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twisted-art-wounders · 8 months ago

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YGO AU: Breaking the Seal 09

Chapter 9 Ripples The journey to America holds many secrets, will Yugi be able hold onto the one he's been hiding form his friends.

Yugi shot up quickly in a cold sweat; his hard panting was drowned out by the beeping of the alarm clock resting on his bed head. Yugi looked around his dark room once then twice before looking down at his hands, they were trembling with the shock of fear that still ran down his spine. It was just a nightmare, that's all it was a nightmare Yugi repeated to himself to help clam him down. He rubbed his face with both hands taking the sweat off, finally calming down enough to realize the alarm was still beeping at him.

4:30 AM

//Time to wake up and start my journey to America.//

Yugi thought as he reached over and hit the off button on the alarm clock, he sighed before swinging his legs off to side of the bed. He was expecting them to be weak once again just like the day before and sure enough they were. It took all his strength just to stand on his feet once he was up now came the hard part…walking.

Steadying himself he walked slowly one foot in front of the other but each step felt like he had weights attached to his feet adding an extra 20 lbs to each step. All this made him feel so off balance so he had to keep his arms out just to keep himself up right. By the time he managed to make it to the door frame he already felt like he walked a mile and worse still he had to keep going he needed to make it to the bathroom down the hallway.

He swallowed hard and reached for the doorknob turning it and opening the door slowly. Looking out into the hallway it was also dark with just a small nightlight plugged in the wall to light the way at night. After some time he did manage to make it to the bathroom; washing his face and brushing his teeth all typical actions one did in the morning. Then it was time to make the long journey back to his room to get ready.

Luckily the trek back wasn't as awful as before, it might have been due to him getting some momentum back after warming up his muscles form the first walk. Back in his room Yugi dressed himself in his typical fashion; school uniform pants with his regular black sleeveless top under the jacket he always put on last. Putting on his socks took a bit of effort but having to sit down did help, now it was time for his accessorizes.

Yugi looked at his desk and saw the green stone necklace form the man he duelled the night all this started. He reached over and picked it up carefully by the rope used to hold the metal plate the stone was attached to dangling it form his fingers. He needed to make sure Professor Hawkins would have a chance to look at it. So he put it over his head and let it drop down around his neck, the gem landing just under his collar bone. Yugi looked at himself in the mirror and decided it didn't really suit his style, but he was so lazy to take it off now so he pulled up his shirt collar a bit so it would hide the gemstone.

Now he put on his two black and silver bracelets and finally his thick choker; a signature part of his goth aesthetic he couldn't imagine not wearing it around his neck. True he did have to wear it to protect both his neck and lower hair line form getting caught in the chain of the puzzle he wore. But it also felt like it was apart of him, it showed how he was confident enough to wear what he wanted finally after years of being so afraid to express himself. He's not truly himself without his choker is what he thought.

As he stood in front of the long standing mirror he tried to put the small silver tongue of the choker into the small pre-made hole but every time he kept missing it. Again and again his fingers failed to push the tongue through, he breathed a heavy sigh as he tried again and again but still the tongue failed to enter the hole. His teeth started to grind more as his frustration was building; why was this so hard? He'd done this EVERY MORNING for a year now why was he struggling to much with something so simple? His belt fit fine no issues there but now his choker was being so difficult?

Yami appeared next to him now, he could feel Yugi's frustration and annoyance and came out to see what was troubling the boy so much. Once he saw how hard he was trying to get the choker on he decided to offer his assistance.

“Here, let me do that for you” he said softly as he reached over to Yugi's shoulder just to touch it lightly.

The moment Yugi felt the invisible brush of his fingers on his shoulder inside his soul room where the deck of tarot cards laid, was pulsing with the power of darkness. They crackled with energy before spilling out a wave of dark energy drowning most of the room and toys in darkness. Just like an infection it started to spread, oozing and contaminating everything it touched. The toys and games rioting and twisting into something grotesque.

The last remaining restraint keeping Yugi's anger in check snapped like a twig. Just like a volcano everything awful bubbling inside of him; form the nightmare to the struggle to do the simplest tasks this morning all of it shot out of him. All of it now directed to the spirit floating behind him.

“DON'T TOUCH ME!” He snapped.

He pulled away form him quickly, his eyes once a muted purple suddenly came back to life but with a tinge of green around them. Nether of them noticed the stone hidden under his shirt was glowing fuelling the rage Yugi was letting out. His iris narrowed as he spun his whole body around, he could feel the heat form his newly exploded rage engulf him as he stared up at the spirit before him.

Yami was taken aback, Yugi never yelled at him like this before, yes he'd seen him upset and angry but never this level of anger and never directed at him or anyone for that matter. He was sweating as he watched his partner's anger towards him rise.

“Do you think I'm some kind of toddler!? That I need your help to do everything!?” Yugi panted gripping his fists tightly and bringing them up and down again as he let out the final front of his rage.

“Just go away and LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Yami's eyes widened when he heard those final three words, he nearly chocked as he could feel his entire heart sink into his stomach. He swallowed hard looking down and closing his eyes for a moment then opening them again. Trying to quickly process what he should do now; should he yell back? should he try and explain things to him? Should he… No, Yugi was angry and clearly he was the cause, he needed to do what his partner wanted and go away.

Keeping a stiff upper lip as it were he raised his head again with a small smirk on his lips folding his arms, tying to keep his 'cool' status he normally showed to an adversary. He was clearly trying to hold back the absolute sorrow and confusion that hung over him.

“I'm sorry Yugi. You're right you are not a child and I shouldn't treat you like one.” he then turned away trying to keep his bravado up “I'll leave you alone…you may call for me when you need me.”

Yugi panted finally calming down as he no longer felt the white hot rage that consumed him just a moment ago. Seeing Yami turn his back to him and allowing his words to sink in Yugi finally realized what he said before he gasped and cupping his hands over his mouth and shock his head.

“N-no! I didn't mean that! Honest!” Yugi was stumbling to get his words out in time before he saw the other Yugi disappear form his sight in an instant.

“Other Me! I'm sorry!” Yugi yelled out reaching out for the spirit but it was too late he was gone and now he stood in his bedroom all alone.

Yugi felt tears spill form the corners of his eyes and run down his cheeks, he sniffled trying to wipe them away.

Why? Why did he say that? The other Yugi was only trying to help and he just snapped at him! Why? Because of some dream? How could he be so horrible to him? Why was he so mad at him to begin with? It was a dream! Only a horrible nightmare…

“Other Me…” he whimpered out as he felt his choker fall to the ground at his feet with a small thunk.

“I didn't mean it…”

At the airport all his friends were waiting by the gate; with their luggage in toe they all waved goodbye to Grandpa Mutou who promised to call them if he'd heard anything form Professor Hawkins. As they walked through the gates they didn't noticed Rex and Weevil were watching form behind a wall, both of them smirked as they decided to put their plan into action.

Yugi and gang looked out form a window as they watched the planes being taxied around and spotted one jet with the words “Industrial Illusions” on the side in red, no doubt the plane they where going to take on their journey.

“So Mai's gonna meet us at the airport when we land right?” Tea asked Joey

“Yup! She said she'll give us a lift to Industrial Illusions HQ!” Joey answered

“Awesome! It'll be nice to see her again.” Yugi smiled. “You know Duke is also in California, maybe we'll see him too!”

“Isn't to weird how almost everyone we know is the US right now?” Tristan asked

“Yeah… Isn't Kaiba still in America too Yugi?” Tea looked down asking her small friend.

“Yeah, I think with everything going on he hasn't had time to return, I hope he's doing okay…” Yugi looked down.

“Humph! Serves him right!” Joey grinned and folded his arms. “About time he got some comupins for his attitude!”

Soon they were approached by a few men in suits who introduced themselves as working for Industrial Illusions, they escorted the group to the plane carrying their luggage for them. As their luggage was being brought onboard the plane one large brown bag in particular was quite heavy as it contained the two stowaways Rex and Weevil. Who both managed to wadge themselves into said bag as away of travelling with them. Both luckily and unluckily for them they were not noticed by security and personnel treated them as any other kind of luggage.

None of the Yugi gang expected to be treated with such hospitality and none of them were prepared for the absolute luxury of their private jet. With comfortable chairs, a lounge area, and as they'd discover later a projector screen for movies to be played on.

Joey jumped right into a chair and grinned talking about how comfy it was before asking Yugi to sit down next to him. Yugi was a bit embarrassed with Joey's openly childish behaviour but it was one of the things he did loved about him so he just said sure and came to his side grabbing the seat next to him.

Soon the plane had taken off and they were in the air passing by clouds, the gang decided to pass the time in different ways. Tea was reading a book about Atlantis she'd brought with her prompting both Tristan and Joey to call her a book worm but she ignored them after commenting about their lack of literacy skills. Tristan too brought a magazine about life in California so he could brush up on his US culture and see what interesting sights California had to offer. Yugi and Joey of course were playing a few rounds of duel monsters with each other, Yugi of course beating Joey in every round.

After some more time had passed Yugi was feeling more comfortable, his mind started to relax trying not to think about the blow out he had with the Spirit that morning. He still heard nothing form him he wanted to call out to him to let him come out and see what being on a plane was like. But something inside of him stirred around his stomach and made him feel a bit sick. So he decided to for go trying to speak to him right now, since he might snap at him again and the last thing he wanted to was to show that horrible side of himself again, especially in front of his friends…

Finally it was lunch time and their catered flight brought them a tray with freshly made cheeseburger and fires. Everyone was excited to receive the meal especially Yugi, he'd hoped to try a real cheeseburger form the US while they were there. All of them complimented on how amazing it smelled and how wonderful it'd be to eat the signature meal of the USA. One by one his friends all took a bites of their burgers and fries; Yugi picked up his own burger and gave it a sniff, he paused before putting it into his mouth and taking a small bite. Joey watched form the corner of his eye, he was curious about what Yugi would think this was his favourite food after all.

“So Yug, how's it taste?” Joey smiled and looked over to his best friend.

Yugi chewed it for a bit letting it sit in his mouth like he was savouring it before swallowing and smiled looking back at Joey.

“It's great!” he said before taking another small bite.

It made Joey happy to see Yugi enjoying himself, he knew Yugi could really use a pick me up after the last few days. If something this small could bring joy to him then he was happy too.

Back at Doma's downtown HQ on the mainland two of the swordsmen had returned to the office building heading towards to main office where Dartz personally resided. Raphael and Valon walked next to each other, Valon keeping his hands in his pockets while Raphael kept his hands to his side. Everyone they passed in the hallway always gave them a small bow as they walked pass them, being Dartz's personal swordsmen gave them a lot of clout in their work place. Even those who didn't know of Doma's true sinister plans knew never to mess with the three swordsmen, thus the trio were always treated with the upmost respect.

Alister was missing because he said he had to put his plan into action and could only do that by setting himself up in Pegasus' office. Donning a costume and mask that made him look like Pegasus he put his vocal talents to work. Putting out a call to Seto Kaiba; taunting him and telling him to meet him at Duelist Kingdom or he'd sell all of the stock he'd been buying and put Kaiba corp into a financial spiral. Kaiba with no choice had agreed to their meeting and had gone to settle things with whom he assumed was the real Pegasus.

Alister was more then ready to have it out with Seto Kaiba finally and promised the other two swordsmen he'd return with the soul of the first legendary duelist.

“Just wait and see, I'll even drag his soulless carcass back here as a trope!” Alister using Pegasus' voice chuckled.

“Huh you're pretty confident Alister, so why the disguise anyway? I thought you where gonna meet him face to face and with you're own deck?” Valon asked while he watched Alister pull off his mask.

“It's the art of deception Val; lead him into a mindset of comfort and conformity before I pull the rug form under his feet, then take him down.” Alister gathered the rest of this things before heading out of the office.

“You guys got everything set up for the Pharaoh's arrival then?” Alister asked Raphael who was looking at his deck while leaning on a wall in the office.

“Yes, all the employees have been relieved for the day so the building is empty, we have the security codes at the ready once they enter they wont escape. That's when we'll confront them, but first we need to head back to HQ Dartz wanted to give us something.” Raphael was confused as to why they needed to go back so soon when they needed to wait for the Nameless Pharaoh and his friends to arrive.

“Why don't we just ambush them on their way here?” Valon came up beside Raphael and folded his arms behind his head. “Why do so much back and forth when we can get the jump on them!”

“Search me, Dartz's orders you know.” Alister shrugged before exiting the hallway, unlike the others he actually did have his pilots license so once he was back at HQ he took a helicopter and left to complete his mission.

Valon and Raphael stopped in front of a large set of brown and gold doors, opening them let out a huge creaking noise that rang throughout the halls. No doubt Dartz knew they've arrived, as they walked inside the office a long table sat in the center of the room with many chairs running up and down each side of the table and one chair sat at the head. Dartz was seated and looking over some paper work when the two men approached form the side.

“Ah there you both are. I'm glad things have gone according to plan.” Dartz put down a folder and gave his full attention to his waiting swordsmen.

“Yeah, we got the place ready for his arrival boss. So what did you want to give us?” Valon was pretty direct with his speech a symptom of his impatient nature.

Raphael was going to scold Valon a bit for his directness with their master, only to see Dartz smile with a slight chuckle.

“Always so direct Valon.”

He reached into the upper breast of his suit and pulled out another Orichalcos shard. He placed it on the table before them, it glowed in an eerie green light as he did.

Both swordsmen looked confused by this; all duelist who worked for DOMA were given shards of the Orichalcos to activate their cards and allow them to receive the dark power needed to use the spell card in the first place. All three swordsmen had one of their own, Valon held his in a ring while Alister and Raphael each had one attached to a necklace they wore around their necks. What was the use of having another stone?

“Another stone? Boss we already got one each. Not like I'm gonna lose mine anytime soon…” Valon held up his hand showing off his ring with the piece of Orichaclos in it.

Dartz only chuckled again before taking the shard back into his hand letting it rest in his palm. “It's not for you to keep, I just need you to run another field test for me…”

Valon and Raphael looked between each other then back to Dartz, their faces asked the question for them.

“The vessel will arrive with the Nameless Pharaoh soon. Once they've arrived at Industrial Illusions all you need to do in drop the shard before them and I'll do the rest. I want him to duel Joseph Wheeler.”

“Hold on, you want the copy Yugi to face Wheeler? I thought he was my target?” Valon asked confused.

“He will still be your intended target Valon, unless this field test is successful in that case you'll have to change targets.”

“Urgh! I don't get it! what's the point of all this?!” Valon rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in a pout, it made Raphael have to step in and put a hand on his shoulder, he looked down at the brunette then over to Dartz to ask.

“He has a point Master. Why are you so focused on getting a copy of Yugi to fight? Once we have his soul it wont matter if he can break the seal will it?” Raphael looked to his master.

Dartz's presence was all over the room, an ancient being that had been around for centuries. The blood of a many great kings ran through his veins, not only that but the aura of something far more deadly always followed him, something unnatural, something surreal it was hard to pin point exactly but it seemed to emanate off this man like heat from a fire. Getting too close would result in serve burns or worst roast you to ashes.

He gripped the stone in his hand tightly before slamming it down on the table, the action followed by the booming echo it let out made both men jolt in surprise. Dartz then stood up and glared directly at the two younger men, while he wasn't as tall of Raphael he was not a short man by any means. His two toned eyes glaring at them with an aura of danger like a predator on the hunt, he would not back down to anyone let alone his own employees.

“I have plans for him, Raphael. You do not question my orders you are to follow them! As instructed; you will both return to Industrial Illusions wait for the Nameless Pharaoh to arrive, then deploy the shard as you did the night before! Are we clear?”

Dartz's voice was so commanding and full of venom the echo carried across the room surrounding his swordsmen, even making Valon have to stand at attention with a small sweat down his face, he swallowed hard with a nod.

“Y-yes, Master.”

Raphael nodded too, his body was stiff and chilled just form watching Dartz. Something about his mismatched eyes was just so jarring when you mixed it with his voice.

“Good.”

In an instant his attitude shifted form cold and foreboding to lighter and more mellow. He adjusted his blazer and tie before picking up the shard again, he handed it over to Valon with a small smile.Valon took the shard quickly and put it in his pocket right away.

“You are dismissed.” Dartz said before sitting back in his chair and returned to his folders.

Both Raphael and Valon gave a short bow before exiting the room quickly almost slamming the heavy doors behind them. Valon breathed a sign of relief as he followed Raphael back down the halls.

“That is why we don't question Master Dartz.” Raphael said looking at Valon who kept his hands in his pockets again and was slumped over a bit as he walked.

“Gotcha…” was all he said back.

It was nighttime and after a marathon of different movies the gang was winding down for the night; a fresh pot of tea was sitting in the middle of the mobile table between all 4 of them. As they all had poured out a cup of piping hot liquid each to have with a few biscuits before bed. Yugi allowed his cup to sit unattended close to his side of the table, since he saw the steam rising form it and knew it was still too hot to sip for now so he decided to wait.

Joey was confused about the plot of the movie they'd just watched and was arguing with both Tristan and Tea over inconsistencies in the movie's franchise. Yugi was absent form their conversation entirely as he just stared out the port window watching the clouds move across the sky. Outside the plane the clouds were growing darker and darker as the plane passed through them, a storm was approaching and they were about to fly into it. The moon was out but was very quickly covered by the brewing storm clouds. His own reflection casing against the window, his muted grey eyes watching but not really watching. He rested his chin on his palm and leaned against the window.

“I'm telling ya the guy can't be human! He got shot 6 times, fell out a window then just vanished in the 10 seconds they look away?” Joey shouted to Tea who was munching on a biscuit and shook her head.

“He's human Joey. Not a supernatural killer, just a crazy guy in a mask. They just call him the 'Boogeyman' since it was apart of the theme of the movie!” Was her response which made Joey shiver.

“Pfft come on Joey, you really think this guy is the Boogeyman?” Tristan blew on his tea cup a bit before taking a small sip.

“Hey! Careful! Don't say it out loud three times you might summon him! And on a plane there's no escape!” Joey's eyes darted back and forth a bit. “We're sitting ducks up here…”

Tea signed and rubbed the bridge of her nose “Okay first of all; That's 'Candyman' or even maybe 'Beetlejuice'. Second, You have to say it five times to a mirror in the dark. Third, it's not Halloween, he only comes out on Halloween like how Jason only comes out on Friday the 13th. So you're safe.”

Tristan lowered his cup slowly looking over at Tea confused by her seemingly vast knowledge on the current subject matter “Seriously, how do you know all this stuff?”

Tea shrugged “Bakura let me barrow a lot of his horror movie collection and I got hooked! Guys got great taste for horror. I may actually pick up a few for myself while we're over state side…” she smiled tapping her finger on her lip thinking of which horror move titles she may find there.

Joey shivered again thinking about Bakura's weird love for all things dark and occult, and how now it seemed to be spreading to Tea. He knew Yugi did enjoy horror too but thankfully his interest was more tame and knew not to let Joey accidentally see anything he'd deem 'too' horror related so he wouldn't freak out upon seeing it.

Joey swallowed hard “Oh Yeah! What if he's working off season huh?”

Tristan chuckled while Tea shook her head having about enough of Joey's paranoid actions for one night. Joey quickly shot up out of his seat about to shout at them again failing to notice his hand shoved the cup of tea closest to Yugi forcing it to fall over and spill the hot liquid right into Yugi's lap. There was a pause and gasp as all three of Yugi's friends witnessed the event unfold none of them had to time to give a verbal warning before the spill.

Tea and Tristan both stood up too but both had different reactions; Tristan was annoyed with Joey's actions and let out a verbal “Nice going genius!”while Tea was worried about Yugi's lap being burnt, she got up and reached out to him asking “Yugi! Are you okay?”

Joey's eyes widened when he realized what he'd done and looked at Yugi with terror “Yugi! I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to!”

Yugi on the other hand gently looked down and noticed the cup was now on it's side rolling a bit with the last of the cup's contents trailing across the table surface and then down the ledge. He watched the last bit of the fluid drop onto his already damp knee making the fabric darker. He then looked up and over to his friends terrified faces, his glassy muted purple eyes blinked once then twice before his attention was grabbed by Joey.

It took a moment while Yugi looked at his lap then to his friends and finally at Joey a soft but gentle smile grew on his mouth.

“Guy's I'm fine.” Yugi then reached for the spilled cup and set it back upright on the table “Just a quick spill nothing to be worried about!” Yugi then dug into his pockets trying to find a handkerchief or tissues or something to help clean up the spill.

“Anyone got a tissues or-” Yugi looked up and back at his friends who just starred back at him all of them confused by his clam reaction, this got him to become confused as well so he asked. “What's wrong?”

“D-didn't that hurt?” Joey asked.

This made Yugi chuckle a bit “Joey's it was a bit of cold of water, all it did was wake me up a bit.” Yugi finally found a napkin and started to clean up the spill, while he was doing that his three friends all just sat there frozen. It made the air in the atmosphere so quiet, Yugi stopped cleaning up and finally noticed. Why were they all looking at him like that?

“What's wrong?” he finally said.

All three of them looked at each other then back to Yugi, none of them really knew how to answer him which made Yugi ask again more frightened this time.

“…what's wrong?”

Tea was the one who finally answered him properly.

“Yugi, that tea was boiling hot…”

#yugi #yami yugi #yugioh #yugioh dm #breaking the seal #au #waking the dragons #fan art #fan fic

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