for a moment. But she sighed, then sniffed the offering he'd brought her, and chuckled bitterly. "I'm a sore sight for anyone with working eyes. I couldn't expect someone not to want to stare—let alone someone so young as you."

Yami found himself finally able to move. He ducked his head, mortified. "Sorry," he whispered. "I just… I've never seen someone so completely blind."

"No, I'd assume not," she hissed. "After all, your mate wasn't fully blind. He only lacked an eye. Until you shared your heart. Or… Has that not already come to pass?"

Yami blinked. "Timaeus has both eyes," he affirmed, almost breathless. He kept his eyes on his paws to avoid gaping at her once more. His heart thundered, mind racing. She'd seen him so clearly? She'd known he would do that? She'd known he'd share his heart and his eye would regenerate? Had she truly seen so much? "He has both eyes and my heart in his chest, yes."

Yubel nodded slightly even as she dug her teeth into the antelope in front of her. Yami raised his eyes just enough to see her beak working. Her mouth was full of sharp but broken teeth, the back ones shattered from abuse. His stomach rolled.

"Would you like me to—?"

"My teeth may be damaged, but I am not invalid. Perhaps you should save that for those memories of your father," she spat. She bristled and for the first time Yami noticed the clump of brilliant golden spears along her shoulders, sticking out from where the blades were tightly pressed together with malnourishment. She dug her broken teeth into the shoulder of the antelope, crunching the bone so sharply he flinched. "You may see to your own hunger at any time rather than pretending I might leave you some."

Yami shook his head slowly, too stunned to think straight. Did she really think he wanted her scraps? He almost bristled, indignant, but the words died in his throat.

"Ah, there you are."

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Yami, son of Atem and Yugi," she hissed. "I know your true self, not the little horrified hatchling before me who cannot think straight long enough to offer semblance of a question."

Yami opened and closed his mouth. "I would ask what you mean, but I'm sure I know already," he said quietly, flustered. He shook his head and looked down again, moving to stretch himself out on his belly. "Regardless, Yubel, I have brought you your meal."

"And who is to say this will fill me?" she snapped. "Bring me another before I finish and I may be more likely to answer."

"I could bring you a thousand and you might never recount your tale," Yami snapped. "But you would tease me for the fun of it and see to it that I am kept busy so that you might avoid whatever is to happen to you next. Is it loneliness you fear so much? Do you hate your memories and your lifestyle so much you would have me waste my time to provide food you will likely let spoil?"

She lifted her bloodied mouth and looked at him, sightless pupils seeming almost to bulge from her eyes. "You're a brave creature when you think of your fathers. Is it devotion with which you summon them to mind or is it fear? You ask me of my memories yet you suffer similarly."

"You were not blind when my father met you. What happened since then?"

Yubel snorted. "Oh, you believe yourself worthy of answers? You haven't worked for them. Get me more food and I'll see to sating your curiosity."

"What would you like? A piece of prey per question?" Yami snarled before he could stop himself. It was against his nature to be so easily exasperated, but she seemed so ungrateful and he couldn't fathom how she could possibly help him with such a sour attitude. "What then? You gorge yourself until you vomit and rest after? Yubel, I don't have time. I'm losing time. What little time I had is rapidly depleting."

Yubel laughed sharply. "And yet I have all the time in the world, Yami."

He bristled and rose to his paws. "Very well. I will bring you more food. Remember your oath then for information."

"I want a cat," Yubel said abruptly, slowly. "I want a cat for my meal. If you wish for information, you will find one and bring it to me."

Yami blinked wide eyes. "You want a cat?"

"They're my favorite." Yubel chuckled coldly. "They are lithe and dangerous and taste of freedom, with the richest blood to ever touch my tongue. Bring me a cat and I shall give you answers."

He narrowed his eyes. "One cat?" he demanded softly, lashing his tail. "You will not tell me you want more when I bring you the meal you've requested?"

"Bring me a spotted female," she announced, smiling as if she were imagining the blood on her tongue. "They taste the sweetest, the strongest. You can almost smell the freedom through their fur. Bring me a spotted female and we shall call your payment due."

Yami hesitated, then nodded. He ignored the alarm in the back of his head as he remembered Yugi saying he thought cats were crazy. He drew a deep breath. "Okay."

He turned to go and the female was quiet for a moment before calling, "Remember, Yami, when you waver, you do this for your fathers."

He paused and glanced over his shoulder, suppressing a fearful snarl, and then turned to make his way out.

Yami wasn't sure what spotted cat Yubel meant. From Yugi's memory there were at least three species and one of a brilliant golden-brown where males had bushy manes. They clearly were not one of the options or else she might have called it a lion, but the small and quick-footed cat with stripes on its cheeks beneath the eyes was dormant at night from what he could tell. The only spotted cat moving about was a huge golden creature with fur so smooth it looked like rippling water. It had a variety of spots, and its tail was thick toward the end with an almost fluffy appearance, its underside brilliant white. The eyes were glowing amber, the pupils extremely dilated in the dark.

When it headed into the brush Yami tracked it a few moments. The pheromones said male, however, and he backtracked to find another. They were extremely solitary, he was finding, and it was harder than he'd thought to find another.

The female was smaller than the male and likely more manageable. She stood tall enough she was almost the same height as him. Her body was lithe and well muscled and she stood fearlessly when she spotted the prey she'd chosen. Yami turned to spot her query as she padded forward. The river stretched long across, with multiple broken banks of soft wet sand. He didn't see at first.

He'd looked for an antelope or gazelle, even a wildebeest or monkey.

But what the cat had chosen sat on one of the banks of the isolated piles of sand in the river. The water was amazingly tranquil, and Yami found himself both mesmerized and bewildered. Where was the rush of noise, the swift flashes of fish weaving about beneath the surface? The water looked so still as to be the lake he'd gone shallow water fishing in when he was younger.

He craned his neck.

The animal on the bank was long and narrow, with a huge tapering tail of large scales. Its paws were webbed and indistinct, with large claws that looked rather useless. The head was huge, with a snout that stretched the size of one of his legs. Yami blinked and tilted his head, then looked to the female cat. Why would she hunt this? It was large, appeared unappetizing, and the hide looked leathery and disgusting. Why wear herself down hunting an animal like this when she could catch something else on land?

He supposed it didn't matter, however. He'd found his query.

He'd wait for her to waste her energy hunting it, and then he'd attack.

Yami watched her leap into the water. The splash was strangely subdued and she swam so quickly Yami was amazed. She was almost across the water when he blinked. The cat leaped forward and opened her jaws. Her teeth clamped into its throat and the alligator writhed and tried to twist from her grip. Blood spurted as the reptile tried desperately to throw her off.

It went still after a long minute of thrashing. It flailed its huge tail, almost knocking the cat off her paws. She did not move but for clamping down harder. And then the reptile stopped moving. Its entire neck was soaked in brilliant red blood, coloring the inside of its leathery scales to show their strange shape. The cat stood there a moment, holding its head back as if to snap its neck, and then turned and began to drag it towards the other bank.

Yami watched the cat go and shook himself out, then sprang forward. He opened his wings just enough to land on the water-locked dune of sand the cat had just vacated. He landed easily, studying the female as it turned abruptly to look around. Her eyes fell on him almost immediately and Yami watched her consider him curiously, bewildered as her entire head tilted and she dropped her prey.

She was panting as he watched.

He lashed his tail and stepped closer, raising his head. She watched him in turn, opening her mouth to show her yellowed fangs. Her whiskers twitched forward as her lips wrinkled back and forward, folding hideously to show the gums of her teeth. Her eyes glittered in the dark and her body tensed as she let out a snarl.

He watched her a long moment, then came forward again. She snarled and lashed her tail. The sound grew into something almost akin a roar. Yami bore his teeth and came forward, rushing to land close to her. She swiped at him but missed when he stepped aside. Yami moved a few steps away and tilted his head, studying her once more.

Her claws were nowhere near as sharp as his, but they were just as hooked. They could easily rip through flesh. She'd proven her teeth adequate defense. And she'd swiped at him so quickly she could have easily broken flesh or bone if she'd had enough opportunity to aim. But she was also afraid. Yami could smell the fear-scent, cold and sharp and bitter yet sweet at the same time.

He dodged the second swipe, bristling. Shame and guilt warred in him. She was actually an inch or two smaller than he'd originally thought. He could take her, though he knew it wouldn't be easy. Yami wasn't sure how much they weighed in comparison to one another. He didn't know that she wouldn't be able to beat him if they went full force against each other.

He lashed his tail and flexed his claws. The cat sprang again, trying to slap at him with both paws. He wasn't sure she wasn't trying to intimidate him at this point. Yami bore his teeth, snarling softly, and forced himself to remember exactly as Yubel had said.

I do this for Atem and Yugi, he thought fiercely. I must do this for them.

If it would reverse the various things he'd seen and dreamed of, he'd have hunted alligators, hippos, wolves, every large cat in the world; it didn't matter. He'd do it.

He sprang for her. She twisted to the side, slashing at him. He twisted and used his wing to shield the blow to his flank. She startled and sprang backwards, snarling and spitting. It occurred to him then she'd never seen a dragon before. The advantage was big enough, though he wondered why it was not more. Maybe it was because she was a predator. Maybe Yugi was right.

Maybe cats were just crazy.

Yami slammed into her. They rolled from the force and he opened his jaws wide. I killed Bakura, he reminded himself coldly. He clamped his teeth down on the cat's face. The bones crunched beneath them and he tasted blood.

It was bitter and disgusting, making his stomach lurch.

Yubel likely had no taste buds left if she enjoyed eating this particular prey. The cat was too metallic and he swore her blood burned his tongue.

She kicked at him desperately with her back legs for only a few moments. Her tail lashed and slammed into the ground several times. She clawed at him, but he could feel the strength waning in her. She could not escape. And she seemed to realize. She scrabbled at the air desperately, hissing and spitting. And then she slowly grew still.

It took a few minutes for her to go completely limp.

He blinked and dropped her. Her skull was all but crushed. He hadn't realized he'd clamped down harder when she'd scrabbled. He had meant to make a bite to the neck to end it quickly. But she'd moved faster than he'd anticipated. And he'd been fascinated. He'd been foolishly distracted by her movements in comparison to his.

Her eyes stared out lifelessly, her face drawn back from where he'd caved part of her skull in with his teeth. Yami stared down at her, horrified and sickened, and wanted for a moment to puke. It made his belly ache once more, flexing his claws and lashing his tail. He almost snarled but the sound wouldn't leave his throat. His lungs felt as if they might collapse.

He dragged the corpse to her minutes later, dropping it at her paws. Yubel had been asleep before he'd entered the cave, but now her eyes shot open and her head whipped around. She had finished most of the antelope he'd brought her, cracking some of the bones to eat the marrow inside. She blinked, sniffing the air, and Yami lashed his tail as he peered down at her. The blood cloyed in his senses sickeningly.

"Is she to your satisfaction?" he asked as he nudged her head toward Yubel. The blind female blinked slowly and lowered her beak to the broken flesh. She sniffed it, flicking her tongue and swallowing the scent across the sensory glands there. Yami watched her, tilting his head, and Yubel slowly ran her tongue over the lifeless eyes. "I hunted her as she hunted her prey."

He hoped to the gods that should she have had offspring they would find the food she'd failed to bring back. He hoped they were old enough to eat on their own and would survive to the next year at the very least.

Yubel blinked once, long and slow, and then chuckled softly. "You did well. She tastes as beautiful as I remember," she growled, voice deep with satisfaction and warmth. Yami watched drool drip from her teeth in heavy rivulets. "Good job. Did you lose your determination for a moment there, Yami? I thought I felt you waver in your decision, if only did a moment."

He bore his teeth. "Eat and tell me what I seek."

She seemed to peer through him for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Very well, Yami. See to it then that you choose your questions wisely. You need to consider carefully."