Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Secrets Can Kill ❯ Bring Me To Life ( Chapter 7 )

Pre: Hiya chicca's you can thank one very insistent reviewer for this chappy. She wouldn't leave me alone till I'd done it!

Yami: Nice to know that you actually listen to someone

Pre: Hey!

Yugi: *Giggles* No one listens to you Yami

M: That's true

Yami: Why you…!

Pre: *Groans* Yu-chan did you have to start them off again?

Yugi: *Jumps out of the way as Pre's muse comes flying past followed by his yami* Eeep sorry Pre!

Pre: Could you just please do the disclaimer for me?

Yugi: A-huh. Pre doesn't own Yu-gi-oh, Evanescence or any other copyrighted material used in this chappy.

Pre: *Glomps Yu-chan* Now on with the fic!

 

 

 

 

 

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Jou couldn't keep the sigh of pleasure from escaping his lips as he nuzzled against the warm body beside him causing the other to tighten his hold around him as they walked down the rickety old staircase from the roof. The sun that shone so brightly behind them warmed their backs and seemed to cast away all doubts and shadows from their minds.

"We have to find the others." Jou murmured.

"I know." Seto sighed as he gently stroked his hand down Jou's back.

Jou shivered slightly at the touch before relaxing into it his mind going back to the hundred or so odd times they'd been in that same position before. "Do you think they've remembered too?"

"Hmm." Seto replied a frown tugging at his face. "Marik most definitely he started acting really weird after school yesterday. Bakura I'm pretty sure remembered before anyone else. But Yami…"

Jou nodded in understanding. "I think Malik, Ryou and I wanted you guys to remember, no, we knew you'd remembered. But Yug' well he weren't so sure you would in fact he was pretty damn certain you wouldn't."

Seto bowed his head slightly at the pained look that entered the pups' eyes at the mention of his best friend knowing that he was partly to blame for it.

"Jou! Hey Jou! Seto! Over here!"

The two jerked as their names were called their heads-whipping round to face the source.

"Malik? Ryou?" Jou gasped out as he stared at his two friends in shock.

"Looks like you guys remembered too then?" Malik smirked as he came forward with Marik by his side and followed closely by Ryou and Bakura.

"You mean you…?" Seto began looking from one couple to the other.

"Yep." Malik said as Marik wrapped his arms around him.

"A-huh." Ryou nodded as Bakura pulled him back into him.

"When?" Jou asked curiously.

"Well Marik came to find me last night…" Malik said smiling over at his fellow Hikari and friend.

"Both he and `Kura remembered then but the three of them didn't come to mine till this morning." Ryou said as he smiled gently back.

"That's why you weren't in school this morning?" Seto wandered aloud.

"Yep." Bakura nodded as he lent forward brushing his lips against the back of his Hikari's neck.

"'Kura!" Ryou shrieked pulling away from his yami and beginning to flush slightly as the others collapsed into laughter.

 

 

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How can you see into my eyes like open doors,
Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb.
Without a soul, my spirit sleeping somewhere cold,
Until you find it there and lead it back home.

 

 

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"Oh Kami…" Yugi whimpered softly as he slowly came to, his whole body felt like it was on fire.

Blinking his eyes open he grimaced as the dull trickle of daylight that leaked through the open doorway hit his sore irises.

`What happened?' He wondered groggily a hand reaching up to grasp his throbbing head.

"Arrrgh." A pained breath escaped his lips as his hand connected with the back of his head, something warm, wet and sticky sliding over his fingertips.

Shifting slightly and ignoring the dull pains shooting throughout his body as it begins to protest against further mistreatment, he brings his hand up to the light.

"Blood…?" Yugi stared at his hand in shock watching as the crimson coloured liquid ran down his hand before dripping noiselessly onto the floor.

His head jerked up his vision swimming at the sudden movement as heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway.

`Oh Kami help me, please someone help me…' Yugi thought, desperately struggling against the fear that gripped his heart as a looming silhouette appeared in the doorway blocking out all traces off daylight.

Then, suddenly, he was alone, alone again and floating in pitch-black nothingness.

 

 

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[Wake me up]
Wake me up inside,
[Can't wake up]
Wake me up inside,
[Save me]
Call my name and save me from the dark.
[Wake me up]
Bid my blood to run,
[Can't wake up]
Before I come undone.
Save me from the nothing I've become.

 

 

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"Hey guys!" The six whirled at the shout only just managing to get out of the way in time as Yami and Jay skidded to a stop beside them.

"And where the hell have you lot been?" Jay demanded her hands on her hips as she glared at them.

"Eeep." Ryou muttered softly grabbing hold of Bakura's arm and staring at the angry girl in front of them. Even Bakura couldn't help but shrink back slightly at the look on his adoptive sisters face as he wrapped a protective arm around his Hikari.

"Miss Karze is really throwing a fit." Yami said glancing from one to the other frowningly.

"Well?" Jay demanded. "What have you got to say for yourselves, hmmm?"

"Say for ourselves? Miss Karze? Fit?" Seto exclaimed. "What on earth are you two going on about?"

Jay sighed, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Well first of all Marik and Bakura didn't turn up for school at all -"

" - So Miss Karze phoned up Mrs. Miyazaki to see if you were alright." Yami put in.

"Mother said that as far as she knew you were in school. That you'd left early for once this morning saying you were going to meet some school friends named Malik and Ryou."

"Miss Karze got worried thinking that you'd all been in some kind of accident or something and went in search of their teacher to see if he'd heard anything. He told her that not only were Malik or Ryou not in but neither was their friend Yugi."

"He then said it was none of his problem and if she wanted some answers then to go and find one of her students, Jounochi. But Jounochi and Seto both disappeared after class and didn't come back."

"So we've been dumped with searching the whole school for you all!" Yami ended indignantly.

"I guess it does get us out of class though." Jay muttered as though in afterthought.

The others stared at the two of them confusedly for a moment before what they said sank in.

"Haven't you seen Yug' anywhere?" Jou asked quietly watching Yami's face for any sign of recognition.

Yami and Jay shook their heads. "That's another thing we were looking for you, Malik and Ryou for, Jounochi." Jay replied.

"Looking for us?" Ryou and Malik exchanged worried glances.

"Yeah." Jay said as she flipped a strand of hair back from her face. "Yugi's surname…it isn't…well it's not Motou is it…?"

 

 

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Now that I know what I'm without,
You can't just leave me.
Breathe into me and make me real.
Bring me to life.

 

 

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Yugi curled his body up into a ball as he felt himself falling, and falling, and falling. It felt like he'd fallen into a never-ending tunnel one with no windows just darkness. Darkness all around that seemed to spread and seep into his aching body causing what little he could still feel of it to go numb.

Cold, that's all he could feel. The brush of cold air against hot, flushed, bruised skin. His entire body was numb from it.

`It hurts.' Yugi whimpered softly squeezing his eyes shut and gripping his knees as he curled up tighter. `This darkness hurts, suffocates, I feel, I feel like all the air inside of me is being pushed out. Like I'm being squashed into a tiny insignificant speck of dust ready to be blown away at the smallest hint of a wind.'

The darkness seemed to grip him, to close in around him as he fell faster. `Oh Kami will this torture never end?' Yugi cried silently to his mind. `After everything we've fought for. After everything we've been through am I really going to die like this without ever having told them, him, how much I care?'

The wind whooshed around him faster in answer to his silent plea.

`Please, oh please just let this end - '

The ground flew towards him with a sickening crack cutting off his train of thought as the world faded to black once more.

 

 

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[Wake me up]
Wake me up inside,
[Can't wake up]
Wake me up inside,
[Save me]
Call my name and save me from the dark.
[Wake me up]
Bid my blood to run,
[Can't wake up]
Before I come undone.
Save me from the nothing I've become.

 

 

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"How do you know that?" Malik growled breaking the stunned silence that had followed Jay's question.

Yami paled looking slightly sick as Malik's words confirmed their fear.

"Oh Kami…" Jay whispered glancing over at Yami whose hand was now gripping onto hers for support.

"Well?" Malik demanded stepping forward threateningly.

"Mali' stop." Ryou whispered fear evident in his voice as he watched Yami closely.

Malik spun around to face Ryou but one look at his friends' face and whatever he'd been about to say flew from his mind. Following Ryou's gaze his too landed on the ex-pharaoh whose knuckles had now turned white from the strain he was putting them under.

Taking a deep breath Jou looked from one to the other of his friends before turning to look at Yami and Jay himself.

"What's happened?" Jou forced the words out through his suddenly constricted throat, his whole body beginning to shake with fear causing Seto's hold to tighten around him.

"We went home looking for you guys." Yami replied hoarsely, glancing over to Seto, Marik and Bakura.

"Mother was in the kitchen talking to Mrs. Kyusyu." Jay whispered.

"That busybody?" Seto grimaced, his hand now moving in calming circles across Jou's shaking back.

Yami nodded his hold on Jay tightening even more. "They were so engrossed in conversation that neither of them saw us come in. We would have walked straight back out again but then we heard Mrs. K - "

"They were talking about a kid who lived near Mrs. K a boy that looked younger than he was because of his height. Mrs. K said that the neighbourhood had suspected that something bad was happening for quite some time now but that the boy was always so perpetually happy that they just excepted his excuses thinking that they were making something out of nothing."

"They thought they were imagining things." Yami whispered.

"But why would that have stopped you from leaving?" Bakura wondered aloud a frown marring his face as he looked back and forth between his former enemy and adoptive sister.

"Didn't anyone check on the kid, make sure he was telling the truth?" Malik asked his hands clenching into fists.

Yami shook his head his eyes lowered to the ground as an image of the boy they'd saved a mere few days ago filtered through his mind.

"And what does this have to do with Yugi?" Ryou asked, although deep within him he feared that he already knew the answer.

"She…" Yami took a deep shaky breath, his head rising and eyes locking onto something in the distance before he continued, his hollow voice echoing through the minds of them all. "She said the kids name…the kids name was Motou Yugi…"

 

 

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Bring me to life.
[I've been living a lie.
There's nothing inside.]
Bring me to life.

 

 

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"Agh." Yugi groaned softly as he was pulled out of the pain free abyss of darkness he'd fallen into.

"Where am I?" Yugi whispered, as he prized his eyes open with effort and stared around him.

He was in what appeared to be a long dark corridor one that seemed to stretch on forever. At the far end he could just make out two small slim patches of light on either side.

"No it can't be…" Yugi trailed off as he placed his hands on one of the walls heaving himself forcefully up off the floor.

He recognised this place…

Reaching out both hands either side of him he takes a step forward towards the light. A feeling of warmth was beginning to spread throughout his body as his hands connect with the surfaces of the two walls. One side of the wall was smooth and warm to the touch while the other was slightly jagged and colder, much colder.

Pain jarred through his body as he took one agonising step forward. "It couldn't be, could it?"

Determinedly he pushed on his hands caressing the walls gently, lovingly as he pulls himself forward.

"Am I…?" Yugi wondered hesitantly. "Is this…?"

A soft melodic chanting drifted towards his ears the sound striking a familiar chord deep within him the closer he got to the source.

Breathing heavily his body strained towards the sound as he hurried forwards the lights looming up ahead of him.

"…The puzzle…?"

 

 

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Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling,
Only you are the life among the dead.

 

 

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`Oh Kami.' Malik thought as he raced towards his small friends' house the others close behind him. `Oh Kami please don't let us be too late.'

`Were we really too blind to see?' Marik stared ahead his eyes straining to see into the distance as he thought back to the past.

`Why didn't we do anything sooner?' Ryou wondered. `We all suspected something was going on so why didn't we try to find out exactly what?'

`Is this the consequence of our Hikari's actions all those years ago?' Bakura thought his hand tightening around his own Hikari's.

`Is this what we drove them to?' Seto asked himself. `Did what we became push them this far?'

`Is this the price that had to be paid?' Jou thought glancing over to his side. `For us to be together?'

`What is this feeling?' Yami frowned as he followed the others.

Since the first moment he'd met his little look-alike he'd felt the wall of ice that he'd built to protect his heart so long ago begin to crack. Something was eating away at the wall that kept him separated from the others. As if something deep within the recesses of his mind was edging to get out something just beneath the surface, so close and yet so far out of reach was struggling to come to life. How had one small boy lit a flame within his ice-encased heart, within his soul, a flame that threatened to consume his entire being? And why do he feel as though he'd failed somehow?

She'd known there was something different, something special about her `brothers' for as long as she could remember. But as Jay found herself running along side them towards Kami knows what she couldn't help but wonder that maybe, just maybe, this time that special something her `brothers' possessed wasn't going to be enough to save one small boy from the fate destiny had in store for him.

 

 

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All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see,
Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me.
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems.
Got to open my eyes to everything.
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul,
Don't let me die here.
There must be something more,
Bring me to life.

 

 

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`Where are you? Why can't you hear me?' Yugi thought desperately as he dragged himself along the corridor. He could feel himself getting weaker and weaker with each step he took it felt as though something or someone was draining all essence of life from him. Soon they'd be nothing left of him but an empty shell. `I don't know if I can go on for much longer without him by my side. He was always there when I needed him. Helping me, protecting me, loving me.'

"Welcome Yugi-sama." The quiet but firm voiced interrupted Yugi's thoughts as he neared the two doorways opposite each other in the seemingly long corridor. Unsure of which way to go he turned in the direction of the voice shielding his eyes against the blinding white light that poured through the open door.

There standing just inside the doorway stood the - "Dark Magician?!"

The Dark Magician bowed his head a slight smile tugging at his usually stoical features.

"We've been waiting for you Yugi-sama." A second, gentler, voice joined in as another figure stepped up next to the mage.

"Change of Heart?" Yugi gasped out.

The card nodded her head graciously. "Come inside child." She said stepping back and motioning behind her. "We've been waiting."

"We?" Yugi questioned as the Dark Magician reached forward to help him into the room.

"Yes young master we." A rough voice with a slightly hard edge to it replied.

"Flame Swordsman?" Yugi whispered feeling faint as he leaned heavily against the mage beside him.

"And us too." A forth voice joined in.

Yugi turned his head to the side looking for the source and gasped in disbelieve.

"H…how? Wh…y?" Yugi stammered out faintly as he felt sleep begin to take over his exhausted body.

"It's alright," A soft voice reached his ears and he blinked tiredly trying to focus long enough to see who had spoken.

"It's alright little one, close your eyes and rest, you're safe here."

The small Hikari's eyes drifted shut a sense of peace filtering through his young body as strong arms enclosed themselves around him.

It felt like, after what seemed like an endless journey, he was finally being allowed to rest at last.

 

 

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[Wake me up]
Wake me up inside,
[Can't wake up]
Wake me up inside,
[Save me]
Call my name and save me from the dark.
[Wake me up]
Bid my blood to run,
[Can't wake up]
Before I come undone.
Save me from the nothing I've become.

 

 

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The flashing lights of the ambulance were the first things to catch the groups' attention as they rounded the corner. The second was the uniformed cops setting up police tape around the house turned crime scene as they skidded to a stop before it. The third was the small cluster of neighbours behind that line.

"Oh Kami." Jay ground out as she stared along with the rest of them as the once proud father was led out of the house cuffed and blooded.

"The poor man." Mrs. Kyusyu said as she sidled up next to the teens. "He hasn't been the same since his wife died."

"His wife…died?" Malik mumbled glancing at Ryou with disbelieve etched into his face. Yugi's mother was dead and they hadn't even known?

"Yes poor woman contracted some foreign disease while on a business trip a few years back and the husband, well, he seemed to loose it after that. He loved her too much, or so they say, he just couldn't go on without her."

"Hai, hai." Another neighbour said nodding her head vigorously. "It's the boy I feel sorry for poor lamb."

"Yugi?" Ryou whispered.

Mrs. K nodded. "We knew something was happening but we didn't want to get involved in a family domestic and figured that we should leave them to sort it out amongst themselves."

"But we didn't know it had gotten as bad as this." The other woman added.

"As bad as this?" Jou repeated.

"It was the first time I'd ever heard him scream. It was the first time I've ever heard anyone scream like that." Mrs. K whispered her voice barely audible even in the quietness of the stunned street. "There was so much pain so much suffering in that cry that we just couldn't leave it be any longer."

"His pleas for help could be heard by the whole street." The other woman said reaching up a shaking hand to her mouth. "Oh Kami-sama…"

The others followed her shocked gaze and froze. The paramedics, a trail of blood following behind them as they tried their best to clean up its occupants many wounds, were wheeling a trolley out of the house.

"No…." Yami fell to his knees as a sharp pain sliced through his body. "Yugi…"

Images flew through his mind as tears welled up in eyes that had been closed for so long. "Aibou…"

The others flinched shielding their eyes as a bright blinding light began to surround him. "Hikari…" He whispered.

As the light disappeared the others stared sadness evident in their gazes as they watched the once pharaoh kneel on his knees in the dirt tears spilling forth from his eyes and onto the puzzle now cradled in his hands. The puzzle gleamed in the daylight it's blinding light seeming to reflect tauntingly off the figure cradling it.

`Something seems to have broken inside of him.' Jay thought, as she turned her attention away from her `brother' and his seemingly private moment with the others to watch the ambulance as it screamed off carrying one small broken tenshi with them. `But was it in time?'

 

 

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Bring me to life.
[I've been living a lie.
There's nothing inside.]

 

 

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"I think it's time to tell you a story Yugi-sama." The mage whispered as he placed his burden gently down onto the bed that had appeared there at his summons.

"A story?" Yugi whispered sleepily.

"Hai." The Change of Heart nodded daintily as she sat beside down him on the bed.

"It all started - "

"Once upon a time." Yugi interrupted the mage blinking tired eyes open to rest upon him.

"What?" The mage questioned.

"All good stories start once upon a time."

The mage smiled faintly. `He's still so innocent after all this time.' The mage thought as he reached out a hand to brush his young master's hair back from his face.

"Once upon a time…"

 

 

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Bring me to life.

 

 

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Pre: It's done! It's done! *Begins to dance around the room*

Yugi: What's up with Pre?

M: She's in a slump.

Yami: *Raising eyebrows* That's a slump?

M: You didn't see her earlier

Yugi: What's she in a slump for?

M: First her favourite author killed off a main character -

Yugi: It wasn't me was it?

M: - or two - and I can't say

Yugi: Oh

M: Then she was watching some weirdo anime when her computer crashed and it got deleted so now she's waiting for it to finish downloading again

Pre: *Stops dancing and flings herself into a chair* It's not fair!!!! All my Gravitation is gone!!!

M: There's still some there

Pre: *Sobs* Only the OVA's and the first epi!

M: *Sighs* Here we go again

Yami: *Grabs Yugi and edges towards the door* We've, um, gotta go do stuff so we'll see you next time *Shoves hand over Yugi's month as he starts to protest and runs out of the door*

M: *Takes one look at Pre* Yami! Wait for me! *Runs after him*

Pre: *Sobs* NOOOOO