Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Adeption ❯ Removing The Chains ( Chapter 1 )

Yuugi paced back and forth inside his room. He didn't have much to think about, but he was thinking all the same. He was going over random details in his mind, slipping from subject to subject. Whenever he sat down and actually started to think through things, he could never keep his mind on one certain path. The images in his mind became too jumbled. He forced his mind to think of something else, and he would come back to that train of thought later.

Currently, he was thinking about a meeting he would have to attend the next day. He and all the upper Adepts of Jynain Order were to meet tomorrow and discuss a certain incoming Order. A few royals were traveling from Eeon to their Sector, and would be spending most of their time in Jynain for who knows what reason. They were planning to arrive the next night, and damn that fish downstairs smelled good…

Yuugi shook his head, chuckling slightly at himself. 'C'mon, you gotta put your mind to this certain train of thought. You really need to figure out what you're going to do tomorrow. Don't forget, you've got to figure out how you're going to get out of the Palace tomorrow. You know Dad'll be hard to crack. Then you have to find some excuse for letting a bunch more people have a week long 'sleepover'. The Gods know he'll hate that one…'

Yuugi shook his head again. It was his job to make sure the royals from Eeon had a place to stay. Seto, with his gigantic house, would take all the undermagicians. Yuugi snorted. The lucky bastard didn't want to argue with the nobles. Seto didn't want to be ordered around in his own house by the Leader or Eeon. Which would make sense, but it still sucked for the short 17 year old. They would have an equal status, but he hoped the Leader wouldn't be too stuck up. He hated dealing with those kinds of people.

Yuugi looked up at the clock above his door. It was still about a half hour until dinnertime. He sighed and flopped down on his bed face-first, folding his arms above his head. He yawned and stretched his arms above his head, and then moved them back to their original position. His moving hand brushed up against the top of his back and he blinked, a frown forming on his face.

He had touched his mark.

Every Adept had a mark, and almost every Adept's mark was different. Usually, a magician's mark would show up around the age of nine or ten, depending on when he came into his or her Power.

You could tell a lot about a magician by their mark. It was like a stamp, showing his or her status and Power to everyone. You could tell these different things by the shape of the mark, the color of it, and few different things that only certain people had. Like status; you could tell that by the shape. All Leaders had a triangle shaped mark. And if they didn't, they weren't meant to be a leader. Same with Second in Command, they had a circular mark.

The color would show what kind of magic the person used. Most were not all familiar with all the colors of the elements. Yuugi would get people with new colors all the time. Colors he had never seen before. Usually, these were stronger people, seeing as the element was rare, and wasn't known about.

He also got people coming in asking what kind of element they had. Yuugi would roll his eyes at these ones. Most of them were Earthlight or Finar Adepts, and most of them didn't deserve to have Power in the first place. They did more harm than they did good. These kinds of people were the ones that showed off their magic to friends, family, or just anyone that would listen. They brandished their magic to the world, and this was the main reason the world feared Adepts.

Some Earthlights had gone too far one day, and had lost control in a bar full of people. The kingdoms went into an uproar, and from that day on, Adepts were looked down on by all cities. If they were royals, they were given harsh training to make sure that they wouldn't harm anything. If they were peasants, they would be forbidden to use any kinds magic, and disobedience was punishable by death. This was why they were looked down on.

Yuugi preferred it if the lower magicians just stayed out of his way.

He snorted. 'Thinking off topic again, Yuugi. Sheesh…' He traced his fingers over his mark, contemplating it once more.

There was something special about everyone's mark, though. Telling others what kind of Adept you were wasn't the only thing it did. It could tell you who your bonded was. It told you your complete balance and perfect match. No two people had the same mark- unless they were meant to be yours.

There was someone out there with the same mark as Yuugi. Every adept had that one person out there with the same mark, the same stamp, the same symbol telling them they were meant for one another.

Yuugi prayed to the Gods every day, asking for his bonded. No one could really understand him. His family knew nothing about his secret role as Adept Leader, and he kept a lot of information away from his friends. He didn't want to, but he was used to holding everything in. He was a Prince, that was what he was trained to do. He just wanted that one person to explain everything to. He wanted to tell her- or him, he wasn't picky- about his doubts, his fears, his insecurities. He didn't want to be alone anymore.

He turned over, grabbed one of the pillows behind his head, and smothered it over his face. He was annoyed with all this depressing crap. 'You're supposed to be a nice, bouncing, happy boy, Yuugi. Remember?'

He threw the pillow against the wall and got up to walk in front of his full-length mirror. He practically ripped off his shirt and spun around, craning his neck sideways in an attempt to see his back in the reflection. His eyes softened. Right there, in between his shoulder blades, was his blasted symbol. The mark was slightly glowing because of the anger he had just released. If he had gotten any angrier, the thing would have probably started to pulsate. And if he were truly angry, it would most likely burn. This was only superstition on his part, Yuugi knew, because he had never actually gotten angry enough for he thing to actually start hurting. Though, a good portion of Adepts he had met said it did. But Yuugi lived by the 'Feeling is Believing' standards, and didn't truly trust what people said. Though, Yuugi's trust didn't come easy, and it never came without a price.

Yuugi smiled slightly, tracing his fingers over the mark again. The mark rested right above his shoulder blades, almost hitting the base of his neck. It was a small upside-down triangle. It had a strange, elongated, 4-pointed star in the middle of the reverse pyramid, and inside the star was a small circle that made it look like an eye from far away. The mark itself was a deep purple in color. Though, the star inside it was an off crimson, and the circle inside the star was a slightly darker reddish color.

These three colors together told everyone what kind of magic he had. It showed everyone that he was a Neuscion Adept, and he had scared off more than a few people with it. They all knew he was strong. Whenever an Adept saw his mark they'd gape at it and then they'd stare at his face and try to comprehend just how much magic he possessed.

They believed he was all-powerful.

Yuugi knew better. 'How can I be the strongest Adept out there when there's supposed to be someone out there just like me? Don't they realize that I'm not a complete person? That I'm not balanced? That I can't be all-powerful until I find that certain someone that just happens to share my mark?'

He frowned. 'You have to stop thinking like this, Yuugi. You'll find that person someday. Just wait your turn. Impatience is not a virtue, you know that.'

He glanced up at the clock and sighed, then went over to his dresser and began to change into more comfortable clothes. He grabbed some random leather ensemble from the drawer and began to change, hardly paying attention to what he was doing. He went to his desk and grabbed two of his belts and wrapped them around his waist. Then he added his neck belt, and a picked up a few studded wristbands and bracelets to go around his arms. After that he went over to his closet and searched through his shoes to find a pair of boots. He strapped them on, and when he was finished, he glanced up at the clock one last time.

He walked out the door and closed it, locking it behind him. Then the small teen made trekked his way through the palace. He was going to be late for dinner. 'Dad'll never agree with letting me go out tomorrow, now…' He turned the corner and walked up to a door that was guarded by a few sword-wielding men. He smiled at them and they nodded, giving him permission to enter. He then opened the door, and entered the dining hall.

What he saw when he walked in the doors was not out of the ordinary. It was just his father, mother, his brothers and sisters, and a few upper nobles conversing over a nice meal. But what he felt told him something completely different. There was a lot of contained anger coming from a certain area in the room.

He quickly scanned the auras of the people in the room, checking for little inconsistencies in the people around him, and found that the main source of anger was coming from his father. 'Dad's angry about something. Oh Joy…'

He walked passed the nobles, getting some glares on the way there. They were angry that he was late. After all, he was High Prince. He couldn't be late for anything. He was supposed to be perfect. He snorted inwardly at that thought. 'Oh yeah, perfect. And an Adept to boot. Would you look at that?' He huffed. 'Stupid bastards…'

But he smiled at them all the same. Because that's what he was supposed to do.

He shook his head of all his thoughts and walked up to his spot at the table. He would think about the stupid nobles later. Right now, it was time to eat. And he was hungry.

But when he reached his chair, he stopped dead.

One of his younger brothers was in his seat. He walked up to they boys' side and put his hands on his hips, staring at him. The boy didn't answer his stare for a few minutes, and was purposely trying to ignore him. Yuugi was mad now. He didn't care if his dad's aura was showing him that the man was angry enough to destroy the palace he was standing in, there was someone in his chair.

The boy finally got fed up with trying to ignore his older brother and looked up at Yuugi, sneering. "…Well?"

"Well what?"

The younger stared unhappily at the older boy. "What're ya lookin' at me like that for?"

"You're in my seat, Kaial. Now kindly remove yourself from it before I do it myself."

"No."

Yuugi raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"I said no. And I meant it. I'm already comfortable. I'm not going to go out of my way to make you happy when you can go take my seat."

Yuugi narrowed his eyes at this. "Kaial, get to your seat now." The mark on his back was beginning to glow, he could tell. Thank the Gods he wore black.

The 9-year-old offered an exasperated look. "Just go sit in mine, it's not that difficult! Why are you still bothering me?"

His mother was beginning to look worried now. Yuugi didn't fight with his brothers often, but when he did, it could get nasty.

Yuugi sneered openly at his younger sibling and spit out, "I will not go sit in your seat. I refuse to lower myself in rank, just so you can be happy. Now get out!"

If Yuugi hated anything more than Earthlight Mages, it was people that disregarded his rank. Even though he was High Prince by default (age being the main factor), he still worked hard for everything he did. Especially his other main ranking. He would not let the boy slip away with this.

Kaial simply smirked up at Yuugi, eliciting a menacing growl out of the other boy. He was about to come up with a haughty retort (and consequently get his head ripped off by his brother), when his mother decided to break up the small fight. "Kai, please. Just go to your seat. Yuugi's right, you need to stay at your own ranking." She said it gently, and Kaial couldn't go against his mother's wishes.

The boy picked up his plate and walked down to one of the seats farther along the table. After seeing that he wasn't going to come back, Yuugi sat down in his chair and smiled gratefully at his mother. She smiled back, but still reprimanded him. "You should be nicer to your siblings, Yuugi. You know they really look up to you."

"Yeah, yeah…but you know that really bothers me."

She nodded. "Yes, but you could be nicer about it."

"I'll try."

She smiled. "That's all I ask."

Yuugi nodded and began to pick at his plate. She was right, he should be nicer to them. Especially Kaial. That kid…Yuugi would have to start teaching that boy some manners; showing him to respect rank. He was going to need it.

...Kaial was, currently, the only other person in that family that was an Adept. Yuugi, being the oldest, had the lovely duty of bathing al 7 of his siblings before their respected bedtimes. While it was an immensely annoying duty, it let him keep tabs on the children in his family.

Yuugi had first spotted the mark when the boy was around six years old. It had shown up out of nowhere, and it had almost scared him out of his wits. Yuugi had asked him what it was to test him to see if he knew about it, but the younger replied saying that it had shown up the night before, and that he had no idea what it could have been. Yuugi had let out a sigh of relief at that moment, glad that he didn't know what it was, and yet fearful at the same time. He warned him not to show anyone, especially their parents, his mark. So far he had obliged, and hadn't whispered anything to a soul. But there was still the possibility of it slipping, and that was what worried Yuugi the most.

The mark Yuugi had found on Kaial had surprised him, though. He knew there would have to be another in his family to become an Adept, but he was shocked that it was him. Most Adepts were low key, and few of them could hardly hope to give themselves away. But his younger brother was a very loud, outspoken child. Which could have been a bad thing.

Though, when Yuugi saw what kind of magic Kaial had, he wasn't too terribly surprised. His mark was shaped in the form of a figure 8. there was a red horizontal line in the bottom circle, and an orange vertical line right in the middle of the two. But what really told what kind of magic he had was the dark yellow color filling in the rest of the mark. Once he saw the color, he knew exactly why he acted the way he did. He was a Aryn Adept. Yuugi's close friend Jounouchi had mastered the Aryn aspects of his magic, and was exuberant as ever. Kaial acted much the same way that Jou did.

But Yuugi was still worried about Kaial's Power. Anything could happen that could devastate what he had been working at for years. 'I'll have to swear him into an Order soon. I can't keep him waiting for too much longer. It's been three years already since he's come into his Power, and he still hasn't been trained at all. He could become dangerous if I let him go on too much longer.' After all, Yuugi's magic had let itself be known when he was eight, and Kaial was already nine. He couldn't keep sheltering the boy.

Yuugi was snapped out of his train of thought when his father's aura next to him. Yuugi had almost forgotten about that little predicament. He was silently hoping his dad would have gotten less angry as dinner wore on, but he had been wrong. If anything, he had gotten angrier. In fact, he was currently trying to rip his fish fillet into little tiny pieces. Yuugi played it cool.

"Father…you seem troubled. Is anything the matter?"

He lashed out, just as the teen suspected him to. "Yes, something is the matter! It's those damned Adepts again, causing havoc in the city! Those blustering idiots!"

Yuugi mentally flinched at his father's harsh remarks, but managed a slight smirk when he saw the small flicker of fear in his elder's at the mention of the Adepts. "What did they do this, time Father?" he said, pretending to go along with it.

"They're planning something, I just know it! There's been gossip all around the city about it. They're going to plan some gigantic attack and they're going to wipe us all out!"

Yuugi rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the comment. Non-Adepts annoyed him, yes, but he'd never want to kill any of them. But one of his more gullible siblings took the bait. "Oh, are they really, Father? That's just horrible! Can't you do something to stop them?" She twisted in her seat in anticipation of the answer.

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do. If they do decide to attack us, we're good as dead."

Damn straight. At least they got that little fact right. But there'd never be an attack. Yuugi would make sure of that. But…could he use this to his advantage? After all, he did need to get out of the palace to get to a meeting tomorrow…

"You know, Father, it would still be good to be informed about such things. If you'd like, I could go out and try to gather some useful information from the peasants. They're the most likely to know if anything is going on."

The King stroked his beard in contemplation. "Hmmmn…you know, that's a very thoughtful idea. I trust that you can keep yourself out of trouble if I let you go?"

Yuugi nodded. "All right then," he replied, " but make sure you stay out of trouble. We can't have you dying on us now, can we?" He chuckled a bit and Yuugi nodded again.

'Yeah, but if you knew of what I was, you'd kill me yourself.' He grimly thought.

"Also, Father, I have a few friends that are coming here from a different country tomorrow night. They were going to stay in one of the hotels in the city, but this news about Adepts worries me. Is there any way they can stay here at the Palace for the duration of their trip?"

"Ah, well, usually I'd say no. But if this Adept thing has you so worried for their safety, I don't think it would be a problem if they stayed here. Just how many people will we be looking at?"

"About five or six."

He smiled. "That should be fine then. We have plenty of room here."

Yuugi inclined his head slightly in seemingly uninterested agreement, but inside he was smiling. 'Score!'

Yuugi flashed a horribly fake smile towards his family, before turning to his mother. "Mom, can I be excused from the table? I'd like to go take a walk on the grounds."

She looked down at his plate and sighed. "You've hardly eaten any of your food, dear. Are you sure you're not still hungry?"

The teen nodded. "Positive. Plus, if I get too horribly starved, I'll come back down later tonight and get something."

She nodded her consent, and Yuugi gave her a real smile before getting up and walking towards the doors. He took one last look at his family before exiting the dining hall and walking outside to head to the sports grounds. They were secluded and tightly locked so no one could come in at this time of the day. But with his magic, Yuugi could get in easily. No one would ever think to search for him there.

He let a small smile rest on his features. He loved coming outside at dusk. No one was ever out to come and bother him on his way there, and the grounds gave off a peaceful feeling. The winds were blowing in his favor. He let out a laugh, and started running all out to the sports area.

He had some training to do.