Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Trust Me ❯ The Value of Life ( Chapter 8 )
Priestess: Not much left to write! Just this and the last chapter, really. They're very short chapters, but they have plenty of emotion behind them.
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Nahkti glanced up in surprise. Had he heard something? There was something flying towards him-some kind of weird golden flame. He blinked and would have rubbed his eyes had he not been chained to a wall.
The flame stopped and took shape a few feet from the cell he was in, and he gaped as he recognized the shape-
"Namu?!"
The boy didn't reply. He was stretching his good arm, trying to grab the key. But he was too short-how could he not be? Nahkti himself would have been too short had he even been near enough.
Namu wiggled his fingers, and Nahkti's jaw dropped as the key fell into his hand. He watched in what resembled a state of disbelief as Namu tried and succeeded in opening the door with one arm and walked over, unlocking the enchanted handcuffs.
Nahkti rubbed his wrists gratefully, not taking his eyes from the beautiful child. "Namu, what-?"
"There isn't time," he replied, grabbing Nahkti's arm and pulling him towards the exit. Nahkti followed, too stunned even to lecture him for being here in his condition-not to mention asking how in the world he had used those incredible powers.
It wasn't until they were on the surface that he asked, numb with surprise, "Namu, what's going on? How did you get here? How did you do that? And where is the Millennium Rod?"
Namu was trembling slightly, he noted. Beginning to feel afraid, Nahkti whispered, "What is it?"
He paused, having not come up with words to describe 'it'. At last Namu replied, "Akunamukanon never knew about Kuru Eruna's destruction. Akunadin tricked him, and Necrophadisu is tricking you."
"What?!" Nahkti shouted in shock and outrage, grabbing Namu's shoulders. Namu flinched as he touched the arm which was wounded, but Nahkti didn't even seem to notice as he yelled, "Don't lie like that! Do you want to get us both killed?"
Namu was stunned and hurt that Nahkti didn't believe him. And, he realized suddenly, he was also infuriated. His pretty face twisting with outrage, he shrieked at Nahkti, "I'm not lying!"
"Of course you are!" snapped Nahkti, sounding irritated and angry.
"I'm telling the truth!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"Why can't you just trust me?"
Neither of them spoke, and Nahkti stared at Namu. Those six words-the last two in particular-hit him like a pair of bullets. He gazed at the hurt in Namu's eyes, the fury in his expression, the bruise marring his beautiful face. He glanced down at his hand gripping the (hidden) wound that he had given him. He thought of his own promise to protect the boy, all the times he had said those two words to him. And his heart filled with guilt.
He hadn't protected him. His protection had just
"Namu, I know you're mad at me about what I did. You have every right to be, and I'm sorry. If there was anything I could do to undo my action, I would. It was cruel and unjust, and I never meant to hurt you. But trying to make me doubt Necrophadisu-that's going too far."
Namu's teeth clenched, and he ripped away from Nahkti with strength no children his age ever had and few or none would ever have. "I can't believe you!" he yelled, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Why do you think I would try to trick you? What do I have to gain?"
"What do you have to lose?" Nahkti challenged.
"You!" Namu shouted.
The pure emotion filling that word and the universe of meaning behind it made Nahkti pause. Staring at Namu's tear-streaked, defiantly beautiful face, he knew with a start that the lovely child would never lie to him.
But what did that mean? Nahkti gazed into Namu's extraordinary tear-filled eyes, his own eyes pleading for an answer. Namu seemed to understand his acceptance and gave him a tiny smile. Had he been lied to? Namu wasn't dense, and Nahkti couldn't imagine him letting himself be tricked. Which brought a startling question to mind-could Nahkti be the one being tricked?
Had Necrophadisu lied to him?
As soon as he thought this, Necrophadisu's hideous voice growled in his head, "This ridiculous little monster's underhanded tricks have gone far enough! You must destroy him-now!!"
"What?" Nahkti cried, his voice hoarse as he gripped his suddenly pounding skull. "No!"
Namu gasped and stepped back, then tripped and landed painfully. But he kept his fear-filled eyes on Nahkti, who seemed to be struggling against an unseen force. One of his arms lifted from his head and shadows blazed around it, but then he pulled his arm back and cried with apparent difficulty-"Get out of my mind!"
This time Namu heard Necrophadisu as well, "No matter what happens, in the end one of you must die. I ask you again, for the final time-whose life is it that you value more: yours or his?"
Namu gasped and pressed his fist against his mouth to stifle it. Tears filled his eyes again, and they trickled down his cheeks as he gazed up at Nahkti helplessly. He couldn't ask Nahkti to surrender his life for him-besides being unjust, it was just plain stupid. Nahkti's mouth opened again, and Namu shut his eyes fearfully as his lips emitted a strangled sound-
"His!"
As soon as he said this, that special fabric thing surged from his shoulders and wrapped around his neck. He fell to the ground, fighting as the cloth squeezed his entire body.
Namu watched, tears falling from his eyes, praying. He wished he could help him, but he wasn't-would never be-strong enough. But Nahkti seemed to be resisting well enough...Please, he sobbed mentally. I can't survive without you!
Suddenly the air grew glacial and ominous. Namu gasped in fear and stumbled backwards when he realized with a start that Zork Necrophadisu was standing right next to him.
"You have become weak, to prize an attractive child above your own life," he growled at the struggling figure. "I don't need you." He raised a decaying hand and traced five sigils in the air, murmuring "Kage no Wa." Nahkti went limp, the cloth burning black as it sucked out his life.
Seeing Namu's stare, Necrophadisu turned the hole that was his eye upon the frightened child. "That was his true name. If you own one's true name, you own them. He is helpless against me."
Namu trembled, and Necrophadisu continued in his dead rumbling voice, "Go to the palace. It would be a shame that my most gifted accomplice would sacrifice his life in vain. They will not care that you have stolen the Millennium Rod, you are a prince. Go, it is better than being the slave of a man you hate."
But Namu didn't go. He stared at Necrophadisu's vanishing figure and turned back to Nahkti.
His body didn't move now, though his face was scrunched up in pain and horror as the enchanted fabric drew his life out. Strangled noises rose from his throat. Namu gazed at his suffering, twisted face and thought of how he had seemed when they first met.
How calm, and collected, and in control, and...And cruel.
And, with a start, he knew. "I don't care...what I am...or what he is..." Golden light blazed everywhere, and Namu lifted his glowing hands. "I won't let you hurt him!"
The light took shape into the Millennium Rod, and Namu jumped forwards. Not even thinking about his movements or his arm, he swung the Rod as hard as he could. The fabric fell away from Nahkti's limp body, and Namu laid his head on Nahkti's chest.
"I love you," he sobbed bitterly. "I love you."
Everything went black for a merciful while.