Necromancy - Part Two
So I can never do anything I plan to. Yeah...I'm hopeless.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Warning: language, mentions of violence, dark themes
Necromancy (Part Two)
"What happened?" Bakura turned the lights on as they went deeper into the house, both Yugi and Ryou trailing behind him as he headed for the basement. "How did Yami...?" Even the former tomb-robber couldn't voice the question. Helplessly, the thief gestured to the corpse in Yugi's arms.
"They were after the Puzzle." The Item glowed faintly around the hikari's neck when he replied, as if in response. "They must've known that...I..." Yugi choked, his steps faltering. Swiftly Ryou hurried up behind him, supporting his friend's back and his grip on Yami.
"I need to know what happened, Yugi." Bakura's voice was relentless, almost cruel in the circumstances.
"What does it look like happened?!" A sudden snap. "They slit his throat!!" A sob. "It's...all my fault..."
Ignoring the tears, Bakura continued down to the basement. A little more slowly, Ryou led Yugi along behind him.
By the time both hikaris had reached the lower level Bakura had already set up a circle of candles on the floor, scrawling some hasty rows of Egyptian demotic around the formation.
"Put the pharaoh in the middle." Bakura didn't even look up from his writing. "Ryou, light the candles." Both boys hurried to do as they'd been bid, Yugi laying his yami gently down at the centre of the candle-ring, cradling the former pharaoh's head in his lap. "Yugi," Bakura had finished his demotic and had stepped into the circle, placing a firm hand on Ryou's friend's shoulder, "tell me what happened to Yami. Was he awake when they...?"
"He - he was...sleeping - but...he woke partway and made a noise. I....I heard and...."
"Who was it?"
"Three people. They had their faces covered."
Bakura nodded - once -, crouching down on his haunches at Yugi's side. "If...if I bring the pharaoh back, he won't come back the same as he left. They never are. Even blood magic, the art necromancy requires to defy nature itself, cannot replace all that is lost. Your yami will be a little dumber than he was before, a little slower, a little less receptive to sensation or pain. He might have lost some of his memories, he might have forgotten how to do certain things... It varies, from person to person. The longer he's been dead the worse the changes will be, and so I'll ask this one last time:- Yugi, are you sure this is what you want?"
The hikari didn't even miss a beat, pained amethyst eyes fixed unwaveringly on Bakura's russet brown. "Bring him back."
Sighing, Bakura got to his feet. "As you will." Moving out of the circle he went to fetch a knife from a cupboard on the opposite side of the basement, bringing this to Yugi. "I'll need you to anoint his forehead with some of your own blood, and mingle a little of the same with his wound. The latter is important - your blood there will heal his wound. if that wasn't healed...we could just end up bringing him back for him to die again."
"I don't need a knife." Yugi's voice was quiet. Reaching up a hand to touch his slashed cheek he held his hand out to Bakura, showing the thief the crimson that stained his skin. "The bastards who killed Yami did this to me too." Daubing his darkness' forehead and throat with the blood Yugi silently went about the task Bakura had set him. When he'd done... "Can...can I stay with him in the circle when-?"
Flatly: "No." Bakura pointed Yugi out of the ring of now lit candles. Obediently, Yugi left, joining Ryou where the white-head boy sat worridely in a corner of the room. Bakura went to work.
Later...later, Yugi would never recall what it was exactly Bakura had done. The candles had been the sole light in the room, the circles of flames seemingly beginning to spin before Yugi's eyes as the thief chanted something - old, it sounded old- and the smoke from the candles stung his eyes, made them water so salty tears dripped into his own numerous cuts. The room's pressure felt as it was squeezing his head, his chest, driving all the air out of his lungs, and Ryou sat like a warm rock at his side, breath coming out in short gasps and all he could see, his whole world, was Yami, Yami, Yami lying dead at the centre of the candle-ring, pretty Yami dead and all the laws of nature against him and the flames around him made him blur-
The lights went out.
Breathing heavily, Yugi came back to himself in the darkness. Hollowly from in front of him he heard Bakura speak, voice cracked as he ordered Ryou to go switch the basement lights on. He felt Ryou scramble up from beside him, winced as the fluorescent lights came on overhead and burned his eyes. Blinking back blue spots Yugi himself stood, ignoring everything else as he stumbled over into the circle of still-smoking candles, collapsing at Yami's side so afraid of - of -
He was terrified Bakura had actually done it, and too numb to contemplate if Bakura hadn't.
Shaking, Yugi drew Yami's head back onto his lap. "Mon hitorou no boku...?" His voice wavered dangerously.
No response.
"...Yami...?"
A soft breath, so slight he only just caught it, a flutter of lashes against his hand..."Aibou..." Yami's eyes fluttered open dazedly, gazing rather unfocusedly at Yugi's face. A little more firmly: "Aibou."
Yugi found himself speechless, lost somewhere between relief, joy, and horror. His eyes... Yami's lovely eyes, once a vibrant shade of crimson, had darkened, taking on the appearance of dried blood so old it was almost black.
"Yugi, what...?" Yami stretched out a hand, fingers brushing over the cut on his hikari's cheek. His voice was soft - confused and lost.
Yugi stared at him, not feeling the touch at all. What have I just done?