Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Truth through Deception ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did, I wouldn't have to post my work on fanfiction.net, I could make it into episodes to torment all of YGO's avid fans. Any similarities to situations, factual or otherwise, described in the story are completely accidental. I did not use any sources other than my own mind to write this story and dialogue.

Truth through Deception
Chapter 4

'You have already been ensnared by his trap. What is he talking about?'
It had been two hours since the rebel attack, two very surreal feeling hours for Yami. 'First I get attacked by a madman outside my rooms then I spend the next two hours waiting with Jou and Bakura to hear if said madman will live to see morning. Oh what a tangled web we weave' Yami thought wryly. Jou and Yami were of course waiting to see if they would interrogate the prisoner. Bakura could have cared less about the would be assassin, he was waiting for Ryou. Ryou, as the healer on call, had been the healer to respond to the scene and was also responsible for seeing to the care of the prisoner.

"What the hell is taking so long?" Bakura practically growled.

"It takes a little bit of time to sew a person back together. I would expect you of all people to know this" Yami said with a sigh. Bakura and Marik had a bit of an unhealthy fascination with knives. In particular throwing them at people they didn't like or those they found annoying, or simply because they were bored.

'Typical Bakura, I wonder how Ryou puts up with him. All I need are Marik and Malik alternating between screaming at each other and making out and it'll be a normal day around here. Well, as normal as it ever gets around here anyway.'

Bakura glared at Yami and looked as if about to say something else, but was disrupted by Ryou coming out of the healing rooms. Ryou immediately noticed the tension in the room he had just entered but shrugged it off; Bakura facing off with Yami was a daily occurrence in the palace.

"The patient is out of surgery. He is still very weak but will survive. I would suggest waiting until tomorrow to question him though" Ryou advised. Yami let himself be distracted for a moment as he paused to wonder exactly where Ryou had to have spent his childhood to have acquired his unique accent. Shaking his head, he returned his thoughts to the would-be assassin; Ryou never answered questions about his birthplace anyway, most likely too many bad memories.

"Tomorrow's too late. I need to know what he knows now. He mentioned a possible trap. I need to know if he was telling the truth or lying through his teeth. Waiting until tomorrow to question a traitor to help his health when we could all be in danger tonight because of him is unacceptable."

"Very well, I will administer a stimulant to wake him, but it cannot be very long. Even the weaker stimulants could damage his heart at this point." Ryou warned.

"We'll risk it. Like I said before, I'd rather risk one traitor than all of our lives" Yami ordered.

"I will call you in when the stimulant takes effect." With this Ryou turned on his heel and returned to the rooms of healing.

“What do you think Seto?” Yami asked turning to his old friend and cousin. Seto, who had approached the quartet while Ryou was speaking, merely raised an eyebrow at Yami. Jou on the other hand, looked around and jumped in surprise when he saw that Seto had appeared behind him.

“Quit sneakin’ up on me money bags!” Jou yelled at Seto. While it was true that Seto had a lot of money available to him, he never seemed to flaunt it. His father, the third youngest brother of the King had been one of the three richest men in Seier. However, due to underhanded dealings, rumors, and political ploys he had also been one of the three most hated men in Seier. Due to this uncomfortable situation, it was really no surprise that Seto was trying to distance himself from his father’s name.

“The new wards did signal. As for why we were not alerted I cannot tell you for certain. The most likely reasons being someone wasn’t paying attention to the alert stations or someone initiated an override of the alert protocol.” Seto said ignoring Jou’s earlier comment.

“You better not be implyin’ that any of my people had something ta do with the protocol failing tonight” Jou warned, his eyes narrowing.

Seto, once again apparently ignoring Jou continued “While it is certainly true that it could have been caused by error on the part of us or our soldiers, I believe it is more likely the work of one of Pegasus’ spies. They have the motive and if it is a magic enhanced spy, they certainly have the ability as well.”

“Any ideas on who it might be?” Yami inquired.

“Specter of course, although it is unlikely to be him in this case. This whole affair is far from Specter’s usual method. There are a great deal of people involved here; Specter works alone. In addition to this, it has messy and left a trail we can follow. Specter I meticulous in planning to ensure there are no witnesses, no trails, no survivors, and no fallout. Specter is so efficient at his job there are those who question whether he exists at all. This case has left all of these things.” Seto replied.

“Ya almost sound as if ya admire his skills” Jou observed.

“Respect his abilities and achievements is more accurate. However, moving back to the topic at hand, it is more likely to be Eclipse or Nightshade.” Seto said referring to two of Pegasus’ lesser known spies.

“Ya could be right” Jou said looking as though he had just swallowed a full lemon. Seto merely smirked at the look Jou had made when agreeing with his assessment. “It definitely follows their usual MO. Lots of people, lots of destruction, and lots of fallout!”

“So if it was Eclipse or Nightshade, which one was it? Is anyone else working on it? And who is lying in our healing wing?” Yami mused.

“Why don’t you go inside and ask him?”

Ryou had returned from the healing rooms.

“The patient is awake, but I don’t know how long he’ll stay that way.”

“Thank you Ryou” Yami said as he walked past Ryou into the rooms of healing.

Yami turned to the right and walked down the corridor to a room on the end. This was the room he knew the would-be assassin was in, the one with the highest security. The room was equipped with special wards that only allowed a person with royal blood or a royal court member to enter or leave. In addition to this, it had spells on it to sap any magical abilities aside from the royal family’s. It was due to this particularly painful spell that kept many of the court away from the room. It also had monitoring spells in place that would trigger if the prisoner attempted to escape or if the condition of their health changed. Finally, to top is all off, the room’s only door was guarded by two royal guardsmen whenever the room was being occupied.
As Yami entered the room he glanced around the small interior and located his query. Strapped immobile to the bed, the would-be assassin was staring straight ahead as though in a daze. Looking over the captive man Yami noticed he looked young, only early twenties at the most. Definitely around the right age for Nightshade at least. The man on the bed had a wiry build, blond hair, blue eyes, around 5’9” in height. In short, nothing in his appearance was distinctive; easily forgotten and easily able to disappear into the crowd. It was just what one of Pegasus’ spies would look like, nondescript.

“What is your name?” Yami asked.

“What do you think my name is freak?” the prisoner asked condescendingly.

“You will answer the Prince’s questions criminal!” Seto said coldly.

“I don’t have to do a damn thing you say” the captive snarled.

“Your right” Yami agreed, “You don’t have to do anything. Consider this though; your master does not tolerate failure. He will send someone to silence you permanently. If you cooperate with us we will protect you.”

“Has is ever occurred to you that maybe I am prepared to die to serve my king?” he asked disdainfully.

“Prepared to, yes, but why throw you life away for a king who doesn’t care?” Yami retorted.

The prisoner started laughing manically with a crazed look in eyes.

“You still don’t get it do you? Lord Pegasus is right, you are a fool. I was not the message, I was the warning. Watch your step, fool, for soon you and your father will both fall to my Lord Pegasus. Who am I, you ask? I am the one who stalks those in dark corridors, the one whose very identity people recoil when hearing, the one who’s said to be poison. I am the Nightshade. But even my legacy is small compared to the one who has been given the honor of stabbing a knife in your back. Do you worst oh ‘dark’ one, I shall soon be free and you shall regret you ever saw me at all!”

Nightshade once again burst into his maniacal laughter. Yami signaled for Seto and Jou to follow him.

“Well, that answered a few questions” Yami said as they exited the healing wing.

“Yes, very enlightening. One crazed follower locked up and another supposedly poised to stick a knife in your back” Seto mused.

“Well, we know one more thing at least. For Nightshade to admit the other operative was of a higher level than he himself, it severely shortens our list of possible hit men” Yami said.

“Ya shortened, but still a list of deadly killa’s all aimin’ for you” Jou added ominously.

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‘Damn morons!’ Yugi thought viciously. ‘They’re going to get me killed.’

Yugi was having a very tense day. First there was that pointless riot, attack, whatever it was, then Nightshade decided to act like a moron and get caught trying to kill one of the royals. One of the royals who was said to be the most powerful royal seen in generations. To top of this wonderful day so far, Yugi was now staring at one of the only people in the world who he actually wouldn’t care if died. He was looking at Weevil, codename Eclipse. “Bugman’ would probably be a more apt codename’ Yugi thought cynically.

“Do you understand what to do Specter?”

“Don’t say that name here you half wit!” Yugi snarled.

“What are you trying to do? Get me caught and executed for espionage? Pegasus would be real happy with you then Bug boy.”

“Tempting as it would be to see you hang, I know better than to go against Lord Pegasus. Besides, you do have some kind of anti-eavesdropping spell in place, don’t you?”

Yugi, or Specter as we can now call him, only felt contempt for Weevil. He’d never been able to stand Weevil, he goaded his grandfather to much for Yugi to ever like him and his cutthroat and backstabbing behavior was enough to earn him Yugi’s disdain. Add to this a complete inability to understand anything involving magic and it made Weevil one person Yugi would actually go out of his way to avoid.

“Of course I put up a spell, but I had to be discrete. The mages are being quite vigilant in their search for spies of Cecile.”

“Surely there are ways to get around them” Weevil wheezed.

Yugi glared at Weevil and continued on with the conversation giving the previous statement just as much consideration as it deserved.

“Tell Pegasus I understand exactly what I have been tasked with. Also make sure you tell him it’ll take me a while to implement my plan. All his attack did this morning was set Seier on alert. It’ll take me longer now.”

“Surely you can…”

“I’ve given you my answer now get out!” Yugi said interrupting and shoving Weevil out of the room.

‘What am I going to do?’ Yugi thought.

‘I like Yami, he’s the only person other than Grandpa who ever cared about me as a person. He’s the kind of person I always dreamed could save me and Grandpa. What am I going to do? If I don’t obey Pegasus then Grandpa will be worse than dead. But…if I do as Pegasus ordered…Yami will be dead by my hand.’