Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Differences Don't Matter ❯ Enter the War ( Chapter 24 )

Dust fluttered to the floor and clouded the air as the rusted door opened with a loud creak. Yami coughed into his shirt and Yugi hurried to open the only window on the other side of the room. Ryou and Malik waved out some of the dust in the air with old rags that were on the floor, coughing the whole time.

 

“I'm sorry this is the best I could do on such short notice,” Yami announced to Weevil. “This room used to be my mother's crafts room but after she got sick my father let it go. I was too young to do anything then, but I won't let it turn into just another room now, even if it is just collecting dust.”

 

The room was a medium sized room with only a window towards the back of it and a beat up, old mattress in the back. Dust covered everything in a thick blanket and footprints were easily distinguished when someone walked across the floor.

 

Weevle smiled, pushing his long bangs from his face. “It's fine, thank you. I apologize for being such a burden.”

 

“Not at all,” Yami interrupted, waving the apology away. “If you move the mattress next to the window you shouldn't have any problems with the dust. We'll help clean it out tomorrow after a bit more sleep.”

 

At that moment Bakura and Marik ran in. “We found the blankets,” they announced as one. Bakura held up a heavy green blanket with goose feathers. “This is the one you wanted, right?”

 

Yami rolled his eyes and nodded, snatching the cover from the albino's grasp. “Thank you,” he snapped. It was too early to be dealing with his two cousins' hyperactive attitudes. How can they be like that when they were woken up only an hour ago?

 

Ryou yawned and quickly covered his mouth. Malik and Yugi soon followed a few seconds later.

 

“I think it's time to go back to sleep,” Yami announced, not leaving any room for option as far as Yugi was concerned. Said elf looked like he wanted to argue, but the look in Yami's tired crimson eyes left no room for argument. Wrapping an arm around the elf's waist, Yami led Yugi from the room.

 

Yugi yawned once more, blinking tiredly to keep his eyes open for a little while longer. “I wanted to ask Weevle about what I was supposed to do though. He knows more,” he was interrupted with a larger yawn than the first. “He knows more about it than we do.”

 

Changing his tactics, Yami lifted Yugi up and carried him bridal style down the rest of the hallway and few stairs. Yugi nestled comfortable against his chest and closed his eyes, clutching onto the shirt Yami put on shortly after their startling wake-up call.

 

“You can talk to him in the morning. He'll still be here.” Yugi nodded lazily and then he shortly went to sleep.

 

The short rest, however, didn't last very long. Tea scrambled in only half an hour later with a frightened expression on her face. The slamming of the door was enough to startle the two in the bed awake, but she still shook them furiously when they refused to remove themselves from the comfortably warm bed.

 

“Look outside, quickly,” she ordered, throwing the sheets of the couple. “Hurry!”

 

The window's view showed the sun started to peek over from the horizon. Clouds were everywhere and Yami was amazed that the elves' prediction of a storm from yesterday was true.

 

“What are we looking for,” Yugi mumbled sleepily, resting heavily on Yami's side while rubbing his eyes.

 

Tea pointed towards the front of city hall, just a few feet in front of the fountain. “Look, there,” she ushered; “Quickly!”

 

Sure enough, in front of the main hall rows upon rows and columns upon columns of men with weapons and shields were gathered. Yugi was fully awake at the sight of them and Yami cursed beside the elf.

 

“Where'd they get all - Tea stay here!” Yami ran from the room, almost tripping around the corner going down the stairs in front of the door. His footsteps were heard for only a few seconds longer before they faded further down the hallway.

 

Yugi stared longer, puzzle pieces connecting the longer silence reigned in the bedroom. There was inaudible click where the people and why it was important came together and all muscles in his elfin body tensed.

 

“Master Yugi,” Tea whispered when she noticed the sudden reaction.

 

Violet eyes were wide and the elf's breathing picked up considerably, the window fogging up in a hurry. The little creature was shaking horrible and he backed away from the window, shaking his head and his mouth lipped something that Tea couldn't understand.

 

“Master Yugi, what's the matter,” Tea questioned. She tried moving closer to him in hopes to comfort him, but when the elf flinched and tears flooded his eyes she backed off. “Yugi, tell me what's wrong,” she demanded, mirroring tears in her own eyes.

 

Seconds ticked by and became minutes and minutes became longer. Tea was unable to tear her eyes away from the frightened elf and she almost fainted with relief when footsteps resounded down the hallway again. Yami, followed by his cousins and their look-a-like elves, rushed in. As soon as the young lord saw his Yugi he rushed over to him.

 

The elf was huddled on the floor by that point, cradled by two walls and rocking back and forth slowly. Yami knelt beside him and strained his ears to hear what the elf was muttering under his breath.

 

“….know what I'm supposed to do….I'm not ready….What am I supposed to do….” It continued like that, a looping mantra that wasn't doing anything to comfort the elf, only discourage him further.

 

Malik and Ryou, with their advanced hearing, easily picked up what Yugi was saying and crouched on either side of Yami. The crimson-eyed human didn't know what to do in such a situation and joined Marik and Bakura and decided what to do to stop the invasion.

 

At a gasp Yami spun on his heal and stared at Yugi. In all his hopes he wished that the two elves had managed to get through to him, but Malik and Ryou looked just as surprised as he did. “What happened,” he demanded.

 

“W-we don't know,” Ryou admitted.

 

Malik shook his head with agreement. “We were talking to him and he just gasped for no reason.”

 

At the moment Yugi pulled back the sleeve to his shirt and revealed his mark to the room. Rather than placid, black mark that was usually there the circle and broken triangle were now gleaming in a flickering red glow.

 

Yami, hating to see Yugi in such pain, clutched his fists tightly and raised his voice to the room. “Everybody, go help Weevle find a way to stop those morons heading for the forest. Ryou and Malik, catch up with him to warn the elves. Marik and Bakura, you guys try and find someone who will listen to reason, but don't let them con you into fighting.”

 

The four nodded and hurried from the room while Yami marched over to Yugi and grabbed his shoulders. He might not be good at comforting people but he knew how to make himself known and he was determined to let the elf know he was still there. Looking into the usually vibrant amethyst eyes, Yami's crimson ones faltered slightly. Tears reflect in his eyes and his heart clutches tightly in his chest.

 

“Please,” he begged. “Come out of this, Yugi.”

 

“I'm not ready….What am I supposed to do….I don't know what I should do….”

 

The mantra etched itself in Yami's mind and the words made his hopes fall down. They ricochet around and a headache starts to form. Fear encircled Yami's form and he looked from the emblem on Yugi's wrist and then back up to the deadened eyes. In an act of anguish Yami crushed his lips to Yugi's, arms encircling the slim waist tightly and refused to let go as the elf struggled. The struggle lasted only a few seconds and then Yugi relaxed and blinked open his eyes.

 

His eyes were scared at first and then they calmed down and smiled sadly. Yami watched him, unsure if Yugi was going to go into a relapse but at the smile he knew his Yugi was back.

 

“I was so lost,” the elf said, looking down at his mark. “I wanted to come back, but I didn't know how….”

 

Yami grabbed Yugi's shoulders and held him tightly. “Thank you,” he whispered to the air. “Thank you so much.” He let his tears fall.

 

When the older finally pulled away he looked at Yugi sadly. “The war's started, Yugi.”

 

The elf nodded and grabbed his wrist. The red had gone away and it was now a silent black again. Yami looked questioning at it.

 

“The war can't be over that fast. You didn't even do anything yet.”

 

Yugi shook his head. “I don't think that's what it was doing. When it started to hurt it was because I refused to accept that the war had begun and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to just hide away and let someone else do something about it. I do accept it now and I think this,” he indicated the birthmark, “was telling me I was the only one who could do anything.”

 

“You've accepted it now, but what are we supposed to do?”

 

The elf stared out the window at the men walked towards the forest (all of them much smaller now from the distance). With determined eyes he turned and ran from the room. Yami called for him and chased out the door.

 

“Be careful,” Tea shouted.

 

~~

 

Weevle cursed as he saw the rows and columns of men approaching closer. I can't risk getting caught. There's no time! He climbed up a tree and nestled in the highest branch he could get to without making a scene. Leaves and limbs protected him from sight, but he still had to sit uncomfortably to make sure most of his form stayed hidden.

 

Looking up once he was settled he was surprised at how fast the troop was moving. They're determined to get rid of those elves. I might not be able to reach them in time!

 

A tingle in his fingers caught his attention and he looked down and stared with fascination. “Well, I'll be,” he breathed softly. Moss and flowers had already started to grow where his hands had touched. It's been a while since I've felt this before…. Tears of joy clouded his eyes, but he wiped them away quickly. There was no time to be crying so he would save it for another time.

 

Smirking towards the dense growth of the forest Weevle concentrated on the bushes and trees. Even swords will be no match if the plants are too thick to get to. Grow, my friends. Grow and save the ones who helped you grow.

 

Much to Weevle's excitement, the plants did grow! First the bushes shook like dogs drying themselves off. Then the flowers followed after them, becoming brighter and higher than any of the flowers in the field behind Yami's house. Lastly, the trees thickened and grew taller.

 

It's not much, but it'll buy some time. Shuffling in his seat Weevle moved to climb through the trees to get to the other side of his makeshift wall.

 

The bushes behind him shuffled heavily, twigs snapping and hushed voices cursing and mumbling. Weevle froze, eyes stuck to the spot where the two (he gathered that much from the voices) individuals would soon appear.

 

When the first person fell through the part in the bushes Weevle's heart raced with relief and even more so when the second person shoved through the thick branches and helped the first up.

 

“Shit,” Malik cursed as he noticed the oversized forest that Weevle had created.

 

Ryou bit his bottom lip. “What are we supposed to do now? We can't get through that.”

 

Weevle shifted downwards and waved at the two elves to get their attention. “Over here,” he whispered, not wanting to draw any other unexpected arrivals.

 

Malik and Ryou both breathed relief and moved over to the base of the tree the blue-haired elf was sitting in. “We thought you would be a lot further ahead,” Ryou admitted.

 

“I would've been, but the humans got to close so I had to start moving slower,” Weevle explained. “Come on, I'll help you up.” You wrapped his legs around a strong limb and freed his hands so he could lift the albino elf first. Malik gave him a leg up and held him steady until Ryou was able to pull himself up steadily. The bleached-blonde elf held tightly onto Weevle as he walked up the tree and settled down to catch his breath.

 

Ryou stared at the wall of overgrowth. “What happened here?”

 

“Oh, that was me,” Weevle said, moving to the next tree. Malik paused, staring at the elf with incredibility, one leg on the branch he'd been sitting on, the other hanging in mid-step, and both hands grasping the next tree's limb. Weevle chuckled as he moved to help Ryou over to where he was sitting. “You can do it too. It's been so long since you've used the elfin power though that it'll take a while for you to feel it. Just focus on the trees and plants around you.”

 

Malik closed his eyes. For the first time since he entered the forest he paid attention only to the sounds of the birds chirping and wind blowing musically through the leaves. Ryou did the same; the rustling of grass and the whistling of insects. Their fingertips tingled with a forgotten sensation and when they looked they realized that moss and flowers were starting to grow underneath their hands.

 

“I - I'd completely forgotten,” Ryou said with awe.

 

The two younger elves couldn't believe what had just happened, let alone that they could even have forgotten they could do such a thing.

 

“You don't feel this back in the city though,” Malik observed. “Yet, somehow, Yugi managed to do it twice. That's what I heard though. One time in a restaurant and another in the house.”

 

Weevle nodded. “Yes, I watched the scene from a distant rooftop. It was….nightmarish…”

 

“One must have to be terribly upset to be able to call upon the plants from all the way over there,” Ryou murmured to himself, glancing in the direction of the city.

 

After a moment of silence to regroup their thoughts, the three elves continued on, quiet raining down on them and the echoing footsteps of the army of men coming towards them.

 

The forest cried out for help that morning.