Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Rising ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

In which Yugi discovers that he has been going through several changes the last month and that his sense of smell can be quite bothersome

 

 

Yugi blearily shuffled out of the bathroom after his morning shower, still yawning but feeling much more human. Half-human. Or whatever he was. He blearily shuffled over to his bed which he blearily made up, as neat and tidy as any hotel's, then blearily straightened some of the framed art work which now adorned his walls along with his now framed posters.

 

Somewhere along the lane of his secondary education in magic, he'd developed a twitch where things had to be just so. He liked neat and tidy. Disorganization drove him mad.

 

The books were organized from largest to smallest on his shelves.

 

Paper was stacked neatly on his desk and in the drawers.

 

Writing utensils were set just so.

 

He'd also developed a defined taste for sophistication and fine things. Take the art. Reproductions of Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso. Several from local artists.

 

The bed and the linens in the closet; silk, the best cotton linen, velvet. Several soft fur blankets from Alianna and Drizzt.

 

The draperies on his large window were damask.

 

Yugi paused and looked around and blearily wondered why something that could be as mean as a black dragon would like such…nice, things.

 

Then he remembered Drizzt's lesson on dragons; all dragons had expensive tastes and loved the finer things. Anyone with dragon blood would reflect that in their own way. So, while there may be black dragon present in his bloodline, he preferred something a gold or silver dragon would go for (although silver, gold, and platinum still had some interest from him, and gem stones were a definite like). He sighed and shuffled out of the room to go get something pleasant for breakfast.

 

He had a weird taste in his mouth. Kind of acrid. He ran his tongue over his teeth, now avoiding stabbing or biting himself with the canines that had grown in. They felt smooth, clean. Then he remembered Alianna telling him about the acid glands. He sighed. So, they were developing as she predicted. Another physical manifestation to the fact of his bloodline he was still uncomfortable with. What else was new?

 

Solomon had already gone down to open the game shop for the day, so it was only Yugi and the two elves, who were always there somehow when he woke up although they did not live there. “`Morning,” he mumbled as he went about the process of fixing his tea.

 

“Top of the morning to you,” Alianna replied, placing lean strips of bacon on the griddle along with several links of sausage.

 

“Good morning,” Drizzt said, flicking through a stack of parchment envelopes sealed with wax.

 

A small, thin package was at the bottom of the stack, and the curious drow turned it over. He blinked and double checked the neat, flowing hand writing to make sure he got the name right. “Hey, Yugi, looks like Jade sent you something,” he said, and held out the package. Then he looked up. Then he realized Yugi seemed…different.

 

“Yugi…are you growing?”

 

The boy, fingers now resting on his mail, blinked at his mentor, “What?”

 

The drow stood quickly and walked around the bar to stand before the younger male. He looked Yugi up and down, then held a hand just below his shoulder, the level Yugi had been previously. The hand slowly moved up and stopped where Yugi now stood. Nearly eye level with the tall drow. “Alianna,” Drizzt said. The woman turned with a questioning look, then stopped and stared. Yugi blinked, then his brain really stopped and processed the view. He was almost at Drizzt's eye level. “What on earth…?” he said in bewilderment.

 

Alianna looked at the food that was now sitting on plates, steaming and fresh from the pan. “Oh, dear,” she said, “I didn't think about that.” Drizzt groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Alright, sit down, Yugi,” he said and helped Alianna set out breakfast.

 

“So,” the drow began, once they were settled and had begun to eat, “To explain. You are, indeed taller and, if my eyes aren't deceiving me, and I doubt they are, you're getting the muscle and weight to match the height. I suppose that means I get to start you on physical training now.” Yugi wasn't sure if that was good or not. The look on his face must have said that, because the dark elf laughed and waved it away, “Don't worry, it's not bad. Anyway, to explain your sudden…”

 

“Growth spurt,” Alianna supplied.

 

“Growth spurt,” Drizzt accepted, spooning honey onto one of Alianna's homemade biscuits, “We expected some growth, due to your heritage. What we didn't think was that food from Terran is much purer and healthier than food from here, so, it affected you, which means you'll probably reach your maximum height if you keep on this diet.”

 

Since they weren't going anywhere anytime soon, Yugi just accepted that he'd be on the diet of food from their world. Not that he was complaining. He was nearly Joey's height now, and that meant that the formerly much taller blonde no longer could tease him about his height. He finished the last of his tea and decided to figure out what his maximum height would be. “So how tall will I— ” he stopped mid-sentence and placed a hand over his throat, eyes wide in shock. The two elves also stared in surprise. His voice had come out a deep tenor smoothing into a soft baritone.

 

“You've gone through human puberty, right?” Drizzt asked, still with his tea cup half way to his mouth. Yugi nodded. “Right then,” Drizzt said and sipped his tea. Alianna sighed and buttered a piece of toast, “Human puberty, sure. But it looks like the dragon is going to be causing another sort.” Their young friend gave them a distraught look and plunked his face into his hands, elbows resting on the table. “Just avoid talking,” Drizzt suggested with a wicked grin, earning a scathing look from purple eyes. Alianna smacked Drizzt on the back of the head and pushed the thin packaged over to Yugi. “Open it, then get ready for school,” she said.

 

He tore the cream colored parchment away and slipped out a thin, elegantly bound leather book and curiously thumbed through the contents, finding the text inside written in a strong, graceful hand that matched the writing on the wrapping paper. A wicked smirk appeared on his face and he held it up to Drizzt, waving it in the drow's face. “What?” the dark elf asked, then took it when it was pointedly held out. Calloused fingertips rasped on the smooth vellum as they scrolled down a list. Drizzt's face went a little tight and his eyes widened, “I am going to kill that woman.”

 

“Why?” Alianna asked.

 

“Healings, curses, and hexes. Brews and poisons, antidotes. She sent the boy a book of her favorite pleasant and unpleasant things.”

 

Yugi's grin was very impish as he took the book from Drizzt and rose to get ready.

 

“Have a good day at school,” Drizzt sent his parting shot.

 

Yugi only pointedly held up the book.

 

 

“Hey, Yug,” Joey said, flopping down by his friend under a shady tree during lunch. Tea and Tristan joined them a moment later, lunch trays laden with cafeteria food. “Yugi…” Joey waved a hand in front of his face. “Yugi!”

 

With a start, Yugi looked up, then grinned. “Oh, hi, guys,” he said, relieved when his voice didn't crack like it had several times that morning. “Hey, what're you reading?” Tristan asked, leaning over to look at the book. “Looks kinda old. Is that Gramps' book or something?”

 

“No. A…uh, friend…sent it to me.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Uhm…Drizzt's girlfriend.”

 

“Oh. Is she ever going to, you know, come down and actually meet us or something?”

 

“Dunno.”

 

Yugi was more concerned with making sure that Alianna's and Drizzt's true nature was kept hidden. Sure, he and his friends had seen a lot of weird things, but there was only so much they could accept as possibly happening. Somehow, faeries and dragons didn't seem to fit among those things.

 

The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his nerves fizzled in warning. A deep-sown feeling of dread and caution flared up and Yugi looked around slowly, eyes questing for the being that his senses screamed was about, watching, waiting, lurking. He didn't see anybody aside the other teens taking their lunch outside. A noxious, metallic smell hit his nose and he barely fought back his gag reflex, sneezing several times instead and stomping down on the rising nausea. His throat burned with the smell, the tang of metal and what he somehow identified as blood lingered on the back of his tongue.

 

Something rose up inside him, challenging whatever it was to come out and fight and die. His fingers prickled strangely and an unfamiliar buzz swam through his veins. The smell took on a new scent, festering decay wafting in with the already powerful fume. His lungs rejected it and he began to cough even as the prickling in his fingertips and limbs intensified.

 

“Yugi!” Tristan clouted him on the back several times as Tea offered him her water glass, which he accepted with a nod of thanks.

 

“You okay? You were trying to hack a lung up there,” Joey said, looking at him with concern. “You're lookin' a little pale too, buddy.”

 

“I'm fine,” Yugi replied, his voice emerging as a raspy croak. “Allergies.”

 

“Allergies?” Tea echoed, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

 

Yugi nodded, then his skin turned ashen as the wind shifted and the smell of the cafeteria food hit him full in the face. Oh, that's not pleasant, some part of him thought, even as his throat constricted and his stomach turned—several times. What had smelled only like reheated frozen food before now smelled of chemicals and too-old ingredients; Sickly sweet with an underlying hint of very faint rancidity. His stomach turned again and he realized his body would rebel whether he tried to stop it or not. “I'll catch you guys later,” he said quickly and rose and hurried inside.

 

His friends watched him go with some confusion before looking at each other and shrugging. “Maybe he is getting sick,” Tristan said, “He didn't look too good there.”

 

“Seriously,” Joey agreed.

 

“Hey, guys, he left his book here,” Tea said, picking up the thin leather volume. She flipped it over to its cover and stared. “Oh…wow. Joey, Tristan, look.”

 

The two boys glanced, and then did a double take. “`Hexes and Healings'?” Tristan said, raising an eyebrow and looking at his two companions. “Somethin' weird is goin' on,” Joey replied, eyeing the book. “Hey, you guys, I think we should visit Yugi after school. We have to give him back his book, after all.” Tristan and Tea nodded in agreement.

 

Oh, they had to return the book alright. And Yugi wouldn't get it until he explained himself, either.