Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Tearing Down the Sky ❯ The Battle ( Chapter 22 )

Tearing Down the Sky

Hato chiisai

YAOI WARNING

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.

This fic is dedicated to Mally-chan! ^_^

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Chapter 22

The Battle

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Ryou and Yugi watched the armies surge past beneath them. As the armies dove down, the healer and retriever ranks continued straight for a bit more, before diving. Ryou's heart was pounding. He wished that Bakura and the other demons had gone back to the house after they informed the elders of the Hell Hounds. Ryou shuddered. He had never encountered one, and hoped he never would. He had seen pictures of the horrid beasts, and had several nightmares that he was being chased by one. He heard Yugi suck in his breath, and he looked down, his heart freezing at the sight of the dark cloud hurtling up towards them. Demons. A cloud of demons, thirsting for the blood of angels. As they got closer, Ryou could see the Hell Hounds, Flail-wielding demons on their backs. He gulped, and the healers fanned out, darting between the demon healers. One of the oldest traditions was the respect that the healers held for each other, and no honorable healer would ever attack another.

"OW!" Ryou yelped when a demon healer purposely kicked him in the head. Yugi stared after the demon, mortified at what he had done. Ryou yelped again when another demon healer lashed his tail, leaving a line of blood on Ryou's shoulder.

"I think they recognize you." Yugi said to Ryou, who looked insulted.

"SO!?" Ryou demanded, and dodged a wingtip that was jabbed dangerously close to his eye. But after that, the demon healers had no time to torment Ryou; they were busy doing their job. And Ryou and Yugi went on to do their job. They dove down, seeing an angel falling. They dove through the battle field and after the falling angel, blood flying from his mouth and the wound in his chest. Yugi dove under and slowed his fall, while Ryou placed his hand over the wound and healed it enough to stop the blood-flow. Then Yugi rested the angel on a cloud and they bandaged the wound and looked up, seeing a pair of angels with blue sashes diving towards them. They lifted the angel up, and the pair grabbed him and whisked him away, transporting him back to Heaven and to the healers who were waiting to heal the injury completely. To conserve energy, Ryou was to only stop the blood flow, and do no more unless the angel's life needed more right then and there. Yugi smiled and leapt into the air, Ryou next to him, and they glided under the battle, Ryou darting up every now and then, whenever he saw an angel get injured. He would dart up behind them, lay his hand on the wound, heal what he could, and then drop out of sight before the opposing demons knew what had happened.

Ryou and Yugi whirled at a scream, and paled as they saw a Hell Hound barreling their way, a screaming angel in its jaws. Ryou pulled the short swords from its sheath and flew up, letting the Hell Hound fly beneath him. He dodged the demon's flail and dove, slicing through the Hell Hound's tail. The beast shrieked and whirled, faster than Ryou had time to dodge, and its jaws closed on the blade, shattering it. Ryou hovered there and stared at the hilt in his hand, then looked down, seeing Yugi bandaging the angel's arm. The beast roared, and Ryou whirled and fled.

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Bakura dodged a sword thrust and slashed out to the side with his own, gutting the demon that had attacked him. He whirled and snapped his whip, hearing a satisfying scream as he effectively relieved a demon of his sight… permanently. He turned and glanced up, seeing Marik with a psychotic grin on his face, cutting a demoness in half. Yami was whirling around at dizzying speeds, trying to kill a Hell Hound.

"Watch out!" Bakura whirled at the shout and saw a demon tackled aside my Ahmose.

"Thanks." Bakura said, after the other demon slit his attacker's throat.

"Hmph. Next time you decide to join the angel army, don't leave me behind." The ex-demon councilman said with a grin, and Bakura laughed. They then went their separate ways. Bakura was handling his opponents well, when he heard a shout.

"BAKURA!!" He turned and saw Yugi, panicked. "RYOU!!!" Bakura looked, and his heart froze.

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Ryou flew with vertigo-inducing acrobatics, trying to avoid the snarling Hell Hound's teeth and claws. He let out a yelping scream when the claws raked across the back of his thigh. He spun away and continued to flee, the blood from his legs flying back and spattering over the beast and his rider. With another large beat of his wings, the beast was above Ryou, and one swipe with his huge paw sent Ryou slamming with bone jarring force into the clouds below. He yelped, knocking his elbows painfully, and flipped over. He froze and screamed, but it was cut off by the beast pouncing on him. The Hell Hound crouched over Ryou, his paws keeping him pinned in place. Ryou whimpered when saliva dripped onto his neck from the jowls of the beast, and when it opened its mouth and roared in his face, he began to sob in uncontrollable fear.

"BAKURA!! RYOU!!!" He heard Yugi scream, and this was followed by Bakura's furious war cry. He tackled the demon astride the Hell Hound and they began to grapple with each other. Bakura began choking the other demon with his whip, and kicked his knife over to Ryou. The boy whimpered and grasped the hilt, then thrust it up into the Hell Hound's throat. The beast uttered a choking shriek and hurled himself backwards off of Ryou, who scrambled to his feet. The beast turned and swiped at Ryou with his claws again, trying to bring the angel down. Ryou squeaked and jumped back, trying to avoid all of the blows. He yelped as the longest claw caught his belly and ripped across it. He stumbled, then screamed as the beast pounced, closing his jaws on Ryou's shoulder. Ryou whimpered and began clawing at the animal's eyes. The beast slumped over weakly, all but crushing Ryou beneath him. His jaws tightened for a moment, before they loosened. Beneath the Hell Hound, Ryou felt its heart stop. Whimpering, he began trying to get out from under the dead monster.

Bakura finally felt the demon stop struggling, and let the body fall from his hands. He turned at a scream, and saw the Hell Hound slumped over, with Ryou's foot and wing sticking out from under it, and a second Hell Hound was clawing at the body of the first, trying to move it to get to its prey, trapped beneath. Bakura snarled and charged, cracking his whip before the Hell Hound who hesitated, and shifted back and forth. Bakura moved forwards, cracking it again, and the Hell Hound backed away when it felt the sting. Bakura continued cracking his whip, driving the wary animal back. Ryou struggled with the heavy body above him, and was relieved when a firm hand gripped his wrist and began to pull him out from under the Hell Hound. Grunting, Ryou squirmed and stumbled to his feet, turning to thank Bakura. But it wasn't Bakura….

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Malik turned when he heard Otogi yelp, and darted over to his falling friend.

"'Togi!" He called, and Otogi grimaced.

"I think I sprained my wing…" The angel said, and Malik aided his wing and helped Otogi along, looking for a healer. They came across Ryouta, who took Otogi and healed the sprain on the spot, then sent the warrior on his way. Otogi flew straight for Joey, who was teaming up with Seto and Tristan against a Hell Hound. Malik, seeing that they were alright, looked around, spotting Marik grabbing two demons and smashing their skulls together. Other than a thin trial of blood running down his cheek, Marik seemed to be uninjured. Yami was wrestling Odoen with Ahmose, and the pair were gradually getting the upper hand over the Demon Councilman. Mikado appeared above the battle with a legion of archers, commanding them as they flew. Pegasus had a demoness by the tail, and with a good jerk, ripped the tail from the demon, taking the rest of her spinal column with it, and then used this to whirl and slam another demon upside the head while he gutted another with his sword, then turned and began to strangle another with the tail. Malik winced, then turned and charged a demon who had just run an angel through with his sword. As he grappled with the demon, a familiar face streaked by.

Keith… The demon headed down towards a cloud where Malik saw Bakura facing off with a Hell Hound. Keith made his way over to a dead Hell Hound, and knelt, then began pulling on something. Malik's heart froze when he saw Ryou stumble to his feet and look around, clutching a gash on his stomach. Then, Ryou turned and froze, staring at Keith. All the color drained from his face and he began to back away. Malik screamed and abandoned his fight, going to help Ryou when the Demon Leiutenant advanced on the healer. But suddenly, Keith charged and tackled Ryou off of the cloud, and they both plummeted straight down, Ryou screaming in pure, undiluted terror. Malik dove after them, but was tackled by the demon he had been fighting, and was slammed into the cloud.

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Ryou screamed as he fell, the demon Keith staring at him in an evil delight. He grappled with the demon as they fell, but the boy found himself completely overpowered. They continued to fall towards the earth, Keith making sure Ryou didn't get away. At the last minute, he opened his wings and slowed their descent tossing Ryou into the trees and watching him fall to the ground and roll a few times before leaping to his feet. He dropped down among the trees and gave chase after the fleeing angel.

Panting and whimpering in fear, Ryou ran as fast as he could, feeling the branches of trees and undergrowth whipping at his skin. He was terrified. Not only was he being pursued by the being he feared more than any other, but he had never been to Earth before. The trees suddenly thinned, then disappeared and Ryou skidded to a stop as he stared at a cliff falling into a huge lake before him. He flared his wings and tensed to jump, but with a leap, Keith brought Ryou crashing heavily to the ground. Ryou squirmed to escape, flapping his wings.

"Oh no you don't. Today, you die!!" Keith spat, and seized Ryou's left wing in his hands, and with a jerk, snapped the bone. Ryou threw his head back and screamed. Keith did the same to Ryou's other wing, and watched the heavy limbs fall limply, dragging Ryou down with them. With a sadistic smirk, Keith stomped down on the break of Ryou's left wing, and ground his heel into it, listening to the agonized shrieks of the young angel and feeling the broken bone being crushed and splintered until it was irreparable. He then slammed his foot into Ryou's ribs, hearing a satisfying crack, before stomping on the boy's stomach. He watched Ryou heave and vomit bile and blood, then lie writhing in agony, gasping for breath. Keith glanced upwards at the open sky above them, then grabbed Ryou by the hair, and dragged him under the trees where they would not be seen. There, he threw the Angel against a tree and watched him slump to the ground, gasping in pain. He kicked him to the side and stared down at Ryou, sprawled out on his back, his wings twisting in ways that they shouldn't twist.

Pain was all Ryou knew. His shoulder was throbbing where the Hell Hound had bitten him, and he was beginning to feel faint from blood loss. His leg and stomach were aching, and his wings and chest felt like they were on fire.

"You left before I was finished with you." Keith snarled, and Ryou whimpered. "So I'll just enjoy you a bit before I kill you." Ryou made a choking noise and began to struggle, flopping over and struggling to his feet. Keith gave a cruel laugh and shoved Ryou back onto the ground and stomped down on his wrist, getting a sick delight from Ryou's scream as his wrist was crushed. Ryou began thrashing, once again trying to get to his feet and run. At least until Keith took the liberty of slamming him head-first into a tree and crushing his ankles as well. This done, he stood over the helpless angel, listening to his terrified sobs and watching him writhe in agony. Slowly, Keith's lip curled in a sadistic sneer as he unlaced the front of his leather pants under his red tunic, and kicked Ryou's legs wide apart. Ryou twitched, but the pain was too great; he couldn't move. Keith dropped to his knees between Ryou's legs and flipped up his tunic before lifting his hips, and driving his way into the screaming boy's body.

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Malik hurled his attacker off of him and whirled, slashing his throat, before running to the edge of the cloud. He watched Keith and Ryou hurtle downwards, then whirled and ran towards Bakura.

"BAKURA!!" He screamed, flipped his sword, and threw it at the Hell Hound, watching it go right between the beast's eyes. Bakura blinked, amazed.

"Wow."

"Keith has Ryou!"

"WHAT?!" Bakura shouted, and whirled, following Malik to the edge of the cloud. "MARIK!! YAMI!!!" He shouted, and the demons looked, then flew down and followed Bakura and Malik after Ryou and Keith. They were out of sight, but they kept going straight down. Yugi saw them go, and turned to follow, but found himself under attack by the rider of the Hell Hound that Malik had slain. The demon's fist collided with Yugi's face, and the angel fell onto the cloud, unconscious. Pegasus streaked down, gutting Yugi's attacker and picked up the angel, tossing him up into the air to a pair of the Blue-sashed angels, who carried him away to Heaven. He blinked and looked around, wondering where Ryou was. But he didn't have time to dwell on this, and he turned to face the Hell Hound baring down on him.

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The three demons and angel furled their wings and dropped down in the trees.

"Where are they?!" Yami gasped, and Bakura knelt, touching a smear of blood.

"This way." He said, and ran. The others followed. Bakura's eyes picked up a drop of crimson ever few feet, and finally he burst out of the trees.

"OH, FUCK!!" He yelped, and skidded to a stop at the edge of the cliff. The others burst out and also skidded to a stop.

"Now where?" Malik asked. He was answered by a shattering scream. They all froze. "Ryou! Where did it come from?!" Ryou screamed again, and they all turned towards the sound, and began to run.

"RYOU!!" Bakura shouted, as Ryou's screaming continued. They tore through the woods, searching for Ryou, the screaming beginning to fade. And finally, the screaming stopped, but they kept searching.

"Shhh…" Marik hissed, and they all froze and listened. Bakura whirled, trying to track the grunting and whimpering. After a moment, he turned and burst through the underbrush, then froze, staring at Keith and Ryou, hearing the others stop behind him.

Ryou was on his knees, Keith's left arm wrapped around his hips, holding him in place as he raped him, and his right hand holding a jagged blade to the boy's throat. Ryou was slumped back into the demon's chest, his arms and wings hanging limply, and his head rolled back on Keith's shoulder, small whimpers coming from his bared throat.

"D-don't… uhn… move…." Keith grunted as he continued thrusting into his victim until he let out a guttural groan and stopped. Ryou gave a quavery moan as Keith pulled out and put himself away, then stood, holding Ryou up on his knees by his hair.

"Let go of him." Bakura hissed, dangerously, eyes glowing. Keith smirked and jerked Ryou up. The boy screamed at the pressure on his broken ankles, and buckled, so that he was hanging by his hair, wailing in pain and fear. Keith began backing away, dragging Ryou with him.

"The traitors… The angels have taken you in, eh?" Keith said, staring at the demons before him.

"They are not heartless bastards like you demons!" Yami spat.

"YOU demons?"

"I will never count myself among you again." Yami growled, eyes on Ryou. The demons and angel began to slowly follow Keith as he kept moving backwards.

"Let him go." Bakura hissed again.

"If you want him, come and get him." Keith said, as he emerged from the trees and on the clifftop. He kept moving back until the only place he could go, was over.

"Hand him over." Marik hissed. "And get your ass over here. We have a score to settle."

"Because I go my way with YOUR ass?" Keith asked, grinning at Marik, who bristled. He wrapped his hand around Ryou's throat, and leapt backwards, flaring his wings and flying. The others followed. They got above the middle of the lake, when Keith looked back over his shoulder with a grin, then down at Ryou.

"So long." He growled, and let go. Malik gasped when Ryou fell limply, and Keith turned and darted away. Ryou hit the water, and Malik screamed.

"GET HIM!!!" Marik was shouting, going after Keith, but Yami grabbed his tail

"We have to get Ryou first!" He said, and they both dove down after Bakura and Malik, who pulled up to hover above the water, while Bakura dove in. Bakura saw Ryou below him, singling like a rock, pulled down by his wings. Bakura swam after him through the cloud of blood that the angel was trailing behind. Bakura opened his wings and used them to propel himself faster until he reached out and curled an arm around Ryou's waist. He turned and began to paddle up, but his arm was jerked, and his heart froze. Ryou's wings were too heavy; they were both being pulled under.

Bakura closed his eyes and tried to keep swimming, but knew that he was still being pulled down. His lungs began burn as he refused to surface without Ryou. His mind throbbed and he thrashed when suddenly, he felt a hand grasp his. His eyes snapped open and he watched as Yami held onto him and began swimming as well. Marik darted forwards and pressed his lips against Bakura's using his tongue to force the smaller demon's mouth open. Bakura made a muffled squeak, but then Marik exhaled, and Bakura sucked in the air that his demon lover gave him. He strengthened his hold on Ryou and began swimming again, watching Marik get beneath Ryou and push him up. Slowly, the three demons stopped Ryou's sinking, and began moving him up, but they were running out of time.

A splash in the water above them revealed four more demons, swimming down towards them. The first got to them, and Ahmose grabbed one of Ryou's limp arms, and Katsuya grabbed the other. Mai and Ishizu each took a broken wing, and the seven demons began quickly hauling Ryou to the surface. They broke the surface of the water, all gulping down air. Bakura looked up as several angels reached down and took Ryou, beating their wings to get him out of the water. Once Malik, Otogi, Joey and Tristan got Ryou out of the water, Seto began jerking the demons up, giving them a chance to get their wings free of the water and get airborne, and the several winged beings flew to the Cliffside, where they lay Ryou down. Malik got above him and shook him, and Ryou convulsed and vomited up water.

"Ryou?!" Bakura gasped, stroking his face. Ryou's eyes slowly opened, and looked straight up, blank and unseeing. Ishizu was looking him over. After a moment, her searching hands fell.

"Too late." She gasped.

"What?" Bakura asked, looking up. Ishizu fixed an almost frightened look at Bakura.

"His injuries, they… they're internal, and they're bad, and….."

"And?!" Bakura demanded. Ishizu swallowed, then closed her eyes and shook her head.

"He's dying, Bakura." Silence followed her revelation. "He's in pain. And I can't stop it this time."

"The angel's healers…" Bakura gasped.

"He'll never make it back in time." Seto said, shaking his head. "We'll never get him up past the battle. And by the time we get a healer to him, he'll be gone."

"There has to be something we can do!!" Malik sobbed, clinging to Ryou's tunic as the boy coughed harshly, and blood splattered Bakura's face. The demon shook his head, and pulled Ryou up into his chest.

"Bakura, his wrists and ankles are broken. So are his ribs. But his wings… Bakura…."

"Bakura…" Seto said. "Broken wings are… fatal."

"What?!"

"There will be blood clots in the break, and then clots will get into his heart. And it will kill him. If his internal injuries don't kill him first, that is."

"NO!!" Bakura screamed, clutching Ryou tightly to his chest. Ryou whimpered and coughed, flecks of blood splattering Bakura's white tunic. They all turned at a chuckling, and stared as Pegasus forced Keith forwards. The demon was sporting a black and a busted lip.

"Third time's the charm." He hissed.

"What?" Marik said, blinking.

"Oh, I had him screaming beneath me twice. But the third time, I had him the way I wanted to." Bakura snarled. "Twice I have brought him close to death. And now, the third time, he will die."

"Not if I can help it!" Bakura snapped, and stood, holding Ryou in his arms. Ryou threw his head back in pain, a choked cry coming from his throat.

"No healer can save him." Keith snarled, and Bakura glared.

"There is one." He said, and turned, spreading his wings.

"Where are you going?!" Mikado asked.

"Araboth!" Bakura said, and shot straight up into the air, beating his wings harder than he ever had before, flying as fast as possible, clutching Ryou to his chest. He darted through the battle field, knocking aside anyone who got in his way, Angel and Demon alike. He reached the Gates of Heaven and streaked through before the guards could even notice him coming, and shot through Heaven at neck-breaking speeds. Finally, he saw the Golden Gates of Araboth. He landed and shoved the Gate open with all his might, hearing angels screaming at him to stop. He heard Mikado behind him, chasing him, screaming at him, telling him that no one but the Angel of Araboth were permitted into Araboth, but Bakura didn't listen. He leapt into the air and flew into the blinding golden light, and into Araboth.

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Will Bakura be able to get up to Araboth? And if he does, will he be permitted to see Raphael? And if so, will Raphael be able to save Ryou? And have I asked enough questions yet?

Next Chapter: The Light