Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Guardians of the Watchtowers ❯ Dreams ( Chapter 12 )

No, I'm not dead. Just been busy for the past month or however long it's been since I last updated. Stupid finals (always a pain), a non-writing project that I had to finish, and then all the holiday crap to top it off. Yeah, I'm not much of a "holiday's person". *grumbles*

Mediaminer reviewers:

Calupe: LOL, Belinos eating Kaiba…yeah, that would so funny, but it would kinda screw up the story line some. Heh heh, thanks for the review!

Love magick what eles?! i love it !!: Thanks for the review!

???: Umm…Kaiba finding a pet monster, I'll try…but him switching bodies with Yugi? Don't think that'll work with the story line. Thanks for the suggestions and the review!

Technical Dragon: Thanks for the review!

Fanfiction reviewers:

Charmeleon: Well, action's not really my strong point, but I do have some more planned. Thanks for the review!

Soul Dreamer: Thanks for the review!

Alina3: LOL…thanks for the review!

Mistress Ethereal: Yeah, don't worry, Bakura and Marik will be returning soon. Thanks for the review!

Yugi-Obsessed: LOL, yeah they do still have the wolf ears and tail (which is why Belinos refers to Kaiba as the "human-wolf boy") ;) Thanks for the review!

Anime Crazed: Thanks for the review!

Dark Fairy7: You got it! :) Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: I don't, of course, own Yugioh. And this idea originally came from LJ Smith's Nightworld series, but I've changed it around quite a bit.

Warning: There's a bit of death in this chapter. It's not all that descriptive, but it's there.

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Chapter 12: Dreams

Yugi ran as fast as his short legs could carry him, down the long, dark corridor. He didn't know exactly where he was heading, but he knew he had to get there fast. He could sense that Yami was in great danger, and he had to help. One thought ran throughout his mind: Find Yami…Find Yami…

At last, Yugi burst into a large room and skidded to a halt, his amethyst eyes growing large, his mouth dropping open slightly. A hand rose to clutch the fire-pendant hanging from his neck as he struggled to take in deep breaths. There was so much dark energy in this one room! It seemed to be nearly suffocating him…After those first few moments of shock, his eyes finally took in the horrible scene before him: the four Guardians were battling against a large host of gruesome-looking things. Things that looked long-dead, and should have stayed that way, too. With their decayed and decomposing bodies, their deadly weapons, they threw their might against the Guardians.

In a blur, Yugi watched as one by one, the Guardians fell. First Bakurian to a creature with six arms, each holding a long sword. The Eastern Guardian was slashed across the chest as another sword was driven deep into his gut. Marius was the next to fall, his Earth element not being able to withstand the host of ghouls overwhelming him. With a cry he disappeared among the midst of those ghouls.

Now, there were only two Guardians left. Raven battled against a lone vampire with dark hair, holding a long sword with a wolf's skull on its hilt. She parried off his attacks with a stake in one hand, a dagger in the other, as well as occasionally calling upon her element for aid. When it looked as if she was about to take the upper hand, a blast of dark magick came out of nowhere, throwing her against a pillar, her weapons clattering across the ground. Yugi looked towards the direction of the blast, at an old man in dark black robes, his arm extended. Yugi shuddered when he noticed the man's "eyes": cold and black, with no emotion at all in them. He turned back towards Raven, then immediately regretted that he did. He shut his eyes as the vampire buried his blade into her chest. He could hear Kaiba somewhere in the background screaming her name.

Taking a deep breath, Yugi opened his eyes and sought out the lone Guardian left. Yami. His Yami. He watched horror as Yami fought against a very familiar looking female vampire. One with blonde hair. But this time, Isabella was different: now brought back from the dead, no doubt by the dark magicks of the Elders, she was much more deadly. More powerful. She had already driven Yami back against the wall, and was closing in fast. Tired and bloodied, there wasn't much Yami could do. Yugi watched as Yami let forth one final burst of fire, which Isabella deflected easily with a flick of her arm, then swung her blade down with her other arm. As the blade sank into Yami's chest, his crimson eyes locked onto Yugi's purple ones, and he mouthed the words "I'm sorry…I love you…" Then those eyes closed forever as he slumped onto the ground.

Tears blurred Yugi's vision as he turned once more towards the old man in dark robes, now joined by three others. The vampire who killed Raven as well as Isabella joined them now. They all turned their gazes towards Yugi, grinning in triumph. They had won.

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Yugi awoke with a loud gasp, struggling into a sitting position. Beside him, Yami sat up as well, looking very concerned. "Yugi! What's wrong?"

"Th-that dream! It was horrible, Yami! I saw…I saw…" Tears came to his eyes as the vivid images flashed through his mind.

Yami shushed him gently as he gathered him into his arms. "It's alright, Yugi. I'm here. I'm here." He continued murmuring into Yugi's ear to calm him down. Spirit had awoken as well, and moved closer to drape one wing over the two boys. Once Yugi had calmed down, and was no longer breathing rapidly, Yami asked gently, "What did you see, Yugi?"

Taking a few more deep breaths, Yugi said shakily, "I saw…your deaths. All of your deaths. Bakurian's, Marius's, Raven's, yours…" He trailed off, looking at Yami with large eyes. "Isabella was back, Yami! She was back. And she could deflect your fire too. She…she…" He could not bring himself to finish, but Yami understood him well.

"Isabella back?" he muttered. "This is definitely the work of the Elders. What else did you see, Yugi?"

"I saw *them*. The Elders. They were wearing black robes, and one of them helped a vampire when he was fighting Raven. The vampire had dark hair, and was holding a sword with a wolf's skull on its hilt."

Yami's eyes widened in shock. "A wolf's skull? Then it must be…" He trailed off, his eyes growing dark, a low growl coming from deep within his throat.

Yugi looked at him curiously. "Who is he, Yami?"

"Angus. The human boy who betrayed Raven to gain his immortality."

Yugi could hear the resentment and anger in his voice. "So he's back too then. Yami, what are we going to do? What if this dream is some sort of…premonition? I-I don't want to lose you…" He trailed off sadly.

His words calmed the anger in Yami, who tightened his arms around Yugi. "You won't. We'll figure out a way to defeat the Elders. I promise you." He leaned down and gently pressed his lips against Yugi's, whose eyes widened in shock, then closed as his lost himself in the kiss, the images from his dream starting to fade away. His arms rose to wrap themselves around Yami's neck, intensifying the kiss. Yami pulled back a little, his eyes full of emotion as he breathed out the words, "And I never break a promise…"

Meanwhile, Kaiba slowly opened his eyes. Though he was not much of a morning person, he always awoke when the sun rose- even in this strange land that he was currently in. As he rose to a sitting position, a hand rose to gently stroke the water-pendant hanging from his neck. His mind wandered back to what that psychotic vampire had said: Guardians only give their elemental pendants to those they *love*.

Love. The word echoed throughout Kaiba's mind as his hand continued to stroke the cool metal pendant. Love. Could what the vampire said be true? Did Raven actually love him? Or was that just another trick of the demented vampire? He shook his head, trying to clear away all those questions. With a sigh, he leaned back against the white rock behind him, closing his eyes. The rock was surprisingly comfortable…Kaiba's eyes flew open. Wait a minute…he didn't recall falling asleep near a *rock*. Startled, he looked behind him, his eyes catching the one lazy opened eye of Belinos. Their blue eyes locked for a moment, before the dragon finally "sighed" as he began to rise. Kaiba hurriedly scrambled to his feet and out of the way as the dragon stretched out his long tail, then his long neck, and finally his wings. Then he promptly curled back into a ball and closed his eyes. Apparently, Belinos didn't like mornings so much either.

Now that he had avoided being accidentally whacked from the dragon while he stretched, Kaiba swept his eyes around the small clearing, falling on the girl who haunted his thoughts. She was standing where the clearing's edge met the dark forest, gazing into its depths, deep in thought. He quietly approached her, coming to stand next to her. He followed her gaze into the dark forest, but failed to see anything….unusual. There were a few moments of silence until Raven spoke.

"We're almost there, Seto." She spoke very quietly, barely above a whisper. "Just past this small forest are the dark gates of Castle Istar. The Elders probably already know we are coming, and will have guards protecting the gates. We can't just fly over there, either, since they can just send an aerial arsenal against us. We'll have to attack head on. It won't be easy getting through their guards…" She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

Kaiba sensed words could not ease her troublesome thoughts, so he simply put an arm around her shoulders. Raven opened her eyes at this, finally turning to look at him. "You're going to get through this. You're going to get out of this place, back to your little brother, back to your own normal life. Everything will be the same again, and all this will just seem like a nightmare." She smiled slightly. "And you'll make it back without those ears and tail."

He looked down into her golden eyes. "Don't you mean "we"?" he asked, his voice low and husky. "Don't you mean *we'll* get through this, *we'll* get out of this place?"

She didn't reply, only shook her head slightly as a wistful smiled flitted across her lips. She looked away from him.

More silence followed, until Kaiba spoke again. "You're wrong about one thing, Raven."

She shifted her eyes back to him, and their gazes locked. "Nothing will ever be the same again. Nothing."

Another sad smile briefly crossed her lips. "No, I suppose you're right, Seto. Nothing will ever be the same again. For any of us."

Yami and Yugi approached them, with Myrrddin following close behind them. Yami quickly told everyone about Yugi's dream. Raven growled at the mention of Angus, her gaze darkening. So, now the traitorous vampire was in league with the Elders. And the psychotic Isabella was back as well. It seemed like all of their enemies were coming together against them, with only one thing on their minds: their deaths. Their possibility of surviving was dwindling with every passing minute…

Then suddenly, an idea came to Raven, and her eyes widened. It was risky, and would require some sacrifice…she glanced at the tall boy who still had his arm around her…but if it worked, then the sacrifice would be well worth it.

Yami recognized the look on his cousin's face. "Raven?" he asked questioningly.

She snapped out of her gaze. "I have a plan. One that will defeat the Elders once and for all. But we must find Bakurian and Marius first. We'll need the four of us for this to work."

Yami regarded her closely. "What kind of plan?"

"I'll explain once we find the others. Now come. We're going to the gates of Castle Istar." She removed Kaiba's arm from around her shoulders, looking at him as she did. "Stay close to me," she said softly. "This is going to get very dangerous."

Their eyes locked as Kaiba nodded and replied, "Be careful."

Raven nodded as well, then raised her arm towards the bluish bubble that had protected them over the night. "Kshonna wanya!" The blue crystals fell to the ground as the spell was broken. She lowered her arm then looked at Belinos, who had come up to her. Placing one hand on his massive head, she looked straight into his eyes. "I know you want to help, Belinos, but I'm going to ask that you leave now. Go home. I don't want to risk getting you hurt."

Yami took his cousin's cue and asked Myrrddin and Spirit to leave as well. She was right: this was their battle after all. They shouldn't be further risking the lives of their closest friends.

After much debate and arguing, Myrrddin and Spirit were finally convinced to leave, though very reluctantly they did. Belinos, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. No matter what was said, the stubborn dragon refused to leave. Finally, it was Raven who conceded and allowed him to stay. If dragons could grin, this one was grinning now at getting his way…again.

Everything now being settled, the group started off into the dark forest, everyone keeping their guard up, Yami and Raven ready with their elements. For the first hour or so of traveling, nothing happened. Then, Yami suddenly stopped, one arm pushing Yugi protectively behind him. The others stopped as well, looking around. No one knew what to expect, until a shrill squeal was heard as a brown fur ball dropped from the trees above them. It landed right in front of Kaiba, who jumped back startled. The fur ball had large eyes and four green claws. Yami sighed in relief. "It's only Kuriboh. A very playful little creature."

The small fur ball looked up at Kaiba before letting out another squeal and jumping up and down in the air in front of him. Kaiba watched with a frown as the thing bounced around in front of him, waving its little limbs around frantically. "*What* is it doing?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Raven narrowed her eyes. "It's warning us of danger," she said in a low voice. "They're coming for us…"

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Ooo…cliffhanger-ish. Well, I hope this chapter was a bit more interesting. Yami and Yugi finally shared their first kiss. Ick…that part didn't turn out quite like I wanted…but good enough. And the dream thing…guess I'm not too creative in deaths, now am I? *shrugs*

Translations:

Kshonna wanya! : Dispel!

Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks for reading and please review!