Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Slave with a Hidden Power ❯ New Life, New Masters ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: New Life, New Masters

After the wristbands and headbands were given to Seto's slaves, he stepped toward them and Bakura and Malik backed away until they were against the wall.

"Master, let me talk to them; remember, we just got them out of their abusive master's reach." Isabel suggested.

"Alright." Seto said, disappointed that his new slaves feared him, even after freeing them from their old life.

"Bakura, Malik, the master won't hurt you; he hasn't hurt me; and don't worry about Yugi and Ryou, if the pharaoh was hurting them I would know, since my sister is also one of his slaves." Isabel explained.

"Is what she says true?!" Bakura asked suspiciously, suddenly, Ryou's well being gave him the courage to step forward and look his master in the eyes.

"Do you see Isabel cowering before me?" Seto asked sarcastically.

"Well, no, but I want to see my brother soon so that I have proof of him being okay." Bakura answered.

"Master, can I go and see Yugi? We're not brothers or anything, but we are good friends, and I've taken it upon myself to protect him from any beatings from his father. Usually, I'd get in the way when his father tried bringing a whip down on him and I took the beating for him." Malik explained.

"You will see Yugi later; Yami will bring them down to my chambers when he has them ready." Seto said. "Now sit down on the makeshift beds on the floor and relax, I promise I won't hurt you." He finished.

The slaves did as they were told and stayed quiet, awaiting Yami's arrival. In Yami's room, he got the same kind of reactions from Ryou and Yugi as Seto got from Bakura and Malik. Yami couldn't understand why his slaves were afraid of him since he did save them from their previous lives. He realized that if he took a step towards them they'd take a step away from him.

"Master, they may have been rescued from the abuse, but they still are wary of you as their new master. It will take a while before they are able to trust you completely." Sarah explained.

"Ryou, come here please." Sarah requested.

Ryou walked over to her and she gave him a comforting hug to help relax him.

"Ryou, I may know your brother better than you, but it's not like I got to see you very often. Listen, I'll make sure you stay safe but I guarantee you won't have to worry about the master hurting you." Sarah told him.

"Master, I want to see Malik again; can I go to see him?" Yugi asked shyly.

"Oh that's right, Seto and I agreed that we would meet in his chamber as soon as you're ready; let's go." Yami said with a kind smile before walking to the door and allowing his slaves to walk out before he shut his door and followed them down the hall.

"Seto, we're here" Yami said after knocking on his door.

"Come on in everyone; Bakura's very eager to see you Ryou." Seto said after opening the door and allowing them in.

Ryou immediately ran into Bakura's arms and his brother hugged him tight. Malik walked over to Yugi's bed with him to talk with him about how Yami was treating him. Isabel and Sarah hugged each other and then started chatting and teasing each other. A half hour later, the slaves were allowed out of Seto's chamber to walk around the palace and investigate. When they entered the throne room, they each took a different hallway expecting to meet up in the same room at the end of the hall. It didn't work out that way; the slaves ended up getting separated and were soon looking for each other, but they ended up getting more lost. A while later, Isabel, Malik, Bakura, Sarah, and Ryou returned to their master's chambers.

"Where's Yugi?" Yami asked after Sarah and Ryou entered his room.

"He's not here master?" Sarah asked.

"No, he's not; where did you all go?" Yami asked.

"We went to the throne room and we all took different corridors thinking that we'd all meet in the same room at the end of each hall; unfortunately, we ended up getting lost." Sarah explained.

"I'll check with Seto to see if all his slaves have returned." Yami stated, getting up and walking out of his chamber.

Yami returned to his chamber a few moments later and nodded that all of Seto's slaves had returned. He suddenly looked to Sarah who was rubbing her temples before she suddenly looked up and ran out of the pharaoh's chamber. As Sarah ran down the corridors, she came across Yugi who was confronted by his father and he had a whip.

"Hey! I thought I told you to leave him alone you bastard!!" Sarah yelled down the corridor before running to Yugi's aide.

"You don't have your sister close enough to feed your power now." The man said before bringing the whip down on her.

"Father no!!" Yugi shouted grabbing the blur that was is father's arm.

"Unhand me you lousy slave!" His father yelled before throwing him down the corridor.

"Leave him alone! Don't touch him!" Sarah shouted running at the man that was now approaching Yugi.

Sarah tackled him to the ground not caring that he was stronger than her at the time. Unfortunately, he easily flipped her over so he had her pinned. He took a knife from his belt and brought it close to her throat when suddenly two guards grabbed him off of her and Yami went to her side.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Yami asked.

"I'm fine, but… Yugi!" Sarah said while getting up and crawling over to him.

"Yugi, Yugi, are you okay?! Please, say yes." Sarah begged while gently shaking him.

"Sarah, we should get him back to my chambers."

"Yes master." Sarah answered, getting up and walking back to Yami's chamber with him.

"Guards, take this low life to the dungeons for even daring to attack my slaves." Yami ordered.

A guard carried Yugi to Yami's chamber where the palace healer tended his wounds.

"Whe-Where's my father?" Yugi asked when he came to.

"Rotting in the dungeon, where he belongs." Yami answered angrily.

"Yugi, I'm so glad you're okay." Sarah said. "I just hope we never get split up in the palace again." She finished.

As the slaves were talking in Yami's chamber, Malik wandered around the palace and walked around a corner only to run into someone and fall back to the ground. He got up and said,

"I'm so sorry; I wasn't watching where I was going." Then he looked up into the face of the person he ran into and gasped.

The man had a similar reaction before he said,

"It's quite alright; I'm Ishtar, one of the pharaoh's councilmen." Ishtar stated.

"I'm Malik; it's nice to meet you." He said.

"Same here; I see you're the high priest's slave."

"Yeah, well, it's a lot better than my old life."

"What was so bad about your old life?"

"My friend's father was our master and well, he had a tendency to beat the tar outta me when I tried to protect my friend from his beatings."

"You're master beat you? What for?"

"Because he was bored and he found that beating us relieved that boredom."

"Malik! What are you doing out of my chambers?!!" Seto asked angrily.

"Master?! Uh, I, Well…"

"High priest, we were just talking with each other, don't worry, he was safe." Ishtar said, since Malik was a bit tongue tied.

"Well, Ishtar, I'm glad he was safe, but I can't trust that his master won't escape from the dungeons to beat him again. I would prefer that he walks around with one of the guards, or me, or someone who can protect him." Seto explained.

"I wouldn't mind walking around the palace with him; we were just getting to know each other after all. If his master does escape, I'll be able to look out for him just fine, if you would let me." Ishtar offered.

"Very well Ishtar, but, make sure he behaves himself as well; the last thing I need is people complaining because of his mischief." Seto said before walking back to his chambers.

"I'm not that mischievous." Malik mumbled.

Ishtar laughed, then led him around the palace showing him all the important rooms, as well as the not so important rooms. When they were finished, Ishtar took Malik back to Seto's chamber. Before Malik could walk in, he was immediately pinned to the wall by his master who had escaped from the dungeon.

"Don't worry about Yugi; I'll get to him as soon as I'm done with you." He hissed.

"You stay away from Yugi you bastard of a father!!" Malik yelled in hopes of someone hearing him.

His master put a hand over his mouth to silence him and then with his other hand he punched him in the gut. Seto was awakened from his light sleep by his millennium rod glowing brightly. He quickly looked around his room to find that only Isabel and Bakura were there. He walked into the hall to find Malik's old master beating him and Malik was on the floor writhing in pain. Seto walked up behind the man and pinned him to the wall forcefully.

"Malik is my slave now as Yugi is the pharaoh's; you should know that the punishment for beating either mine or Yami's slaves is torture in the dungeon for all eternity." Seto seethed.

Yami was awakened by Seto's yelling at the man as was Yugi. Yami and Yugi were walking down towards Seto's chambers when they saw what was happening; and Yugi walked closer to his master when he saw a blurry image of who Seto was yelling at.

"So, you've decided to try attacking Malik this time; well then, I'll have to throw you in the dungeon, where you will suffer for all eternity. Guards, take him away." Yami commanded.

Yugi watched as he saw blurry images of the guards take his father away before running to Malik's side.

"Malik, can you walk?" Seto asked.

"I'm sorry master, I was going to enter your chambers when he blind-sided me and pinned me to the wall." Malik explained weakly. "I'm afraid that I'm in too much pain to walk on my own." He stated.

Seto picked up his slave and carried him into his chambers laying him on the makeshift bed that was laid out for him before looking at Isabel.

"What is it master?" she asked.

"Can you heal him with your power alone?" Seto asked.

"Yes, I can, but I will probably pass out as soon as it's done." Isabel answered.

"Then please do, his master came back and beat on him." Seto stated.

"He What?!! You better damn well make sure that I don't run into him, because if I do, I'll kill him!!" Isabel said angrily, before calming down and healing Malik.

Isabel passed out as soon as Malik was healed and Seto carried her to her own bed.

'Note to self; never piss her off.' Seto thought to himself.

Yami had gone back to his chambers after literally pulling Yugi off of his leg since he was so scared that he refused to let go and Yami was losing circulation to that leg.

"Yugi, he won't hurt you again." Yami said gently as Yugi clung to him for dear life.

"That's what you said last time." Yugi said quietly.

"I didn't expect him to be able to escape the dungeon." Yami said, still gently.

"I'm scared, he's been beating me since I was nine; and then he bought Malik when I was twelve. Malik thought for sure that my father would kill me if he didn't protect me, so many times he took the severe beating while blocking my father's shots from hitting me." Yugi explained.

"You've been abused for seven years?!" Yami asked surprised.

"Yes, he also refused to leave me alone for a single day without giving me a beating." Yugi stated.

"Since I can't be with you all the time, I'm going to give you one of my monsters to protect you." Yami stated.

"Monsters? What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Like this. Dark Magician, come forth!" Yami called, and a purple clad humanoid stood before Yugi.

"Yes master, what can I do for you?" he asked, before focusing his gaze on Yugi who started to back away and fell to the floor.

"I've seen my sister bring out something similar, from a deck that she owns." Sarah stated, causing the magician to look at her.

"Ryou, are you going to be okay, you look like you've seen a ghost." Sarah said, looking at Ryou who was backed against the wall with a terrified expression on his face.

The magician looked to Ryou and gave a warm smile, but that caused Ryou to faint from the additional shock of the monster smiling at him. Sarah walked over to Ryou and carried him to his bed where she lay him down gently.

"Sarah, do you have a deck?" Yami asked.

"No, but Isabel gave me one of her cards. She gave me Silver Fang since I liked him so much." She answered.

"Have you ever called him out?" Yami asked.

"No, but, I once saw the card glowing after one of my master's severe beatings."

"What were you thinking at the time?"

"I was thinking of killing the bastard, and for someone or something to help me."

"I see, it sounds like Silver Fang wanted to help you but you were already too weak to summon him."

"What?! I thought my sister was the only one that could call on monsters."

"Evidently, you can too if you concentrate hard enough."

A small giggle brought their attention to Yugi, who had gotten over his shock and edged closer to the magician who looked like a blurry image of purple.

"I see that you've gotten used to the Dark Magician Yugi." Yami said smiling.

At that point, Yami saw Yugi dive between the magician's legs where he was caught and lifted into the magician's arms and he laughed joyously.

"So Yugi, would you like a monster like the Dark Magician to watch over you?" Yami asked.

Yugi looked at the blurry image that was Yami with wide eyes and a big grin before nodding his head.

"Very well, I'll let you choose the monster." Yami said, holding out some cards to Yugi.

Yugi chose the card that was just a green blur when he looked at it. Yami looked at the card and said,

"The Feral Imp; good choice." Before giving Yugi the card and telling him that if he needed his help all he had to do was call out to him mentally.

The Dark Magician put Yugi down and returned to his card after bowing to Yami. Ryou came to a few minutes later and asked what had happened.

"You fainted after the Dark Magician smiled at you." Yami answered with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah." Ryou said softly, a faint blush appearing from embarrassment.

"Don't worry Ryou; you've never seen a monster appear before you so it's only natural that you would be scared." Sarah explained.

"That's not necessarily true, my master was able to call forth monsters to do his bidding and he threatened Bakura and me with them more than once." Ryou explained.

"What?! That's not the purpose of having monsters at your command!" Yami said surprised.

"He once called out a monster and told it to hurt my brother, but the monster refused knowing that it was wrong. When my father threatened to rip its card if it didn't obey, it had no choice but to follow orders." Ryou explained. "After the order was carried out, the monster looked at me with a sad expression; it was as if the monster was trying to apologize with its eyes." Ryou continued.

"Does your father still have his deck with him and if so, does he still have the monster in it?" Yami asked.

"He does still have his deck, but he doesn't have the monster inside it anymore. He put the monster's card in a book and left it there after it tried to disobey him." Ryou answered.

"Would you like to go get the card?" Yami asked.

"Yes, I would." Ryou answered.

"Then let's get our robes on and head out." Yami ordered.

"Are you going to tell the high priest so that he can come with his slaves too?" Ryou asked hopefully.

"Sure, let's go." Yami answered, before putting his robe on and heading down to Seto's chamber with his slaves.