November 17th: - 1715 Words
“You know, I think we should bypass the ‘shortcut’.” Elios said as they looked down the spider web infested tunnel that was supposedly a shortcut. “We’ve never been that way and Eris never was very good at telling the whole truth…”
Yue, who had been thinking something similar himself, looked at Yugi and Harry. It was for their sakes they’d even considered the shortcut offered by one of the Dark Elves, after all the less time they took to reach the city the better, but at the same time…
“How far is it to the palace from here?” Yugi asked, considering the tunnel and having a bad feeling about it.
“Another few hours.” Yue said, “Maybe less if we take the tunnel but…”
“Knowing my luck it’ll take another day if we go that way.” Yugi said, shaking his head, “I always seem to…” Yugi cut off suddenly, eyes widening, going rather pale.
“Yugi?” Yue asked darting to his Duellist’s side just in time to catch him before he hit the floor as Elios darted to a rather pale Harry’s side.
“Harry?” Elios asked, concerned.
“Yami…” Harry mumbled, sitting down before following Yugi down the link.
Yugi was sat on the floor, staring at the blank space on the wall where Atem’s door had been just moments before, “He’s gone.” Yugi stated, shocked, “The door was here. It wouldn’t open but it was here!”
Harry, who had felt Atem’s darkness disappear in the same moment that Yugi had, put his hands on the heir’s shoulders, trying to focus on what needed to happen through the emotions that were spiking wildly across the link from his remaining partner. “He probably had to go back to our world.” Harry tried to be reassuring, both for his own sake and Yugi’s, “I couldn’t sense him when we first arrived here either.”
Yugi’s head went down and Harry sensed him trying to calm himself down and heard him reason with himself in his head. He pulled away from the light half of the ancient Pharaoh’s soul, trying to give Yugi time to calm himself, knowing that eventually Yugi would pull himself together enough to return to his body, but it might take a while.
“But Yami wouldn’t…” The thought slipped over the link before Yugi could catch it.
“Yami wouldn’t leave you willingly,” Harry allowed, aware of the track Yugi’s train of thoughts had been about to take, “But Mahado might have forced him home, especially if he was turning into a Duel Monster. He’ll be back for you.” The teen pointed out, half helping and half pulling Yugi to his feet at the light’s miserable tone, well aware that as much as Yugi and Yami valued him as a friend, for the dark half of the Pharaoh it would an easy question to answer if it came down to a choice between Harry or Yugi.
“Y… you’re right.” Yugi said, still shaking but willing, thankfully, to listen to reason where Harry was certain his other half would not, “Atem probably needed to go home for a while, to eat and sleep.” Yugi chuckled slightly, though the sound was forced, “Joey probably muscled him into it. No matter how much training we’ve had, Joey outmuscles us, always has been able to. Between Joey and Mahado, Yami wouldn’t have stood a chance.” There was vague amusement in Yugi’s tone at that.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Harry shrugged, sure that was the reason Yami had dropped off of the map, but having trouble convincing himself entirely, “But to find out we’ll have to leave here and get to the palace.”
Still Yugi hesitated, part of his mind still seeking the missing link to the other half of his soul, then the hikari forced away the fear for Harry’s sake and nodded.
“Mahado will know if anything’s happened to him.” Yugi stated before disappearing from the corridor and returning to his body, only to find he was being carried by a rather worried looking Yue, while Harry was coming to in Elios’s arms. “Yue?”
The Sunset Magician looked down, looking relieved when he saw that Yugi was once again aware. “Prince Yugi, are you alright?”
“Atem pulled a vanishing act.” Yugi told Yue, squirming to get down as he did so. “I’m sorry we scared...” Yugi paused, stopping trying to get down in favour of noticing the web that shot past them. “What’s with the…?”
“When the pair of you collapsed, Elios and I decided to risk trying the tunnel.” Yue answered, glancing over his shoulder and picking up speed. “Eris was right. There is a shortcut through there.”
There was a but there, Yugi could hear it in Yue’s voice.
“Why is it always giant spiders?” Yugi could hear Harry complaining.
“Giant spiders?” Yugi gave Yue a semi-amused look, suddenly less anxious to get down, as he would slow them down considerably.
“Giant spiders. In the tunnels.” Yue confirmed.
`Remind me to take Eris off my Christmas list.` Harry grouched at Yugi, making the heir chuckle.
“I didn’t realise she was on it in the first place.” Yugi had just enough time to send back before he and Yue were caught up in a web that had been strung up in front of them at the last minute and Elios, who’d just about managed to avoid barrelling into them and then the web, set Harry down, who tried to tear the webbing holding the other two, only to find that it wouldn’t break, as Elios fought off the spidery spidery horde.
“I swear Yuge.” Harry grouched as he tried to pull them free, “You get into more trouble then me!”
“I’ve had more practice.” Yugi pointed out, trying not to squeak as a huge spider dropped down in front of them.
“Move aside.” Elios snapped at Harry, who moved rather quickly. “Sorry bro, but this is gunna hurt.” With that Elios attacked, blasting away the web.
Yue, whose was strong enough to survive his brother’s attack, shielded Yugi from the Solar Ray Blast, which disintegrated the web and the two spiders on it, and dropped Yugi in order to attack the spider that had attempted to attack them from the front, only to wheel around at Elios’s pained cry in time to see his brother vanish, destroyed by a rather large pinkey purple looking spider with orange markings and huge, black legs with silvery talons on the end.
“Get behind me.” Yue demanded. Harry darted behind the high level magician and helped Yugi, who was still pulling webbing out of his hair, to his feet.
“Got any ideas?” Harry asked Yugi, who considered their surroundings, watched the spiders hang back and look at the huge purple one, and sighed.
“Run?” Yugi suggested nervously, seriously wishing the Puzzle was more useful in a fight situation then it was.
Yue snorted, “I doubt that’s a viable option, my Prince.”
“What is that?” Harry asked Yue, surprised to find a monster he couldn’t draw from Yugi’s memories to find the name of. It had to be a recent release… within the last four years… Hogwarts was good at teaching magic, but bad at allowing their students to keep up with what was going on in the outside world.
“A really really big spider?” Yue asked, having no clue himself.
The really really big spider in question launched itself at them.
Yue attacked, hitting the spider with a Starlight Blast that easily blew the purple spider away easily. The other spiders made a hasty retreat after the Sunset Magician loosed a second blast, leaving the three of them stood in the middle of the forest all alone.
Yugi and Harry jumped a mile as Yue burst into a fit of profanity that made one of Joey’s outbursts look tame. When he calmed down he turned to the two humans, who were watching him as if they were wondering if he going to explode and rather calmly said, “Well, at least Elios is going to find the village.” He said in an incredibly exaspirated manner.
Yugi chuckled sympathetically, then paused to consider the sound. His hand went to his neck and he touched his neck tentatively, his eyes widening when he realised that while it still hurt when he touched his neck, it wasn’t the sort of blinding pain it had been before, nor did it hurt anywhere near as much to speak. “Yue?” He asked, concern coursing through him, “How long does it take to heal a serious injury without Resummoning?”
Yue, who had been about to shoo the two humans on paused to think, but didn’t get a chance to answer Yugi’s question as Harry’s eyes widened as he considered his friend, before taking a leaf out of Hermione’s book and slapping Yugi around the back of the head.
“You’re an idiot!” Harry snapped, furious at him.
Yugi blinked at his normally calm friend, completely and utterly confused. Harry didn’t normally explode at people. He was, in fact, a lot like Yugi on that matter. It took a lot to push them to explosion point but when they did go off, people ducked. Apparently it was time to duck and take cover, but Yugi wasn’t sure why. “Harry?”
“You didn’t think to mention this before? People don’t just heal up this fast! Not without magic! And neither of us are healers!” Harry snarled at him, doing a rather good impression of his partner monster’s tone. He wheeled on Yue, who was watching the teen with an amused expression, impressed that anyone would explode at the Duellist who could defeat the Pharaoh. “How long? How long does it take for a Duel Monster to heal up after a non fatal fight?”
“It depends on how serious the injuries are.” Yue replied, scowling as he got what Harry was on about. “The injuries that Yugi sustained would take anywhere between twelve and eighteen hours to heal for a Duel Monster.”
“I’m still human, Harry.” Yugi pointed out.
`Yes, but for how long?` The thought crossed the link. “We’re running out of time. Both of us.” Harry said out loud. “We have to move.”
Yue nodded and indicated a path through the forest, concern racing through him at the thought that even if they reached the palace now it might be too late. “This way.”
Yue, who had been thinking something similar himself, looked at Yugi and Harry. It was for their sakes they’d even considered the shortcut offered by one of the Dark Elves, after all the less time they took to reach the city the better, but at the same time…
“How far is it to the palace from here?” Yugi asked, considering the tunnel and having a bad feeling about it.
“Another few hours.” Yue said, “Maybe less if we take the tunnel but…”
“Knowing my luck it’ll take another day if we go that way.” Yugi said, shaking his head, “I always seem to…” Yugi cut off suddenly, eyes widening, going rather pale.
“Yugi?” Yue asked darting to his Duellist’s side just in time to catch him before he hit the floor as Elios darted to a rather pale Harry’s side.
“Harry?” Elios asked, concerned.
“Yami…” Harry mumbled, sitting down before following Yugi down the link.
Yugi was sat on the floor, staring at the blank space on the wall where Atem’s door had been just moments before, “He’s gone.” Yugi stated, shocked, “The door was here. It wouldn’t open but it was here!”
Harry, who had felt Atem’s darkness disappear in the same moment that Yugi had, put his hands on the heir’s shoulders, trying to focus on what needed to happen through the emotions that were spiking wildly across the link from his remaining partner. “He probably had to go back to our world.” Harry tried to be reassuring, both for his own sake and Yugi’s, “I couldn’t sense him when we first arrived here either.”
Yugi’s head went down and Harry sensed him trying to calm himself down and heard him reason with himself in his head. He pulled away from the light half of the ancient Pharaoh’s soul, trying to give Yugi time to calm himself, knowing that eventually Yugi would pull himself together enough to return to his body, but it might take a while.
“But Yami wouldn’t…” The thought slipped over the link before Yugi could catch it.
“Yami wouldn’t leave you willingly,” Harry allowed, aware of the track Yugi’s train of thoughts had been about to take, “But Mahado might have forced him home, especially if he was turning into a Duel Monster. He’ll be back for you.” The teen pointed out, half helping and half pulling Yugi to his feet at the light’s miserable tone, well aware that as much as Yugi and Yami valued him as a friend, for the dark half of the Pharaoh it would an easy question to answer if it came down to a choice between Harry or Yugi.
“Y… you’re right.” Yugi said, still shaking but willing, thankfully, to listen to reason where Harry was certain his other half would not, “Atem probably needed to go home for a while, to eat and sleep.” Yugi chuckled slightly, though the sound was forced, “Joey probably muscled him into it. No matter how much training we’ve had, Joey outmuscles us, always has been able to. Between Joey and Mahado, Yami wouldn’t have stood a chance.” There was vague amusement in Yugi’s tone at that.
“We’ll know soon enough,” Harry shrugged, sure that was the reason Yami had dropped off of the map, but having trouble convincing himself entirely, “But to find out we’ll have to leave here and get to the palace.”
Still Yugi hesitated, part of his mind still seeking the missing link to the other half of his soul, then the hikari forced away the fear for Harry’s sake and nodded.
“Mahado will know if anything’s happened to him.” Yugi stated before disappearing from the corridor and returning to his body, only to find he was being carried by a rather worried looking Yue, while Harry was coming to in Elios’s arms. “Yue?”
The Sunset Magician looked down, looking relieved when he saw that Yugi was once again aware. “Prince Yugi, are you alright?”
“Atem pulled a vanishing act.” Yugi told Yue, squirming to get down as he did so. “I’m sorry we scared...” Yugi paused, stopping trying to get down in favour of noticing the web that shot past them. “What’s with the…?”
“When the pair of you collapsed, Elios and I decided to risk trying the tunnel.” Yue answered, glancing over his shoulder and picking up speed. “Eris was right. There is a shortcut through there.”
There was a but there, Yugi could hear it in Yue’s voice.
“Why is it always giant spiders?” Yugi could hear Harry complaining.
“Giant spiders?” Yugi gave Yue a semi-amused look, suddenly less anxious to get down, as he would slow them down considerably.
“Giant spiders. In the tunnels.” Yue confirmed.
`Remind me to take Eris off my Christmas list.` Harry grouched at Yugi, making the heir chuckle.
“I didn’t realise she was on it in the first place.” Yugi had just enough time to send back before he and Yue were caught up in a web that had been strung up in front of them at the last minute and Elios, who’d just about managed to avoid barrelling into them and then the web, set Harry down, who tried to tear the webbing holding the other two, only to find that it wouldn’t break, as Elios fought off the spidery spidery horde.
“I swear Yuge.” Harry grouched as he tried to pull them free, “You get into more trouble then me!”
“I’ve had more practice.” Yugi pointed out, trying not to squeak as a huge spider dropped down in front of them.
“Move aside.” Elios snapped at Harry, who moved rather quickly. “Sorry bro, but this is gunna hurt.” With that Elios attacked, blasting away the web.
Yue, whose was strong enough to survive his brother’s attack, shielded Yugi from the Solar Ray Blast, which disintegrated the web and the two spiders on it, and dropped Yugi in order to attack the spider that had attempted to attack them from the front, only to wheel around at Elios’s pained cry in time to see his brother vanish, destroyed by a rather large pinkey purple looking spider with orange markings and huge, black legs with silvery talons on the end.
“Get behind me.” Yue demanded. Harry darted behind the high level magician and helped Yugi, who was still pulling webbing out of his hair, to his feet.
“Got any ideas?” Harry asked Yugi, who considered their surroundings, watched the spiders hang back and look at the huge purple one, and sighed.
“Run?” Yugi suggested nervously, seriously wishing the Puzzle was more useful in a fight situation then it was.
Yue snorted, “I doubt that’s a viable option, my Prince.”
“What is that?” Harry asked Yue, surprised to find a monster he couldn’t draw from Yugi’s memories to find the name of. It had to be a recent release… within the last four years… Hogwarts was good at teaching magic, but bad at allowing their students to keep up with what was going on in the outside world.
“A really really big spider?” Yue asked, having no clue himself.
The really really big spider in question launched itself at them.
Yue attacked, hitting the spider with a Starlight Blast that easily blew the purple spider away easily. The other spiders made a hasty retreat after the Sunset Magician loosed a second blast, leaving the three of them stood in the middle of the forest all alone.
Yugi and Harry jumped a mile as Yue burst into a fit of profanity that made one of Joey’s outbursts look tame. When he calmed down he turned to the two humans, who were watching him as if they were wondering if he going to explode and rather calmly said, “Well, at least Elios is going to find the village.” He said in an incredibly exaspirated manner.
Yugi chuckled sympathetically, then paused to consider the sound. His hand went to his neck and he touched his neck tentatively, his eyes widening when he realised that while it still hurt when he touched his neck, it wasn’t the sort of blinding pain it had been before, nor did it hurt anywhere near as much to speak. “Yue?” He asked, concern coursing through him, “How long does it take to heal a serious injury without Resummoning?”
Yue, who had been about to shoo the two humans on paused to think, but didn’t get a chance to answer Yugi’s question as Harry’s eyes widened as he considered his friend, before taking a leaf out of Hermione’s book and slapping Yugi around the back of the head.
“You’re an idiot!” Harry snapped, furious at him.
Yugi blinked at his normally calm friend, completely and utterly confused. Harry didn’t normally explode at people. He was, in fact, a lot like Yugi on that matter. It took a lot to push them to explosion point but when they did go off, people ducked. Apparently it was time to duck and take cover, but Yugi wasn’t sure why. “Harry?”
“You didn’t think to mention this before? People don’t just heal up this fast! Not without magic! And neither of us are healers!” Harry snarled at him, doing a rather good impression of his partner monster’s tone. He wheeled on Yue, who was watching the teen with an amused expression, impressed that anyone would explode at the Duellist who could defeat the Pharaoh. “How long? How long does it take for a Duel Monster to heal up after a non fatal fight?”
“It depends on how serious the injuries are.” Yue replied, scowling as he got what Harry was on about. “The injuries that Yugi sustained would take anywhere between twelve and eighteen hours to heal for a Duel Monster.”
“I’m still human, Harry.” Yugi pointed out.
`Yes, but for how long?` The thought crossed the link. “We’re running out of time. Both of us.” Harry said out loud. “We have to move.”
Yue nodded and indicated a path through the forest, concern racing through him at the thought that even if they reached the palace now it might be too late. “This way.”