Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ My Heart In Your Hands ❯ Dream Fever ( Chapter 5 )

Kara: hey! Thanks to any reviewers!

Kais: oh yeah, just to mention. Ryou and `Kura don't live with the Ishtar's. Kara was just referring to them instead of repeating a whole list of names… hopes that clears things up!

*****Chapter 5****

I'm in what seems to be a huge forest, swirls of scarlet leaves pass by my as I run.

"Hello?" I yell into the eerie slilence, stopping to have a good look around. I notice that the very trees seem to flicker, going from firey red to a dull rust color. I shiver in fear.

I fall to my knees and hug myself. Tears trickling down my face as I try to figure out where I am. Failing miserably, of course. What luck…

I shake my head. The silence. It's deafening me!

I can't explain it; I don't want to explain it.

All the memories of what has happened in my life sudden burst out of me in a torrent of bright red blood, flooding the area around me and creating little streams of the coppery substance.

The smell is smothering me. The liquid is drowning me and I can't escape.

I cry out desperately for help. Begging the impenetrable forest that is my prison. Pleading for it to stop the torture, anything to stop this…

"Only with realization can our riddle be answered and only with the answer can come realization." The trees whisper.

I bring my head up quickly. The blood still flowing but I don't notice it anymore.

"What? What do you mean? I don't understand." I murmur the last part, closing my eyes and lowering them again.

The voice chuckles, "You will, young one, you will. For now, answer my riddle. To escape you must answer my riddle." The voice fades away and I cry out again.

Seconds later, a voice; a new voice, speaks,

"We finally meet." He says, the owner of the voice… He looks just like me, his skin is darker, his voice is different and he looks slightly older… and stronger.

"W-who are you?" I ask, my voice betraying how mixed up I feel.

The newcomer chuckles lightly, "Just call me Jou. I'll be hear to guide you when things get tough. But only if you trust me."

I look down before standing shakily and walking towards him.

I almost reach him when my legs give way, he catches me quickly as I start to sob uncontrollably, tears streaking down my cheeks.

"W-what's g-going to happen to m-me?" I whimper, still in his embrace.

"If you answer the riddle… you shall be free from this place… If not…" He trails off.

When I hear the words I'm almost sick. I'm no good at riddles, well, one or two I can do… but not under pressure like this.

I shake my head vigorously, -come on Baka! You can do this. -

"I'll do it, Jou!" I declare. Wow, go me, I'm being sarcastic, of course.

Jou smiles sadly, "then here is your riddle;

"I come in darkness, but fill the mind with light.

I bring enlightenment to some, while gripping others in the hand of fear.

With me, it can be a journey of inexplicable joy and sorrow.

What I will show you will often be unreachable.

Journey with me, and what you see may haunt you.

Journey with me, and you may never want to return home.

Journey with me, and you will never know when it will end.

What am I?"

I freeze up for a moment, fearing that I should get the answer wrong and be trapped here forever.

Jou's eyes have never left my face, contrary to only seconds ago, he now looks intense, his eyes burning with a fire and passion that I have when sticking up for my friends and little sister.

I'm not going to fail my friends.

And I refuse to fail my little sister!

I close my eyes and concentrate on the riddle, thinking through each line carefully, over and over again.

Comes in darkness? Night comes in darkness… but that's not it, the other lines don't fit.

I open my eyes again for a brief moment to look around. The answer is here… I know it is… but where?

This whole place is so confusing; the leaves have gone from blood red to a firey crimson, then to a deep swirling sapphire. Emerald… ruby, amethyst and back to the blood like red again.

What could do this, in the dark, at night?

It hits me so suddenly that I almost burst out laughing.

I grin at Jou, "My dreams!"

Jou's face lights up with relief. "Well done! For a minute there… I thought that you weren't going to get it!"

I flash him my trademark smirk, "Of course I was going to get it! This is Joey Wheeler you're talking to!"

He smirks back, matching me perfectly, "Yeah well, you should get back now, he's waiting for you."

I nod but frown slightly, "How?"

He cocks his head to one side and gives me a lopsided grin, "Close your eyes and loose yourself."

I blink in confusion, but do as he says anyway.

******

I open my eyes to find a cold damp cloth on my forehead and a worried looking Malik peering at me anxiously.

I try to move to sit up but find myself too weak to even do that, it does however, catch Malik's attention. He must have been daydreaming.

"You're awake!" He says, moving closer to me and removing the damp cloth. I whimper in protest.

"Shh, Puppy. You've got a high fever, I don't know how, but you have." He murmurs to me, replacing the cloth and brushing some hair out of my eyes gently.

"How long have I been like this?" I ask quietly, before giving a harsh cough that seems to come from the very bottom of my chest. It hurts… a lot.

"I woke up earlier when you started screaming and sobbing in your sleep. There was blood on your pillow and a bit on the sheets, I stopped the blood and changed the sheets. Then I just worked as hard as I could to get the fever down… didn't work too well." He chuckles sadly and meets my gaze, which had lowered slightly while he talked.

"I was having a dream. At least I think it was a dream… There was a forest… and the trees started whispering… All the memories I've tried to forget suddenly bubbled up and I couldn't stop them," I sob, He picks me up carefully and cradles me against his cool, tanned chest, caressing my cheeks lightly and brushing away the tears.

I continue, unable to stop now I had started, "All the blood… I was drowning. The silence was deafening me. Then this boy came." I close my eyes for a minute, before opening them and peering back up at Malik, who is watching me intently, concern and surprise mirrored in his deep lavender eyes.

"What was the boy like?" Malik's voice is soft and thoughtful,

"He looked like me, but stronger and… he had a tan like yours, he had a similar accent to you too. He told me that his name was Jou. He even acted a bit like me!" I shake my head in bewilderment, immediately regretting it as waves of pain crash through me.

I cry out slightly and Malik lays me down again, quickly changing the cloth and replacing it, laying my head on his lap so that the top of my head was propped up, with him against the headboard. Even through the pain I can't help thinking how comfortable this is… and how right it seems.

After a few minutes the worst of the pain seems to be over with, and I relax further against my pillow.

MY pillow.

I really am getting possessive aren't I? Ah well.

"Comfy… Pillow." I murmur, smiling slightly despite how ill I feel.

"You make a nice blanket," Malik replies immediately, dipping the now warm cloth back in the water and wiping my forehead slightly before reapplying it. He touches my cheek firmly and frowns.

I cough, "W-what's wrong, M-malik?" I cough again, deeper this time, and more painful.

When I finish my coughing fit Malik pulls me up slightly and presses a cup of cool water to my lip.

Obediently, I drink a little, take a deep breath and drink a little more.

"Your temperature is too high for my liking, Joey. I know you wouldn't go to hospital even if I tried to drag you there so I'm going to have to try and break it myself." His reply is grim and I feel a tremor pass through my body, but I don't have the energy to reply.

Slipping out from behind me, Malik lowers me back onto the bed and pulls a blanket over me.

"Sleep now, Joey. I'll be here." He tells me soothingly.

"T-thanks again Malik." I whisper, coughing weakly yet again before closing my eyes and resting my head back.

"I know. Sleep now. I love you."

"Love- too."

With those heartfelt words I feel consciousness slip away from me and lead me to a thankfully dreamless sleep.

*******end chapter 5*****

Kara: Sorry it's so short but took so long… I got banned from my computer by Shorty- I mean my mother. ^--^

Kais: stick around for yet ANOTHER chapter! ^-^