Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Echoes of Forgotten Times ❯ Changes on the Horizon ( Chapter 15 )

Echoes of Forgotten Times
Written by Shukumei no Kagi
Notes: Bad chapter, bad chapter! In a some way, I'm sure of it! But I gave it a try even though I don't know Mariku that well...if at all. The main message here is: please R&R. And please don't hurt me for the ending!
Warning: Yaoi, sorta deathfic

Chapter Fifteen ~ Changes on the Horizon
~
The first thing Yugi became aware of was the fuzzy sound of blood rushing through his ears. The teen however, being too tired to consider that strange, just wanted to collapse back into the recesses of unconsciousness and blissful unawareness of the few moments before. He drifted slowly in that darkness behind his eyelids, pleasantly content laying there sprawled out even with that hard stone pressed against his back. His mind quietly slipping away back toward sleep until a pair of receding footsteps sounded out into his peacefulness, the noise being the first thing that gave him pause to wonder.

What's that? He questioned blearily within the confines of his own head, only his mind was too dazed from his bout of unconsciousness to place what was happening around himself. It was his stomach churning along sickly in time with his slowed mind that made the teen realize he wasn't even aware of what had caused him to feel this way. He was just too dazed, the lack of clarity making it harder for him to focus on anything else.

He was just starting to notice through the hazy interiors of his mind that it wasn't only his stomach feeling bad. His entire body was feeling like it had this agonizingly weak sensation, his limbs seeming as if they weighed way more than they should. Too much so for Yugi to even consider the possibility of moving. So all the teen really could do for the moment was lay there in a haze of thoughts as the footsteps grew fainter, leaving the dazed teen behind.

Did that mean he was alone? Yugi wondered in confusion as he wasn't sure of the meanings, it seemed to his muddled mind that such was likely but his features still twitched briefly into a slight look of puzzlement. His features smoothed out once more a second or two later as the teen was too weak to hold the look in place for long.

Please don't go away I need help, Yugi thought hurriedly after the retreating steps as he didn't want to be left there all by himself. If he could just find out why he was so weak maybe he could do something.

The hopeful thought in the muddled mess had him trying to call out, his lips parting easily enough in response. Delight only briefly flickered within him at that little success, though the emotion was nearly lost in the jumbled haze of thoughts already in his head. That daze didn't change how glad he was to be able to move, he beamed happily up to the ceiling as that meant he could speak up and perhaps call back those people to help! Yugi, joyous opened his mouth, intending to call out for those that were there...

Only his voice refused to work, Yugi's words turning rather quickly from a request into a waning whimper. The noise trailing off with the teen's voice as what energy he'd gathered fled, leaving him feeling even weaker than before. Yugi sighed sadly, wondering if whoever those two were even knew he was here or if they'd come back before he was truly lonely. He had no idea, but both pairs of feet trailed away into perfect silence, leaving the teen feeling like he was totally abandoned.

Wait....two sets? Yugi stopped as a glimmer of something else formed in his head while he was laying there, filling him with a sense of wrongness at the faded noise. Yugi bit at his lip, not happy at how little he knew at the moment, his muddle mind was keeping him from figuring out what was troubling him. He grasped for an explanation, but kept coming up with nothing but fog leaving the question remaining. What could possibly be wrong with there being four feet? The teen wondered without any clue about the answer and confusion flickered rather obviously over his features while his dazed mind remained too cloudy for Yugi to think clearly.

It was beginning to seem that he'd have more success just passing out again, the idea having Yugi sighing softly; he would have liked to know what was going on... Only it would be easier for him to just drift off again rather than continue trying to dig around through his thoughts. All he remembered was collapsing onto his bed, then everything Yugi could think of after that got too hazy. He couldn't pick out anything else from the fog, but he tried, trying again to dig through the mess. The teen barely noticing that his struggling to think was beginning to clear the tired fog from his mind, little by little. The daze slipping from him enough for just a bit of understanding to occur to the young teenager.

If they were walking, those two people can't have been Khenemet. Yugi realized while still nearly too out of it to catch the significance of that thought. Only with the daze clearing up, the areas surrounding everything that he was trying to remember flooded the teen all at once, understanding striking hard enough to get the teen to start in shock.

Bakt had returned....forced him to swallow something...then passing out...

The memories got the teen to shudder nervously, the movement stronger and Yugi found that he didn't feel quite as weak as he had been when waking. It was an idea that had him wondering if maybe he could call out to the people now, but Yugi hesitated to do so. His nervousness growing as he thought about Khenemet's warning about Bakt. What if one of those people was Bakt? Yugi bit at his lip, not really wanting to discover what would happen if Bakt was one of them.

"Quit standing there staring at the wall and say something! You've seen him now, don't you think there'd be better uses for the runt?" Yugi gasped when the unnoticed silence was broken by a sharp voice. He started where he lay, the noise surprising him enough that he reacted to it. The movement was brief to start with, yet cut even shorter by a sudden pressure around his wrists and ankles. Something constraining him, firmly holding him with a sharp yank on his injured arms.

Yugi's features cutely scrunched up in hurt as the offended limbs sent blazing pain straight through his senses, searing his sides into joining the protest. The teen gasped at the pain, his tone filling his own ears to reclaim his own attention. The sound almost distracting him enough to miss the response but he heard a second voice he didn't know speak up, barely catching what was said as the slightly deeper tone of words drifted to where he was held.

"Yes, yes!" Yugi heard the man start answering though he sounded somewhat distracted. "The kid will work perfectly, he looks just like how you said! Just think about how everyone would react to us with him following us!" The comment had the teen stifling another outburst from the pain in order to hear the man. The words perking Yugi's curiosity and he listened to the first speaker's reply to that.

"We'd get more by selling him to the pharaoh." The first voice snapped while Yugi started as he realized that he knew the voice, his thoughts flickering quickly in the effort to identify that chilly tone. Surprise filling him as he recalled having heard a tone of voice just like that very recently. When he'd been made to drink the stuff that knocked him out earlier Bakt had been talking a lot like that. Yugi shuddered nervously as he wondered if it was the white haired man, however there were other questions in the teen's head.

I wonder what they are talking about, he considered hesitantly without being sure of whether he should be listening in, though given the fact he couldn't move Yugi had little option but to continue focusing on the discussion.

"Do you see how they'd fear m...us, 'Bakare'?! I...we have the power to subvert the Pharaoh, is what they would think as we passed." The other guy spoke with a tone that sounded more dreamy than Bakt's had. Though Yugi thought it sounded more like he was continuing his early statement than giving an answer to Bakt. Yet the words set the teen thinking since the entire discussion so far had left him clueless. What does he mean by 'subvert the Pharaoh'? He questioned silently while still listening, Bakt's next words sinking in while Yugi's features shifted with the confusion that was taking firm root in his mind.

"That is a wall at which you are pointing, I see it just fine. Nothing is wrong with my eyes, what about yours?" The answer came out with a very dry humor, not that the teen noticed, he was busy wondering if that meant Bakt thought that there was something wrong with the other guy. Either way the teen had to stifle a threatening giggle. He would have liked to see what was happening! The idea of seeing it making him wonder if knowing what the pair were doing would have the discussion making more sense to him.

"You had better damn well get your damned brainless head out of the clouds and see that by selling him we'd have enough money to get more slaves that can be used to make monsters." Bakt added in a tone which had returned to the chilliness the teen had heard before. The comment cutting into Yugi's pondering as he paid attention. Only Yugi bit at his lip this time for he understood part of what Bakt had said and he didn't like the idea of more people ending up as monsters.

Weren't Khenemet and the others enough? Yugi wondered with a sadness, feeling like them being here was bad enough.

"Because of him they'll cower before me...us! Cower, weaklings!" The person chuckled outloud without showing any audible signs Yugi could detect of having heard anything Bakt had said.

I wonder who they are talking about? Me? Yugi wondered silently, giving up on just waiting for more sensible statements from the pair. By now the curiosity was really having him wanting to twitch nervously in confusion as a silence followed what the second guy had said. The quiet giving him no clues of what was going on with the two talkers. Yugi desperately wanted to see what was happening. His thoughts turning back to the weakened state he'd woken in and the teen paused in surprise as he found his limbs feeling lighter.

Puzzled, Yugi slowly blinked his eyes open, his confused violet gaze able to see the brown ceiling above himself in the soft lamp light. It took him a long moment to really register that his eyes were open and that most of the former weakness had gone from his body, having faded away the longer he laid there resting.

Only the silence was broken by the discussion resuming....with a loud booming shout from Bakt.

"Have.you.heard.a.thing.*I've said*!" Bakt snarled with a cold fury which chilled Yugi right to his heart. His eyes widened with fright, the expression now more obvious with his eyes opened wide as he glanced around for where the anger was directed.

"Ow!" Yugi's gaze darted swiftly toward where the voice had come from, his eyes lighting upon a partly closed door which blocked out his sight of those who were talking beyond it. Though the teen's ears were ringing from how the guy had actually yelled back at the white haired man. "Stop that! There's no reason to yell! I can hear just fine!" The man shouted at what Yugi thought had to be the top of his lungs. At least Yugi hoped it was, his wide eyes still peering at the door, wanting a chance to see what was going on. It was just hard for the teen to imagine someone being able to yell louder than that!

"So don't yell back." Bakt replied, tensely with a superior tone to his voice. Yugi had no idea what happened but the other guy was quicker to reply than before.

"Fine. Now, did you say something before?"

Yugi sputtered softly with his eyes shining brightly in amusement, even his face lit up with a smile though his body was trembling a bit. The teen doing his best to resist the urge to give into laughter since the guy had actually just admitted that he hadn't heard a thing Bakt had said. Yugi didn't think that just bursting out laughing would be polite, and besides that, in the wake of the admission there was an expectant silence falling outside of the room which Yugi didn't dare break. But he wanted to laugh! The teen hurriedly bit at his lip as he kept trying to hold back his amusement before it got him noticed, only he wasn't going to be able to keep it up for long. He shook slightly as a gently subdued laugh threatened to slip free.

He shouldn't be heard though! Yugi hurried to lift his hand, meaning to stifle the noise so he wouldn't be heard. His hopefulness showing in his gaze for a moment, then the same pressure that had stopped his movement earlier caught around his wrist, startling him into nearly gasping out loud. The teen froze with a brief blink, his shock at having his hand brought so suddenly to a halt left him too stunned to react for a moment.

He quickly recovered with a start of surprise, questioning automatically inwardly about what was holding his wrist. His features shifting with his puzzlement. What was that? I wasn't expecting to be stopped, he considered as he recalled having trouble moving before which had been forgotten as he'd listened to the confusion and fire of the conversation. He pulled his curious violet eyes away from the door to survey his immediate area. His emotionally expressive face at the point of nearly beaming that questioningly curious look around the room as he glanced about for the answer as to why he was held so firmly in place. His gaze benignly crossed over the bare walls that were widely spaced, his mind now realizing just how huge the place was.

Even as Yugi was noting that, his eyes found the edge of the platform that he was laying on. Yugi hesitated in curiosity as he found that he was held closer to the doorside of the stone table. 'Odd', he shrugged slightly to himself as he continued to look, blinking as the rest of the stone pedestal spread out beyond his other side enough to easily have supported the two-headed dragon, and then some, resting upon it...

Wow! I don't think I've ever seen a room this huge, Yugi thought while his gaze quickly resumed traveling over the hardened surface of the stone block, wanting to hopefully find his answer before he was distracted again. His glance shortly falling on his outstretched arm beside him, the teen looked down the length the limb, thinking to find what was holding him down. But instead the cloth of his robes caught his eye and he hesitated, surprise welling up majorly at the unusually clean pure white resting over his arm. The teen shifted his startlingly wide violet gaze toward his kalasiris, his eyes promptly being drawn to the darker highlights of the material and he blinked with wide eyed surprise, for the pattern certainly hadn't been on his old kalasiris. However his shock faded away as Yugi realized there was a missing glint of gold, even the weight he was so used to around his neck wasn't discernible.

The pyramid's not here! Yugi thought even as he was looking around frantically, seeking any signs of anything remotely golden around him. The browned room being all that he could find, there wasn't any sign of gold that he could see and his eyes went wide in horror realizing that the golden object was really gone. The comforting weight it normally provided now missing from his neck. I guess it must have been taken off while I slept, he thought with a pause before continuing to consider how much time had passed while he was out of it. When else could it have been taken away? the teen figured swiftly even as he was wishing feverishly that the gold pyramid was there. But then where could it be? He wondered, shuddering as his heart sank and an emptiness washed over him with a fierce strength, filling his eyes with an intense sadness as he missed the cool weight of the object pressing against his chest.

All he could do was look upon the kalasiris, his old robes were gone and Yugi paused a second before blinking again in utter confusion. Why had his robes been replaced for a new set? He wondered why they'd do something as nice as that, though the fact of the proof was on him in silky layers that didn't feel any different to Yugi from his old kalasiris.

Yugi couldn't remember the kalasiris Khenemet had been working on being of multiple colors. With all the work she'd put into it this doesn't seem very fair, Yugi thought with a disappointed pout, feeling bad about the fact that the kalasiris wouldn't likely be needed. She'd worked so hard...

He moved a finger to smooth out unseen wrinkles in the fabric nearest his hands, his expression dreamily distracted as he lightly touched the outsides of the robe. The teen slowly noting that it felt just like his old ones had. Seems the only difference is that they aren't old, Yugi thought to himself as he blinked down at the patterned material, a rarity among clothing since single colors were easier to make and come by.

Not as rare as the pyramid, but still rare... The thought getting Yugi to sigh emptily.

Why, Yugi cocked his head as he started to think about the question, am I in this? He finished with a blank look of puzzlement to his large eyes, there not being any clues about the kalasiris that he could think of among the things that had been said by those outside of the room. Or anything else he could understand for that matter. Though whatever the reason, Yugi thought that the kalasiris was rather neat! It just wasn't his pyramid... And he'd promised his mother he'd keep it safe... Yugi sniffled sorrowfully, though it wasn't so much from the fact that he'd failed his mother. The teen didn't know when or how but the pyramid had somehow become more important to him than just that.

He missed it, he bit at his lip as he felt a coldness to his loneliness without the golden object.

"For someone scowling, you're really more quiet than you should be. Now if you have something you must say then answer me. Did you say something?" The guy spoke again suddenly, startling Yugi out of his contemplation of where he'd have preferred for the pyramid to be hanging, nicely safe and sound.

"And how does silent scowling sound. I seem to have never heard it. And yes, I damn well said something." Bakt snapped while the teen nipped at his lower lip with his bright gaze showing his confusion. He wasn't sure of what to think of the discussion since things had already been so baffling. "Are you satisfied?" The man demanded as Yugi considered both the conversation and his own situation, finding them similar as he didn't having a clue about either. Especially the part where he couldn't move.

Yugi blinked at that sudden thought, remembering that he hadn't looked to see what was holding him down yet. It seemed to him that it might be a good thing to check since the two outside seemed to be busy trading words with the door blocking his view, so there wasn't any point in him trying to watch them. "With you, no thanks, this isn't the most private spot for such. However the kid would work perfectly." At that the teen blinked just before he could turn the confused depths of his violet eyes away from the kalasiris. The unnamed guy's reply leaving Yugi puzzled, what had that meant?

"You..." Bakt's words sounded as if through gritted teeth. "Hadn't.. better not mind a broken nose." Yugi had no clue whatsoever about what he'd missed that would annoy Bakt, but he didn't think the white haired man seemed all that pleased. Though that was something else he wouldn't say he was sure of.

"Temper, temper." The other guy spoke only, Yugi heard those words followed by a snarl from Bakt.

"You had better quit that, Mariku." The man replied, finally giving away a name for the other voice. 'Mariku?' Yugi wondered once, blinking a few times as he remembered that Khenemet had mentioned a guy who had a name starting with an M. The guy who had changed her, wasn't he? I wonder if this is him, that would make some sense I suppose, he considered slowly as the teen, finally removing his violet eyes from the cloth, thought to finally check on what was holding him down all sprawled out there.

"Aw! Does the Bakty not like being patted on the shoulder. You could have taken off my wrist with that and then where would you have been?" Mariku was interrupted with a snort, something that seemed to be happening a lot. But Yugi was focusing more intently now on his arm, peering curiously down past the bare skin straight toward where the pressure had been against his wrist. The teen had relaxed by then and the pressure faded along with the release but Yugi's gaze still easily enough found the glint of dark padded metal around his paler wrist.

"Forget it!" Bakt flared loudly, nearly yelling again with a fierceness that startled Yugi into nervously recoiling. The teen tensed with the intention of flicking his nervous gaze toward the door, but paused as the motion lifted the cuff holding him. "Now!" Yugi heard Bakt say while his violet eyes widened, the moved cuff allowing the teen to take note of the extremely short chain which fastened the cuffs to the stone pedestal. It kept him from moving even a finger's width.

"What about the runt? He'd net us some good slaves that wouldn't be missed." In his distraction Yugi almost missed Bakt's reference to him. But the teen caught it at the last second before Mariku's reply and he blinked.

They were talking about him...

"No, no, no my simple friend. We are keeping him, just think how the you-know-who would react to..." Mariku trailed off there unexpectedly but there was a noise from Bakt that sounded like he knew what Mariku meant. Then Mariku let out a sudden cackle that chilled Yugi even more than Bakt's cold tone earlier had. "So just go infuse him with that Shadow Realm monster power! Shoo, shoo. The more monsters I have the better!"

"One, he'd cream us. Two, what in the name of Ra are you doing?!" Bakt began calmly enough but the last sentence flared loudly, sending the teen jumping in sharp surprise as Yugi hadn't been expecting such a furious response. His reaction had the restraints yanking painfully at his wrists. The pulling aggravating his sore arms into pain and had Yugi biting down on his lip to keep from gasping from the hurt! His eyes glistened at the sensation, with such strength of emotion even as they watered but did nothing to keep the teen from doing his best to keep listening to Bakt's words. "I've told you before to keep your hands to yourself!"

Yugi just stopped, blinking very slowly as he looked toward the door that still hid Bakt and Mariku from his view. A look of confusion practically glowing from his features as he grasped uselessly for an explanation for those words, only he couldn't find any, as all he could think was a weak 'huh?' All he could figure was that it had something to do with the stuff he could see on his side of the door. And as he had no idea what Bakt was talking about Yugi could only keep staring, totally puzzled.

"Watch yours you fool! You are one to talk, snatching what's mine like that! Why don't you keep your hands to yourself and give me that?!" Mariku countered sharply, startling Yugi even more as he tried desperately to figure out what they were talking about.

"No way, you can handle yourself without this thing." Bakt spat pausing only for a moment as Yugi's head was spinning trying to follow what was going on now without much success. They had to be passing something back and forth, but based on what they were saying, he hadn't a single clue what that thing they were passing about was or what Mariku could manage without. "I tarnished my image digging through yarn to get a damned feather and I was the one to take this off the shrimp! So keep your hands off of it!"

That was enough to have Yugi beaming softly, it was something they'd taken off of him?! That had to be the pyramid! He didn't think that he had anything else that would have anyone arguing over it. Which meant he knew where it was! The teen smiled brightly as he inwardly rejoiced in delight now that he knew that the smooth golden object was so close. Yugi hesitated though he was too happy to lose the beaming expression which had crossed his features, and he was glad that the pyramid was near, not lost, but... he would have liked to have it closer.

"If it's not mine, does that mean something else is? Perhaps I should be putting them here?" Mariku interrupted the teen's thoughts and, before they could resume, the air was filled with a resounding crash! The sound echoing loudly inside Yugi's head, brought a gasp from him before he could stop himself. What had caused that? He wondered, frantically hoping that no one was hurt by whatever that had been. In that moment the shock and worry caused by the noise filled the void left by his loneliness. The worry actually having him trembling, the teen longing for the sudden silence to be broken with more of the confusing babble... He liked to hear anything to know that no one had been hurt.

He shook, hoping in the silence, while merely watching the door with giant rounded eyes. His questioning expression growing more emotional, then the brief quiet was broken by Mariku. "*Yow*! You're getting faster! Good thing that wasn't quite me, but you couldn't hit me anyway." Yugi gasped at the sound, a sigh of relief escaping at the comment that he thought sounded like the guy was indicating no one had been hurt.

"Next time it will be! Get your sorry, damned idiotic ass out of here!" Bakt hissed loudly in an immediate reaction to Mariku and Yugi had to bite at his lip in order not to make a sound over how mean the bellowing tone rang out. So mean and so loudly into the room, louder than the earlier crash had. Even the following footsteps drifting away from the room seemed rather quiet to his ears after the thunderous shout by Bakt.

Yugi just trembled more in the wake of the white haired man's threat, upset a good bit at the idea of anyone actually being harmed. Even these two didn't seem like they deserved that sort of thing.

But now that the footsteps were fading away, a silence fell over the room and Yugi sighed softly, turning his gaze from the door to look questioningly up at the ceiling, more confused than anything else by what he'd heard the two talking about. He'd only caught stuff about them needing more monsters, mentions about subverting the Pharaoh, how someone would react and them arguing over the pyramid.

By now the teen wasn't so sure if the quiet was a bad thing, he blinked into that silence to enjoy the moment of peace for it was less confusing. Much less confusing, Yugi told himself softly though that only made up a bit for the loneliness he felt.

The passing moments had the emptiness growing in him and gnawing away at him until the teen was missing the comforting presence of the pyramid even more. He sighed, shutting his eyes as he remembered the feel of the cool gold lying against his kalasiris, silently Yugi longed to feel that solid surface there with him at that moment. I could still get it back, somehow, he added to himself comfortingly while blinking his lonely violet eyes back open, slowly noticing that a tear was sneaking free. He really did want his pyramid back...

It would make laying here all by himself easier.

Yugi had just thought that, when the door creaked open, startling the teen badly since he hadn't noticed anyone returning. He started in surprise at that, the movement jarring his injured arms into sending a flare up them. The teen whimpered softly as his eyes reflected his hurt from their depths. Yugi wanly managed to turn his questioning, wide violet eyes toward the door, his gaze catching a glimpse of white hair even before he faced Bakt. The teen quietly finished turning his head, his eyes meeting the annoyed sneer that rested on the man's face.

The teen recognized the expression, had indeed seen it before on Bakt's face right before passing out last time. Yugi trembled at the memory but he remained gazing at the man, horribly worried over what the man might do to him now. "What's going on? Do I have to be chained up?" Yugi asked with his wide eyed gaze firmly locked pleadingly upon Bakt, his glance meeting the larger man's momentarily and locked. "Please, it's rather uncomfortable lying here since the rock is so hard." He added rather hopefully that his plea might reach Bakt, only with watchful eyes the teen noted the man grimace suddenly at him before glaring.

"It won't matter to you for long, runt so enjoy it while you can. The new you will be very different." Bakt said with a widening smirk as he advanced on the chained up teen. The words not sounding all that pleasant to Yugi, his mind grasping franticaly at what the white haired man said, trying to convince himself that he hadn't heard him right. There was a nervousness slipping into his bright eyes as he swallowed slowly, the teen seeing nothing on Bakt's face to indicate that the man was joking.

He was going to be changed, like how the other monsters were made? Yugi wondered with frightened wide eyes watching Bakt approach, he was too nervous to even take his gaze away from the man. What if something happened while he wasn't watching? The teen was too scared to risk it.

"Y-y-you're g-going to b-be changing me?" Yugi questioned with a tremble in both voice and body as he kept his gaze locked on Bakt, the teen being too nervous to keep more than one part of himself stable. The white haired man didn't answer, he instead stepped to the teen's side. Restrained as Yugi was, he could do nothing but shiver as Bakt drew back a hand. His murmur of protection dying in his throat as the teen noticed that Bakt held a white feather being turned over in his hand and not a fist like Yugi had been fearing.

Hadn't Bakt said something about a feather to Mariku? Yugi did recall some mention of a feather, he blinked slightly knowing that it had only been a passing mention that hadn't made any sense... So why was it there now? Yugi blinked again, cocking his head quizzically as he gazed at the feather. "That's a pretty feather!" He said as cheerily as he could in spite of his fear, quickly pulling his wide eyes back to look upon the white haired man's features as the guy smirked coldly.

"It's not just a feather. Though you're going to discover just what it can do to you very soon." He noted with a chuckle, the words earning a shudder from Yugi, where ever this was going having the teen growing to not like his situation even more. "But I'm sure you heard me and Mariku talking. So why should I explain to you? I'd rather hear screams." Bakt finished with a colder expression than any Yugi had seen before and the teen's gaze fled from the man, locking worriedly on the feather.

The teen trembled again, the fear covering his wide eyed expression as he majorly didn't like what the man was suggesting. He didn't want to be screaming, or changing! Only there was little he could do with him being restrained but he tugged uselessly at the chains holding him down, listening worriedly as Bakt was already murmuring something. While Yugi couldn't be sure of many things today, he thought that those words sounded something like a prayer. "No, please don't!" He pleaded desperately, his words being met by Bakt raising his hand. He flinched his eyes shut, the teen fearing a blow to fall only nothing landing upon his face. He instead noticed a glow forming there beyond his eyelids, the light growing steadily brighter than the lamp in the room until the last of the flames were lost under the new glow which was starting to spread a warmth over his skin.

The heat crept over his skin, spreading all over the teen before Yugi could figure out what was happening. He shivered even under that sensation, cold fear gripping him, only to get worse as his skin began to sting from the growing heat. The temperature rising too quickly for the teen to stand, he whimpered under the onslaught of that heat, a tear slipping loose then and running along his cheek with a silent trail of moisture left behind.

The wetness evaporating rather quickly to the heat and Yugi gasped, his skin beginning to feel as if it was burning under the intensity. He cried out in pain as his skin scorched, or felt like it, for burning pain wracked his body. The teen shrank back away from the heat frantically, his fingers curling into tiny fists as they struggled against the stone stopping his retreat from the burning sensation. It just got worse and worse, waves of flaming pain searing no deeper than his skin but that was bad enough! His violet eyes were already leaking tears as the searing of nerves stole his attention away from Bakt's plans.

Yugi squirmed in desperation with the heat even penetrating through his kalasiris to scar his skin with pain there. It hurt horribly! It did, it did! Yugi choked hard on a sudden sob as he tried to force his eyes open, wanting to watch or rather to see what was happening to him but he found that his body wasn't responding to what he wanted. It felt like he was on fire or something. Was this how it was supposed to happen? He questioned as terror gripped at his insides, getting him to squirm more even as heat flared greater, pain shooting along his legs, arms, everywhere that the teen could feel. And he still didn't know what was happening beyond the burning! He didn't want to end up as just one more of those monsters!

More monsters? More people becoming them? The thought suddenly freezing him even though pains from the burning sensations swept off him in droves. His mind ever so briefly remembering the archer girl's warning. 'Stand not, tread not. Others know where, more and more. For not lest bared. Follow not.' Unfortunately the idea which struck him at that moment faded before he could fully grasp them mentally.

Yugi's thoughts were painfully stopped as something lanced right through his middle suddenly. The shock of pain jolting him, cutting deeply into his body as the pain spread further than just stopping at his skin. The teen's form was filled with the ache and his voice rang out loudly to his ear, echoing within his head as he burned inwardly. His features twisted and scrunched up in hurt as the sensation rippled from his toes, working it's way hurtfully up to close fiercely onto, and into, his head.

At that pain pounding burningly into his mind Yugi gasped out, whimpering loudly before another sensation reached his excruciated mind. That being the heat sinking into him where the original pain had lanced into him. Then the burning intensified!

It hurt! That was all he could think of for that moment, the pain searing through him and scorching his skin from the inside. Yugi cried out wordlessly desperate, pleading for this to stop only his frantic request went unheard. He just kept feeling the blazing pain seeping through limbs, body and head casting away his thoughts as it didn't show signs of ceasing. Yugi just felt it searing through him in repeating waves. He noticed the worst gathering in his back, turning inward even more from his skin toward his center.

A cracking filled his head, a new pain cutting it's way from his back to tear through his head, shreading away at the layers of his mind. The teen could feel memories being torn up and flung to the side bringing another scream from him. It so hurt! More tears flowed fearfully, Yugi was beyond stopping them at this point, what mattered was the tearing pain, the feel of his skin breaking on his back. He could hear the skin tearing even as the pain of it shook his form. "No..." He whimpered frantically, his fingers raking the air instead of cutting into his palms.

Yugi clawed futilely at the stone trying to get a steadying grip, though the movement was useless against the assault of sensations ripping through him. The burning sensation driving ever deeper into him again, this time reaching, slipping into his mind and the teen sobbed not wanting it to change anything there. He wanted to remember but it was tearing away at the layers there, the new powers greedily being forced into him. The strength of them slowly squeezing in on the teen's thoughts...

Slowly driving him into darkness as he did his best to hang on.


To Be Continued

A/N: Oi! What has happened to Yugi? Will he memories be intacted? I know the answer! Even if this chapter took longer to write than any of the others. I thought for a bit there that it would turn out horrid. But I think it turned out at least not too bad. But after three chapters in one week my creativity is going out and I'm sure most of you don't want writer's block to happen. So I'm going to be taking a break for a few days.
However...people, please review! I'm open to ideas on how to make the chapter better.