Yami spent the rest of winter in his room.
An arch wizard from a western region would come spend afternoons with him three times a week, and it was self-study for the days inbetween.
Courtesy of Mai–whose name he learned belonged to the Ancient Fairy Dragon–she'd opened a portal for him. It led from his room to her spacious, magical study, where he was encouraged to join her disciples for Group Casting every Friday night.
While everyone was playing board games in the main hall, he was in the library, studying casting styles and techniques and memorizing complicated seals. He'd never studied so hard before like his entire life depended on it….because it happiness with Seto depended on it.
Rebecca was his only friend, and he was fine with that.
Seto lived in the other half of the lair, giving him room and a wide berth. They would connect through handwritten notes and portal messages, recorded and left in shimmering orbs by their doorways, because as Yami learned, even speaking with Seto through a portal gave him a headache from the sheer magical force coming through the barrier.
Seto was really powerful, as he soon learned.
'Legendary' was part of his name because Seto had disappeared after leveling several countries millenniums ago, and was hailed as a murdering, three-headed ultimate dragon.
All the dragons had a lot of crime and murder under their wings, as Yami discovered, but it was all part of magic history.
It happened eons ago, and Seto assured him he was not the same dragon he was back then, and Yami believed him, because the Seto he knew now was a carefree, careless, nap-happy dragon.
Seto didn't even want to hurt Alister for stabbing him in the palm.
But I still do, Yami turned the page absently and froze when he read an interesting caption under a Revival Seal.
Something about a Realm of Shadows, and that's where souls went to dwell for purgatory.
Innnnteresting. Time moved differently there, and only dark beings were allowed in and out of it without detriment to their souls.
I'm a dark being, Yami mused, tapping his pen on his notepad, glancing up to stare absently down the long table where other students had their heads down.
He'd learned a lot about himself in the past few months, mainly about how his body had been reconstructed by Mai after he'd died as a human and was reborn, re-spawned out of pure magic.
The only thing left she'd intact was his soul, because, as Yami soon discovered, she'd takenaesthetic liberties in re-making his body, giving him firmer muscles, and stronger, sharper shoulders. His ankles weren't as skinny anymore.
His bones had a different thickness and firmness.
His skin had an odd, dewy, smooth, springiness.
She'd made him hairless from the neck down.
She even took away his armpit hair!
Was she insane?!
When he first glanced at himself naked in a mirror for the first time, he couldn't recognize himself. Then he realized he looked like one of those smooth muscle men who fanned her throne-side, and he wrote Seto an angry letter about his changed body.
Seto reassured him he could change it back himself with magic at a later point in life, and Yami had to express that he wasn't mad about the muscles or new penis size. It was that she neglected to give him an inch of height after all that effort.
Seto was more interested in seeing his penis after that conversation, so Yami filed his turmoil away to deal with privately.
When he tried to confront Mai with it with a message through Rebecca, the return answer was, "growing hair is a waste of my magic. Use your own if you're so pressed," and Rebecca didn't want to be his messenger anymore after that, threatening to end their friendship if he wanted to make her say any more 'gross stuff' in front of their queen.
Sighing, Yami closed the book and got up to find the 'Book of Shadows', hoping someone was finally finished with it. It had been loaned out for months, and he was forever on a waitlist.
Walking through the Dark Fiend section of the library again just to see if anyone had put new books back, he paused when he saw a fresh wisp of magic coming from a book freshly returned and cleansed.
Yami blinked and made a beeline for it, poking his finger at the spine and pulling it out to see an odd symbol on the front.
Shimmering silver letters were written in ancient script, and he passed his hand over the cover to translate it, holding his breath when the title rearranged itself before his eyes.
"Book of Forbidden Shadows" - first edition, Black Magic.
{ mesmerism, ceremonial magic, the black arts, talismans, and more… }
Even. Better.
A first edition!
Yami clutched the book to his chest and quickly opened the cover to place his hand on the 'borrowing seal', giving it his signature. There. Now it was his.
He then held his hand out to cast at his feet, bringing up a simple teleportation spell, knowing the glowing light would disturb the other students, but he didn't care. This was a breakthrough in his studies.
He vanished in a pillar of light and arrived back into his room, breathless with excitement. Opening the book to begin reading, Yami's body hummed with excitement he associated with learning new ways to use magic.
Seto noticed a change in Yami as the winter months melted into cold early-spring days.
Yami was determined to use his newfound powers, and Seto witnessed him studying into the early hours of the morning, sometimes days at a time, neglecting to sleep or even eat. He had to portal message Yami reminders that, yes, even Dark Beings needed rest, and left Yami food outside his door.
As a result of all this heavy studying, Yami missed the Saint Valentine's Feast.
Seto ached to do something romantic, but they couldn't come within a few steps of each other before Yami experienced a crippling headache, and nausea.
Yami was essentially a newly spawned dark energy, so he had to be treated with care.
Seto was restless, feeling helpless. He wanted to help Yami improve faster, but how?!
He'd already yelled at Mai about changing Yami's body tone, and got thrown out of the throne room unceremoniously by two muscle lugs, with her singing, "you're welcommmme!" ringing in his ears.
Now he was stealing books from around the world, making sure to grab the ones he knew Yami would devour, and he'd sit by proudly to watch Yami's level grow steadily with each passing month.
He'd bribed the Arch Wizard tutor to give harder lessons beyond Yami's officially recorded level, which was 20. It was illegal but he did not care.
He'd feel Yami's casting shaking the ceiling of his lair, and he'd have to cast reinforcements atop the ones he'd already done, and his heart swelled with joy.
He wouldn't mind if Yami wanted to take over the world now.
His most recent find was the Book of Forbidden Shadows, which he had yet to read himself but he was too lazy. Yami was interested in Shadow Realm stuff, so he'd support that if it meant they could share a kiss before the end of May.
He wanted a sweet, romantic spring with Yami. Where was Yami? He'd peek using a portal whenever he missed that spiky hair and pretty face.
Seto cast one lazily over his head as he crossed his legs and pinned one arm behind his head, glancing around the study hall.
Yami wasn't in his usual chair.
Frowning, Seto checked Yami's room, and there was no one in there too.
Slightly worried, he sat up and cast a wide appraisal that flooded the upper levels of the lair, from Bakura's farm, down to Marik's orgy dungeon, hating how he knew the other dragons would feel it and know he was looking for Yami, but whatever.
Numbers and names glowed in his vision, and Seto walked around his room, looking for Yami's signature, dark violet color.
None. No one.
A shimmering message orb appeared beside his elbow, and predictably, it was Bakura.
"Stop disturbing my cows with your wide appraisals! It's also giving my young witches a headache! I will warn you with a strike if you do this again, Seto!"
The orb vanished and Seto gave the air a middle finger.
Yami was missing and he was trying not to panic.
Maybe Yami had left the lair to go on a field lesson with the arch wizard.
That was it.
He'd wait until morning tomorrow to check on Yami in bed.
Laying back down, Seto closed his eyes and tried not to fret, feeling oddly pent up and horny. It had been so long since he'd felt any kind of warmth anywhere on his body.
Yami, fucking please, hurry the fuck up, Seto rested the back of his hand over his forehead and decided to take a nap. That usually fixed his mini waves of lust.
Yami stepped forward and felt the shadows swirl lovingly around his ankles.
Incredible! It was a lovely, dark abyss of endless possibilities.
Everything in his environment was malleable.
The shadows obeyed his deepest, subconscious thoughts, and welcomed him as he sat down, forming a comfortable, throne-like chair underneath him.
12 hours in here was merely a millisecond outside in the 'real world', the realm he'd come from.
He could theoretically spend years here and Seto wouldn't miss him.
I found the secret! Yami thought gleefully as he leaned back to prop his feet up on bubbling shadows that burst from the ground in a grotesque shape before gliding to the ground to reveal a shimmering, ornate wood desk. Nice.
He opened the book and started reading. He could cast here without disturbing Seto too.
He might've found the best study nook in the entire world.