November 23rd: - 2529 words
Lucian watched Medan warily.
When Medan had returned to the camp, he’d sent the Swordstalker that had gone with him inside with the Pharaoh of Light, before storming around the camp, demanding that everyone pack up immediately.
It was understandable. It wasn’t safe for them to stay at their camp in the ruins of the once great palace that had fallen into disrepair a long, long time before they’d set up camp there, not now that Mahado knew where the camp was. Without the suppression field, Mahado and his troops would have easily wiped out the camp and now he knew exactly where it was, he would return, with bigger forces and he would be prepared to deal with the level limit spell.
It didn’t help that Mahado had Duellists among his forces, who could call down the power of the spells and traps in their deck to support the forces that they sided with, while Medan’s troops only had themselves and their own powers to draw on.
However his completely unreasonable treatment of the poor Apprentice Magician who had dared to question Medan on what had happened and where they were going, had everyone on edge.
It was bad that Mahado now knew where they were, everyone was aware of that, and the fact that Marie, who had appeared to firmly on their side of the fence and had, in fact, been trusted with a lot of sensitive information, had betrayed them and helped the hostages escape didn’t help anyone’s mood and had created an air of mistrust which, while it had been there before hand, hadn’t been quite as obvious as it was now.
After all they all had their own reasons for following Medan and not all of them were for as trustworthy reasons as reclaiming someone from the graveyard or wanting a way to protect themselves from the Reaper of the Cards. In fact some were with them because they’d had a falling out with the Queen of the Light Lands or the Lord of the Dark Kingdom, some had been unable to accept peace when, after five thousand years, Mahado and Kisara had finally sworn an end to the wars between their lands and others actually wanted to use the powers over the graveyard to make the many Duellists in the human world pay for the losses that they had caused.
It had never been a particularly friendly environment, but now the weaker beasts were watched as if they might turn on the group at any moment and the stronger ones were watched like hawks as everyone wondered if they were going to cause trouble.
And their leader acting like a maniac made everyone very nervous.
Lucian, who had followed Medan inside, only to find that Medan had been securing the prisoner and Xu, the Swordstalker that had gone with him had been packing away all the maps.
This on its own wouldn’t have made Lucian wary, it was, after all, common sense that they took the maps with them and someone secured the prisoner, considering the damage a Duellist could do if allowed to use their powers, as the Guardian and the Dark Pharaoh had shown them.
No, what had made the Vanity’s Fiend wary was the look Medan had given him when he’d suggested that they use the Light Pharaoh against the Dark one, pitting Duellist against Duellist and giving their army the type of boost that Mahado had managed to give his.
“Even if,” Medan said, finally turning back to his task, checking the shackles trapping the Pharaoh’s wrists behind his back before tying Yugi’s ankles together tightly, “I was willing to use a Duellist, I wouldn’t use him.” He indicated Yugi, yanking on the cord and making Lucian wonder if he was attempting to make sure the ropes cut off any feeling in the heir’s feet, “He’s no use to us in a battle except as a shield. Even if we could get him to turn on Mahado and the Pharaoh, I would never work with Yugi, not after everything he’s cost us.”
Medan stepped back, considering the limp form on the floor. Lucian could see him barely holding back from booting the helpless human, understanding the red Dark Magician’s feelings towards the boy and wondering what was going through his mind.
“Besides, I have another use for him.” The last was said in a tone that made both Lucian and Xu wince appreciatively. Medan looked at Lucian with a small smirk, “His Ka beast is a powerful Light Spellcaster.”
Lucian’s eyes widened. He’d known that Medan had been looking for Light Spellcasters, especially strong ones after that Mystical Elf had been proved too weak, but there weren’t many around of a high level that were easy to get to for a creature of darkness. “He’s about halfway to turning and I’m sure I can speed that up with a little time and patience.” Medan continued, smirking.
“My Lord?” Lucian asked, concerned.
“Of course I’ll have to be careful. It was Responsibilities of Friendship that forced me to Resummon after all,” Medan continued as if he hadn’t heard the Vanity’s Fiend speak, “But…” Medan trailed off when Xu cleared his throat. “What?”
“If I may ask,” Xu said as he picked up the bags with the maps in and considered the table where Medan’s notes rested, wondering if he should take those with him, “Where are we going from here?”
“Why?” Medan asked, irritated at being interrupted and intrigued by the Swordstalker’s tone.
“Is there a reason we couldn’t do both? Use him as a Duellist and speed up the change at the same time?”
“I won’t...” Medan scowled.
“You won’t have to.” Xu interrupted calmly, “I’d be willing to work alongside a Duellist, I have before, and just the sight of him on the opposite side of the battle from Mahado will make him stop and think.”
“Even if we had a deck he could use, which we don’t because I sent both his and Potter’s decks with Lucian,” Medan gestured at the Vanity’s Fiend who looked abashed, “When I was planning on using them as bait to force Mahado to surrender the palace to me, a plan that seemed good at the time but in hindsight was stupid, he would never turn on his friends in order to help us.”
“I know where we can get a deck.” Xu smirked, “And where to find someone who could change the Pharaoh’s mind about a lot of things.” The Swordstalker looked Medan over, “After all, the only thing that would hurt Mahado more than the Light Pharaoh turning against him is the Dark one doing it and since we can’t get our hands on him...”
Medan looked like he was considering it.
“Without his memories to hold on to, the change will come quicker.” Xu continued, mostly trying to convince the red Dark Magician for his sake. He had no great urge to go up again a Duellist backed army without one of their own to summon the power of traps and spells on their behalf. “Unless you don’t want to take advantage of this chance?”
Medan looked down at the bound brat, considering his options carefully, completely unaware that Yugi, helped by the fact he hadn’t hit his head and dragged back into the world of the waking by Medan’s rough treatment, had managed to pull himself into a state of semi-consciousness and, though he’d managed to maintain the appearance of being out like a light, even through the incredible headache that made his head feel like it was pulsing, he had heard every word since Medan had mentioned that his Ka beast was a Light Spellcaster.
“You know where you can get a deck?” Medan asked, seriously considering it if Xu was right and his ‘friend’ could wipe the vessel’s memories, considering it a fitting punishment considering the value that both sides of the Pharaoh put on such things, even if it didn’t pay off the debt completely, not that anything ever would.
“My former Duellist stole one from an adversary.” Xu said, with a smirk, “And I, in turn, stole it from him when his soul was consumed by the Shadows during the Day of Darkness.”
Medan nodded, thinking as he did so, “We’re heading for the cave system a few miles from here, where we were before we cleared out the ruins.” Xu nodded his understanding, “I will meet with your friend there.” Medan continued as he started to scoop up the notes on the table and put them in a bag, “These stay with me, as does he.” Medan indicated Yugi. “Once we’re moving you can go and collect your friend and this deck of yours. I will speak your friend at the cave.”
A thought finally crossed Yugi’s mind as silence fell, broken only by the sound of papers being organised.
He couldn’t sense Harry.
He barely held in the whimper that realisation brought him. Harry had been with him when Medan had attacked and he had no idea if Harry had survived and gotten away or if...
He shuddered slightly, trying to maintain his appearance of being unconscious, his physical uncomfortableness completely lost in the pain of the possibility that Harry could have been killed by Medan while he’d been out cold.
Something moved against his chest, something small and round...
It took him a moment to work out what it was and even then he was hesitant about using it as it would bring any of his friends who were still in the Monster World straight into Medan’s clutches. Well once they followed the signal from the locator beacon of course.
The small, round, black disc had been a present from Kari, Hermione and Ombre who had created them over the Autumn term of last school year, after the greater majority of the gang had gone missing over the summer holidays, one for each of them, and, though the potion that allowed one beacon to seek out another, inactive, one had failed to set properly, they had been used, to great effect, to call for help.
The problem was he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of him and they would if they came to save him... but he’d also heard what Medan was planning.
He feared losing his memories, after so many years of focusing on recovering Atem’s memories, his own, the ones he’d shared with the Pharaoh for many years, had become incredibly important to him, but he feared being used as a weapon against his friends because he didn’t remember them more.
And as much as he didn’t want to drag any of his friends into danger, if he didn’t he wasn’t going to escape before his memories were lost forever and he ended up fighting for Medan without even knowing he was on the wrong side.
“Help me.” He whispered the key words quietly, managing to avoid the notice of those who were busy collecting up the notes that made up Medan’s plans, activating the beacon, which, under his shirt started pulsing with a small purple arrow.
Not that Yugi was sure anyone was left in the Monster World that could reply to the distress call. Not with Yami and Harry...
Just the thought of the loss of his link partners was enough to have him ready to curl up in a ball and weep, but he couldn’t, not while his friends whose homes were in this world were at risk from the red Dark Magician...
“I think it’s awake.” Xu said watching Yugi tremble slightly as his emotions escaped his control and tears escaped the young man’s eyes, even though they’d been shut tightly.
Yugi silently cursed himself, frustrated at his inability to control his emotions as effectively as Atem was able, letting his eyes open, only to rest on Medan who looked bemused.
“You’re recovering much faster than you did before.” Medan said, moving over to his side, amused when Yugi tried to scoot away from him.
“What did you do to Harry?” Yugi asked, mentally cringing at the way his voice wavered.
“He’s dead.” Medan lied, well aware that he would pay for it when Yugi learned otherwise but willing to play the card for now. “He died protecting you. Jumped in the way of a blast meant for you and I guess his attack points weren’t high enough to survive but he wasn’t monster enough to Resummon.”
“You killed him.” Yugi would have gotten to his feet to challenge the red Dark Magician to a Shadow Game, even without his Puzzle, except he couldn’t do anything with his hands tied and his feet bound and numb.
“No. You killed him. When you escaped, you signed his death warrant. If you’d’ve stayed in your cell, he’d be alive now.” Medan snarled, lifting Yugi by the collar, “The Pharaoh too.”
“What?” Yugi gasped, having feared Yami was gone for good, but having not really believed it.
“I killed him when he and Mahado attacked my camp.” Medan told him. “He was begging at my feet by the end, pleading, not for his life, but for me to let you go. He didn’t know you weren’t there.”
Yugi went white, horribly so, at those words, the thought of Atem, a brave Pharaoh and his closest friend, who had stood at his side for many many years, begging at Medan’s feet only to be struck down hit him hard, breaking his heart and causing despair to course through him.
Power surged through Yugi, responding to the horror he felt, but before it could find an output, most of it was drained by the shackles and that which wasn’t caused a small concussive blast that knocked the Duel Monsters surrounding him away, sending them crashing into the tables and walls.
Yugi dropped to the floor in a heap, having landed on his feet, which had just given out under him.
“You little brat!” Medan snarled, booting Yugi hard in the ribs.
The heir let out a pained cry as something cracked under the force of the boot.
“You’re nothing.” Medan snarled, kicking again, this time booting Yugi in the stomach, causing the heir to slide across the floor, “Nothing at all! And all you cause is death! So many have lost their lives because of you!” Another kick sent Yugi skidding back further, crashing into a toppled table. “You, a worthless vessel who does nothing but cower behind those more powerful than you! Well no more. Your precious Pharaoh is gone, your friend is dead and it’s all your fault!”
Between the pain of his cracked ribs, his headache, the dizziness and the emotional pain, it was too much for Yugi.
The heir’s mind fled to his Soul Room and his body slipped back into unconsciousness.
When Medan had returned to the camp, he’d sent the Swordstalker that had gone with him inside with the Pharaoh of Light, before storming around the camp, demanding that everyone pack up immediately.
It was understandable. It wasn’t safe for them to stay at their camp in the ruins of the once great palace that had fallen into disrepair a long, long time before they’d set up camp there, not now that Mahado knew where the camp was. Without the suppression field, Mahado and his troops would have easily wiped out the camp and now he knew exactly where it was, he would return, with bigger forces and he would be prepared to deal with the level limit spell.
It didn’t help that Mahado had Duellists among his forces, who could call down the power of the spells and traps in their deck to support the forces that they sided with, while Medan’s troops only had themselves and their own powers to draw on.
However his completely unreasonable treatment of the poor Apprentice Magician who had dared to question Medan on what had happened and where they were going, had everyone on edge.
It was bad that Mahado now knew where they were, everyone was aware of that, and the fact that Marie, who had appeared to firmly on their side of the fence and had, in fact, been trusted with a lot of sensitive information, had betrayed them and helped the hostages escape didn’t help anyone’s mood and had created an air of mistrust which, while it had been there before hand, hadn’t been quite as obvious as it was now.
After all they all had their own reasons for following Medan and not all of them were for as trustworthy reasons as reclaiming someone from the graveyard or wanting a way to protect themselves from the Reaper of the Cards. In fact some were with them because they’d had a falling out with the Queen of the Light Lands or the Lord of the Dark Kingdom, some had been unable to accept peace when, after five thousand years, Mahado and Kisara had finally sworn an end to the wars between their lands and others actually wanted to use the powers over the graveyard to make the many Duellists in the human world pay for the losses that they had caused.
It had never been a particularly friendly environment, but now the weaker beasts were watched as if they might turn on the group at any moment and the stronger ones were watched like hawks as everyone wondered if they were going to cause trouble.
And their leader acting like a maniac made everyone very nervous.
Lucian, who had followed Medan inside, only to find that Medan had been securing the prisoner and Xu, the Swordstalker that had gone with him had been packing away all the maps.
This on its own wouldn’t have made Lucian wary, it was, after all, common sense that they took the maps with them and someone secured the prisoner, considering the damage a Duellist could do if allowed to use their powers, as the Guardian and the Dark Pharaoh had shown them.
No, what had made the Vanity’s Fiend wary was the look Medan had given him when he’d suggested that they use the Light Pharaoh against the Dark one, pitting Duellist against Duellist and giving their army the type of boost that Mahado had managed to give his.
“Even if,” Medan said, finally turning back to his task, checking the shackles trapping the Pharaoh’s wrists behind his back before tying Yugi’s ankles together tightly, “I was willing to use a Duellist, I wouldn’t use him.” He indicated Yugi, yanking on the cord and making Lucian wonder if he was attempting to make sure the ropes cut off any feeling in the heir’s feet, “He’s no use to us in a battle except as a shield. Even if we could get him to turn on Mahado and the Pharaoh, I would never work with Yugi, not after everything he’s cost us.”
Medan stepped back, considering the limp form on the floor. Lucian could see him barely holding back from booting the helpless human, understanding the red Dark Magician’s feelings towards the boy and wondering what was going through his mind.
“Besides, I have another use for him.” The last was said in a tone that made both Lucian and Xu wince appreciatively. Medan looked at Lucian with a small smirk, “His Ka beast is a powerful Light Spellcaster.”
Lucian’s eyes widened. He’d known that Medan had been looking for Light Spellcasters, especially strong ones after that Mystical Elf had been proved too weak, but there weren’t many around of a high level that were easy to get to for a creature of darkness. “He’s about halfway to turning and I’m sure I can speed that up with a little time and patience.” Medan continued, smirking.
“My Lord?” Lucian asked, concerned.
“Of course I’ll have to be careful. It was Responsibilities of Friendship that forced me to Resummon after all,” Medan continued as if he hadn’t heard the Vanity’s Fiend speak, “But…” Medan trailed off when Xu cleared his throat. “What?”
“If I may ask,” Xu said as he picked up the bags with the maps in and considered the table where Medan’s notes rested, wondering if he should take those with him, “Where are we going from here?”
“Why?” Medan asked, irritated at being interrupted and intrigued by the Swordstalker’s tone.
“Is there a reason we couldn’t do both? Use him as a Duellist and speed up the change at the same time?”
“I won’t...” Medan scowled.
“You won’t have to.” Xu interrupted calmly, “I’d be willing to work alongside a Duellist, I have before, and just the sight of him on the opposite side of the battle from Mahado will make him stop and think.”
“Even if we had a deck he could use, which we don’t because I sent both his and Potter’s decks with Lucian,” Medan gestured at the Vanity’s Fiend who looked abashed, “When I was planning on using them as bait to force Mahado to surrender the palace to me, a plan that seemed good at the time but in hindsight was stupid, he would never turn on his friends in order to help us.”
“I know where we can get a deck.” Xu smirked, “And where to find someone who could change the Pharaoh’s mind about a lot of things.” The Swordstalker looked Medan over, “After all, the only thing that would hurt Mahado more than the Light Pharaoh turning against him is the Dark one doing it and since we can’t get our hands on him...”
Medan looked like he was considering it.
“Without his memories to hold on to, the change will come quicker.” Xu continued, mostly trying to convince the red Dark Magician for his sake. He had no great urge to go up again a Duellist backed army without one of their own to summon the power of traps and spells on their behalf. “Unless you don’t want to take advantage of this chance?”
Medan looked down at the bound brat, considering his options carefully, completely unaware that Yugi, helped by the fact he hadn’t hit his head and dragged back into the world of the waking by Medan’s rough treatment, had managed to pull himself into a state of semi-consciousness and, though he’d managed to maintain the appearance of being out like a light, even through the incredible headache that made his head feel like it was pulsing, he had heard every word since Medan had mentioned that his Ka beast was a Light Spellcaster.
“You know where you can get a deck?” Medan asked, seriously considering it if Xu was right and his ‘friend’ could wipe the vessel’s memories, considering it a fitting punishment considering the value that both sides of the Pharaoh put on such things, even if it didn’t pay off the debt completely, not that anything ever would.
“My former Duellist stole one from an adversary.” Xu said, with a smirk, “And I, in turn, stole it from him when his soul was consumed by the Shadows during the Day of Darkness.”
Medan nodded, thinking as he did so, “We’re heading for the cave system a few miles from here, where we were before we cleared out the ruins.” Xu nodded his understanding, “I will meet with your friend there.” Medan continued as he started to scoop up the notes on the table and put them in a bag, “These stay with me, as does he.” Medan indicated Yugi. “Once we’re moving you can go and collect your friend and this deck of yours. I will speak your friend at the cave.”
A thought finally crossed Yugi’s mind as silence fell, broken only by the sound of papers being organised.
He couldn’t sense Harry.
He barely held in the whimper that realisation brought him. Harry had been with him when Medan had attacked and he had no idea if Harry had survived and gotten away or if...
He shuddered slightly, trying to maintain his appearance of being unconscious, his physical uncomfortableness completely lost in the pain of the possibility that Harry could have been killed by Medan while he’d been out cold.
Something moved against his chest, something small and round...
It took him a moment to work out what it was and even then he was hesitant about using it as it would bring any of his friends who were still in the Monster World straight into Medan’s clutches. Well once they followed the signal from the locator beacon of course.
The small, round, black disc had been a present from Kari, Hermione and Ombre who had created them over the Autumn term of last school year, after the greater majority of the gang had gone missing over the summer holidays, one for each of them, and, though the potion that allowed one beacon to seek out another, inactive, one had failed to set properly, they had been used, to great effect, to call for help.
The problem was he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of him and they would if they came to save him... but he’d also heard what Medan was planning.
He feared losing his memories, after so many years of focusing on recovering Atem’s memories, his own, the ones he’d shared with the Pharaoh for many years, had become incredibly important to him, but he feared being used as a weapon against his friends because he didn’t remember them more.
And as much as he didn’t want to drag any of his friends into danger, if he didn’t he wasn’t going to escape before his memories were lost forever and he ended up fighting for Medan without even knowing he was on the wrong side.
“Help me.” He whispered the key words quietly, managing to avoid the notice of those who were busy collecting up the notes that made up Medan’s plans, activating the beacon, which, under his shirt started pulsing with a small purple arrow.
Not that Yugi was sure anyone was left in the Monster World that could reply to the distress call. Not with Yami and Harry...
Just the thought of the loss of his link partners was enough to have him ready to curl up in a ball and weep, but he couldn’t, not while his friends whose homes were in this world were at risk from the red Dark Magician...
“I think it’s awake.” Xu said watching Yugi tremble slightly as his emotions escaped his control and tears escaped the young man’s eyes, even though they’d been shut tightly.
Yugi silently cursed himself, frustrated at his inability to control his emotions as effectively as Atem was able, letting his eyes open, only to rest on Medan who looked bemused.
“You’re recovering much faster than you did before.” Medan said, moving over to his side, amused when Yugi tried to scoot away from him.
“What did you do to Harry?” Yugi asked, mentally cringing at the way his voice wavered.
“He’s dead.” Medan lied, well aware that he would pay for it when Yugi learned otherwise but willing to play the card for now. “He died protecting you. Jumped in the way of a blast meant for you and I guess his attack points weren’t high enough to survive but he wasn’t monster enough to Resummon.”
“You killed him.” Yugi would have gotten to his feet to challenge the red Dark Magician to a Shadow Game, even without his Puzzle, except he couldn’t do anything with his hands tied and his feet bound and numb.
“No. You killed him. When you escaped, you signed his death warrant. If you’d’ve stayed in your cell, he’d be alive now.” Medan snarled, lifting Yugi by the collar, “The Pharaoh too.”
“What?” Yugi gasped, having feared Yami was gone for good, but having not really believed it.
“I killed him when he and Mahado attacked my camp.” Medan told him. “He was begging at my feet by the end, pleading, not for his life, but for me to let you go. He didn’t know you weren’t there.”
Yugi went white, horribly so, at those words, the thought of Atem, a brave Pharaoh and his closest friend, who had stood at his side for many many years, begging at Medan’s feet only to be struck down hit him hard, breaking his heart and causing despair to course through him.
Power surged through Yugi, responding to the horror he felt, but before it could find an output, most of it was drained by the shackles and that which wasn’t caused a small concussive blast that knocked the Duel Monsters surrounding him away, sending them crashing into the tables and walls.
Yugi dropped to the floor in a heap, having landed on his feet, which had just given out under him.
“You little brat!” Medan snarled, booting Yugi hard in the ribs.
The heir let out a pained cry as something cracked under the force of the boot.
“You’re nothing.” Medan snarled, kicking again, this time booting Yugi in the stomach, causing the heir to slide across the floor, “Nothing at all! And all you cause is death! So many have lost their lives because of you!” Another kick sent Yugi skidding back further, crashing into a toppled table. “You, a worthless vessel who does nothing but cower behind those more powerful than you! Well no more. Your precious Pharaoh is gone, your friend is dead and it’s all your fault!”
Between the pain of his cracked ribs, his headache, the dizziness and the emotional pain, it was too much for Yugi.
The heir’s mind fled to his Soul Room and his body slipped back into unconsciousness.