Chapter 15

Darkness. Everything was dark. No light, no sound, nothing. No matter what he tried he was met with darkness. Something rose within him, the darkness it was too much. The lack of any other stimuli ushered in a wave of panic. What could he do? Perhaps if he moved something would change, but then that brought up a question, could he move? If he was just consciousness would any form of movement be possible. Well, there was only one way to find out. He tried to shift what he believed was his arm but a new sensation exploded all the way up it. Pain, red hot pain. More pain then he'd perhaps ever experienced before. He wanted to cry out but his voice seemed to be lost for the moment. He ceased his movements, but the pain did not cease. Finding he could breathe he took a steadying breath and as he did a new sensation made itself known. Something warm was underneath his head, a liquid perhaps? Urging his senses to reawaken he stretched them as far as they would allow. He was met with more pain and warmth from what he assumed was some sort of liquid. The sensations, whilst painful, only pushed him to fight. He wanted to know what was going on, what was happening? Concentrating as hard as he could Yugi opened his eyes. His vision was still dark but it wasn't all one shade, instead he could make out shapes, some nearby whilst others were far away. His body felt as though it was on fire, every part of him hurt and now consciousness had returned to him he realised that the warm liquid he had been feeling must be blood. He was bleeding, bleeding badly if he wasn't mistaken.

For a while he lay there, staring at the large object beside him but as he did his memory seemed to awaken and what had happened came back to him. The booming voice, the sanctuary crashing around him and the fall. But he wasn't the only one who'd fallen. His body screamed at him but he ignored it. Yugi forced himself to sit up, using the nearby objects which turned out to be rocks, to push himself up. His hand exploded in pain which travelled up his forearm, he must have broken it in the fall. Pulling that arm close to him he used the other to investigate the fresh wet feeling to the side of his face. Despite not being able to see clear he knew it was blood clinging to the side of his face. Staring around as best he could he found that all he could see was dark shapes here and there. Yugi hoped he couldn't see anything because it was simply so dark rather than there being any physical damage to his sight. Nevertheless he continued to stare around, looking for any sign of the other person who'd fallen with him.

"Atem!" He called, but his voice was barely more than a rasp.

He took a painful breath, trying to strengthen his voice and tried again.

"Atem? Can you hear me?"

He strained his senses, trying to pick up on anything which would give him any sort of indication if the former Pharaoh was alive. But there was nothing. Unless… was that something? Yugi strained his senses once again, trying to pick up on what he thought he'd just heard. Somewhere in front of him there was a sound, but he couldn't be sure what it was. He waited, praying he heard it again.

He did. Only a matter of seconds after the first sound the next came. Using his uninjured arm, he shuffled across the stone beneath him towards the sound. He thought about standing but decided that it wasn't wise just yet. When the next sound came he stopped moving, trying to work out what the sound was. But he couldn't yet make it out. Letting his hearing guide him he slowly, painfully shuffled towards the sound, which was getting louder. As he got closer he recognised the sound, it was the sound of coughing.

"Atem!" Yugi called again, his voice stronger but still a rasp.

There was no response apart from more coughing, which the closer he got Yugi could hear clearly. It sounded like Atem was coughing something up.

"Atem! Please answer me!"

Another cough, "Y-Yugi?"

Yugi felt a huge wave of relief hit him, Atem's voice sounded much like his but he was alive that he was sure of.

"I'm here." Yugi called back, "Are you alright?"

"I've been better." Was the response, followed by more sounds of coughing.

Yugi continued to shuffle closer, he couldn't see Atem but his voice was getting louder so he must be getting close. He was unable to clearly distinguish between the different shapes, but the need to get to the former Pharaoh drove him on. Carefully Yugi got to his knees and attempted to crawl in the direction of Atem's voice. This proved difficult with only one hand and the pain which was coming from all over his body but he had to get to him. As he crawled his hand encountered a few rocks which were hard to distinguish or see in the darkness but he used that as encouragement. Every rock he past was one closer to Atem. Ahead of him another shape loomed. His hand met the shape, assuming it was yet another rock he pushed against it. A cry of pain met his ears and he immediately pulled his hand away. It wasn't a rock, it was the former Pharaoh and Yugi had just pushed down rather hard on a part of him which was obviously injured.

"Atem! I'm sorry, are you alright?"

There was no response from the former Pharaoh for a while. But Yugi could clearly hear him breathing heavily, trying to stifle the pain as best he could.

"Please don't do that again." Atem said, after a while.

"Sorry, I thought you were a rock."

Atem laughed, given their current situation the sound surprised Yugi, but soon his laugh became another cough. Yugi could feel the coughs wrack his body. Reaching out more cautiously this time he rested his hand on Atem's shoulder, or at least it felt like his shoulder. As the coughs subsided Yugi saw the dark shape before him shift. He stared around, for all the good it did him, looking for anything that might help them. But he could see nothing. Even looking up did nothing, it was as though they were trapped in a dark box with nothing around them but the darkness.

A hand found his arm, as if Atem had picked up on his unease. Luckily Atem hadn't touched his broken arm, which was still screaming in pain, but he did his best to ignore it. At present there was not much either of them could do about their injuries. Yugi may not know what Atem's injuries were but he had no doubt he was most likely in no better shape than himself. He took comfort from the warmth of Atem's hand but also noted the liquid clinging to his hand. It was obvious that, like him, Atem was bleeding most likely from various wounds.

"Are you ok Yugi?"

"I'm pretty sure my arm's broken. But I'm more surprised I didn't break my neck."

Atem made a noise which was either an agreement or a groan. It was hard to be sure but he did note Atem retract his hand, which had been on his arm.

"How are we alive?" Yugi said, his voice was still weak, "There's no possible way we should have survived that."

The former Pharaoh made no reply and given Yugi couldn't see him it was impossible to get any idea to what his thinking was. Staring off into the darkness his head throbbed painfully as his mind played over the events which had led to them being in this situation. It was almost surprising to him that he could actually remember what happened given how hard he hit his head. But as the memories replayed themselves in his mind a frown made its way on to his face.

"Does this have anything to with that message?"

"That wasn't a message Yugi, it was a prophecy."

His frowned deepened, "A prophecy? B-but what does that mean?"

"I don't know," Atem said, a hint of stress entering his weak voice, "I haven't thought it through yet but my initial thoughts are that's why we survived that fall."

Yugi looked in Atem's direction, still unable to see him. He wished he could see him properly, to get a hint of his thinking so he could know how best to reassure him. Knowing him as he did he guessed that Atem was most likely blaming himself.

"Don't blame yourself Atem, I know what you're probably thinking right now but don't. Let's try and find a way out of here and we can work the rest out."

A sigh was all Yugi heard in response. Looking around for what was probably the hundredth time he still saw nothing. There was no way of knowing exactly how far they'd fallen. But there had to be a way out, there was always a way out.

Minutes trickled by in silence. Yugi was lost in thought, he was trying to think of a sensible plan. He thought about his friends, they'd likely raised the alarm by now, so it was possible that rescue was on its way. However, it occurred to him that they'd struggle to reach them down here. Perhaps if they found a way out on their own then it would be easier on everyone. But it seemed quite unlikely that there'd be another archway leading out. Although now he thought about it there surely had to be some sort of exit, otherwise how would the people who'd built this sanctuary got out? As far as he could tell there was no evidence of any human remains which only gave strength to his theory. There would be a way out, there was always a way out. As he felt hope rise within him it quickly faded, even if they did find a way out how would they actually do it. Yugi hadn't tried to stand properly yet and he was fairly certain he couldn't, not yet at least. Then there was Atem. He still had no idea what injures he had, but the fact that Atem had still made no move to sit up, or at least he assumed, could mean that potentially he was in a worst state then he was. But he had to do something, they couldn't just sit here. Closing his eyes he willed the pain to become manageable, but if anything his pain only doubled. As he opened his eyes again he felt Atem coughing again and he made his final decision.

"I'm going to look for a way out." He said.

"Yugi, we can't see a thing down here." Atem replied, his voice was still no more than a rasp.

"So? We've faced worse before, so this will be easy."

Atem made no comment, but Yugi could sense he was not buying that it would be easy. Looking beyond the shape that was Atem there was only darkness but perhaps if he went that way he'd eventually encounter a wall which would then enable him to find an exit.

"You stay here." Yugi instructed, "I'll go look for a route out and shout if I find something."

Atem laughed, mirthlessly, "I'm not going anywhere Yugi."

Reaching out Yugi patted him on what he thought was his shoulder but was actually his head. He withdrew his hand hastily as Atem emitted an inadvertent groan of pain. Gripping the former Pharoah's actual shoulder briefly this time he set off. He was careful to crawl in a wide circle where he knew Atem was lying, he didn't want to accidently hurt him again. It was still difficult to crawl, the use of one arm didn't help but also the rest of his body was protesting. He wanted nothing more than to give in and lie down but he would not. There'd be plenty of time for that once they'd escaped, there was no doubt they'd both be out of action for a while.

His progress was slow, not only was he unable to use one hand he had to stop periodically to reach out with the other hand to try and get an idea of just what was around him. At the moment all he could feel was rock after rock. Whether all these rocks had been down here before the sanctuary had collapsed he didn't know but what he did know was there was a lot of them. He didn't know how many times he'd stopped and felt rocks, but it felt like forever. His broken arm screamed at him as he brushed past a rock he simply couldn't see. He paused, curling in on himself as the pain engulfed his whole body. It paralysed him for a while, but he did not allow it to stop him. Taking a steady breath his sat as upright as he could manage and stretch out his hand. But when his hand found stone it was smooth rather then uneven. Moving his hand along the stone he discovered it stretched a fair way either side of him and stood tall. It was a wall, he was sure about it.

"Atem! I found it! I found the wall." Yugi called, a smile stretching over his face.

Yugi may be moving around but his voice still gave away that he was by no means well. The former Pharaoh, on the other hand, made no response to his call, that or he simply didn't hear him. He called once again to the once King before moving carefully along the wall searching for an exit. He wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for but he just knew he'd know it when he found it. And find it he did. His hand slipped off the wall and into thin air. Moving his hand around he found a fairly wide space in the wall which seemingly would allow them to crawl through. He couldn't be sure whether this was exactly what he was hoping but they had to try.

"Atem!" He called, as loudly as he could, "I found an exit, we can get out of here."

Once again, the former Pharaoh made no response. Yugi repositioned himself as his body screamed in discomfort and called again.

"Atem, can you hear me?"

"Y-Yugi?"

Yugi felt a painful chill flow through him. Atem's voice sounded weaker than it had done, as if the former Pharaoh had been in and out of consciousness whilst he'd been searching. Had he really been away from the once King that long?

"I think I've found an exit." Yugi called back, "Do you think you can get over here?"

Despite his injured state all his instincts screamed at him to go and help his friend. But there was the real possibility that if he did then he'd be unable to find the section of the wall again. There were a few moments of silence before Yugi heard the unmistakable sound of someone in pain. Atem was obviously attempting to do what Yugi had asked him to. He could hear just how much effort Atem was having to put in to move his broken body but also hold on to his pride. He called out encouragement to him but also to guide him, the only way Atem would find him in this total darkness was to follow the sound of his voice. It was impossible to tell how long it took before Yugi saw a dark shape moving somewhere close by. Reaching out blindly at the shape his hand eventually met the shape which ceased its movements. Yugi heard a strained breath leave the once King before he shifted and lay still. Unable to see the former Pharaoh with his own eyes all he could do was keep his hand on his shoulder, or what he guessed to be his shoulder. He knew that, if he were able to, the former Pharaoh would have shrugged his hand off insisting he was fine, but he did not. After a long while he felt Atem shift, he couldn't be sure exactly what he was doing but he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"Let's get out of here." He said weakly, "Are you ready for this?"

Yugi nodded, although Atem couldn't see this, "We have to try, let's just hope this does led out of here."

A sharp intake of breath, "Well I suppose there's only one way to find out."

Yugi nodded once again before turning to begin the journey through the passageway, if luck was on their side, it would lead them out of here. If it did not lead them out then he wasn't sure what they would do, as hard as it was going to be for both of them to move down the passageway it would be even worse if they had to come back again.